Say what you want about Montblanc "precious resin" but...

[mhosea]

Say what you want about Montblanc "precious resin" but as my usage patterns have changed, I learned something about it that I didn't know before. I didn't know it because previously, I'd invariably clean out a pen within a month or two of filling it. But lately, as I've pursued other interests, I've had 8 or so fountain pens inked for long periods of time, including one of my favorite pens, a Montblanc 146 from the 1980's. I filled this thing up with Montblanc Lavender Purple sometime last December, give or take, and as I've used it from time to time, I've noted how slow the rate of evaporation has been. Obviously this plastic, while perhaps not able to survive a fall without breaking (so I'm told), has very low water vapor permeability. What's more, the thing has started up immediately every time I've used it. I just cleaned it out today. I was expecting a lengthy cleaning effort, but in fact it was really easy to clean out. I just flushed it half-dozen times or so at the sink at work, loaded it with water and put it back in my pocket, then later in the evening when at home flushed it a few more times. When I ran it with the nib and feed immersed in the ultrasonic cleaner, very little ink was left. So, if you ask me, it's a great pen and a great ink. Can't say how Montblanc is making pens these days, but apparently in the 80's they knew how to do it.

[Chrissy]

I have had similar experiences with my Montblanc pens. Some of mine have been filled for at least that long, and I pick them up, uncap them, and find they just write with no problems. I've never had any problem cleaning Montblanc ink out of them either.

My Woolf had been filled with Caran d'Ache Sunset for quite a while, and I suddenly found it wouldn't write when I picked it out. I had a few concerns that there might be a problem with the piston, but no, it flushed out fine and is now refilled and writing again. I had written with it fairly regularly but had obviously missed the fact that it was almost empty.

[Sandy Fry]

Not a huge MontBlanc fan as I think they are a wee bit overpriced for what they are but I picked up a Burgundy 144 for a steal and it is a wonderful writer. It too, I believe, is a model from the 80's.

David

[stub]

I have an early 90s run of the mill bone stock 146.

The only MB I own. The only one I have ever owned. Likely the only one I will ever own, though I do covet the 149, the 254 and like the look of the old celluloid pens.

It has never been un-inked and sitting on a shelf. It is always inked and ready to go. It may sit for a few days or even weeks (if I travel) and always starts up right away and writes great.

A dead reliable pen & a great writer.

Look, I hate the shitty petit-bourgeoisie semiotics of the thing. The brand is hideous. I like a "working person's pen" and all that. I mean I really really wanted to hate this pen when I got all those many years ago but truth be told it is a great on every level. Ergonomic, reliable filler, fantastic nib.

And say what you want about the "precious" resin. It maybe just plastic, but it is some kinda plastic! It feels really nice in the hand, almost like fiber glass. It is hard and not rubbery like some plastics are.

gun to head: I only have one MB. But it is w/o question a really great pen. I enjoy writing with it. It is an ergonomic champ and has never let me down as a writer. It has never been serviced or nib meister-ed or ground or anything. The piston was lubed once that was it.

Your garden variety 146 is a hell of a pen. I like mine as much as my OS balance, PFM and way more than my M800.

My experience owning this pen totally changed how I thought about MB pens. I can't afford them, but they do know what they are doing in Hamburg. At least they did in 1993 or whenever my pen was born.

[fountainpagan]

The only Montblanc I own is a 256 from the 50's. I have it for 15 years, now.
I love it dearly, and more so because I have found it in a very unexpected place (in a paper store in Kaboul, that sold lemons too), for a very very unexpected price (25€), inside its yellow cardboard box, new, never inked.

Unfortunately a certain nibmeister has pushed its cap a little too strongly, and it has now 2 small cracks

Anyhow:
I love the touch of this pen;
I love its sober design, the fluidity of its lines, its elegance;
I love the wing nib, its design, its little elasticity that offers you a slight flex;
I can put it aside, inked, for as much as 1 month, from the moment I put it to use, again, it writes straight away, without hesitating.

I don't like modern Montblancs, and all the marketing, and image they want to inspire.

I love vintage Montblanc, from 1920 to 1950, and wish I can find a 139 I can afford, one day.

[RuiFromUK]

Yet to be mentioned is the fact that, at least in UK, if one is subscribed to their website MontBlanc last year offered to service completely one of their pens at no charge whatsoever including parts replacement. Hopefully they will do that again.

[fountainpenkid]

...and they really knew how to make them in the 50s! (even though it was too small for my hand, the 142 I had absolutely radiated class in a way few other pens I've owned have).

[carlos.q]

I also have a MB 146 from the 1980's which I bought from Rick Propas and it is a truly dependable pen.

[da vinci]

Yet to be mentioned is the fact that, at least in UK, if one is subscribed to their website MontBlanc last year offered to service completely one of their pens at no charge whatsoever including parts replacement. Hopefully they will do that again.

