Search the Community

A few years ago, a family member in Germany gave me three Montblanc pens that he had had for some time but did not use. I recently pulled one out of storage, a 342 fountain pen, wanting to use it rather than let it sit and stagnate in a drawer. When it was given to me, it worked fine as far as I could tell. This past week I had to clean out all of the rather gelatinous ink and discovered that the piston screw was well and truly stuck. I am able to unscrew the base of the pen, which contains the piston screw, from the barrel, but I cannot move anything else. Nothing, though, looks to be actually broken. I know that it is possible to send the pens to be repaired, but this one is potentially over 50 years old, and, as a result, I am unsure if they would be able to do anything. I have tried a few tricks that I found, warm water and the like, but it has not loosened at all. I am wary about trying anything too extreme because I don't want to damage it entirely and refer it useless. Any advice would be much appreciated.