Mabie Todd Blackbird

[Sagar_C]

I see some sellers in eBay selling Blackbirds as twist filler. Do they mean it or they are unknowingly making a mistake by calling leverless filling system as twist filler?

Edited February 1, 2011 by Sagar_C

[Bo Bo Olson]

There is info at Penhero.

 

Pen Repair by Marshal and Oldfield has many pages on the repairs of Marbi Tod...Swan..blackbird and so on. Being English of course they would. I do recommend that book, even if I've not used it to repair anything yet.

I will.

 

Could be they don't know what a Visofil (1936+) is by name; could be they do mean the twist filler.

 

There was also a twist filler from (1932+) made too. It held less ink than a lever sac pen.

In that my Lambrou book is in German, the twist filler translates as Hebellose.

 

He does say that there was no bettering of the filling system of the Visofil over the twist filler.I have not read deeply in the Pen Repair book, on Swan, in I don't have one, yet. I will.

 

 

I'd recommend buying a reconditioned pen for more money, than buying one needing repair. One or the other system is complicated, for at home repair.

 

As I learned a bit, I chased Swan/Blackbird for some six weeks, bidding just a tad too low for what I wanted. I was chasing a full flexible medium nib....and color was more expensive. This and that system was complicated, and so on.

 

I'm sure Swan made regular flex nibs....but in I was not looking for that, saw only the majority, were semi-flex, 'flexi', or full flex.

 

There are in English Ebay three real professional sellers, who have reconditioned the pen, tell you what width and flex the nib has. Those pens are of course more expensive than 'found dried up rubber in the wild.'

I think Marshal, Oldfield and Twydel from time to time sell Swan/Blackbird pens too.

 

Be aware, there is also some jerk, that has a professional looking set up, selling...normal teeth marks, brassing, needing a sac and nib work pens for a lot of money.

 

Go to English Ebay, and look in the Buy Now section. That is the fastest way to find the three good sellers.

 

Get something that works, with the nib width and flex you want.

If you got the extra money, color can be had for lots more than simple black.

 

I saw with in the last month an absolutely wonderful colored Blackbird, that would have been in battle for my prettiest pen, in a heart beat.

 

The thing is, can you get it in a 'flexi' nib.

I started out chasing semi-flex and have slowly grown into 'flexi' (Slightly Flexible) nibs.

 

If you do not have any semi-flex, I recommend buying that first, and growing into 'flexi' (Slightly Flexible) and from there into full flexible.

 

Swan and if Blackbird offers the same good nibs as Swan, would be great pens to get grand nibs.

 

After I get my re-corking straightened out....first a clutch goes out on one car...then a thermostat and door on another.....I will hunt Swans and Blackbirds again.

 

There are some widths of 'flexi' I don't have, and I have only one easy to flex, Full Flex, so I'll be wanting to get that nib set also.

 

And Swan and Blackbird and Waterman seem the better way to do so.

 

I just took a quick look. I have four files on Swan.

 

Go to PenHero.com.

There are some nice pen reviews here on this com.

I ended up with four good sized files with Swan/blackbird pens...so there is a fair amount of info to be had.

 

I hope to prevent my self from putting on a size 18 boot and kicking my self....that was the better pen and at the same cost....or some sort of regular in a hurry dumbness.

I can be dumb enough, when not in a hurry, why make it easy to dumb out.

 

Before rushing out to buy, I do suggest spending a month to six weeks finding out as much as possible. I am glad I did, I had a better understanding.

 

And they made Lever pens still and those are most easy to repair, and can have the grand nib also. It is just those selling 'Gramp's pens in the wild' Don't know what they have in nib, width and or flex.

 

 

 

Second I do suggest buying a reconditioned pen, from some one reputable and that costs more, but you get what you pay for.

 

May your Swan/Blackbird be fancy if you can afford it.

 

Black pens...and I swore last year no more....(15 of 18 since then...black/black topped.) Well push come to shove, it's the nib I need...I can live with another black pen.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Bo Bo Olson

[anderl]

I see some sellers in eBay selling Blackbirds as twist filler. Do they mean it or they are unknowingly making a mistake by calling leverless filling system as twist filler?

I don't see a contradiction, after all twist fillers are leverless.

 

However, David Nishimura's overview suggests that Blackbirds were equipped with twist fillers at a later stage, when the "Leverless" name was no longer protected by a patent.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Now that.... David Nishimura's overview puts it all in a nut shell.

[Shangas]

The leverless, twist-filler was a fascinating innovation...but useless. Twist-fillers don't get as much ink into the sac as a lever-fill pen.

[Hugh200au]

The leverless, twist-filler was a fascinating innovation...but useless. Twist-fillers don't get as much ink into the sac as a lever-fill pen.

 

+1 , buy ones with a lever.

 

Regards

Hugh

Edited February 2, 2011 by Hugh200au

[Sagar_C]

I see some sellers in eBay selling Blackbirds as twist filler. Do they mean it or they are unknowingly making a mistake by calling leverless filling system as twist filler?

I don't see a contradiction, after all twist fillers are leverless.

 

However, David Nishimura's overview suggests that Blackbirds were equipped with twist fillers at a later stage, when the "Leverless" name was no longer protected by a patent.

 

I (rightly?) thought that the internal mechanisms for "leverless filling system" --- by which I mean the last picture in the page you recommended --- and "twist filling system" are different (atleast Richard Binder's site says so); but Mr. Nishimura's overview is more logical. I am always learning new things at FPN --- I am loving it.

 

Edited to add a question: For a greenhorn, is it possible to know "which" twist-mechanism is inside a blackbird?

Edited February 2, 2011 by Sagar_C