Heat for Section removal/reinsertion, is there a consensus?

[OcalaFlGuy]

Actually, *one* of the questions;

 

1) To loosen/remove an Estie section do you use A) no heat B- soaking C) hair dryer to warm the section?

 

2) If "C" do you warm *just* the barrel or the barrel AND the section?

 

3) Do you use the hair dryer to warm the barrel and/or the section prior to reinserting the section?

 

Mucho Gracias,

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[ANM]

I have never needed any heat to pull the section out or push it back in. I just use my two hands and gently wiggle it out. Hair dryer heat may make it easier, I don't know.

[AJP]

Esties are typically pretty easy to remove and reinsert as they are friction fitted. If you do get the rare Estie that is requiring a little extra umph to remove, by all means do not force it as you can crack the barrel. In those cases a little hair dryer heat should do nicely. I typically stay away from hot water but that is just my personal preference.

 

In those instances with sections that have been shellac'ed or glued on (e.g., a lot of Waterman Taperites), heat is an absolute must have to avoice breakage and there are a plethora of choices and various preferences that have been discussed on here ranging from blow dryers to hot air guns.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Edit: Forgot to answer the area you are trying to warm is the barrel "just" above the section.

Edited December 6, 2008 by AJP

[RayMan]

I have never needed any heat to pull the section out or push it back in. I just use my two hands and gently wiggle it out. Hair dryer heat may make it easier, I don't know.

 

Same here. The thought of applying heat to one of my pens terrifies me, though I'm sure that it's safe in skilled hands (which mine are not).

[PaFitch]

Soaking has always been sufficient to loosen the section for me but I often use a rubber gripper on the section. Advice in this forum and elsewhere always says that a nib must be in the section when squeezing and pulling the section. Different Esties seem to have more or less "stick" when removing the section. I've wondered what might be the source of that difference.

[gregamckinney]

I always use dry heat (low at first, increasing as needed) when I remove a section.

The small bit of additional effort is well worth the investment if (when) it prevents even one barrel crack.

To not use heat, IMO, is simply taking on risk that is unnecessary.

 

The heat needs to get to where any adhesive is connecting the section to the barrel, so I focus the heat to the small area where the two overlap.

I have use a heat gun with a "focusing cone" so I can get the heat right where I want it.

 

Best, greg

Edited December 7, 2008 by gregamckinney

[AJP]

Soaking has always been sufficient to loosen the section for me but I often use a rubber gripper on the section. Advice in this forum and elsewhere always says that a nib must be in the section when squeezing and pulling the section. Different Esties seem to have more or less "stick" when removing the section. I've wondered what might be the source of that difference.

 

One caution on soaking, with Esties is doesnt really matter but... on hard rubber sections as are found on other vintage pens (e.g., many watermans, conway stewarts, swans) soaking can quickly lead to discoloration. So be very careful when soaking sections.

 

[sumgaikid]

Soaking has always been sufficient to loosen the section for me but I often use a rubber gripper on the section. Advice in this forum and elsewhere always says that a nib must be in the section when squeezing and pulling the section. Different Esties seem to have more or less "stick" when removing the section. I've wondered what might be the source of that difference.

 

One caution on soaking, with Esties is doesnt really matter but... on hard rubber sections as are found on other vintage pens (e.g., many watermans, conway stewarts, swans) soaking can quickly lead to discoloration. So be very careful when soaking sections.

 

And make sure that you're not soaking a pen made of casein(Conway Stewarts and some other british pens). It's

guaranteed that type of pen will lose its shape fast!

 

John

 

[Ron Z]

Soaking may work to soften ink that's holding things together, but I don't know that it does much more than that.

 

Just yanking a section out of a pen is asking for trouble. Believe me, I've been there. I have found that I am most likely to run into trouble, and crack barrels when I don't use heat, which is why I am such an advocate for it's use..... and the times that I skip the heat are often when I'm in a hurry. It's rarely worth the rush.

