MontBlanc skips on downstroke, is this nib original?.

[Volvodr]

I recently purchased a pre-owned MontBlanc I’ve dated to the late 80’s that was supposed to be rebuilt and ready for use, advertised as a good writer. I’ve noticed that it will often skip on the down stroke after pausing for even a second, basically a hard start. This happens regardless of the ink used. I’m by no means an expert but I have adjusted and messed with nibs before on different brands. This is my first MontBlanc. I’ve adjusted the tines in relation to each other. I noticed the feed, which I think is ebonite, wasn’t touching the bottom of the nib and needed to be adjusted. I did so and it seems to have helped a lot but the hard start is still somewhat there. My Pilot Custom 74 is so much smoother and more consistent and I would like to see what I can do to improve the MontBlanc even further.

The one thing I noticed is the nib on the MontBlanc doesn’t seem to have much of a ball on its end. Being unfamiliar with the brand I’m wondering if any of you could tell me if this is the original nib and is it supposed to look this way, or has it potentially been ground like this. It appears to have a rather flat spot on the top of the nib that shows some slight (what I’ll call) file marks. The bottom of the nib is somewhat rounded and the two sides have flat spots. I’ve included some pictures to hopefully show what I’m describing. There from my phone so best I can do for now.

Thanks for any help, suggestions, or advice.

[arcfide]

I don't know about 80's era nibs, but my early 2000 EF nib developed a flat spot after lots of writing and it was always ground with a little bit of a food, with an architect character, so that could be it. However, at least in modern Montblanc nibs, if you have a B nib or above, they are all explicitly said to be ground with a square or stub grind (as opposed to a ball/round tipping). Modern Montblanc nibs are supposed to have been ground with more round tipping in M and below. I don't know if this was the case in the 80's, though. At the very least, there is quite a lot of "flatness" in my EF nib from the early 2000's. 

 

Have you been able to determine whether it is a little bit of baby's bottom or not? What nib size is it? The overall nib tipping profile at least looks like it fits in with Montblanc, which I don't associate with large blobs of tipping. 

[txomsy]

Most likely it is due to dried ink in the channels. If it was preowned it is possible that it was filled and left to dry, maybe several times, and that reduced the ink channel.

 

A good flush, first with water, good be the first step. You can fill it with water and empty it several times until it comes out clear. Then fill it with water and let it rest overnight (or a couple of days). Flush again several times until it washes out clear.

 

If that doesn't work, then take a cup, fill with water and add one or two drops of ammonia. Repeat the process filling from the cup and emptying on the sink. Leave it also filled overnight with the water+ammonia solution and wash again.

 

This should get rid of most of the dried ink. If that is not enough, it might need more aggressive intervention to remove old internal crust.

 

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Of course, looking at the tip with a magnifier glass may help see if there is any anomaly in the tipping, but I doubt that; or if the tines are misaligned, too tight or too separate.