Below is my first attempt at making an eyedropper pen. Pictured are the tools that I used. I simply removed the old cartridge and filled the back of the pen with Diamine Prussian Blue ink, waxed the threads with a small amount of bee's wax from candle drippings and then assembled the pen. It has not leaked for the two days that I have used it and it seems to write very well. The pen is an old Sheaffer from, I believe, the 1960's.

I should give that a try, I have pen just like that and a No Nonsense- which never gets used.

Thanks for the great picture. I've done the same thing with 3 different Sheaffer cartridge pens and a No Nonsense. I use a syringe I got at a specialty hardware store, along with 2 different sized Laeur-Lock needles (really metal tubes with a blunt end), one big enough to fill the pens, the other a bit smaller and perfect for refilling empty cartridges. I picked up a small jar of silicone grease in the plumbing section at the same hardward store for $3.00 and use that to seal the section threads.

I haven't had a single leak. I write a lot and have found I can easily go a week or longer without having to refill the Sheaffers. It's made these pens my favorite carry-along writers for daily use and eye dropper filling my favorite method of ink supply.

I've just bought another No Nonsense on eBay and when it get's here it goes right into action as my next eye dropper filler.

"bee's wax from candle drippings".........now thats a new one!
Did you heat up the wax before applying or just rubbed it on the threads straightaway?
Have to give it a try now.

Yup works like a charm and tons of ink capacity. Perfect for a college student that needs the capacity. When you refill an eyedropper it's called "bunkering".

Sheaffers are pretty tough so wax is probably okay. Wax can put stress on the thread area so I use silicone grease.

From the look of the cap (bullet shape) that's a 1950's school pen. In the 60's they used a conical shape to the end of the barrel and the cap. Another clue is the nib. If it says 304 or 305, it's 50's. Starting in the 60's they went to M and F.

Does that imply that 304=M and 305=F?

Just rubbed on the threads. It does not take much as the Sheaffer seal pretty well to begin with.

That is why I placed it in the early '60's. It has the rounded cap and back of a '50's pen, but the nib is marked with a rather large F. I have one on my desk here at work that I know is from 1961 and it is conical as you say. Is it possible that some of the later '50's pens were marked F and M, too?

It's also possible that someone swapped around the sections from one era to another-- for simple curiosity, I ran a known 1957 section into one of the 1970s flat-ended bodies, and it went without a hint of complaint. I put them back the right way quickly to avoid future confusion....

I have quite a few No Nonsense pens that I would love to use as EDs. Unfortunately, though the pens work fine with carts, when I 'convert' them, I get... nothing. They don't leak, but they don't write either. I'm trying to work out what you did differently (other than the beeswax ).

Congrats on getting yours to work. I love the nearly endless ink supply.

Yeah, either transitional early 60's or, as Ernst pointed out, those parts are all interchangeable between 50's, 60's, and 70's styles. I mix and match to create good pens without regard to series. I guess I have the mentality of an old-fashioned hot-rodder.


Fateh: Yes, but the other way around. 305 is the M and 304 is the F.

I really enjoyed learning this about the Sheaffers. Now I know I've got 2 from the 1950's and 1 from the 1960's. These pens are stunning in simplicity and yet so well constructed. Considering how cheap they were new (and recalling how badly I treated my own Sheaffers in the 60's and 70's) I'm amazed at how well they perform today. It's making me look around at the "junk" manufactured currently with a new eye, trying to guess which will still be holding up in 50 years.