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I am relatively new to vintage Waterman's pens, having only two: A Taperite Crusader and a Corinth (still in need of full restoration...has a leaking crack in the sac nipple). My Taperite Crusader was a true lesson in patience. It took several weeks of on-again..off-again efforts with heat, ultrasonic, and physical tugging and pulling to finally get the section out so as to replace the sac. In terms of writing qualities, this particular Taperite Crusader is every bit as smooth and enjoyable as any of my Parker "51s," 45s, or any other pen I own, for that matter. My frustration with it is simple: it absolutely has to be kept full. If not, it is prone to burping. When half or less full it is an ink-blobbing barometer, thermometer, altimeter looking for a place to blob. There is no safe way to remove the nib and feed due to the shape of the section and I doubt seriously that cleaning the feed in an ultrasonic cleaner would have much, if any, impact on the burp-blot tendency. If my Taperite Crusader is going to be a daily carry pen, I have to remember to fill it each day and if I write more than a few pages in a day, I have learned to be on my guard as it might "speak back" to me. Has anyone else had this experience. I've heard reference to it online somewhere else but I am curious to know if others experience this too. Thanks, Cliff

Hi all, first post here. I bought a taperite citation with the hooded nib that needs restoring, but the nib needs replacing. I have been scouring the web for months trying to find a replacement with no success. Having to guess at the nib description as all the engraving says is ‘made in england’ or some such. I have bought other taperites with the intention of nicking their nibs, but they are always in good condition and very saleable, so it would simply leave me with yet another pen needing a nib. Can anyone point me to a nib or provide an accurate description of the nib model so i can continue my search without going bald too quickly? i apologies if i am in the forum, feel free to moderate me. many desperate thanks in advance, Dave C.

I recently purchased my first vintage Waterman's fountain pen... a Taperite Crusader. I bought it for next to nothing but have a significant amount of time invested in it just getting the section out of the pen. We're talking about long soaks in water with a little Dawn detergent, ultrasonic baths, and of course heat. This was done over several days with me giving up numerous times rather than to risk breaking the pen. What finally produced the slightest movement of the section was my decision to wiggle the heated joint side to side, rather than just up and down. I got a sudden little "crack" sound causing me to think that I had broken the pen but then I noticed that the section was slightly askew to the left. Reheating and applying pressure in the opposite direction suddenly released the section. After giving the released section, nib, and feed an ultrasonic cleaning, I installed a new sac, loaded the pen with some ink and was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly it writes. Unfortunately, it also manages to blurb an ink blot now and then. I've tried several inks and some seem to work a bit better than others but eventually, either a small drop of ink begins to appear at the nib's vent hole or (worse) a larger drop forms hanging from the bottom of the feed. What can be done with this? My thinking is that the feed is not allowing the free exhange of air for ink and that the only way to address the problem is to remove the nib and feed from the section. How in the world can that be done? The shape of the section precludes the use of a conventional knock out block. Does the nib push back through the feed in the opposite direction? Or, is there some sort of custom knock out block that must be used? Anything that can properly support the section would have to be tapered which would make the section a wedge being driven into the block. Does anyone have experience with this issue and can enlighten me on how to fix the ink blotting issue? Thanks much, Cliff

I purchased my first vintage Waterman's fountain pen, a Taperite Crusader, and after a long struggle, finally got the section out, cleaned everything up, and installed a new sac. The pen writes very smoothly but tends to burp an ink blot from time to time...with no apparent rhyme or reason. I've read elsewhere that this is a somewhat common problem. Can anyone enlighten me on what can be done? Thanks, Cliff

Hello, I've been looking with no success about how to remove (knock out) the nib/feed of a Waterman Taperite. Seems like the question has been asked in the past but never answered....so not to beat a dead horse, but does anyone have experience/knowledge on how to do this without cracking the section? TIA, James

Hello FPN! I've got a Waterman Taperite (open nib version) that's been giving me trouble since I got it. The pen writes dryly and refuses to write on upstrokes. The nib appears to not be touching the feed and I can wiggle the nib in the section with my fingers. I've tried pulling them out of the section, resetting the position the nib/feed, then sticking them back in, to no avail. What else should I try before saying "screw it" and sending it to a professional to fix?