Cleaning The Waterman 3V (New To Celluloid)

[OakIris]

I recently purchased my first Waterman fountain pen. It is a pretty dark green and red marbled/mottled pen from the 1930's and has "3V" stamped on the end of the barrel, so, from what I have read, I am "assuming" this is a Waterman vest pocket pen with a #3 nib. (Is there a site where the "official" Waterman vintage pen colors/patterns are listed? I couldn't find anything about this but I am sure this info is out there somewhere.)

 

I have been unable to detect the smell of camphor and I failed utterly at the "scroop" test (I couldn't get any known plastic pens to squeak, so the fact that my 3V didn't squeak when rubbed made the test a bit meaningless, lol) but from what I have read, this pen is made of celluloid. If it is indeed made of celluloid, this is my first celluloid pen as well as being my first Waterman.

 

I bought it from a vendor at a pen show and know that the pen was dipped in at least two different inks. It actually wrote the next day for a while in what looked like black ink (I had dipped it in blue ink and commented to the vendor how much darker the ink looked coming out of the Waterman than it did out of another pen I had also just dipped - DOH, no wonder, since apparently someone had previously dipped it in black!) so apparently the feed can hold a bit of ink!

 

Anyway, I would like to clean the pen. I did a search but really couldn't find anything definitive about cleaning celluloid pens and wondered if there are any special "dos or don'ts" for cleaning them. I would like to give it a flush with plain water (I have read that ammonia and celluloid do not play nice together, and I really don't think it needs anything but water.) I also usually soak the nib/feed section in water for a while as well; is soaking OK for celluloid or should this be avoided?

 

Hoping that one of the experts here in the Waterman forum can help me with this. I am looking forward to being able to fill the pen and write with it. I haven't had a lot of time with this pen as yet, but I can already tell that the 3V won't be my last/only vintage Waterman!

 

Holly

 

 

[konis]

In publication "Watrman past and present - the first six decades" (Max Davis and Gary Lehrer) on page 95 is five version Waterman 3V.

I have four pens from this page and one Waterman 301V from Canada.

If you need clean pen, you must disassemble it.

Instruction in pictures.

I use for sack ink replacement from cheapest Hero pen.

For cleaning - only water

regards

[OakIris]

I do appreciate the photos and instructions, but I am not sure why the pen needs to be disassembled for cleaning?? The sac is fine - at least, I think I can believe Joel Hamilton when he says the pen was fully restored (can't I? ) and the fill lever FEELS right when operated, for what that is worth. How does taking the pen apart help with the cleaning?

 

Holly

[konis]

If you do not want disassembled the pen, then you just need to pump water.

Dip the nib and section in the water and pumping ( lever up and down) until the water runs clear.

regards

[Left FPN]

The only thing I can comment on because I know nowt about this era but I know a little about mechanical things, is the wear and tear of the lever. A while back I posted a topic on vacuum filling and employing a cheap vacuum chamber to fill pens, it would suit this purpose very well and reduce those actions on the lever. OK it only fills the sac to about 90% but it should help with lever free cleaning.

 

[Yehenara]

I do appreciate the photos and instructions, but I am not sure why the pen needs to be disassembled for cleaning?? The sac is fine - at least, I think I can believe Joel Hamilton when he says the pen was fully restored (can't I? ) and the fill lever FEELS right when operated, for what that is worth. How does taking the pen apart help with the cleaning?

 

Holly

I do believe he meant that to get the pen COMPLETELY clean, you would have to disassemble it, which would allow you to properly flush the feed and the section.

 

Although I do own a number of celluloid pens, I personally have not soaked anything yet. In theory, though, it should be fine, as long as you avoid exposing any parts to high heat and ammonia.

 

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your new pen.

[OakIris]

The only thing I can comment on because I know nowt about this era but I know a little about mechanical things, is the wear and tear of the lever. A while back I posted a topic on vacuum filling and employing a cheap vacuum chamber to fill pens, it would suit this purpose very well and reduce those actions on the lever. OK it only fills the sac to about 90% but it should help with lever free cleaning.

 

A link to your thread would be nice, Force! I found nothing when I did a search and a check of the topics/posts in your profile did not show anything about this, either. I do get rather 'bored' cleaning a lever filler by filling the pen with water and then emptying it numerous times until the water runs clear, and it is obvious that this cleaning method adds wear and tear on the lever mechanism, etc., so if there is a more efficient manner of cleaning lever fillers without using the lever, I would love to learn about it. (I have also read that the lever box on the 3V is particularly fragile, so....)

 

I do believe he meant that to get the pen COMPLETELY clean, you would have to disassemble it, which would allow you to properly flush the feed and the section.

 

Although I do own a number of celluloid pens, I personally have not soaked anything yet. In theory, though, it should be fine, as long as you avoid exposing any parts to high heat and ammonia.

 

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your new pen.

 

It sounds as if disassembling the pen for cleaning would have to entail removing the sac in order to flush the feed completely. I really don't want to remove and destroy a perfectly good sac to do this. Unless the nib/feed is completely clogged, that seems rather overkill to me.

 

Holly

Edited October 28, 2014 by OakIris

[Left FPN]

A link to your thread would be nice, Force! I found nothing when I did a search and a check of the topics/posts in your profile did not show anything about this, either. I do get rather 'bored' cleaning a lever filler by filling the pen with water and then emptying it numerous times until the water runs clear, and it is obvious that this cleaning method adds wear and tear on the lever mechanism, etc., so if there is a more efficient manner of cleaning lever fillers without using the lever, I would love to learn about it. (I have also read that the lever box on the 3V is particularly fragile, so....)

 

 

It sounds as if disassembling the pen for cleaning would have to entail removing the sac in order to flush the feed completely. I really don't want to remove and destroy a perfectly good sac to do this. Unless the nib/feed is completely clogged, that seems rather overkill to me.

 

Holly

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/263142-filling-with-ink-by-vacuum/

[OakIris]

Thank you for the link, Force. Looks like a very interesting idea; have you tried it with any lever fillers or just with converters?

 

Holly

[Left FPN]

Thank you for the link, Force. Looks like a very interesting idea; have you tried it with any lever fillers or just with converters?

 

Holly

It works with any system. The air will be removed from the sac (bubble through ink) and replaced with ink when the system is balanced again.

[RMN]

Force, you gave this also as a solution for cleaning.

How much time does it take to completely fill a pen this way?

 

And how do you empty a full pen this way? As I understand it operates on the fact that the air in the ink-container is drawn out and replaced by ink. But that won't work on a full pen. So I see difficulties in cleaning a pen.

 

 

D.ick

[Left FPN]

Force, you gave this also as a solution for cleaning.

How much time does it take to completely fill a pen this way?

 

And how do you empty a full pen this way? As I understand it operates on the fact that the air in the ink-container is drawn out and replaced by ink. But that won't work on a full pen. So I see difficulties in cleaning a pen.

 

 

D.ick

The sac is never full as shown by the clear converter in the linked topic. There is always a small void at the top. This small amount of air forces the liquid out. So you place it into clean warm water and cycle the vacuum.

[OakIris]

Thank you again, Force. I have the Vacu Vin Coffee Saver saved to my wishlist, but it will be a bit before I purchase it; I have other priorities right now.

 

Getting back to "traditional" ways of cleaning a fountain pen, I understand that it is OK to flush a celluloid pen with plain water, but I still haven't received an answer as to whether or not such a pen can be left with its section soaking in water. Anyone?

 

Holly

[pen lady]

Something tells me that some vintage Waterman sections are made of hard black rubber. If so, prolonged soaking will fade them. Others with more experience will chime in I'm sure, but be careful.

[OakIris]

Something tells me that some vintage Waterman sections are made of hard black rubber. If so, prolonged soaking will fade them. Others with more experience will chime in I'm sure, but be careful.

 

I did indeed wonder whether or not the section and feed were made of hard rubber - which would mean no soaking in water whether or not celluloid would be OK with it - but can't find much info about this little pen via the google searches I have done. There was another thread here (from several years ago) about the Waterman 3V where the poster was trying to find out what the pen was made out of; he specified that he wanted to know about the feed and section materials as well as the body, cap, and type of plating used. Everyone that responded agreed that the pen body and cap were made of celluloid with the trim being nickle plated, but no one answered his question about the feed and section.

 

At this point, I think I will just flush the pen with water and not attempt to soak the nib/section, and hope that does the trick; better safe than sorry! I would really like to start using the pen so that I can find out how it writes; the brief testing I did by dipping the pen was enough for me to tell that the nib seemed nice and smooth, but that is about it.

 

Holly

Edited October 30, 2014 by OakIris