The Long (Maybe Short) Road To A 149

[drafty]

Drafty, off-topic question. The image you use for your avatar, it looks familiar. Would you mind telling me where it came from? Backchannel is fine if you don't want to say publicly. Of course it could be my old and failing memory that is playing tricks on me. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

And to echo what other people say, I have very few things that belonged to my father. In part this was due to practicality - he had a lot of art gear that Mum eventually donated to the local art society (boy, were they surprised!), and I heartily approved of this. In the end I have a couple of Kolimsky sable brushes, his old watch (just a Pulsar, nothing heirloom-like), a St Christopher he always wore, several of his original art works, and more memories than I can shake a maulstick at.

 

Things are just things until we use them. Then they have the potential to become things with associations. The association is everything.

Not at all. It's part of the cover of an Iain M. Banks sci-fi novel called Matter. It's part of the 'Culture' series. He's my favourite author, God rest his soul. He passed last year to aggressive cancer.

 

And thanks - your last sentence moved me.

[drafty]

Cackling like a broody chicken might be more accurate. As a mod, I figure it's incumbent to give financially responsible advice until posters prove themselves hopelessly addicted to pens. Then I go into enabler mode while maniacally clucking like Mike Meyers with Mini Me

Hah...the images!

 

Well, I gave in to my pen addiction today. I surprised myself too.

 

Photos to come...after eating, drinking and possibly hangover...ing!

[meiers]

Cackling like a broody chicken might be more accurate. As a mod, I figure it's incumbent to give financially responsible advice until posters prove themselves hopelessly addicted to pens. Then I go into enabler mode while maniacally clucking like Mike Meyers with Mini Me

I love this post.

Edited August 14, 2015 by meiers

[drafty]

So I went to the store. Lovely place as recommended by a member of FPN.

 

I had the intention of trying a 149 and 146 in medium nibs, thinking all the while that I just wanted a 149 and that was that.

 

An hour and a half later I walked out with a 146.

 

What I hadn't factored in before was writing with the cap posted. I don't usually do this. In fact, most of my FPs either can't be posted, or if they were, they'd be so back/top-heavy I'd fall off my chair when I got carried away writing some thrilling part of a story.

 

I started trying them without caps posted, thinking I don't want to mark the resin by posting it. I'd tried both before but neither one was making me super excited. Then I posted the caps and it made all the difference in the world. Suddenly the 146 was...perfect. Even the counterbalance on my grip of the section made it that more comfortable. It wasn't so much that I disliked the 149 all of a sudden. It was just that the 146 sold itself to me.

 

So there it is. Oh, and I had an excellent experience with the owner and sales lady. We discussed the town I left behind in England and I got nostalgic, so it was a good couple of hours.

 

This pen is now my everyday pen for sure. I'm going to post the cap and to hell with ring marks on the barrel. Honestly, I bought it for the actual writing and not because it looks classy, even though it does.

 

Blog title edit: The not so long road to a 146.

[Joane]

Congrats! The 146 is a very satisfying pen to use and elegant to behold. Enjoy it in the best of health!

[JLS1]

Glad to hear that you were able to find your MB!

(Time for a happy dance... )

[drafty]

Congrats! The 146 is a very satisfying pen to use and elegant to behold. Enjoy it in the best of health!

Thanks Joane, I'm particularly enjoying how light plays through the resin just enough to give a red glint. Of course, I should be working but...

[drafty]

Glad to hear that you were able to find your MB!

(Time for a happy dance... )

Thanks mate. So much for me rushing around being busy, right!

 

I went downtown to get out of the house and work in a cafe. 'Popped' in to try the pens and what happened thereafter was probably inevitable.

 

It cuts out all this hunting around for scratch-free second hand ones, hah!!!

 

indeed

[jsolares]

Congrats! The 146 is indeed just about the perfect size, even when not posted, and the doués i have are too heavy posted anyways, although those M nibs might get stubbed

[jslallar]

I write a lot longhand, so your preference makes sense. The 149 is more relaxing to my hand than the 146 after an all day marathon. That being said, there are some lovely used 149s going begging in the board classifieds. I've slowly acquired multiples for those sessions when I'm "in the flow" and don't want to stop to refill.

find your comfort zone

 

i have much bigger hands than Ghost plane could possibly have and am a big man by any standard at 6'4'' still after a day long writing i find the 146 more comfortable than a 149, although i love them both, and i share a passion of broad nibs with Ghost Plane, and my braodest are on my 149s

 

as for heirloom thing i have a P51 that my grandpa gave my father on his marriage in 1959. Its been fully cleaned and stored and one of my most prized possessions even though i like piston fillers for myself. your daughter will love the pen because it was yours not because it is a 149/146 or even an MB. same for your tie pin and daily worn wrrist watch

[mitto]

find your comfort zone

 

i have much bigger hands than Ghost plane could possibly have and am a big man by any standard at 6'4'' still after a day long writing i find the 146 more comfortable than a 149, although i love them both, and i share a passion of broad nibs with Ghost Plane, and my braodest are on my 149s

 

as for heirloom thing i have a P51 that my grandpa gave my father on his marriage in 1959. Its been fully cleaned and stored and one of my most prized possessions even though i like piston fillers for myself. your daughter will love the pen because it was yours not because it is a 149/146 or even an MB. same for your tie pin and daily worn wrrist watch

Dr. Sab , I would like you to help me getting at least a pair of 146 and 149. Although I am getting a steady supply of Parkers , Watermans and Sheaffers from Karachi , Quetta and Lahore , I couldn't manage getting MBs except for a 24 and a 320. I wonder wherefrom you get your high end MBs in Pakistan.

[drafty]

Congrats! The 146 is indeed just about the perfect size, even when not posted, and the doués i have are too heavy posted anyways, although those M nibs might get stubbed

Thank you j, you've helped on other threads as well

 

Yeah MB don't seem to know what a straight stub is. I just saw B, BB and then the obliques on my visit. I reckon if I go for a 149 one day I'd like it to be stubbed or OB or something. I think a big nib like that should write big too!

[drafty]

find your comfort zone

 

i have much bigger hands than Ghost plane could possibly have and am a big man by any standard at 6'4'' still after a day long writing i find the 146 more comfortable than a 149, although i love them both, and i share a passion of broad nibs with Ghost Plane, and my braodest are on my 149s

 

as for heirloom thing i have a P51 that my grandpa gave my father on his marriage in 1959. Its been fully cleaned and stored and one of my most prized possessions even though i like piston fillers for myself. your daughter will love the pen because it was yours not because it is a 149/146 or even an MB. same for your tie pin and daily worn wrrist watch

Thanks, I definitely found the comfort zone with the 146.

 

It's good for me to get out of the CZ sometimes because I get surprised and find something interesting. With the everyday writing pen though, I like to stay firmly in my medium-nibbed closed-mind!

[jar]

Thank you j, you've helped on other threads as well

 

Yeah MB don't seem to know what a straight stub is. I just saw B, BB and then the obliques on my visit. I reckon if I go for a 149 one day I'd like it to be stubbed or OB or something. I think a big nib like that should write big too!

Actually all Montblanc B and B+ nibs are stub nibs unless specifically marked as a Kugel nib.

[drafty]

Actually all Montblanc B and B+ nibs are stub nibs unless specifically marked as a Kugel nib.

Oh cool thanks. I'll look for a 149 B one day then.

 

Not yet though. I've blown the FP budget gaskets for this year. And possibly my wife's already delicate tolerance levels.