Old German 'war Time' Fountain Pens Again, Part 3: Nibs And Seals

[Lexaf]

Hi fellow vintage fountain pen lovers.

 

Here's part 3, a follow up of -what else- part 2...

 

(read https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/266039-old-german-war-time-fountain-pens-again-part-2/ )

 

I sold some of the restored pens I described in this restoration project and I received some questions and answers I'd like to repeat here on the forum, because also other fountain pen geeks that work with this kind of old piston filled vintage pens might have benefit of my experience.

 

So 2 questions were interesting (thank you Enrico).

 

One question was about how far to go with flexing the (old, steel) nib.

The other question was: What is the best way to preserve the cork on a unused pen, supposed that if it is left dry for a long time, could it shrink and become brittle?

 

Ad flexing the nibs:
Using the flex facilities is something you have to learn, practice and get used to. Read about calligraphic and cursive writing.

Take care not to force the nib. There is always risk of 'springing' the metal, i.e. the tines of the nib will not return to its original position. A sprung nib is practically impossible to repair ( instant metal fatigue). So always be careful with a flex nib and increase you pressure just a tiny little bit with each time you practice. When you see that the line you write or draw begins 'railroading' it is an indication you reached or even exceeded the maximum of what the nib can handle. I think I do not have to explain 'railroading'. You'll recognize it when it happens. BTW all this is also valid for gold nibs, only the loss of a valuable golden flex nib by springing it will be a bigger disaster.

 

A rather cheap way to get used to springy flex nibs is to practice with old steel 'dip nibs'; the kind with the pointy tines we older people had to use at primary school. I hated them because they were so scratchy an they bit into the paper causing ink spots and spatters, not only on the paper I was writing on so my teacher hated me but also on my clothes and so my mother hated me too...

But these dip pens with the cheap nibs learned us to write the old fashioned cursive writing and they learned us how to get control over our handwriting so we eventually could write 'thin up, thick down' with not so much scratching and almost without ink blobs and spatters all over the place. And then the ballpoint came and took away everything we learned... But that is another story.

Ad preserving cork seals
There is no specific way to preserve a cork piston seal. (as far as I know, but maybe someone with more knowledge about cork can make me wiser).

 

A lot of corks on this batch of pens I worked on survived 80 years of not being used, but almost all of them were shrunken. The method I used to revive some of them was by heating them and impregnating them in pure bees wax while the corks were heated. What happens then with the cork is that the pores open and the molten wax gets in. The cork seal becomes slightly thicker and thus fits more tightly in the barrel tube again. The wax also helps to get a good sealing.

These old seals are still vulnerable by all means. The cork becomes more brittle in the course of years. The wax helps to keep the cork material together, but the quality sure is getting less in the years. The best way to keep the corks in a good condition is to keep them humid. Ink is humid. So the best way to preserve these pens is by filling them up and using them often. If you do not want to actually use them you could fill them with water, but you will have to repeat that regularly because the water will evaporate in some weeks, just like an inked pen will dry out in a rather short time when you do not use it.

The cork might dry out eventually after some time. But it will not be very difficult to have them replaced by a skilled repairman. It will be possible with most vintage cork sealed piston fillers. If you do not care for completely original restoration or preservation you might consider to replace the cork seal by fitting a nylon or rubber seal. I did some experiments with that and it works well, especially when you want to use the pen as a daily writer. Consider it is much easier to make a cork seal to the measure than a rubber seal. Nylon seals are even more difficult to make to a perfect fitting. Rubber and certainly nylon seals definitely will extend the life of the pen. But consider it will not be a 100% pure restoration. Restoration ethics versus practical use benefits...

The pens in my project have been traveling around and were badly stocked for a period of almost 80 years. And now they returned into our modern world. The lucky ones survived. Found lucky owners. So my advice is: use them! They deserve it to be used.

Enjoy your vintage pens!

 

Sorry, no pictures this time....

 

Cheers,

Lex

[FriedIceCream]

Awesome stuff! These old German piston fillers are really intriguing to me.

