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Hi All Appealing to your collective wisdom. My daily driver is a MB 144. About six weeks ago it started acting like it was "running out" the whole time (I haven't dropped it or exposed it to any significant trauma that I recall). By that I mean there was ink in the piston converter but as I was writing, it wasn't flowing through the pen and on to the paper. The line therefore got lighter and lighter until it started skipping. I am able to fill the pen OK and it will continue to write if I force ink into the nib using the piston converter. So far I have cleaned out the pen with water and also a dilute solution of ammonia and detergent. I have also manually cleaned off a lot of gunk and had a look at the nib under 20x magnification. From what I can see, the tines on the nib appear to be aligned OK. Before I send it away to get fixed does anyone have any other suggestions of fixes I can try at home? James

I recently inked up my red barreled M800, and noticed that after a few moments of writing ink stains on my fingers. I thought I hadn’t cleaned the threads after the filling, so after going over the threads again I used the pen for a while, and the ink reappeared on my hands. as near as I can tell, the pen is leaking where the barrel meets the section, below the cap threads. The pen has not been mistreated or exposed to extremes of heat or cold. Anyone else experienced this? Thanks

I've been having some issues with my 90th Anniversary Edition 149 & my journey to get it repaired. I purchased my pen new from one of the Authorized Dealers in St. Maarten in January this year while I was on a cruise. As soon as I got home, I inked it up with some UNICEF Blue and all was good until it started leaking onto the grip section a couple of months later. I also didn't like how the medium nib wrote so I asked to exchange the nib for an OBBB when I sent it out in March. Since I sent it in, I've had an "interesting" experience with MontBlanc's repair center. I was told that the 90th anniversary 149 was no longer considered a limited edition model and was not eligible for the nib exchange program. This conflicts with what my salesman told me when I purchased it in January. My salesman told me that since it was a limited edition model, I would have a year to exchange the nib if I didn't like how the medium nib wrote. I was also told by the service center that they could not determine the authenticity of 149 as my warranty booklet was not filled out completely. I sent a scan of my receipt to no avail. Since then, I have reached out to the jeweler who I purchased my 149 from in St. Maarten. They would contact the service center themselves and resolve all of the issues that I am facing. This was back in April and I still haven't heard anything from either MontBlanc or the Jeweler. We're now approaching the end of June and it appears that no progress has been made on getting this pen repaired. Any suggestions?

I'm glad to announce to all fans of Art Brown that we have reopened a new location under new management at #20R, Jewelery Plaza, 20 W 47th St . New York, NY 10036. At Art Brown, we pride ourselves on offering an extensive inventory of the very finest pens and leather goods available. If for some reason there is an item that you are interested in and we do not have it at the present time we will make sure to put our best efforts forth to get it for you. We also provide repairs. At Art Brown we place the needs and satisfaction of our customers above everything else. Dont forget that the holidays are quickly approaching and why not get your loved one a gift here. Come check us out at your earliest convenience, we look forward to assisting you

​Hi all. I thought I posted this question but if I did, it disappeared (which seems to happen to some of the posts...weird) Anyway, I had a Vac Deb red body slip into water (warm of course) and I didn't notice it for several hours. of course when I took it out it was cloudy. I also noted some of the "cloudiness" would "scratch" off when I ran my fingernail over it, but nothing much happened when I took a cloth and some Simichrome compound, So, question is: Any way to bring this pen body back to life? Or is it a work of art to be framed? Thanks Lenny (Nefsigh)

Hi all. I have a Vac I started working on and I need to resac the plunger and I am unable to get it to budge. Used heated (controlled) water (125 degrees) to attempt to soften any glue or varnish-No movement. I am using a Vac block to tighten onto this section but for some reason, unlike others I have repaired, this guy refuses to listen to me. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance, Lenny Dowhie, nefsigh@aol.com

