let's have some fun (at our own expense ). got any funny or awful pen repair experiences to share? here's two of mine.

1. (funny--or now it is.) i was cleaning and fixing up a bunch of old pens one day and was rinsing out the ink into a glass of water that soon turned black. but it was a warm day and i also treated myself to occasional sips of coke, which i'd decanted into a similar glass on the same table. need i tell you what happened next?

2. (not-so-funny.) i had this pretty '30s marble-and-red sheaffer i was eager to put a new sac into, after cleaning out the gunk from inside the barrel. so impatient was i to try it out that i couldn't wait for the barrel to dry on its own, and i whipped out my wife's blow dryer to blast hot air into the cavity. imagine my surprise (to say the least) when the barrel began to melt before my very eyes...

your turn

I was looking closely at an old MB #234 1/2, trying to adjust the nib. I dropped it, moved my rolling desk chair while i was reaching for it, and heard a mighty cracking noise as the barrel split when a wheel rolled over it. &($#*&$()*&!

ack! that's like running over your pet in the driveway

I was cleaning out a pen in a huge 32 oz cup of water on my desk, and about halfway thru the process the dog started barking, startled me, and the entire quart of (pink) water landed on my brand new Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard.

The pen survived, and after being unplugged for several days to dry, the keyboard did too!

i just remembered that i also opened up a mint and fairly rare parker VS (the transitional pen with the transparent acrylic feed); the button filler and the sac popped out and i couldn't get them back inside the barrel, sheesh.... and so they've remained in semi-permanent disrepair for about ten years now, in a box somewhere at home....

Mine is a stupid experience which led me into my first venture in "pen repair".

I flush all my new pens through with water and detergent before inking them. During this process I dropped a brand new Duke Sapphire, nib down, onto a solid tiled floor. The nib wedged solid into the barrel so that it was flush with the feed. It appeared otherwise undamaged.

It wouldn't have been a great financial loss if I had to ditch the pen so I decided to have a go at repairing it. I did more damage to the nib itself getting it out of the barrel than had been done by dropping it onto the floor in the first place.

I straightened the tines, reset it into the barrell, gave it the "nib-smoothing" treatment with various grades of mylar and brown paper -- and it is the smoothest writing pen I now have.

With this experience under my belt, I have done the nib-smoothing to one or two other pens I own -- Parkers -- and they now write smoother than they have ever done.