Black Mont Blanc fountain pen Ink appears BROWN on page

I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years ago.
I've never really used it, mainly because I can never get the ink to look
right when I'm writing. I bought an expensive vial of black Mont Blanc
ink from Office Depot, however when I fill the pen and write with it, the
ink on the page looks simply UGLY. Some of the ink appears black, some
brown, some beige... I wonder "why even bother?" This pen cost hundreds
of dollars...and it's a huge hassle to work with...

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

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Blarney wrote:

I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years
ago. I've never really used it, mainly because I can never get the ink
to look right when I'm writing. I bought an expensive vial of black
Mont Blanc ink from Office Depot, however when I fill the pen and write
with it, the ink on the page looks simply UGLY. Some of the ink
appears black, some brown, some beige... I wonder "why even bother?"
This pen cost hundreds of dollars...and it's a huge hassle to work with...

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?


By all means, try another ink. I'd recommend another
brand, but I'm not a big fan of MB ink. If black is what
you're looking for, two of the benchmarks are Aurora and
Noodler's inks. Each is very dark and have good flow
properties. Noodler's black is also waterproof.

Mark Z.

A change of ink is indeed the answer.
You will get several suggestions here so I may as well get my licks in
first.
I like the new Noodlers inks sold by www.swisherpens.com and many other web
sellers. They have a black ink that is waterproof and a nice satisfying beep
black. I almost always have my Mont Blanc 146 filled with Noodlers Ottoman
Rosé. As far as blue inks go you can get many nice blues from different
manufactures. An ink that flows well and looks nice which may be available
locally for you is Sheaffers Peacock Blue.
If you run across Watermans ink, they are of good quality.
There you have a few ideas, and I am sure you will get many other
suggestions.
Ken.

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"Blarney" wrote in message
news
I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years ago.
I've never really used it, mainly because I can never get the ink to look
right when I'm writing. I bought an expensive vial of black Mont Blanc
ink from Office Depot, however when I fill the pen and write with it, the
ink on the page looks simply UGLY. Some of the ink appears black, some
brown, some beige... I wonder "why even bother?" This pen cost hundreds
of dollars...and it's a huge hassle to work with...

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

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There is one extremely good thing about MB inks: the bottle. The ink is junk
IMHO. Get yourself some Aurora black.
Richard
"Blarney" wrote in message
news
I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years ago.
I've never really used it, mainly because I can never get the ink to look
right when I'm writing. I bought an expensive vial of black Mont Blanc
ink from Office Depot, however when I fill the pen and write with it, the
ink on the page looks simply UGLY. Some of the ink appears black, some
brown, some beige... I wonder "why even bother?" This pen cost hundreds
of dollars...and it's a huge hassle to work with...

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 14:49:12 GMT, Blarney wrote:

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

I use Waterman and Parker Quink in my 146.

Blarney wrote:
I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years
ago. I've never really used it, mainly because I can never get the ink
to look right when I'm writing. I bought an expensive vial of black
Mont Blanc ink from Office Depot, however when I fill the pen and write
with it, the ink on the page looks simply UGLY. Some of the ink
appears black, some brown, some beige... I wonder "why even bother?"
This pen cost hundreds of dollars...and it's a huge hassle to work with...

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

By all means try a different ink, but this behaviour is deeply
odd. My wife uses MB black exclusively, and we've never seen
anything like this. It could be that the pen is not feeding ink
consistently -- does it seem to be drying up as you write?

If you want to try another ink, as people have said Noodler's
and Aurora are splendid blacks, but not on the shelf in your
local stationery store; of the commonly available inks, I'd go
for Quink, or Pelikan if you can find it.

Good luck.

"Michael Wright" wrote:

... My wife uses MB black exclusively, and we've
never seen anything like this. It could be that
the pen is not feeding ink consistently -- does
it seem to be drying up as you write?

