All Pens Can Be Repaired...right?

[Dodgerchick]

How much concern should one have about purchasing a vintage pen that has been untested? Primarily because the seller is not familiar with fountain pens? I mean, if a pen doesnt write, it can be repaired, right?

[Karmachanic]

It's not unusual for functioning objects to become non-functioning. Some can be repaired. Others not. Safest bet is a reputable dealer and/or this Forum's Classifieds.

[SchaumburgSwan]

Hi,

 

to say it short: Yes, in most cases.

 

Do you have the motivation, time and patience to bring a vintage one back to life or are willing to send a pen having special issues to a repair person?

 

I clearly say yes and it is very satisfiing to do so,but it is not everybodys cup of tea...

 

Best wishes

Jens

[Charles Rice]

Pretty good bet that if the seller says he knows nothing about the object that he is selling that it is in poor shape. Maybe it can be repaired for a reasonable price, maybe not. E-Bay? Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Charles Rice

[katerchen]

Hard to say without the specifics of the pen. Without that I'd say that a combination of

• cleaning the dried ink out
• renewing the parts in the filler that wore out (sac or piston seal, again : need more details)
• aligning the tines

you should be good to go.

[Ron Z]

No. Not every pen can be repaired. The question as asked is far too broad.

 

Whether a pen can be repaired depends on the flaws, the availability of replacement parts, the cost of the parts, the skill of the pen mechanic, and how much you are willing to spend to have it fixed. ...and that's just a start.

 

When I buy a vintage pen I assume that I can repair it because I repair a lot of pens, and I'm usually right. But there have been many times when the pen had a hidden, fatal flaw, that forced me to put it in the parts bin. I know that even pulling the section out the barrel may result in a cracked barrel, or the cap lip could chip, or the clip spring could fail, or the J bar could fail, or there may be a hidden crack in the nib, or.... You get the point. I have bins full of parts pens collected over the last couple of decades.

 

But I frequently pull a rabbit out of a hat for the owner and fix what would otherwise be unrepairable to someone else. That's where the skill of the pen mechanic comes into play.

 

How much do you want to pay to have the pen fixed? Do you want the nib retipped, or the crack welded, trim replated, lever replaced? Do you want to repair the crack in the celluloid, replace the cap lip, make a new section, source that unusual feed, or just make the pen work?

 

Know the pen, know where its vulnerable, know its condition, and buy accordingly.

[GlenV]

That is a great answer by Ron. In my experience the answer is no especially with BHR that may not be ever able to get any parts for:(

[Dodgerchick]

Ok the reason I was asking is because I found a pen I really want on eBay. It looks VERY clean. The seller indicated that she is not familiar with fountain pens, so she doesn’t know how to fill it to see if it writes. So I thought, if I bought it and worse case scenario it didn’t write, I could just get it fixed.

 

Is there a better place to buy pens online besides eBay and the classifieds?

[WirsPlm]

The ease of repair depends heavily on the filling system so that's really important to know, could you post pictures here and try to get an identification, or could you send the seller a message asking for more details to help you make a decision? A lever filler will have an obvious metal lever on the outside so those are easy but other types of filling systems are harder to identify without being able to recognize the pen, in the end it comes down to are you willing to risk that this pen will never work correctly and the money is wasted or not.

[Dodgerchick]

It’s a Parker 61 with the capillary filling system. That’s why she’s not familiar with it.

[GlenV]

61 parts are easy to get mostly and likely just needs a really good flushing of the old ink in the capillary filler. They are more challenging to remove hood than a 51 so if it needs it removed best to have someone good at that... dont try it yourself...

[FarmBoy]

Watch for cracks in the hood and barrel. Loose or missing hood emblem. Shrinkage and deformed hood. Steer away from capillary fillers with damaged coatings.

[Ron Z]

 

 

61 parts are easy to get mostly...

 

It depends on the color. Finding a black hood, or an arrow, can be challenging.

[RoSpectre]

I've bought dozens of older pens on ebay, many on faith... a few have been duds and a few more have been very close to. If the price or pen is worth the gamble, well the gamble can be part of the thrill, but this is going to depend on your personality.

 

Sounds like you're in contact with the seller or could be, so state that the unknown condition should factor in to the price and see if you can make an offer that accounts for this, otherwise you roll the dice!

 

I quite like rolling the dice, so my advice is tainted. However, one lesson I've learned is: it is very rarely worth the trouble of getting a "gamble" pen repaired, unless A) you enjoy doing it yourself and have time and money to invest, or it is an ultra-rare pen that will not come up again (and most all pens come up again if you wait). I've gambled on a few "great deals" and unknowns thinking I can easily source parts, repair myself, or send away for repairs, and then end up with a great pen for cheap or turn a profit reselling the pen. I've only ever followed through once -- the rest have sat in my storage box waiting to be spun into gold for... 2 years and counting?

 

Mostly I just wish I had waited and bought the pens in good shape... then I would have nice pens and wouldn't have sunk projects taking up space in my bins!

[inkstainedruth]

Ron answered before I could.

