The Montsailor. Not For The Feint Of Heart.

[Ytland]

Hi all,

 

For a long time I've been a big fan of MontBlanc 146 pens: their balance, huge capacity and great feel in hand are (in my opinion) unrivalled. I could never get over their nibs though; mushy, unexpressive and often requiring significant work before they wrote as I preferred. (What can I say? I'm picky when it comes to nibs).

 

Enter the Sailor pen company. With woeful size and balance for my hand, the lack of girth and weight were a surefire recipe for hand cramps after a few lines of writing. But the nib was otherworldly. Just unparalleled.

 

So... the solution?

 

http://s2.postimg.org/jad4o9w4p/IMAG1326.jpg

 

http://s2.postimg.org/ae2ckc5ih/IMAG1327.jpg

 

http://s2.postimg.org/dbzbe1d61/IMAG1325.jpg

 

http://s21.postimg.org/vro59fjev/IMAG1328.jpg

 

I haven't seen this done before, and in all honesty I wouldn't recommend it if you have any true love for your pens or can resell them, but both the sailor and MontBlanc had cosmetic issues that would have decimated their resale price. So instead I hacked together a workhorse. An ebonite feed is required for heat-setting to fit the new shape and curvature of the Sailor nib.

 

Let me know what you think!

Edited June 23, 2013 by Ytland

[hari317]

Excellent to hear that you could combine the best elements of both into a single pen. well done!

[Ytland]

Excellent to hear that you could combine the best elements of both into a single pen. well done!

 

Thanks Hari!

[bluesky]

Interesting solution to finding the pen best pen nib and body that fit you personally.

 

For those without the materials and knowledge to make combination pens and with current issue at hand, one could consider Sailor King of Pens for size and quality of nib. Although Sailor is cartridge converter with smaller ink capacity.

 

Enjoy the fruits of your labor

Best Wishes

bluesky

[Bo Bo Olson]

I would suggest a 1950-65 or a 65-75 Mount Blanc nib...which are semi-flex to 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex....not the least bit mushy.

No...you would think them much more than mushy, if you think a 'springy' modern MB to be 'mushy'.

I prefer the semi-flex to the 'springy'.

 

As far as I understand it and can be easily wrong, in I have no Japanese pens....a Sailor is a nail?

There for you got what you want, a wide pen with a nail nib.

 

MB did make nails, I have a MB 320 nail...it is not big and fat, but a thinner elegant pen; how ever that nib would never fit your 146 pen. I am sure that better informed MB users can tell you which MB's are nails.

 

 

A Modern Pelikan 800 is a good nail pen; which I'd never buy, preferring "mushy" vintage nibs with a tad of spring (when I dip under semi-flex), like the '83-89 Pelikan 800 which is on my list. The Lamy Persona with a CI nail nib also; which I do have. So keep your eye open for those two.

 

I have six nail nibbed pens, 4 in each size range and one is an CI, so IMO I have one nail nib too many.

[Tom Aquinas]

Bonza Digger. Shows fair dinkum, true blue Aussie grey matter exercise that you could not find past the black stump. (The linguists in the forum will spend years working out our idiomatic Aussie slang).

[Ytland]

Bonza Digger. Shows fair dinkum, true blue Aussie grey matter exercise that you could not find past the black stump. (The linguists in the forum will spend years working out our idiomatic Aussie slang).

 

Tom,

Onya mate. I stand in awe of your linguistic skill...

It's been a while since I heard an Aussie with good grammar!

 

BoBo,

by 'mushy' I mean that the tines wouldn't snap back very quickly after pressure. I have some vintage Pelikans and Parkers that are far better in that arena. Perhaps you're right though, I just need an older nib.

[Uncle Red]

Looks like a good match however I would have gone with a zoom nib.

[Ytland]

Haha, zoom nibs are awesome!! Only ever got to use one for a fleeting minute though...

[olivier78860]

Ah, finally someone who raised my interest for the 146, which is a good pen in terms of balance and size, but which nib is, in my opinion, far inferior to the Sailor's, and to the 149's.

 

Excellent work.

[alexander_k]

Good solution. Montblanc used to make nice nibs, even for their less expensive pens, but nowadays one has to look elsewhere for something more exciting.

[hari317]

... Montblanc used to make nice nibs, even for their less expensive pens, but nowadays one has to look elsewhere for something more exciting.

like where?

[RMN]

You realise you take the risk of being sued by MB for violating their intellectual and creative property......

 

 

D.ick

[hardyb]

IT's ALIVE!!!! (flashes of lightening) Quick Igor!... Lower the slab!! Once again the cool rationale of pure science (mad though it my be) overcomes the blinders of superstition.

