Montblanc x Fritz Schimpf Special Edition No. 3

[JungleJim]

 

 

Happy to say that my DHL package has finally arrived with a complimentary set of A4 envelopes and 2 bottles of lovely Fritz Schimpf inks. My many thanks to Herr Stolz for all his hard work to get this package cleared and his exemplary  customer service!

 

 

[XYZZY]

2 hours ago, invisuu said:

I just unscrew the nib, clean out the barrel and the nib, dry both with a paper towel, and put in new ink with a blunt syringe. Make sure you have a blunt syringe (!), as you can pierce the sealing of the piston or damage the barrel with regular needle. And to avoid unecessary mechanical fatigue on the plastic thread, don't tighten the nib all the way, just so the thread barely starts to resist. It doesn't have to be tightened to not leak, trust me, I've done it 100 times.

 

This is also the only way as far as I know how to try out ink samples, when you don't have a bottle.

 

Not all 149s have a removable nib-feed section, but new ones do.

 

I don't think dipping is a good way to test out an ink, because the feed is completely saturated and does not give you the performance you can expect with regular use.
 

I also wouldn't use the piston to clean out and refill the pen 10 times a day, but maybe that's just me. I have 30 ink samples I'm going through now, that's easily years worth of regular use on the pen within a week or so (think about how many times you would completely clean out your pen with regular use, just using 1 ink?). If nothing else, the lubricant is certainly not made for such use, and then you can expect wear and tear on the barrel for sure.

 

P.S.: since you don't wet the feed when filling with a syringe, you can wet it by turning the pen nib side up, and unscrewing the piston until you can see ink start to pool under the grip section. When you screw it back in, it will suck the ink back into the barrel, leaving the feed wet just enough for the pen to write. 

 

Well @invisuu you just cost me a pretty penny.  I've been on the fence for a couple of years about getting a 149.  I'm not a brand fanboi (this will be my first), and I prefer cartridge converter pens.  I lusted after both the Expressive and the 149C when they came out, but my left handed writing and lack of patience make flex pens more practical as youtube spectacles than in person.

 

The pictures here from Tom Kellie and others have kept me interested in this pen.  And the nib is (hopefully) excellent for me.  The width might relegate it to personal letters or birthday/Christmas cards, as opposed to a daily driver, but I have been wanting another italic nib for a while now.  I even created an account on www.fritz-schimpf.de a couple of weeks ago and have added this pen to my cart, then removed it a few minutes later, on multiple occasions.  But what finally pushed me over the edge is your reminder that the modern nib units unscrew for easy cleaning.  That wasn't even a feature I was consciously seeking, but when I read your post it clicked in my head that this feature is key to my liking my Pelikan M1005.  At that point it was hopeless.

 

[Seney724]

14 minutes ago, XYZZY said:

 

Well @invisuu you just cost me a pretty penny.  I've been on the fence for a couple of years about getting a 149.  I'm not a brand fanboi (this will be my first), and I prefer cartridge converter pens.  I lusted after both the Expressive and the 149C when they came out, but my left handed writing and lack of patience make flex pens more practical as youtube spectacles than in person.

 

The pictures here from Tom Kellie and others have kept me interested in this pen.  And the nib is (hopefully) excellent for me.  The width might relegate it to personal letters or birthday/Christmas cards, as opposed to a daily driver, but I have been wanting another italic nib for a while now.  I even created an account on www.fritz-schimpf.de a couple of weeks ago and have added this pen to my cart, then removed it a few minutes later, on multiple occasions.  But what finally pushed me over the edge is your reminder that the modern nib units unscrew for easy cleaning.  That wasn't even a feature I was consciously seeking, but when I read your post it clicked in my head that this feature is key to my liking my Pelikan M1005.  At that point it was hopeless.

 

"Cha-ching!" Chalk another one up for Fitz Schimpf  Ha, ha!  

 

I would not have thought this nib which would work well for a left handed user.  I'm not speaking with any specific knowledge and definitely not arguing the point.  I say it only because my "lefty" friends all say they cannot use an Italic nib.

