New Member, New Hobby, Based In London. Hello!

[buddman]

Ive just registered here on the site in the hope that youre a friendly lot, and will have patience with a typical forum newbie like me just getting into a new hobby. I have but a single fountain pen now a girthy but finely crafted sterling silver Asprey retailed pen that my research suggests was manufactured by Onoto in the 80s or 90s.

 

My collecting passion is vintage wristwatches (chronographs), and have been active on forums in that world for a long time, a buyer and sometimes seller as my collection evolved, and have amassed quite a nice collection over the years, but the thing that I find unrewarding from watch collecting is that it doesnt cater very well to my Make, Do and Mend personality. Watchmaking is a high complexity job requiring schooling/apprenticeship, years of training, with tiny parts, good eyesight, and a steady hand required. I have to send things to my watchmaker and wait for them to be returned. However, Im really interested in how things work, love to repair and polish, like the smell and the feel of materials in my hands, and get real satisfaction by rescuing things forgotten by others and turning them into little gems for myself. Im hoping that fountain pens might be an interesting world for me. Im not planning to look at anything except vintage pens, as I love having unique things you cant just walk into a shop and buy. Theres a luxury in vintage items that need not always cost a fortune, but comes from scholarly learning, patience, and time.

 

So, Ive been watching YouTube videos, bought some basic refurb supplies of micromesh, polish, some brushes and tweezers, small ultrasonic cleaner, and a copy of the 4thedition of Pen Repair by Marshall and Oldfield. Then Ive done which Im sure most people would say is a bad idea Ive bought about 50 fountain pens (marbled and striped celluloid pens from the 30s & 40s I think) in a few bulk lots from some local auction houses, that will no doubt have a big variety of makers, filling mechanisms, states of decay and quality and plan to spend the summer going over them and posting here for help (advanced warning!). Photo of some of them attached - if anything interesting left me know! Might be a pile of junk....

 

You can find me on eBay and Instagram as dbuddman.

 

Best Regards

 

David

 

[Henricum_Tropen]

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

[PaulS]

Hi David - welcome to FPN - you have an interesting collecton of pens. Enjoyment is the keyword - best wishes to you.

[cherylmarie]

 

I love having unique things you cant just walk into a shop and buy. Theres a luxury in vintage items that need not always cost a fortune, but comes from scholarly learning, patience, and time.

 

 

My sentiments also! I predict your pens will provide tons of enjoyable experience, best of luck!

[Uncle-Meat]

So many pens. So little time

 

 

 

Meat.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Uncle-Meat

[PAKMAN]

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

[Wahl]

and enjoy you repairs.

[HyperCamper]

Hi and welcome! Hope you have fun here!

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[jar]

http://www.fototime.com/CBEB1BF63187D6C/orig.gif

[ThomasB]

Hello and welcome from Baton Rouge, Louisiana...Enjoy your time here

[Pen Nut]

Hello and welcome to you from Manchester

[peterg]

There are some impressive pens amongst them. You should show some of the off at the next London Pen Meet on Saturday 3rd August at the Bierschenke by Liverpool Street Station (also a short walk from Moorgate).

 

For some reason I am unable to paste the link. But it is in Blomfield Street, EC2M 5NT, downstairs, usually on the table behind the stairs

[Marlow]

Welcome!

 

Based on a very quick glance, the super-duper pens you have there include a Mabie Todd Swan Visofil VT, Mabie Todd Swan Eternal - probably an E444, Mabie Todd Swan green snakeskin, Parker Duofold Maxima as well as some very nice condition Swan boxes. All these pens are both desirable and fairly valuable. You look to have plenty to get to work on, too! I predict you will be a frequent visitor to the Repair section on here!

 

Enjoy!

 

PS - would love to see a pic of the Asprey-retailed Onoto!

Edited July 19, 2019 by Marlow

[Bisquitlips]

Welcome!

 

Glad you are with us!

 

[buddman]

Thank you! I'll try for that.

[buddman]

Welcome!

 

Based on a very quick glance, the super-duper pens you have there include a Mabie Todd Swan Visofil VT, Mabie Todd Swan Eternal - probably an E444, Mabie Todd Swan green snakeskin, Parker Duofold Maxima as well as some very nice condition Swan boxes. All these pens are both desirable and fairly valuable. You look to have plenty to get to work on, too! I predict you will be a frequent visitor to the Repair section on here!

 

Enjoy!

 

PS - would love to see a pic of the Asprey-retailed Onoto!

 

Clearly you have a very experience eye!

 

My apologies for the delayed response but to be fair I didn't expect so may replies to my original post so I didn't check back.

