Well…the first of several ‘vintage’ pens just arrived, a Wearever I got to practice repairs on and boy oh boy, did I pick the right one. The nib looks like it was used by an ape to pick its teeth with and the lever went crunch crunch crunch as I worked it back and forth to drop out the bits of blue-black ink, sack, whatever. The barrel and cap are in good shape, without cracks, etc. Overall length is 4 3/4 inches, about 118mm.

I was able to pull the nib out without a lot of fuss, after dipping and draining the barrel in a warm joy and water bath. The lever moves freely and springs back into place with authority.

The trouble is I don’t know how to get the barrel sections to separate and I don’t want to force it so I have turned to the forum for advice. Right now I have the whole thing soaking in the warm Joy bath, where I will keep it no longer than a half-hour.

Does the section that holds the nib assembly pull off, turns clockwise, counter-clockwise or stays put.

I also would like to know if pen is similar to the ‘practice’ Esterbrook (a ‘J’ I think) that I ordered from the same source and if not, what are the differences?

I have looked about a bit but I have yet to find detailed instructions on how to put this pen right again and I would appreciate leads to web pages that can help.

Cheers,
Eli

Hi Eli,

Try rotating it counter-clockwise, as if unscrewing it. I always do with any pen, whether it is friction fit or is threaded, just to prevent problems and to make it come of more easily.

You may have to heat the pen a little if the section is shellacced to the barrel. The easiest is to use a plastic, transparant, waterproof and heat resistant plastic bag, put the pen in there, heat some water to the boiling point, and stick the bag with the pen into the water, which is now just off boiling point, so that the section is immersed. Make sure it gets hot, just too hot to touch, and next try unscewing it as before.

The heat should be enough to melt the shellac, so if shellacced, it should come loose now.

HTH, warm regards, Wim

Eli,

Congrats on joining the Wearever family...lol. I'm a huge Wearever fan. The pen you have there is from the very early 30's. It's a student pen & sold for a whopping .50 cents new. It's a solid well made piece & makes for a decent writer with a 14K nib upgrade. If you like flex nibs Waterman #2's drop right ni with no problems at all as do the Sheaffer feathertouch #5 nibs.

To get the section free try using some heat. If you don't have a heat gun you can use a hair dryer. Form a "cone" out of some stiff papoer with an opening about 2' wide and tape it to the end of your hair dryer. Hold it back from the pen 5-8" or so & roll the pen to get even heat. gently twist/pull & it should open up after a minute or so of heat.

You can see a small portion of my Wearever collection on my web site. www.penden.virtualinfamy.com

Good luck on the repair & have fun.

Long live Wearever!

Dennis

Thanks Wim, Dennis, I appreciate the info.

Dennis, what is a good source for the nibs you suggest?

Cheers,
Eli

I would suggest ebay. You can more than likely find one from a sheaffer cadet (touchdown filler) that wiull drop right in fairly easy. Chances are if you look you'll spot one in a lot of other pens. Drop a few bucks and get some beaters to start learning repair on at the same time.

Good luck
Dennis