The Pen Triage Unit - How Many?

[sidthecat]

I've accumulated a lot of pens, and some of them need work. I try not to have more than one or two in the shop at any time, but but they're starting to pile up.

 

How do you decide what to send to the shop, and how many do you have waiting?

[ac12]

I do the easy ones first.

• replace the ink sac, where the section is easy to remove by hand.
• installing a diaphram on a Parker Vacumatic (the pellet cup is open)

The difficult ones wait till I feel like working on them

• ink sac replacements that require work to remove the section from the body
• removing the pellet from the pellet cup of a Parker Vaumatic

The others need expertise or tools that I do not have

• removing/installing the pump on a Parker Vacumatic
• replacing the seal on a Sheaffer vac filler
• straightening a bent nib
• anything where I don't know how to do the repair

[AAAndrew]

I have four waiting for sacs to get here, but ready otherwise. Then I have three Parker Vacumatics that need a range of help (seals, diaphragms, pumps, who knows), four Sheaffer vacuum fill pens, a Sheaffer snorkel, a Japanese More Safety that I have no idea who can fix (took it to the Triangle Pen Show and no one wanted to attempt it as it seemed too different from others they'd seen), and a Parker Duofold Junior where the lip of the cap is so chipped it looks like teeth of a small, red predator.

 

I don't trust myself to do anything much beyond replacing sacs and cleaning up so I won't be tackling the Vacumatics or the vacuum-fill. I'm not sure what do with the Duofold except try some kind of filler or try and purchase a new cap, but that's not even close to high priority for my meager pen budget at the moment, so there it sits.

 

I also have a few lower-end pens that could use some nib love, but I need to wait and get some micro mesh or smoothing sticks etc..

 

And then I have a handful of partial pens from which I keep hoping I'll be able to make a frankenpen. But I need to make myself a knockout block first as the pens with good nibs are missing caps or have cracked barrels, or have good bodies without nibs, etc...

 

I was close the other day when I found that an unknown section containing a Swan #4 nib that I got from a Morrison knock-off franken pen where the lever doesn't work fits perfectly into my Parker Deluxe Challenger, but the nib is too big for the Challenger's cap to screw down all the way. I could make it work if I took the cap from another Duofold Junior in black and pearl (that is only waiting for my order of sacs to get here) and used that. The threads work perfectly and the cap is wide enough, but that's a bit too much franken-pen for my tastes. I'd have a Duofold Junior in black and pearl with a black Challenger cap, and a back Challenger, streamlined body with a chunky Duofold cap. Functional, but a bit too odd without being interesting odd.

 

So, I have triage, intensive care, long-term care, and hospice. And then there's the boneyard from which I hope to build my new monster.

[thatotherguy1]

Unfortunately for my tinkering self, this does not yet apply to me. However, in other areas of collecting I try to do whatever repairs I can myself, whether drawing on previous knowledge or learning new things to complete the task. If I get someone else to do the repairs for me, it is usually because the tools and materials needed to perform the task are prohibitively expensive (or nonexistent and cannot be readily fabricated or improvised), the information is not readily available, or I cannot figure out what's wrong with the thing. So the things I have in need of repair are only idle until I can, say, get a book on how to repair it or procure a tool needed to fix it or find time in which to tinker (there will inevitably be something that goes different from plan and needs to be worked around, even in the most mundane of repairs).

 

For the record, there is a right way and a VERY wrong way to install a jumper spring on a Vostok 2416b movement, and if that spring goes flying DO NOT MOVE until you've established that it's not in your lap... speaking from experience (and showing the level of dumb mistakes that I've made)

[ThirdeYe]

I have a few that are waiting on restoration. A couple of them are beyond restoration (IMO), so those will just sit as sentimental pieces for me. I think I have about 3 pens sitting around that need work... I'll send them in sometime. No big rush, since I have so many other nice pens right now.

[sidthecat]

The most promising one is the Waterman #2 New York nib that I found stuck on a cheap Remington pen - I'm hoping someone with real skills can put it on a ringtop body.

[NinthSphere]

Haven't decided yet which to send off & which to mess with myself. Atm, I have seven down.

 

- Esterbrook J

- Esterbrook LJ

- 2 Parker 51 vacs

- Sheaffer Touchdown Valiant

- Sheaffer Valiant Tuckaway

- Sheaffer Imp IV Touchdown

 

The Esties & the TD Valiant I may do myself. The vacs will definitely be sent away. The Imp IV is undecided. The nib tip is busted, so I'd have to replace the section. I may not bother.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I typically do not buy any pens that would need any work.

 

I bought one '30s Onoto and it needed work so it went of to get restored, but that is the only vintage pen I have. The rest are from the late '90s to today.

[sidthecat]

We have an unhealthy fondness for vintage flex and too much time on our hands.

[ac12]

 

We have an unhealthy fondness for vintage flex and too much time on our hands.

 

Get a dip pen holder and a Leonardt Hiro 41 nib.

[AAAndrew]

I'm now down to the ones I won't try to fix (mainly vacumatics, Sheaffer piston-fill and a snorkel) and a parker Duofold that looks like it might need a new pressure bar. Everything else is now working. Including my little Waterman 52 1/2 V with a lovely flexible nib. Cute and flex! Woo hoo!

[tmenyc]

You hit the nail directly with this one...I have around thirty-five projects in my queue. the first batch are my own users that need tweaks, usually a bit of nib work. Then are others' pens -- I'm not a pro but friends, including a couple of collectors, bring work to me; great skill broadening for me. These first two groups live in two of Gary Lehrer's white slotted boxes. Since my other hobby is currently in active mode and the two hobbies share the same workbench, these boxes are closer to full at present. The next group are 15 or so that carry a high probability of restoring to sale-worthy condition or earning a coveted spot in my own collection. The remainder are the projects, of which most have some chance of a complete recovery and/or are missing critical parts that I'm looking for, and some are probably destined to be parts pens or are beyond my skill set at the moment.

Interesting question!

 

Tim

[inkstainedruth]

Um... too many?

 

Seriously, about a third of my pens are in not-working condition. The re-sac jobs on the various lever fillers is just a matter of actually taking the time to sit down and read up on it (mostly Esterbrooks, plus a couple of Arnolds, a Craig ringtop, and a few Morrisons).

The ones that are beyond my skill set at the moment are waiting for the next pen show I make so I can show them to the pros. And then I really need to start saving up. The highest priority is probably the cracked cap on a Vacumatic Shadow Wave, and then after that maybe the Duofold/Lucky Curve I just got (both of which are going to be pricy), and maybe have a couple of nibs looked at (particularly the music nib on the no-name lever filler), and those will be at the next pen show I go to; and maybe also the Parker Challenger. There are some other things that are "yeah, they need done at some point" (like the leaking Parker 21 and the "I know this was fixed but it just isn't taking up ink like I think it should be" 51 Vac) but the must-dos come first, simply so they don't get any worse. Oh, and probably add getting the diaphrapgm replaced on the other Shadow Wave.....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sidthecat]

I have the Proustian habit of writing in bed, so a dip pen would be a disaster waiting to happen.

I used them a lot in art school - many of my fellow pupils were afraid of them; they were so...permanent.

[deepak23]

Just the one Waterman Expert thats going through a frustrating paint job that shows no signs of coming off (or rather staying on). *Sigh*.

 

If in the next couple of months time you see someone walking around with a brass flighter version of the Expert, stop and say hello. :-(