The Worst Feeling In The World Is...

[jconn]

The worst feeling in the world is...

 

Getting that notice of attempted delivery in your mailbox that says, "Your package will be available for pickup on the next business day."

 

That's normally not so bad, but Monday is a holiday for the US Postal Service, so the next business day is actually two days away!

 

Why is this Montblanc related?

 

Well, the package that USPS attempted to deliver was a 1970s Montblanc 149, French export with an 18c two-tone extra fine nib! So close, but yet so far away!

[kandarp]

Hang tight and stay strong. I know this feeling all too well!

 

Do post pics once you receive it.

[zaddick]

Your world must be pretty good if that's the worst thing.

[jconn]

Your world must be pretty good if that's the worst thing.

Things do go well for me every now and again.

 

At least I have this new Conid Bulkfiller to occupy me through this torturous wait.

[BillH]

I had one of those a week ago... I knew the package was on the truck, "out for delivery". Saturday. All was good. Got the puppy and went out for a walk, figured there was at least an hour before the usual mail time. About 1/2 mile away from the house I saw the mail truck make the turn towards our neighborhood.

 

"Really!! You've GOT to be kidding me..."

 

Yup. Slip under the mat when we got home. Long weekend, that was.

[Corona688]

Purolator vehicles in outlying regions take different routes on different days.

 

Their software informs their drivers but not their packers, resulting in packages being loaded on cars going totally the wrong direction. At the end of the route when the package remains in the car, this is interpreted as 'missed delivery' and the recipient notified. Very frustrating.

[bmillicent]

Feel your pain, but it's second place to having thieves abscond with packages left on doorsteps or residential mailboxes one of many reasons I keep my USPS box in spite of those "we do not ship to p. o. boxes" disclaimers. Fortunately the post office provides a physical address workaround.

 

But once it arrives at the station, anxiety ensues with those yellow notices . . .

[Corona688]

Feel your pain, but it's second place to having thieves abscond with packages left on doorsteps or residential mailboxes

They might cease stealing them after stealing a few nicely-packed boxes of used kitty litter.

[Pravda]

I can totally imagine the feeling, but that's nothing My Blue Hour 149 Skeleton was stuck at customs for 35 days before it finally made it to me..!!

[thygreyt]

Stay strong.

 

The wait is almost over

 

Some of us are still waiting, after nearly 2 months, for a nib exchange.

[Wolverine1]

Hope you get your MB 149 today. Please post a couple of pictures when you have the pen in hand. Sounds like a very cool pen.

[jconn]

Well, the worst feeling in the world has been surpassed by a newer, even worse set of feelings!

 

I picked up the 149 at the post office this morning and immediately open the package when I got back to my car. Did a quick check and everything looked like the pictures I had seen previously until I tried to twist the piston knob.

 

Uh-oh.

 

Why won't this sucker move?

 

So, with a growing pit in my stomach, I drove home and set to work trying to get the darn thing twisting again.

 

Luckily, with a hot water soak, and some gentle back-and-forth movement, the piston was free enough that I could use my tools to remove the entire piston assembly.

 

Blue-black goo would be the best way to describe what I found inside the barrel.

 

Well, shoot... I guess I'm going to have to take this one apart and clean it completely.

 

With the piston out, only need to remove the nib unit... And here's where the pit in my stomach grew larger.

 

Seems that someone, possibly to deal with the stuck piston, tried to remove the nib unit and really did a bang-up job of destroying 1 of the 2 notches in the nib collar that the nib removal tool needs to engage.

 

AAAAARGH!

 

While I thought about what to do, I tossed the whole shebang in the ultrasonic and decided on a course of action.

 

First, using a long nylon punch through the rear of the pen body, I knocked out the nib and feed, leaving the nib collar in the pen body. I figured this gave me the best chance to look at what was what.

 

Then, after another hot water soak, some cursing, a little praying, and a whole lot of luck, I carefully used my nib tool and tried to unscrew the nib collar, not wanting to make the damage any greater. I felt the prongs on the tool seat into what remained of the two slots, and slowly, and carefully, I could feel the collar start to back out of the section.

