What is on your bench?

[VacNut]

They are not all NOS, but they functional. There is also a parts bins that can be scavenged to build more fillers. The aluminum speedline tend to be more uncommon.
The fillers are available at a good price if you are patient.

 

Sadly there are many older collectors who are retiring and parting with their parts.

 

[cat74]

Oooooo...probably going to ruffle feathers..

 

Not on my bench yet...but I found a Sailor Pro Gear (large) body with no nib (everything else though) for $20 plus shipping (couldn't pass on it)

 

Sooo...my question is....can I just swap in another #6 nib.

 

Most I can see is maybe a small cut out will be required on the replacement nib.

 

I actually have a "real" Pro Gear so worse case I can swap that nib between bodies.

[VacNut]

The latest set of Vacumatics from the last months. The pens were purchased with the understanding that they would be parts pens with the hope some could be restored to functionality.

 

A Black Canadian Vertical Window Vacumatic. I want to say most of these pens are Canadian. The pen cleaned up nicely. Instead of “horizontal” striations, the ink is visible through the clear sections of the barrel along the length of the pen. The transparency disappears as the barrel is rotated.

 

A Burgundy Oversize Vac that is just a parts pen. I put it into the bin with the other Burgundy Vacs, which is another story.

 

An Emerald Oversize Vac with an incorrect cap. It is an odd combination of the earliest Oversize Model coupled with the last narrow band Emerald Maxima Cap. These last Maxima Pens with the narrow band are the most difficult to find. I am guessing it was the end of the Vacumatic Models before the 51 and fewer were made than the typical Maxima and Oversize Pens. Typical ambering of the barrel, but the barrel imprint is sharp and the filler was functional. I matched it to a correct Oversize Cap. The nib and the section made be replacements.

 

A Valentine Lever Fillet with a golden marbled celluloid barrel. Very light ambering, but brassing on the lever and cap band. The Valentine Nib is uncommon as most of the Valentine Pens I find are commonly just 14K nibs without the company name. I found it as a clipless pen, but sometimes this pen has a clip - good luck finding a replacement Valentine Clip. I tried using my brass anvil from the Swan Pen Tool Kit to straighten the nib. I was able to completely flatten and straighten the nib, but using the anvil was a fun experience. The nib needs a re-tipping, so I may just leave it  to the nib-guy. A really attractive pen.

 

A Canadian Vacumatic Crystal. This pen was a risk. The cap had already been cleaned inside and outside. The filler and section were stuck in place. The section took a few attempts of repeated heating to release the section. I had to fill the barrel with naphtha and let it sit for several weeks to remove the filler. The filler was corroded in place and I may try the “toaster oven” method to salvage the parts. I had to replace the filler. Strong barrel imprints with the typical ambered barrel. A really great pen. I would consider the pen uncommon, but I wouldn’t use the “R” word.

 

A Black Double Jewel 51 with an aluminum end cap jewel. Not a first year pen as the barrel has a “8” imprint. I thought the cap was incorrect with the end cap jewel, but I think the cap is correct. Just a simple cleaning for a classic pen.

 

A Black Oversize Vacumatic without a cap. I bought this pen for a low price hoping I had a replacement cap that fits the barrel. The nib, end cap+tassie, and filler was worth the price of the pen.  I lucked out and had the cap and clip, so it was  simple fix to restore the pen. Sharp imprints with the typical ambered barrel. A great daily user.

 

A very satisfying month. A few more Vacumatics returned to working order that will be added to the collection.

[Nethermark]

Some really nice pens VacNut - as usual, I would say. Especially considering, they are parts pens. I really like the Crystal; not a pen I have seen in real life, but it looks like a real eye-catcher.

 

You say that:

  On 11/11/2024 at 2:33 AM, VacNut said:

I had to fill the barrel with naphtha and let it sit for several weeks to remove the filler

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I have several pens that simply will not budge (typically Osmia's where the filler system will not come out), no matter how much or often I apply heat. I have tried naphta and on some, this works, but not on others. But I've only let the pens soak in naphta for max one hour. Can anyone say, how long it is safe to let pens soak in naphta? 

 

[VacNut]

I have let dried, hardened, latex sacks sit in naphtha for weeks to see how soft it would get as a test. I would say it was softened, but nowhere to the point of a being a goo or to original plasticity. I have done the same to Vacumatics parts without ill effect. I don’t know about other celluloid pens.

