What is on your bench?

[es9]

11 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 

Oh, that's cool. I might pick that up eventually but at this point I don't work on enough vacs for it to be worth getting. Have way too much vac-related tools already. That thread cleaner for Vacs is very enticing though...

Both tools are great. If you have unsteady hands like I do, the jig pays for itself in a couple of pens. And unless or until @FarmBoy tells me not to—or until Daniel Kirchheimer makes/sells some of his amazing tools for the same purpose—I’ll continue to use these chasers. 

[gweimer1]

This is a new one on me.  I sold this to a customer at the Triangle Pen Show. When I checked it, it appeared to take liquid, and the guy who bought it said the same , the first time he filled it.  Then, he emailed me and said it wasn't taking ink at all.  I had him send it back to me, and when I took it apart , this is what I found.  The best I can figure, the sac was so gooey that it actually sealed, giving the illusion that it was working.  I did the restoration all over, and inked it up to be sure.  Sheesh...

[es9]

Did the customer say what kind of ink they used? 

[gweimer1]

2 hours ago, es9 said:

Did the customer say what kind of ink they used? 

 

No.  I think it was this way when I sold it.  I suspect I spaced on replacing the sac, and when I checked it, it seemed to be taking in liquid.

[Ron Z]

....which is why I always restore a pen before I sell it, even (especially?) if it's been restored just before I bought it.  I  don't trust anybody else's repairs, and don't want pens to boomerang on me.

[gweimer1]

1 hour ago, Ron Z said:

....which is why I always restore a pen before I sell it, even (especially?) if it's been restored just before I bought it.  I  don't trust anybody else's repairs, and don't want pens to boomerang on me.

 

That's my process, as well.   For some reason, and partly because I usually have 3 pens in progress, I thought I had finished this pen.   I checked the vacuum, and it took liquid.  It did the same for me when I double checked it at the show, and also for the buyer when he first filled it.   I caught the boomerang on this one.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I think I am going to stop collecting pens, I have run out of patience for all of the (bleep) that comes up. I got a nice silver plated pen from a lesser known manufacturer, pretty uncommon if not outright rare. Restored it, cut the sac perfectly, did everything correctly. Inked it up and it's leaking at the damn joint.

 

 

I don't see any cracks but it is definitely leaking from there. Can't do anything about it. I tried to fill it in with shellac but doubtless that won't do anything. I guess this is one for the landfill! Maybe smashing it into pieces will make me feel better.

[Ron Z]

36 minutes ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

I think I am going to stop collecting pens, I have run out of patience for all of the (bleep) that comes up.

 

My world and welcome to it!  I call it job security.

 

This is part of pen repair.  Figuring out what has broken and why, and the best way to fix it takes time. You can't rush pen repair. You have to be patient, study the problem and work through it if you want to repair pens.  You will accumulate knowledge and build the database with every repair.  Getting frustrated doesn't help.  Set it aside, wait for some nugget of information to come your way, or something to drop into place.  It'll happen, but maybe not right away.  Rush things and you have more, this time self inflicted, repairs to do.  Ask me how I know.

 

In this case your repair attempt didn't work because you used the wrong material.  You need something that wicks into cracks - or between the section and the metal overlay.  Shellac does not wick into cracks.

 

Inspect the area to see if there is a crack and exactly where, and figure out if the back end is breaking off of the section, or is the ink wicking up under the overlay.  If you decide that the section won't break on you, knock out the nib and feed so that you don't glue them into the section while sealing the flaw.  Then apply Captain Tolleys, let it wick in, watch where it goes, wait, apply a little more.   The set it aside for a few hours before reassembling.  Cleanup is with Naphtha or mineral spirits.

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I guess the biggest thing I should have learned by now is that not all pens are worth restoring. Most vintage pens before the modern era, other the ones made by the big brands, are more or less trash quality. The technology was not there to make cheap, high quality pens. Not like today's Jinhaos, Majohns, etc. Even the ones from the "golden age" of pens in the 1920's, most of the lesser brands were cutting corners where they could to undercut the big boys.

 

This is the pen in question:

 

 

Looks nice right? Well, all that glitters isn't gold. Or in this case, silver. The pen is thin brass, no hard rubber under the metal, covered in an absolutely miniscule amount of silver plate. You can see where it is worn through near the lever. The metal is so thin that the pen has lever bulge from the ring, something I have never seen on a metal pen. 

 

I slathered the joint in shellac and let it dry for an hour and stuck it back in. It was extremely tight so I had to force it, not sure if it will come apart. I thought I was getting a great deal when I bought this for $20, turns out I was buying a pain in the ass.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

45 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

 

Rush things and you have more, this time self inflicted, repairs to do.  Ask me how I know.

