Anything Special Needed To Restore This Pen?

[eharriett]

So someone reached out to me and offered me his 3rd year (1st year of celluloid) Waterman 100 Year. I wasn't really looking for another at the moment, but it was an offer I couldn't refuse .... and I REALLY love these pens! And it will be in a good home here.

 

I am awaiting it in the mail, and I've only seen pics of it. The back is fine, he sent me pics of the cap and I couldn't see any cracks on it and he couldn't either. He said the lever was stuck, so I'm sure it needs a resacing. There's what is probably 50+ year old dry ink on the nib (could be worse than that, but I'm making assumptions).

 

My question: assuming the body itself is fine, and the end is fine, I am now confident in my ability to do a simple resac of a pen. Are there any special considerations I should have with this pen? Can I soak the nib to loosen it, if necessary? Can I use a knockout block to take the nib out for a further cleaning (and should I?). Should I automatically replace the J-bar in it? And my most important question, since this is a celluloid pen, should I replace whatever sac is in it now with a silicone sac instead of latex, given the material the pen is made out of?

 

I know the advice is usually, "don't work on any pen yourself you can't afford to break," but if this really does turn out to be just a sac and within my capabilities to fix, I would like to push myself.

 

Advice, please?

[FarmBoy]

Waterman lever fillers do not use j-bars. Use a latex sac. Leave the nib/feed assembly in the section, one rarely needs to remove either.

[ac12]

• Do NOT knock out a nib on any pen, unless you REALLY HAVE TO. As in replacing a broken nib or feed.

  You can break the feed or section or bend the nib knocking it out, and if it is tight, you may damage the nib trying to push it back in.

  Clean the section+nib+feed as a unit. You may have to soak it in water for several days or weeks, but that is safer than breaking the section.

• Regarding the sac, read this, which discusses pro/con of the different sac material.

  http://www.vintagepens.com/FAQrepair/pen_sacs.shtml

• In my experience, the most dangerous part of resacing a pen is removing the section. Followed closely by putting the section back into the barrel. These 2 steps are when you can break the barrel. I have damaged/destroyed 5 pens in this step.

Edited August 12, 2017 by ac12

[eharriett]

 

• Do NOT knock out a nib on any pen, unless you REALLY HAVE TO. As in replacing a broken nib or feed.

  You can break the feed or section or bend the nib knocking it out, and if it is tight, you may damage the nib trying to push it back in.

  Clean the section+nib+feed as a unit. You may have to soak it in water for several days or weeks, but that is safer than breaking the section.

• Regarding the sac, read this, which discusses pro/con of the different sac material.

  http://www.vintagepens.com/FAQrepair/pen_sacs.shtml

• In my experience, the most dangerous part of resacing a pen is removing the section. Followed closely by putting the section back into the barrel. These 2 steps are when you can break the barrel. I have damaged/destroyed 5 pens in this step.

 

 

So, if I read that article correctly, a latex sac would be fine and won't damage the celluloid of the pen as long as I change it out before it begins to break down? Did I read that correctly?

 

And yes, I destroyed one of my first pens by removing the section too. I've learned from that experience that if it doesn't move loosely after soaking it in water, soak it some more.

 

Waterman lever fillers do not use j-bars. Use a latex sac. Leave the nib/feed assembly in the section, one rarely needs to remove either.

They do not use J-bars? OK. What would I inspect then once I get in there? This is new info.

[FarmBoy]

 

So, if I read that article correctly, a latex sac would be fine and won't damage the celluloid of the pen as long as I change it out before it begins to break down? Did I read that correctly?

 

And yes, I destroyed one of my first pens by removing the section too. I've learned from that experience that if it doesn't move loosely after soaking it in water, soak it some more.

 

They do not use J-bars? OK. What would I inspect then once I get in there? This is new info.

Only if you promise to stop soaking pens in water....

 

There will be a pressure bar attached to the end of the lever.

[eharriett]

Only if you promise to stop soaking pens in water....

 

There will be a pressure bar attached to the end of the lever.

Hmmm, okay. I have something new to learn. Thanks. I shall see what I can find on how to inspect those.

[chunya]

Not all pens are water averse But from experience notable ones are some Conways. A few years back I soaked a couple of them (1950s examples) as gentle heating was doing nothing to budge them .... when I then applied reasonable pressure they virtually disintegrated, and I assume that these were casein models, so then I can't generalise about all Conways. Also, again from painful experience, water may badly discolour vintage BHR pens.

[ac12]

 

 

Hmmm, okay. I have something new to learn. Thanks. I shall see what I can find on how to inspect those.

 

Use DRY heat to pull the section.

• Hair dryer.
• I use a glasses frame warmer + a kitchen dial thermometer (so that I can adjust the air temp)
• Do NOT use a heat gun. It is WAY too HOT. I IGNITED a pen barrel and MELTED another barrel with a heat gun

[FarmBoy]

 

 

 

Use DRY heat to pull the section.

• Hair dryer.
• I use a glasses frame warmer + a kitchen dial thermometer (so that I can adjust the air temp)
• Do NOT use a heat gun. It is WAY too HOT. I IGNITED a pen barrel and MELTED another barrel with a heat gun

 

[Ron Z]

I don't use a hair dryer - the heat is not high enough, and the opening too wide so you heat more of the barrel than you should. Learn the temperatures at the outlet of the heat gun, and work a proper distance from the opening, not right up against the heat gun. The temperature drops rapidly the farther you move from the opening. Two inches away makes quite a difference.

