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Salutations From An Utterly Lost Newbie


oraxia

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Greetings and salutations, pen enthusiasts!

 

I should preface this by mentioning that I have yet to even write with a fountain pen (hence the 'utterly lost newbie' bit), but have come into possession of a pen with family history and am currently fascinated with bringing it back into working order for use and as a lovely working family heirloom. I also apologize for what will inevitably be a long-winded introduction and plea for help, as I am not known for my brevity (or wit, for that matter).

 

I'm attempting to post a photo of the pen for confirmation of pen identity (Wahl Eversharp Coronet, I think), but it would appear I am barred from selecting a profile image for myself (the attempt to upload from a website gave me a "member_profile_disabled" error and I see no direct file upload method yet) so it might not work. I'll try to be descriptive of the pen's condition in case it does not.

 

At my wedding last Friday my aunt presented me with my great grandfather's fountain pen (engraved with his initials and surname), which was found behind some furniture she had removed about a month ago. She lives in my late grandmother's home, so it is likely that the pen was lost by my late grandfather. Knowing that I have been dabbling in dip pens over the past year or two (the calligraphic hand-addressed wedding invitations reminded her) and also knowing that this great grandfather was my namesake (I was given the feminine form of his name), she figured it was best that I have it, and I'm extremely grateful that she did! Learning about how the ink uptake mechanisms in fountain pens work alone was pretty fascinating, so I suspect I will become quite fond of this as a writing implement once I get it in working order :) I guess some people sell their vintage pens, but given the sentimental value, I am without a doubt keeping this pen. It's got enough little scratches and wear on the outside that I assume it's not worth much outside of sentiment anyhow, but I find the signs of wear to be beautiful evidence of its former owners' use.

 

The next day I figured the first thing to do was identify the pen, so I could figure out how to operate it and whether it would likely be in working order off the bat. Some simple Google sleuthing brought up some images that looked like the pen, first a mechanical pencil with the same triangular markings and then eventually this article on Richard Binder's website, which also eventually lead me here. So I'm fairly certain that this is a Wahl Eversharp Coronet (all metal body version), which appears to be a somewhat iconic Art Deco pen, but the nib doesn't have the serrations or the safety mechanism I've seen in other images, so I have no idea what that means (but it does proclaim "Eversharp 14K Made in USA" on the nib front). Does that help identify the year it might have been made? Or does that mean that parts of this pen have been replaced? The ink sac has very certainly ossified, and in showing my mother the lever, I have surely shattered it, but I haven't figured out how to safely open the pen body, so I can't be sure of the condition of the interior parts. From the staining on my hands from touching the base of the nib, I guess the last user was using blue ink, but the "clear" window for the pen looks like it has turned a translucent red that kind of matches the little triangles. (My great grandmother was a teacher, so perhaps it was once loaded with a staining red ink for grading papers?)

 

At first I had some thoughts that I would be able to perform the repairs myself, since I consider myself fairly crafty and handy with small tools and repairs, but upon reading further in a couple of places, including a few posts on this site, it sounds like this pen has more than one way that it was connected to the barrel depending on the year of manufacture, and that sac replacement in general may not be the best introduction to fountain pen repair. I really would not want to risk damage to what I am considering to be a family heirloom piece, so I find myself looking for a reputable pen repair shop preferably in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'd like to see the repair in person, mostly because I like seeing the innards of mechanical things and am naturally curious about the pen. Unfortunately for me, my freshly minted husband has had a broken ankle for about a month now and is still very immobile (less than a month since the surgery), so that really limits my ability to travel very far (for now) for the repair and I'd rather not leave him alone at home for longer than a work day. I'd love to be able to write my aunt's thank you card with the pen, but I am more than willing to wait to find a good repair person for the pen and write her another letter at a different date with it. I don't know where on this forum is appropriate to ask for help locating a repair person (the repair section seems more oriented towards those able/willing to DIY it), so I figure asking in my introduction is not completely out of the question (apologies if this is a faux pas). I will probably post another question asking this specifically once I'm a little more comfortable, assuming I don't get any responses here which suit my needs.

 

Anyhow, I hope to learn a lot about my lovely new-to-me fountain pen and its proper use here, and hope I won't be too much of a bother to you all!

Nevermind me! I'm just an inkling, a mere pigment of your imagination...

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What a nice introduction and how wonderful it is that you have your grandfather's name and pen! I can't help you with the restoration but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to offer some advice. My initial thought is to intrust this special pen to a professional and the repair should not be too expensive. One, of many well-known repair people is Danny Fudge in Nebraska.

 

Welcome to our little corner of the universe from a pen user in San Diego, I'm sure you will enjoy your time here!

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

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Wow! What an intro to fountain pens.

