Hi folks, so its finally happened and i have dropped my pen,
it landed head first into the soft linoleum floor at my office,
the first lucky thing is the cap was on, however, the height
that it was dropped from caused the pen to be pushed into
the cap, it was hard to get the cap off and i fear i might
have bent something inside the cap

While trying to loosen the cap, it needed a bit more torque
than usual and it loosed the hood of the "51"

Well, when the cap came off, i noticed the nib was a bit more
forward than usual, so when i removed the hood, i saw the
section and nib was about 1/2 a mm forward.
I simply pushed the nib and section back into the body
and reallighned the nib and screwed the hood back on.
It had some of tryphoons section sealant so still screwed
back on and formed a seal

My question, is the section supposed to be free moving
or is it supposed to be shellaced into the body. I ask
because all the pens(not "51"s) i have had had the sections shellaced
into place.

I tried writing about 2 pages and i didnt notice any ink blobs
so just trying to determine if i need to repair it.

Does the shell hold the section in place when tightened down and
stops any ink from seeping out?

thanks for your advice gentleman
best regards
Des

I'd say that this time the pen's god let you go with just a warning.

The "section" that you are referring to on a P51 is actually the collector. Small but important distinction to be made there. A "section" is a gripping section of the pen, which on a 51 is the hood actually. The part which you mention as the section is the collector, a wonderful piece of engineering.

The collector is a slight interference fit to the barrel to allow it to be pressed into place and be spun on the axis of the pen to align the nib to the hood for both functional and aesthetic reasons. The collector does not need to be shellac'd into the barrel of the pen.

As long as there is no sufficient g force applied to the front of the pen (ie drop) the collector will gladly stay where it was installed in perpituity. If the hood is cracked or unsealed, or the pen is dropped then the collector may move which would really only give you the misalignment that you noticed. It may also, depending on the fit of the hood to the nib, make the pen drier or even cease to write.

Cheers,
Sean

Hi - Seems like the nib got loosened a little. I don't think from your description there's too much damage. As long as there are no cracks or other damage to the hood or the rest of the pen you're good for writing with it. They're quite robust things, 51s (except when I try to replace the vac fillers' bits, when they have a nasty tendency to crack).

Regards and happy penning

Rabbi Zvi

Thanks everyone for the quick replies, well, looks like i dodged a bullet here. The hood is not damaged or cracked, i took it off and checked it against a light in the background, and checked the inside of the cap for any damage and there was none.
Phew, thanks again everyone
best regards
Des
on the good news, since the hood is not shellaced but rather set in place with section sealant, its easier to remove and service the pen later on

Just a note on the title of this thread, are there people out there who "deliberately" drop pens ?????

et

eckie, i would hope that people are not deliberately dropping pens
of the 6 pens that i own, only one is modern the rest are all vintage
at least 50 years old, i cringe at the thought of dropping a pen
a vintage cannot be replaced in my opinion, each vintage that
breaks is one less vintage pens in the world

I do think you realised my comment was a little more than tongue in cheek.

Research on pens is vital, more than once I have been caught out with a pen, where to unscrew a part has been a clockwise thread. Pelikan piston, Platignum capiliary filler to name but two. THAT is probably worse than dropping a pen, and in hindsight is akin to DELIBERATEDLY dropping one.

Live and learn, and an ureserved apology to all the vintage pens of the world who have suffered at my careless hands. Good few though, who have been given a lease of life they would not have had, and pleasure to people to use.

All the best,
Eric

I laughed... Haven't ever deliberately dropped any but have occasionally been tempted to when eg. they won't open up or I can't get the section off...


Aargh! I did that with a Platignum capiliary filler. That was one baaaad mistake - I should have realised that this was not the ordinary kind of resistance. It happens - that's the hazard of the hobby.



A-men to that. This is a really serious point and well made. But it's the practice and the knowledge and the research which means that in my hands the Platignums of the future will be safe....

Regards

Rabbi Zvi.

LOL, your post made me feel better bout dropping my pen,
i think i take my pens a little too seriously
even though they are antiques, all of them made in the 50s and
the 60s i still take em out to use and carry them in my bag

i am glad the pens can be repaired and still be of use after
such a long time compared to the throwaway mentality
we have today.