 

May I ask what about this nib makes you think it will work well for you as a left hander?  I am more than casually interested in the answer because my brother is a left handed fountain pen user and he has a "big" birthday coming up.

 

Thanks for your insights.

[XYZZY]

55 minutes ago, Seney724 said:

"Cha-ching!" Chalk another one up for Fitz Schimpf  Ha, ha!  

 

I would not have thought this nib which would work well for a left handed user.  I'm not speaking with any specific knowledge and definitely not arguing the point.  I say it only because my "lefty" friends all say they cannot use an Italic nib.

 

May I ask what about this nib makes you think it will work well for you as a left hander?  I am more than casually interested in the answer because my brother is a left handed fountain pen user and he has a "big" birthday coming up.

 

Thanks for your insights.

I have never had a problem with an italic nib, nor a problem with a not-specifically-for-lefties nib that was because I'm a lefty.  Actually, I don't even have any nibs that are "designed" for lefties or custom ground for lefties.  So any thoughts about whether this will work for me are simply because I wanted another italic nib, and reading the comments from other people, and examining the pictures to look at line width.

 

Or to put that another way:  now you've got me worried.  Hopefully for nothing. 😉

[invisuu]

1 hour ago, XYZZY said:

 

Well @invisuu you just cost me a pretty penny.  I've been on the fence for a couple of years about getting a 149.  I'm not a brand fanboi (this will be my first), and I prefer cartridge converter pens.  I lusted after both the Expressive and the 149C when they came out, but my left handed writing and lack of patience make flex pens more practical as youtube spectacles than in person.

 

The pictures here from Tom Kellie and others have kept me interested in this pen.  And the nib is (hopefully) excellent for me.  The width might relegate it to personal letters or birthday/Christmas cards, as opposed to a daily driver, but I have been wanting another italic nib for a while now.  I even created an account on www.fritz-schimpf.de a couple of weeks ago and have added this pen to my cart, then removed it a few minutes later, on multiple occasions.  But what finally pushed me over the edge is your reminder that the modern nib units unscrew for easy cleaning.  That wasn't even a feature I was consciously seeking, but when I read your post it clicked in my head that this feature is key to my liking my Pelikan M1005.  At that point it was hopeless.

 

 

I have bought both "The Expressive" and the "149 Calligraphy" from Fritz Schimpf and I have nothing but praise, so you're in great hands. 

 

I never considered Montblanc before, because they used to glue the nib and that makes it completely inaccessible even for basic maintenance, like relubing and cleaning the piston, but I used to be a big Pelikan fanboy. I had more than 30 Pelikan Souverans in total. At the height of my collection (picture attached), it was this; 4 M800s and 2 M400s, but I also had M200, M205, M600, M605, M1000. I had all of their modern nibs; EF, F, M, B, IB, OB, OM... I've had 3 M40x italic broad nibs and 2 M80x italic broad nibs.

 

Once I got to know the 149 Calligraphy well, I sold all of the Pelikans and no longer have a single one. What you're not prepared for is just how the crisp lines are on Montblanc grinds. And once you see those CRISP lines from Montblanc, I would be very surprised if you'd want to go back. In comparison, Pelikan leaves a line more like a watercolor brush, whereas my Montblancs' lines are more akin to a perfect technical pencil.

 

If you want to be 100% safe, completely foolproof, buy one of those silicone tipped pincers for electronics. You probably have one at home anyway. Then you can insert it into the two holes at the nib section and unscrew it, without ever touching the nib or feed at all.

 

 

[Seney724]

24 minutes ago, XYZZY said:

Or to put that another way:  now you've got me worried.  Hopefully for nothing. 😉

I'm so sorry.  That was not my intention!

For sure it is nothing!!  Please forget I ever asked the question!!

[XYZZY]

13 minutes ago, Seney724 said:

I'm so sorry.  That was not my intention!

For sure it is nothing!!  Please forget I ever asked the question!!

Note my smiley (or winky).  We're all good here!

[Frank C]

@XYZZY & @Seney724, one concern I would have for left-handed writers is that the pen is very wet. It really puts down lot of ink. If one is not an "over-writer", that could be a problem. The nib itself is very smooth, so pushing it on the paper should be no problem. 

