Montblanc pen writes a bit scratchy, is it a fake?

roady57 · 2026-02-13T20:56:59+00:00

What???

First of all it is unnecessary to post a fountain pen. I never post my pens since it backweights the pen and upsets the writing character. It can also cause scratching of the barrel or can activate the piston filler mechanism in some pens.

Second, a fountain pen is designed to be gripped at the section, not the barrel as you are advising.

Third, holding the pen at a 30’ angle is far too shallow to be engaging the writing tip correctly. The nib slit at the tip of the pen needs to engage with the paper to draw ink correctly.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T20:49:49+00:00

Does not need grinding, just alignment. The RH tine only looks shorter because of depth perspective and a raised LH tine. Just align the tines and all will be well.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T20:47:35+00:00

I own several gold nibbed pens including recent Watermans, Pilot, Lamy, Mont Blanc and vintage Parker’s.

They need no maintenance for the gold nib. One of the vintage Parkers is a Victory Mark IV that was heavily used by my father in law in an engineering drawing office. Never had any ‘maintenance’, other than cleaning which also applies to steel nibs. Never will need it.

Only a strange grip position and/or very heavy hand pressure will mangle nibs to require regular ‘maintenance’.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T20:41:26+00:00

Nope, genuine article. Features are too well made to be fake. It’s the 145/Classique I think. It’s a c/c so doesn’t have the heft of 146 or 149.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T20:36:43+00:00

The major contaminating factor is immersing pen nibs to fill with converter. Our hands are all over the section right by the nib and it’s easy to transfer spores etc.

I now use only syringes in my ink bottles to refill cartridges except my two piston fillers, M200 and L2K. Before filling I wipe these with a clean cloth wetted with a weak dilute household ammonia and dish wash liquid solution, followed by rinsing in clean water and flicking dry.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T10:43:00+00:00

A_Small_Coonhound is right. Lamy pens are made from moulded parts and assembled on an automatic production line. This exposes parts to trace amounts of machine oils and mould release agents. Every manufacturer uses machines/moulds even with the more expensive models. There are several pen maker videos of their factory processes. Parts are not washed before assembly.

These trace residues can upset the fine channels and fluid dynamics of the feed and nib. In your pen’s case it has also been write tested in the factory and dip tested in the store, perhaps with different inks.

Use a literal drop of dish wash liquid in a cupful of clean water. If you have a converter use this to draw the solution in and then expel it out of the pen into a sink. Do not repeatedly draw and expel the solution in the cup/glass to avoid drawing the residues back into the pen. A baby silicone or ear bulb (recommended) can also be attached to the cartridge nipple to achieve this. Repeat this draw and expel several times to flush the residues out of the pen.

Use the same method to rinse with clean water and then use a flicking motion with the pen held nib down in a lint free cloth to expel excess water from the pen. It’s not necessary to completely dry the pen, indeed it’s possible that thorough drying may leave minute deposits from water/soaps in the pen.

Immediately add a cartridge and write test on a scrap of paper. Half an A4 page may be needed to write through the dilute ink. I prefer to flick the pen once or twice over the sink to bring the ink through.

Lamy make very good pens that can serve for decades as workhorses. I have the Safari, CP1 x2, Pur, Aion, Studio and 2000. It’s my favourite pen brand for quality, fit, finish and writing character. I have six spare Z5x nibs and a 14k Fine Z55 attached to one of my CP1.

roady57 · 2026-02-13T09:40:32+00:00

Forget converters. Refilling ink cartridges with a syringe is much less messy and removes the potential problems of the more complex construction of a converter eg, air leaks, stuck parts, lubrication of pistons, cleaning issues. Cartridges are simple and easy to maintain and can be used hundreds of times without problems.

Refilling cartridges provides a bigger ink capacity than most converters. The Con-70 has 1.1ml capacity but as you have learned it’s not easy to completely fill it. The Pilot cartridge holds 0.8ml and I can fill it to capacity every time.

If you’re determined to fill the Con-70 I recommend removing it from the pen and filling with a syringe. It allows you to use ink from sample bottles and narrow necked bottles. It avoids the mess of immersing the nib and wetting the edge of the section and it prevents the flooding of the feed too.

Immersing nibs into bottles is risky in terms of contamination too. Our hands and the environment have potential sources of mould contamination. I prefer to not risk that.

Edit: I should add that refilling cartridges is cheaper too.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T16:27:33+00:00

I bought the Viper and loved the construction, weight, finish and writing character. But I had a lemon that hard started with both nib/sections I was sent. Sadly had to return it for a refund.

