What are you fixing/restoring/messing with today?

[rroossinck]

I've had it in mind to start this for a while just for fun. Some of you guys who always have 10-20 on the workbench can take a pass if you so choose, but for those of us amateurs who are still learning, etc....what are you working on today?

 

I'll start. I got a gorgeous black/bronze Conklin Endura that I just tore down and put back together. Now I need to find a new clip for it! If anyone's got one, drop me a line!

 

What about you?

[penburg]

I am working on a Conklin crescent-filler. Couldn't get the nib & feed apart, so I took some of my kids' blocks (no longer in use) and made a knock-out block, which worked great. Just have to clean up the feed, align nib & re-sac, and I should have a nice 1920s BCHR Conklin working!

[calluna]

I have three lockdown vacumatic juniors going at the moment - a gray shadow wave, a nice red mottled, and a green mottled. I think brown stripey Balance is hanging out there in the drydock also, and possibly a few others. That's my "needs work" list. . My "needs polishing" queue is longer...

 

Recently finished a cedar '51 with a funny nib (looks like it was reshaped by writer's writing habits), a brown shadow wave also of the lockdown variety, a 52V assembled from parts box and a black and pearl balance.

 

cheers,

calluna

[Richard]

I've spent most of the day photographing prototypes of the Bexley 2009 Owner's Club pen. Sorry, I've not yet been authorized to publish the results, but I think the pens are gorgeous! They are definitely something new and IMHO very exciting.

 

I also restored a plunger-filling Sheaffer Balance that had been altered in a seriously weird way -- the shaft was solid celluloid, not the usual stainless steel or celluloid-sheathed mild steel, and it had been press-fitted into the blind cap (thereby ruining the blind cap). Ended up having to replace the entire barrel/filler with a NOS one.

[FredM]

I'm working on a Sheaffer Touchdown TM with a Triumph nib. It looks like the sac dried in it full of ink and the writing unit had to be taken apart for good cleaning. So far it is going well. I'm waiting on some thread sealant to come and then I will put it back together.

[Buzz J]

I've got quite a que of typical stuff, but I just bought a group of 55 Sheaffer school pens from DocNib. I'm going to clean, polish, & tune them. Then they'll be donated to the PCA's Pens for Kids program.

 

Nothing hard really, just lots of them! By the end of the weekend, I'll probably never want to see a Sheaffer school pen again!

 

John

[kirchh]

I'm working through a group of eight "51"s, including four first-year 'Wedding Band' caps with aluminum and silver jewels and an 'Empire' cap. All the caps are in really rough shape -- pliers marks, gouges, dents, you name it. The lot is something of a test from a first-time client.

 

--Daniel

 

[Buzz J]

Some before & after pics would be well received!

 

 

I'm working through a group of eight "51"s, including four first-year 'Wedding Band' caps with aluminum and silver jewels and an 'Empire' cap. All the caps are in really rough shape -- pliers marks, gouges, dents, you name it. The lot is something of a test from a first-time client.

 

--Daniel

 

[sndeshpande]

I am working on a NS Newhaven Duofold button filler. This one came with a nib with out of alignment tines. So now I am trying to make myself a Nib Knockout block out of a nice hardwood block (Cocobolo) picked at a lumber yard. Once I have the nib knocked out I plan to ship it to a nib meister to get the tines aligned.

[philm]

A 1939 Shadow Wave Vac Pen and Pencil set, a Vac Desk Pen (anyone have a spare base?) and a button fill Parker Duette that needs some major work.

 

Keeps my mind off work and the basketball team I coach which is 1-5....

 

Phil

[calluna]

Pen care serves as decompression for me, too...often late at night I'm crouched over the pen table trying to let the day's cares bleed out of me like ink through cheap paper. But I don't coach basketball.

 

cheers,

calluna

[AllWriteNow]

Polishing 14 Sheaffer Vintage Balances.

Cleaned them up and replaced the sacs last week.

 

Steve

 

 

[Paddler]

[snip]. . . . trying to let the day's cares bleed out of me like ink through cheap paper.

 

cheers,

calluna

 

GREAT LINE!!! It is worthy of Raymond Chandler himself.

