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I got 3 Laban Pens & out of those 2 have very bad nibs . I wrote to them and it has been around 6 months & I haven't heard back from you. How has been your experience with them?

Hi everyone - I've got a Montblanc Starwalker that's had the threads on the cap strip completely twice, with very little use. I sent it back for repair once, and am looking for a more reliable solution. The second time it happened, the person at the Montblanc store very smugly recommended that I don't pull the cap off and don't tighten it too much. Believe me, as much as this pen cost, I've been as careful as I can with it and the cheap plastic threads in the cap fail after a couple of months of normal daily use. Can anyone recommend what I should do?

Hello everyone, apperciate your kindness and input here. I bought two Aurora Internazionale on my trip to Japan a while ago, but I think due to all kinds of accidents, and the bank I kept them in got water damage in the vault. I observed some wear and scratches created by shipments. (Which is like a small amount on the and the end of the pen) So I would like to send my pens through Kenro to Aurora, I asked Kenro if Aurora could offer a repolishing of the pen, and they said yes. But I do not know if Aurora is willing to do an overhaul for the two Internazionale since they are sitting in a moistured environment for a while, so there may be something terrible happening to those metal components on the cap or so. And got some minor wear and scratches on the surface. I was just wondering if anyone would help me with this question. I also wonder what kind of packaging I should do when I ship them to Kenro, and in what type of packaging will they send back? Well... Although Internazionale may not be the most valuable Aurora, its old Duofold appearance and limited nature are indeed leveling up my concern and cause me to worry about these issues.

Hello everyone, I had asked this question on the Italy forum, but did not get any reply, so hopefully someone will be able to help here. I just bout this three (NoS) Omas Deskpens (Two 556T and one 583T), the pistons are extremely stiff and not moving. I need help on how to disassemble the pistons to grease them. Thank you in advance. Best regards, Northstar

Hey everyone! I got this Conklin (looks a lot like an Endura but isn't marked as such?) from an antique store for a really good deal-or so I thought! I was so excited I didn't notice the very loose clip. As you can see from the pictures, it looks like someone forced it one way and a small piece of the hard rubber gave way. Remarkably no cracks, but the clip does move to that one side (but not the other). Is there anything to be done to stabilize the clip? Thanks, Alexander

Hi my hobby friends! A few months ago I finished the restoration of a Sheaffer Balance Oversize in black and pearl like this one. After resacking, full cleaning and so on I filled it with ink (Edelstain Pelikan Garnet and Pelikan 4001 black&Blue in other occasion). When I opened the cap at the next day I noticed that the top of the section was fulled of wet ink. It's important to say that after filled the pen, I drop out a few drops of inks and clean the excess of ink in the feed, as always do. This problem is consistent: that happened a few times already. Other things to consider are : 1) The leaking doesn't occur when I have the pen in my hand (but sometimes í note an excessive' ink flow) >>>> so I didn't suspect of a 'too big sac' issue. I let you a picture below, just to be sure. 2) I suspect that the leak occurs in the section/feed/nib interface because often I see this zones a little flooded of ink (see photos below) 3) I made a little experiment removing the section and the cap (that is: leaving just the section with the sac, nib and feed) and replacing the cap with a clear plastic small flask (getting sure that the flask inner walls doesn't touch the nib) >>>> in this condition (with the sac filled of ink, obviously) I didn't see any ink leak for several days. 4) After a few measurements I'm sure that the inner cap inner walls doesn't touch the nib surface. 5) During restorations I removed the feed and nib for a deep deep cleaning and polishing (yeah... I know that this practice is not recommended). I made sure to leave the feed and nib in the same position they were originally 6) This leak or 'burp' problem occurs with the pen upside or even in horizontal position. 7) Sometimes a few days passed without any burp but then.... happen. So, I'm disoriented here... have you any recommendation or suggestion? What do you recommend to fix this technical issue? You're my last hope, hahaha. BTW: In the last picture I saw that with the system upside down, the ink doesn't fall to the feed. It is a surface tension issue between the silicone sac and the ink? How can that be fixed? Best regards!!

Hoping for some help. The knob on my Montblanc 12 piston filler just twists without the piston moving. Does that mean the spindle head is broken inside the knob? I presume that would be difficult to fix. Everything is friction fitted so it ain’t easy taking the pen apart.

