What's The Difference: Lacquer Vs Resin

[Jip]

I've placed an order on the Montblanc Rouge et Noir fountain pen and read that the body is 'Lacquer' while the cap is 'Resin'. I know my 146 is Resin and was wondering what is the difference with the Lacquer...

 

Thanks in advance, I'm just curious!

[ljz]

Lacquer is usually applied on the metallic barrel of a pen to make its surface shinier and more tactile despite the protective function. After an intensive long term use of a lacquer-coated pen, you’ll notice some lacquer start to peel off the barrel. Don’t worry Montblanc claims this as normal wear and tear. Resin is, on the other hand, a type of “plastic”.

[dbs]

I've placed an order on the Montblanc Rouge et Noir fountain pen and read that the body is 'Lacquer' while the cap is 'Resin'. I know my 146 is Resin and was wondering what is the difference with the Lacquer...

 

Thanks in advance, I'm just curious!

Rouge et Noi's barrel is made of brass. Lacquer is a layer of hard paint (usually cured after heating process) applied on the brass. But lacquer on Rouge et Noi is soft, semi transparent one, more like color base with clear coat than regular lacquer (such as Mills Davis, which is as hard as metal).

[Jip]

Rouge et Noi's barrel is made of brass. Lacquer is a layer of hard paint (usually cured after heating process) applied on the brass. But lacquer on Rouge et Noi is soft, semi transparent one, more like color base with clear coat than regular lacquer (such as Mills Davis, which is as hard as metal).

 

I'll have to be careful like with my 146 then I guess? I mean I'll be careful regardless with my pens, but I was just curious about the difference.

 

Also if the pen is made of brass does that mean the ink is touching the brass from the inside? Isn't that bad? I thought Ink shouldn't be touching non precious metals. Since it'll corrode?

Edited July 31, 2019 by Jip

[dbs]

Rouge Et Noir is a simple cartridge convertor pen, but committed using a very complicated design. The design is very similar to iconic Heritage 1912 but without retracting mechanism. There are several discussions before about the design.

 

Only barrel part is made of brass. The section is stainless steel. And there is an inner stainless steel jacket inside brass barrel so even the ink spills, it won't touch brass.

 

Due to the complicity in design, cartridge convertor pen is sold at very high price (for example, $920 for spider version).

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by dbs

[Tom Kellie]

~ dbs:

 

I admire your Rouge et Noir sketch above.

Very helpful. Thank you so much for posting it.

I'd wondered how that pen operated.

Tom K.

[Dmact]

To be scientific, lacquer is originally a secretion produced by the lac beetle however:

In terms of modern products for coating finishes, lac-based finishes are likely to be referred to as shellac, while lacquer often refers to other polymers dissolved in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as nitrocellulose, and later acrylic compounds dissolved in lacquer thinner, a mixture of several solvents typically containing butyl acetate and xylene or toluene. Lacquer is more durable than shellac.

So think of laquer more like varnish.

 

Resin however is a form of plastic... You mix the resin base with an activator plus any dyes or other aesthetic "stuff" (ie sparklies or random bits of stuff) and let it cure into hard plastic. There's some pretty cool videos of folks making stuff out of resin, from pens to bowls, to tables and counter tops.

[Jip]

Rouge Et Noir is a simple cartridge convertor pen, but committed using a very complicated design. The design is very similar to iconic Heritage 1912 but without retracting mechanism. There are several discussions before about the design.

 

Only barrel part is made of brass. The section is stainless steel. And there is an inner stainless steel jacket inside brass barrel so even the ink spills, it won't touch brass.

 

Due to the complicity in design, cartridge convertor pen is sold at very high price (for example, $920 for spider version).

 

 

 

 

Wow thanks for your detailed explanation, so the pen has a relative small ink quantity compared to lets say my 146 Le Grande? Since the knob on the back just activated the convertor inside the pen body?

[dbs]

 

 

 

Wow thanks for your detailed explanation, so the pen has a relative small ink quantity compared to lets say my 146 Le Grande? Since the knob on the back just activated the convertor inside the pen body?

Yes, it is a converter pen. Same as Heritage 1912 -- nib, feeder are interchangeable, except 1912's feeder is mounted on a moving inner section, this one is on fixed section.

 

roughly about 8 drops of ink, 0.7ml ink, or 7-8 pages of paper writing.

[Jip]

How much ml of ink does a Le Grande 146 hold? Just so I have a good sense of how more often I need to fill the Rouge et Noir.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Jip

[jayKellner]

Commercially as said above when most brands talk about lacquer, means that the pen is made of metal (most of the times) that is painted. Some Japanese ebonite pens can be hand lacquered, (urushi).......and resin is just another (mostly) commercial name, specially when they say precious. This is really a MB thing as the truth is that there's nothing precious at all, as, we are not talking about celluloid, ebonite (hard rubber) or materials that are common in vintage fountain pens (including MB). Modern ones are made of ABS, injected. Can't be cheaper than that.
Although I'm a MB collector, that's the way it goes.

[Jip]

I don't mind there is nothing precious about the material...I just wish they stop selling it as such.

 

Also I quite often wonder what really is precious metal on certain pens... like: Montblanc Starwalker 2019 Doué, is it just the cap and clip that is platinum coated? Is it actually only the clip? Is the section maybe also platinum coated? Or...

 

MB is not very clear about this.