Noob Restoration/sac Replacement Mistake. Learn From My Pain.

February 18, 2014

I won a Conway Stewart scribe in need of restoration of thE Bay. I thought it a good cheap way to learn to get an old pen in reasonable used condition to work. I knew it needed a sac replacement.

When it arrived I was pleasantly pleased with my buy. The hatched pattern had mostly worn off (it is older than me and made of rubber after all) But the inscription was legible and it is a nice size and weight. A simply pen (Conway Stewart basic model) but none the worse for that. The only obvious economy was the CS No. 3 fine nib ~ compared to my Summit, the nib was made of VERY thin metal. I made a note not to push it too far when flex writing as this was a sure candidate for a sprung nib.

I had a great idea for how to make replacing the sac simple. I have a pair of bow-legged tweezers, I placed the end of the new sac over the end of the tweezers and the section of the pen in the wide middle of the tweezers. By opening the tweezers it stretched the sac and I could simply push the section into the spread sac end - easy! I say easy, it did require me to take the tweezers off with my teeth as one hand held the section and the other held the sac in place. After a dry run I put some shellac on the section and repeated as before; result = new sac securely fitted to the section, so what's my noob mistake? I left the (thin remember?) nib and feed in the section and somewhere in the above process managed to bend one of the tines, I say bend, I mean spring/crease badly!

So whilst I will use the technique again to fit a new sac, I will remember to take the nib out first!

Anyone got a No.3 nib for sale?

February 18, 2014

Thank you for sharing the story. It always surprises me how horrible things happen to nibs every time your procedure is not painstakingly correct. I have had a few "great learning experiences" saving nibs that I had somehow left out of focus for a second or two. Nibs resemble women a little in that regard, I believe. Disregard them for a minute and you will be spending the next hour making up for your mistake.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Ursus

February 18, 2014

Instead of using the tweezers to help me fit the sac I actually use a circlip pliers which are very cheap and therefore does not dirty the tweezers with shellac.

As to the nib please contact Pen Museum (no affiliation) here in UK. Peter tends to have many nibs in stock and see if he has one nib that could help you.

February 18, 2014

Nibs resemble women a little in that regard, I believe. Disregard them for a minute and you will be spending the next hour making up for your mistake.

Only an hour ?! : 0 What women do you know that they will only punish you for one hour?

As to the nib please contact Pen Museum (no affiliation) here in UK. Peter tends to have many nibs in stock and see if he has one nib that could help you.

Thanks, I will check the pen museum out - I have got it working, surprising considering the crease on one tine. The feed may need a little opening up so I may just get someone to properly straighten the nib an check the flow, I'm not great with ebonite feeds and I'm more likely to botch it than make it better.