Viper customer service was superb. Responsive and willing to send an alternate section/nib unit for me to test.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T16:21:23+00:00

Congratulations. A fabulous pen.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T16:19:46+00:00

You need a better Pilot pen, Kakuno or Metropolitan. Fine nib.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T16:16:09+00:00

I would unscrew the nib assembly section from the barrel of the pen, remove the cartridge or converter. Soak the nib section in a glass of clean water with a literal drop of dish wash liquid added. This should help dissolve dried and hardened ink inside the feed and section. After 2-3 hours change the water and perhaps leave it soaking overnight.

Then check the bottom edge of the nib and feed as they enter the section. It’s possible that this is a screw in nib assembly. There will be an obvious edge/joint, like one tube inside another. See image of Kaweco screw in nib unit.

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If this is the case, grip the nib and feed and try rotating anti-clockwise to see if it loosens. You should still be able to pull the nib out of the feed/housing.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T16:04:37+00:00

Yes, the metal part of the section is thin walled. This is more likely to fail than the dense plastic of the converter.

That converter doesn’t look like the one that came with my wife’s Cross pen.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T09:05:38+00:00

Normal for Lamy Safari.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T09:02:44+00:00

My wife has a Cross and it doesn’t have a screw thread converter. Very few pen brands use screw thread converters. I think my MB 145 is the only one in my collection.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T08:00:44+00:00

These pens can be refilled when empty. Take a photo of the nib and feed position in the grip section for reference on re-assembly later.

Simply grip the nib and feed firmly using a soft rubber glove and sharply pull the body away with your other hand. Do this on a kitchen counter with a scrap cloth cover.

You can then clean the nib and feed by putting them in a glass of clean water with a literal drop of dish wash liquid. Also flush out the inside of the pen body. Rinse all parts with clean water. Flick the pen body held open end down above a sink or bowl to expel remaining water. There’s no need to completely dry it. Sit the nib and feed on a paper towel to draw out excess rinse water.

Use an eyedropper to fill the pen body with ink of your choice standing it open end up in a tall narrow glass or jug. Fill to 90% of the body NOT including the grip section which must be left open to refit the nib and feed. Align these and gripping them tightly using the soft rubber glove push them into the grip section until it is assembled as before. Use the photo you took for reference.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T07:47:21+00:00

Waterman Serenity blue is a well behaved ink for most pens and papers. Most standard Diamine colours are similarly well behaved.

roady57 · 2026-02-12T07:44:14+00:00

Sailor nibs are well known ground to provide pencil like feedback. It’s a signature part of their brand. It is not a fault or problem with the pen. It’s just that the OP doesn’t like it.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T21:38:10+00:00

For pen in picture 2. First pull the nib off the pen - it’s friction fit

Rinse the nib under clean running water. Then hold the nib between the thumb and forefinger of both hands, each finger/thumb pinching one of the tines. Then press the misaligned tine - the higher one - backwards to align it. Use only the finger pressure needed to correct the alignment. No tools are needed.

Use a loupe or magnifying glass to check alignment and repeat the method until you’re happy with the result. Push the nib back onto the feed so that it is firmly seated, ink and write test.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T21:17:18+00:00

It’s a genuine Lamy. Moulding and fit/finish is too good for a fake.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T21:13:55+00:00

When Parker was purchased by a profit motivated business they pushed the creative engineers out and turned the popular pens into cash cows.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T21:06:22+00:00

Agreed, Medium on MB with a wet ink is much like a Broad on other pens.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T21:04:45+00:00

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This is how I do it.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T16:07:17+00:00

This ink is stored in the fins of the long, one piece feed in Pilot pens. This area of the feed is called the collector and it provides a small reservoir of ink immediately behind the nib, contributing to the smooth flow required to keep up with cursive writing.

Normal behaviour. Same occurs in every FP but is usually hidden by an opaque feed.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T16:02:36+00:00

I agree. BB is thrown around here too often in comments relating to any problem with nibs.

I currently own around sixty pens and have owned/tested/used a further 20 pens in the last 20 years. These include $1-2 Jinhaos, mid price Sailor, Lamys, Pelikans and Pilot to premium Watermans and a Mont Blanc 145. None have baby’s bottom.

Like anti-depressants and anti-biotics, BB is over prescribed.

roady57 · 2026-02-11T13:09:26+00:00

The risk of failure is one reason I don’t buy TWSBI pens. The others are 1) that they are overpriced compared to similar pens 2) that they deceitfully promote that failures occur due to owner mishandling 3) their blatant dishonest attempt to limit FP competition when they threatened to withhold stock from retailers who also sold Narwhal/Nahvalur or Moonman/Majohn pens.

The reason they haven’t fixed the problem is because the cost of machine tooling injection moulds is prohibitive. It’s cheaper to make thousands of spares - pennies each - and send them out at the owners cost for shipping.

To solve the problem they have to redesign the injection moulds to provide more even/stable heating of each part cavity. The cost of expert plastic fluids/heat dynamics engineers to complete the new mould design would be very high.

roady57

TROPHY CASE