With the Montblanc fountain pen range having such a high price tag yet still being one of the more popular modern fountain pen ranges on the market, we constantly see people reaching out and asking a number of different questions on how they are able to best care for their pens. We have noticed more and more people reaching out and asking questions similar to how do you clean a Montblanc fountain pen so we have decided to publish our own article going over the whole process.
Although it will depend on the level of cleaning that you are wanting to do, for most of the Montblanc fountain pen range, there is actually no need to fully disassemble the pen but the majority of people will want to remove the forward parts of the pen such as the section, feed, and nib for a standard flush. On top of this, although you can use water, depending on if your pen has issues with dried ink or gunk building up, a cheap fountain pen flush kit or just some cheap fountain pen flush solution can make the process much easier but they are not essential.
We will also be breaking out article down into two sections, the first is for cleaning a brand new, fresh out the box Montblanc and the second is for a Montblanc pen that you have owned for a while but need to clean. This should be able to ensure that no matter what our readers are looking for, our article has the answers and will be able to help them.
How To Clean A Montblanc Fountain Pen That Is Brand New
Due to Montblanc doing everything in their power to ensure that their clients are getting the very best out of their products, they test each and every Montblanc fountain pen prior to it leaving the factory. Although the nibmeister who does this quality testing tries to ensure that they clean the ink from the nib after the initial testing, sometimes, some ink can remain in the nib and feed of your pen.
We have noticed a number of people asking if this is due to the pen being pre-owned or if it means that it may be a counterfeit Montblanc but the majority of the time, it will be a real Montblanc fountain pen but a small amount of the ink remained in the pen. Although many people will be able to fill the piston filler with their ink of choice and use the pen, we would recommend that you flush the pen if you can see some left over ink in the ink path.
This is due to some Montblanc fountain pens sitting on the shelves of stationery stores for years after being made before they are sold so the ink can dry up and cause issues with inconsistent ink flow. The cleaning process is quick and easy thankfully but as the ink may have dried, the use of some cheap fountain pen flush solution can make the process much easier but some people do prefer to just use water.
For the initial cleaning, we would recommend that you remove the barrel of the pen so you just have the nib, feed, and section of your Montblanc with the piston filler attached. Dip the nib of your pen into a glass with some water of flush solution in it and then activate the piston of the pen to draw the water through the ink path into the piston as if you were filling it with ink.
As soon as the piston is about half full, rotate the piston in the opposite direction to expel the fluid back through the ink path of the pen. Do this between five and ten times and your Montblanc pen should be well on the way to being clean now but there is one step you can take to make sure.
As you do the initial flushing, the fluid in the glass will change color so you won’t be able to tell when the pen is expelling clean fluid due to all of the ink having been removed. A quick way to do this is to simply refill the glass with water (we wouldent recommend that you refill it with flush solution as it is probably a waste) and then flush your Montblanc one last time. If the fluid is clear once you expel it then the pen is clean and good to go.
Simply fill it with your ink of choice, although the Montblanc fountain pen ink is of excellent quality and a very popular choice, we do recommend that our readers consider at least trying Noodlers fountain pen ink as it is much cheaper, has an excellent reputation, and also comes with pretty much every color you could ever need.
How To Clean A Montblanc Fountain Pen That Is Broken In
If your Montblanc fountain pen has been broken in and used for a few months or even a few years then the cleaning process for your Montblanc is very similar to the initial flushing process as covered above. As your fountain pen is used more and more though, residual ink build up can start to become a pain to deal with so if you are not cleaning your pen on a regular basis we would recommend that you start to use some cheap fountain pen flush solution rather than water.
Instead of having to flush your Montblanc between five or ten times for the initial clean, if you do use water on a broken in fountain pen, especially one with residual ink or gunk build up you may end up having to flush the pen twenty or even thirty times. That said though, the actual cleaning process for your pen is very similar and if you do use a flush solution, its folmula will break the ink down and help you clean the pen much quicker.
Aged in fountain pens that have been used may also have some damage or issues on their nib that may cause issues too. Although damage is rare due to the build quality of a Montblanc nib, misaligned tines can be an issue no matter what. This can make a build up of ink much more common but thankfully, you are able to quickly and easily realign the tines as shown in the video below.
If your tines are aligned correctly on your nib you will have a much easier option in cleaning your Montblanc as the ink patch is clear and allows the water of flush solution to pass through it faster. There are some issues with died ink build up in the actual feed of the pen that can be a pain to clean out even with a flush solution and patients is advised but other than that, you can probably flush your Montblanc as covered earlier in the article and clean it out in no time.
Conclusion
That brings out article going over how to clean your Montblanc fountain pen to a close. We hope that we have helped you understand how you are able to quickly and easily clean your Montblanc without having to waste a bunch of time. As we touched on above, the flushing process is easy enough in all fairness and if the pen is brand new water can be find to clean out the test ink but a flush solution does tend to be better for a broken in fountain pen.
