My First Experience Restoring A Statesman Td

[Ink406]

I acquired a brown Statesman Touchdown, original fat model, dated about 1949 as far as I can tell, from an antique shop a few years ago. It didnt seem to be in the best condition (it looked somewhat worn), so it didnt cost me a lot; I think I might have paid about thirty dollars for it. When I took it home and got some ink into it, it didnt feel very comfortable to write with. I looked at the nib with a 15X loupe, and saw that the left-side point ball (viewed from the top) was broken off. I gave up on it and put it in a drawer, where I left it until this spring.

 

In the meantime, my youthful interest in fountain pens had returned, and I have learned quite a bit more about care and repair of them. I was writing with some of the other ones in my collection, and decided to try to get the old Sheaffer going.

 

I got a second hand two-tone gold nib online, being careful to seek out one that most closely resembled the original, especially in curvature and shank length. The one I found was an extra-fine point, and while I generally prefer a medium, I recalled the old saw about variety is the spice of life, and accepted it.

 

The TD mechanism on this pen seemed very stiff, and it wouldnt fill well, so I didnt push my luck too much. After disassembling it as far as I dared go, I gave it a good washing out. I got the metal sac shield inside the barrel off, and saw that the sac was ready to come apart. I ordered a couple of No. 17-1/2 necked sacs and two Touchdown O-rings, and watched some videos on Touchdown service.

 

When my parts arrived, I got down to work getting the pen functional. I already had a 16-ounce can of Zinsser Bullseye clear shellac from some previous wood-finishing projects, and my local dollar store had a small bottle of plain talc Johnsons Baby Powder. I got a pair of soft-jawed spark plug pliers from an auto supply store. There are a few different makes available, but I found the Lisle ones work best on pens.

 

The first thing I did was to take the Touchdown mechanism apart. I used a long slotted screwdriver to unscrew the blind cap from the end (and kept track of the star washer inside it), pushed the plunger down and out of the barrels section end, and then used a dental pick to remove the old O-ring from its groove in the bottom barrel end. A visual inspection showed that his ring was pretty tired, so I cleaned out the barrel and groove with a long, skinny soft brush, then installed one of my new O-rings that Id rolled in silicone grease first. Previously, I had tried to use a new O-ring from the big collection I had built up in my days as a plumber, but nothing fit quite right, so I had to order genuine ones. It wasnt that hard to get the ring into the groove securely, but I believe it when others say it can be tricky to do.

 

One more thing I did was to stick a fine wire into the little air hole near the butt end of the barrel to make sure it was clear (I thought it might have something to do with how this pen fills, since it works on a pneumatic principle). After that, I cleaned off the plunger well, silicone-greased it, and put the whole mechanism back together. It slid up and down in a nice, positive manner, and I was satisfied with that.

 

After running the nib end of the pen under hot (but not quite hot enough to seriously scald my hands) water for a minute or two, I gripped the nib and feed with a folded paper towel (I held the pen in another one with my other hand), and with a firm pull and twisting motion, removed them from the section.

 

With the section laid bare, I brushed it out well, and set about replacing the sac, which came apart quite readily (meaning that it was shot). After cleaning up all the tattered rubber pieces, I compared the new sacs length to that of the the protector shield, and found that the No. 17-1/2 necked sac was actually a bit too long. I had to trim it down a little, then painted some shellac onto the nipple, fitted the new sac onto it, painted a bit more shellac over the new sac end, and let it dry for a couple of hours.

 

I wanted to see if the new nib matched my original feed, so I held the two together and dry-fitted them into the section. It looked like they would work all right, but there was s fair bit of twisting and pushing required. One thing I wanted to see was that the cap would screw on fully without damaging the end of the nib. It looked like it would be okay, so I pulled them out again and decided to mount them up again for real, with some shellac as a seal to prevent leaking.

 

When I took out the nib and feed, I saw that the feed had had about a 3/4-inch tailpiece (air tube?) on its back end, and now this was broken off. I was annoyed by this, and checked if I could get a new feed with an intact tube on it, but I wasnt able to find one. Some research I did on the subject of whether that tube is really important was inconclusive, so I finally chose to assemble it as it was and see how it came out.

 

I got it all put together, inked it up, and have been writing with it nearly full time. This pen fills well and has great range, even though I wasnt crazy about the accountant-fine point. However, after using it n and off in rotation with a few other pens, I have actually come to like how it feels, and how it produces a nice, crisp, very slender line with what has proven to be good ink flow to the point. In the end, that little tube doesnt matter to me now, because my Touchdown just does what a good fountain pen does: fills easily, feels comfortable in my hand, writes clearly and consistently, and most importantly, doesnt leak.

 

I think I did okay restoring it, for an amateur!

[maral1720]

Good job! Thanks for the information. I really love writing with those fat touchdowns also. Such big nibs. And really well made pens when you consider that they are 70 years old.

[pajaro]

I suspect the silicone grease helped the installation of the O-ring. Maybe it will prolong the life of the O-ring and preserve the seal during fillings.

[Penman222]

Thanks for the story. I find that restoring Sheaffer touchdown/snorkel fillers can be challenging but well worth the effort.