Two MontBlanc Stubs from Dillon

[JRodriguez]

A few people expressed interest in reading about the outcome of a MontBlanc 146 pen I sent to Dillon to have turned into a stub – I have two 146s, and they both wrote about the same; despite one being marked a fine and the other a medium, they were really both mediums. So I put one up for auction and there seemed to be no interest so I decided to see if Dillon could alter it to make me want to keep. What I didn’t tell anyone at the time was that I also sent him a 149 for the same treatment. I received both pens back about a week from the day I dropped them off at the post office. The 149 writes incredibly. I am more pleased with the work he did with this pen than I could have expected to be. It has become my go to journaling pen, and I journal about 5 pages per day in a Molekine or Clairefontaine, whichever I’ve decided to start up when the last journal ran out (right now I’m using a blank Moleskine). The nib was originally a medium/fine and I didn’t know how much character I could expect from it – but its got a ton. I really wish I had a digital camera so that I could post some writing samples.

 

As for the 146, the pen writes terrifically, though I’m sending it back to have it adjusted for my more horizontal hold – Dillon is offering to continue to work on a pen a customer sends him until that customer is happy, which was one of the reasons I decided to send them to him (that and the quick return. This pen was a medium nib and came back as a very nice and wet writer, and like the 149, it also writes with lots of character - the only issue with it is that it writes best held slightly more vertical than my normal hold, but everyone has different angles, no? I’ll be very excited to get this back.

 

I should mention that my experience with italic nibs is a tad limited. I have two italic Pelikan nibs - a 1.0mm stub and a RF Oblique from Richard and they are both absolutely fantastic. I refrain from comparing because in my opinion the nibs on the MontBlancs and Pelikans are totally different experiences. I’m super happy with the work Dillon did and he will most certainly be one of the pen specialists I go to for future alterations. I hope this is of use to some of you.

[RonB]

Thanks for the information!

 

Ron

[French]

I agree 100% that Dillon does an outstanding job altering nibs. I've sent him two DaniTrios so far, and he as made both of them into fantastic italic nibs. The first pen I sent, a Cum Laude with a medium nib was ground into an italic with great deal of character and a bit of tooth. The second, a Tosca with a medium nib, was ground into 'my dream nib', an italic with very little tooth, and great variation.

 

Dillon's customer service is second to none, and the turn around time is fantastic. All nibmeisters are different, but I'm very happy with the results I've gotten from Dillon.

 

Here is a sample of the Dani Cum Laude's writing (pardon my chicken scratch)

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/french_lewis/my%20pens/IMG_2173.jpg

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

Both of those nibs French got were sharp italics with razor thin lines. While very, very crisp, they don't catch into the paper.

 

Dillon

[JRodriguez]

Thanks for the writing sample. I figured others out there were as pleased as I have been.