I have some questions that I'm hoping the assembled MB experts can answer. Posing them requires some background information, which I hope will be interesting by itself. Some time ago - about 18 months or so - I walked into a slightly run-down, old-fashioned store in an unnamed German town that sells some books and some stationery, mostly catering for the school market. I asked the owner if he had any fountain pens, and he showed me a small range, most of which was new old stock from the 1990s or earlier. He also had one Montblanc pen - a 144. The cap had a flat top and a wavy clip, and the end of the barrel was rounded. Although the styles don't really match, the cap is a perfect fit. The pen was fitted with a lovely (14K) 3B nib. The owner had no idea of the age, but it looked like it was quite a lot older than the other pens in the shop, and is probably from a personal collection. It was clearly used - the piston mechanism was entirely gummed up and the feed was flithy with dried ink. The owner let me dab some water on the nib and the dried ink allowed me to write a little, which produced a very nice line. Anyway, I asked if he was interested in selling it, at which point he got a crafty look on his face and he said he would send it away to Montblanc for them to repair, as they used to offer a lifelong guarantee. I wished him luck and said that I would pop in at some point to see how he was getting on. Between then and now, I've been back three times, at long intervals. The first two times, he was waiting for MB to get back to him. The last time I went, he had received the pen back from MB: they had apparently wanted nearly 500 Euro to work on the pen, without any guarantee of a successful repair, and he had, unsurprisingly, refused the offer. The owner wants to try to find someone else to work on the pen - the look on his face tells me that he thinks it's worth a great deal of money, perhaps more than anyone is prepared to pay him. I am not a major MB fan, and I'm a user not a collector. But I did really like the nib on that particular pen. So I'm going to return in the second half of 2017, as my travels allow. It may have been repaired by then, but it's just as likely that it will be in the same state as before. As far as I'm concerned, MB's price quote suggests a challenging repair - well beyond my own limited skills - and any repairs would be expensive, perhaps prohibitively so. The nib (and cap) may in the end be the only things salvageable. By now, I'm interested more in the saga than in acquiring the pen. So, here's where my questions come in. Given only the information availabe in this post, 1) Does my understanding of the pen seem sensible? 2) Would you make an offer on the pen in unrepaired state, taking a risk on being able to have it repaired? 3) How much would you be prepared to offer for the pen in unrepaired and repaired state? 4) If I were to buy it and could salvage only the nib, which other models would the nib fit in? I'm really looking to test my understanding, with a view to using any responses as 'ballparks' if I do manage to get back there next year some time. Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I wanted to introduce myself, I live in Dublin, Ireland - pleased to meet you all! I've come here in the hope of getting some advice or help. I received a present of an Oberthur fountain pen from a friend. I love how it feels, the weight etc., however it is just not writing correctly. I brought it to a specialist pen shop in Dublin and they advised that the nib was damaged and needed to be replaced. The problem is that this shop does not stock or deal with Oberthur pens. My friend bought it in France, and has no plans to go back there soon. So I'm a bit stuck - I really want to get this pen working so I can use it, but have no idea how to get the nib replaced. Is there such a thing as postal repairs - or does anybody have any suggestions, short of making a trip abroad to get it repaired? Any advice appreciated, I hope it's okay for me to ask this on my first post.

Hi there, I'm in search of a someone in the uk (preferably England) who might be able to take a look at the nib on my Parker 51. I've had it for a couple of years, and I've never quite been able to get the nib to write the way I like. Thanks, Weemike

Not a question about Japanese pens, but a question about Japan. Please excuse me if this is in the wrong section. Does anyone know of any professional pen services, or gifted amateurs, for pen modifications or repairs in the Kanto district? I don't mind experimenting with regrinding or frankenpen conversions with dirt-cheap Jinhaos and Baoers myself, and wouldn't mind learning repair basics, but as that will be an as-and-when venture and I'm usually ludicrously busy, if anyone knows of anyone who can do such things (preferably a mom-and-pop rather than a department store or something) the information would be appreciated.

Okay, a while back, I purchasd a red M800 Pelikan with a cursive italic nib - the nib was a first for me and I looked forward to a new writing experience. I don't know, maybe I was expecting too much, but I had problems from the get-go. Was it the nib? Was it me? Was it just an expensive gamble that didn't pay off? After looking around to see what a new nib would cost, and kicking myself for opting for a cursive italic nib, I decided it was worth taking a chance to see what a nib meister might be able to do with the nib. I mean, things couldn't be any worse. Scratch. Skip. Hard start. So, after reading reviews on the web, I settled on Daniel Smith, the Nibsmith. Fast forward a little more than a month and I am enjoying my amazingly smooth Pelikan nib with just the right amount of stubbiness. A cursive italic as it should be! Daniel worked his magic quickly and for a ridiculously low price and what really impressed me was his honesty in recommending what had to be done to bring my nib back from the dead (that was my assessment - he saw it as something superb that just needed a little TLC.). Anyway, I'm glad to say I now have a nib meister of choice who I will use again as my pen collection grows. If anyone out there needs professional help with their nibs, I can't recommend Daniel Smith enough. Let's just say you couldn't do better than seek out the Nibsmith!

