What is on your bench?

[Claes]

Hallojsa, @Nethermark!

 

We are a few Swedes that are very puzzled by that Welco.

Do you have a clearer photo of the text on the nib?

 

Mvh

Claes fra Lund i Sverige

 

[VacNut]

I have a soft spot for celluloid, transparent, black, and pre-war pens. Were their Nordic pen mfrs, or did they sell pens made in UK and other places? 

[Nethermark]

14 hours ago, Claes said:

We are a few Swedes that are very puzzled by that Welco.

Do you have a clearer photo of the text on the nib?

 

Kære Claes, Hereby some more photo's:

 

 

 

The text on the nib is: Welco 14 CT, 1st Quality

 

It's a pretty sturdy pen that doesn't seem to have had much use, if any at all. Looks like the cork is the original one and it still seals very well

 

I have only seen this pen twice: the one I have, which I bought here in Copenhagen and one I saw on a Swedish site. I assumed it was produced for the Swedish market (or other Nordic countries), as I have never heard of this brand in Denmark

 

 

 

[Nethermark]

12 hours ago, VacNut said:

Were their Nordic pen mfrs, or did they sell pens made in UK and other places? 

I guess @Claes would be much better informed about this than I am, but I'll give it a try:

 

Both are the case: Denmark had a quite substantial pen production, helped by trade restrictions during the 1930s. Christian Olsen imported Parker pens and in the 1930s produced (or just assembled) Vacumatics. Later on, they produced Parker pens for the Nordic market. Chr. Olsen also started the Penol company with the Penol and other brands. There was a production of Montblanc pens in Denmark too and the Benco company produced Benco and Big Ben pens, but also imnported pens form mainly Germany (although most have English sounding brand names). There are several other Danish brands, but many of these are probably imported.

 

There have been a few Swedish manufacturers. One can read about it here (in Swedish). I think Pan was a Norwegian produced pen. Otherwise, many especially German produced pens were imported with brand names like The Tower and Perfecto that only seem to be sold on the Swedish (Nordic?) market

[Nethermark]

Today I fixed a Conklin Endura

 

 

This is the first time I encounter this type of pen. Very nice looking pens. Even though the nib writes very well, I would like to replace it with a Conklin Endura nib, so if you have a spare one, feel free to contact me 😃

[Claes]

@VacNut More info about Swedish fountain pens here [unfortunately in Swedish, but google translate is quite skilled]:  https://magnuslundberg.net/reservoarpennor-pens-4/

 

@Nethermark Skidegodt, Egon 🙂 Tak.

 

Mvh

Claes fra Lund i Sverige

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Not directly related to pen repair but man, people have sharp eyes. I found a Chilton Pen on eBay, blurry pictures, not marked as Chilton and had a different nib. I recognized the end-knob. I figured sweet - hopefully no one else saw it and I'll finally get a hold of a Chilton pen for a reasonable price. Nope. Sold for over $200.

 

Where do people get these sumgai deals I hear about on here and elsewhere 😕 all I see are exorbitant prices.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

On 2/23/2025 at 1:26 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 

I think I got it, apparently 21st time's the charm. Although I'm hesitant to say it because I don't want to jinx it. I bent the end of the bar into shape and put in a slightly shorter sac and it appears to be holding better.

 

I realized the problem, I didn't realize my SJ is missing the little plug in the barrel to position the j-bar. I thought only the full length J and LJ sizes have them (to standardize the length of the j-bar with the shorter pens) but I guess I was wrong.

 

It seems to be okay for now without it but if it starts flopping around again I'll try cutting out a small piece of eraser to shove in the barrel to fix the positioning of the bar.

 

Yeah, never mind. It started flopping around the second I started filling it again. I put a plug in to stop the j bar from moving around, didn't do anything. I was overzealous and overtorqued filling it after it was still floppy and have broken the lever off.

 

Happy to be done with this pen at least. It's done and off to the pen parts graveyard.

 

I wish I could say this was a learning experience for me but I have no clue what was wrong with this pen. I thought it was the fact that I was using an aftermarket j-bar, that wasn't it. Then I swapped in a real Esterbrook J pressure bar. Still didn't fix the problem. Then I figured the positioning was off because it was missing the plug. That wasn't it. Maybe it was just haunted.