I agree with Michael. I, too, use a lot of MB ink and have never
experienced problems such as blarney describes. IMO, MB makes excellent
inks... Although they don't make a lot of feefeefoofoo colors, their ink
is of consistently high quality... no SITB or mold problem etc. The
worst you can say about it is that it flows slow in some pens because
they don't add a ton of wetting agent. Anyway, I think Michael's
suggestion checking the pen for flow problems is a good one. Sounds
to me like inconsistent flow due to problems with ink delivery (e.g.,
partially clogged ink channels, air flow prob.) or the way in which the
pen is held during writing. I don't think Office Depot carries bottled
fountain pen ink anymore, otherwise I'd suggest Parker Quink. Because
you're probably going to have to order the ink anyway, try any black
ink... Parker Quink, Waterman, Sheaffer, Diamine, Aurora, whatever...
Pendemonium (www.pendemonium.com) is good source of ink... and Sam has a
few bottles of NOS vintage Sheaffer Washable Black that'd work just fine
in a modern MB. -- B

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 07:15:30 -0800, Kenneth D. Schillinger
wrote:

A change of ink is indeed the answer.
You will get several suggestions here so I may as well get my licks in
first.
I like the new Noodlers inks sold by www.swisherpens.com and many other
web
sellers. They have a black ink that is waterproof and a nice satisfying
beep
black. I almost always have my Mont Blanc 146 filled with Noodlers
Ottoman
Rosé. As far as blue inks go you can get many nice blues from different
manufactures. An ink that flows well and looks nice which may be
available
locally for you is Sheaffers Peacock Blue.
If you run across Watermans ink, they are of good quality.
There you have a few ideas, and I am sure you will get many other
suggestions.
Ken.


Thank you. I am by no means married to blacking. In fact blue is my
favorite color, and that Sheaffers Peacock Blue you describe sounds
terrific! I'm going to look right now and see if I can find some locally.

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Blarney wrote...
I was given a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Christmas about six years ago.
... black Mont Blanc ink ... looks simply UGLY....

Would different ink help? Maybe blue? Maybe a different brand?

You'll enjoy your pen a whole lot more if you like the ink you're
writing with. So I agree the first thing you should do is throw out
the Montblanc ink (but save the bottle - you'll need it for when you
become an ink fiend :-) ).

Next, flush out your pen with clear, cool tap water. That is, keep
filling it and emptying it with water (cool water, not warm or hot)
until the water you're expelling from the pen runs clear. Gently
shaking the pen before emptying it each time can speed up the cleaning
process. When the pen is clean, let it dry before you fill it with
ink. Stand it, nib down, in a glass with some paper towel crumpled at
the bottom, so that both gravity and capillary action can help drain
the water out.

As for inks, try Noodler's Black if you want a deep rich waterproof
black ink. Noodler's also has a variety of blue inks to choose from
(Blue, Blue/Black, Navy Blue, Midnight Blue, Ottoman Blue, and
others). Beyond Noodler's, there's a whole world of inks out there.
Go to The Writing Desk and play with the 3-way ink comparison tool:

http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ink_cat/inkchooser.html

Bear in mind that the way the colors display on your monitor may not
correspond to the way they'll look on the page in real life. But
still, it'll give you some idea of the array of colors available to
you, should you choose to become a fiend -- or should ink fiendom
choose you.

Enjoy the search, and enjoy your pen.

--
Viseguy

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:59:46 -0500, BL wrote:

"Michael Wright" wrote:

... My wife uses MB black exclusively, and we've
never seen anything like this. It could be that
the pen is not feeding ink consistently -- does
it seem to be drying up as you write?

I agree with Michael. I, too, use a lot of MB ink and have never
experienced problems such as blarney describes. IMO, MB makes excellent
inks... Although they don't make a lot of feefeefoofoo colors, their ink
is of consistently high quality... no SITB or mold problem etc. The
worst you can say about it is that it flows slow in some pens because
they don't add a ton of wetting agent. Anyway, I think Michael's
suggestion checking the pen for flow problems is a good one. Sounds
to me like inconsistent flow due to problems with ink delivery (e.g.,
partially clogged ink channels, air flow prob.) or the way in which the
pen is held during writing. I don't think Office Depot carries bottled
fountain pen ink anymore, otherwise I'd suggest Parker Quink. Because
you're probably going to have to order the ink anyway, try any black
ink... Parker Quink, Waterman, Sheaffer, Diamine, Aurora, whatever...
Pendemonium (www.pendemonium.com) is good source of ink... and Sam has a
few bottles of NOS vintage Sheaffer Washable Black that'd work just fine
in a modern MB. -- B


I do not know if the pen is clogged or not, I am not experienced enough to
tell. However I will say that this Mont Blanc ink is the first and only
ink have used with this pen. Since the very beginning it is written in
this manner.

The other day I spent probably one hour cleaning this pen I got it to
where there wasn't a hint of ink left in the barrel. I will admit, that
the color, when I first start writing a sentence seems a little bit darker
than as the sentence progresses.

I will try some different ink, but if this continues with the say a
Pelikan brand of ink, what should I do to fix it?

Thanks so much for your responses!

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