What is on your bench?

[FarmBoy]

Sometimes it is more cost effective to purchase restored vintage pens vs taking a swing and restoring. 
 

Buying vintage pens online by relying on a few pictures and a description that starts “I know nothing about pens” is like playing the lottery. 
 

The guy with the cap nearly always wins. 
 

Matching a part to a pen electronically is better than the lottery and more like Roulette.   Lots of big parts hoards out there and lots of logistical issues to deal with when it come to the “mostly postage” parts category. 
 

Nibs have their own problems.  Usually it works and is close enough.  But even a rock solid nib like a 51 where every nib every made will interchange ends up in the email debate on flow, point size, etc.   You can throw in the flex debate on replacement nibs for more fun. 
 

By far it isn’t every transaction, in fact it is more like a few percent. But that effort winds up taking more time than 50 others, often ends in a return and list postage. And sometimes you don’t get the part same back in the return. 
 

Carry on. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I think probably my proudest moment in my vintage pen collecting career (so far anyways) was ordering a Sheaffer flattop cap that had no size description (tried to guesstimate if the cap was the right size based on the proportions of the clip and cap bands) and a seller that was unresponsive to questions. 

 

I had a senior/full-size jade celluloid with no cap that I got dirt cheap in a lot of pens. It ended up being a perfect fit, even the discoloration for the jade celluloid was approximately the same shade. I don't think anyone would guess, if I showed them the pen, that it was not the original cap.

 

22 minutes ago, FarmBoy said:

Nibs have their own problems.  Usually it works and is close enough.  But even a rock solid nib like a 51 where every nib every made will interchange ends up in the email debate on flow, point size, etc.   You can throw in the flex debate on replacement nibs for more fun. 

 

Honestly, I've given up on nibs. My dirty secret is I don't enjoy writing with 95% of the pens I've purchased. I'm too finnicky and fussy about them. I can usually get a nib to write maybe to within 90% of what I would consider "perfect" (for myself, at least) but that last 10% tears at me. Earlier on in my pen collecting I ruined lots of nibs trying to take it to that "100%" point and mucking it up.

 

I kind of prefer buying pens with completely messed up (but repairable, i.e., no broken tines or missing tipping) because I can take those from unusable to decently okay. Meanwhile nibs that are okay but not great I ended up ruining.

 

These days as long as I can get it to the point where it won't tear up the paper at most angles I consider it good enough (although I still have my moments of weakness where I'll destroy a nib trying to get it writing better). I don't even mind cracks, as long as it's stable. I've got a few that have cracks at the base and those aren't too problematic. This Sheaffer nib is unusable though...

[VacNut]

“Buying vintage pens online by relying on a few pictures and a description that starts “I knownothing about pens” is like playing the lottery”

 

I bought a lottery ticket last week to win $1.5B!

😂😂😂😂😂

Used pens are always a roll of the dice! There is small comfort if one accepts that the “I got a great deal pen” may never be restored when you first buy it.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

In my experience "I know nothing about pens" is code for "I don't know a lot but I know enough about pens to know I'm selling you junk." 

[es9]

2 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

It ended up being a perfect fit

That’s fantastic. Congrats! Don’t get me started on Sheaffer inner caps. 

 

2 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

In my experience "I know nothing about pens" is code for "I don't know a lot but I know enough about pens to know I'm selling you junk." 

In my experience, it’s code for “I expect to get whatever the highest price paid in the last year is regardless of condition,” but don’t look at me if something’s wrong. 
 

2 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

Sometimes it is more cost effective to purchase restored vintage pens vs taking a swing and restoring.

 

I have come to really see the virtue in this. I don’t even care whether a pen is ready to write. To me, the real value is in the due diligence: Assuming the restorer is reliable, I can rest reasonably assured there are no undiscovered or undisclosed secrets hiding inside a pen. 

[VacNut]

2 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

The guy with the cap nearly always wins

For Vacumatics, it would be the guy with the end cap with tassie!!!!

[cat74]

Parker Deluxe Challenger in need of a sac...now to search what size I need!

Just got it today in the mail...some soap and water cleaned things up and some soaking got it to come apart!

Pressure bar looks salvageable!

 

 

[es9]

Pressure bar looks fine! And that nib looks like it might have some flex to it. 

 

See here for pen sac sizes. Looks like you need a 20. 

[cat74]

4 minutes ago, es9 said:

Pressure bar looks fine! And that nib looks like it might have some flex to it. 

 

See here for pen sac sizes. Looks like you need a 20. 

that's a great chart!!! thanks!!! 

Looks like this is the "slender' model vs the standard - 122mm vs 132mm

 

I need to order some 16s for some Esterbrook - this might get one of those instead?

[cat74]

Pen Sac Charts

 

Ooohhh....found this chart - looks like I need a necked sac!!

