I have been using several Esterbrook J's and a transitional J in my regular rotation. A very nice brown with sepia ink, a gorgeous red with red ink and not surprisingly my green transitional J (also a very nice color) with green ink. All have medium Italic nibs and each has performed wonderfully until Christmas eve (day).

I was in the Nursery making rounds and decided to use the green transitional J (it was Christmas eve, after all) and when I opened it up to use it, my fingers were wet with green ink. The top was very wet and there was a bit of a green ring at the junction of the top and the body. I rinsed out the cap, dried it and the next time I opened it - more green ink! Now, both the red and the brown have all done the same thing. And today, my blue one with Waterman Imperial Purple started doing the same. (It has a medium osmiroid nib that puts down a beautiful, if a little on the dry side, line.

Do any of you have any idea of why four lovely, hard working, formerly reliable pens have all started to rebel at the same time? I have treated them well, complemented them frequently on their color and beautiful nibs, not only to them, but freely praise them to others.

Now it is true that on Christmas morning I was due to (and, in fact, did) receive a chased ebonite Conway Stewart 100 with a Binderized sharp italic nib, but I don't they would be jealous of that. After all, the Esterbrook name is certainly well respedted and they are outfitted with the nicest of nibs.

I have cleaned them all (except the blue one with the purple ink who I am giving another chance tomorrow) and they are resting comfortably close to each other in my pen case, but I would really prefer not to relegate them to a dark, quiet, albeit comfortable retirement.
I thank you in advance for your always expert advice.

-Jack

Any chance the ink in the pens may have frozen? Expansion as the frozen ink melted again could have broken sacs. Or cold/freezing could have damaged the shellac that holds the sacs on. Whatever it was, it had to be something that happened to all four pens identically and at the same time. It would be too much of a coincidence for all four sacs to fail simultaneously.

Your hands must be quite the technicolor sight! Not to mention your scrubs.

I'd like to tell you that I left them in the truck overnight, but they have been either in my pocket or in the house the whole time. When I cleaned the pens out, I checked to see if the sacs would hold a vacuum against my dampened fingertip and they seemed to do OK, some stronger than others, of course, but I could feel some suction.

I do appreciate the response, though.

Cordially

Jack

I will check for more answers in the morning.
-J

My wife claims Esterbrooks are prone to jealousy - when I gave her a green SJ her brown one, which had worked fine for a month, suddenly detached its sac and spilled ink all over.

Putting that aside, there are a few possibilities.

Were they all filled at the same time? Have one or more of them gone more than a week or two inked, without being used?

Did they get shaken up somehow? A good shake can launch a few drops of ink into the cap. Keep in mind that if you're using really dense ink, like Private Reserve, a drop or two goes a long way. I cleaned out my wife's pen thoroughly (I thought) after a similar incident and she's still finding green ink in the cap occasionally, despite using a different color in the pen. I think condensation soaks it up from the sides of the cap.

I've seen Esties leak from the nib despite good sacs twice. Once the problem was a bad nib that had separated from its feed; the other time I think the nib was just clogged. It had been left for a month without use. It still worked, but the ink wasn't flowing right. An ultrasonic cleaning fixed that one.

My only Estie, a blue J, was leaky. I got some silicone grease for the threads of the nib. I'm on my second fill, and it does not appear to leak. The grease allowed me to tighten the nib an extra 1/8- 1/4 turn without anymore force. I hope it will work, but I still have an original sac, so eventually I will need to change that. The silicone grease needs to be 100% silicone. Get it for scuba gear, not automotive. A little bit goes a long way. Last night, I saw Pendemonium sells a small container for $3. I got mine on Ebay for $3.50 inc. shipping. The grease works great for piston fillers too.

Hi,
Am I to understand that you didn't put new sacs in the pens? While it would seem highly unlikely that all four pens would fail at the same time, if these were old or even original sacs, the odds of such occurring goes up.

Kelly

Nope, no new sacs.

I thinking back, though, my pen case might have fallen out of my pocket. I can't remember for sure, but the more I think about it (autosuggestion?) there might have been a fall. None of them are inked at this time, but at some point, I may well try again.

Have a happy and safe new year!

-Jack

I have also had some leaky Esterbrook J's but I carry mine in a pen case in my purse and I'm sure they get shook up carrying them around.

My solution to that problem: I don't carry them anymore!

I carry my trusty never fail Parker 51's! They don't mind a little jostling around. They think it's fun.

Has a storm front passed through your area? Maybe a sudden drop in barometric pressure blobbed some ink into the caps.

Brian