 

Paddler

 

[rroossinck]

This is a great start; looks like we've got some ambitious folks out there tonight! John, you're definitely to be commended for the Sheaffer's lot you're working your way through!

 

And, in a nod to Richard, who seems to do things like this from time to time (although probably in a far more elegant manner than I), I started milling a 52 section down so it could be used in a Miller's Guaranteed in lapis blue celluloid (Richard, this was/is the kissin' cousin of that little strawberry ringtop that you sold last month). The original section was fine until one of those nights when I apparently lost my senses for a few minutes and errantly destroyed it. Oops...

 

This one should make for a neat story, though; looks like it's going to turn out pretty nicely, too!

[psfred]

No repairs today, it's beer brewing club newsletter day instead, and I'm out of sacs to fit Snorkels, the only pen I can fix right now.

 

I'm doing some thinking about a repair of the Sheaffer Triumphs I've been collecting that is a bit more elegant than drilling out the packing but doesn't use a cartridge like Francis' cartridge does. I think there is some lathe work coming up this winter.

 

I did fix my "new" Parker 61 that came from Thailand this evening -- some missing teflon on the rear of the filler caused it to leak, so I scraped the remains of it from the seal area. Not a big job as nearly all of it was gone already, and it fixed the leak. The pen was completely clean - filled nicely with Hero Washable Blue (I suspected the filler would leak when I looked at it, and having gotten a pocket full of Noodler's Blue black from my leaky Rage Red 61, decided washable was the way to go this time). Writes great, although I'd really prefer an extra fine nib.

 

Two weeks ago, though, I used up all ten of my #14 sacs restoring Snorkels.

 

Peter

[mmb993]

Just got my repair parts and tools from Tryphon and completed my first repair two days ago. A blue Sheaffer Tuckaway. It was kind of a mess but I cleaned it up, replaced the sac, flossed the nib did the ammonia solution / ultrasound drills and it's beautiful. Those Touchdown fillers are really easy to work with.

 

In order to keep it simple, I pulled out 3 lever fillers, an Esterbrook (with a Greg nib, whatever that is), a Sheaffer balance and a Jade Green Sheaffer Flat Top. Tonight I cleaned them out and removed the old sacs (easier said than done), I'll replace the sacs tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately, most of the pens I own that need sac replacement or some repair are either snorkels or plunger fillers and I haven't worked up the courage to try those. I may try a snorkel this Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Rroossinck, great topic!

 

Thanks,

 

-Mario

[richardandtracy]

I'm slowly working on an Onoto, making several seal cutters before using them, then trying everything ad nauseam before going on to the next step. As a result this pen, my first Onoto, is taking an absolute age to do - but is interesting.

 

The other pen I'm getting ready to work on is a P17 with a P51 style cap. Going to make a jewel for the cap and then go on to swap the nib from another P17 with an older body style that I don't like so much.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[eckiethump]

Just done a few vacs, changing nibs over (which is a pain on vacs) re-sac etc. Working at present on a beautiful Swan leverless, trying to reduce ink flow, but the feed just won't sit back with the nib, on application of heat. Got a Watermans 897, new acrylic clear end welded on and ready to be turned down, NOS body and cap etc, but clear end was still gone. Got and oversize vac jewell to make, to finish that one off, also to remove a very crude engraving from a Conway Stewart 12, cheapo pen bought for the clip, I just don't have the heart to "kill" pens for one part !! ANother oversize vac on it's way to me for re-sac, plus about 100 other pens that need some sort of "clean up" or whatever.

et

[fountainbel]

Hi all,

I'm working on the piston filling mechanism of a beautiful oversize Luxor "Grand Visible".

This is the third day that I'm trying to get the piston mechanism free without succes so far.

It really is a large beautiful pen,so I'm still motivated although rather frustrated.

Please see my new posting on my latest experiences;

Your help & advice is greatly appreciated !

Thanks, Francis

Edited November 25, 2008 by fountainbel

[Shangas]

Interesting "What are you...today?" thread.

 

Nothing *at the moment*, but in the recent past, I resacced a Sheaffer Balance, a Conway Stewart 87 and some obscure lever-filling ringtop.