Nib Changing & Size Selection

[Have Fun]

How do you change nibs ? It's a Pretty Basic question but has me flumoxed

 

I have a Wahl Oxford fitted with a Select-O-Point A Firm Fine .. I have no idea what nib specification / size to look for in order to replace it

 

Will any nib fit ? or do I have to buy a certain type?

 

And then if I'm lucky enough to get a replacement nib at a reasonable cost how do I remove / swap & fit them ?

 

Pardon my ignorance I guess I'm spoilt with the easy method of swapping nibs on the Lamy (& with the Pelikan its a matter of unscrewing) but I really don't know what the procedure & method is with this pen .. or other similar pens for that matter.

 

Also is there a source where I can buy suitable nibs from without taking out a second mortgage?

 

Like lots of others on the forum I would like to experience a flexy nib but I really don't mind if it's steel & not gold

 

Any other advice would be most welcome

 

Many Thanks

 

 

[JunPat]

I'm bumping this up since I would like to know too. Might be a good idea to post this in the Repair forum too.

[Wahlnut]

The Wahl-Oxford pen uses a friction fit section with a friction fit nib and feed (in other words the most common of constructions amongst the vintage pens). To replace a nib, you first remoce the section from the barrel with the nib and feed in place. Next you knock out the nib and feed from the section from the back driving the nib and feed forward and out of the section. There are knock-out blocks for sale, and knock out rods too, but you can make your own knock pout block with a drill and a 2x4...just drill the hole straight and through the 2x4 the hole needs to be big enough for the nib and feed to fit through loosely, but small enough for the section to sit on to provide support for the section during the knock-out process. The knock out rod can be a piece of plastic (aluminum rod of narrow enough diameter to abut the back end of the feed is more common). This process is outlined in many pen locations/sites. The replacement of the nib requires 1) finding a Wahl-Oxford nib or satisfactory Eversharp one of the right size. Most of these nibs were #4 in size some were #2 but you can always tell if it is right for your feed if its shank curvature arc mates well with the feed when liad on on the other. Wahl-Oxford feeds are available and they should not cost more than $40.00 max. Generic Eversharp nibs are also available for maybe $25-30 and also period correct. If not actually marked Wahl/Oxford/Eversharp, Warranted nibs can be had for about $20.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Syd

Edited August 31, 2008 by Wahlnut

[Have Fun]

The Wahl-Oxford pen uses a friction fit section with a friction fit nib and feed (in other words the most common of constructions amongst the vintage pens). To replace a nib, you first remoce the section from the barrel with the nib and feed in place. Next you knock out the nib and feed from the section from the back driving the nib and feed forward and out of the section. There are knock-out blocks for sale, and knock out rods too, but you can make your own knock pout block with a drill and a 2x4...just drill the hole straight and through the 2x4 the hole needs to be big enough for the nib and feed to fit through loosely, but small enough for the section to sit on to provide support for the section during the knock-out process. The knock out rod can be a piece of plastic (aluminum rod of narrow enough diameter to abut the back end of the feed is more common). This process is outlined in many pen locations/sites. The replacement of the nib requires 1) finding a Wahl-Oxford nib or satisfactory Eversharp one of the right size. Most of these nibs were #4 in size some were #2 but you can always tell if it is right for your feed if its shank curvature arc mates well with the feed when liad on on the other. Wahl-Oxford feeds are available and they should not cost more than $40.00 max. Generic Eversharp nibs are also available for maybe $25-30 and also period correct. If not actually marked Wahl/Oxford/Eversharp, Warranted nibs can be had for about $20.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Syd

 

Thanks for the advice Syd but I'm not certain knock out nibs is the case with Wahl Oxfords fitted with Selectopoint nibs. Although I've not tried to unscrew them the photo here shows these Select-o-points to be threaded https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...t-O-Point\

 

It's the only photo I've seen of a Selectopoint nib.

 

Could this mean that a specific section was made for the Selectopoints ??? Were there any other threaded nibs made for the Oxfords?

Tracking down replacement nibs is really difficult

Could an Esterbrook nib be fitted as an alternative to the selectopoints ?

 

 

[Wahlnut]

EDITED REVISIONIST POST:

The Select-O-Point is a screw-in collared nib and feed assembly like the Esterbrooks or the earlier Personal Point Wahls. The feed and nib are held in friction fit place within a black hard rubber collar and need to be knocked out of the collar to change the nib itself. The nib and feed are knocked out of the collar the same way as if the nib and feed were in a conventional section. DO NOT TRY TO KNOCK OUT THE NIB AND FEED from the collar without the collar firmly screwed into the section. Always work with these delicate parts when inside the section. They need the section wall for support and strength during knock-out.