 

Question: Out of pure curiosity, how many of these did you start with and how many were you able to save? (if you don't mind me asking)

 

Keep up the good work! I'm a lover of all vintage pens, and I love to see more and more of them being brought back from the grave for all to enjoy.

[Pelikan Vera]

Thank you for a super thread about this find.

 

Do you have any pens that came from Osnabruck? I think there was a tiny manufacturer there and I would love to own a pen from there.

[Bo Bo Olson]

With an old NOS...do soak the cork for a week (I should have even though the young mid'50's corks survived well .....same with a used corks. I call it Zombieing them.

I often bought old cheap piston pens...and grumbled I would have to recork. I only soaked the cork 1 day. You need to soak them a week.

Rusewe Austrian '50's pen.http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/B2C6B5BGkKGrHqVhcE70KvyV4BMg8uOmRsw_3.jpg

 

These were all blind cap pens. take the blind cap off so the cork can get wet from both sides. When you finally have the cork expanded enough to work a bit, the inky water in the rear of the pen will clean out with enough refilling of water. The moisture on the 'wrong' side of the piston, can be shaken out....and or after that if you keep the blind cap on it won't leak.

 

There could be some weeks when you will find some seepage when refilling the pen. It will eventually stop.

My best success with Zombie time, is a '38 Boehler...when the Boehler brothers split Osmia and at first the Boehler pens having the same stock had the same model numbers. (Out side the Degussa nibs Osmia was using.)

Boehler Gold mdl 54 @ 1938 Zombie

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/B05qqKwB2kKGrHqMOKiEERGChR8EBMcV7mpcw_12.jpg

 

I also had luck with a after '38 Luxor silver overlay. And an almost NOS 100N also pre'war.

 

I've also had corks too dead to make a Zombie.

 

Unless of course the cork is dead. Even so eventually you will have to recork. I expect to eventually out side the '50's and the 100n, to sooner or later have to recork my Zombies.

 

Fountainable uses beeswax and mineral oil to boil the corks in..

Marshal & Oldfield in Pen Repair 2nd Ed. recommend cork over plastic/rubber gasket in it is smoother. Ie replacing certain MB gaskets with cork....both I believe also give the cork a silicon grease coating.

A cork that has been kept moist over the decades/generations could well last 70 years or more.

 

 

Some folks who just love taking pens apart....use O rings....and on pens that do not have a screw out nib, will have to do that often to regrease the O rings.

It might well be worth the extra work to recork with cork....for a smoother longer life.

 

I have everything but a clean desk to start re-corking. My desk will be cleaned off once I finish this western. The desk is always full of writing notes, writing books...dictionaries; word, description.... my own writer's notebook and so on.

This will not be the first I re-cork....I do have old second tier pens to 'practice' on.

Osmia-Faber-Castell mdl 54 with a steel Supra 'flexi' nib.

This is the inherited pen that started me in this addiction. For the first few weeks it worked....then it died....stayed dead after I learned to Zombie too.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/faber_osmia_62_f_marbled_7.jpg

[Lexaf]

Awesome stuff! These old German piston fillers are really intriguing to me.

 

Question: Out of pure curiosity, how many of these did you start with and how many were you able to save? (if you don't mind me asking)

 

Keep up the good work! I'm a lover of all vintage pens, and I love to see more and more of them being brought back from the grave for all to enjoy.

Thanks for the compliment.

Difficult question. Lets say I have quite a lot of these pens. When I want to stay friends with the moderators here in this section I must redirect you to the classifieds section, there you might find more info about the availability.... sorry...

[Lexaf]

Thank you for a super thread about this find.

 

Do you have any pens that came from Osnabruck? I think there was a tiny manufacturer there and I would love to own a pen from there.

There were many many fountain pen brands in the 1930's in pre-war Germany. Some brands became famous and some of these still exist. Many other brands are quite well documented, such as Osmia, Kaweco, Soennecken, Luxor, Reform, Tropen and GeHa, to name just a few. Then there are the at least hundreds of smaller/lesser known brands that existed and where there is practically no documentation left behind, not to speak about all these sometimes very interesting and beautifully made no name pens that sometime pop up from history.

