Ebay Skyline

[afern401]

Hey gang,

 

I'm planning to bid on an untested Skyline. I don't plan on bidding much because I am assuming it will need some work. My question is, how much should I plan on work (re-sac, nib replacement etc.) costing to get it up and running? I'm not looking to make it museum quality, just to the point where it can be a functioning and hopefully fun vintage pen to use.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

[redbike]

Sac replacement for sure. The rest is a gamble. Hopefully pictures give you a good idea of the nib's condition. Good luck.

[afern401]

Thanks for the reply. I don't mind a bit of a gamble if the the pens selling price + potential repair expense = less than or equal to buying a more expensive pen that is already restored. Here is a picture of the nib. I know nothing about vintage nibs. Could it be slightly sprung?

[AZBennett]

I have recently repaired about seven of these. Most had slightly misaligned tines. This one looks similar to all of mine that have needed nib adjustments. I woukd say besides adjusting the nib, new sac, a good cleaning of the pressurr bar and feed/section, the rest would be only cosmetic improvements concerning buffing and tarnish removal. Those are what I have done on my Skylines. I have one that the section won't come free of the barrel but all the rest were easy repairs with the correct tools. They are a blast to write with! My only issue is I have too many so I am going to be slowly selling mine off. Best of luck.

 

Paul

[redbike]

I don't see a sprung nib, but it might be misaligned. As the above poster noted, tine misalignment is quite common, especially when purchasing from a non-user. I will say that nib looks like it will have some flex to it, as many of the Eversharp nibs do. I don't have any Skylines, but have some Symphony's which, I believe, share some nibs with the Skylines.

Thanks for the reply. I don't mind a bit of a gamble if the the pens selling price + potential repair expense = less than or equal to buying a more expensive pen that is already restored. Here is a picture of the nib. I know nothing about vintage nibs. Could it be slightly sprung?

nib.jpg

Edited October 6, 2014 by redbike

[afern401]

I have recently repaired about seven of these. Most had slightly misaligned tines. This one looks similar to all of mine that have needed nib adjustments. I woukd say besides adjusting the nib, new sac, a good cleaning of the pressurr bar and feed/section, the rest would be only cosmetic improvements concerning buffing and tarnish removal. Those are what I have done on my Skylines. I have one that the section won't come free of the barrel but all the rest were easy repairs with the correct tools. They are a blast to write with! My only issue is I have too many so I am going to be slowly selling mine off. Best of luck.

 

Paul

 

Thanks, Paul. What would the repairs you mentioned cost to have done? I probably wont worry about cosmetic issues if I end up winning the pen.

 

I don't see a sprung nib, but it might be misaligned. As the above poster noted, tine misalignment is quite common, especially when purchasing from a non-user. I will say that nib looks like it will have some flex to it, as many of the Eversharp nibs do. I don't have any Skylines, but have some Symphony's which, I believe, share some nibs with the Skylines.

 

Thanks, that's good to know!

[AZBennett]

If you send out the pen for resaccing and usual vintage repair, I think kost reputable repairers would charge between 20 and 30 bucks but it would be done up to snuff as it were. I have no idea what your top bid would be in orser to "win" this pen, but to be honest I haven't had to go over 20-25 on very nice skylines in need of minor repairs. And I wouldn't go higher than that unless the pen had some rare features (Gold Derby, unique cap, etc.) I am by no means an expert, that's Wahlnut, but if you have any questions PM me.

[AZBennett]

You can also contact Danny Fudge, I hear GREAT things about him and will be using him for Parker repairs that I can't do myself.

[redbike]

+ 1 on Danny Fudge based on my personal experience. He's very competent, fast and very reasonable cost-wise.

[KBeezie]

In regards to the nib pictures, it'd be easier to see if it's sprung or not with side pictures and a picture looking down the front of the nib. A mildly sprung nib can typically be easy to repair just by carefully pressing it back towards the feed and closing the tines/tipping back together. Usually takes some patience to get it just right so that it has optimal contact with the feed and isn't too wet or dry. (Brass shims are handy if the tines/tipping are too tight).

 

I would say that if you can get a Eversharp Skyline fully restored for around $80-100, then grabbing a Skyline for around $40 or less unrestored would still leave room for restoration costs (mainly for the sac and cleaning) as long as there are not cracks or rusted parts (like the lever etc).

 

For example, I got this Skyline "restored" (meaning they just replaced the sac and made it where the 'dome' on the cap stayed on with teflon tape) for about $25 off ebay, it was a local seller so no shipping was required.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/skyline_burgundy/top.jpg

 

The sac was good, lever seemed fine, a bit of scratches and such but I was able to polish some of that out. But I wasn't really pleased with the cap, due to the way the inner cap was with the dome, if I Didn't put the cap on just right it would collide with the nib.

 

Picture of it after a minor shine job.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/skyline_burgundy/full.jpg

 

So I set out to find a replacement cap or least clip (Which may include the dome), and ended up getting a celluloid striated cap for $7 on ebay (around $11 shipped). Was a bit beat up and tarnished, but I disassembled it, cleaned it and polished it up before reassembling it and it fits great onto the pen itself.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/skyline_burgundy/before_after.jpg

 

The nib itself was already pretty decent, just needed a tiny bit of alignment (if you don't have a loupe that's least 10x, I recommend you get one for least help in aligning nibs), and gave it a tiny bit of smoothing with some micro-mesh and mylar paper.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/skyline_burgundy/posted_new_cap.jpg

 

All in all, not too shabby a deal for $36 + my time.