 

You have to understand that pen repair is very imprecise. i.e. every pen is different, so simplistic statements about how to do a repair often end up either being a bit off, or way off. Each pen will have been in different environment, and the pieces while made within in a range of tolerances, will fit together differently. Therefore they will behave differently when you go to take them apart. You have to feel your way through it, and observe very carefully what's going on as you proceed. If it things aren't working the way that you want them to, stop and think about it instead of just forging ahead.

 

At the same time, as you become more experienced, you do notice patterns. The pattern of breaking a pen when I don't use heat is one of them! Esterbrooks often have sections that will rotate in the barrel, but are quite snug when you go to pull them out. Some are quite loose and just pull out if you're lucky. But why take a chance? When I feel even a bit of resistance, I reach for the heat gun. You may be encountering simply a snug fit, but you also might have a pen where shellac was used to hold the section in place to keep it from shifting, and you can't tell by looking. Warming the barrel will soften shellac if any is on the section, and will take advantage of the expansion co-efficient of the plastic, which will allow it to stretch a bit without the stress of a cold barrel. We all know that plastic is more brittle when cold, so why not go for the bit of safety found in the other direction? The same is true, only more so, with hard rubber. BTW, don't forget seasonal changes in the environment. The difference between your 80 degree house in the middle of summer, and maybe 68 degrees in winter is quite a bit!

 

Experience has taught me that the plastic of an Esterbrook is tougher than the plastic of a striped Sheaffer, so will take a little more heat. I know that the plastic of a Skyline is more brittle, so heat is mandatory. I know that the plastic of a Waterman Taperite or Crusader is really thin and breaks easily, so you use heat and go very slowly. I also know that you can heat a hard rubber pen a heck of a lot more than you can a celluloid pen. I've learned that you should not try to heat a celluloid pen too quickly though by getting it too close to the heat source - it'll smoke and burn if you aren't careful. The sharp edges will go first..... It's a database of experience that you will gather over time.

 

Sometimes using heat when you insert a section is just as important as using it when you take one out. If a section is a snug fit going in, I will start it, and then warm the barrel before pressing it home. A section that would not go in easily often seats completely in the barrel if the barrel is warmed first.

 

Above all, don't just assume that because you've had one or two pens behave one way that you know how the next one will behave. Somewhere down the line a real stinker is waiting for you.....

 

 

[Ron Z]

2) If "C" do you warm *just* the barrel or the barrel AND the section?

 

3) Do you use the hair dryer to warm the barrel and/or the section prior to reinserting the section?

 

To answer this specific question, which I missed above.... You want to release the section from the barrel, so you warm the area of the threads, which means the part of the barrel that the section fits into.

[jonro]

2) If "C" do you warm *just* the barrel or the barrel AND the section?

 

3) Do you use the hair dryer to warm the barrel and/or the section prior to reinserting the section?

 

To answer this specific question, which I missed above.... You want to release the section from the barrel, so you warm the area of the threads, which means the part of the barrel that the section fits into.

Ron,

 

Do you hold the pen above the hot air so that it's not directly in the flow, or do you hold the pen directly in the airflow, but several inches away?

 

Jon

[FarmBoy]

Ron said it so well it deserves to be repeated.

 

You have to understand that pen repair is very imprecise. i.e. every pen is different, so simplistic statements about how to do a repair often end up either being a bit off, or way off.

 

Ron also has another saying--"see with your hands" or something like that. This bit is also worth repeating:

 

You have to feel your way through it, and observe very carefully what's going on as you proceed. If it things aren't working the way that you want them to, stop and think about it instead of just forging ahead.

 

Both are well worth reminding yourself of over and over.

 

As for heat, I'm an almost always person. I've been known to yank a few Esties apart stone cold when I'm not at the work bench but I don't recommend it. (Most of us have done this more than once and I'm willing to bet most of us have broken a few barrels.)

