Jump to content

Is The 21 Super Vulnerable To Sac Nipple Softening Like The 51?


KLscribbler

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

 

One thing I've been wondering about the Super 21 (the upgraded 21 with a proper hooded octanium nib and collector).

 

Is the sac nipple in the Super 21's aerometric filling system vulnerable to the same sort of softening that sometimes occurs on 51s?

 

I just wondered about this while refilling my Super 21 - this one has seen continuous usage for about 45 years now without problems. (Well, ok, maybe the tines have gotten a wee bit misaligned over the years... but apart from that... it's perfect.)

 

So far, my thoughts about maintenance of this pen ran mostly in the "if it ain't broke..." vein, but having become more aware of the (thankfully small) number of issues that could affect 51s (sac nipple softening, breather tube corrosion...), I started to wonder whether Super 21s are vulnerable to the same problems, and whether I ought to have the internals of my pen checked, just for peace of mind.

 

Then again, it ain't broke, and there's always a risk associated with opening up an old pen. I would have to get a professional pen repairer to do it for me, as I've never done any servicing of pens that required heat or shellac. I don't think I would be confident enough to use this pen as my first practice, considering its sentimental value.

 

On a side note, is it necessary to remove the hood in order to correct slightly misaligned tines on a Super 21? Mine has always had misaligned tines since I got it from my father. I've always taken a "grin and bear with it" attitude to it, since the misalignment is small, I write with a very light hand and it doesn't bother me that much, and most of all - I was afraid of cracking the feed or the hood if I tried to exert pressure on the tines in any direction.

 

Thanks & regards,

 

CZM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 6
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • KLscribbler

    3

  • Jerome Tarshis

    1

  • welch

    1

  • pajaro

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

Don't take the pen apart.

 

If a few P-51's have shown a softened sac nipple after 65 years, that does not suggest a vulnerability. If your pen works, if nothing hints at a problem, then why have a service expert take the pen apart?

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, that was my thought as well.

 

It's just... this faintly weird feeling of using something, hard, for half a century... and never needing to maintain it in any way (other than the occasional water flush).

 

It's like seeing a perpetual motion machine. Or a demo of an anti-gravity device. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pens used to be like that. They mostly just wrote. A rubber sac might need to be replaced from time to time. Not often.

 

We have tried to make using a fountain pen into something individual and eccentric and fraught with exaggerated joys and sorrows. Some of us have succeeded in that. Others can look upon fountain pens as ordinary and, on the whole, durable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In a lot of 51s I have not run across this problem. You could obsess about this until you spend a lot of money having the pen serviced unnecessarily. I bought an NOS Super 21 a couple of years ago for $15. It doesn't seem cost justified to tear into this pen, except for the sentimental value of the pen. If the pen is not leaking, why suspect trouble.

 

I think heating off the sac guard and the sac would reveal whether or not there is an issue. Things could go wrong, however. You might overheat the pen and make a mess out of it. The old rule, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies. To be honest I have found this to be true more than once.

 

Reread Jerome's post above.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reassurance folks. It's quite amazing to write with this thing, and realize that it's been chugging along, day after day after day, since my father was a schoolboy - and still going strong today. Darned if it ain't one of the best school pens ever made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My two aerometric P51's still have supple, functional sacs that have not needed replacement.

 

I recently got a P21 as part of a lot of pens and its sac is all crazed and cracked. I have no need to replace it since I have more pens than I can possibly ever use and the P21 is something that I would never use anyway. If anyone would like it for free, send me a line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...