Penman And Wearever Lever Fill Questions

[Bamapendude]

Ok I picked this FP up on eBay. I wanted to dabble in fountain pens and learn to repair them. I figured what better to learn on than some cheap pens. My Penman pen I am finding little info on them. One the feed and nib is tight and I do not want to break it. I assume these are friction fit, is that correct. Also if I need to replace the ink sac does anyone know if the section is glue/ press fit or screw type? The lever is very springy and over all I can see no cracks on the pen. It does need cleaned the nib and feed looks like there is corrosion on it. I just removed feed and nib on a Wearever that came from same seller, it was in far worse condition. I gave it a thorough cleaning and was able to fill it with ink. I plan to tear that one down and replace the sac and see if I can place more tension on the J Bar as the lever is loose and not very springy like the penman pen. The ink sac from the inside of the pen looked ok on the Wearever I did not see any cracks but I think a full disassembly and replacement while adjusting JBar would be a smart idea. If you wonder how I viewed the ink sac. I will also add a pic of my new toy, a lighted endoscope....

 

Also any idea approximate years these were made?/

 

Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.

 

Thank You

Here are some pics of the penman. Also I included a pic of the wearever after I cleaned it up and inked it.

 

PENMAN

 

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af20/WestTexasFishingAdventures/penman_zps7po8m9un.jpg

WEAREVER

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af20/WestTexasFishingAdventures/wearever_zpshqbdkt7a.jpg

ENDOSCOPE

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af20/WestTexasFishingAdventures/endo1_zps1eysy5in.jpg

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af20/WestTexasFishingAdventures/endo2_zpse5hjedaq.jpg

Edited June 5, 2016 by Bamapendude

[ac12]

If you are trying to learn. Then start by learning to pull the section without damaging the pen. IMHO, this is the hardest part of restoring a pen.

 

Most lever pens that I've dealt with are friction fit. The problem is that due to shrinkage, the barrel may be VERY TIGHT on the section. That then is the challenge, removing a TIGHT section without damaging the barrel.

 

As I understand, button fillers are more likely to have a threaded section. This is because the spring on the pressure bar pushes onto the back of the section. A screwed on section will hold back the pressure bar better than a friction fit section. Having said that, I have run into button filler with friction fit sections, such as on a couple of my Wearever button fillers.

 

There are a few pens where the section was glued into the body. Those are a real challenge, and should be left for later, as cracking through old glue/cement is more an advanced topic.

Some repair people may have used shellac to 'glue' the section into the body. This may have been done because the section was a loose fit into the body. For this, dry heat is the tool to use.

 

About the ink sac. On ANY old pen that I receive, my SOP is to replace the ink sac, unless I KNOW for certain that the sac was very recently replaced. Even if an old sac feels OK, that ink sac could be 60+ years old, and could fail next week. A new ink sac should give you 10+ years of useful life, and you won't have to worry about a 60+ year old sac failing on you.

 

If the lever feels loose, the J-bar may be ready to fail. Plan on replacing the J-bar. Like the ink sac, trying to get a few more months of use out of the old J-bar is not worth the hassle of replacing it later. You opened the pen to replace the sac, so if the J-bar is bad, replace it NOW. As I said, pulling the section is the hardest part of restoring the pen, so just do it ONCE.

 

About the nib and feed.

First, the nib and feed should NOT be removed in normal restoration. The nib and feed should only be removed for a good reason, like a damaged nib that needs to be replaced, or a feed that is clogged with India ink and needs to be scraped clean. The reason for this is that, as with removing the section from the barrel, removing the feed/nib from the section, could result in damage to the nib, feed or section. Also some sections have shrunk over the decades, so it could be VERY difficult to put the nib and feed back into the shrunk section, without surgery to the section.

 

Having given the warning. To remove the nib and feed from most old pens,

1) You have to pull the section,

2) Then remove what is left of the ink sac, to get access to the back of the section and feed.

3) Then using a knock out block, thin steel punch and a small hammer, knock out the feed.

This presumes that there isn't a breather tube in the back of the feed or some different feed/section configuration. Research first.

The description sounds easy, but you have to be careful, or you could damage the nib, feed and/or section.

 

Some old pens did not use stainless steel or gold nibs, so the nib could be BADLY corroded. If so plan to replace the nib. Had to do this to several of my old pens. A good source of decent replacement nibs are from Chinese sellers on eBay.

 

Reassembly without damaging the pen is another trick.

 

BTW, the tuition of learning to repair a pen, is the damaging or destruction of the pen you are trying to repair.

I have several pens, or parts of pens, in my AW $HIT box. That is my tuition box.

 

gud luk

Edited June 5, 2016 by ac12