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1St Successful Snorkel Restoration!


Florida Blue

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Hello fellow FPNers,

 

I just finished my 1st (successful) restoration of a Sheaffer Snorkel fountain pen and since I was so proud of myself for accomplishing it I decided to post to pics of it. Hopefully you enjoy my work!

 

I say "1st" because I tried restoring a couple Snorkels a few years ago, failed and gave up, but I really wanted to try it again.

 

I bought the pen (along with a matching pencil) at an antique shop for $18, which I thought was a very fair price.

 

The nib and feed was covered is green powdery stuff (mold?) and the pen was filled with brown ink. I disassembled the pen and soaked the nib and feed and a cloud of brown came out.

 

This particular model is a Clipper in black with a fine sized palladium silver Triumph nib. What's really neat about this example (or at least I thought so :)) is that it's a first year Snorkel with the 14kt gold Snorkel tube.

 

I dissembled the pen, cleaned the bits of old sac out of the sac protector, replaced the point holder gasket, sac and o-ring and I polished the barrel and cap with simichrome.

 

Here is the finished product.

 

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/thefancyman/DSCF0102_zps3d88249b.jpg

 

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/thefancyman/DSCF0104_zpsda51dc7e.jpg

 

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/thefancyman/DSCF0107_zps30dde9a3.jpg

Edited by Florida Blue

Parker: Sonnet Flighter, Rialto Red Metallic Laque, IM Chiseled Gunmetal, Latitude Stainless, 45 Black, Duovac Blue Pearl Striped, 51 Standard Black, Vac Jr. Black, 51 Aero Black, 51 Vac Blue Cedar, Duofold Jr. Lapis, 51 Aero Demi Black, 51 Aero Demi Teal, 51 Aero Navy Gray, Duofold Pastel Moire Violet, Vac Major Golden Brown, Vac Deb. Emerald, 51 Vac Dove Gray, Vac Major Azure, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, 51 Vac Black GF Cap, 51 Forest Green GF cap, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, Duovac Senior Green & Gold, Duovac Deb. Black, Challenger Black, 51 Aero Midnight, Vac. Emerald Jr., Challenger Gray Pearl, 51 Vac Black, Duofold Int. Black, Duofold Jr. Red.

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Very nice! That looks gorgeous, the barrel especially polished up quite well!

 

I'm going to be treading that same path here probably early next week (when my parts show up) so this is darn encouraging!

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Thanks for posting - I have 4 snorkels that I am going to attempt to repair. A couple of them are missing parts and the other two I have disassembled and need to clean the parts. I've never repaired a snorkel before. I will feel proud too if I do them right.

Edited by londonbooks

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Very nice job! Proud of you for going back and giving it another attempt.

 

I love Snorkels and have several still - even after selling some. Thanks to Richard Binder'sand other's web pages as well as a number of posts here on FPN, I was able to learn how to restore them. I started out with a couple of beater pens that turned out to be nice users.

 

Thanks for sharing your baby with us.

 

Craig

A consumer and purveyor of words.

 

Co-editor and writer for Faith On Every Corner Magazine

Magazine - http://www.faithoneverycorner.com/magazine.html

 

 

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Looks good. How does it write?

 

Pretty good so far. The nib is actually quite smooth.

 

Here is a writing sample of the pen inked with J. Herbin Rouge Opera.

 

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/thefancyman/DSCF0112_zps3b640995.jpg

 

Very nice! That looks gorgeous, the barrel especially polished up quite well!

 

I'm going to be treading that same path here probably early next week (when my parts show up) so this is darn encouraging!

 

Thank you! Simichrome is often my polish of choice and it can do wonders in small amounts. The biggest issue with repair seems to be removing the hard rubber plug from the sac protector. Once you get that out everything else is pretty simple.

 

Very nice job! Proud of you for going back and giving it another attempt.

 

I love Snorkels and have several still - even after selling some. Thanks to Richard Binder'sand other's web pages as well as a number of posts here on FPN, I was able to learn how to restore them. I started out with a couple of beater pens that turned out to be nice users.

 

Thanks for sharing your baby with us.

 

Craig

 

Thank you. Actually it was Richard Binder's instructions on his site that guided me through most of the process. It's a fantastic resource.

 

Thanks for posting - I have 4 snorkels that I am going to attempt to repair. A couple of them are missing parts and the other two I have disassembled and need to clean the parts. I've never repaired a snorkel before. I will feel proud too if I do them right.

 

You're welcome and thank you.