While examining a recent acquisition - a Conklin ringtop - I noticed a crack beginning across the breather hole. Mr. Minuskin informed me that with use, the tines will eventually fall off unless someone repaired it...him, for instance. So I began to look around for a replacement nib, and saw one on the Five-Star site, which had a very similar crack. This, I thought, was interesting: that a cracked nib would still be saleable. I wondered if the quality of these nibs was sufficiently special that we'd want to keep them in use. Has anyone had this sort of experience with Conklin nibs? Are they great, flawed Greek heroes of nibs? Or is there a tendency for these things to be purchased by gorillas?

Our seventh anniversary event includes 30% off all in-store items (excluding RIMOWA), raffles (ballot with purchase) and visits by several pen reps. We will also have Jeffry Fridfinnson on site to assess and/or repair old and new fountain pens. Details re. when reps will attend and when to have your pen assessed are in attached poster.

I have just recently purchased two Pilot Metropolitans. After minimal use of the first one the cap no longer snaps onto the pen, but has to be pushed down and twisted to get it to close, and even then the seal is very weak and often springs the cap back off. I am certain that it is not a problem with the pen, but with the cap because the cap from my other pilot metropolitan will snap securely onto both pen bodies, but the broken cap will not snap properly. Does anyone have experience with this issue and/or know how I might be able to fix it? Thanks!

Hello all - This is my first time in any forum, so please forgive me if I do something incorrectly. I am wondering if anyone knows of a pen repair shop that might be able to fix my very favourite Grifos fountain pen. It is a celluloid and sterling pen, with the sterling being the broken portion. I unscrewed it to check the ink supply in the converter, and when I put it back together something popped and the parts would no longer screw together. I spoke with a couple of different repair places and they all said that they wouldn't be able to get parts for the pen. I am trying to avoid having to send it back to Italy for repairs, as I could probably purchase a new pen more inexpensively. But this is my favourite. Any help would be appreciated.

I've accumulated a lot of pens, and some of them need work. I try not to have more than one or two in the shop at any time, but but they're starting to pile up. How do you decide what to send to the shop, and how many do you have waiting?

I swear, I have the worst luck... I had a batch of pens that recently arrived today after being fixed by Danny Fudge. Included was my Big Red that I was especially excited about. It didn't even come out of the package more than 5 minutes when I had to put it down to take a phone call (Danny Fudge really did an incredible job, I might add. I have photos of what the nib looked like before I sent it to him, and the difference is just amazing). Long story short, something startles my dog and she knocked it over and it fell to the floor. Now it has a crack in the cap's lip, under the gold band. I have been super depressed about this all day. Anyone know who I could send it to for repairs? I checked Ron Zorn (Danny Fudge especially recommended him) but I'm seeing he's not available at the moment.I want to send it to someone who's especially great at this kind of thing, but I imagine a number of people are. This is a photo of the damage, if it helps: http://i59.tinypic.com/e7jfo8.jpg I've been contemplating a number of places, but I'm really open to any suggestions at the moment.

Is Mercury retrograde or something? I took out my Waterman Commando this evening, only to find the barrel broken in two. It had seemed a pretty sturdy pen, and apart from writing with it, it was not being roughly handled. What gives? Do these old darlings just BREAK?

I work at a job where I sometimes have to take physical notes or draw pictures away from my desk, so I've gotten into the habit of wearing a ringtop fp on a lanyard. It's distressing, therefore, to notice how easily my 52 1/2 v unscrews itself from its cap and drops off. I lost a very valuable pen of another make some months ago and it makes me wonder if this has happened to anyone else? Judging from the large number of caps on ebay, I suspect this happens a lot, but I also notice that pens from the 30s and 40s seem a bit less prone to the problem. Experiences, anyone? Please share your pain, or any methods you have for keeping cap and pen together.

