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DH and I recently began fiddling with old beater fountain pens. We are not after full restorations at this point, just writers with character, and have managed to re-sac seven lever-fillers, three of which have become excellent writers (and some of which need further work). Now we've moved to button-fillers, and we ran into a problem. I'm quoting him here: 'Notes & Questions: When reassembling this pen, if there is no sac fitted on the section, the section fits in the body properly (a pressure fit) and the button and pressure bar seem to work normally. However, once a sac is attached to the sections nipple, the section wont slide all the way into the body and slowly creeps out. There is a spongy feel when pressing the section in. Ive tried smaller and shorter sacs with no difference. Its the same problem even if the pressure bar is not installed in the body. Ive noticed a ring or ridge of gunk just inside the barrel at about the same depth of the sac nipple step on the section. Could this just be old sack and adhesive that should be scraped away? Its also where the end of the pressure bar wants to rest. Should I just give the barrel a good cleaning and scrape that ridge out or do I need a special, thin-walled sac for this pen?' Here is the pen, fully disassembled: http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/2014/8863/8804/Waltham_BF-fully_apart-640p.jpg This is looking into the barrel with the pressure bar in place: http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/2914/8863/8802/Waltham_BF-barrel_w_bar.JPG This is a tilted view of the barrel showing some of the ridge: http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/8214/8863/8800/Waltham_BF-barrel_tilted-640p.jpg Can anyone tell us what to do next? Thanks!

Hi guys, I have a Parker 21 I want to replace the sac in and have some questions. First off is which sac? My searching online has yeilded only results suggesting that sac replacement might be similar the aerometric Parker 51. However when ever such a thing is referenced there is always mention of a pliglass sac which, clearly, my pen does not have. As might be visible in the picture the filler is a three push aerometric with a, broken, latex(?) sac. Secondly there is the issue of removing the sac guard where I can't seem to find consistent information. From what I have gathered, it seems that I can use water for heat on this particular pen but some seem to say never ever use hot water. What is the correct answer? Lastly I have some questions about the integrity, of the "stainless" steel used in the pen. The pressure bar has black gunk on it and I can't quite make certain of whether it has anything to do with corrosion of the stainless steel. The reason I question the stainlessness of the stainless steel is because there also appear to be rust, the red kind, on the inside of the cap. I still don't think it is likely that there is a serious steel corrosion problem but I'm curious of other peoples' opinions on it.