Search the Community

Latest burds winging my way . Green stripe , not sure if its 400N or an NN . Seller says an OB nib , box end says M but some one has written F beside the M . Is it an N or NN ? Cost me $99.99 and shipping . Eddie

I have recently inherited two Pelikan pens, a 100N in tortoiseshell, and a 100N in grey marble, whose restoration process I would like to share with you. These pens originally belonged to my grandfathers, hadn’t been used for many years, and were suffering from several problems, which a number of specialized repairers that I contacted in Europe – namely in Portugal, Spain, England and Germany – were unable to solve. Then I was lucky enough to learn about the work of Mr. Francis Goossens, also known as ‘Fountainbel’, who is a retired mechanical engineer from Belgium who nowadays dedicates to develop prototypes of new fountain pens, and to restore old ones. I wrote to Mr. Francis asking him if he would be kind enough to have a look and try to repair my pens, to which he promptly replied saying he would do the best within his power to repair my pens. Last month I sent my pens to Mr. Francis, and he has just sent them back in a mint and fully functional condition. Mr. Francis was extremely attentive throughout the reparation process, patiently explaining all the problems he came across, the different possibilities to approach the repairs, and what was at stake. Throughout this process I have come to admire his work and his ethics, which I think should be known in the fountain pen world. Mr. Francis is a true master of his craft, and a perfectionist unwilling to compromise in the impeccable quality of the work that he so passionately does. Below I am posting a few images of the repaired pens, and listing the problems that Mr. Francis came across, and which he was able to repair. Pelikan 100N in tortoiseshell 01_The pen was missing the golden cap rings. Mr. Francis fabricated new brass ones in his lathe, had them “two cycles” gold-plated by a specialist, and finally swaged them into the cap grooves using an internal back up plug. The rings grooves in the cap were deepened during a previous repair attempt. Consequently the new cap rings were made with a thicker wall in order to get them tight at the bottom of the grooves nearly flush with the outer cap diameter. Swaging was a particularly delicate procedure because the cap wall was very thin, and because the rings had to be swaged to get a perfect fit. 02_The cap clip had at some point been replaced a non-original one, and Mr. Francis was able to find an original one and have it gold-plated together with the newly fabricated cap rings. 03_The cap had two lengthwise cracks that Mr. Francis was able to chemically fuse. 04_The cap also had a bit of glue near the rings grooves because a previous repairer, supposedly a specialist, had tried to glue new rings to the cap, and the result was a nightmare. Fortunately Mr. Francis was able to remove the glue and polish the whole pen, restoring its original shine. 05_Mr. Francis discovered that at some point part of the nib housing of the cap enclosure plug had been cut off, probably to provide a longer screw thread fit between barrel and cap – but which most likely led to the aforementioned cracks. Mr. Francis was able to elongate the bush, restoring it to its original condition. 06_The piston seal was not fully tight, so Mr. Francis installed a new piston seal using two O-rings with silicone grease between both rings, and cleaned the filler. 07_The nib had to be fine tuned, which Mr. Francis also did. Pelikan 100N in grey marble 01_The filling system was not functional at all. The ink window had shrunk over time, and for that reason the piston seal was not sealing any more. In addition, there was a linear crack in the barrel threads, which would result in ink seeping through. In the face of this Mr. Francis fabricated a new green acrylic ink window in which the piston can make its full stroke, with the exact characteristics of the original one. Below you can also find the technical sketch that Mr. Francis elaborated as a preparation for the piece fabrication. The work was so impeccably executed that it is impossible to notice that this is a newly fabricated piece. 02_The ebonite feed missed one of its external fins, so Mr. Francis installed a new feed, now mounted in a new screw-in nib housing allowing easy swapping of nibs assemblies. 03_The cap lip had a long linear hairline crack, and Mr. Francis was able to find an original cap in perfect condition to replace the damaged one. 04_The pen needed a thorough cleaning and polishing, and nib fine-tuning, which Mr. Francis also did.

Hi Pelikan experts, Please help - what are/mean the numbers in my gray 100N (the 2599) ? Thanks, rusty

Many months ago, I bought two old Pelikan pens quite cheaply (they were worth it for the OB and Fine 14k nibs alone). Each pen is slightly different, but they seem to be variations on the 100N produced in the late 1940s or early 1950s (based on the nib, piston, and posts on FPN such as this one). These pens are pretty, and I'd like to be able to write with them. But I'm not prepared to invest a large amount of money in order to do so: the value to me is at least as much in the learning effect of trying to get them working again myself. So, with that in mind, I have some questions, and would be very grateful for any wisdom or tips. 1. Piston seals Each of the pens will need a new piston seal (synthetic, not cork), as they draw some water, only to leak from the back of the barrel (via the piston knob). I have been unable to find a supplier in the European Union. Can anyone point me in the right direction? (I know I can get parts from David Nishimura's site, but I want to buy from a seller based in the European Union: I am allergic to paying handling fees in addition to the inevitable P&P and taxes, plus having all the extra hassle of sorting out this additional payment.) 2. Cracked section One of the pens has two hairline cracks in the section, one on each side. It doesn't presently seem to be a huge problem - I can still screw the nib unit in and out and there is no indication that the cracks open up when I use the nib gently - but it can't be good for the pen. I'm tempted to use a little superglue, or to try some shellac. But perhaps there's a tried-and-trusted way that I have not turned up. Can anyone suggest a way of repairing the cracks? 3. Screwing the piston back in I was able to remove the piston on both pens without too much trouble. And in each case, I was lucky that the threads are still intact. But, weirdly, the piston seal on one of the pens now seems to be too big to be able to fit back into the barrel. That is, I have made no changes to the piston mechanism beyond cleaning it, but simply cannot screw it back in. I know it's a problem with the width of the seal, because when I remove the actual seal, I can reinstall the piston mechanism without any trouble. I have tried with the piston from the other pen and have had the same problem (both pistons can screw into one of the barrels, but not the other). Can anyone offer an explanation? (I don't have a good enough camera to take a photo down the barrel) 4. Going via Pelikan Finally, I saw somewhere on FPN (cannot remember where) that it is possible to send vintage pens to Pelikan and that they will repair them for a reasonable fee. That may be an option if I get nowhere on my own. Can anyone confirm that, and/or have any experience with doing so? Thank you! Edited for greater clarity in Q3.

Hi all, Recently, browsing through the fleamarket, I found a box of pens that had belonged to someone's granny. In the middle of various less intresting stuff there was this litle gem, a late striped binde 100N! It was bit dificult to pick it up for so litle money not showing a racing heart and trembling hands, but the pen now lays in my desk. Besides the striped binde and late nib there is also na interesting inscription arround the cap top: "Gunther Wagner Pelikan 100N" Man, sometimes one gets to be sooo lucky!

I recently got this wonderful Pelikan 100N but the nib feels like writing with sandpaper or a piece of metal--which it is... I'm wondering it it just needs to be smoothed and if so, how? I don't have any tools or kit, and have no idea how to do it myself. I'm willing to try it if it's easy and not risky to do. Or could it be that the nib has oxidized? I don't see a lot of black on it but it's not shiny either. If anyone could give me some pointers, I'd be very grateful. It's currently inked so you might be seeing ink in this picture too...