I have been told soaking the celluloid in plain water also has little effect, but I have only done it to end caps to remove the jewel. The water has always been cold to avoid clouding the celluloid.

The benefit of naphtha is that it does not rust the metallic material, although a vac filler is aluminum with a stainless steel spring, so there is little chance of rust.

There is a “plug” at the end of the spring that may susceptible to the water.

One benefit of water, is dissolving the dry ink that may be holding the filler in place. I would not let the filler sit in the water for longer than a hour. I have no scientific proof of damage, just practicing good sense.

[GlenV]

Just a comment that may not apply, but caution with use of naptha with hard rubber pens or parts, like water will fade the rubber, probably celluloid ok for quite a while

[John T]

2 Duofold Jr Lucky Curves,  that someone got to before me, cut the curve off the feeds, sloppily shellaced the sacs on, basically glued the barrels to their sections, didn't use talc, the sacs were gummy and had glued themselves to the inside of the barrel. The section/feed/nib in the center was on a very nice permanite barrel that disentigrated when I tried to remove the section from the barrel, the barrel, what's left of it, is still shellaced to the section...

 

I enjoy the challenge of bring them back to life. These will be going to my sister, who enjoys hunting down old pens for me to repair... 

 

 

 

 

[VacNut]

  On 11/13/2024 at 9:46 PM, John T said:

2 Duofold Jr Lucky Curves,  that someone got to before me, cut the curve off the feeds, sloppily shellaced the sacs on, basically glued the barrels to their sections, didn't use talc, the sacs were gummy and had glued themselves to the inside of the barrel. The section/feed/nib in the center was on a very nice permanite barrel that disentigrated when I tried to remove the section from the barrel, the barrel, what's left of it, is still shellaced to the section...

 

I enjoy the challenge of bring them back to life. These will be going to my sister, who enjoys hunting down old pens for me to repair... 

 

 

 

 

Expand  

What a shame. Nice pens. At least there are parts available, although the curved feeds are difficult to source.

Dry heat didn’t release the shellac?

[John T]

  On 11/14/2024 at 1:11 AM, VacNut said:

What a shame. Nice pens. At least there are parts available, although the curved feeds are difficult to source.

Dry heat didn’t release the shellac?

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Heat, Soak, Heat, Soak, Heat, burn my finger tip heat, finally budged.. old celluloid and high heat scare the (bleep) out of me. I have only heat shrunk one pen and one duofold is well, twisty in my learning process...They are cleaned up and back together now. I will ink them in the morning and see how they do. 

[VacNut]

Are you using a heat gun, hair dryer, or ? Did you have spare duofold barrels?

[John T]

  On 11/14/2024 at 5:28 AM, VacNut said:

Are you using a heat gun, hair dryer, or ? Did you have spare duofold barrels?

Expand  

Hair dryer, the duofold I twisted was a while ago, I just found and have a replacement inbound from 5 Star pens. The barrel/Section I shrunk was a 3rd tier no name so no great loss and chalked it down to a heart stopping learning experience... The Permanite most likely had a underlying flaw as it came apart when I put just the slightest torque on it. These two are now inked and while the black needs the nib to be smoothed a bit, it's a scratchy B they are now usable.

[GlenV]

Sometimes you just don't know what you're getting into with an old pen, the orange pen was likely crazed from years of light exposure. In my case I had a green duofold crazed and almost transparent, and a green pearl that was crumbly and ended up more useful for parts for better pens...the yellow duofolds are most affected I understand although I don't have one.  It helps if I am well rested and in a good patient frame of mind also with a more fragile pen so I don't inadvertently use too much force and hear(feel) that terrifying little crack sound.

 

[Ron Z]

I'm finding that the orange Duofolds are getting to be as fragile as the Mandarin pens.   I should look so good at 100.....

[John T]

Not the most beautiful of pens but they write now.

[VacNut]

I thought the original pen was a red duofold. Isn’t that the threads of a barrel on the section?

[Nethermark]

  On 11/13/2024 at 4:12 PM, VacNut said:

I have done the same to Vacumatics parts without ill effect. I don’t know about other celluloid pens.

I have been told soaking the celluloid in plain water also has little effect, but I have only done it to end caps to remove the jewel.