I had found a no-name lever filler a couple of years ago in a small place (more thrift shop than antiques store) that I bought for the nib -- a 14 C music nib. Was told by someone at a pen show that that nib alone was worth five times what I'd paid for the pen, when I showed it around to some people trying to ID the pen (I've been variously told that it was an Arnold body and a "no-name"; and that the nib was either English-made or a German nib made for the English market.

I took it to Ron's table at a pen show to see if he could get it repaired. Turned out he couldn't. But at the time, he was in the process of restoring a lovely red marbled Parker Parkette, and was able to salvage the nib and feed and put them on the Parkette for me. Because in this case, the important part was the nib and feed.

As for the pen you're looking at, know that those capillary fillers hold a LOT of ink. My first 61 I flushed just long enough to get the pen writing. Wrote it "dry", then repeated the process until the ink was so diluted it was illegible on the page. That took me something like four months.... Which reminds me -- I need to reconstitute the ink in my newest 61, which I picked up in November at the Ohio Pen Show (it's a pretty color -- grey -- but I'm having to get used to the finer nib on it (my others all write as if they're M nibs).

One of my other ones I got a good deal on (eBay purchase) because it's missing the hood arrow. I bought a replacement hood but it's the wrong color, and I've been told that it's not easy to replace the arrow because they were custom fitted. So, we'll see....

You may have to check to see what ink was used and flush the pen accordingly -- those capillary systems are reportedly not happy with very saturated inks in them -- and while the capillary units show up on eBay every now and then, they are *not* cheap.... The newest pen I'm guessing just had Quink Black in it from the color. I've had a good experiences with J Herbin Eclat de Saphir and with De Atramentis Apple Blossom in some of my other ones. The red one does have a tiny crack (which I didn't notice when I bought the pen ) but once I got it writing it did not seem to affect performance by leaking or anything like that. Still, you do have to watch on those -- they're not Lucite bodies the way the 51s are.

If you do decide to get the pen, there are several threads about 61s and the best way to care for them (I was originally told by the person I bought my first one from (at a pen show) to just remove the barrel and stick it under the faucet, nib down. But I have hard water where I live, so instead I use a bulb syringe with a cut off end to fit over the back end of the capillary unit, and flush distilled water through it. Which seems to work pretty well for me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Ron Z]

I must admit, the 61 is down at the bottom of my list of desirable pens. I suppose it ranks a but above a Wearever, but they're down there with Sonnets. Parker made some great pens. IMCO, those two aren't.

[Dodgerchick]

Well, I got it. Lol. My first edition Parker 61 with the rainbow lid! And its beautiful, and I love it. The ONLY drag is that it has a name engraved on it. But I can alway look for a replacement barrel. To be honest, it doesnt bother me. I immediately tried to write with it, but it didnt write. I had hoped maybe it was empty, but it wasnt. I guess it just didnt have a lot in it.

 

Ruth, thank you so much for the info. I saw the parker61 tutorial on YouTube on how to clean it (theres a British guy that gives cleaning tutorials for FPS) but I dont have a bulb syringe. A commenter mentioned he was able to use a syringe, which I do have, but it wasnt the right size, lol. So, I ended up blowing on the end of it until I got clear, slightly tinged blue water. Ironically, I got blue ink all over my hands, but none on my lips. Lol!

 

I put new ink in it and it writes, but i dont think I filled it up, it doesnt seem to write very dark. Of course, that might just be the 61! I only held it in the ink for a count of 10; how long do you have to hold it in the ink to fill it? Any idea?

 

On another note, HOLY COW DOES PAPER MAKE A DIFFERENCE! I bought a Midori diary and my FPS write so beautifully on it! So effortlessly compared to regular copy paper.

[pajaro]

I must admit, the 61 is down at the bottom of my list of desirable pens. I suppose it ranks a but above a Wearever, but they're down there with Sonnets. Parker made some great pens. IMCO, those two aren't.

 

With a bead of epoxy in the recess under the black cap jewel, a Sonnet will cease to dry out so fast, if at all, and the things can be redeemed. It is hard to believe. The reward of having a pen with a fine italic 18K nib actually never dry out might have been worth all the hassle. I get it about Wearever. The 61s are kind of an artifact for a type collection -- a collection of types of pens or different models, one of each

.

Edited January 16, 2019 by pajaro

[Dodgerchick]

To be completely honest, I got the Parker 61 because it’s pretty; that was the ONLY reason, lol. Oh, and I love William Holden in the ads, lol. It probably isn’t their best pen, (I know it’s not, lol) but I like it.

[Ron Z]

 

With a bead of epoxy in the recess under the black cap jewel, a Sonnet will cease to dry out so fast, if at all, and the things can be redeemed. It is hard to believe. The reward of having a pen with a fine italic 18K nib actually never dry out might have been worth all the hassle. I get it about Wearever. The 61s are kind of an artifact for a type collection -- a collection of types of pens or different models, one of each

.

 

That's not the only reason. Just a personal preference, bias, whatever. I know that some people love them, but having owned some, and worked on a bunch, I'm not there.