Montblanc Meisterstuck Diamond

[jgrasty]

By coincidence, on the same day that the post office delivered a Pelikan IBIS pen to me, I picked up a bottle of the new limited edition Montblanc Meisterstuck Diamond ink. I immediately inked up my new Pelikan, after a good flush, and wrote a few lines, and wow, ink and pen performed magnificently.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/IMG_0633.jpg

 

I've been writing with this ink for a few days now, and it has revealed some unusual characteristics I'd not seen in a Montblanc ink. First, the ink has wide palette of color in it, depending on the pen's nib being wet, dry, fat or narrow. It shades beautifully. Second, the ink is not well lubricated, at all. It makes my nibs sing when I write. OK, the song isn't particularly pretty, but nibs that have never squeaked or had much of a sound when writing make some noise with this ink. In particular, the F nib in my Pelikan M200 Red Demonstrator, which is a binderized steel F nib, squeaks as I write with it. Even my fat, juicy BB nib on my Pelikan M700 Toledo, that usually glides silently on a thin layer of ink, has a bit of sound to it as it moves across the paper.

 

I'm not complaining here; the ink is beautiful and it performs well, so just be aware of this lack of lubrication. I'm so used to silky smooth Montblanc inks that this characteristic was a bit of a surprise. I'd not noticed this behavior in my flex pen (Conklin Endura with XXF flex nib), as lubrication has little effect on an XXF nib, but on fatter nibs, the lack of lubrication was very noticeable.

 

Other characteristics: No feathering on good quality paper, no bleed through, either, and minimal showthrough. On cheap copier paper, there is some feathering, and significant bleed through. The ink does have some water resistance. The ink is a little on the dry side. Drying time was pleasingly fast, even on Clairefontaine.

 

I have a lot of blue inks, and I thought that I'd have more than one very close match to it. I was surprised to discover than I didn't have a close match. The closest I had was Noodler's Texas Bluebonnet, and as you can see from the scan, not a very close match at all. When I first used the ink, it reminded me of Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, but Montblanc Diamond is a little less saturated and has a bit of gray in it. A really beautiful ink, and a unique color, at least in my collection.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/mb-diamond.jpg

 

Here is Montblanc Diamond on cheap copier paper. There's some feathering visible, but not too bad.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/mb-diamond-pre.jpg

 

Here's the ink after a 15 second rinse. A mess, but still readable, and interesting that the outline of the script has a reddish tint to it.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/mb-diamond-post.jpg

 

Tech notes:

 

• Paper is Clairefontaine Feuillets Mobiles french ruled 90g
  
• Scanned with Epson V600 using VueScan 9 software; scanner calibrated with Kodak Q-60 target
  
• No additional color correction performed; scan looks accurate on my monitor
  

[Bigeddie]

Hi Joey,

 

Another very good looking review

 

I have found it to be a unique colour in my collection as well. It doesn't seem to perform as well as some of the other MB inks, but well enough to be enjoyable.

 

Interesting effect from the water test, I didn't expect it to hold up at all.

 

-Ed

[jandrese]

Thanks for the review. Would like to see some chromatography on this one. At first I dismissed this ink, but now....maybe. Is it anything like Sailor Sky High?

[xspect]

Great review

 

I dont fine it write dry

 

I brought the last two bottles of MBMD for the houston galleria with the purpose of maybe trading/selling it in the future. That just not going to happen. I'm keep these for my self !!!

[jgrasty]

Thanks for the review. Would like to see some chromatography on this one. At first I dismissed this ink, but now....maybe. Is it anything like Sailor Sky High?

 

Yes, Diamond is quite similar to Sailor Jentle Sky High. I had a sample from a past Goulet Pens Ink Drop.

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/sjsh-vs-mbmd.jpg

 

I performed a paper chromatography for the first time. Interesting mix:

 

http://bettygrastymd.com/jgrasty/wp-content/uploads/mb-diamond-chromo.jpg

[Signum1]

Love the quote! Thanks for the review.

[Quill1]

Great review, great quote, super colour and great handwritting.

[Gary1952]

As a consequence of your excellent review I have ordered 3 bottles from City Organiser in London

[Phormio]

I just picked up a bottle and started using it in my Lamy. I love it and, at least with the Lamy, it's lubricated well.

 

P.

[Bo Bo Olson]

These MB bottles are tiny. Being on a @#%&*# = budget in less colorful English, I will not be filling pens to test it. I'll be dipping, until I find the best nibs.

 

I normally fill 8 pens of assorted widths and flexs to test an ink.

This time I have to add a dry semi-flex and a wet semi-flex.

I was at my B&M bright and early. Sigh they didn't have MB Meisterstuck Diamond Blue.

