Identification and Repair of Wearever Pen

[FragariaChemist]

Hello

 

This is my first post here - I've been using fountain pens for the past year and have recently been interested in vintage fountain pens.  My father brought home a few pens from an antique mall.  I think the top one is a Parker 45 and the bottom one is a Sheaffer Snorkel with a white dot and 14k gold cap band.  I know the one in the center is a lever fill Wearever, but I'm not sure of the model.  Furthermore the Wearever's nib is bent as if someone dropped it right on its nib.  

 

I don't know where I would go to get the nib fixed and even if it's worth the repair.   I'm also interested in restoring them - making sure they work, fixing what doesn't work (besides the nib), an cleaning them up so they look as nice as they can.  I know that's a really general question, but any tips on where a beginner can go to learn about restoration would be greatly appreciated.  I will start with the Repair Reference Information right here on the forum now that I see it.

 

Thank you!

Edited September 2, 2021 by FragariaChemist
I found the repair information thread!

[Paul-in-SF]

Those are some nice finds, it's nice to see someone else hooked, I mean interested in fountain pens. Good luck with the repairs. I think you will be learning from the best source by reading through that repair reference. 

[Carguy]

I think the middle one is a Wearever Meteor from the 40’s?

[bsenn]

Two go-tos for repair information (links to their respective  Snorkel repair pages):

 

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/repair/snorkel.htm

 

http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/?page_id=709

 

If the nib was straight that Wearever lever filler would be a good starting repair. As it is the nib may not be worth the cost of repair, a replacement is probably the way to go. 

 

Brian 

 

 

[FarmBoy]

Plenty of Wearever in the BoG. 
 

Wherever are you located?  We can find you a club.

[FragariaChemist]

Thank you all for your responses.  I thought it was really nice of my dad to keep an eye out for fountain pens.

 

I read more about Wearever as I had not heard of the brand until I saw this pen.  It looks like sometimes they imprinted the model name on the pen, but I don't see anything like that.  It seems like replacing the nib is the way to go!

 

I currently live in around the Los Angeles area.  I've contacted the local club, but they are currently not meeting in person and hope to be able to do that soon.  For now I am on their email list.  At the moment I am visiting my parents in Maryland for an extended stay.

 

Sorry, what is BoG?

[FarmBoy]

the SF Pen Posse has a Box of Guilibillity that is full of pens that are just good enough and priced just at that point where  unsuspecting bystanders are lured into fixing them.  There are always Wearevers in the box.

[Bristol24]

18 hours ago, FragariaChemist said:

Furthermore the Wearever's nib is bent as if someone dropped it right on its nib.  

If there were such a thing as a mangled nib contest that one would certainly be in contention for first place.  I have a bunch of old Wearevers (pens and combos) and certainly enjoy them.  Pull the section (generally a friction fit on Wearevers...but sometimes glued with shellac), knock out the nib and feed and look for a replacement nib of quality.  You will have a nice looking vintage pen from the 1940s.  I say 1940s because the clip is consistent with other Wearever models from the WWII era.  Clips from that period were designed to keep the pen and clip hidden under the flap of a military uniform shirt or jacket.

 

Cliff

[FragariaChemist]

Well I don't think my father was lured into the idea of fixing it.  I'm fairly certain he saw some older fountain pens that he thought were a reasonable price and was kind enough to think of me.  He doesn't use them himself.  It might be enough for me to practice without worrying about completely messing things up.

 

Cliff - thank you.  I was wondering why the clip looked shorter than others I have seen from my limited experience.  If anything it'll encourage to look more into pen repair which is something I was thinking about doing after I return to California.

[FredRydr]

On 9/3/2021 at 11:21 AM, FarmBoy said:

the SF Pen Posse has a Box of Guilibillity....

Oh the cruelty!

[Bristol24]

On 9/3/2021 at 11:30 AM, FragariaChemist said:

Cliff - thank you.  I was wondering why the clip looked shorter than others I have seen from my limited experience.  If anything it'll encourage to look more into pen repair which is something I was thinking about doing after I return to California.

You're welcome.  The Parker 45 you have looks quite nice.  The '45 is easily disassembled and cleaned as the entire nib assembly unscrews from the section and can be disassembled completely.  You can then soak the nib parts and the section overnight in water with a drop or two of Dawn detergent and, perhaps a small measure of regular household ammonia (no more than 1 part ammonia to 10 parts water).  I have 4 Parker 45s and they are all wonderful writers.  Let us know how things go with these pens.

 

Best regards,

 

Cliff

[Colin Salter]

On 9/3/2021 at 2:44 AM, Carguy said:

I think the middle one is a Wearever Meteor from the 40’s?

I was just thinking about starting a strand on Wearever model names. I've never heard of the Meteor - what are its defining characteristics?

There are so many models from that period with infinitely small variations in jewel, clip, lettering etc. So far I've been calling them all Supremes with subdivisions. (And then there are all the David Khan sub-brands that are otherwise identical to the things I call Supremes ... it's a nightmare of classification!)

[joss]

57 minutes ago, Colin Salter said:

I was just thinking about starting a strand on Wearever model names. I've never heard of the Meteor - what are its defining characteristics?

There are so many models from that period with infinitely small variations in jewel, clip, lettering etc. So far I've been calling them all Supremes with subdivisions. (And then there are all the David Khan sub-brands that are otherwise identical to the things I call Supremes ... it's a nightmare of classification!)

 

I think that PenHero - Jim Mamoulides already documented many different Wearever models: www.penhero.com/PenGalleryMain.htm

 

As far as I know the Meteor is identical in looks as the Pacemaker, see also this thread: www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/191171-wearever-difference-between-pacemaker-and-meteor. The single Meteor in my collection is 5 mm shorter than the three Pacemakers that I have and the Meteor also has a translucent feed. The translucent feed would return on the later Wearever Pennant and also on the Wearever Saber. Was the Meteor maybe a late version of the Pacemaker?

[inkstainedruth]

Interesting selection your dad found you.  

The Wearever may need to have a new sac along with repair or replacement of the nib.  The Snorkel?  Don't ink it up until you have a pro check it out.  If the sac is bad, you can have leaks and that can destroy the spring (a $20 part on top of the other repair costs).  The Parker 45?  That looks a lot like my first one, only it didn't have the box.  You may need to have the converter on it checked out, but if worst comes to worst, modern Parker converters will fit (I recommend the slightly more expensive piston converters over the slide converters).  My first semi-vintage pen, and the first one with a 14k nib was a 45; that pen has a medium nib, and with the right ink?  It's like dancing on ice across the page..... 

If you do take that 45 apart, make sure you do it over a flat surface -- the nibs on those things are TINY and my husband was NOT happy about having to take the bathroom sink apart to rescue it -- or, for that matter, part of the jump ring assembly on a Parker 21 -- that one I was CERTAIN was a gunner, but he managed to find it in the trap (whew).  When I got mine, people on here recommended a video that Tyler Dahl made on disassembly: http://tylerdahlpens.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-disassemble-parker-45.html and it's actually pretty easy to do, although you may need to soak the nib unit if there's a lot of ink crud.  Some people just use tap water, but I have hard water where I live so I buy distilled water at my local grocery store.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth