Passing On The Love Of Fountain Pens And Handwriting To My Son... (And A Moral Dilema)

[bui501]

While on a trip to England, I placed a bid on a Mabie Todd Swan self-filler fountain pen from UK eBay. The pen had a beautiful color, but the nib was bent, so luckily for me, the bidding didn't go up very high, and I won the auction. I decided I was going to give it to my 9-year-old son as a project pen that we would restore together.

These are photos of the pen and nib as shown in the auction and exactly as I had received it:

It's a Mabie Todd Swan Minor with a number 2 nib.

Yesterday, on a slow Saturday afternoon, we started working on the pen. The sac had become brittle in the pen, so the lever was hard-frozen stuck, and the section had been fused with dried ink to the barrel. We soaked and rinsed as much of the dried ink from the pen as we could. I then I showed my son how to gently heat up the section with an adjustable heat gun, and the section came right off after slight heating. I helped him fish out little bits of brittle rubber from what remained of the sac from inside the barrel.

We used a home-made knock-out block, punch-out pin, and hammer to remove the nib and feed from the section, and we cleaned all the parts in an ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes.

Unexpected calamity: The j-bar in the pen had cracked in two right at the bend, and I didn't have any in the house. Mind you, we live in Italy, and it takes weeks to months to order fountain pen parts from the U.S., and the couple of reliable vendors I normally use didn't have any j-bars that were long enough for our pen. Luckily, I was able to repair the break using a piece of aluminum cut from the bottom of a soda can as a structural suport and epoxying the aluminum piece to the inside of the j-bar's bend. After the epoxy on the previously broken j-bar had hardened, we put it back in the pen, and lo-and-behold -- It worked! The repaired bend was springy, and it held up to the pressure of the lever and sac.

My son's hands are not yet dextrous enough to work on the bent nib, so I spent about half an hour straightening out the nib with a jewelor's hammer while he took a break. By the time I was finished, the nib was as straight and shiny as when it was new -- No More Bend!!!

I set the nib and feed in the section, and my son carefully put the rest of the pen together.

...to my dissapointment, my son decided he wanted to go to bed instead of trying out his new pen right away. OK -- so it was a little past his bedtime.

Early Sunday morning. My son took out his new fountain pen, and he picked out the Diamine blue-black ink from our collection of ink. He scribbled with the pen on a pad for a few seconds, and said, "it's nice, Dad." I asked to try out the pen, and My GOD!!! I had given him a pen with one of the most flexible nibs I had ever come across!!!!

The tines start to spread as soon as the nib touches paper, it softly spreads out to a BBB or even BBBB with slightly more pressure, and it springs right back when desired...

Now for the moral dilema: Having spread the joy of fountain pens and handwriting to my son, does that give me enough Karma credit to steal the pen back from him? His writing skills are still too young to fully appreciate such a truly flexible nib, and I've only come across one or two other nibs that are this wonderful. Sigh...

Luckily, what happened next made it an easy decision: My son laughed in delight as he watched me write his name in script with his new pen. The time we spent restoring the pen together was well worth everything. And seeing his excitement over something as simple as writing his name was well worth giving up such a wonderfully flexible nib.

[LeonW]

Trade him with a Lamy Coral with coral cartridges - I think he would be overjoyed.😈

[LamyOne]

 

I asked to try out the pen, and My GOD!!! I had given him a pen with one of the most flexible nibs I had ever come across!!!!

 

Hello Vinh,

 

Yes, this is a ticklish situation. The best advice I can give you is to not take the name of the Lord in vain for one, and two, be honest with your son. Tell him that you really love the nib, explain why, (don't tell him that he isn't up to a nib like that, though, it may hurt his feelings), and that the pen will always be a reminder to you of the special time you two spent together.

