Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

A little over six years ago I bought a Montblanc Classic Rollerball #163
(the slim version, in black resin with gold) that I put away and never
used until the other day.

When I took it out and started to write with it, as soon as the cap,
which I had posted, came into contact with my hand just slightly, it
immediately popped off the pen. I have tried this many times and always
get the same result.

I have owned a Parker and two Pelikan rollerballs, plus many Parker and
other brands of fountain pens, but never had this problem before.

The store I bought it from Write With Style, in San Francisco, is out of
business, so I called the San Francisco Montblanc store. The person who
answered the phone told me that a service bulletin had recently been
issued saying that Montblanc pens are not designed to be posted.
(Someone should alert whoever produces the advertising photos.)

She also said that she didn't know what could be done, if anything, to
fix my pen. If I wanted to send the pen in for service, there would be
no guarantee it could be fixed at all and it would cost a minimum of $70
even if no repairs were made.

Of course I guess I could use the pen without posting the cap, although
in many situations away from my desk, it is a nuisance. Also, the pen is
too short for my hand and doesn't feel as balanced that way.

I must not have tried this particular pen in the store or I would have
noticed this immediately, so evidently it doesn't occur with every pen.

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?

Charles

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

On 2008-09-30, Charles wrote:

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?


surfwax or some other grippy coating?

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

Charles writes:

When I took it out and started to write with it, as soon as the cap,
which I had posted, came into contact with my hand just slightly, it
immediately popped off the pen. I have tried this many times and always
get the same result.

[...]

Anyone ever heard of this happening? Perhaps someone knows of a simple
way of fixing it?

Simply put, you shouldn't post your MontBlanc. This is the advice I have
heard in multiple places from multiple people for quite some time. You
could do some things to make it post, but any solution to you should make
sure that you don't put any pressure on the cap. MontBlanc resins are
known to be more brittle than other resins, and putting pressure on them
over time can result in a weakening in the pen's structure, and result
in cracks or chips.

Of course, plenty of people post their pens, and plenty of people have
them working just fine that way, but it can have negative long term
side effects.

Aaron Hsu

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Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

"Charles" wrote in message
...

The store I bought it from Write With Style, in San Francisco, is out of
business...

Is this the one in the Westfield Centre? I was there in Dec. 2006 and bought
a Fisher Telescoping pen there.


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~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

In article ,
"Bluesea" wrote:

Is this the one in the Westfield Centre? I was there in Dec. 2006 and bought
a Fisher Telescoping pen there.

Yes--apparently they later moved to Union Square, then went out of
business.

Charles

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

In article ,
Aaron W. Hsu wrote:

Simply put, you shouldn't post your MontBlanc. This is the advice I have
heard in multiple places from multiple people for quite some time. You
could do some things to make it post, but any solution to you should make
sure that you don't put any pressure on the cap. MontBlanc resins are
known to be more brittle than other resins, and putting pressure on them
over time can result in a weakening in the pen's structure, and result
in cracks or chips.

Thank you for letting me know that at least I am not alone. I had
googled but didn't find any discussions on this subject, although I was
sure I wasn't the only one with this problem. Do you remember any
solutions?

The strange thing to me is that a company of such stature--or at least
such a great marketing image--would design a pen whose cap can't be
posted. (As I mentioned in my first message, their advertising photos
certainly show their pens posted.)

Or maybe it's just my expectation.

Are pens generally considered to be postable? Are there many that can't
be posted?

Charles

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

"Charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Bluesea" wrote:

Is this the one in the Westfield Centre? I was there in Dec. 2006 and
bought
a Fisher Telescoping pen there.

Yes--apparently they later moved to Union Square, then went out of
business.

That's too bad.

Thanks for the info.


--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

In article ,
Charles wrote:

In article ,
"Bluesea" wrote:

Is this the one in the Westfield Centre? I was there in Dec. 2006 and
bought
a Fisher Telescoping pen there.

Yes--apparently they later moved to Union Square, then went out of
business.

Correction: They never moved to Union Square--I was misled by the Google
heading, "Write With Style - Union Square - San Francisco, CA 94103."

I guess the Westfield San Francisco Centre is Union Square to some
people, but it's Market Street to me.

Charles

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

"Charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Charles wrote:

In article ,
"Bluesea" wrote:

Is this the one in the Westfield Centre? I was there in Dec. 2006 and
bought
a Fisher Telescoping pen there.

Yes--apparently they later moved to Union Square, then went out of
business.

Correction: They never moved to Union Square--I was misled by the Google
heading, "Write With Style - Union Square - San Francisco, CA 94103."

I guess the Westfield San Francisco Centre is Union Square to some
people, but it's Market Street to me.

I see what you mean. I clicked the link and saw that it considered Union
Square to be a neighborhood as is SOMA. I used the SOMA entrance more than
the Market St. entrance as I was at the Ramada Inn on 7th off of Howard -
easily within walking distance.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi, but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

Montblanc rollerball cap won't post properly
 

Charles writes:

Are pens generally considered to be postable? Are there many that can't
be posted?

At least two, maybe more of my pens aren't really good candidates for
posting. The first is my MontBlanc. I'd actually say it's possibly more
postable than the others, because the resin stands up better to posting
than do the others, even with the long term side effects. The other two
that I have are Waterman and MontVerde pens, and both of these have seen
damage because I used to post them. On the Waterman, the Lacquer has
chipped off right where I used to post, so I stopped doing that some
time ago. In the MontVerde, there is some of the brass or gold finish
that is coming off, also mostly due to posting. Once I realized this,
I stopped posting most of my pens.

There are some pens which are just fine for posting, but I think that
there are also plenty of pens which don't really work well when posted.

Aaron Hsu

--
+++++++++++++++ ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) +++++++++++++++
Email: | WWW: http://www.sacrideo.us
Scheme Programming is subtle; subtlety can be hard.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++