 

Finally, I got the nib collar out and while it's pretty goobered because somebody got in a hurry and didn't use the proper tools before, I think it can be salvaged.

 

Unfortunately, my expectation that the nib would have French export hallmarks was incorrect--it's just a two-tone nib marked 18c. Still, it is an extra fine as I determined from the advertisement, so once I get it reassembled, I'll see how it writes.

 

Here is how she lays right now, drying unceremoniously in a bin.

 

 

And a close-up shot of the nib.

 

 

Any Montblanc experts want to give an opinion on this nib? 18c two-tone #9 should be from mid-to-late 1970s, correct? Any ideas on rarity or opinions on writing characteristics?

[Tom Kellie]

Here is how she lays right now, drying unceremoniously in a bin.

 

~ jconn:

 

I'm so sorry that you've been dealing with a cascade of issues.

Not only the time and inconvenience, but the tedious attention required saps energy.

Your image, described above, is a classic.

I don't mean to downplay or belittle, but rather to express admiration at such a matter of fact depiction of the reality.

Thank you for this follow-up. Your explanation is vivid and engrossing.

May it all eventually work out. Montblanc 149 EFs are excellent writers.

Tom K.

[jconn]

It lives!

 

It writes!

 

It slices, it dices, it juliennes! (Ok, maybe not that!)

 

It is a bit of a dry writer, and I detect a faint trace of wide cross strokes and narrower down strokes, which is a lovely unexpected thing.

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by jconn

[jconn]

 

~ jconn:

 

I'm so sorry that you've been dealing with a cascade of issues.

Not only the time and inconvenience, but the tedious attention required saps energy.

Your image, described above, is a classic.

I don't mean to downplay or belittle, but rather to express admiration at such a matter of fact depiction of the reality.

Thank you for this follow-up. Your explanation is vivid and engrossing.

May it all eventually work out. Montblanc 149 EFs are excellent writers.

Tom K.

 

Tom,

 

I scour eBay for cheap pens with little or no known maintenance history, or incomplete descriptions.

 

This one came from France and was sold by an estate sale company, which no guarantee or testing on the quality of the pen.

 

I shouldn't be surprised if there are issues, but I always am!

 

Luckily, I have a little bit of ingenuity and a devil-may-care attitude, which works out well most of the time... like at least 50%. (Maybe 45%.)

 

Jeremy

[PAKMAN]

Wow what an ordeal! So glad things have worked out !

[jconn]

The pack welcomes its newest member!

 

 

Left to right,

 

149 EF, 149 F, 149 M, 149 M, 149 OBB

[Tom Kellie]

~ Jeremy:

 

May I please ask what inks are in the EF and OBB samples?

As I'm greener than grass when it comes to inks, I don't recognize them, although they appeal to me.

Thank you for the image of the 149 Quintet. They all look great.

A doff of the chapeau to you for handling the assorted issues in these pens, thereby restoring their dormant functionality.

Tom K.

[jconn]

 

~ Jeremy:

 

May I please ask what inks are in the EF and OBB samples?

As I'm greener than grass when it comes to inks, I don't recognize them, although they appeal to me.

Thank you for the image of the 149 Quintet. They all look great.

A doff of the chapeau to you for handling the assorted issues in these pens, thereby restoring their dormant functionality.

Tom K.

 

 

Tom,

 

The EF sample is from Delta (Requiescat in pace), nominally a black ink although appearing gray due to the EF being a dry writer, and probably because there is still a little water in the feed from cleaning. It came in a 30ml bottle included with the purchase of a Delta fountain pen. I bought a couple of pens from Delta a few years ago, and I think I prefer the ink to the pens. Pilot Namiki Black acts similarly and has some excellent shading properties as well.

 

The OBB sample is Sailor Jentle Nioi-Sumire, "Sweet Violet", which has some great shading and a bit of a red sheen around the edges of the letter-forms.

 

Jeremy

[Shannon]

Second worst feeling in the world: Mailing a pen to someone who doesn't receive it

Worst feeling in the world: No longer having the tracking number