Esterbrook Advice

[EmilysFountainPens]

I just got a new Esterbrook, not sure exactly which one it is... but it's in black. I was told it was recently resacced and I bought new Esterbrook nibs for it, a medium and a fine.

 

I am not used to its filling mechanism, which may be where my problem lies. I filled the pen with Lamy Black/Blue ink and I just can't seem to get enough ink to come out of the pen with the medium nib. The pen seems to run dry in the middle of words and be fine to write again after setting it down and starting again. Anyone have any suggestions on how to remedy this?

[ac12]

Lift the lever

Put the pen into the ink, with the ink up to the middle of the grip piece.

Flip the lever down.

HOLD THE PEN IN THE INK FOR 10 SECONDS. This time is needed to allow the sac to expand and suck in the ink. Pull the pen out too fast, and you just suck in air, not ink. This was my mistake when I first played with lever pens as a kid.

[Runnin_Ute]

ac12 had given good advice. There are some you tube videos as well.

 

Here is one of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMvXKlsmJh8

[Larry Barrieau]

Am I correct in thinking that no ink is going in the pen when the lever is sticking out at 90 degrees? In that position the sac is compressed, right? When you snap it back against the barrel it becomes uncompressed and allows ink to fill into the sac?

[Maine Vintner]

Correct.

[estie1948]

I don't claim to be an expert (an ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure), but I have been filling Esterbrook lever fill fountain pens successfully for several decades. My method is simple and I believe came from the printed slip inside the Esterbrook pen box of one of those I bought new. It varies only slightly from what ac12 said. I place my fountain pen in the ink bottle, just as ac12 described, then pull the lever straight out (about 90 degrees) and watch the bubbles as the air is expelled from the ink sack. Then, I flip the lever back to its original position and count to ten very slowly (1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi, et cetera). Without removing the pen from the ink bottle, I repeat the process. There will be very few bubbles this time when the lever is straight out because the pen is expelling ink and the remaining bit of air in the sac. Sometimes I do it a third time which is totally unnecessary but I can be a bit OCD. The main thing is, just as ac12 stated, to leave the pen in the ink after you return the lever to its original position.

 

If your pen still does not improve its writing characteristics, check to be sure the nib is completely screwed into the section.

 

If the nib is completely screwed in and you have followed the correct method of filling the pen (the person in the video held his pen in for twenty seconds -long enough- but with the lever out at ninety degrees and only succeeded in filling his pen's feed with ink) and your pen still does not write properly, let us know. You may not have received a correctly repaired pen. It may need nothing more than flushing and cleaning. The problem may be with the nib; it may be pressed too close to the feed. There are several possible problems, but they are all minor and we can talk you through correcting them. You will have a great pen that will be a fantastic writer in the end.

 

If there is something that you don't understand or that does not make sense, don't hesitate to ask. The problem is with the explanation, not with your understanding.

 

-David.

Edited June 16, 2016 by estie1948

[Sasha Royale]

David has done a great job !

 

Working this close to the ink bottle can be messy. (Maybe, it's just me.) I do it with the bottle sitting in a plastic tray.

I have tipped over an ink bottle only once in thirty years. This precaution was worth the years of paranoia. When I uncap an ink bottle, I wipe the lip of the bottle. I also wipe the cap before closing the bottle.

 

Lever-fill pens are cool. I admire the brilliance of the technology : simple, reliable, easy to maintain, inexpensive to service. In addition to excellent pens like Esterbrook, lever filling appears in a couple dozen other vintage pens of familiar, less familiar, and obscure names. It can be fun to keep watch for them.

 

Write with joy.

[pen lady]

I'm not as knowledgeable as many of you out there, but I buy old pens to resell and my heart sinks when I have to work on a Vacumatic, Snorkel or even a Touchdown filler (and don't even mention piston fills). The lever fill pen is relatively simple for the end user AND the restorer. I have a feeling that pen design was a victim of "technology creep". Lever fill? So yesterday. Except good old Esterbrook. They stuck with the lever because it was obviously cost effective for them and user friendly for pen users, drippy bottles aside!

[EmilysFountainPens]

Thank you all for the amazing advice! I will be trying this tonight to see if I can get it to work properly!

[Larry Barrieau]

So the video shown is wrong. The person is not putting ink into the pen.

[pajaro]

If you still have problems, try the other nib you bought.

 

The lever filler is well liked by many. You can have it dig under your fingernail, however. Esterbrook also made the squeeze filler on the M2 among other pens. Esterbrook also made the Safari vacuum filler which works on the same principle as the Touchdown filler Sheaffer made. The lever filler is likely less expensive to make, hence its ubiquity.

[corgicoupe]

That video has to be a joke.

[inkstainedruth]

That video has to be a joke.

 

I thought that it was kinda sweet when he had to answer his mom....

So, what exactly IS he doing? Just getting ink into the feed?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[FarmBoy]

 

I thought that it was kinda sweet when he had to answer his mom....

So, what exactly IS he doing? Just getting ink into the feed?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Just to be clear, you hold the pen in the ink after you release the lever...and shake ink? Never heard that one.

 

Somewhere around here is a cut-away J picture--I posted it but I can't find it. I'll see if I can dig them up.

[estie1948]

 

I thought that it was kinda sweet when he had to answer his mom....

So, what exactly IS he doing? Just getting ink into the feed?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Yes, he is just getting ink in the feed. I have a Morrison desk dip pen. It has a feed and looks for all the world like a lever fill desk pen except for the fact that it has no lever and no sac. To use it, one merely dips it into the inkwell for two to three seconds and then it holds enough ink to write a few pages before needing to be re-dipped.

 

The fellow in video should join the Fountain Pen Network. Then he can make his video showing the truly correct way to fill his pen.

 

You know, I chuckle a little at that fellow, but I have to admit I cannot make a video. I guess the laugh is really on me.

 

-David.

[Cryptos]

Sometimes I unscrew the nib unit and use a pipette to fill the sac through the section.

 

I know, I'm a bit weird.

[FarmBoy]

Sometimes I do it a third time which is totally unnecessary but I can be a bit OCD.

 

-David.

Border line CDO if you ask me.

 

At any rate, google says look here for a picture of the guts of a J. (Find it hard to believe that happened almost a decade ago.)

[ScienceChick]

Sometimes I unscrew the nib unit and use a pipette to fill the sac through the section.

 

I know, I'm a bit weird.

Welcome to the weird side. I do the same and suspect we're in good company.

[corgicoupe]

I thought that it was kinda sweet when he had to answer his mom....

So, what exactly IS he doing? Just getting ink into the feed?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I considered that to be part of the joke.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Welcome to the weird side. I do the same and suspect we're in good company.

 

Me three! Including my Osmiroids.