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So I got this tiny Sheaffer at an antique mall this morning. Can't pull the piston out more then maybe 5mm. White Dot, Lifetime, Triumph Nib, Vac Filler, Striated Barrel. No idea of what to label it as. But it looks cute and while I might gently try to take it apart it will probably be shipped off to RonZ to be restored

Hi all. I'm new here and looking for a little guidance on best practices to get two new (to me) vintage piston filler fountain pens up to snuff and ready to use. I've attached a couple of photos of the two lovely pens. I purchased them from a seller in the Netherlands and I understand that they are unused or barely used from an old stationery business, and their excellent condition would seem to confirm this. The resin is in great shape and both have tight fitting caps and piston knobs. The integral piston mechanisms both work fairly smoothly and the nibs are beautifully springy, not scratchy, and don't appear to be bent at all. I'm curious how I should proceed to get them ready to write? I'm not clear on the age but based on the styling I would assume mid-century, so I would guess the gaskets and sealants ideally need to be replaced or at least examined. I've never worked on a pen of this age so I'm wondering what your suggestions would be for disassembly in order not to break anything. Some facts about the pens below: Blue "City-Gold": This one's piston can be seen through the ink window portion of the barrel. In the photo attached, I positioned the piston almost to its lowest point. It looks to be a solid rubber plug attached to the piston rod. The end cap is the twisting lever and doesn't come off. Checkered "Royce": This one has a removable piston cap that reveals the twist knob. I can't quite see the piston but the lines between the checkered sections are mostly transparent, so I can see it moving in there and the knob twists freely. Any advice would be much welcomed, or if there are past posts that address this please do direct me there. I did a cursory search but nothing came up that seemed suited to my pens. I have experience with using and light tuning of modern fountain pens but this is my first foray into vintage pens. Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! My review is actually here in my newsletter.

