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Bought a converter for a Waterman CF, cleaned the pen, ink it and got serious case of Blue Fingers. The ink appears to come through a gap between the resin and the metal inlay. Can anyone recommend a cure for this? The pen has a nice 14K nib plus it belongs to She Who Must Be Obeyed and I've already committed enough sins as it is.

I have a Waterman CF for which I bought the converter a couple of years ago. I didn't use it very much, but the pressure bar has slipped sideways and the sac is already falling apart -- it's hard to believe, but they may have made this thing out of a rubber that's damaged by ink (And I use Skrip, so it's not the ink's fault). Finally, the ink capacity of this converter is very small, which is why I stopped using it in the first place. I thought of a solution to all this: I could chop off the rear of the converter and glue a regular sac on there, which I would fill by manually squeezing it. This would get rid of the defective pressure bar and rubber, and it would hold almost as much ink as a cartridge. But I don't want to mutilate the converter if CF converters are rare and collectible. If so, I'd try to repair it (although that would be tricky because it's held together by crimping). Can someone confirm for me that these converters are fairly easy to find so I won't feel guilty about my plans for this one?

Yes, the Internet is wonderful and there are definitely some great vintage & new pen dealers out there - BTW, no affiliation to anyone... Sometimes you get lucky in a way that is only possible in a brick & mortar situation. That's what happened for me yesterday. I will share the highlight: Backstory: About 18 months ago, just before Christmas I went to a special sale at the local second hand store that takes donations from the community and sells the stuff to raise money for the local food pantry and shelter. Just before the Holiday they sell some of their "saved up ", probably more valuable vintage goodies". I bought a ball point and fountain pen set. It was (and still is) a Waterman C/F - the first cartridge fill pen Waterman made (18k French fine(?) nib. Paid $18.00. What I later found out was that regular Waterman cartridges no longer fit, are hard to find and the converter for the pen, if you can find it in working order can cost a lot. I had two old, dried out cartridges but I'm not a big fan of refilling them. Fast forward to yesterday:I am going into Boston for a meeting. (When I do that and have the time I always visit Bromfield Pen Shop.) I decided that I'm going to bring the Waterman set with me on kind of "fishing expedition". I go into the store and say "hello" to the owner, Fred. Well, my opening remark, after the greeting to him and the woman, Mary, working with him is, "Fred, by any chance, do you have a converter for a Waterman C/F?" Fred's response, there is a pause and... "Yeah, I think I do. I found it in an old box of stuff that I recently bought." :yikes: Well duh.... Okay, it looks pristine and it fits. "Fred, how much do you want for it? Pause... "$x.xx" Yes, DONE!!!! The moral of this story is, Sometimes you just have to ask! And it's much more fun at a B&M. Ahhh, the sweet mysteries of life!!!! P.S. Thank you Fred, you made my day and my visit to Boston 10x happier! P.P.S. Of course I was so happy I also bought some other goodies. P.P.P.S. Now all I need is to find a replacement for the ball point refill for the other pen in the set. Heck, I'll even accept a medium point :lol:

I've gotten interested in Waterman c/f pens and have trouble describing the plating that is found on some sections. I have seen it referred to as the apron, inlaid shoulders. metal overlay, and metal sides. I found the patent for the cf and it states "IN this preferred embodiment the nib cavity is shown reinforced by a member which serves also to ornament the pen section and without distrubing its overall streamlined appearance. This member, generally designated 26 in FIGS 1 and 2, may be a metal piece embedded in the section so that its surface is flush with that of the section. ..... At its forward end member 26 includes a yoke 27 and extending rearwardly are wings 28 united at their ends by a band 29." So it seems that this ornamentation is called a 'member'. No wonder people have tried to find alternative names! Does anyone know if there is a generally accepted term to describe these 'winged members"....... Kevin