MB 149 Nib grinding

**Scrawler** · November 10th, 2024, 12:52 PM

I inherited a 1993 MB 149 which had a huge ball of a nib that was bought to sign a contract, then put away until I received it earlier this year. The nib was so bold I could only get two or three words on a line and was effectively a desk ornament. I am not going to be signing any major contracts soon and I wanted a practical pen. So I sent it to Toronto Pen Company and Salman Khattak ground the nib to a F-M cursive so that it can be my daily pen. I am absolutely delighted with this pen. It is never dry and keeps up no matter how fast I scrawl. It holds a lot of ink and I have to watch the window because when it runs out it just stops. The feed fills up, delivers the last of the ink then just stops. There is no sense of drying and become scratchy as the last ink is used up. This is the only pen I have experienced this with. With almost all other pens the line becomes thin and disappears. This pen will stop dead in the middle of a letter without giving any other sign it is empty.

mb149write.jpg

**Chrissy** · November 11th, 2024, 02:08 AM

That's good to hear.

I have a similar 149 with a BB nib that I don't use and have considered having it ground many times. Then I think how hard would it be to do it myself and don't dare to do it. Meanwhile it doesn't get used - just like yours. I should do something with it.

**Robert** · November 11th, 2024, 05:46 PM

Nice story, Srawler. My 149 dates back to the mid-1970s and was my daily writer for many years. It has a stock F nib that has always written (to my eye) like a medium, and I have no idea how many bottles of ink (mostly Quink and Waterman blue-black) it has sucked up over the years. Like yours, mine has a great flow - the only sign it's about to run dry is when I notice a very slight change in the color of the line (slightly darker). Then I know it needs a refill.

**Scrawler** · November 11th, 2024, 06:43 PM

I have just written mine dry again to verify the experience. Yes, that final dump of ink sliding down the feed does make the end point a little darker.

**notsim** · November 13th, 2024, 12:15 AM

You have been successfully Khattaked! I truly appreciate his talents as my local nib grinder.

**Scrawler** · November 13th, 2024, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by notsim

You have been successfully Khattaked! I truly appreciate his talents as my local nib grinder.

Yes, I have another example of his work. I have a Dollar pen which was among the first he did. The nib is really nice with very crisp edges to the line, but now the pen itself is much too small for me. I have plans to send more to him in future.