 

Tell him that you really love the pen and you'd really like to have it - would he mind giving it to you, (you may also remind him of how much time and effort YOU spent restoring the nib after he went to bed). And while you're at it, promise him a new project pen that you can both restore together, (and let him pick it out), and that one will be his for sure - no matter what! So make sure you let him pick a pen you won't mind giving up when it is restored.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited November 2, 2014 by LamyOne

[linearM]

Let the pen be his, it is special because the two of you restored it. But a flex nib as you describe it probably is not the best for a beginner pen user. Perhaps you could find another nib with less flex to replace the original nib, a nib with just slight flex. Explain to him that the nib will be waiting for him when he develops more facility with the pen. You could also pick up another project pen with most likely not a flex nib and do another restore together or as LeonW suggested go together and pick out a less expensive contemporary pen for him to practice with, the first one the two of you restored waiting for him as he gains facility. Now you have started him down the road to pen collecting!

 

Yes, I know you envy the nib but!

[LamyOne]

Let the pen be his, it is special because the two of you restored it. But a flex nib as you describe it probably is not the best for a beginner pen user. Perhaps you could find another nib with less flex to replace the original nib, a nib with just slight flex.

 

This isn't a bad approach either, let him keep the pen and see if he'd be willing to exhange nibs... otherwise, you may just have to bite the bullet and let him keep it.

 

- Chris

Edited November 2, 2014 by LamyOne

[Z-Tab]

I totally understand the fear that the pen will be destroyed, neglected, or unappreciated, but your kid will remember whatever you do forever. If you want to use that pen, I recommend you start buying broken pens and fixing them up with him more often. Then there won't be as much importance connected with any single pen. Plus, you can sell on the repaired pens to fund the hobby.

[Davros]

That is a gorgeous pen. (I have no advice for your moral dilemma).

[welch]

Wonderful story. It's a cold day in New York, but you just warmed it! Beautiful pen!

 

Moral dilemma? Hmmm. Maybe:

 

- let him keep the pen. It was supposed to be his, and you worked together with that understanding.

- save it until he can handle the flex nib

- meanwhile, get him a blue or green or red Esterbrook. Easy to replace the sac and the two of you can choose a nib. The lever-filling will be like the Mabie-Todd, the Esties are colorful but not expensive, and there are many nibs...although I'd start him on a 2668 or 9668, general writing medium, and work wider or slimmer. Or get an assortment of points.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Tell him the truth. It is a very delicate rare Wet Noodle/super-flex. Like riding a big Ducati motorcycle when one is ready for a Vespa.

 

Get him another nib, or as suggested a fancy Esterbrook.

 

That is his nib....his pen.

 

Suggest an Ahab and then have it modified. The Ahab is a semi-flex nib, and is hard to work as a Flex nib. There is no way he can bend it really, and give him a practice tool.

Then after a bit, get the nib modified with the Angel wings, so it is Easy Full Flex, the first stage of super flex. That will be so much easier to work. When he has learned how to use it....He will be ready for a Wet Noodle.

You can modify the nib with a Dremil at home....some one you know must have one.

 

Tell him as soon as his Hand is experienced enough he may use his fancy pen at home....perhaps even get his name engraved on it, so it don't get stolen by a magpie 'friend' he brings home.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[owend]

You HAVE to let him keep the pen! But impress on him it's special and rare, and to keep it at home and not just play with it - he'll appreciate what you mean, even at age 9.

 

Then offer him a new daily-use/school pen, perhaps a Safari?

 

And then to keep him interested, as a project search together on ebay for something that needs restoring/repair, but which he can use as he wants, eg school, so not too expensive or rare (Parker 45 seems traditional for this!) and let him restore it, with you as supervisor only!

 

That way, he'll have a regular-use modern pen, a pen he's restored himself and the Swan you worked on together. Then see how far his pocket-money goes .

[greensparcs]

Just hope he never finds this thread

[dms525]

I have a question: Does your son have a say in all this? From my perspective, the most important ethical issue is, "Who gets to decide whose pen it is?"

 

Ethics is about values. The values involved in your decision are truth telling and autonomy. Personally, I rate the value of ownership of personal property as of relatively less importance, but others may disagree.