https://youtu.be/Az3vsR2RdM4

I came to know about this pen on the Inked Happiness website as the new model of Click called the president. When I saw it, I immediately thought, "Well, I liked the FPR Jaipur V2, But I'm not going to pay that much for a pen. At least not just yet. But this looks very similar, I suppose let's give this a shot...". I contacted one of my most frequently contacted Pentailers, Mr. Suresh ji and sure enough, he had gotten stock of this pen. I immediately fell in love with the Dark blue pen with the chrome trims, and decided to pull the trigger on that one, and after a Google pay transaction of Rs.800/-(plus an additional Rs.65/- for shipping) Here we are. For those who don't want to spend the next 5-10 minutes reading this whole thread and want a quick TL;DR, well, here it is. "For the money, this is a very compelling package, the Ultraflex nib is smooth and wet and the included rollerball unit is also a nice touch. A good value for money pen indeed" Now, those who want t get a somewhat detailed walkthrough, let's crack on. Appearance and Build The pen arrived in a good looking cardboard box. it has a cardboard sleeve and a small cutout showing the Click logo foil stamped in gold. Removing the sleeve, you'll find the pen nicely nestled in a die cut foam insert and the included rollerball unit. Overall a good unboxing experience for a relatively premium looking pen. Taking the pen out of the box, and my immediate thought was, "Wow... It's smaller than I expected it to be..." I mean, with a name like president and looking at the pictures Suresh Ji sent me, I thought it'd be a big pen. But I was surprised in seeing that it's size was, well... normal. To put it in perspective, here it is with some other pens that I have: 1. Click President 2. Airmail/Wality 71 JB(RCC/Duos) 3. Kanwrite Desire 4. Parker Vector 5. Airmail/Wality 69 T Coming to the pen itself, well, it's a classic design, reminds me of the aristocrat but with a different design. The pen is available in 5 colors all in a somewhat demonstrator looks in either gold or chrome trims. Nibs are also available in Fine, Medium, Broad and UltraFlex. I chose the Dark Blue with the chrome trims coupled with the UltraFlex nib. And It's and overall handsome looking fella. The chrome trims around the cap, clip and the part just beneath the blind cap at the back are tastefully done and the overall size and feel is just right for me. Coming to what's inside the cap, the nib, it's a screw on Nib unit carrying a No.35 (No.6) size steel flex nib sitting on an ebonite feed. which is a nice touch. the nib seems to be thinner than the standard No.6 nibs I have from Kanwrite and Consolidated. I guess that along with the scalloped shoulders aid in the flex of the nib. The real surprise for me was the included rollerball unit though. It's the first time, I'm seeing a fountain pen coming with a rollerball unit. I mean, the closest I've got to a rollerball fountain pen, is eyedroppering my pilot V7 cartridge pen (Which does work and writes like a dream BTW). Coming to the tail end, here you'll find a blind cap enclosing the piston mechanism. Personally, I'm not very fond of this design as I tend to lose the blind cap, but that might be me refusing to act up on my clumsiness. the piston action is smooth and the whole thing disassembles with ease. The overall build is good but for the price, could've been better. issues like the minor molding flashes on the blind cap threads and requiring a plier to remove the nib unit all of which detracts from the overall quality of the product. In the hand, the pen feels quite good. the grip section could've been an bit longer, but ergonomically, the pen feels good, the girth is just right for my size of hand (slender, long hands). it's a very comfortable writer. Both posted and unposted. But you do need to push the cap with a little force to post securely but the balance still feels a ok. Overall, a very comfortable writer indeed. Writing and Final Verdict The nib I got, was the fine Ultraflex. And surprise to say, it is the smoothest out of the box fine nib I have ever used. the pen just glides and the ebonite feed makes sure that you get a juicy ink supply no matter how much you flex it. The nib while writing normally gets a decent fine line and when you want it, coax the line into a nice double broad line. Though to be fair, I'm not the kind of person capable of exploiting the full potential of this flexible masterpiece. However here's a set of writing samples that shows the flex of the nib to the best of my capability, along with a normal writing sample. The rollerball attachment is also a very good addition, the ball is smooth and provides a light, fatigue free writing experience. So much so, that I'm considering to use the rollerball attachment permanently. Don't get me wrong, I love writing on a iridium nib as much as anyone else in this forum, but for daily use this makes more sense to me. Overall for the final verdict, for the price, this is a good value pen. I'd say, while this might not compete with the build quality of the Kanwrite heritage, I'd still cross shop this with the heritage, for around Rs.700 less, you're getting a similar filling mechanism, Almost the same ink capacity and a variety of nib options. I won't be surprised if click released this to compete directly with the pen from Kanpur. For around Rs.900, it's a damn good pen for an everyday carry. If you've tolerated my loooong (and rather boring) lecture, then congrats!!! Here's a 🥇 . You certainly deserve this. Anyway, dry jokes aside, do sound your opinions below, and I'll see you soon .

I've found myself really liking some larger pens that are either eye-dropper filled or piston filled. Both of these fill methods hold a lot of ink, and both seem prone to burping as the pen warms up in my hand. Sadly, I like to change inks pretty regularly, so always keeping these high volume pens chock full of ink doesn't seem like an attractive idea. Any suggestions for other ways to cut down on burping? Pens I've had it happen with: Airmail/Wality 71J[T], FPR Dilli, Hamraj 1208, and TWSBI Diamond 580. I've not had any trouble with any of my cartridge converter pens - I think the combination of lower capacity and an air gap to insulate the ink reservoir from my hand helps.