 

OK, I took the bottle of Seaweed. (supposed twin brother of Racing Green...I must say it looks like I'm going really have to find the nib and paper for that. It did not seem to be the ink. Well murky Green is a main color variant. Some great poster did some 40 of them. Used the shop's MB 144 F(=M) on my Southworth Resume 100% cotton watermarked Linen styled Almond paper.

Just noticed it's Almond ...which can make a huge difference to the ink. Going to try that on some Oxford Optic 90 g ( a very good paper = 90 g Clairefontain Velvet), and some other better white paper.

So stupid, I was in such a hurry to buy better paper the few weeks I was in the states this year, I did not notice it was laser+ink jet paper.(no wonder the ink didn't impress me; the paper soaked up the ink too fast.)

 

Had I noticed it was also ink jet paper, I'd never bought it. That ruins a paper for fountain pens, in it absorbs the ink too fast, allowing not enough shading.

That means I spent a fortune for substandard paper; laser and ink jet paper. ...could well be great printer paper, but it is not fountain pen paper. :bonk:

 

All four five packs of Southworth 'good' papers are laser and ink jet. I paid a Kings Ransom for printer paper :bonk: , thinking I was getting 'real' paper. I could have bought two or three more bottles of grand bourbon and paid the import tax back in Germany.

 

There I'd been as happy as a pig in the flower bed...just goes to show you buy in a hurry, repent in leisure.

Stay away from ink jet paper. Unless you are using supersaturated ink.

A years worth of my paper budget into the printer.

 

The good news is the ink Seaweed will be better than my ex-good paper showed. I'd taken some "good" paper with me.

 

Back to this morning. Well my wife is a great one, @11:00 she called me up from work so I could take the trolley down town before it got hot. Been there and back.

 

After being told, got no Diamond, my bifocal eagle eye spotted a small blue box. "What is that?"

"Oh, that is sold only with the Mozart fountain pen."

'Hummmmm :hmm1: What Mozart ink? Never heard of it on the com.

She pulls out the box, showing me it says blue.

I turn the box. :clap1:

MB Meisterstuck Diamond

 

Pens to be dipped...the bottle is small.

F nibs.

@ 1950 Artus with a Degussa easy full flex/super-flex F.

 

P-120 ('50s-65) Pelikan F, in often a regular flex F or M will shade well, better than more flexible nibs; depending on the ink and paper.

 

Geha 725 semi-flex F a dry writer. (early 60's-72) In the OP said the ink was very dry. I need to see how it affects my dry writer.

 

'60's Clipper 'no name' with a Rupp screw on nib that fits it. The Rupp is a very flexible maxi-semi-flex/'flexi' F. Rupp was one of the Heidelberg nib makers, a very good one. The company lasted from the '30s-mid '60's perhaps a bit longer. Ball points and Bock did it under. Degussa nibs died about the same time, but Degussa as main business made plastic excluding machines and is still around. They bottom lined nibs.

 

Seeing how I am only dipping, the 400NN maxi-semi-flex/'flexi' OF will be used. I need to see how the vintage oblique does with this ink.

 

M nibs.

M400 tortoise '90-96, a 'semi-vintage' with a tad more springy regular flex than modern. M. Some times a regular flex F or M will shade better than expected.

 

Geha 790 KM, (K=kugle- which is that a round ball under the nib...not a 'normal' grind on German pens on the whole of this era. ('59-60 to 65') It was the normal American and perhaps English grind. This is a wet writer.

 

B-BB nib:

MB 234 1/2 Deluxe KOB Semi-flex, a 1 1/2 tier MB pen '52-55 only for them who did not like the 146-9 shape. A very refined version of the pre war 139.

 

Pelikan 605 BB=BB1/2 the only modern pen used. It runs a bit fat, being modern.

 

The rest of this report will come with what papers were used. Including the Southworth papers. I have others in limited supply.

 

In that some folks know we go to the flea market to sell we get given boxes of things..for free. It's no wonder I can't get my mini-cellar cleared out enough for a standard case of bottled beer. :blink:

I was given an ink jet printer...and only by accident did I find out it is a scanner. There is no way I'm going to spend a fortune on ink jet cartridges, but a free scanner is something else.

Great I'd not had a scanner in a decade since they didn't do what I wanted them to do. Copy pages out of books and allow me to cut and paste.

 

Just remember LA was not built in a Day!

 

My paper is not organized.

 

Hen Scratch Rooster Scratch will be scanned, as soon as I find where to stick the hand crank, on this gismo.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[Phormio]

I just picked up a bottle and started using it in my Lamy. I love it and, at least with the Lamy, it's lubricated well.

 

P.

 

Since writing this I have used half of the converter and the issues are creeping in. I've noticed the lubrication has diminshed considerably and the ink has become drier and the pen isn't laying down the amount of ink it was earlier. Now before using this ink the pen was thoroughly cleaned so I know the pen isn't to blame. I wonder if it has something to do with the ink's viscosity and when you get some air in the converter this has a negative effect on the cappiliary action driving the ink?