Greetings. I recently picked up a 333 1/2 for less than usual, knowing there would be issues. The body, section, and cap all look fantastic. The nib will need a little attention, but is salvageable and incredibly flexible. But the feed is clearly not original and undersized. I have the equipment and ebonite rod stock to create a new one, but I don't have any idea what the upper part (underside of the nib) looks like. All I can find is images of the underside of the feed. If anyone has any pix of one 't would be deeply appreciated. Dimensions would be even more appreciated. Best, Nick

I have a few Parker 51 pens that I've taken apart, cleaned out, and now it's time to replace their sacs, so I thoroughly removed any gunk and residue from the sac nipple, then shellac'd the new sac and left it to dry for a day or so. The result: after the shellac dries, it seems that it doesn't provide a good air seal. There seem to be "bubbles" under the sac between the "ridges" of the sac nipple, and as I apply some pressure on the sac, it starts to separate from the sac nipple very easily. For this reason, I'm too afraid to put this in a pen, because even though it sold of holds, I'm afraid it would come loose and start to leak soon. It also seems that the shellac is weak, if I apply very little force the sac comes off easily. I've now repeated the process 3 times, tried 2 different kinds of shellac, each time cleaning out the gunk and residue from the previous attempt carefully. But I always get the same result. What am I doing wrong? Is there a trick that I'm missing here? This feels very silly because I was able to do this successfully in the past but for some reason I can't get it right this time.

My wife has a vintage Parker Vacumatic that is a family heirloom. Does anyone know of a repair shop with an online web page that "specializes" in "complete Parker Vacumatic restoration"?? I have seen Danny Fudge at The Write Pen mentioned here, and Ron at Main Street Pens . Are there others (other than the above) in the USA that are reputable (Vacumatics), do great work. Thanks for your help. jim

I have two Waterman E’Talon pens, which I have really enjoyed, plus an extra section and point. Problem is they all leak around the half ring clutch that secures the cap. I was able to dissemble one of the sections and believe the problem is the o-ring that fits above that ring (it’s red/orange). I’m thinking of using silicone to try to create a seal there. But that’s not the problem that is driving me crazy. I can’t dissemble either of the two other sections. I’ve tried hot water and physical pulling, but it won’t com apart. From the section I have apart, I know they do not screw, but push on. I am assuming there’s some kind of adhesive involved. To clarify, I can pull out the nib and feed, but the plastic piece that hold then won’t come out from the black plastic grip section. That, in turn, will not pull out of the metal piece that the barrel screws on to and that secures the offending clutch half ring. Any ideas about loosening things up?

I have a white Jinhao x450 that was all scratched up and looked like sh**t. So I decided to remove all of the white enamel and make it a brushed steel pen. I can screw off the cap phineal and clip no problem. However, I can't seem to get the end cap of the barrel to move at all. Is it also a screw on, or is it press fit or glued? The other option is to just try to tape the band off while grinding the paint off. JAB

I wanted to share with you the repair of a a crumbled barrel end of a gorgeous oversize Wahl Eversharp Doric in cathay color. A soon as I get this pen (50$) I had the bad idea to push a little on the crumbled crown from the barrel end and boom, it broke up in pieces... Here is the initial state... I cleaned the end barrel removing all the crumbled celluloid. I decided to rebuild the Barrel end crown using another broken doric cap in cathay color (junior size) (also crumbled at the end): here is this cap (yellow arrow shows instable cracks, I got it on ebay for 30$): I first removed all the "unhealthy celluloid" (broken or crumbled parts) from the broken doric cap. I then used sand paper to remove the discolored superficial layer of the cap. Here is what remained of the cap: Then the barrel was split in half using a fine jeweler's saw and sawn the splited barrel in "tiles" of the width of the barrel end: here are the tiles: Then the tiles were flattened and glued together using acetone welding. You must immerge a short time each tiles in acetone to allow them to soften. The tiles are then ready to be assembled two by two by pressing them against each other. On the left of the picture you can see tiles already assembled and on the right a fresh one ready to be soaked in acetone and welded to the other ones. You then get a kind of celluloid dice formed by successive acetone welded layers: And now the hardest part!: you have to wait for 3 months to allow the dice to dry (to shrink). It's now time to acetone weld the dice onto the end barrel: Then the crown is sculpted, sanded it down to the 12 lateral facets of the doric barrel with rough sand paper. To guide you and to avoid damaging the lateral facets of the barrel you have to protect each facet with a piece of metal taped with double sided scotch tape onto the barrel facet: Here is the rough result on the left (without fine sanding) and with fine sanding on the right (up to 5000 grit sandpaper): When you have finished with sculpting the 12 lateral facets it's time to sculpt the crown (end side). You have to sand it using a metallic guide taped with regular tape on the lateral facets: After finishing and sanding using Micromesh (grit 8000/12000) here is the result: The pen after a year of use didn't show any signs of crumbling, there was no celluloid shrinkage either:

