Search the Community

I'm ready to take the plunge and restore a couple of (inexpensive) old Esties. The instructions/videos I've seen suggest using ":shellac" to adhere the new sac to the nipple, and I know some of the supply places sell small bottles of it. However, as a woodworker, I have multiple types of shellac flakes sitting around.and I'd rather not pay relatively big $$$ for a small bottle of something I ordinarily make by the quart. Can anybody tell me the type of shellac used (waxed vs. dewaxed, does orange vs blonde matter, etc) and also the strength or "cut" of the shellac i should use (e.g. a one-pound cut vs. a three-pound cut)? Thanks!

Hello, I have a beautiful Aurora International 98. I used to refill it using an used Aurora cartridge. It works, but I'm not sure I would offer a gift with a syringe, or even sell it. By some serendipity, my local fountain pen shop had an Aurora converter that is supposed to work for this model. I tried it, and it seemed to work. But as soon as I tried to fill the pen up, it became obvious that the converter was a bit looser than with the cartridge. In fact, the section fell into the ink pot. On the second try, I could make it suck ink. It worked for a while, but it became obvious that the ink was leaking from where the converter made contact with the nipple. So I flushed the pen and the converter, disassembling the converter to make sure it was OK. So here is my question: would it be possible to put a bit of silicon grease to "seal" the converter around the nipple? I know that 13$ is not a big deal, but my first motivation to dive into the universe of fountain pens was to stop wasting plastic and start taking care of my stuff. I am willing to try about any solution, as long as someone, somewhere, is willing to help me out by sharing his or her experience. Sorry if my question has already been answered before, but I did try to scratch my own itch, but could not find anything after an hour of search and reading previous thread. Thanks, w