Well... I did it. Despite reading some "horror" stories here on this board, I still made the purchase yesterday. I now have a few questions.

1. Like what a few other posts indicated, my 146 also skips every now and then. I am currently using Visconti black ink (which did have converter ink flow issues in my Visconti pen). So I am not being paranoid and starting to freak out just yet. I will give it a bit of time to break in. I notice that when it starts to skip, if I shake vigorously, the problem would be fixed, which leads me to believe maybe there are still residue in the feed/nib. I did flush the pen w/ clear water yesterday when I got home. I used water without soap because the booklet said not to use anything else but clear water.

2. Do MontBlancs have nib sized indicated anywhere on the pen? I got an F nib but the "F" is only a sticker on the pen itself. I did see a big "M" on the nib but I believe it stands for Mont Blanc and not "Medium," am I right?

3. This is a non MB question but I will ask anyway. Has anyone here used Waterman black ink? I ask because I tried a dip test w/ the pen in the store w/ Waterman black. When I got home to flush the pen with water, I noticed that the waterman had a bluish hue in the clear water. I am now curious whehter or not the pen was already dipped before with some blue ink. But I believe sometimes it's not uncommon for a black ink to show yellowness or some other color variation as nothing is true black.

Your help would be appreciated! Thanks!

chuanco-

Congrats on getting a 146. While I have never used Visconti inks, I think you have diagnosed your problem well. If the flow is restarted by shaking the pen, then you still have some sort of residue. When I flush my MBs, I fill an old coffee cup with warm water, and then fill the pen from the cup and expel the water directly into the sink. I do this until the water runs clear. If I need to soak a pen for a period of time, I soak it in cool water. I've kept entire pen barrels in cool water for 24-48 hours with no adverse effects.

You are correct, the M on the nib is the hallmark for Montblanc. The only marking for nib sizes on modern MBs is the sticker you referred to.

Best regards, Eric

Thanks a lot. I think it's a combination of a new pen (possibly residue) and the ink. LIke I said, the Visconti had major flow issues in my Oper Club converter the other week. I switched to Aurora blue and the problem was mostly fixed.

Here are more observations along with questions in them. Feel free to write back and let me know if it makes sense.

1. Being an expensive pen, it seems the 146 (or MB in general?) is also picky with paper. I noticed that sometimes if the paper surfase is extra smooth, it simply refuses to write anything on the paper! With my Visconti Opera Club or Aurora 88, this never happens. So I guess I also need to pick the right kind of paper for the 146 to write smoothly.

2. For others who own this pen, has it been a slow starter for you? For me, once it writes it pretty much doesn't skip. But it would take a lot of contact w/ the paper for the ink to appear on paper. Again this might be due to my Visconti ink which tends to dry fast(?) or it could also be the rhodium plates that people have been talking about which doesn't let the ink glide on paper (?). I could be wrong but those are just my guesses here.

3. I called up MontBlanc explaining the situation to them. The lady was quite courteous and told me that I should definitely give it 2 weeks for the pen to break in. She says it's very common for a pen to behave this way when new. She also told me to write a lot w/ the pen in order to expedite the breaking in process.

I will observe for a few more days and then write up a review hopefully. For now I am too lazy to change my ink to Aurora blue, because the piston fill looks a bit delicate. Rinsing would take a lot of back and forth turning.

Thanks.

I wonder if this applies to other model MBs not just the 146s?

I haven't tried Visconti ink in my MBs. I use MB ink and they have enough different colors to suit me. And yes, some black inks have a hint of blue in them.

Did you get the pen at a MB Boutique? If the flow doesn't improve, I'd take it back and have the nib smoothed by the MB repair folks. It should write well on just about any paper and with most inks.