making sure I buy brand ink for my pen. For example, I have a montblanc FP and MB sells ink cartridges for it (I use cartridges). Do I need to buy cartridges from MB-- which are pricier and don't have the range of colors that I can buy elsewhere (say Levenger).

Does anyone have any expereince with using different cartridges made by another manufacturer. Thanks.

Well for bottled ink you can pretty much use whatever you want. Although some people will say that certain combinations of pens and inks don't work as well as others. For cartridges there are some companies that have propriatary shapes such as Lamy, Cross & Sailor that will not handle other makers ink cartridges. With MB you might be able to use anyone's international cartridges but the shoulder in the pen might not make a complete seal.


K

Hi sparky

There are two issues with cartridges:

1. Make sure the cartridge is the right design to fit your pen. The cartridge MBs I have take international size carts, and I think that's true of the modern ones, too.

2. Brand of ink. Broadly speaking, you can use any reputable brand of fountain pen ink in any fountain pen. "Reputable" here means "made by a manufacturer you've heard of"; there are some inks not suitable for fountain pens, but these are not sold in cartridges, AFAIK. But you do NOT need to use the manufacturer's brand of ink.

You may well find that one brand of ink works better than another in a particular pen, but that's a question of subtle differences in proportions of the ingredients, and particular variations in the set-up of individual pens.

Which is not to say that all inks are the same, and I haven't used Levenger's (there is a forum here on inky matters), but you won't damage your pen.

Have fun

Michael

I put Herbin, Private Reserve and Pelikan 'short international' cartridges in my Montegrappa all the time.

A pack of 8X boring Montegrappa carts is $13AU here, and a pack of 12X Private Reserve carts is $8AU.

All these brands are very reputable and make very nice flowing ink - so for me, other brands all the way!

What MB do you have?

If you have older fountain pens like Chopin, which I also have, they take any international cartridges.

However, for Boheme or StarWalker, you need to use MB cartridges.

If it is possible at all, you should try converter for your pen with different inks. My MB fountain pens, including a piston filler, all run pretty dry. They only write smooth and wet enough with Private Reserve inks.

That's interesting. I bought some PR Midnight Blues for my 149 and the two just didn't get along at all. Switched to Quink BB and got much better results.

I guess as with most things in the world of FPs, YMMV.

Chris

Chris,

Do you prefer a slower ink? I found that PR inks are always really smooth and wet (even faster than Aurora black).

I have a MB 146 fine that is pretty dry, and it only writes smoothly with PR inks or Aurora black. But then, with my MB 149 broad, the pen works well with pretty much any ink, except Lamy inks.

I guess at the end, for each fountain pen you just to have to try different inks...

I went to the PR because the MB blue black I was using wasn't flowing the right way in my 149. The PR actually flowed worse than the MB. So I tried Quink BB and the ink flow was much improved.

My 149 also has a B nib. I love my 149, it's probably my favorite FP, though the CS #15 I picked up recently is becoming a strong contender. The 149 sometimes has flow issues which seem to have started after I had the pen serviced about 6-7 months ago for a leaking piston mechanism.

I may have to drop it off at the MB boutique on 57th Street and let them have a look at it again.

Wet, dry, whatever. As long as the ink flows well, it's all good.

My sense is that pen makers say their ink is best for their pens so as to sell more ink. But my experience is that any ink can be used in any pen, though some combinations do work out better, and almost never, in my experience, has this ben combinations of teh same brand.

And probably because they know their ink composition.