In another thread, the idea of pen classes has been raised. I think this is an interesting idea worth looking at in some depth. (I may be the only one that thinks this.) First lets define what the class is and how it would work then lets decide what it is worth to attend. Lets say the work shop/class is held at a pen show, perhaps a day before or on a non-public (trader pass only) day. The subject of the work shop could be anything pen related from Pens 101 to a Calligraphy class. The workshop would be ~4 hours long and is taught by a recognized expert in the subject matter. Lets also say you would need to provide your own pens but the class might provide any consumables like polishing pads, ink, paper, etc. Tuition may also include a take home kit of supplies, a book, etc. as appropriate to the subject matter. Lets also say the class was limited to 8 or 10 participants. The class might include lecture time on the subject, demonstrations, hands on practice with with guidance from the expert teaching the class. Some topics that I have heard in back channel communications include: Nibs Repairs (basic, advanced, pen/filler specific are all possibilities) Pen Basics Calligraphy Of course this doesn't come free but what is it worth to attend and what would one expect? Lets explore. Farmboy

So, was just re-assembling my TWSBI 580AL this afternoon after pulling it down for a good cleaning between inks, and at about 3/4 seated, the threaded portion separated cleanly from the rest of the section. I'm quite familiar with how much torque to put onto parts, and this was nowhere near even "snug," much less over-torqued. I've contacted TWSBI to see about spare parts, this is less than a month of light use old! http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/p603/Komitadjie/IMG_20140808_163433_zpsfe3105dc.jpg So, question for you guys: When I get the new section, how do I go about removing my lovely Pendleton BLS nib from this one, and placing it into the new one? Also, how should I go about removing the sheared-off bit of threaded plastic from inside the body without causing additional damage? I'm pondering just being very careful with a dental pick and seeing if I can get it to move. I'll update this as I make progress on the repairs!

I just got my first batch of restored pens back from Danny Fudge. I haven't tried any of them out yet but they look gorgeous, and I couldn't be happier. He did the work quickly and beautifully and for a great price. Now to select the next batch to be sent back.

Hi An idiot (me) lent his pen to another idiot last night, who managed to drop it from some height onto the floor. There is now a 25mm long curved crack in the cap - any suggestions for a good repairer (or even if this is possible). Thanks.

Hey folks, This is my first post on the network and I'm dying for some input. A friend of mine gave me a Pelikan Celebry his family received as a gift from a German exchange student. It wasn't treated well and was headed for the trash until he found out I was a pen addict. It has a broad nib and writes beautifully after a few priming lines. But, when it sits (even for a short period of time) with the cap on, ink leaks below the nib at the base of where I hold the pen. There is clearly a chip on the pen which you should be able to see in the picture. Currently it has a black Kaweco sport cartridge. Is there any way to stop this leaking? I'd love to use this pen regularly but not if it's bleeding ink. Any ideas would be great! Thanks pen people.

I was working in Copenhagen this week, and had a very lucky find at a flea market about an hour before I had to leave for the airport. There was a box of cracked, very dirty and broken pens - most nothing special, and some with such bad damage they weren't salvageable (the grubby and unidentified Montblanc with no cap and the dirty great crack all the way along the barrel up into the section made me very sad). But I found a tortoise shell Pelikan 400 in there, stumped up 350 krone (pretty much exactly £40) and took it home hoping the piston mechanism was still working. Got it home, and it was in surprisingly good nick, especially given it's 60 years old and seems to have been in a box most of that time: it just needed a quick clean to get rid of some dried ink, and it turns out to be a GORGEOUS writer. Glassy-smooth, soft M nib with a little flex, and, of course, it's a lovely weight and balance in the hand; it's a really beautiful, wonderfully useable pen and I'm thrilled I found it. But you may have noticed that I said the box was full of cracked and broken pens. This pen has escaped any damage, but someone, some time, yanked the clip off the cap, leaving most of the ring attached and two ends, where the clip was, sticking out untidily. I can just remove the whole ring and have the thing clipless, but I would prefer to replace the clip if possible. But I'm buggered if I can find any source for a Pelikan clip (outside eBay, where people are asking downright offensive prices for the *lid alone*, presumably where a pen has been destroyed, from much more recent M400s).