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Best Way To Remove An Estie Threaded Jewel?

OcalaFlGuy

By OcalaFlGuy
in Esterbrook

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OcalaFlGuy

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Just in case any one is curious about this in the future and actually Will Use the search function to find out... :glare:

 

I REALLY didn't want to take the chance on snapping the button off this jewel and the extra effort was probably good as it WAS

in there pretty tight.

 

What I did was put on a right dishwashing glove (no, NOT purply, Yellow! ;) )with the little gripper nubbies on it and then filled the whole cap full of Ronson lighter fluid knowing it would soak around the inner cap and get down to where the jewel threads were, which it did. (The naphtha doesn't react with the plastic and acts as a lubricant.) I used a bounty paper towel to wipe all the fluid off the jewel and went after it with the thumb and forefinger with the gripper thinngummers. I really didn't want to crank down on it for fear of shearing off the button so I gave it 3 or 4 tries before I felt it loosen. I Did Not use the clip as an assist as I am pretty sure that's what helped me break the last one I did. I think the jewel shaft will handle the rotational turning alot better if it's more distributed around ala the finger method.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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kathleen Vintage

kathleen

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Posted

Just in case any one is curious about this in the future and actually Will Use the search function to find out... :glare:

 

I REALLY didn't want to take the chance on snapping the button off this jewel and the extra effort was probably good as it WAS

in there pretty tight.

 

What I did was put on a right dishwashing glove (no, NOT purply, Yellow! ;) )with the little gripper nubbies on it and then filled the whole cap full of Ronson lighter fluid knowing it would soak around the inner cap and get down to where the jewel threads were, which it did. (The naphtha doesn't react with the plastic and acts as a lubricant.) I used a bounty paper towel to wipe all the fluid off the jewel and went after it with the thumb and forefinger with the gripper thinngummers. I really didn't want to crank down on it for fear of shearing off the button so I gave it 3 or 4 tries before I felt it loosen. I Did Not use the clip as an assist as I am pretty sure that's what helped me break the last one I did. I think the jewel shaft will handle the rotational turning alot better if it's more distributed around ala the finger method.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Bruce, Please continue this. Did you extract the jewel in one piece? Any surprises? Is it now at home in another Estie? How would one know if the jewel of their pen is just friction fit or threaded?

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars" ~Henry Van Dyke

Trying to rescue and restore all the beautiful Esties to their purpose.

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OcalaFlGuy

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First the easy part Kathleen.

 

My understanding is that the Transitionals were the only Esties that routinely had threaded jewels and that all the Transitional pens HAD screw in/out jewels. (Hopefully someone will correct me if my understanding is wrong)[Now, due to recent conversations, honestly, I DON'T know if that also includes the SJ sized Transitionals. I have one of those in Blue and it has a laying dawg of a secure jewel in it that I'm not about to test to find out...]

 

It is almost a moot point unless you have a Transitional with a clip that spins, then you *should* be able to screw the jewel down enough to tighten the clip.

 

The rest I almost wished you hadn't asked.

 

:bonk:

 

There's one small slice of good news and a big cheese wheel wedge of not-so-good news.

 

As I mentioned above, I DID get the jewel out and it was to go into a Blue Transitional that I actually finished polishing today. (Might as well do the polishing while the clip is already off.)

 

From there, things went dramatically downhill. :(

 

On the Trans, the jewel screws into a retainer that is a friction fit in the barrel between the inner cap and the end of the barrel. When I started to screw the new jewel in it wouldn't tighten down. Either when the Ebay seller dropped the pen, or when I got the piece of broken jewel out or when I ran the cap through the sonicator to get all the ink out, somewhere, that friction fit of the retainer loosened and it now floats around. Thusly the jewel has nothing non-movable to screw tightly into. I don't have an inner cap puller so I can't do what I assume would be the correct fix. (To pull the inner cap and use a dowel to tap the retainer further up into the barrel so it once again holds.) I tried a down and dirty fix of trying to epoxy the retainer to the inside of the barrel but that didn't hold. <And now, the retainer has "walked" just far enough "South" that the jewel threads won't bite at all. :gaah: > So right now, I am between a rock and a hard spot. This pen is about 98% done, this jewel situation withstanding and is a beauty. For the time being, I am resisting the totally amateurish idea of epoxying the clip to the top of the cap and the jewel to the top of the clip and calling it a day. That would probably work but it also would damage all but irreplaceable parts should a chance for a correct and proper repair present itself.

