Conway Stewart No 15 - are these good pens...

[David S]

... do they write well, do they have any problems?  Many thanks for any advice you can give. David

[shalitha33]

I'm not an expert on Conway Stewart pens and I only have a very small number of them, and very minimal experience using them. So don't take my word for it .
To me they are nice pens. Somewhat between the size of the Esterbrooks SJ and J.



They have relatively small nibs and they are not really flex nibs. They are a bit soft and springy but that basically it. If you can find a set , it will also come with the nippy pencil.

 

If you are getting one that is not restored, you will need to get the sac replaced. its almost guaranteed to be hardened.

 

Also you need to keep the pen dry. Never ever soak it in water as it is made out of casein (at least the two i have are). If you lightly polish it with a silver polishing cloth it will show a nice glass like gloss with patterns showing much depth. I haven't polished these so they looks flat and dull. I like to keep them as they are. its just me. 



Very lightly polished caps.

Reference for different colors and trims available on number 15 
http://conwaystewart.wesonline.org.uk/csbook/page1.htm#cs15

[David S]

Thank you for your reply, and for your display of pens.  I was concerned about the casein factor.  How careful do you have to be about filling with ink?

[shalitha33]

You don't need to be careful at all while inking. Ink is only ever going to touch the nib and a bit of the section. It is not going to reach up to the casein barrel. Getting drops of water on the barrel from the outside is ok as long as you wipe it off immediately. 

 

Only thing to worry about is to ensure that the sac is in good condition. if it leaks for what ever reason it can stain the barrel from the inside as well as cause other issues.

 

Blue ones might not be doing that well with high UV sunlight , although I have no proof or a reference for this. I'm only noticing it as the color is getting a bit dull when exposing to direct sunlight for a long time. This doesn't happen with the red or green one.  Gold / copper lines in the blue one tend to turn to a much dull color and blue getting a bit of a gray tint. although I believe it can be polished off. I don't tend to do that as it would risk the imprint. Please note that this is just my guess . I have no proof of this and probably isn't correct coming to this assumption.

[David S]

Many thanks for your further advice.

[mallymal1]

Nice collection @shalitha33.

 

The CS15 is a nice pen, and as far as the writing experience is concerned, that's going to come down to the individual pen you get. 

 

However, in general terms (from my experience with the CS 1A nib), no matter how soft or firm the nib is, there is always some give which allows for line variation.

 

Think I'll do an overview post.

 

👍

[Paul-in-SF]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:05 PM, shalitha33 said:

I haven't polished these so they looks flat and dull.

 

All I can say is, if that's flat and dull, I'd want to put on my sunglasses to view the real glossy depths.

[shalitha33]

3 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

All I can say is, if that's flat and dull, I'd want to put on my sunglasses to view the real glossy depths.

 

Sorry about using misleading words. The three pens I have does look glossy and colors looks bright but it looks like a shiny plastic wrapped around a hollow barrel that looks as thick as it really is.

 

Properly polished Conway Stewart casein gives it kind of a depth. When you rotate the barrel , the way light hits it gives an illusion of a thicker wall that is about 3-4 mm deep. Especially the lighter Perl looking bits. I'll try to polish it a bit at least on the cap where there is no imprint and take a photo to compare. you can only see a hint of it on the three pens currently. They are capable of lot more. 

Its a pain to polish these as it need to be done dry. using any kind of paste messes it up especially the blue ones and especially the light blue bits.
A Video of a number 12 from YouTube. Same as the blue pen I have. Note that the lighter bits are kind of stained in it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgBYdQjWFbQ&ab_channel=GrandmiaPens

 

[andyr7]

Graded Micromesh sheets are the best way to polish casein. The coarser 1000 grade will remove serious blemishes, then gradually working up to 12000 grade (alternating the polishing direction between around the barrel or cap, then along the length as you move up to the next finer grade) will give you a perfect finish. No need for any pastes.

 

There are a couple of caveats. People often don't appreciate that casein still requires a certain water content to remain in prime condition. If it starts to dry out, the surface becomes crazed, and eventually the casein becomes very brittle. Polishing will generally not improve crazed pens. Similarly, on some 1930s pens you will see some tiny surface bubbles, this is air trapped in the casein when it was produced. Polishing will not remove these either because the bubbles are present all through the depth of the material. As you remove bubbles from the surface, others will appear as you remove more material.

 

Casein is generally more stable than celluloid when exposed to light. The best way to store casein pens is to keep them in somewhere like a gently heated bedroom - dry but not too warm. If they are used regularly, the natural oils from your hand will develop the patina over the years helping them to stay in pristine condition without further polishing.

[shalitha33]

Please do correct me if I got any of these wrong.  I'm not an expert on these pens and can easily get things very wrong. 
Examples of some of the damages as mentioned above:

 

Water damage. Both pens are number 12 and are of identical color originally. pen with the thicker band has had water damage and has also bent out of shape in to a more banana shape.

Blue color is no longer as bright as it should with a grayish tint all over it.

 

Surface cracking. This pen had problems with both too much and too little water :(. There are several layers of cracks in this pen :(.

 

Way too much water causing the thing to melt. it kind of become like clay and hardens back when dry (although its going to develop cracks and eventually brake apart) there is a massive crack never the lever in this pen.

 

Lightly polished vs not polished. Sorry its a gloomy and rainy day here today with very little sunlight. photos are taken by shining a table lamp in to the pens so colors are a bit off and cant really see the depth that well. Both are not the same size (dinky and No 12) but they have the same pattern. 
 

 

[Lever Fill Jim]

I wish I’d seen this sooner. I soaked my new to me CS12 briefly last night before realising it had never been used. Thankfully so far it seems undamaged. 

[shalitha33]

Micro cracks only show up when the pen fully dries up. From the picture it looks ok so far, and hopefully will stay like that  .  Make sure the sac is replaced / ok prior to use as the original cs sac will surely be unusable if not replaced already.  ink leak from inside can also stain the barrel as far as I know but I'm no expert so can be very wrong.

 

And congrats on you new cs12