Before This Fool Rushes In...

[DeborahMakarios]

...can anyone tell me what precautions (if any) I should take before filling an old Sheaffer which hasn't been used in probably decades?

My research seems to indicate it's an Imperial VI (grey barrel, steel & gold cap, gold inlaid nib), and the rubber bulb seems nice and soft. Is there anything else I need to look out for?

Thanks!

[Tweel]

Have you tried cycling the filler and listening for the soft hiss of air as the Touchdown tube is pushed home? I'd be most concerned that the O-ring has dried out.

[DeborahMakarios]

Have you tried cycling the filler and listening for the soft hiss of air as the Touchdown tube is pushed home? I'd be most concerned that the O-ring has dried out.

Pardon my ignorance - cycling the filler? Do you mean a dry run, as it were, or actually trying to fill it with some liquid (e.g. water)? If the former, I can hear a hissing noise, but I can't tell if it's air or just the metal tubes sliding past each other. Should I try persuading it to blow bubbles in a glass of water?

[bsenn]

Pull the tube out all the way. Holding it close so you can hear, push the tube back in. At the last 1/8" of travel, there should be a "whoosh" sound of air. If you do not hear a whoosh sound, it needs servicing (check out The Write Pen if you do).

[DeborahMakarios]

Pull the tube out all the way. Holding it close so you can hear, push the tube back in. At the last 1/8" of travel, there should be a "whoosh" sound of air. If you do not hear a whoosh sound, it needs servicing (check out The Write Pen if you do).

I think I am hearing a little 'poof' of air at the end, but there's also a sort of 'pfft' when I pull the tube out. Is this an issue?

If not, I shall proceed to carefully rinse the doings out with a little warm water, since I'm pretty sure there's some dried up remains of ink in the nib section, if nowhere else.

Thanks for your advice! Alas, since The Write Pen is about 8000 miles away, I might need to look for someone closer to do any servicing required.

[Tweel]

Hi, sorry I was slow to come back. The 'poof' is good, it's an indicator that the O-ring I mentioned is maintaining air pressure in the pen's barrel (the air inside is compressed when you push in the tube, then released at the end of the stroke through a little port -- that's the poof). And likewise if the "pfft" happens as the tube is reaching its full extension (that's when another port allows air into the barrel, which will be compressed on the push stroke).

 

If those are true and the sac is still pliable as you say, then sure, give it a try with water. If you can get it to fill with water, that can be a test, and the start of flushing the pen. Do you have any silicone grease? A very light coating on the exterior of the Touchdown tube will help maintain the O-ring's seal.

[DeborahMakarios]

Hi, sorry I was slow to come back. The 'poof' is good, it's an indicator that the O-ring I mentioned is maintaining air pressure in the pen's barrel (the air inside is compressed when you push in the tube, then released at the end of the stroke through a little port -- that's the poof). And likewise if the "pfft" happens as the tube is reaching its full extension (that's when another port allows air into the barrel, which will be compressed on the push stroke).

 

If those are true and the sac is still pliable as you say, then sure, give it a try with water. If you can get it to fill with water, that can be a test, and the start of flushing the pen. Do you have any silicone grease? A very light coating on the exterior of the Touchdown tube will help maintain the O-ring's seal.

Good to know, thanks! I do have a little silicon grease (came with my TWSBI Mini) so I'll just have to cast around for something to apply it with. I'll give it a go this evening and report back accordingly.

 

ETA:

I brushed on a bit of the silicon grease and then flushed it with warm water - and it all seems to work! The previous ink was something in a sort of rusty brown, by the look of its residue, but it flushed out fairly rapidly, and the pen is definitely taking in water and pushing it out again, without the water appearing in undesirable places.

Now I just need to figure out which ink to try it with :-)

Thanks to you both for all your help!

Edited February 27, 2018 by DeborahMakarios

[mitto]

Good that your pen started working as it should. Take good care of it and enjoy writing with it.

[DeborahMakarios]

I filled it with Waterman Havana/Absolute Brown, and it writes beautifully. The only problem is that the nib dries out quite quickly. I've had to resort to dipping the nib in water to get it writing again.

Any suggestions?

[pajaro]

I filled it with Waterman Havana/Absolute Brown, and it writes beautifully. The only problem is that the nib dries out quite quickly. I've had to resort to dipping the nib in water to get it writing again.

Any suggestions?

 

I have to do this with most of my pens. There are a few good ones that will stay moist and ready to write, including a couple of Sheaffer touchdown Imperials with inlaid nib, but other similar Sheaffer pens dry out quickly. I do not understand why two nearly identical Sheaffer Imperials will act so differently. The C/C imperials with inlaid or Dolphin nibs seem to work better. It has baffled me for years. The nibs on some of these pens are wonderful. Some of them just need a bath to get going.