Edited by Florida Blue

Parker: Sonnet Flighter, Rialto Red Metallic Laque, IM Chiseled Gunmetal, Latitude Stainless, 45 Black, Duovac Blue Pearl Striped, 51 Standard Black, Vac Jr. Black, 51 Aero Black, 51 Vac Blue Cedar, Duofold Jr. Lapis, 51 Aero Demi Black, 51 Aero Demi Teal, 51 Aero Navy Gray, Duofold Pastel Moire Violet, Vac Major Golden Brown, Vac Deb. Emerald, 51 Vac Dove Gray, Vac Major Azure, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, 51 Vac Black GF Cap, 51 Forest Green GF cap, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, Duovac Senior Green & Gold, Duovac Deb. Black, Challenger Black, 51 Aero Midnight, Vac. Emerald Jr., Challenger Gray Pearl, 51 Vac Black, Duofold Int. Black, Duofold Jr. Red.

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Good work on the restoration. Sheaffer PdAg nibs are really smooth, from my limited experience.

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Good work on the restoration. Sheaffer PdAg nibs are really smooth, from my limited experience.

 

Thank you. I have two other Snorkels with the Palladium Silver nibs (one open and one Triumph) and they are all pretty smooth.

Parker: Sonnet Flighter, Rialto Red Metallic Laque, IM Chiseled Gunmetal, Latitude Stainless, 45 Black, Duovac Blue Pearl Striped, 51 Standard Black, Vac Jr. Black, 51 Aero Black, 51 Vac Blue Cedar, Duofold Jr. Lapis, 51 Aero Demi Black, 51 Aero Demi Teal, 51 Aero Navy Gray, Duofold Pastel Moire Violet, Vac Major Golden Brown, Vac Deb. Emerald, 51 Vac Dove Gray, Vac Major Azure, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, 51 Vac Black GF Cap, 51 Forest Green GF cap, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, Duovac Senior Green & Gold, Duovac Deb. Black, Challenger Black, 51 Aero Midnight, Vac. Emerald Jr., Challenger Gray Pearl, 51 Vac Black, Duofold Int. Black, Duofold Jr. Red.

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Great job and great looking pen!

PAKMAN

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... The biggest issue with repair seems to be removing the hard rubber plug from the sac protector. Once you get that out everything else is pretty simple.

 

 

That's what I'm sweating out, for sure! I've made myself the knock-out tool that Richard suggested (I have a piece of stainless rod in the specified length, ground to flat ends and the edges broken), but I don't have section pliers. So if it comes down to being stuck that badly, I might be up a crick until I get the right tool. I have padded-jaw conventional pliers, and vacuum-line tubing I could use to hold the sac protector... Still, that's the bit that makes me nervous for sure!

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I have padded-jaw conventional pliers, and vacuum-line tubing I could use to hold the sac protector... Still, that's the bit that makes me nervous for sure!

 

I think any padded pliers should do fine. I've read of people making their own by wrapping hose around the end and some using jar lid openers to grip.

Parker: Sonnet Flighter, Rialto Red Metallic Laque, IM Chiseled Gunmetal, Latitude Stainless, 45 Black, Duovac Blue Pearl Striped, 51 Standard Black, Vac Jr. Black, 51 Aero Black, 51 Vac Blue Cedar, Duofold Jr. Lapis, 51 Aero Demi Black, 51 Aero Demi Teal, 51 Aero Navy Gray, Duofold Pastel Moire Violet, Vac Major Golden Brown, Vac Deb. Emerald, 51 Vac Dove Gray, Vac Major Azure, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, 51 Vac Black GF Cap, 51 Forest Green GF cap, Vac Jr. Silver Pearl, Duovac Senior Green & Gold, Duovac Deb. Black, Challenger Black, 51 Aero Midnight, Vac. Emerald Jr., Challenger Gray Pearl, 51 Vac Black, Duofold Int. Black, Duofold Jr. Red.

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  • 4 weeks later...

very good job :thumbup:

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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i have the same exact pen. same color, nib and everything. i am confident that you will enjoy this thing to death. it is the pen i have most fun with. i love to see people's reactions when i fill it in public. :)

Parker 51 Aerometric (F), Sheaffer Snorkel Clipper (PdAg F), Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman (M), red striated Sheaffer Balance Jr. (XF), Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman desk set (M), Reform 1745 (F), Jinhao x450 (M), Parker Vector (F), Pilot 78g (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), Esterbrook LJ (9555 F), Sheaffer No-Nonsense calligraphy set (F, M, B Italic), Sheaffer School Pen (M), Sheaffer Touchdown Cadet (M), Sheaffer Fineline (341 F), Baoer 388 (F), Wearever lever-filler (M).

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