A luxury pen, like a Montblanc ballpoint pen, can make all the difference when you have to write often! Whether you’re signing documents or taking notes, a smooth writing experience can make these sometimes tedious activities a lot more worthwhile.
But what happens when your pen doesn’t perform as it should? You might need to give your pen a good cleaning.
Cleaning a Montblanc ballpoint pen involves several steps:
- Remove the cartridge
- Remove excess ink
- Clean the tip
- Let dry
- Reassemble the pen
If you want more details on each of those steps, keep reading! I’ll go over how to perform each cleaning step as well as further care instructions and methods for troubleshooting ballpoint pen problems without taking your pen apart or replacing your ink cartridge!
Table of Contents
How to clean a Montblanc ballpoint pen
Chances are if you are reading this you own a MONTBLANC Meisterstuck ballpoint pen. It is Montblanc’s most popular ballpoint pen. This cleaning method works well with Meisterstucks. If your pen is stuck or you’ve spilled ink on it, here’s what you should do to clean it!
- Genuine Mont blanc with Floating star on cap
- Rollerball refills with stainless tip are avalible in black, blue, green, red
- Made in Germany
Remove the cartridge
Montblanc ballpoint pens have handily packaged refills inside that are relatively mess-free. However, before you clean your pen, you’ll want to remove all ink to prevent any accidents. Also, if your pen won’t write, separating the ink refill from the pen nib will be a good tool for diagnosing the problem.
Is the ball itself stuck with old ink, or is the pen nib the issue? If your refill is out of ink, it’s easy enough to replace the cartridge and keep on writing! But there’s no way to tell until you open your pen up to check, so this is the first step to cleaning or troubleshooting pen problems.
Remove excess ink
One common problem ballpoint pens experience is having the tip gummed up by excess dried ink. This problem can be avoided by storing your pen correctly, but I’ll talk about that later! For now, what can you do when your pen nib is clogged?
Some suggest using solvents like isopropyl alcohol or acetone to dissolve dried pen ink, but Montblanc warns against using harsh cleaners on their website. Instead, lukewarm, distilled water is the best bet for dissolving dried ink or removing ink spills.
Because Montblanc pens are crafted from a variety of materials that can be negatively affected by harsh chemicals, other cleaners or very hot water are not recommended. It is also important to use distilled water to avoid creating mineral deposits inside your pen once the water evaporates.
Place your lukewarm, distilled water in a glass and soak your Montblanc ballpoint pen tip inside. The water will begin to change color as the excess ink dissolves.
To check if any excess ink is still dissolving, use a fresh glass of water and let your pen nib soak. Water should be changed every 10 minutes. Continue to do this until the water no longer changes color.
If you have ink spills on the outside of your ballpoint pen, you can use a lint-free cloth and warm distilled water to wipe down the outside surface of your pen. If ink has spilled on the side, flush the components through with distilled water using a similar process to nib soaking (until water runs clear).
Clean the tip
It’s important to clean the tip of your Montblanc pen each time you refill your ink cartridge to prevent ink buildup. If your ballpoint pen nib has been stuck due to dried ink, it’s also a good idea to perform a nib cleaning before reassembling your pen!
For a quick clean, you can remove the ink cartridge, then wipe down the tip with a lint-free cloth and distilled water to remove any ink. Of course, if it’s messier or too dried up, you should go with the full soaking method.
Once you’ve soaked your pen tip, you can wipe it down as described to help it dry and be sure you’ve gotten everything.
Let dry
It’s essential to let your pen dry thoroughly before reassembling! Depending on the material your pen is made from, extra moisture can spell bad news, degrading the components over time.
It is also important to use distilled water to avoid mineral deposits and water spots, especially inside the pen where you may not be able to see or reach them to clean.
Excess moisture inside your pen tip can also change the color and consistency of ink, negatively impacting your writing experience! If you notice extra moisture in the tip, try blotting the pen tip against some paper towel to absorb moisture. Of course, you could always disassemble your pen again to let it dry further.
Reassemble your pen
Once you’re confident the components are fully dried, you can go ahead and reassemble your Montblanc pen!
The ink refills should fit inside easily and write smoothly from the get-go. If you have further problems, you can contact Montblanc customer service for more guided cleaning tips.
How should you store your ballpoint pen to prevent ink drying and buildup?
To prevent the buildup of ink clogging the tip of your ballpoint pen, you should store it with the tip facing upwards at all times. This ensures that ink is not constantly flowing into the ball, potentially drying inside the tip and making writing less smooth.
Keeping your pen horizontally (on a shelf or desk) for too long can also impact the ease of ink flow and may necessitate replacing your ink cartridge and disassembling your pen for cleaning.
Montblanc sells a variety of pen storage accessories to keep your pen safe, clean, and in good shape! Alternatively, you can use a pen holder like this one from Amazon to easily keep your Montblanc pens stored.
- HIGH QUALITY METAL: Made of high quality metal and through hard oxidation, the net weight of VAYDEER aluminum pen holder...
With one of these at your disposal, you can be sure your pen is in good hands!
How often should you clean your ballpoint pen?
Montblanc recommends cleaning your pen tip each time you change your ink cartridge. Apart from that, they also recommend giving your pen a deep clean once per year. Montblanc recommends contacting their customer service department to guide you through this process and ensure your pen’s longevity. If your pen frequently clogs, change your storage methods or replace the ink cartridge.
Conclusion
Now you know how to safely clean your Montblanc pen. Get in the habit of regularly following the cleaning steps above and your Montblanc will perform for years.