 

So far Ive managed to repair about 10 of the lever filler ones (quite straightforward) and the Parker Duofolds (didn't need much except a clean and light polish as left the filling mechanism as is) so far. I think probably one of the lots I bought were someone else's problematic box, and bits missing here and there, so some I can't progress very easily. Other than eBay I can't see an efficient way to look for parts. In my watch collecting world, lots of websites exist for bits, but I haven't seen that so far for pens.

 

The ones the really capture my eye so far are the green snakeskin Mabie Todd and there is a grey/green striped Watermans W5, and a brown wood effect Easterbrook. There is also a really nice red stripped Parker vac fill but unfortunately missing the end caps and the blue diamond clip.

 

 

The Visofil was a nice surprised and I realised very collectable, but well beyond my capabilities to service, so I dispatched to off to Laurence Oldfield to get to done properly. Shame for it to have survived all these years for it to then fall into my inexperienced repair hands and be ruined.

 

2 so far Im suck on. The E444 has been a bit of a quandary because the C-ring broke and the lever assembly came out. Im unsure how to put it together and I'm half thinking there was an extra pressure bar in there/ Maybe you can help? https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348110-replacement-of-lever-c-ring-on-swan-e444/

 

The second is a vac fill where Ive successfully disassembled, drilled out the packed end etc, but I can't for the life of me unscrew the end off the bottom of the push rod. Its the old steel one with the rubber coating Ideally I'd get a replacement, but I understand tbey're not generally available?

 

anyway, I should probably make a post on my progress to far in the repair section - might do that this weekend.

 

Thanks for the very kind reply. Ill post the Asprey pen at some point but it lives at my office, so not with me currently.

 

David

Edited July 26, 2019 by buddman

[Marlow]

 

Clearly you have a very experience eye!

 

Ive managed to repair about 10 of the easier lever filler ones and the Parker Duofolds so far. I think probably one of the lots I bought were someone else's problematic box, and bits missing here and there, so some I can't progress. Other than eBay I can't see an efficient way to look for parts. In my watch collecting world, lots of websites exist for bits, but I haven't seen that so far for pens.

 

The ones the really capture my eye so far are the green snakeskin Mabie Todd and there is a grey/green striped Watermans W5. There is also a really nice red stripped Parker vac fill but unfortunately missing the end caps and the blue diamond clip.

 

The Visofil was a nice surprised and I realised very collectable, but well beyond my capabilities to service, so I dispatched to off to Laurence Oldfield to get to done properly. Shame for it to have survived all these years for it to fall into my inexperienced repair hands.

 

The E444 has been a bit of a quandary because the C-ring broke and the lever assembly came out. Im unsure how to put it together and I'm half thinking there was an extra pressure bar in there/ Maybe you can help? https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348110-replacement-of-lever-c-ring-on-swan-e444/

 

Thanks for the very kind reply.

 

David

 

As you are clearly getting your teeth firmly stuck into the repair side of things and are already in contact with Laurence why not ask him if he has a copy of his Pen Repair manual for sale that he could send you when he returns the VT? In there you will find a wealth of info regarding the majority of repairs and it's laid out and spiral-bound like a proper workshop manual so perfect for keeping on the bench next to you as you work. He also used to do one specifically on Onoto pens which I can recommend. His tools are also excellent - I have almost the entire set! I haven't ever had to replace the lever assembly in an E444 but I can't imagine it will be too tricky - just be super patient and go slowly as hard rubber is tough but next to impossible to repair if cracked!!

 

The W5 is a beauty and the Swan snakeskin is a keeper for sure!

 

VTs and Ford's are always best sent to an expert like Laurence as they frequently need new parts to be manufactured which requires someone skilled and experienced at using a lathe on hard rubber or able to re-manufacture an ink reservoir etc.

 

Looks like you're off to a flying start anyway!

Edited July 26, 2019 by Marlow

[inkstainedruth]

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

Goodness me! When I started here I just had a handful of pens, and nothing terribly exotic (or vintage).

I generally recommend that new people click on the "View New Content" button at the top of the page (you can adjust how much/often you get updates in the sidebar on the main page). And to have a look at the Pinned Index to the Ink Reviews Forum.

But I should also tell you that we are all shameless enablers, who will happily help you spend your discretionary funds on pens, inks, paper, repair tools, ephemera, sealing wax (and seals) and pen shows (I believe that there are several of that last in the UK but I don't know where they are -- I've been to a few on the East Coast here in the States). I fell down the vintage rabbit hole in a big way, myself, and routinely explain to Tech Support at Apple that my 1937 Parker Vacumatic Red Shadow Wave works better than my 5 year old laptop....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[buddman]

why not ask him if he has a copy of his Pen Repair manual for sale that he could send you when he returns the VT? :

It was the very first thing I bought, so a nice coincidence he was the first “expert” I was in contact with. It was obvious where the VS needed to go, given the incredible wealth of repair and descriptive info on this site, YouTube etc. Quite overwhelming.