[DeborahMakarios]

 

I have to do this with most of my pens. There are a few good ones that will stay moist and ready to write, including a couple of Sheaffer touchdown Imperials with inlaid nib, but other similar Sheaffer pens dry out quickly. I do not understand why two nearly identical Sheaffer Imperials will act so differently. The C/C imperials with inlaid or Dolphin nibs seem to work better. It has baffled me for years. The nibs on some of these pens are wonderful. Some of them just need a bath to get going.

I must have been lucky, then - all my other pens have written straight away (except for a cartridge pen which I no longer have). I shall have to be disciplined and get some water from the kitchen each time, rather than surrendering to the temptation to dip it in the nearest available fluid: my cup of tea.

Do you ever find that the 'bath' only gets it going for a certain amount of writing, and then it dries up again?

[CS388]

I filled it with Waterman Havana/Absolute Brown, and it writes beautifully. The only problem is that the nib dries out quite quickly. I've had to resort to dipping the nib in water to get it writing again.

Any suggestions?

 

This may be because the feed has been dry for so long?

If so, it should eventually soak itself in ink and the dry starts could disappear?

Or, there could be some old dried-up ink still clogging the feed, internally. Long soaks can sometimes shift this, or a commercial pen flush solution.

 

(I haven't got this particular model, but this has been my experience with other old pens.)

Pleased that you got it up and running, though. Nice work!

 

Enjoy.

[pajaro]

I must have been lucky, then - all my other pens have written straight away (except for a cartridge pen which I no longer have). I shall have to be disciplined and get some water from the kitchen each time, rather than surrendering to the temptation to dip it in the nearest available fluid: my cup of tea.

Do you ever find that the 'bath' only gets it going for a certain amount of writing, and then it dries up again?

 

Pens that do this drying out when capped tend to do it when capped and put up for a few hours or so. This is not just Sheaffers. It happens to me with a lot of brands, but a few makes are exempt. Once one of the pens gets going, the capillary action keeps the ink flowing.

[pajaro]

 

This may be because the feed has been dry for so long?

If so, it should eventually soak itself in ink and the dry starts could disappear?

Or, there could be some old dried-up ink still clogging the feed, internally. Long soaks can sometimes shift this, or a commercial pen flush solution.

 

(I haven't got this particular model, but this has been my experience with other old pens.)

Pleased that you got it up and running, though. Nice work!

 

Enjoy.

I have tried these remedies. Even after a flush with a bulb and a nib flossing, some or most of these pens that dry up do it again resting overnight. I try to use only the ones that don't dry up overnight..

[DeborahMakarios]

Further experimentation suggests that it didn't fill very well in the first place.

I decided to flush it again before refilling, and discovered to my surprise that there is more ink rinsing out from around the little metal dots at the screw end of the section (clutch studs?) than anywhere else.

Is this to be expected, or is it the sign of something tragically wrong inside the section? And what should I do about it?

[pajaro]

I have had success with using wetter inks, such as Sailor. A Waterman Kultur that dried up all the time has remained moist with a Sailor blue ink. Worth trying.

[Tweel]

It sounds like there's something structurally wrong. Is there any evidence of ink or water on the inside of the barrel? You could wipe the inside with an earbud to see (since it's dark in there!). If there is, the sac probably needs to be replaced, although the first thing to do would be to rinse out the barrel and let it dry thoroughly, so that the steel Touchdown tube and sac protector don't rust.

 

If it's dry, I'd suspect that the seal inside of the section, between the feed and the coupler, has failed and needs to be replaced.

 

In either case, it may be time for the pen to see a repair person.

[DeborahMakarios]

It sounds like there's something structurally wrong. Is there any evidence of ink or water on the inside of the barrel? You could wipe the inside with an earbud to see (since it's dark in there!). If there is, the sac probably needs to be replaced, although the first thing to do would be to rinse out the barrel and let it dry thoroughly, so that the steel Touchdown tube and sac protector don't rust.

 

If it's dry, I'd suspect that the seal inside of the section, between the feed and the coupler, has failed and needs to be replaced.

 

In either case, it may be time for the pen to see a repair person.

 

The barrel looks fine, and the sac is in great condition. So perhaps it's the section seal - although the ink doesn't leak out round the studs while the pen is in use, only when it's being soaked to clean it out.

 

Sigh. Perhaps I'd better start looking around for fountain pen repair people in NZ - or failing that, Australia.