 

You don't need to get the barrel hot, just warm to the touch unless there is shellac holding things together. (Lets not talk about glues and things, this is a whole different story.)

 

To address the how to heat questions--

 

I have two heat sources. An old hair dryer and a Master heat gun. The hair dryer will not get hot enough to melt shellac the heat gun will flame a vac in a few seconds on high. I like the hair dryer as a heat source when shellac is not involved. Gentle heating is best. Start 8-10 inches away from the nozzle of the gun and gently heat by rotating and turning to keep the heat even. Slowly move the part you need heated closer to the source and localize the heating.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Todd

[wvbeetlebug]

As someone who just recently broke off a piece of a barrel without heat, I will definitely use heat from now on. With my Esties I have always used the warm/hot water method, but yesterday I tried using a hair dryer and that worked really well too. I concentrated on the area just above the section and kept checking with my finger. Didn't want it to get too hot.

 

I think it makes sense now to leave the point in the section. I haven't been doing that, but now I will.

[Ron Z]

I think it makes sense now to leave the point in the section. I haven't been doing that, but now I will.

 

Very wise. The nib supports the section, which can be crushed if you don't have a nib screwed in place.

 

You've also got it right when you keep checking with your fingers to make sure that you don't get things too hot. That's the "seeing with your fingers" part....

[RevAaron]

Careful with the hot water- I was sloppy with an Estie, because I thought that they were not made of celluloid, but of another plastic. Ended up with a much oxidized HR section (figured on that), and a centimeter of once lovely copper marbled barrel with a nasty lightness, like leaving a glass of ice water on a lacquered/varnished table on a hot and humid Minnesotan summer day. Blech.

 

So no hot water- though, I'm sure that was obvious.

 

As for what model... an S? don't know how to tell the models apart, copper marble, short and thin. Clip is broken off on the cap, so it was very far from mint condition, but still rather unsightly. Why is it that I only can find cheap Esties that don't have clips? Nice nib though- a 9788 (flex medium) that is much more flexible than the 9048 I have.

[gyasko]

I roast coffee at home with a hot air corn popper. If i have a section to remove and coffee to roast, i hold the pen over the roasting coffee. 一石二鳥。

[antoniosz]

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH DELUXE (LK + SM) PENS.

I LIKE THEM MODE THAN Js BUT DELUXE'S PLASTICS WEAKEN WITH HEAT AND THEY TEND TO BREAK.

THEY ARE ALSO VERY DIFFICULT TO REMOVE - THE BARREL SHRINKS - POSSIBLE.

(yes I used capitals to SCREAM )

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/estiemetalcap-001.jpg

[jszh]

<b><!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->BE VERY CAREFUL WITH DELUXE (LK + SM) PENS.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></b>

I LIKE THEM MODE THAN Js BUT DELUXE'S PLASTICS WEAKEN WITH HEAT AND THEY TEND TO BREAK.

THEY ARE ALSO VERY DIFFICULT TO REMOVE - THE BARREL SHRINKS - POSSIBLE.

(yes I used capitals to SCREAM

 

 

You are absolutely right! I have the darker green one. I have been trying to remove it the whole day and still haven't succeeded. With all other four Esterbrook pens, it didn't take me 2 mins.

 

I use plastic wrap to block the water and heat the barrel with hot tap water. It didn't work. Could you please tell me how you removed the section at the end? My fingers are so sore now.

[Jules]

I'm aware that this is an old thread, but I thought this might be relevant:

 

I bought a problem Estie back in November that kept leaking into its cap. I'd pretty much given up on it because I didn't have a hair dryer in my dorm, and the section wouldn't budge no matter what I did, but today I spent 15 minutes (yeah, it took that long) with my hair dryer and finally managed to pull it out.

 

The verdict: The sac is perfectly fine. :| Might be the nib?

 

Also, my fingers are really sore. xD

[jszh]

I just tried heating it for 40 mins, still no luck