Here is the Staedtler F1 piston fill fountain pen, purchased from the regular neighborhood fence. Due to its all-plastic design, I assume it's a 'student' model; it's similar to the Pelikan Go! I couldn't find any info about this pen so I don't know when it was manufactured. This particular pen was sold as NOS (no box) and is in excellent shape. The pen is bright red, sort of fire engine red (just a touch on the orange-y side), with black top/clip, section and blind cap; the only metal is the nib and there are 4 ink windows just below the section. It's just under 5 1/2" capped, 4 7/8" unposted and 6 3/8" posted. The nib is ribbed on the upper (nib) side and smooth on the underneath side. It's quite light, lighter even than my Waterman JIFs, it feels like. Unposted length is good for my hand size but posted length is also comfortable as the cap adds virtually no weight. One word of caution - the blind cap where you post the pen cap is just that, a cap; you unscrew it and it comes off to reveal the piston knob underneath. You'd want to be careful not to loosen/unscrew it when unposting. After flushing it several times with clear water to remove any residues, I inked it with Sailor Tokiwa-matsu for my testing, as it was just sitting around unused since my initial test of it. (What a strange, unsettling ink! It looks like green ink that's been stabbed and is bleeding out.) The piston mechanism is pretty stiff; whether that's due to age, being unused for many years or being all plastic, I can't say; perhaps it's a combination of all three. Still, it works and I've seen no evidence of any leaking. The piston feels like it stops not too far below the ink windows, giving the impression that the reservoir doesn't hold a huge amount of ink. The fine steel nib is stamped "iridium point" and writes smoothly enough with enough tooth to give a tactile feel. It doesn't glide but neither is it what I would call scratchy. The flow seems a bit on the dry side but that may be the ink - I had a real problem with it drying out in the Parker Vector I originally tested it in. It's certainly wet enough for the red sheen to manifest, even with the fine nib (on the BnR, less so on the Rhodia), yet not too wet to preclude shading. Pictures: Even nicer, "fine' really does mean fine (and the line is noticeably finer on Rhodia than BnR). I originally planned this as a written review and wrote it out on Rhodia but decided to just type it after all; the first two written samples are BnR, the 3rd one is the Rhodia. shading red sheen finer line on the Rhodia, with shading and red sheen This is a fun little pen that works pretty well for what it is, plus it got me to give Tokiwa-matsu another go. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it. The seller has two more available, both mediums and both listed as "used' but they look as good as the one I bought in the photos, if anyone's interested. edit: lol, forgot to include the pen pics

I bought these pens on a whim @ $10.99 on Amazon because I wanted to try piston-fill fountain pens. I bought the Extra Fine (EF) but they write more like a Fine (F). They aren't the prettiest pens you'll own, but they write beautifully and have a HUGE ink resevoir. I honestly can't even predict how long it can go without being refilled. They come in a nice box and are suitable for gifting. They are currently $8.99 and Prime Day on Amazon is coming up on the 16th. BTW, I've discovered that Prime Day lasts 36 hours, not 24. At this price, I highly recommend these pens by Yakura. They won't replace your favorite Waterman, but they're excellent for the price. Use my link and it makes a donation to the Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary for big cats formerly abused or kept as pets. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D66W29Z/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3G6PCMUR76G3T&psc=1

I'm eagerly awaiting my first piston-fill pens, a lovely M150 and an M75 Go! Anything in particular I should know or be aware of regarding their care and operation? The Go! is NOS in original box; I'm hoping the instruction sheet will be there, too. Practice on the Go! before moving to the 150? Any advice appreciated. TIA

I haven't bought or used a cartridge converter pen very much for about six years now. The last one that I used regularly was a Duofold Centennial. Even back then, I did note that on the rare occasion that I used a cartridge in place of the converter, the ink flow seemed smoother and generally produced a better writing experience. These days, I wouldn't consider buying a pen if it was offered only as a cartridge converter, and piston fillers obviously don't suffer this problem. Any one else have any thing to say on this topic?

What is the best way in which to remove dry ink from inside a Pelikan M800 or any piston-fill fountain pen? While I can run the nib under water, I do not want to damage the piston by trying to draw water through the piston filling system.

I've seen the noodler's creaper pen for sale on goulet's and the standard piston fill for sale on isellpens. The piston fill on isellpens is cheaper, but they look like the same pen. Are these the same, or are they actually different models? Nib creaper: http://www.gouletpens.com/Noodlers_Black_Pearl_Creaper_Flex_Fountain_Pen_p/n17047.htm Standard Piston Fill: http://www.isellpens.com/Noodler_s_Ink_Pens_p/n17002.htm