Expand  

 

  On 11/13/2024 at 5:00 PM, GlenV said:

Just a comment that may not apply, but caution with use of naptha with hard rubber pens or parts, like water will fade the rubber, probably celluloid ok for quite a while

Expand  

Thank you for the replies!

 

The pens are celluloid, so I will try to soak them for longer periods - or rather, I will start with one pen - and see what happens.

 

I have had problems with soaking celluloid pens in water, where the barrel was made of thin rolled up sheet celluloid. In that case, the joint can be affected

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

So... I need advice on a repair. I have a ringtop, a cheaper one - I think it's a Morrison or maybe something from National Pen Products. Unfortunately it does not have an inner cap and I am not convinced it ever had one. It dries out pretty fast because of the holes for the ring at the top of the pen.

 

Anything I can do to solve this? I don't really have the capability to manufacture a custom inner cap. I was thinking of sealing the holes with some shellac but I realized this would stop the ring from moving freely. My next thought is some kind of rubber gasket to act as a faux inner cap but not quite sure where I could find some thick enough rubber for that.

 

It's otherwise a pretty decent pen all things considered, even the cheapo pens from the 1920's had fun nibs so it'd be nice to get it in a more usable state. It's not bad now but it dries out after a few hours.

[es9]

  On 11/11/2024 at 2:33 AM, VacNut said:

The latest set of Vacumatics from the last months. The pens were purchased with the understanding that they would be parts pens with the hope some could be restored to functionality.

 

A Black Canadian Vertical Window Vacumatic. I want to say most of these pens are Canadian. The pen cleaned up nicely. Instead of “horizontal” striations, the ink is visible through the clear sections of the barrel along the length of the pen. The transparency disappears as the barrel is rotated.

 

A Burgundy Oversize Vac that is just a parts pen. I put it into the bin with the other Burgundy Vacs, which is another story.

 

An Emerald Oversize Vac with an incorrect cap. It is an odd combination of the earliest Oversize Model coupled with the last narrow band Emerald Maxima Cap. These last Maxima Pens with the narrow band are the most difficult to find. I am guessing it was the end of the Vacumatic Models before the 51 and fewer were made than the typical Maxima and Oversize Pens. Typical ambering of the barrel, but the barrel imprint is sharp and the filler was functional. I matched it to a correct Oversize Cap. The nib and the section made be replacements.

 

A Valentine Lever Fillet with a golden marbled celluloid barrel. Very light ambering, but brassing on the lever and cap band. The Valentine Nib is uncommon as most of the Valentine Pens I find are commonly just 14K nibs without the company name. I found it as a clipless pen, but sometimes this pen has a clip - good luck finding a replacement Valentine Clip. I tried using my brass anvil from the Swan Pen Tool Kit to straighten the nib. I was able to completely flatten and straighten the nib, but using the anvil was a fun experience. The nib needs a re-tipping, so I may just leave it  to the nib-guy. A really attractive pen.

 

A Canadian Vacumatic Crystal. This pen was a risk. The cap had already been cleaned inside and outside. The filler and section were stuck in place. The section took a few attempts of repeated heating to release the section. I had to fill the barrel with naphtha and let it sit for several weeks to remove the filler. The filler was corroded in place and I may try the “toaster oven” method to salvage the parts. I had to replace the filler. Strong barrel imprints with the typical ambered barrel. A really great pen. I would consider the pen uncommon, but I wouldn’t use the “R” word.

 

A Black Double Jewel 51 with an aluminum end cap jewel. Not a first year pen as the barrel has a “8” imprint. I thought the cap was incorrect with the end cap jewel, but I think the cap is correct. Just a simple cleaning for a classic pen.

 

A Black Oversize Vacumatic without a cap. I bought this pen for a low price hoping I had a replacement cap that fits the barrel. The nib, end cap+tassie, and filler was worth the price of the pen.  I lucked out and had the cap and clip, so it was  simple fix to restore the pen. Sharp imprints with the typical ambered barrel. A great daily user.

 

A very satisfying month. A few more Vacumatics returned to working order that will be added to the collection.

Expand  

What are the tools? 

[VacNut]

  On 11/17/2024 at 6:40 PM, es9 said:

What are the tools? 

Expand  

Here is the image link. There are two sets on FPN

 

[es9]

Ah, pretty cool!