 

Hot water can cloud celluloid, discolor hard rubber, and water in the barrel can rust the pressure bar or other parts. If shellac was used to secure the section no amount of soaking will help. If the pen has an aluminum barrel liner such as are found in many Wahl pens of the 20s, soaking can exacerbate the corrosion of that barrel liner, and is therefore counter productive.

[PaulS]

quote from Ron ............. "I don't use a hair dryer - the heat is not high enough,​" ............. I recently acquired Waterman Made in England model 877 l.f., that refused to budge at the section/barrel join - some comedian had shellaced the two parts - and I've never had a mishap using the hair dryer when removing these two parts, and I've used this method on many f.ps.

​This one refused to budge, so I racked up the duration of applying the hair dryer and eventually it came undone - and I thought there was a slightly unusual feeling at it did so - and when I looked afterwards it was obvious that the celluloid had softened to the point that as I twisted with the section pliers the barrel had deformed just slightly.

It was a nice f.p., and really still is, but there's a slight kink in the barrel circumference, which you don't notice as it lays in the cabinet, but can be seen when removing the cap.

So, I'm going to be cautious in future, even with the hair dryer, but I do take Ron's point re the hair dryer .. "and the opening too wide so you heat more of the barrel than you should". I would never have believed that I could have made this damage using just the hair dryer.

The pen was presumably retirement gift to a Welsh miner by the name of H. Williams at the RHODD PLANT in 1952 - it says El YSGOL - I feel almost personally responsible for nearly ruining his treasured gift.

[eharriett]

So no soaking this pen in water overnight to loosen the section, got it. Get a small heat gun and don't use too much heat. That correct?

[Kelly G]

Note: shellac softens at ~140 degrees F. Old celluloid can ignite at temperatures as low as 165 degrees F if it is the cellulose nitrate variety. The point being there is sometimes only a bit of room for error.

As noted above, celluloid ignites in a rather spectacular fashion and there is no going back.

Buy a decent dial or digital thermometer to check the temperature of your heat source, it will save you lots of heartache in the long run.

[PaulS]

good advice - thanks.

[ac12]

 

 

Note: shellac softens at ~140 degrees F. Old celluloid can ignite at temperatures as low as 165 degrees F if it is the cellulose nitrate variety. The point being there is sometimes only a bit of room for error.
As noted above, celluloid ignites in a rather spectacular fashion and there is no going back.
Buy a decent dial or digital thermometer to check the temperature of your heat source, it will save you lots of heartache in the long run.

 

Have a tub of water near by, to dunk the burning pen into.

 

Luckily I was in the bathroom, and put the burning pen under the faucet and turned on the water.

In my case it was a hard rubber pen that I ignited. Black smoke and STINK.

[3rdlakerobert]

 

 

Have a tub of water near by, to dunk the burning pen into.

 

Luckily I was in the bathroom, and put the burning pen under the faucet and turned on the water.

In my case it was a hard rubber pen that I ignited. Black smoke and STINK.

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Temperature-Pen-Mini-Pocket-Non-Contact-Infrared-IR-Thermometer-FDA-FCC-Approved-/272096560703?hash=item3f5a38063f:g:aRYAAOSwKtlWjK7F

 

For measuring the temperature to remove a section when heating it, I have been successfully using one of these pocket infrared thermometers, not the larger "pistol-shaped" infrared thermometers. They do not work for me. I usually start trying to remove the section when the temperature hits about 140 F and will go as high as maybe 155 F. Go higher and you risk the pen material softening and deforming, as PaulS said. If it won't come out at repeated attempts at 155 (heat-cool-heat-cool), I put the pen in the ultrasonic cleaner with Koh-i-noor Rapidoeze (Amazon has it). Great stuff for dissolving old ink. Never had it damage a pen.

[3rdlakerobert]

I've learned from some of Ron's old posts on dry heating that a very good tool is an embossing heat gun. I love mine. They're for sale on Amazon and eBay and I got mine at Walmart for less than $10.

[eharriett]

I've learned from some of Ron's old posts on dry heating that a very good tool is an embossing heat gun. I love mine. They're for sale on Amazon and eBay and I got mine at Walmart for less than $10.

Bingo! That's the lead I was looking for!

[ac12]

With the embossing heat gun, you adjust temp by the distance from the air outlet.

You will need a kitchen thermometer to see what the air temp is at different distances.

 

I use an adjustable glasses warmer that has a dial on the heater, so I can control the air temp at the outlet.

 

I use the IR gun thermometer.

I just put the sensor right up to the pen, so the only thing the sensor sees is the pen.

At close distances, parallax error makes using the red laser a problem.

[mitto]

I use a hair drier with adjustable narrow/thin (1/4" - 1/3") channel-like mouth and adjustable air intake. Forgive me for my bad English. I bought this hair drier in mid 70s. It is Japanese National 800W (model EH6022) by MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC WORKS, LTD. The drier is being used for the sole purpose of pen repairs eversince. The drier can be switched at once to 'cold' if need be with just one press on the button on the holder just beneath your forefinger.

 

With this hair drier I have never, until now, encountered any problems of deforming/burning any of my pens.

Edited August 14, 2017 by mitto