Help me identify a Montblanc

[Fouez]

Talked to my father about my renewed interest in fountain pens. Few days later, he gave me this pen set he received 20 years ago as a retirement gift. The fountain pen was inked once, tested and stored in the box for nearly 20 years!

The fountain pen is slim and about 135 mm caped. It came with a converter... that was left full from the first and only use :/

I don't have a jeweler loupe yet but I think I can read PH1493829 from the clip.

[Fouez]

The last picture shows ink on the golden ring - I guess I still have to work on my pen cleaning techniques

[jar]

It's a 144 and ring-rot is pretty normal on the 144.

[Fouez]

TY for your fast reply!

[tandaina]

Yup, a 144. It should clean up pretty easily and be a nice writer. Give it a good flush and you'll be good to go.

[Fouez]

I was unable to disassemble the converter. I didn't apply to much force fearing I could break it - do I need to unscrew or pull the metallic part?

I gave the pen a good flush but a little bit of ink is still leaking from the nib and section junction. As seen on that last pic, there's ink on the ring and it gets on my fingers when I use the pen. I see 3 possible explanations:

1- A vacuum effect that could pull ink from the nib each time I put the cap on. I had to unscrew the tip and disassemble the cap to clean the inner plastic part. That plastic part is not completely round, there's a flat edge on one side and a vent hole. maybe my reassembly was wrong? The cap fits perfectly, the vent hole might just be on the wrong side or something...

2- What is leaking from the pen is a combination of my pen flush recipe and dried ink from years of storage. It's leaking because it's too liquid?... I can write 2-3 lines with the pen even though the converter is empty. Maybe I need to flush the pen again... but still, it's leaking and it's not like if ink wasn't made of water...

3- Something else is wrong. The feed or section might be damaged (dried up?) from years of storage and the whole thing is just not offering a proper sealing anymore. I unscrewed the section/nib part but did not try to pull the nib/feed from the section. I don't even know if it's possible on that pen.

Tell me doctor, do I have a severe case of ring-rot?

[Chrissy]

You can keep on trying soaking it in your pen flush recipe, but these nibs and feeds aren't user accessible without a correct tool so there will be a lot of dried ink in there.

However, it sounds like your Meisterstuck 144 needs a Montblanc service. For about $80 US you will get your pen back looking like new again and fully working.

[tandaina]

Some 144s do take a screw in converter. So if a gentle pull doesn't disengage it from the section turn it (remember righty tighty, lefty loosy) and it should unscrew. Once the converter is unscrewed from the section I'd let the whole section soak in a cup of water for an hour, you can add a drop of dish soap to the water if you like. If the piston on the converter will turn fill and empty it with water until it is clear and the water comes out clear. Then reattach the converter to the soaked section and fill and empty over and over. This will force clean water through the feed/nib and eventually it too will no longer squirt ink.

If after you've completely cleaned it (and I do *not* use any "flush" formulas but plain old water with *maybe* a dot of dish soap for really bad messes), dried it, and refilled it it still leaks then I'd send it to Montblanc for a tune up. But I'm guessing the issue may just be the mess of old ink, water, and whatever your pen flush recipe is. Save the $80 if you can, though it would be money well spent if just a good cleaning doesn't work.

(And if you can write anything with the pen without having filled the converter with ink then you've got more cleaning to do.)

[tandaina]

Oh, forgot to say: just because you find ink in the cap after uncapping doesn't mean it is leaking when you uncap it. That may be ancient dried ink that has gotten damp from the wet nib/feed being reinserted into the cap. Boom, live ink again. Run water into the cap until no more old ink comes out. Only then can you actually tell if the pen is leaking. (And *some* ink ending up in teh cap in the course of normal life just sort of happens, expecting zero ink ever is not realistic. So remember to clean your caps!)

[Fouez]

... (and I do *not* use any "flush" formulas but plain old water with *maybe* a dot of dish soap for really bad messes)...

That's my secret pen flush recipe!

I guess I have more cleaning to do. Thanks for the tips!