The Mystery Of The Disappearing Ink

[jelly]

Hey, so I have a blue waterman level filling pen with a nice flex nib.

 

Until quite recently, the pen was working perfectly, smooth and evenly with the right amount of ink coming out (i.e. no globs of ink blopping out at inopportune moments).

 

The only trouble I had with it was that I wasn't really used to using fountain pens at the start, which left me with leaving small ink sprays if I waved the pen around or didn't put a lid on it when leaving it down on the table.

 

Now though what happens is that if I fill the pen by dipping it in a pot of ink and using the lever, is that the pen writes normally for a short amount of time. However, now it likes to run out of ink much, much sooner than before.

 

I don't write with a larger amount of flex than before and the ink doesn't seem to be leaking anywhere.

 

This is the pen, I don't know what model it is:

 

 

So where does the ink go? is it being absorbed by the pen? Has the sac broken and is the body holding all the ink? (I don't think the section comes off)

Is the devil stealing my ink? How do I stop him?

Edited May 15, 2014 by jelly

[WillT]

It could be that the filler is no longer working properly and is not taking up as much ink (or any) in the first place.

[Paddler]

Sometimes when a sac begins to fail, it begins to turn to goo and doesn't have enough elasticity to suck up a full load of ink.

 

The section has to come off, somehow. It is either a press fit or is threaded into the barrel. The manufacturer had to put a sac and a pressor bar into the barrel somehow.

[Blazing]

If your pen is writing down more ink than usual [you can see this by looking if the ink is more saturated than normal] then it will go through ink very very easily.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Sac is going.

I had a 64 year old Esterbrook, the last two years, it drew less and less ink.

 

I know it was not re-saced. It sat in my wife's aunt's draw for some 15 years after her husband died and the same amount of years in mine before I re-discovered fountain pens. It was of the 5 inherited the only one I'd ever heard of (then). I was able to date it because of the lever shape from 1948-52.

In that Germany wasn't really a sac pen nation...it was never re-saced.

 

Normally a rubber sac is only good for 30-40 years.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I'd say sac failure, too. I think it's a Leader model, which was aimed at the student market starting about 1950-- so you're probably not the first person to slightly abuse it.

 

The main problem with sac replacement in that one is that the plastic it a little brittle and Waterman was in a habit of scoring the section for extra traction against the barrel, so shrinkage and really bear down in the joint.

[jelly]

so the consensus seems to be the sac, how should I try to get the section off? I can't see any joint between the threaded bit and the thingy

 

Should I try warming it up or should I use some sort of solvent to loosen the glue (if there is any)

[Ernst Bitterman]

Warm it gently using something like a hair-dryer, and keep your fingers in the flow so you know if it's getting too hot. A preliminary soak in room-temperature water (nose down, enough water to cover the threads) might help and won't hurt if you keep it down to a couple of hours. I had this happen to one I was working on; I blame it one someone doing stupid things with adhesives in a previous "repair" attempt, but since it was a student pen, Waterman might have glued them down at the factory-- I don't think so, as another I have opened up without too much struggle, but be aware of the possibility. Approach it as if you're trying to get a wine cork out of a bottle with very delicate sides, and all should be well.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ernst Bitterman