17 1/2 - 2 1/8

might hold off on the order -I have a pen I'm afraid to try on my own so will send to get fixed -might just have them add some sacs to the return package!

[cat74]

Quick dip test....it does indeed have flex...with not much pressure either

 

[VacNut]

52 minutes ago, cat74 said:

Quick dip test....it does indeed have flex...with not much pressure either

 

That’s funny…this is the common repeating “S?” Pattern everyone uses to demonstrate nib flex. I would love to see a letter written with just these curves…

Flexible nibs often warrant a small bump in value but I would be curious to discover how many of us actually use the flexible nib in our writing.

My daily users are 21’s and 51’s which are just workhorses.

 

Great find on the challenger pen!!

[cat74]

22 hours ago, VacNut said:

That’s funny…this is the common repeating “S?” Pattern everyone uses to demonstrate nib flex. I would love to see a letter written with just these curves…

Flexible nibs often warrant a small bump in value but I would be curious to discover how many of us actually use the flexible nib in our writing.

My daily users are 21’s and 51’s which are just workhorses.

 

Great find on the challenger pen!!

lol...yeah... somehow the "S"s are the default. I have used flex nibs in my daily rotation...they do result in a little more "character" but it's few and far between that I find myself needing to go crazy!

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

This is a first for me... I opened up a pen and the sac remnants on the sac nipple looked weird. I thought it was a bit of string for holding the sac to the nipple but it was a wire!

 

 

The confusing part for me is that it seems to have some shellac remnants too. So I guess whoever repaired this didn't trust the shellac to hold? Very weird.

[es9]

Not that surprising. People did what they needed to in order to keep their pens running. 
 

My first “restoration” was a sac change on a sheaffer flat top. I went down to Fahrhey’s in DC intending to ask if they could do it for me. Chuck Edwards, the repair guy there for decades before he passed away a few years ago, handed me a sac and told me to do it myself. I asked him how to attach the sac, and he said honey or dental floss. I went with the latter and used the pen successfully for a long time. It’s not how I would do it today, but you can’t argue with results! 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Honestly, for short term use I wonder if you can get away with not using anything. With a tight enough sac I can't see it slipping off. 

 

I got another pen with that one, a Wearever Deluxe, and that seems to have a homebrew fix as well. Same former owner possibly.

 

 

When I disassembled it I thought the weird gunk on the section plug was a bug or something or a piece of old sac. After cleaning it off and restoring the pen, I realized it was probably intentional. The section was so loose it would literally just fall out. I guess that might have been a small piece of old tape or paper or something to secure the section.

 

I did two coats of shellac about an hour apart to build up the section and waited about 6ish hours to reassemble, seems okay for now. Fits much better but I am a little worried I overdid since now it's a little tight. Cool pen though, will post some pictures tomorrow in better lighting.

 

With the exception of not having an inner cap, this is probably the highest quality feeling Wearever I've used. Feels nicer than their later more "premium" pens like the Pacemaker. The nib is a touch splayed and I don't want to mess with it because it has that cage but it's still kind of a decent gold nib. It reminds me of the earlier generic "warranted" nibs (which I quite like) in feel, as opposed to the later "full size" 14kt Wearever nibs that are on the Pacemarker and Zenith (and others?) - those are the worst gold nibs I've ever used.

[es9]

7 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

The section was so loose it would literally just fall out. I guess that might have been a small piece of old tape or paper or something to secure the section.

 

A little slip of paper is often also a home brew technique. Not a good idea, though. Shellac helps distribute the pressure more evenly. 
 

7 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

Fits much better but I am a little worried I overdid since now it's a little tight.

 

The section will usually scrape a little bit away as you install the section. But just sand a little off if you’re concerned. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Yeah, I am not too worried. In any case, it's not a rare pen. But it is kind of cool. Here are some pics of the "finished product."

 

 

Nib is a little bit of a mess, it looks like it's gone through several repairs already. I aligned it a tiny bit but I am going to refrain from messing with it further. It writes but it's an absolute firehouse (not sure if it's because it's splayed or the nib "guard" is acting as an overfeed a little) and sticks on upstrokes. Usable though.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I am a little annoyed. I got a Waterman 52 in questionable condition, fairly oxidized. I did my usual light polish with Simichrome and figured I'd give Micro Gloss a shot since plenty of people on here recommend it for hard rubber.

 

It made the discoloration slightly worse! It makes sense considering Micro-Gloss is a water-based polish and water exacerbates hard rubber oxidization but I've seen so many claims on here that it doesn't. Lesson learned I guess, and at least I didn't try it on a pen in better condition. I know not to use it again. 

[Ron Z]

I don't recommend Micro Gloss for that reason.  It gets into the pores of the hard rubber and uglifies it.  I like Wenol a bit better than Simichrome.