 

Again I've only used it in my Lamy so I don't know how it is going to perform in other pens though I'm tempted to bust out my Waterman Phileas to see how it goes with it.

 

P.

[Gary1952]

My three bottles of MB Diamond ink arrived recently from the UK. Packaging is excellent, however, as for the ink itself, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Definitely not in the same league as Visconti blue or Parker Penman sapphire IMHO.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It is supposed to be a two toned shading ink, not a vivid mono-tone supersaturated ink.

 

It will depend on what papers you use.

If you use ink-jet paper, you won't get shading.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[jgrasty]

My three bottles of MB Diamond ink arrived recently from the UK. Packaging is excellent, however, as for the ink itself, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Definitely not in the same league as Visconti blue or Parker Penman sapphire IMHO.

 

I'm sorry you're disappointed in the ink. However, since the ink is a limited edition, hang on to those bottles for a year and you'll be able to sell them for at least 2x what you paid for them.

[Gary1952]

It is supposed to be a two toned shading ink, not a vivid mono-tone supersaturated ink.

 

It will depend on what papers you use.

If you use ink-jet paper, you won't get shading.

Good point.

 

I know it is a subjective thing but this ink just doesn't do it for me.

[Gary1952]

My three bottles of MB Diamond ink arrived recently from the UK. Packaging is excellent, however, as for the ink itself, I can't see what all the fuss is about. Definitely not in the same league as Visconti blue or Parker Penman sapphire IMHO.

 

I'm sorry you're disappointed in the ink. However, since the ink is a limited edition, hang on to those bottles for a year and you'll be able to sell them for at least 2x what you paid for them.

I will keep it in my collection. You never know, I may get to like it.

[Gary1952]

It is supposed to be a two toned shading ink, not a vivid mono-tone supersaturated ink.

 

It will depend on what papers you use.

If you use ink-jet paper, you won't get shading.

I can definitley see the shading when I use it on Rhodia paper.

[Gary1952]

I just picked up a bottle and started using it in my Lamy. I love it and, at least with the Lamy, it's lubricated well.

 

P.

 

Since writing this I have used half of the converter and the issues are creeping in. I've noticed the lubrication has diminshed considerably and the ink has become drier and the pen isn't laying down the amount of ink it was earlier. Now before using this ink the pen was thoroughly cleaned so I know the pen isn't to blame. I wonder if it has something to do with the ink's viscosity and when you get some air in the converter this has a negative effect on the cappiliary action driving the ink?

 

Again I've only used it in my Lamy so I don't know how it is going to perform in other pens though I'm tempted to bust out my Waterman Phileas to see how it goes with it.

 

P.

Interesting. I am using it in a Lamy Safari fitted with a LH nib - no problems with flow experienced to date.

[leod]

I like the color and very high shading, here's a writing sample on a Stub nib.

there's bit of feathering on HP 32lb paper.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

In I'm waiting to see if I can get a scanner attached to my computer from an ink jet/scanner printer some one gave me. I've not done the full paper report.

 

On Clairefontaine Velqute 90 g:

The easy full flex Degussa nib.

With two of the same nibs, both Degussa, one showed no shading , the feed was too wet. The other had nice shading.

I learned the Artus (@'50) feed is dryer than the no name Pewado war feed. Something I'd not noticed until now.

 

The dry writing Geha 725 semi-flex F, has some shading but is light. I'd expected that in some one had a dry writing pen that had some problems.

 

Pelikan 120 regular flex F is darker than the Geha 725 but still a tad light, shading light.

 

Pelikan M400(90-96) M is darker with descent shading.

 

Clipper semi-flex M, is darker (semi-flex often is a wetter nib) not too bad but no cigar. Writes a tad wet, yet the wet writer Geha 790 was better....odd how things are in the Twilight Zone.

 

400NN OF maxi-semi-flex/'flexi", with a light hand not a lot, with a heavier hand it's nice.

 

Geha 790 wet KM semi-flex, is pretty good.

 

MB 234 1/2 Deluxe semi-flex KOB, is very nice.

 

Pelikan 605, BB, tad of feather, not bad shading. No cigar. A bit 'too wet'; a bit too dark limiting the shading.

 

5 out of ten is not bad at all, for shading nearly what I hoped for.

 

The ink seems to like the nibs in the middle.

Will do nice with a regular flex M, wetter M's also.

Wetter F's like the OF, but it needed a tad of pressure.

One not so wet Full Flex did fine.

 

I expected a bit better from the 120, but with all these pens, all I did was dip. That is a small bottle, and I have some more papers to check.

 

Different paper will show differences I'm sure.

 

Perhaps if I printed, I'd have different results. I'll have to remember to print also.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson