French waterman pen with bent 18k nib

[sodul]

Hi I have this pen that is probably from the 1970s due to the curved logo. The cap ring does say "Waterman made in France" and the nib seems to be a proper 18k nib. The edge of the nib has a little diamond shape with "Wat-SA" inscribed with the curved W.

 

I want to fix the nib but want to do that while the nib is out of the pen so I can straighten it properly. I tried to pull the nib out with rubber grips but it does not seem to bulge. Any advice on how to pull the nib assembly properly? I do have a little bit of experience with nib maintenance and straightening

 

[sodul]

Flushing the pen helped get the dried ink loose and I was able to pull the nib assembly which is friction fit. Unfortunately I do not seem to be able to pull the nib from the feed. The sides of the nib seem to be bent inwards to grab onto the feed and the feed is designed to limit the movement of the nib.

 

I might have to sleep on that one on how to separate the nib without damaging the feed.

 

 

[Splat]

I’m relatively new to bent nib repairs so do take that into account as I tell you what’s working for me!
 

In your case, does the feed slide backwards from under the nib?  My guess is that the pen was dropped nib first? The two main bends don’t look too bad which should be encouraging.  When the tines hit the hard surface tip first it will have shunted the nib backwards onto the feed and may have jammed it, so my guess is that the feed needs to be pushed and slid back.
 

Then having separated nib from feed - if you haven’t got a nib burnishing block then you need a suitable firm cone shaped piece of smooth metal. I’ve known a good ball point pen have a very useful metal tip for just this. Place the nib over it supporting the inside of the nib.  Use a smooth jeweller’s dibbing rod or similar to gently burnish the bend out of the nib - one bend at a time. It’s good to roll the rod over the bend as it’s less agressive than heavy burnishing which can alter the nibs metal structure making it brittle.  
Under no circumstances be tempted to use normal pliers or a grip on the nib, as that would almost certainly ruin it. You should try to push and roll the bends out rather than pull them out of the nib. If you have a solid burnishing block supporting the nib, then very gently tapping down on a high spot will flatten the bend out pushing that tine forward.
Closely scrutinise your work and the relative position of the tines and the central gap.  I’ve recently started repairing such bent nibs and I’ve had real success with these fairly intuitive techniques.  
Take it slowly and carefully, use a loop and take a break now and then. Regularly fit the nib and feed back into the section  dip it and check your progress. Don’t use micromesh yet, get the tines lined up to your satisfaction first.

I do hope this helps, have fun with your repair, it’s very rewarding - when it works!

[sodul]

I found the pens as-is in my parents basement last week so I don't know how it ended up bended and the incident probably happened at least 30y ago. Looking at the chew marks on the back of the pen I suppose me or one of my brothers might have used the pen in school.

 

As for getting the nib out, the nib has flaps in the sides to grip on the the section which must have been pushed onto the section in the factory. There is a groove on each side the section to hold the nib in place and it is designed to prevent the nib to move either forward or backwards. I tried to gently pry it out from the sides with plastic tools (the kind used to open smart phones) with no success. I think I will use a small file to cut open the grooves in the front of the section so the nib can slide forward.

 

Thanks for the tip on how to flatten the nib. I have a set of small 'jewelry' pliers which I have used in the past with success. Some are flat nose, some are cone sharped, etc... 

 

I found some tools online which gives me a better idea of how to fix the nib once I get it out of the assembly:
https://www.pentooling.com/burnish.html

 

Since I only have one nib to fix I think I should be able to use the tools I have at hand without buying specialized equipment.

 

Update: after a bit of 'carving' I was able to slide the nib out. The damage to the feed is minimal and should not cause any issue in the future use of the pen.

 

 

[sodul]

I ended up using my plastic prying tools to roll the nib. They are small and hard for plastic which mean they can slide on the nib while causing less surface damage than what a metal rod would do. I was able to straighten the nib enough to make it functional. The tines are still misaligned but being a gold nib it is still very smooth to write with.

 

I'm calling it a day and will come back to the nib later to further adjust it. I don't want to try to make it perfect at the risk of braking the tines.

 

As a side note the only things I could fit was an official Waterman converter and cartridges. None of my other converters or standard cartridges would work.