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Hi, I bought a circa 1918 Waterman's Ideal 52 lever fill fountain pen two weeks ago. I had it filled with Waterman's ink at the store, took it home, and gleefully wrote with it until it ran dry today. I started to flush it out with distilled water and after about 20, or so, fills and flushes it just stopped filling when I released the lever to fill it one more time. No forewarning of impending failure, no breaking or snapping sound, nothing. Any idea what this could be, is a fix simple? I am somewhat handy, but if this is a repair beyond my means, can someone recommend a place that works on lever fill pens that is good? Thank you for any advice you can offer up. Jake

I found I have lying around the following few items: A Waterman 52 barrel with properly functioning lever box; a "Warranted 14c 1st class" gold nib, fitted to a Waterman 52 section; a slip cap rather like that I have seen on Onoto and which happens to fit neatly over the 52 barrel over the threads. By adding a sac, I can make what I expect would be a sound, writing pen. Would you? I don't need the pen. For that matter, I do not need the parts. Such a pen would not excite me but PIF has two problems, one being that I am in Oz (postage) and the other being that the parts may be worth more alone. However, selling involves time and effort for relatively low value items. Maybe I should make it rather than leaving the parts lying about uselessly. I am interested in your views, or what you have done.

Hi all, I have the weirdest issue. It's happened twice so I'm totally confused. Newly purchased pen. I've rinsed the sac with water till it runs totally clear, no tint... Inked with Inferno Red wrote with it for an hour nothing weird, then about 24 hours later, it's turned dark brown totally changed color. I rinsed out the sack with plain water till it ran clear and used a Sargasso Sea ink with no issues for about a week. Cleaned it out with plain water till it ran clean and then tried Arizona sunset. Wrote with it about 4 hours ago went to dinner, got home and tried it again and boom, it's a dark orange... When I clean, I use plain water and I fill the pen and empty it repeatedly till it runs clear. I can't believe there is any residue in the pen from previous inking. Question: If the sac is leaking wouldn't the pen leak from the lever or show some evidence?

Hello All, I recently purchased a Waterman 52 BCHR that was restored before purchase. It writes very well, no flow problems/railroading but it does something weird. I can write a couple of pages and then it acts like it's running out of ink in mid sentence. The first time, I figured it had run out (surprisingly in a short time) but when I pulled the fill lever over the sink, it sprayed quite a bit of ink. I figured it was an aberration. Fast forward, I flushed it with water and filled it again with a different ink. I've again written a few pages and it started drying out in mid sentence. I remembered the first time and I gently lifted the lever a couple of mm and it sprayed ink. Now it's writing again... It's not like it's a hard start caused by a nib drying out it's in mid sentence and it fades, then railroads, and stops writing all together. What causes this? I know it's an old pen but it's pretty simple design. Could the sack be twisted? Is there a way to fix it?

Recently acquired my first vintage Waterman, a BCHR 52 1/2V, and did a double take when it arrived in the mail. I knew these were small pens, but I didn't know they were THAT small. Yowza. That said, upon inking it up, it writes beautifully and I am absolutely in love with the flex nib. So I'm sold on vintage Watermans, but which model should I really be looking for? The obvious answer is a regular 52, but I'm worried that the barrel might still be too thin. My ideal (no pun intended) pen size is somewhere between a Parker 51 and a Pelikan M600. Is there a BCHR flex-nibbed Waterman that fits this particular bill?

There's been a Waterman 52 up on eBay this week: an average pen with what looks like an incredible nib. Impossibly flexy, and accompanied with a page of calligraphy that I couldn't reproduce if I sat in a scriptorium for a decade. I dropped out at $400.00 and the bidding has only gotten fiercer - it'll probably go for at least six bills. I've made many stupid purchases in my time, but I couldn't make myself step over that threshold. HOWEVER... There was another pen on eBay, with a very similar nib. It didn't have the gorgeous writing sample, but I got curious and asked the seller (who's in Spain...how did this thing get there?) if he could produce a writing sample. He did one, blobby and feathered on cheap paper, but the nib! I'm not saying it's as good as the one that's currently rising to the monetary stratosphere, but it looks awfully close and It's going to cost me half as much. It's an old 42 Safety, and I'm probably going to vandalize it by swapping nibs with one of my ringtops so I can make it useful. I can do it for that price and not feel bad about it, as I might otherwise. Moral: be a pest. Ask the guy in Spain to write a bit and send you some snaps.

Hello all! I'm a long time reader, first time writer on this forum. I figured that, with the vast pool of knowledge in here, this issue might have been addressed, but I cannot find it anywhere. so here goes. I recently bought a waterman 52, "wood grain" pen. it is very flexible for what I was expecting. Not too much and not too little. but i'm noticing a serious issue with it. The nib and feed, when starting a line. begin parallel. "====" like this. But as I apply pressure to flex the tines a bit, the nib and feed are pressed away from each other. closer to a "<" sort of shape. This angle is exaggerated to be sure, but it is still extreme enough to cause the ink to travel away from the tines. which causes railroading for a line, then a completely cut from all ink stores. This is all resolved with a simple tap on top of the nib to restore it to the parallel position. So my question is this. Is there any way that I can fix this in a way that would not involve shellac? I've heard a thin swab inside of the section will resolve most loose nib and feed issues, but I'm a little timid to perform this. And I don't necessarily want to send it to a professional restoration place just yet. PS. the pictures that I added (if it works) are of the nib and feed. The one pointing to the side shows a "before writing" position. nib and feed are nestled in close to each other. the one pointing to the camera shows the nib and feed separated just enough to stop writing. Hope the pictures and description help with getting ideas. Thank you.

Hey there, I am looking to purchase a vintage Waterman nib for my Waterman 52 BCHR. I will be reffering to nibs found on this page: http://www.nibs.com/vintage-waterman-fountain-pen-nibs.htm Previously, I had a nib identical to Item # WNV-183 in it, which is a Waterman U.S Pat. Off #2 Semi flex nib. I was wondering, if Item #WVN-1, the #2 Ideal New York flex nib, would be able to fit in the pen. I would assume so, given that Item #WVN-1 measures 25.4mm in length and 6.0mm in width, while Item # WNV-183 measures 25.1mm in length and 6.1 in width. However, I would just like to ensure that this is the case. Edit: I also emailed sales@nibs.com for an answer two days ago, but have yet to receive a reply :/

Ink comes out of the breather hole while writing. I'm using Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black which is supposed to be the driest inks around. Any advice on getting it to behave normally? I feel as if the nib is really dry but has a waterfall for a feed.