 

So, if you told your son the pen is his, if you simply repossess it, regardless of your rationalization, you have violated both the truth and your son's autonomy. You may also want to consider what you would be teaching him about keeping your word and about how the powerful have a right to oppress the weak.

 

Now, assuming you decide the pen is his, I would infer from your story that you and your son have a pretty good relationship. Is he a generous enough person to be willing to let his Dad borrow his pen from time to time? Some of this time could be well-spent teaching him how to make the pretty writing he admired when you wrote his name.

 

I congratulate you on asking your question.

 

David

[SuperNib44]

 

 

 

Yes, this is a ticklish situation. The best advice I can give you is to not take the name of the Lord in vain for one, and two, be honest with your son.

 

 

+1 !

[Sundrah]

It all depends on whether your son writes in a destructive manner or not. If he has been using fountain pens for a while then I suppose it wouldn't matter, but if he's gone from ballpoint -> fountain recently then I suppose you would have good reason to keep the pen off him for a while. Since you've mentioned you have come across nibs as wonderful as this, I'd say leave it with him. One great nib per person... Why am I rambling about this LOL

[masterguns]

Just hope he never finds this thread

 

^^

HAHAHAHA.

 

Keep the pen and teach him a life lesson. He might as well learn now that the world is unfair.

 

I joke.

 

Understanding that he is not quite ready for the pen, ask him if you can use it. It is still his pen, but you will use it and take care of it for him so that it doesn't get lost, damaged, or stolen. If you've raised a good kid, he should have no problem with that at all. You're his Dad, after all.

 

Great story, BTW.

[hot cocoa]

+1 !

Great avatar!

 

I think were it my son, I'd hope that that beautifully flexy pen would the answer to my prayers to help him improve his penmanship.

 

And yeah, I would borrow the pen as often as he'd let me.

[rudyhou]

that's an awesome looking vintage pen.

[Talfryn]

I have a question: Does your son have a say in all this? From my perspective, the most important ethical issue is, "Who gets to decide whose pen it is?"

 

Ethics is about values. The values involved in your decision are truth telling and autonomy. Personally, I rate the value of ownership of personal property as of relatively less importance, but others may disagree.

 

So, if you told your son the pen is his, if you simply repossess it, regardless of your rationalization, you have violated both the truth and your son's autonomy. You may also want to consider what you would be teaching him about keeping your word and about how the powerful have a right to oppress the weak.

 

Now, assuming you decide the pen is his, I would infer from your story that you and your son have a pretty good relationship. Is he a generous enough person to be willing to let his Dad borrow his pen from time to time? Some of this time could be well-spent teaching him how to make the pretty writing he admired when you wrote his name.

 

I congratulate you on asking your question.

 

David

This. Thanks for setting this out so clearly. I have a young son and the delight of him appreciating pens and ink and spending special time together is just priceless. Edited November 17, 2014 by Talfryn

[OcalaFlGuy]

I have a question: Does your son have a say in all this? From my perspective, the most important ethical issue is, "Who gets to decide whose pen it is?"

 

Ethics is about values. The values involved in your decision are truth telling and autonomy. Personally, I rate the value of ownership of personal property as of relatively less importance, but others may disagree.

 

So, if you told your son the pen is his, if you simply repossess it, regardless of your rationalization, you have violated both the truth and your son's autonomy. You may also want to consider what you would be teaching him about keeping your word and about how the powerful have a right to oppress the weak.

 

Now, assuming you decide the pen is his, I would infer from your story that you and your son have a pretty good relationship. Is he a generous enough person to be willing to let his Dad borrow his pen from time to time? Some of this time could be well-spent teaching him how to make the pretty writing he admired when you wrote his name.

 

I congratulate you on asking your question.

 

David

 

Excellent explanation David.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Kuhataparunks]

This may sound sinister and heartless, but children forget things. He'll probably be just as content with a Metropolitan or Safari and completely forget this nice flex pen ever existed. But maybe I'm wrong .

 

In any case, congratulations on the successful restoration!!