In my personal knowledge and documentation I cannot think of a known link with Osnabruck, but its likely they made some pens there... Maybe members of this Forum who have more knowledge of German fountain pen history can help you with more information.

 

Happy researching!

[tmenyc]

Since this ISN"T the Classified listing, I can add a comment: I now have one of Lex's Edels with the black chasing, and I'm really incredibly impressed with the job he did in its restoration. It's a handsome, dignified, elegant pen that shouts pre-WWII. I just got it recently, so haven't done more than dip it, but this will be a regular in my rotation.

Many thanks, Lex.

 

Tim

[FriedIceCream]

Thanks for the compliment.

Difficult question. Lets say I have quite a lot of these pens. When I want to stay friends with the moderators here in this section I must redirect you to the classifieds section, there you might find more info about the availability.... sorry...

 

Sorry about that, I'm having a hard time wording what I was really trying to ask. Not inquiring, just as a fellow repair junkie, could you estimate a percentage of the hoard that was salvagable? I just remember in the first (or second maybe?) post seeing the picture of all the broken piston parts and wondering how many you had to have went through to have that many broken pistons hahaha. But being an American and having little to no experience in the vintage piston filler category, I was really just trying to get a better understanding of how often one of these can be saved.

 

I appreciate your responses nonetheless.

Keep on keepin on

[Lexaf]

@ Bo Bo Olsen

 

Thank you for your extensive comment.

 

In general and theoretically I agree with your remark that it makes sense to revive an old cork by 'drowning' it in water for as long as a week. Zombieing as you call it.

But (with all respect for the results you achieved) I strongly disagree with soaking a complete pen for such a long time.

 

I'll try to explain:

 

1st: What happens to an old, long time unused, thus dried out cork? Shrinkage! That is what cork does. It dries out, because the moisture (water) evaporates from the wide pores that are so characteristic for the cork material, so the cork shrinks. And thus it looses its ability to seal.

The funny thing with cork is that as long as it is not so dried out that it falls apart in dust, the shrinking process is reversible. As long as the cells are able to soak moisture we can let it swell again.

You already mentioned that our highly rated and respected FPN member Fountainbell cooks his corks in bees wax. That preserves the cork against shrinkage, because the oily wax gets into the pores and prevents the cork from drying out. And the wax, 'au contraire' to water, does not evaporate, so we will have a stable seal. Realize that Francis Fountainbell does this with NEW corks he makes to replace an old one. Water also causes swelling of the cork , especially when heated, but does not stabilize it in that condition. Its the combination that does the trick. A wax stabilized cork seal will perform for a (very) long time as long as it stays wet! Read: Inked! Ink is not much more than water with a color agent!

 

2nd: We have or find an old piston filled pen with a dried out but otherwise not damaged cork seal. If the cork is not damaged or broken, it is indeed possible to reverse the shrinkage process by:

- heating the cork and re-impregnate it with wax;

- and-or swell / drown / zombie the cork with (warm / hot?) water.

 

So far so good. This method works safely as long as we take care to disassemble the pen first and give the separated cork, at least just the part that is attached to its piston rod or tube, this treatment. Always remembering that we must be very careful with heat. E.g.: Some internal 'plastic' pen parts are made of celluloid and old celluloid can have a combustion temperature (spontaneous ignition) of as low as 60 degrees Celcius! Ebonite just disintegrates when heated too long or to high. Thermoplastics irreversibly deform when heated....

 

I strongly disagree that it is a safe treatment to soak the whole pen in water for several days, even as long as a week!

 

The risk that vulnerable parts of the pen get seriously damaged is very real. Think of ebonite parts, that are in lots of vintage pens. Think of metal parts that can incur serious oxidation damage. Think of moist that gets in behind the seal (so on the wrong side). Most likely the water that comes in there, will inflict damage, at least on the long term, because it will take IMHO much more time to vanish out of the closed compartment behind the seal than you might think or suggest.

