Hello all,

I found a CS 15 which I inherited from my late uncle and which was left to him (I think) by his father. It's in good condition but it doesn't appear to fill. The brass lever fills up but doesn't appear to draw any ink in. Rinsing it out in water and using the lever doesn't pump discolour the water when the lever's dropped, so I'm assuming that the sac inside is perished. Can anyone recommend a good repairer in the UK?

Richard

Without wishing to recommend one above the other, type 'pen repair' into your Google and take your pick. I doubt any will give you a poor service.

You could otherwise dig around this list for instructions etc on how to do it yourself, it isn't hard but care is required not to damage your pen.

Tell us about your pen, is it black or a colourful finish? How does it write? Is the gold plate in good nick?

Thanks for the advice. It's marbled ruby. It seems to have a fine nib and it seems to scratch rather on some papers. I wrote a verse using it loaded with Parker Penman Sapphire in my Moleskin notebook and will upload the scan at some point. The gold plate on the nib is in good condition by the looks of it. I'll try and take some photos of it soon, but macro photography is a bit difficult with the lenses I have for my D200.

"The gold plate on the nib is in good condition by the looks of it."


Gold plate on the nib? My dear Parker Ruby, you have a Conway Stewart, only solid gold will do!!

(The gp to which I referred is on the clip/lever/band etc.)

If you don't already, you may enjoy Jonathan's site:

http://www.ftic.info/Donahaye/ConwayStewart/csbook/page1.htm

where you can swish around pictures and descruptions of hundreds of old Conway Stewarts. You will find yours, I'm sure.

Your pen should write perfectly and smoothly, I have a similar pen and it is entirely practical. Whoever you use to refurbish should be able to sort out the nib too and present you with a lovely little pen. Let us know how you get on.


Greg

Having looked at that site, it's definitely a "Marbled plum/black veins, short". The plated parts are a little dull. I've attached the scan I did. You'll have to excuse my handwriting. It's much better on larger sheets of paper.

Click to view attachment

Good luck with getting the pen restored if that's what you decide to do. Or you might like to pick up a junk pen on EBay to practice replacing a sac, it's really quite easy and you'll find advice in the repair forum if you haven't done it before, there's also tricks for nib smoothing listed in there as well. In terms of pen repair, I used Peter Twydle at the Pen Museum for my great uncle's Vacumatics, far too much sentimental value for me to risk damaging them, but as Greg says, there's plenty of good repairers out there. For pen repair bits and pieces I've always bought from Ian Williamson of Cathedral Pens, he's a member here and also has an ebay shop.