Vintage Mb 14X Nibs

[siamackz]

Over the past few months I finally acquired My favourite series of pens - 1950s 14x MBs. I have a 142 and a 146G. I hope to add a 144 in the coming year, and maybe one day the 149 silver rings

 

Anyway, with the 142 and 146G I noticed something about the nib. They are flexible. And both my nibs are oblique mediums, which I just love. But, they both have two peculiar characteristics:

1. They are very hard to keep aligned and keep going off alignment when I write.

2. They both have broad nib slits that taper as expected but then suddenly pinch in tight right before the very tip end of the nib (at the centre of the iridium tipping). I feel this might be causing hard starts and skips here and there.

 

Have you experienced this? Do you suggest that I simply broaden the nib slit? Both nibs are very wet though.

 

Thanks

Edited December 27, 2017 by siamackz

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a '52-54 only 234 1/2 Deluxe in semi-flex....a medium large 146 in maxi-semi-flex and a rolled gold '51-55 742 that is my only pen that flexes directly in the middle between semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex.

I don't know if MB made a superflex nib in the '50's. Had I heard so, I'd still be hunting MB's.

 

Obliques.....of that era....the last era to have obliques....'50-70.....the last era to have obliques that actually work.

The nib is a stub....that has some flex. The nib has to be laid right on the paper. My first semi-flex OB was luckily to be wide enough that if I put the nib down straight there was only a tad of scratch......OM&OF too much scratch to write.

 

Hold the pens up to the light to see how much of a grind your nib has. 15 or 30 degrees. By pure luck in a mix of semi&maxi-semi-flex, I have OBB, OB, OM & OF in both grinds......and a Pelikan 500 maxi-semi-flex OBBB signature nib in 30 degrees..................................oddly no 22 degrees.

Outside of that 500, I some times wonder if the sales clerk at the old timy German Corner Pen Shoppe didn't ask the customer ....Want some more oblique and went in the back room and ground the 15 degree angle to 30 degrees. I don't find any advertisements offering 30 degree ground obliques.

 

The nib must be canted. Easiest is to post the cap using the clip as a sight.

 

If the grind is 15 degrees.....align the clip of the cap of the pen as a sight, between the slit and the right corner of the nib.....then re-grip the pen with out even looking at the nib. The nib will have the proper angle of cant when you place the nib on the paper.

 

If the grind is 30 degrees, line the clip up with the right hand edge of the nib....re-grip using only the clip as a sight. When the nib is placed on the paper it will have the right angle of cant.

 

What ever you do......don't twist your fingers, your arm or hang from the Chandeliers, just write 'normal' and the nib flat on the paper with the proper angle of cant will do the rest.

 

The nibs are wet because they are semi-flex or maxi-semi-flex....so due to ease of tine spread will be wetter than stiffer nibs.

 

xxxxxx

They both have broad nib slits that taper as expected but then suddenly pinch in tight right before the very tip end of the nib (at the centre of the iridium tipping). I feel this might be causing hard starts and skips here and there.""""

Can't help you there.

[BlueJ]

The description of the nib slit sounds normal to me for a Montblanc. I don't think it is the cause of the reported problems. More likely the "going off alignment" is due to needing a slightly different grip (rotation of pen about its axis) to use the oblique tip effectively, as Bo Bo says.

[siamackz]

Thanks friends!