Edited June 23, 2013 by hardyb

[Blade Runner]

My MB nibs work just fine. They have a different character however. Sailor nibs lack the kind of feedback I like. To each his own preferences. I would add that since Sailor essentially copied MB's nib engraving, I don't think anyone will notice a frankenpen on casual inspection. : -)

Edited June 23, 2013 by Blade Runner

[Edwaroth]

Savage beauty that! I have a Pro Gear but the section drives me bonkers...I prefer a concave design with a nice radius at the nib end...any suggestions?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Ytland

I have been very lucky getting good vintage pre'66 German semi-flex or 'flexi' nibs; in both name and 'no name' pens.

 

I do not have a lot of springy nibs, three I think, one of which is a MB Woolf. Springy nibs don't have much tine spread....not the 3 times the width of a light down stroke of a regular flex, semi-flex or 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex.

 

Springy nibs spring/or bend up and down; not sideways, but have perhaps up to 2 X a tine spread. In that they are not made to spread real wide. (see below) but 18 K is 'known' to be mushy.

 

I apologize for not realizing that was what you were talking about.

 

I never expected more. than springy and that I'd read often that 18 K was 'mushy' and bent and stayed bent easy, did not press the nib but once to see that it really didn't spread much at all. As I expected.

 

In it was one of this Modern MB nibs where a B=BB, I was not going to see a lot of spread as was. A modern MB B seems to be just a signature nib. See what I say about a vintage MB nib below.

 

Richard has an article on nib springing through metal fatigue or over stressing.

 

Of course that 3X of a regular flex is well mashed. Semi-flex half that, 'flexi' half the pressure needed for semi-flex.

 

I have that nail 320, the springy MB Woolf and a real nice semi-flex MB 234 1/2 Deluxe. (52-55 only, mine is a '55 because of the feed.)

It is a nice OB nib, that is nice to write with equivalent to a modern M-B, a good writing nib, not a 'signature' nib at all.

 

It is 14 C a different alloy than 14 K or 18 K. I would take a 18 C nib in a heart beat, but have no need of an 18K nib. The 14/18C nib is more flexible, and not mushy. It was my fault in not remembering I had one of those 'mushy' 18 K nibs my self. In that I don't mush the nib.

 

I will one day luck into a vintage '50-65 ... 146-9 in 18 C nibbed pens (the 66-75 MB are from my reading not quite as good as the '50-65 ones.)...After '75 nothing but springy nibs, nothing with any 'life'.

 

I've no interest in second class nibs of 18 K. I did know not to expect anything more than springy with that Woolf...real pretty nib...I just forgot modern 18 K nibs could also be called 'mushy'. I'd just taken the soft ride, with out trying anything fancy with the nib, so hadn't noticed mushy.

 

In that I learned here on the com the 'forefinger up' method of grasping a pen; which is an automatically light grip; I never pushed the nib enough to make it mushy.

 

The 'forefinger up' is used by two or three of us here. In advance search find 'classic tripod' and 'death grip' it is disused and shown with in the thread as minority opinion. I would never go back to the classic tripod, in it gave me the death grip...Out side when I use my P-75 and Safari.

 

Having only two 18K nibs, one a nail, one springy I am not an expert on 18 K nibs.

However, I've read many threads and posts where 18 K nibs were bent out of shape due to too much pressure; or lacked the spring and flex of the fabled 18 C nib. Many called 18 K nibs 'soft'/'mushy'.

 

I do have nice semi-flex nibs in 14 K though also. 14 K is a safer nib than 18 K and can be made semi-flex where 18 K can not be made semi-flex.

 

I tend to like semi-flex, I have @ 26 of them.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Bo Bo Olson

[Ytland]

Ah, finally someone who raised my interest for the 146, which is a good pen in terms of balance and size, but which nib is, in my opinion, far inferior to the Sailor's, and to the 149's.

 

A brother in arms! I share a similar admiration for the 149, and will purchase one just as soon as I can afford (read: justify) it.

 

You realise you take the risk of being sued by MB for violating their intellectual and creative property......

Dick, it may be true, but at least I'll have a fantastic pen to write with while in prison...

 

I would add that since Sailor essentially copied MB's nib engraving, I don't think anyone will notice a frankenpen on casual inspection. : -)

I never thought of this... But I agree that Sailor's blatant carbon-copying of MB's designs would land them in prison sooner than myself!

 

I have a Pro Gear but the section drives me bonkers...I prefer a concave design with a nice radius at the nib end...any suggestions?

Yes. If you like concave sections, try to track down a Parker Vacumatic, which has the most comfy section I've ever used. The modern Pelikans also feel curvier than they look at the section.

[humsin]

I must disagree! While I do enjoy Sailor nibs, I think Montblanc nibs are excellent in their own regard. I highly enjoy the grind of Montblanc nibs. I find that by grinding away most of the tipping, the nib becomes much more responsive than having a ball tip. I'm tied between Sailor and Montblanc. I prefer the feedback and construction of Montblanc by a little bit, but since Sailors can be had for a fraction of the price of a Montblanc, I'm tied.