 

 

It wasn't self inflicted though, the pen looked fine when I opened it. There were no signs of any cracks or issues with the pen. It looked to be in perfect condition, other than how low quality it felt.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Well, I chipped the sac nipple trying to knock out the nib and feed, so that is really quite fantastic. I should have left it with the shellac. Classic me, taking a slightly broken pen and making it a completely broken pen. I guess that's it for this one unless I find a replacement section for it.

 

Edit: now that the feed and nib are out of the section, I can see there aren't any cracks. I guess you were right that the ink was seeping through under the overlay, not a problem I have ever seen before. Makes it even more of a shame, the pen wasn't really broken.

[VacNut]

Please keep in mind that your experiences are part of the hobby. We are trying to revive common everyday items that are 80-90 years old. I don’t think it is necessarily a matter of poor quality when the pen was first made. A pen from the “Big Five” was likely more expensive than other pens back in the 30’s, so the quality of materials and build was higher.

I am hard-pressed to find any modern everyday items that would last 80-90 years.

 

I am curious if they could revive my phone 80 years in the future

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

8 minutes ago, VacNut said:

Please keep in mind that your experiences are part of the hobby. We are trying to revive common everyday items that are 80-90 years old. I don’t think it is necessarily a matter of poor quality when the pen was first made. A pen from the “Big Five” was likely more expensive than other pens back in the 30’s, so the quality of materials and build was higher.

I am hard-pressed to find any modern everyday items that would last 80-90 years.

 

I am curious if they could revive my phone 80 years in the future

 

Oh no question, the answer to that will be no. Phones these days aren't designed to last 5 years let alone 80. I don't think planned obsolescence was a thing back then.

[VacNut]

I think a nicer Vacumatic was $6-$8 dollars with a Max Vac for $10-$12 when breakfast at a diner was $0.25.(?). Low-end Eversharp was $3.50.

A quality pen was a major purchase. 

Maybe in 80 years they can swap out the batteries and my phone will be used as a low-end electronic storage device that isn’t connected to the world-wide grid at that time.

 

i like to think there is still a small use for Morse code. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

37 minutes ago, VacNut said:

I think a nicer Vacumatic was $6-$8 dollars with a Max Vac for $10-$12 when breakfast at a diner was $0.25.(?). Low-end Eversharp was $3.50.

A quality pen was a major purchase. 

Maybe in 80 years they can swap out the batteries and my phone will be used as a low-end electronic storage device that isn’t connected to the world-wide grid at that time.

 

i like to think there is still a small use for Morse code. 

 

I use a 12 year old phone as an alarm clock but I think they made them a little higher quality back then. I can't imagine a modern iPhone or Pixel phone lasting that long.

 

Back on the topic of repairs... I didn't want to waste the new #16 sac I put in this pen so I took it out and intended to resac the Waterman Taperite I did like half a year ago. I doubt anyone remembers but I had very bad issues with the pen burping. I think Ron or someone else suggested that the sac might be bad or the feed's channel is cut too deep.

 

I held off on replacing the sac because I couldn't get new ones easily. Anyways, finally opened it and this is what the feed channel looks like:

 

 

I have never seen a feed channel this wide! I have another Taperite I have been trying to get unclogged for months and the channel is about 1/3 as wide as the one on this pen. This entire time I thought I did something wrong when I resac'd this pen but I think I'm just unlucky.

 

I don't know if this was a custom order from Waterman for extra ink flow or a repairman special but I know it's pretty difficult to remove the nib/feeds of Taperites undamaged so I doubt it's the latter.

[Ron Z]

I just changed the feed on a 52 that was cut way too deep yesterday.  Replacing the feed usually takes care of the problem and did on that pen.  I think feeds like that just didn't get caught when they were made.  I've seen it a number of times on first generation Vacumatics.

 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

11 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

I just changed the feed on a 52 that was cut way too deep yesterday.  Replacing the feed usually takes care of the problem and did on that pen.  I think feeds like that just didn't get caught when they were made.  I've seen it a number of times on first generation Vacumatics.

 

 

 

This is on a Taperite so I can't replace it easily.  I am not sure how to safely knock out the nib/feed on these without damaging the section. In any case I don't have a spare Taperite feed. I don't think any normal feeds would fit.

[Ron Z]

Just wait a bit.....  parts "happen."

[es9]

5 hours ago, VacNut said:

Please keep in mind that your experiences are part of the hobby.

I’ll go one step further: When it comes to repairs, unless you’ve been doing this a really long time, your experiences *are* the hobby. And broken pens are literally a key cost of doing business.
 

[Ron Z]

Indeed.