 

And Yes, the Select-O-Point interchangeable nib/feed/collar requires a section that is threaded exactly to receive it. Such sections seem to have been available as original equipment on only the very latest Wahl-Oxfords, and not even all of the models available from the same year. Remember the Wahl Oxford was the cheap end of the Wahl-Eversharp pen family and they did not sport "premium" equipment. There were at least 7 models of Wahl or Eversharp pens with the Oxford name. None should have the Select-O-Point except the later one.

 

I looked at whatever Oxford records I could find on-line to see how many of the Oxfords are shown there that have the Select-O-Point section/assembly. There are only 2 I can see. One off them (the same one) is shown at least 9 times, but that is only 1 pen.

 

Now for the history as I know it (and that is always subject to re-evaluation in the face of new evidence).

 

Facts:

1) There was a pen named Select-O-Point that was made by some company other than Wahl or Eversharp.

2) These pens carried the interchangeable nib/feed/collar arrangement (the size and the thread of these were different from the Personal Point pens made by Wahl-Eversharp

3) The Select-O-Point name was on the nibs in these pens and read naturally Select-O-Point

4) The Select-O-Point section fits some if not most Wahl Oxford pens

5) Nowhere in all the Wahl literature including some extensive material on Wahl-Oxfords is there ANY mention of the Select-O-Point nibs either as original or repair items

 

Speculation:

 

1) Select-O-Point sections were installed on some (like the one in question here) Wahl-Oxford pens as either original equipment or as an after-market item

2) If after market, that the Select-O-Point sections were available to repair shops either more readily available, or at less cost, or as an easy to market "upgrade" or all three

3) If original equipment, Eversharp either bought the rights to make or contracted for the actual product to be made for them.

 

This is about the best I can do. I have sent out a HooDoo to the members of the pen history brain trust to see if they have a better explanation of the Select-O-Point's seemingly prevalent residence in the sections of some Wahl-Oxfords, to see if they are all confined to the tail end of the Oxford line.

 

Can Anyone (Doc Nib) post the patent number that is on the picture in that earlier post that shows the Wah-Oxford tube? The container s turned so the number is not visible.

If you need original (new old stock) Wahl-Oxford nibs let me know.

 

Syd

Edited September 2, 2008 by Wahlnut

[Wahlnut]

HOLD THE PRESSES! Like I said I can not find any Literature on the installation of Select-O-Point in Wahl-Oxfords. So I went through my Wahl Oxfords. There were more than 7 pens made by Wahl or Eversharp with that name. I came across the Oxford model that I had forgotten about at first. It is a very late (maybe the latest) Oxford, and, surprise, it has a Select-O-Point nib and section with (nib/feed collars!) The section is a visualated one that is clearly to me a Wahl-Eversharp product. Ok, now I have a new set of questions to be answered. How did these sections/nibs come to either be Eversharp products or contracted for by Eversharp. So now more than ever I need to know that patent number. If Doc Nib is tuned in here he will know. Otherwise I will call him. He's the one who posted the picture of the Wahl Oxford tube that holds the Select-O-Point nib with the patent number obscured from full view. George Kovalenko, also points me in his direction for the answer.

 

Syd

Edited September 2, 2008 by Wahlnut

[Have Fun]

Thanks for the research & your time Syd

 

Here's a few photos of Brown Oxford I have fitted with Selectopint A ( Black one is the same with a Selectopoint B ) Both have the visu sections / Both bought in UK but that doesn't mean much in terms of history.

The tube on the nib shown in Doc Nibs photo is absent on the Brown Oxford (Don't know if its fitted in the Black Oxford I haven't dissassembled it)

 

Hope this helps a bit

 

 

[Have Fun]

Thanks to Doc Nib & Just in case anyone Syd hasn't got the info or else can help the pat no is

U.S. Patent No. is 1,604,906

 

[Wahlnut]

That patent is a US patent for an English invention related to the screw in interchangeable concept. The patent was for the class of nib interchangeability as ithe examples given in the patent and the drawings thereof are for a nibb and feed as a unit. I guess that concept was broad enough to apply to all screw-in nibs and feeds assemblies. Here is the picture of the decvice from the patent:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/wahlnut/DImg.jpg

 

Well that does not tell us if this patent that was assigned to Mentmore in England was ever licensed to Wahl or Eversharp, so it does not help us to know if the Select-O-Point was a Wahl "owned" item. Had the patent been assigned to Wahl we would know the Select-O-Point was a Wahl product. We still do not know if it was a Wahl items or the product of another company or supplier. Mystery remains on this minor technicality.

 

[antoniosz]

Do you know if the Select-o-points fit into Esterbrooks?

[antoniosz]

Do you know if the Select-o-points fit into Esterbrooks?

 

and the answer to my question is ... no.

 

Also the "tube" is present on a sample that I have but it is not a tube - rather a solid piece that appears to be bent by design.

It almost looks like the top of a lucky curve feed but only in shape - not size or function necessarily.