 

This has definitely been one of those "one step forward, two steps backwards" restore efforts...

 

And no, I am not a happy camper here... :(

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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OcalaFlGuy

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You're just not kidding Lisa.

 

This pen was sposed to go to one of our teen FPNers who is really looking forward to it...

 

:(

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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kathleen Vintage

kathleen

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Bummer! Kinda sorry I asked! sad.gif Really brings ya' down. You do such a great job shining them up and restoring them to a condition they haven't seen since they made their first move outside the Camden, NJ pen works.

 

These pens were really built to be beautiful and functional. No doubt, the manufacturer never thought that seventy years later someone would desire a pen in new condition; if something went askew, buy another.

 

You're inventive. I hope you figure something out. Most old things today are experiencing new replacement parts of totally nonoriginal materials. Some of my good friends are refurbished and restored with "New hips and knees".

 

Think of the 6 Million Dollar Man, Bruce, "you can build it stronger" maybe epoxy is the thing!

Fix it so it will look great and write for another 70 yrs.

Edited by kathleen

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars" ~Henry Van Dyke

Trying to rescue and restore all the beautiful Esties to their purpose.

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OcalaFlGuy

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I really need a inner cap puller.

 

Even at $125 for one, I could actually stomach that.

 

And for this pen, I think once the inner cap was pulled a wooden dowel would do the trick to bump the retainer forward.

Unfortunately, threaded jewel issues don't crop up very often. For the cap puller to really be of $125 worth of use to

me, I'd need some specific jewel rivet punch type tools that simply are not commercially available. You either need to

make them yourself (which is far above my abilities) or have someone make them for you. So even if I had an inner cap

puller, I'd need more than that for it to be worth it's while.

 

The clip/cap jewels IMO are our Esties Achilles heel. Mr. E never intended for someone to actually go to the effort to replace

a cracked jewel or reset a spinning clip just go down to the corner store and plunk down $3 for a whole new pen. The parts

were designed and meant to be assembled quickly and stay assembled, not to be easily replaced.

 

PS And it was quite alright that you asked Kathleen.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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LisaN Vintage

LisaN

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Bruce you are going to need that cap puller for other pens...

Like all those sheaffers you are buying don't deny it I know it's you.

Sometimes the cat needs a new cat toy. And sometimes I need a new pen.

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OcalaFlGuy

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Other than this one [1], all the Sheaffers I have are Imperials and I haven't had any inner cap issues with them.

 

Other than an Estie here and there for other people, I'm not really buying any pens now. Maybe an Imperial if it's a

decent deal on a 14kt M nibbed one.

 

[1] Oh it, it's just this lowly primo gray striped regular size lever fill Balance with about a 1.1-1.3 Stub in it...

:P that's all.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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LisaN Vintage

LisaN

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Other than this one [1], all the Sheaffers I have are Imperials and I haven't had any inner cap issues with them.

 

Other than an Estie here and there for other people, I'm not really buying any pens now. Maybe an Imperial if it's a

decent deal on a 14kt M nibbed one.

 

[1] Oh it, it's just this lowly primo gray striped regular size lever fill Balance with about a 1.1-1.3 Stub in it...

:P that's all.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Naaah, my boy, you can't taunt me there- I have that slender full sized grey pearl balance, myself, and the window is mint. OK, that pen does not have the stub, but the Black Sovereign II (I think that's what it is) does.

 

Aaaand I have that 797 imperial FP/MP set. 585 nib, but aerometric converter.

 

Wait till you see the TD I just got...

Sometimes the cat needs a new cat toy. And sometimes I need a new pen.

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