[Seney724]

30 minutes ago, Frank C said:

@XYZZY & @Seney724, one concern I would hav e for left-handed writers is that the pen is very wet. It really puts down lot of ink. If one is not an "over-writer", that could be a problem. The nib itself is very smooth, so pushing it on the paper should be no problem. 

Thanks, good to know!

[XYZZY]

23 minutes ago, Frank C said:

@XYZZY & @Seney724, one concern I would hav e for left-handed writers is that the pen is very wet. It really puts down lot of ink. If one is not an "over-writer", that could be a problem. The nib itself is very smooth, so pushing it on the paper should be no problem. 

 

Yeah that could be a thing.  Normally I don't pay too much attention to ink drying times and things work out.  My most common problem points related to that are really long dry times (I won't even bother sampling a monster-sheening ink), or writing out my daily todo list in the morning: short lines means I work down the page quickly, which means my hand contacts newly written lines much faster than if I was filling a page.  But even with my firehose M1005 I don't pay too much attention to what ink is in it; I just don't use it for todo lists.  Anyhow, I may need to be choosy with this pen, but I'm not worried about it being a limiting problem.

 

If I was a side-writer, with the pen pointing directly to my right, then things would be different: I probably would have stopped after a single fountain pen and gone back to gel pens.  That would have been so much cheaper, too. 😀

[JulieParadise]

13 hours ago, Seney724 said:

I would not have thought this nib which would work well for a left handed user.  I'm not speaking with any specific knowledge and definitely not arguing the point.  I say it only because my "lefty" friends all say they cannot use an Italic nib.

 

May I ask what about this nib makes you think it will work well for you as a left hander?  I am more than casually interested in the answer because my brother is a left handed fountain pen user and he has a "big" birthday coming up.

 

Thanks for your insights.

 

Having a left-handed hook-handed side-to-overwriter daughter (14 yo) who uses italic nibs both bought as well as italicized/stubbed by me, I'd say that being left-handed is not an obstacle per se to using all kinds of nibs. She especially likes to use these for her Russian homework (2nd foreign language) and whenever something needs to be written neatly for class.

 

Also, as has been mentioned, the nib (which I got to try yesterday) is very forgiving when it gets pushed, since the surface on its tip/edge is smooth and pretty big. 

 

I'd say there should not be a leftie-problem with it except for the dry time resp. smearing when going over the lines with your hands. 

[Seney724]

1 hour ago, JulieParadise said:

 

Having a left-handed hook-handed side-to-overwriter daughter (14 yo) who uses italic nibs both bought as well as italicized/stubbed by me, I'd say that being left-handed is not an obstacle per se to using all kinds of nibs. She especially likes to use these for her Russian homework (2nd foreign language) and whenever something needs to be written neatly for class.

 

Also, as has been mentioned, the nib (which I got to try yesterday) is very forgiving when it gets pushed, since the surface on its tip/edge is smooth and pretty big. 

 

I'd say there should not be a leftie-problem with it except for the dry time resp. smearing when going over the lines with your hands. 

Many thanks @JulieParadise, this is very helpful and greatly valued information!

It sounds like your daughter is a very talented young woman.  (Much like her wonderful Mother!!)

[JulieParadise]

@Seney724 Aaawww, I'm blushing. 😊

[Seney724]

2 minutes ago, JulieParadise said:

@Seney724 Aaawww, I'm blushing. 😊

Have a nice day!!!!

[Tom Kellie]

[Tom Kellie]

[Tom Kellie]

[JungleJim]

Thank-you so very much @Tom Kellie for your many reviews of the different inks with the "Italic Edge". It is very much appreciated by the FPN Community!

[Seney724]

6 hours ago, Tom Kellie said:

@Tom KelliePlease tell us how you are going about the testing of all these inks.

Are you filling / emptying via use of the piston or are you unscrewing the nib/feed complex from the section and filling the barrel from "below?"

Or, something other??

Thanks!

[Tom Kellie]

~ @Seney724:

 

The pen is filled with a fairly small volume of ink, using the piston.

 

      Tom K.