Problems With New Esterbrook W/ Mv Converter & Vintage Nibs

[markh]

I have one of the new Esterbrook (Estie) - a nice looking pen, all black with gold clip. But of course I bought this to use with the MV converter and my pile of vintage Esterbrook nibs. I wonder if anyone has gotten the combination to work?

 

The vintage nib screws in just fine, but is starved for ink. The problem seems to be that modern (plastic) feeds have a tab at the back the slips into the converter, to allow capillary action to get ink to the feed. If you point a full converter down, no ink will flow out.

 

Vintage Esterbrook nibs are flat at the back because they are in contact with the end of the sac filled with ink. If you point a vintage sacked Esterbrook pen down with the nib removed, ink will flow out.

So no ink flows from the converter or cartridge into the back of the vintage nib. If I unscrew the nib, the back of the feed is completely dry.

 

Once the initial ink in the feed (from the bottle fill) writes off, nothing.

 

Seems to me that this could never work, but maybe someone has figured out a way.

 

thnx,

 

[HobbitLife]

I have been having this same issue… I find that if I prime the feed first to get the capillary action going from the converter to feed, it works well. But that is kind of a pain. Still looking for a fix…

[markh]

1 hour ago, HobbitLife said:

I have been having this same issue… I find that if I prime the feed first to get the capillary action going from the converter to feed, it works well. But that is kind of a pain. Still looking for a fix…

 

You only have to look at how a "normal" modern feed is set up to realize that the converter could never work.

 

I think these pens need to be taken on their own - they are interesting and usable modern pens, with no real connection with vintage Esterbrook pens.

 

If you want to use a vintage Esterbrook nib, buy a vintage Esterbrook pen. They are pretty widely available, and not overly expensive. Also a good way to learn to re-sac a vintage pen.

 

.

[MidSouthern-Dad]

Unfortunately, this adapter is only useful if the pen is to be eyedropper filled - which it can't because the section threads are metal.  Otherwise, I did contemplate having a custom feed made with a converter tail on it, but I never had enough interest to go that far.

[HobbitLife]

I’m surprised I haven’t heard more complaints about this issue to be honest…