I, too, hope you can get your heirloom restored to its former glory, so you can get to your thank you cards.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations!

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Hello and welcome to FPN. :W2FPN:

For uploading pictures you should use the Upload tab. Read about exactly how to use it under Manuals at the top of the page. :)

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Hello and welcome to FPN.

Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous  Who taught by the pen

Taught man that which he knew not (96/3-5)

Snailmail3.png Snail Mail 

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Hello and welcome to FPN, from Cape Town, South Africa.

 

Can't help with the restoration of your pen - but plenty of knowledgeable aficionados on FPN that will assist.

To sit at one's table on a sunny morning, with four clear hours of uninterruptible security, plenty of nice white paper, and a [fountain] pen - that is true happiness!


- Winston Churchill



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Hello and welcome to FPN. :W2FPN:

For uploading pictures you should use the Upload tab. Read about exactly how to use it under Manuals at the top of the page. :)

 

Upload tab? I tried using the image insert button and the "attachment" button, and since there isn't an image attached at this point I'm not sure I've got it... :/ Tried looking at the manuals page and it looks like it is telling me to do what I tried? Sorry :/

Nevermind me! I'm just an inkling, a mere pigment of your imagination...

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Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

PAKMAN

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Welcome to FPN and to the sometimes slippery slope of fountain pen collecting and using. Thanks for the great intro and what a wonderful way to be introduced to fountain pens. Your experience in calligraphy should serve you well. As for repairing your pen, I would certainly seek out a qualified repair person to restore the pen. You may want to collect a few pens of lesser sentimental value to learn repairs on. There are a number of great pen restorers on FPN, just cruise the posts in the repair forum. I am sure that there will be other members offering suggestions too. Best wishes with your pen!

A consumer and purveyor of words.

 

Co-editor and writer for Faith On Every Corner Magazine

Magazine - http://www.faithoneverycorner.com/magazine.html

 

 

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Welcome to the forum. FPN is a great group of individuals, present company excluded, with great knowledge and wisdom. I was in your shoes several years ago and I have learned so much here and am still doing so. As already mentioned I would suggest you contact Danny Fudge at The Write Pen for repair/restoration of your great grandfathers pen. Danny is a great guy in every respect.

 

http://www.thewritepen.net/index.html

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?" Patrick Henry

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Welcome! What a great story and way to get interested in the fountain pen world!

 

I do not have a recommendation (no experience yet with vintage pens) but would echo the commendations to seek out an expert - highly worth it for a pen of that value and sentiment!

 

If you do not get enough recommendations here I would post again in the main forums specifically asking for vintage repair recommendations. Not everyone reads the introduction threads carefully.

 

Welcome again - great place for help and resources!

Edited by flyingpenman

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I found out long ago.

~C.S. Lewis

--------------

Current Rotation:

Edison Menlo <m italic>, Lamy 2000 <EF>, Wing Sung 601 <F>

Pilot VP <F>, Pilot Metropolitan <F>, Pilot Penmanship <EF>

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Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell. Danny is a great person to help restore the pen and one of the straight shooters out there.

 

My Website

 

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Hello, Welcome, Congratulations and Wow, what a story!

 

Okay, so time is limited and you want to get those thank you cards out asap, but you can't do that until you have the pen repaired.
A suggestion: if you dip the nib into a bottle of ink you should be able to write a lengthy sentance without actually filling the pen. Just be careful to shake off excess ink and before you write, just doodle a little on a scrap of paper just to make sure that your ink doesn't suddenly blob on your note.

 

Once those Thank you cards are done then you can take time to get the pen repaired.

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A suggestion: if you dip the nib into a bottle of ink you should be able to write a lengthy sentance without actually filling the pen. Just be careful to shake off excess ink and before you write, just doodle a little on a scrap of paper just to make sure that your ink doesn't suddenly blob on your note.

 

That's actually a really good suggestion for writing my aunt's thank you card, thanks! :) I have read that I shouldn't be using my dip pen inks in a fountain pen, so I'll have to acquire fountain pen ink. I was thinking I'd pick it up wherever I got the repair done, as I haven't read that far into proper inks and what may or may not be good for a vintage pen (so far, I've only seen to use no India Ink ever, and the ink must say it's for fountain pens). Any suggestions for a nice ink for a vintage pen, perhaps in a nice blue since blue was in the pen previously?

Nevermind me! I'm just an inkling, a mere pigment of your imagination...

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Hi,

 

Very cool story.

 

If you want something blue, but somewhat different from regular blue (whatever you consider that), I'd try a bottle of Waterman's Serenity Blue.

 

Alex

---------------------------------------------------------

We use our phones more than our pens.....

and the world is a worse place for it. - markh

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Very glad to have you here. Lots of good information and camaraderie available.

Love all, trust a few, do harm to none. Shakespeare

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