Well after pawing at a few of the pens in a nearby antique shop I narrowed it down to 2. Both Esterbrooks. Both classic black. Not sure what models as I have never bought one before. One was slightly larger than the other. The larger one had a 1554 nib and the smaller had a 1550 nib. The larger one was priced at $25 and the smaller at $15. The larger had what felt like a very springy sac, and the smaller I felt cracking. I liked the larger one for the size and feel and was thinking $25 wasn't a bad price on a working good pen. On the other hand I also wanted a pen to do some work on. To explore and get a better knowledge of pens in general. I asked what she could do on both of them. She said the larger one had just been aquired recently and the smaller she had had for a while so she went $10 on the smaller. That is the one I bought. Now I just need to research how to pull them apart and where to find sacs and stuff that I would need to make it work! Oh boy! I will try to UL a scan this week. Any help on identification would be appreciated. :bunny1:

Charlie

Congratulations! An Esterbrook is a great way to get into pulling things apart. For basic instructions on replacing the sac, see Richard Binder's instructions or if you think you're serious about pen repair, get "Da Book" by Frank Dubiel from Pendemonium. Giovanni Abrate's Tryphon Enterprises is a one-stop shop for all of the supplies you need for re-saccing including sac cement (shellac), talc and rubber sacs. The assortment of sac sizes is a good deal if you think you'll be working on other pens, but Esterbrooks all take a size 16 sac.

I just did my first handful of resackings and I loved it. Have fun and let us know how it goes.

Uh oh! Watch out. Those pens have a greater tendency to multiply than other pens. Especially if you start repairing them. Don't feed them after midnight!

OK well here is an update. Thanks to Richards site I was able to remove the section and dispose of one brittle and cracked sac. Tomorrow I will order talc, sacs and sac cement from Gio. I dipped it and it is a very fine nib. Too fine for my tastes. I am looking for something to use as a daily writer in the market place. I also found out it is an SJ with both jewels. (I didn't know the jewels were the plastic caps on the top and bottom ) The lever and pressure bar seem to be in fine shape and the old sac has been removed and cleaned so I just need the parts to make it work!

I know it isn't done yet but I was expecting much more work out of this. This is going pretty smooth!

Charlie

(Checking the time.... 9:30. Not past midnight, OK.)

All those supplies can also be ordered from Martin Smith at Wood Bin.
http://www.simcom.on.ca/woodbin/

Disclaimer: No connection other than as a very satisfied customer...

The 1550 nib you have is a Firm ExtraFine w/o iridium tipping
I have a 9461 (Fine Manifold) and a 9314F (Fine Stub) nib that I am not using. Both of these are the better grade nibs with iridium tips... contact me backchannel if interested. Both nibs have been tested on my Esterbrook, but have only got a couple of lines written with them... even have the original boxes for them..

Say I wanted to go to an antique store and buy a vintage fountain pen, Esterbrook for the purpose of this question.

My mother told me to watch out because the sacs can be bad. Apparently they are replaceable, from my briefe experience on this forum. But if I didn't want to have to replace the sac, and asked the employee/owner if the sac was in good, working condition, could I verify his/her answer by checking somehow?

Gatorade mentioned cracking... does that mean that the rubber or whatnot of the sac is brittle with age? How else can one tell if the sac isn't good?

(I'd like to buy an Esterbrook of some kind)

If the lever is loose the sac and pressure bar may both need replacing. It's surprising though, how long the Esterbrook sacs can last on a well cared for pen. It doesn't hurt to gently shake the pen. You shouldn't hear or feel anything rattling if it is in good shape.

Best, Ann

When you pull the filler lever on the body of the pen you will know immediatly what is wrong with the pen. If it is tight and springy then the sac is probably OK. If the lever is hard to pull or feels crackily then the sac needs to be replaced. If the lever is loose and flops arround then the sac and the pressure bar need to be replaced. A new sac runs $2.00 and there are some other supplies to buy like talc powder (pure talc, not the smelly bath kind) and sac cement. The cement is shelac and a small bottle goes a long way. The talc is probably good for over 100 pens but is pretty cheap as well. I just ordered all the supplies from tryphon and the total was arround $25 with shipping. That will give me enough supplies to resac quite a few pens. All I would need to order from there on out would be sacs. There were a few Esterbrooks at the store and you could feel the difference right away. This one was the smaller SJ and I got it for $10. There was one with what felt like a good sac that was $25 but I wanted to get a pen that needed to be worked on. It was actually very easy to disassemble, diagnose and clean. There are only 6 pieces to the entire pen and it was very easy to take appart. I highly reccomend doing it if only to get to know pens better.

If the the lever moves easily and there is no rattling then ask if you can water test the pen. This involves filling and emptying the pen with water.

I got in on Randy Holhut's "Estie overstock sale" in the Marketplace section and bought a Black J with a 2668 Med. nib (thanks Randy).

I started out years ago with a Scheaffer Snorkel and a handfull of Estie J's (which I still have, but 2500 miles away).

Anyway, this old black Estie that was in service for Lord knows how many years at Ma Bell writes as good as any of my modern pens.

Uh oh! It look's like my East Coast Estie collection is starting...

(1) Supplies arrived today from Tryphon (Thanks for the fast shipping Gio!)
(2) Section removed.
(3) Sac sized to fit
(4) Sac cement applied
(5) Sac fitted to section. (Looks like I may have gotten more cement on fingers than on section
(6) Sac seems fitted alright

Waiting the recomended 30 min!

(7) 30 min wait completed!
(8) Talc applied
(9) Re-inserted into body.
(10) Springy and feeling fine!
(11) Filled with Parker Quink Black
(12) First writing confirms that I need a new nib but I already knew that.
(13) Looks like we have a re-saced Esterbrook!

That was too easy! Armed with this I may now have to start looking for some pens that are marked cheaper because they need to be repaired!

I'm happy!

Another Estie fan confirmed.

Go Gator! :bunny1:

Gerry

Sigh - now the eBay price on busted Esties goes up a notch... <_<