[AZBennett]

Here are my most cosmetically sound Skyline repair jobs. The black standard was fairly difficult as the nib that originally came on the pen was not salvageable and was a demi sized nib. The feed/section are demi as well and therefore I had to rummage through my spare Skyline parts to find a Skyline nib, this soft flexible one being the only one available. The brown and dubonnet were fairly straightforward with the most work coming in the form of removing tarnish and brassing from the the gold on these pens. As much as I love all three of them, I have found out that flex pens are not really up my alley, so to speak. While I enjoy the way they look and feel, I can't write worth a damn with them (as evidenced by the AWFUL handwriting in the equally awful phone pictures). Which is why these will be sold off so that I can find some other pens to work on. I probably invested 3-4 hour total for all three pens. For me that's about the norm for three easy lever fillers like these. Though I will admit to spending over two hours on a particularly difficult Skyline that ended up crumbling in my hands after I finally got the section out. It was a sad day. They are super easy to repair and a true joy to write with.

 

Paul

Edited October 7, 2014 by AZBennett

[afern401]

Thanks KBeezie and AZ. Very interesting stuff. Another bid has come in and the price has nearly reached my limit. I really like the look of the pen but I'm not sure I'll get it when bidding ends in the morning.

 

Edit: So I didn't get the pen because I couldn't recall my ebay password in time to get on and bid. In a word, frustrating. Thanks for all of the help, it will be very useful next time I come across a Skyline that catches my eye.

Edited October 7, 2014 by afern401

[HalloweenHJB]

If no minds that I piggyback on this topic, I recently purchased a restored Skyline, and it writes beautifully, but looking closely at the tines of the nib, I wonder if it should be adjusted (sorry for the blurry photos). What do you all think?

 

 

[AZBennett]

Your left tine looks a little bit out of alignment, slightly lower than the right tine. Which can be fixed with nominal, even upward pressure on the lower tine, then backing off to see if it is in proper alignment. I use a loupe when doing this and have to do this one most of the Eversharp nibs that have any kind of flex to them when I repair them. I am pretty fastidious about making sure the tines are aligned and smooth when I am doing mt own repairs, usually the last part of my repair work is doing a once over on the entire pen using my loupe just to check for any missed imperfections that I might have missed. Its not hard to fix but you have to be gentle with the tines because some pens have much "softer" nibs than others so the pressure changes depending on each nib. I always start out in small steps with little pressure and then increase slowly until the nib is fixed.

[HalloweenHJB]

Your left tine looks a little bit out of alignment, slightly lower than the right tine. Which can be fixed with nominal, even upward pressure on the lower tine, then backing off to see if it is in proper alignment. I use a loupe when doing this and have to do this one most of the Eversharp nibs that have any kind of flex to them when I repair them. I am pretty fastidious about making sure the tines are aligned and smooth when I am doing mt own repairs, usually the last part of my repair work is doing a once over on the entire pen using my loupe just to check for any missed imperfections that I might have missed. Its not hard to fix but you have to be gentle with the tines because some pens have much "softer" nibs than others so the pressure changes depending on each nib. I always start out in small steps with little pressure and then increase slowly until the nib is fixed.

 

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I'll give it a try --but very gently! Thanks again!

[ac12]

Be VERY VERY careful with a bend up near the tip.

You could accidentally botch the tipping.

And there isn't much metal work work with.

 

I would tinker with a bend further back on the nib.

But I personally would not tinker with a bend that close to the tip. I don't have the skills to do that.

[HalloweenHJB]

I am a total amateur, so I just did a very gentle bend near the tip, but not close enough to harm the tipping material. It was just enough, and the tines look more aligned than earlier --good enough for my satisfaction. Couldn't be happier with the nib --it writes like a charm. I only wish the sac held more ink... But the design is so wonderful, I can't complain.

 

Thanks to all who make suggestions.

[berlinairlift]

This seemed like a good place to jump in with a question and not start a new topic since this one is so good.

 

I bought a black Skyline on the bay and with the exception of the lever I have it completely disassembled. The pen is in poor condition and needs a reasonable amount of work but it does have a nice flex nib. The cap has some shrinkage and the lower cap ring is loose and the rest of the furniture has some corrosion and rust but that can be worked upon.

 

One thing I did notice is under the ring which has the tiny lettering (the circle in the picture) there was what seemed to be a paper/fiber washer. It was mostly gone but I am wondering if the Skyline really did have such a part. Any ideas?

 

 

 

Jon

 

 

[AZBennett]

I have noticed this on about 25% of the Skyline caps that I have worked on (admittedly a small number compared to some, I believe I am on my 25th or 26th currently). I am sure Ernst or Syd can comment more specifically but I think it might have come with this paper washer from the factory new and as time goes on they got removed. I will say I have never seen it on any of the GF or striated caps only the solid color caps have had it.

 

On to the rest of your Skyline. It still looks quite lovely! I truly love the lines of the Skyline and marvel that a pen could be so compelling. My user Skyline had a loose lower cap ring, and since I don't plan on selling it, I went ahead and used a toothpick to very carefully lay down a little shellac and re-affix the cap ring. I have yet to be able to fix the caps I have that have warping or shrinkage that makes them too tight to screw on. Luckily I have quite a few extra caps currently so that hasn't hurt me. What I don't have is enough derbys. I have run across more shrunk and cracked derbys, yours looks to be in nice condition. I applaud your pen and wish you the best of luck with it. If you have any more questions feel free to ask away!

 

Paul

[Sasha Royale]

I'm not one of the cool members, but here goes my point of view.

Sac replacement is almost a given. It doesn't cost much. The need for cleaning and adjusting of the nib

comes straight off the price of the non-working pen. Feed and nib replacement ? Without nib and feed,

it is a coffee stirrer. Bid accordingly.