[VacNut]

22 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

Not directly related to pen repair but man, people have sharp eyes. I found a Chilton Pen on eBay, blurry pictures, not marked as Chilton and had a different nib. I recognized the end-knob. I figured sweet - hopefully no one else saw it and I'll finally get a hold of a Chilton pen for a reasonable price. Nope. Sold for over $200.

 

Where do people get these sumgai deals I hear about on here and elsewhere 😕 all I see are exorbitant prices.

Chilton made pens for other retailers, similar to Parker making pens for Diamond Medal and Sears. The $200 unfortunately seems like a reasonable price, considering the cost of a Vintage Chilton Pen. This may be the sumgai deal.

[VacNut]

On 3/1/2025 at 2:17 PM, Nethermark said:

Today I fixed a Conklin Endura

 

 

This is the first time I encounter this type of pen. Very nice looking pens. Even though the nib writes very well, I would like to replace it with a Conklin Endura nib, so if you have a spare one, feel free to contact me 😃

There are several sizes of Conklin Enduras.  Can you list the length of the pen? 

[Nethermark]

20 hours ago, VacNut said:

There are several sizes of Conklin Enduras.  Can you list the length of the pen? 

It's 12.4 cm capped and 11.5 cm uncapped 😃

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Can anyone confirm the diaphragm size and thread diameter for the Parker Vacumatic Junior with the lockdown filler? A pen like this one: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1838884428/parker-vacumatic-junior-lockdown?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details

 

I've finally decided to take my chances and order a replacement filler for the pen I was discussing like months ago. It's lying around my pen drawer unrestored so I figured worst comes to worst it doesn't fit and I still have a nonworking pen. And best case scenario, I am able to restore it.

 

My understanding is this takes a "standard" size filler (around 10mm threads) and a standard size diaphragm (one size up from the debutante). I just want to make sure I get the correct size filler.

[Ron Z]

The lockdown Jr is the same diameter as a standard, just a bit shorter.  It takes a standard size diaphragm.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

8 minutes ago, Ron Z said:

The lockdown Jr is the same diameter as a standard, just a bit shorter.  It takes a standard size diaphragm.

 

 Ah okay, that is what I thought. Thank you!

[VacNut]

On 3/3/2025 at 12:41 PM, Nethermark said:

It's 12.4 cm capped and 11.5 cm uncapped 😃

Five Star Pens has a few Conklin nibs that may work. Good luck

[VacNut]

3 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 

 Ah okay, that is what I thought. Thank you!

Are you going with the vintage filler?

[gweimer1]

On 3/2/2025 at 5:55 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 

Yeah, never mind. It started flopping around the second I started filling it again. I put a plug in to stop the j bar from moving around, didn't do anything. I was overzealous and overtorqued filling it after it was still floppy and have broken the lever off.

 

Happy to be done with this pen at least. It's done and off to the pen parts graveyard.

 

I wish I could say this was a learning experience for me but I have no clue what was wrong with this pen. I thought it was the fact that I was using an aftermarket j-bar, that wasn't it. Then I swapped in a real Esterbrook J pressure bar. Still didn't fix the problem. Then I figured the positioning was off because it was missing the plug. That wasn't it. Maybe it was just haunted.

 

You might try these.  I've gotten good feedback on them.  Adjusting J bars can be an art unto itself, even with the originals.

 

Replacement J bars

[Nethermark]

20 hours ago, VacNut said:

Five Star Pens has a few Conklin nibs that may work. Good luck

Thank you! I saw them and are contemplating whether I should buy one of those, or wait until I can find a nib in Europe to save on import costs

[VacNut]

I think I can put you in contact with a collector that has a few Conklins. Do you want to start collecting more Conklins?

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

6 hours ago, gweimer1 said:

 

You might try these.  I've gotten good feedback on them.  Adjusting J bars can be an art unto itself, even with the originals.

 

Replacement J bars

 

I've never had so much trouble before. Well, I had an absolutely miserable time with a nice Sheaffer Rose-Glow set a while back. I ordered a replacement original j-bar and I just couldn't get it to fit properly. Eventually ended up just using one of the modern replacements.

 

Really makes me appreciate Waterman pressure bars. As long as you have the right size you can't really put it in wrong. Knock on wood... I'll probably find a way to mess that up with the next one I restore.