 

Ebonite: Keeping ebonite in water for longer that just the time to clean it (under running water!) causes discoloration and irreversible misty, milky spots.

 

Casein: Some, not much but some, 1920's and 1930's pens that look like colored celluloid are actually not made of celluloid but of a material called Casein also known as Galalith ( a milk / protein based material). Keeping Casein objects in water for longer that a short time ( > 1 hour?) will cause it to swell irreversibly, thus destroying the object for ever. Most of the time it is practically impossible to distinguish Casein from celluloid. Would you loose your precious beautifully colored Casein Conway Steward that way? Go figure...

 

Metal parts: Lots of pens were made with metal internal parts, but not all (actually almost none) metal internals were stainless or non ferro. The (in)famous ZAMAK parts used in Germany in the 30's were very prone to oxidation, as is aluminum (used by Luxor in their famous telescope systems) and even copper alloys such as brass and bronze. Problem with all these low melting point alloy metals is that they oxidize easily under the influence of water. When metal parts are mounted together the oxidation diffuses the different parts, causing the mechanism, in this case the filling system, to get stuck forever. Bye, bye precious old pen!

 

So dear Bo BO, with serious respect for your suggestion, I advice: NEVER, NEVER drown, soak, zombie, or whatever you call it, a complete pen in water (or any other fluid), unless you want to take the risk to damage or even destroy it! You can rinse a pen in running water to superficially clean it, even have it in a high frequency or ultra sonic cleaner for a short time, but never for many hours, let alone days or longer.

 

Of course there is always a risk in loosing a pen trying to bring it back to life. But I strongly believe in the only as safe as possible method: A combination of thinking and considering a lot and then very carefully dismantling or disassembling a pen into its different parts. Repair and clean all the separate parts, where necessary replace parts and then re-assemble it again. In my practice of over twenty years of fiddling and pottering I am now finally able to restore a pen to a sometimes even almost like new condition. And, believe me, I am still blundering and learning. But above all: Having fun! And sometimes even proud on the results.

 

Fascinating objects, fountain pens....

 

 

Edited for typos...

Edited May 21, 2014 by Lexaf

[Lexaf]

Since this ISN"T the Classified listing, I can add a comment: I now have one of Lex's Edels with the black chasing, and I'm really incredibly impressed with the job he did in its restoration. It's a handsome, dignified, elegant pen that shouts pre-WWII. I just got it recently, so haven't done more than dip it, but this will be a regular in my rotation.

Many thanks, Lex.

 

Tim

 

Thank you, Tim!

[Lexaf]

 

Sorry about that, I'm having a hard time wording what I was really trying to ask. Not inquiring, just as a fellow repair junkie, could you estimate a percentage of the hoard that was salvagable? I just remember in the first (or second maybe?) post seeing the picture of all the broken piston parts and wondering how many you had to have went through to have that many broken pistons hahaha. But being an American and having little to no experience in the vintage piston filler category, I was really just trying to get a better understanding of how often one of these can be saved.

 

I appreciate your responses nonetheless.

Keep on keepin on

 

Haha LOL! Ok: about 60% up to this moment and still working on the rest...

But I must admit that there are moments during these last weeks I HATE fountain pens....

[rwilsonedn]

"Haha LOL! Ok: about 60% up to this moment and still working on the rest...

But I must admit that there are moments during these last weeks I HATE fountain pens.... :wallbash:"

But think of all the people who are going to LOVE the pens you are restoring!

ron (who eagerly checks his mailbox every day now ...)

