Help! I Dropped My Levenger Nib Down The Drain!

[Bloch]

I just did something really stupid. I was rinsing out my lovely Levenger True Writer nib, and shaking the water off it, when it slipped out of my hand and went down the drain. Does anybody have any clever solutions for retrieving it? I am not able to get under the sink to undo the pipes. The plumbers services would cost more than the nib. My husband has enough to do; I don't want to bother him with this.

Suggestions, anyone?

(And by the way, I'll NEVER do that again! Next time, I'll put a cover over the drain!)

 

[kestrel]

Hemostat or very long tweezers would be your best bet. Levenger nibs are not attracted to magnets.

[BillZ]

A magnet? I have no idea if they are magnetic.

[BillZ]

Sorry, didn't see the previous post

[PaperDarts]

In hardware stores you can get a thin flexible cable with a grabber at the end that flexes its little claws when you push a plunger at one end. It's used for retrieving small tools, nails, wires etc out of very tight places. That and a good flashlight might help you get your nib back. Good luck!

[Bloch]

Thanks, Kestrel and PaperDarts, I'll give it a try! And thanks for not telling me that I'm an imbecile!

[pajaro]

I have not yet dropped a nib unit down the drain, but I have lost some small Parker 51 parts down the drain. Things happen. Some hardware stores have a white plastic item, with a mat and a plastic grating in the middle, usually raised up. These are marketed to keep junk out of drains. Mainly intended to keep stuff out of the pipes that would plug them up, but they can also keep small parts from falling through. You could just put it over the drain while you are working, then remove it when you are done. I wish I had thought of this a few parts replacements ago. Ironically there's one in the bathtub to keep hair out of the drain.

[Octo]

Be VERY careful not to let any water run down the drain. You don't want to flush that nib on through. Perhaps put a large message in the sink and on the faucet handles.

 

Have you considered a big wad of bubble gum on the end of a stick?

 

If the trap under the sink is plastic, you might be able to unscrew it yourself. It should be a quick fix, so ask hubby if necessary.

[AG_ORD]

How come you cannot access under the sink? Unfortunately, removing the P-Trap is the best way to go. If no go, you may be able to purchase a replacement nib from Goulet Pens. I think their number 6 nibs go for about $15. Not sure of the nib size on the True Writer but you can query the excellent help staff at GPC regarding nib that would fit.

 

Good luck.

[Levenger]

We might not be plumbers but we'll help if we can.....please email us your contact info to Social@Levenger.com

[Cordovian]

Without being able to get to the pipes it's going to be difficult. The p-trap is arched so there's no corner to trap it against to grab it with hemostats or anything like that. They sell spring claws but I have no idea where you would find one quickly.

Spring Claw:

http://www.davethetools.com/ebay/var/resizes/J%26S/Ullman_Grabber_tool.jpg?m=1352023612

Edited December 11, 2014 by Cordovian

[Charles Rice]

Sorry - you're just going to have to swallow your pride and let your hubby take the drain apart. Heck, that's what we love to do and are expected to do anyway.

[discopig]

Learning to remove the p-trap is a good skill to know and can come in handy once in a while. Now would be a good time to learn if the nib is still down there.

[bassmannate]

Yeah, most p-traps are just threaded together. You should just have to unscrew a couple fittings (maybe have a bucket ready to catch the water in it) and it should pop out. Then, just reverse what you undid. I would provide pictures of my own, but it might be different.

[inkstainedruth]

I've always worried about losing the nib from my Parker 45 that way, because it's such a tiny nib. I did lose some nib (maybe a Noodler's nib) down the drain awhile back. And yes, the husband had to take the trap off.

He also had to do that a couple of years ago when I lost *part* of the clutch ring of a Parker 21 down the drain, and didn't realize for a couple of days! Fortunately it was still in the trap, even though we'd run water through it a fair amount in between. Which meant that I didn't have to try and order a replacement from someplace (and it would have been the entire clutch ring assembly).

In our case the traps were PVC piping, rather than the original metal ones, so I think they were easier to take apart -- other than the detail of my husband (who is not a small guy and also has a bad knee) having to get down on the floor between the sink cabinet and the tub, but that would have been the same in either case.

Those spring claw gadgets look nifty. But I wonder how easy it would be to see down the drain to find something as small as a nib, let alone pick it up.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Chrissy]

We might not be plumbers but we'll help if we can.....please email us your contact info to Social@Levenger.com

I fear your kind message may have gone unnoticed

[Bloch]

I fear your kind message may have gone unnoticed

No, I saw it; I did a "follow this topic" thing and get notifications in my regular e-mail. I responded as soon as I saw the message. And it really is kind of them to offer to help, isn't it? How sweet of them!

Anyhow, as I told the nice folks at Levenger in my message to them, I went to the hardware store and got one of those nifty grabber thingies, and aimed a strong flashlight beam down the drain and fished around a lot, but to no avail. I fear it's a lost cause. It may have been from the start; when I was rinsing the nib in the first place, the water was already running. I turned it off right away of course, but thinking back on it, I think the nib probably was on its way to nib heaven even as I wrote the initial post.

It's a bummer, because it was a really smooth-writing nib. It was a broad nib, for the Levenger True Writer, that lovely "Sea Glass" one. Fortunately, the nib unscrews out of the barrel so that the actual nib is plain black and silver, and so I still have the special colored part that fits over the nib and screws into the rest of the barrel. All I need is a replacement nib, which they do sell. I'll probably order one pretty soon, while they have their sale on.

Thank you everybody, for all your suggestions and good wishes!

[PaperDarts]

Oh no, not the Sea Glass True Writer! I've always wanted one of those. I hope you get the replacement nib of your dreams.

 

Cordovian - that's EXACTLY what I meant. Wish I knew where mine went to, haven't seen it in years.

[Bloch]

Well, with a replacement nib, it'll look good as new. The actual nib fits inside the pretty part.

I'd never seen a pen like that; it's pretty cool. And I'm sure glad that I didn't lose the pretty part!

 

At the hardware store, the guy just called it a grabber, but on the item's tag, it's called a "pick-up-tool". It didn't work on getting the nib back, but it'll come in handy sometimes, no doubt.

Thanks for the good wishes!

[Kataphract]

You can try the small flexible claw device shown in MSG 11 above - it will probably be an aggravating blind hunt but might work. Best thing to do is take off the u-bend.

 

*****

 

"Are you putting in you contact lens over that sink?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Well, be careful because that's an open drain and if you drop it it will go straight down the hole."

 

Pause for all of one second in a masterpiece of timing....

 

*tink*

 

"Oh no!"

 

Thankfully for my fellow employee, my home was just a block away and I had a massive pipe-wrench and rescued her contact lens, but it taught me always to make sure the drain was completely blocked while fiddling with my pen nibs. That dropping of her contact lens exactly on cue after me warning her not to still makes me laugh to this day.