Is This A Reasonable Quality Pen German Reform 1745

[Renfield]

 

I sell them on ebay, advertised as NOS of production which ended in 1993. I can't say with any certainty when they were produced.

 

The pistons are sometimes stiff, the truth is they vary a lot within the same batch. I check that the piston moves through the full range in each one, and that the nib tines align, the usual.

 

I bought one from you Eddie, and they are great wee pens.

 

After a little smoothing to my satisfaction, it has become one of my favourite pens.

 

It is thin, and very light, but writes a smooth fine line (With a small bit of flex), which I really like.

 

How do you get the silicon grease onto the piston? Does it come out? I thought it couldn't come out.

[Bigeddie]

How do you get the silicon grease onto the piston? Does it come out? I thought it couldn't come out.

 

Hi Renfield, I know that this is a bit of a thread resurrection but in case you or anyone else finds it...

 

The nib and feed unscrews like a Pelikan, you can unscrew it and use something like a toothpick to put some silicone grease around the inside of the barrel near the ink window (further in than the nib and feed threads) and move the piston up and down a few times. I hope it's still going strong

[Renfield]

Hi Eddie

 

I watched a SBRE Brown video a while after posting which suggested just as you did.

 

Worked a treat, and the pen is working just fine.

 

Great little pen for the money. Might be too thin for some, but the nib has great line variation, holds a decent amount of ink, and cheap to boot.

 

Best budget piston filler out there.

 

 

Ren

[Algester]

sometimes there are just the days when I wish I cant order from faraway countries without having to deal with postage and customs... but alas thats not the case still saving up money...

[ac12]

I'm liking this pen, but am finding an issue that I only though I had with converters.

I store the pen nib up. When I pick up the pen, the ink is stuck in the back of the barrel, leaving an air bubble between the ink and the feed. I have to tap the pen to break the surface tension and drop the ink to the front of the cylinder and into contact with the feed. If you don't catch it, you could run the feed dry. This is with Waterman ink (both black and green), which is a relatively wet ink.

Edited September 28, 2014 by ac12

[Renfield]

I'm liking this pen, but am finding an issue that I only though I had with converters.

I store the pen nib up. When I pick up the pen, the ink is stuck in the back of the barrel, leaving an air bubble between the ink and the feed. I have to tap the pen to break the surface tension and drop the ink to the front of the cylinder and into contact with the feed. If you don't catch it, you could run the feed dry. This is with Waterman ink (both black and green), which is a relatively wet ink.

Never had that issue with any ink.

 

Give it a few good flushes with soapy water. Might help.

[sidthecat]

I picked one up last night - mother-of-pearl cap, with a snake clip AND a ringtop. A lot of jazz for a second-tier pen. The nib, according to the seller, is plated. Any guesses re. model or date? I'd say no later than 1930s so it may be the Nazi pen I've avoided buying for years.

[Scrawler]

I picked one up last night - mother-of-pearl cap, with a snake clip AND a ringtop. A lot of jazz for a second-tier pen. The nib, according to the seller, is plated. Any guesses re. model or date? I'd say no later than 1930s so it may be the Nazi pen I've avoided buying for years.

Can you please post photos

[sidthecat]

I pulled these images off the listing: they're pretty good. It's a queer little thing.

 

[Scrawler]

That is a truly curious looking pen. I like it very much. That folded tip nib does not look original.

[sidthecat]

In which case, perhaps I'll put something more interesting in its place.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

I pulled these images off the listing: they're pretty good. It's a queer little thing.

 

 

 

 

 

That is an interesting little fountain pen you have there. Not a Reform 1745, but certainly some old Reform fountain pen. Is that blind cap made of Bakelite? Care to say how much it set you back?

[sidthecat]

A bit south of $80.00, and it seems to have been made early on. The silhouette is similar to their more conventional pens, although the size of the cap relative to the barrel is odd.

I bought a small lot of German postwar pens to get a gold Bock nib for it. Ironically, a 1745 was included in the lot. A nice pen, too. The piston works fine, but a friend who was using it said she got a rush of ink out of it. A seal, maybe?

[CS388]

...snip...

 

although the size of the cap relative to the barrel is odd.

 

 

I think that's a touch of design genius, like the later Japanese 'pocket pens' (eg MYU701 etc).

Makes the pen very small for ease of carrying around, when capped, yet it becomes a full sized pen, when posted.

 

Nice buy, sidthecat. Never seen one before, but I like it.

 

Enjoy.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

A bit south of $80.00, and it seems to have been made early on. The silhouette is similar to their more conventional pens, although the size of the cap relative to the barrel is odd.

 

To me, that's pricey, all right.

 

Sort of reminiscent of the Japanese big cap fountain pens I see advertised today.

 

I bought a small lot of German postwar pens to get a gold Bock nib for it. Ironically, a 1745 was included in the lot. A nice pen, too. The piston works fine, but a friend who was using it said she got a rush of ink out of it. A seal, maybe?

 

Or maybe she let the ink level get down too far and it did the piston filler burp. Or maybe she filled it only a third of a way or less full. That'd get a good burp of ink out of a piston filler once the hand warms the ink up enough.

[sidthecat]

The thing about ringtop pens is that they seem to have gone extinct in the early 1930s: a casualty of the Great Depression (which affected Europe, too) and a radical change in fashion. So that pen could only have only come from a certain period - maybe one of this company's earliest models. The shape persisted into the Forties - I've seen pens described as German Officer's pens that seem to have been made from the same model. They also tend to have Warranted nibs: there was a problem getting gold in those times.