That is really useful to know, fingers crossed they repeat the offer.

[Scrawler]

The only MB I have significant experience of is my daughter's late 1980s MB 146. It was given to her as an 18th birthday gift. She let me use it for a couple months while she was away. I can echo your experience. It is an immediate and willing writer that is never dry and never skips. It also feels nice in the hand, and the plain understated black and gold is sufficiently elegant to satisfy my aesthetic sense.

[jacksterp]

Nothing like a good inner cap seal.

I have two that can go for many months and write immediately upon touching paper.

p.s. they are not MBs

[Wahl]

My 146 from the late 80´s functions flawlessly, one of the two modern pens I own, the other being a Pelikan 800.

[dadbar]

"Precious resin"...the term gives me such a laugh. Marketing mumbo jumbo at its finest.

My cheap Parker 45 fountain pen is made of the very same "precious resin." The plastic on this pen feels just like the plastic on my Montblanc 147.

[stub]

I guess I would say that is party my point. "Precious Resin" may just be plastic, & lord knows I like me a 45, but the plastic on my MB does not feel anything like the plastic on a P45. It is smoother and harder. You can poopoo the marketing hype but I don't think the plastic on a MB is the same as the plastic on a Parker. They are different. For one a MB will shatter if dropped on a hard surface from sufficient heights. A P45 you could toss from a moving car and would dent or scrap but not break apart like a 146 will.

[mhosea]

"Precious resin"...the term gives me such a laugh. Marketing mumbo jumbo at its finest.

My cheap Parker 45 fountain pen is made of the very same "precious resin." The plastic on this pen feels just like the plastic on my Montblanc 147.

I think the original German formulation at least intersected with an interpretation of "high quality resin". Unfortunately, in English, the word "precious" never means "high quality", rather when used of an inanimate object refers only to inherent or sentimental value. Consequently "precious resin" would be something that could be bought and sold in a market, such as gold, silver, diamonds, etc., or perhaps it could be a relic of some kind. What it can't be is simply a high quality material. For example, while steel may be high quality or low quality, we never refer to steel, no matter how good, as a "precious metal". In the same way a "precious resin" is patently absurd. Only a non-native speaker of English would consider "precious resin" as an acceptable use of the word "precious". It is, in fact, ludicrous.

However, plastics vary greatly in their water vapor permeability. Try a Noodler's Konrad in the original vegetal resin material. The plastic is very tough, but the water vapor permeability is so high that ink will evaporate noticeably over a period of just a week or two. It's still a good material if your usage pattern involves a lot of writing and refilling, not so good if you ink a pen and expect it to be at the ready over a period of several weeks. Every plastic has pros and cons. The suitability of Montblanc's resin in a "knockabout" pen is questionable, as it appears to be harder and more brittle than Parker 45 plastic by a wide margin. So it takes a good shine and feels hard in the hand, but drop it and you might find that it breaks. OTOH, Parker 45 plastic is so soft that these pens eventually develop dimples from the pressure of the clutch fingers of the slip-on cap! Anyway, the Montblanc plastic appears to be a great choice for situations where the pen is filled and left for occasional over a long time without being "topped off".

[Jerome Tarshis]

Hello. A few words from a man ignorant of the broad sweep of Montblanc plastic pen production. But aware of his ignorance. We haven't been hearing from people who own MB pens manufactured over a long period of time, and I wish we had been.

I think, and I write this under correction, that the pens that seem very hard and very shiny but also prone to shatter represent only a small part of the past 70 years' production. There isn't any "Montblanc plastic" used over the decades, to my mind. The two plastic MB pens I own, dating back to the 1950s, are not so very hard or so very shiny, though tough enough for me. I doubt that they would come anywhere near shattering if dropped. Ditto for a lot of relatively inexpensive MBs over time.

Where I agree with mhosea (and others) is that "precious resin" is an incorrect translation of the German Edelharz, which does mean something like "noble plastic," except that the "noble" doesn't refer to being a duke (an Edelmann is one of the nobility or gentry) but rather, as in "noble gas," to being relatively resistant to certain kinds of damage from the environment.

"Edelstahl" is stainless steel. It has not to my knowledge been advertised as "precious steel," thus sparing some German manufacturers from being held up to ridicule. But the ridicule is for a maladroit translation that happened to one company at one time. And I don't think MB used that material in all its plastic pens for seventy years.

[mhosea]

And I don't think MB used that material in all its plastic pens for seventy years.

You would be correct. Weren't the 1950's MBs made of celluloid?

[FredRydr]

mhosea and Jerome,

Thank you, thank you for that explanation. For years I've thought Montblanc has not been very smart choosing "precious" to describe its plastic.

Fred