Montblanc Shoe Bottles

[Paddler]

A seller at a local flea market had some empty Montblanc "shoe bottles" for sale for a couple of bucks apiece. I have read so many raves about them, I bought a few just to see what the noise is all about. I am severely disappointed in them. The partition is way too low to make a deep enough puddle to fill most open nibbed pens. When I try it, the pen fills with mostly air and makes a slurping sound like a hippopotamus pulling its foot out of the mud. Do Montblanc pens fill through the end of the feed, like a Sheaffer TipDip?

[KKay]

Tip it. I think that groove underneath is a finger rest. I may be wrong about that. If I am, I'm sure someone will come by here and let me know that...lol. Congrats on the bottles. Sorry you are not happy with them.

[Jon Szanto]

Yep, I always set the far end up on something, tipping the contents to the front. You can easily get at least an inch of ink before it even comes up into the cap/neck of the bottle.

[Chrissy]

If I found a supply of empty Montblanc ink bottles for 'a couple of bucks apiece', I would buy some. :p

[FredRydr]

A seller at a local flea market had some empty Montblanc "shoe bottles" for sale for a couple of bucks apiece. I have read so many raves about them, I bought a few just to see what the noise is all about. I am severely disappointed in them. The partition is way too low to make a deep enough puddle to fill most open nibbed pens. When I try it, the pen fills with mostly air and makes a slurping sound like a hippopotamus pulling its foot out of the mud. Do Montblanc pens fill through the end of the feed, like a Sheaffer TipDip?
The advantage of these bottles is having the neck at one end, not so much the partition. Prop one end of the bottle on something so the neck end is lower than the other end, such that the ink is deepest under the neck and you'll understand. The bottle would be better if the partition was higher, but it's not.

I find ubiquitous Waterman bottles best for tipping to get at more of what ink remains.

Fred

[Paddler]

Oh, I use them; just not for fountain pens. Tipped forward, they are perfect for dip pens. The mouth is wide enough that you don't get ink on the holder's grip area.

I have never seen a Montblanc pen up close. I just thought they had some design gimmick for using their own ink bottles. When I try to fill my Sheaffer pens from these bottles, they sound like a chef loadin' up a plate of ratatouille.

[Paddler]

If I found a supply of empty Montblanc ink bottles for 'a couple of bucks apiece', I would buy some. :p

Shucks. If I had known they were being sold at a bargain price, I would have bought 50 of them.