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How To Straighten Warped Conway Stewart Cap


Nyoko

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I am wondering if anyone has experience fixing this type of warping in a Conway Stewart pen. This one is a Duro 26 model. You can see in the photos that the cap has shrunk around the point where the inner cap begins. I just acquired this pen and the plastic seems quite fragile so I don't want to harm anything. I thought to gently heat it and try to push the warped part out from inside, but I'm not sure if that is the best approach. I am assuming this pen is celluloid, but perhaps it is casein?

 

This pen is a reversed cracked ice pattern, which seems to be a rare color, and is also pretty large (see comparison image with Conway Stewart 27).

 

This is my first time asking for repair advice here, but I have received so much help from postings on this forum. I really appreciate any suggestions -- Thanks!

 

Richard

 

post-26009-0-91322600-1442196398_thumb.jpg

 

post-26009-0-40546700-1442196422_thumb.jpg

 

post-26009-0-90719500-1442196436_thumb.jpg

 

post-26009-0-64388200-1442196452_thumb.jpg

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Start by removing the clip and cap top. (It should be threaded together.)

Then you might try heat and a mandrel.

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Be very careful with this - it is a rare and valuable pen! I have never seen one for real and have always thought (until I consulted Steve Hulll's book on Conway Stewart) that the No 20 was the largest CS pen. However, the No 26 is larger. It retailed at 21/- (as against 17/6) in 1937. This was twice the price of 'run of the mill' Conways.

My recommendation is to leave the cap as it is. Recently, I have treated a No 20 with a similar problem (but less pronounced) with a clear filler. This has produced a labour intensive, but good result.

I believe the material is celluloid but I cannot be 100% sure as the pattern is very similar to known casein material. A mandrel is not going to do you any good unless you can remove the blind cap and this will be difficult because of the shrinkage ring. For a less valuable pen I would be tempted to heat the cap at the waist to the point where it becomes soft enough for the blind cap to be extracted. I would then make a steel mandrel to the diameter of the blind cap, insert it while it is all hot and leave to cool before pulling the mandrel out. This procedure is about to be carried out on a nice Jewel pen that I have with just the same sort of shrinkage ring. I am not looking forward to trying it!!

Laurence

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Thank you both for the helpful and informative responses. I was able to remove the inner cap and clip quite easily because the warping is below that point. However, I think I will follow Laurence's advice for now and not try to repair the warp. I did try a little heat and then to apply pressure from inside but I can see it will have to get pretty hot to soften the celluloid -- and by that point I may easily damage it. I knew the pen was rare but Larwrence's comment makes me think I'd better leave it as is for now.

 

Actually, I am amazed myself at how large this pen is. The nib is almost as large as a Waterman Patrician! I didn't know vintage Conway Stewart were made this size.

 

Thanks again!

Richard

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Hi Lawrence,

 

Took the section apart to clean so I was able to photograph the nib. I doesn't have a nib size but the pen model number "26" is stamped at the bottom. the length is about 1 and 5/16 inch.

 

Thanks again for your help!

Richard

 

post-26009-0-07044500-1442540955_thumb.jpg

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