I wasn't 100% sure if I should start this thread in the repair or Japan forum. I chose Japan because it is not about repairing a Sailor pen but sending it to Sailor for repair. I thought I would post this thread to inform anyone interested of how the repair process for Sailor Pens works. I sent mine in for repair because I lost the friction-fit inner cap. This is probably a 10 cent part, but the only solution I could find was to send it to the factory for repair. After consulting the forums in this thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347469-sailor-inner-cap-replacement/ I contacted Itoya -- the US Sailor distributor -- via their website: itoya.com. From there, I emailed returns@itoya.com and received this email: Hi Jonny, We can help facilitate the repair with Sailor. We as the distributor is not allowed by Sailor to do any sort of repair. All repair work has to be done at the factory in Japan. It is also Sailor policy not to send just parts for replacement. The entire pen has to be sent to Japan for evaluation. Even if you are just missing the inner cap. This is to ensure that the pen is in perfect working condition once the parts are replaced and repair is completed. Below is our repair process. You will be shipping your pen to our facility in California. Once it arrives, we will send this to SAILOR Japan. Once the evaluation is completed, SAILOR will contact us with a cost estimate which we will forward to you through email. If you authorize us to have SAILOR proceed, you are responsible for this amount plus a $20.00 shipping & handling fee (these charges are typically handled by credit card - we accept Visa, MasterCard or Discover). The entire process typically takes 10-12 weeks. If you decide not to proceed with the repair, the pen will be return unrepaired and your cost will only be the $20.00 shipping and handling. Please send the entire pen to ITOYA, at the address below. Reference on the outside of the package ######### for easy identification. Itoya800 Sandhill AvenueCarson, CA 90746 Here's the timeline so far for repair: Tuesday, July 9, 2019I sent the pen to Itoya via USPS. Friday, July 12, 2019USPS let me know Itoya received the pen. Tuesday, July 16, 2019I emailed Itoya to confirm receipt since I had not heard from them. Wednesday, July 17, 2019Itoya confirmed they had received my pen. Tuesday, August 13, 2019I have not received further communication from Itoya. I assume all is moving forward and my pen is somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. I will update this thread as the process continues. In the meantime, I sent a pen to Franklin-Christoph last week for repair and have already received confirmation that it is in the mail back to me. I have also learned that Pilot has a repair tech in Lousiana. I love my Sailor, but I may choose Pilot for my next Japanese pen since they shouldn't require 10-12 weeks for a simple repair.

Hi all, I took a punt on a vacuum fill Sheaffer Feather-Touch with a military clip cap (the type where the clip bends over the cap's top), and it's sold as unrestored. I'm in the UK, and wondered if anyone had a recommendation for a UK-based repair person?

While cleaning this pen I think I accidentally removed the nib-holder unit (marked in arrow) from the section. Although the nib holder unit has a screw, it was not screwed inside to the section. But, rather pasted to the inside of the section. When I try to insert the nib holder unit, it remains loose. What can I do in this situation? Is this damage irreversible? https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1597461428__j886_1.jpeg https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1597461497__j886_2.jpeg

Hi all ! I have an M800 that I recently dropped on the floor, while the cap was screwed. I was surprised to see ink all over the floor, and when I picked it up, the cap and the screwed nib and piston were separated from the section where the ink is stored. The section seems to have "popped out" from a collar. Has anyone experienced this? Since the nib is still screwed on the cap, it is hard to see exactly what happened. Any suggestions? Thanks !!

About a month ago, I friend of mine sent his Duofold ballpoint for service to Parker. The pen didn't work for some reason and was just a few months out of warranty, so he decided to sent it directly to Parker in France in order to have it serviced. The pen returned just this week and much to his surprise, it was returned stating that Parker NO LONGER repairs pens or pencils. If under warranty, they might replace the product with a similar one; out of warranty they are offering a 50% discount on any other Parker, Waterman or Rotring product of his choice! Can you believe this?

Greetings! I need some advice. I have an early 1990's MB 149 which needs nib work. I'm guessing it's baby's bottom but the tines also seem to be "wanky" and need adjusted at the bare minimum. I'm not comfortable working on a nib and I live in Germany. I've read about MB's service and it seems that they are more apt to replace parts than fix them, and the cost to replace a nib is very expensive. Also, I bought this pen used (the body and cap are in perfect condition), but unsure if I will keep it as I've really fallen in love with some of my other pens. I'd like to know if it's advisable to send the pen to MB for service or if it would potentially be better to send it to a nibmeister. If you are suggesting a nibmeister, do you know of a good one in Europe, preferably in Germany? Thank you so much in advance! Dave

I recently acquired a nice, unrestored Waterman 3 from the early to mid 1930s, in great condition save for a broken feed. Upon removing the remaining length of the feed from the section to commence with the pen's restoration, I noticed that the feed has 2 parts- the feed and an outer sleeve. I have never seen a 2-piece sleeved feed on a Waterman, although I have only restored a few other Watermans (a Purple 5, a 52, and a Dauntless). All things considered, this is the only US-made vintage pen I have found to have a 2-piece sleeved feed (in my limited experience, of course). I've been trying to locate information on this 2-part feed design, and I've come up with nothing. I'm planning to replace it with a spare Waterman #2 sized feed to match the nib and section so I have a usable pen. I feel like I may have stumbled upon an experimental/short-lived design, although it's worthless to collectors (and to me) since it's broken. However, I was wondering if there are any Waterman fans or collectors out there with more experience that might know more about my mystery 2-piece feed?