[rwilsonedn]

OK, I eagerly checked my mail box yesterday and there was the pen. Now I understand why Lexaf has gone to so much work to restore these pens. The one I just received is magnificent! Beautiful, unfaded and deeply chased black hard rubber with gold-tone furniture. A blind cap concealing the knob for the piston screw, and a smooth piston. A marvellous nib--which I have yet to ink. And the size, shape, balance between the cap and clip--it is a remarkable pen. I can't wait to get it into the rotation.

ron

[Lexaf]

OK, I eagerly checked my mail box yesterday and there was the pen. Now I understand why Lexaf has gone to so much work to restore these pens. The one I just received is magnificent! Beautiful, unfaded and deeply chased black hard rubber with gold-tone furniture. A blind cap concealing the knob for the piston screw, and a smooth piston. A marvellous nib--which I have yet to ink. And the size, shape, balance between the cap and clip--it is a remarkable pen. I can't wait to get it into the rotation.

ron

 

Wow, I'm getting shy with all those nice words and compliments! Thank you.

 

One critical remark: The body of the pen is not hard rubber, as it may seem. Its a sort of early thermoplastic. Which is probably the reason the black color was so nicely preserved, and the chasing is so sharp. HR has a very peculiar smell when you rub it. This material does not smell. Otherwise one can notice the difference with HR when the material is heated. (I use a temperature controlled heat gun). Black hard rubber (ebonite) will soften to a certain extent, then, when it becomes to hot, just sort of starts to disintegrate. This black plastic will soften quite quickly, just after a few seconds, then it starts to deform and melt. The first sign of melting is when you can see the sharp imprint of the chasing is vanishing. When the heating is continued it will start to smoke and eventually burns.

 

So: keep these pens away from heat, and do not let them stay in the full hot sun. Or (notorious classical cause to destroy a pen) leave it in the glove compartment of your car....

 

Enjoy and have fun.

Lex

[Bo Bo Olson]

I did have a longer time with still wet after the cork, before the blind cap drying out. There have been times when the ink I have in the front is different from the seepage from the back at the blind cap.

 

Even just filling the pen under water is going to get water behind the old dried out cork.

That's was what I was trying to do. wet the cork from both sides. With a real dead cork, that won't suck...it has to go under water...with the blind cap off.

Water is moved from both sides into the pen body. Water will not move if the cork is real 'dead', there is no suction. If the nib twists off it is much easier.

Seems a bad thing to do.

 

Well, wrong again.....but unless you ask my wife, it's the only time I've been wrong this year....month , week. Seeing I wrote that yesterday...I've not bee wrong today.

 

It appears I've been very lucky with my Zombies.

The first zombies..happened because I didn't have the wax/mineral oil, corks, sandpaper etc little files to make a hole in the cork.

 

The last ones because I was too lazy; and lack the time.

Some of the pens I did by drowning, then turning in the cup..changing water once a day.

The last couple by a week under water...with no "obvious" damage.

 

 

Sooner or later all zombies were to be re-corked. There is some 6 Zombies I've done. Some lasted two years as zombies others are younger...the last couple this year..

One or two zombies died any way.

 

Some times with in a couple of months, I'll be able to clear my desk of book writing stuff and spend a week learning and doing re-corking.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[pen2paper]

Lex, may there be a new rule (in jest but a good idea) that prospective vintage material pen owners be required to read your materials care guide above?

Thank you.

[georges zaslavsky]

thanks for sharing

[Lexaf]

Lex, may there be a new rule (in jest but a good idea) that prospective vintage material pen owners be required to read your materials care guide above?

Thank you.

Actually, quite a good idea! To write a 'Materials care guide'. But I think that some authors, a lot more experienced and informed than me already did such a thing. But, Pen2paper, thank you so much for your massive compliment!

 

On line: see Richard Binders excellent web site: http://www.richardspens.com/

 

Then there are 2 books, still available, that always have been and still are a great help for me:

'Da Book' or officially: 'Fountain Pens - The Complete Guide To Repair & Restoration' by the late Frank Dubiel (1947-2003). Frank passed away, much to young, already 11 years ago. I still regret his death, firstly because he was such a fine man, but also because I could have learned so much more from him.

'Pen Repair' (second or third Edition)' by Jim Marshall and Laurens Oldfield.

 

Both books can still be found for sale on different sites on the web. Google is your friend...