Is The 21 Super Vulnerable To Sac Nipple Softening Like The 51?

[KLscribbler]

Hi all,

 

One thing I've been wondering about the Super 21 (the upgraded 21 with a proper hooded octanium nib and collector).

 

Is the sac nipple in the Super 21's aerometric filling system vulnerable to the same sort of softening that sometimes occurs on 51s?

 

I just wondered about this while refilling my Super 21 - this one has seen continuous usage for about 45 years now without problems. (Well, ok, maybe the tines have gotten a wee bit misaligned over the years... but apart from that... it's perfect.)

 

So far, my thoughts about maintenance of this pen ran mostly in the "if it ain't broke..." vein, but having become more aware of the (thankfully small) number of issues that could affect 51s (sac nipple softening, breather tube corrosion...), I started to wonder whether Super 21s are vulnerable to the same problems, and whether I ought to have the internals of my pen checked, just for peace of mind.

 

Then again, it ain't broke, and there's always a risk associated with opening up an old pen. I would have to get a professional pen repairer to do it for me, as I've never done any servicing of pens that required heat or shellac. I don't think I would be confident enough to use this pen as my first practice, considering its sentimental value.

 

On a side note, is it necessary to remove the hood in order to correct slightly misaligned tines on a Super 21? Mine has always had misaligned tines since I got it from my father. I've always taken a "grin and bear with it" attitude to it, since the misalignment is small, I write with a very light hand and it doesn't bother me that much, and most of all - I was afraid of cracking the feed or the hood if I tried to exert pressure on the tines in any direction.

 

Thanks & regards,

 

CZM

[welch]

Don't take the pen apart.

 

If a few P-51's have shown a softened sac nipple after 65 years, that does not suggest a vulnerability. If your pen works, if nothing hints at a problem, then why have a service expert take the pen apart?

[KLscribbler]

Yeah, that was my thought as well.

 

It's just... this faintly weird feeling of using something, hard, for half a century... and never needing to maintain it in any way (other than the occasional water flush).

 

It's like seeing a perpetual motion machine. Or a demo of an anti-gravity device.

[Jerome Tarshis]

Pens used to be like that. They mostly just wrote. A rubber sac might need to be replaced from time to time. Not often.

 

We have tried to make using a fountain pen into something individual and eccentric and fraught with exaggerated joys and sorrows. Some of us have succeeded in that. Others can look upon fountain pens as ordinary and, on the whole, durable.

[pajaro]

In a lot of 51s I have not run across this problem. You could obsess about this until you spend a lot of money having the pen serviced unnecessarily. I bought an NOS Super 21 a couple of years ago for $15. It doesn't seem cost justified to tear into this pen, except for the sentimental value of the pen. If the pen is not leaking, why suspect trouble.

 

I think heating off the sac guard and the sac would reveal whether or not there is an issue. Things could go wrong, however. You might overheat the pen and make a mess out of it. The old rule, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies. To be honest I have found this to be true more than once.

 

Reread Jerome's post above.

[KLscribbler]

Thanks for the reassurance folks. It's quite amazing to write with this thing, and realize that it's been chugging along, day after day after day, since my father was a schoolboy - and still going strong today. Darned if it ain't one of the best school pens ever made.

[dadbar]

My two aerometric P51's still have supple, functional sacs that have not needed replacement.

 

I recently got a P21 as part of a lot of pens and its sac is all crazed and cracked. I have no need to replace it since I have more pens than I can possibly ever use and the P21 is something that I would never use anyway. If anyone would like it for free, send me a line.