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Arnold Fountain Pens


amh210

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My oldest FP is a chewed-up old Arnold pen/pencil combo that was given to me by an uncle who got it from my Grandfather. My uncle says he remembers his dad using the pen to do taxes (he was a CPA).

 

Since then I've acquired a few more beat-up old Arnold FPs.

 

Anybody here on FPN have much background on these pens or can suggest a source of information?

 

I'd like to see if I can refurbish one or more for nostalgia's sake. Would be neat to write with my grandfather's pen (maybe sign my taxes with it!).

 

Much thanks!

 

Andy

"Andy Hoffman" Sandy Ego, CA

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I have a big red Arnold I picked up with a lot of pens at a yard sale. I "restored" mine for the most part. It was a standard friction-fit section, so it is a pretty basic resack. Check out Richard Binders article on how to re-sac a pen for instructions here.

 

The nib on my Arnold was the most challenging part - it had lost the tipping on both tines, so I reground it to an oblique stub. The nib is soft, however, so it tends to get out of alignment easily. Other than that it works. Also it needed a new J bar.

 

I think your Arnolds would be a great starter pen to learn basic restoration.

 

John Chapman

So if you have a lot of ink,

You should get a Yink, I think.

 

- Dr Suess

 

Always looking for pens by Baird-North, Charles Ingersoll, and nibs marked "CHI"

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  • 8 years later...

I also have few Arnolds and curious about these models and when they were produced. Thanks!10570316_276078489260580_82729735333045410501909_276078492593913_25040763240493310376371_276078495927246_871025922705942

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I have a few Arnolds. I have one of the pen/pencil combos, but the pen part is not working; I also have a cute little yellow mini-pen, which probably needs a new sac in it (I'm bringing both pens with me to DCSS next month to get advice on repairs and sac sizes).

The third pen works, but I'm not happy with it. It was not worth the $30 I paid for it (and certainly NOT worth the $100 the seller was originally asking -- most of what the seller also had listed was over-blown "estate" jewelry, probably also at inflated prices, and I've started thinking of him as "that third rate pawnbroker"; not someone I'd recommend doing business with). It has a "Veri-smooth" nib in it (whereas the other two pens specifically have nibs that say "Arnold" on them). The pen isn't bad looking, but is a lot smaller than I was expecting, and it feels, well, kinda cheap. It writes okay, and the nib does have a little bit of flex to it, but I was kinda underwhelmed overall.

Arnold may have been the market share company in its day, but is, IMO a third (or even fourth) tier company. The working pen is not nearly as nice as even my beater Esterbrooks (some people say Esterbrook was a third tier company, but I'd argue that it should be rated higher than that).

That being said, I'm hoping for better things from the other two I have, once I get them repaired and working.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Don't be too harsh on them. From what little I've seen Arnolds certainly weren't Parkers. But it can be tricky to judge the original quality of a pen unless you can get some new old stock to examine. The reason is sample bias. Less expensive pens on average tended to have harder lives: they may have gone to less skilled users to begin with (on average, not in every case) and they would have been treated with less respect once they were replaced--tossed posted and filled into a box, given to the kids to play with, left out in the weather, and so on. An expensive pen was I think much more likely to get tender care even after it retired: grandpa's favorite pen in the box where he kept it, not some old pen in the back of the desk drawer.

ron

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Don't be too harsh on them. From what little I've seen Arnolds certainly weren't Parkers. But it can be tricky to judge the original quality of a pen unless you can get some new old stock to examine. The reason is sample bias. Less expensive pens on average tended to have harder lives: they may have gone to less skilled users to begin with (on average, not in every case) and they would have been treated with less respect once they were replaced--tossed posted and filled into a box, given to the kids to play with, left out in the weather, and so on. An expensive pen was I think much more likely to get tender care even after it retired: grandpa's favorite pen in the box where he kept it, not some old pen in the back of the desk drawer.

ron

Nope. The one "sort-of" working Arnold I have is CHEAP. It's definitely feels like it's a lower grade of celluloid than the Esties. Not finished nearly as well, and I get the feeling that if I squeezed the barrel too hard it would crack (and I *don't* have a lot of strength in my hands).

The combo and the mini pen seem to be a little better quality, but I won't know for certain until I get them fixed up. The combo in particular has issues -- either dried ink that leaked around the lever, or else a sac that melted and fused. And I don't know how to get it unstuck (I've read that you really don't want to soak celluloid for a long time -- although it's not as bad as if they were casein).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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post-114840-0-64668200-1406232810.jpg

I have this Arnold of my grandmother's that I've restored. I soaked it overnight to remove the dried ink, and resac'd it. The nib was really beat up, so I had to do a fair amount of grinding to get it working properly again.

This one also looks like the cap has been chewed, though as far as it has been crunched, it almost looks like a dog got a hold of it.

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I have this Arnold of my grandmother's that I've restored. I soaked it overnight to remove the dried ink, and resac'd it. The nib was really beat up, so I had to do a fair amount of grinding to get it working properly again.

This one also looks like the cap has been chewed, though as far as it has been crunched, it almost looks like a dog got a hold of it.

 

Wow. Didn't know they came looking like this. The only Arnold combos I've seen are made of what I guess is called "cracked ice" (I have a yellow one, and I've seen photos of pale green and white ones -- I'd love to have a white one, but they seem to go for a lot more than I think Arnolds are worth).

The "sort of working" pen is brown, and sort of a mottled coloration that's reminiscent of the Esterbrook mackerel bodies (i.e., like the ones in the photos that Julia161 posted) and of pens that look like wood.

So, soaking celluloid overnight is safe? Did you use just water, or did you use something like ammonia solution for the dried ink?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Wow. Didn't know they came looking like this. The only Arnold combos I've seen are made of what I guess is called "cracked ice" (I have a yellow one, and I've seen photos of pale green and white ones -- I'd love to have a white one, but they seem to go for a lot more than I think Arnolds are worth).

The "sort of working" pen is brown, and sort of a mottled coloration that's reminiscent of the Esterbrook mackerel bodies (i.e., like the ones in the photos that Julia161 posted) and of pens that look like wood.

So, soaking celluloid overnight is safe? Did you use just water, or did you use something like ammonia solution for the dried ink?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Wow. Didn't know they came looking like this. The only Arnold combos I've seen are made of what I guess is called "cracked ice" (I have a yellow one, and I've seen photos of pale green and white ones -- I'd love to have a white one, but they seem to go for a lot more than I think Arnolds are worth).

The "sort of working" pen is brown, and sort of a mottled coloration that's reminiscent of the Esterbrook mackerel bodies (i.e., like the ones in the photos that Julia161 posted) and of pens that look like wood.

So, soaking celluloid overnight is safe? Did you use just water, or did you use something like ammonia solution for the dried ink?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Seems safe enough, as it didn't seem to do any damage. I just used water. The ink and old sac came out just fine with that.

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