I would like to help a friend repair her Montblanc 221, black. It has a hairline crack on the plastic nib holder of the hooded nib. I dont have photo yet but the problem described to me seems a common problem of this model. My question is: must I use MEK, or is Loctite 480 sufficient? I havent been able to buy MEK where I am, but I found Loctite 480 online in Switzerland. I plan to leave the pen for 2 weeks after the glue gets into the crack. Not too optimistic about repairing cracks, but I must try at least. Otherwise her pen is a leaky unusable pen. The leak might not just come from the crack, but that would be the first suspicion. I much appreciate any suggestions.

I am relatively new to sheaffers and pen restoration in general. I have restored my friend's Sheaffer Imperial, but somehow when I got one for myself, the screw was either sealed in and rusted or just rusted in, but i could not even get a grip on it with a screwdriver as the screw had corroded and was stripped. I have limited tools and I don't plan on buying any online. I have also searched online but the suggestions require tools I don't posses or are too risky and I don't want to try. Any suggestions? Sorry I could not get a clear photo of the screw.

I have a Conway Stewart in excellent outside condition. I sent it to a pen repair person for a complete restoration, new sac, nib tuned and polished. I got it back and all it got was "grease" and does not fill or write. Charge was $17. (restoration quote was $40) Rather than pursue with this fellow and waste my time, are there any reputable pen restorers, repair persons in the USA, with an online website, that I can send my pen to for restoration and nib tuning and polish? Thanks for your help. jim

I have a decent collection of the striped WEAREVER PACEMAKER pens, pictured below. I have 10 of the FPs and one mechanical pencil (2nd from left). I've collected this pen so far in four different colors. PenHero has covered Wearever pens quite extensively in other topics in the Other North American pens section, and has provided us with wonderful, professionally made photos, so I won't go over well-covered territory here. I've just provided various photos of my collection for what they are worth to you. My ultimate purpose here is to discuss a common repair issue with these pens -- the cracking of the section -- and to solicit recommendations about repair. These pens otherwise are relatively easy to fix when, for example, the button filler stops working. One can carefully remove the section, easily replace the rubber sac (if needed; so far not needed), reposition the lever and button mechanism, and get everything to work well. Because I'm a bit obsessive about cleaning my fountain pens, I also will remove the nib and feed (friction fit) to clean them, and then will reinsert them back into the section. If the section doesn't already have a crack, the reinsertion of the nib-feed has a tendency either to reveal a crack that already was there or to create a crack. That result may be contributed to by shrinkage of the section plastic over time. Although each section has a seam, the cracks I have seen or created thus far have not been in the seam. I now regret removing the nib-feed unnecessarily, as I perhaps could have avoided cracking the section of at least some of the cracked samples. The next-to-last photo, with better lighting, would better show the crack in one of the pens. You may be able to see slightly the reflection of the section crack on the bottom of the nib where it meets the section, but it's subtle in that photo. About half of these pens in my collection have a similar crack. What I have done with some success is to use a Q-Tip with super-glue to apply, in layers, the glue to the inside and outside of the section, and let it dry with each layer. As that very slightly reduces the space inside the section for the nib-feed, reinsertion of the nib-feed may stress the crack and require another layer or two of super-glue on the exterior of the section to hold in the ink. One may see a little bit of ink underneath the glue, which otherwise holds in the leakage to spare one's fingers an ink stain. When not leaking through a section crack, these Wearever Pacemakers are good writers for the price. The 14K medium nib is on the thinner side, but it writes smoothly with a bit of give to it, and the overall writing experience is nice for such a relatively inexpensive (then as new and now as vintage) fountain pen -- at least for my tastes. Any recommendations as how better to repair the section crack, assuming I've learned my lesson and will not remove the nib and feed just to clean them better? The photo just below may allow you to see the slight crack in the section; the crack is reflected onto the bottom of the nib very near the middle.

Anyone know if an Edson clip can be removed? I see a screw inside the cap, so I'm hopeful. I've also heaed the cap liner is glued in, so I don't want to mess with it unknowingly if I can help it...