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Hi, This is not my first time using a flex fountain pen. I have a pilot 912 FA and a bluedew flex pen but this is my first experience a vintage flex fountain pen. I just received my a vintage waterman fountain pen (a 'new look' that is made between 1940-1950 by JIF-Waterman). According to the seller, this nib can go from EF to 2.0mm. I was experimenting the flex of the pen. And I was too stupid to actually flex it that hard and half of the tip came off from the nib. I still have the tip that is broken off. Is the pen can still be saved or is it only a piece of accessory now? 😭 Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestion.

Hi I am very new here, and new to pen restoration, for that reason please excuse my ignorance on the topic. I recently acquired a beautiful "Pick Pen". Everything seems great apart from the fact that the top of the cap is missing a jewel section or fennel and so the interior of the cap is open to the air when closed. Also, a part of the inside sleeve that protects the nib came loose inside the cap. What's interesting is that upon removal I noticed that the material seems to be a charcoal sleeve. It had broken up, but when placed together it makes a perfect half circle, I assume this is how it was originally inserted into the cap. Does anyone have any idea what the missing piece on the top of the cap looks like? The end of the barrel has a celluloid plug, it doesn't seem to follow the taper of the barrel and the surface is uneven and not particularly beautiful. My guess is that a similar plug was glued in the top of the cap. From my research and observation the nib seems to have a great degree of flex. Any input or advice would be helpful. Thanks Rob

So.. I finally got my shipment from Anderson Pens for restoring my little Wearever and everything went great! I put a new sac on (which is watertight) and put a new j-bar in (40mm) but since they didn’t have talc in stock I ordered it from a separate place, and it is due to arrive soon. Anyway, so as I was moving the barrel with the j-bar, I dropped it, and the j-bar moved a little bit further back (I didn’t know it could, I pushed it back as far as I could) leaving me not able to pull it out with the hemostat. Long story short, I gave it somebody who, despite me telling them explicitly several times not to open the lever when trying to pull it out, did it anyway, and pulled the lever and a little metal ring out of the pen, along with the j-bar. Can I get the lever back in? Is my pen broken? Could I do anything to fix it? And if I can, should I put it a slightly bigger j-bar? Thank you for all of your help. I really like the way this wrote, it was like a medium that was ground quite stub-like. So I really want it to be a functioning pen. Thank you for all of your help. Below is a picture of all the parts, including the lever and the ring.

I just impulsively got my first vintage pen, as well as my first pen needing restoration, at an antique store a few hours ago. But, I have absolutely no clue how to restore it. When I opened it, the sac was absolutely dust and the metal pressure bar fell out in two pieces. I expected the sac to be destroyed, but not the pressure bar! So, could anyone please make a step-by-step instructions for how to restore it, as well as what I will need and where to buy it? It would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Hello there, I have recently acquired a beautiful blue swirl Bantam and I'm refitting the sac since it is a bulb system and the old sac was worn. The pen came from factory with an aluminum press fitted ring that held the old sac. (see picture) Now I need to remove this ring in order to properly fit another sac, but have been experiencing some difficulty doing so. Does anyone have any experience with this or how I should tackle this? As one of the pictures will show, I have started to chip away at a deep groove in the ring. Will this be problematic? Thanks in advance for any guidance whatshowever. This is the first proper restoration that I am starting so any information is welcome.

Hi FPN, A little while ago, I managed a great deal on a vintage Kaweco V12 and 619 set from around 1965. It was a bit of a risk, bought it on eBay with only one picture so didn't really know what condition it was in. Fortunately, it arrived and when I started to clean it and take it apart it turned out to be in VERY good condition and needing nothing other than a cleaning and some silicon grease. I've done a review of the pens here. However, between winning the auction and getting the pen, I was looking online on how to restore them, I was worried it had a cork piston seal, I couldn't find much. When I couldn't find one, I thought I would take some pictures of the steps as I did it to my new pen, so here's a quite guide on how to take apart a Kaweco V12 and what the parts look like. To start things off, here's a picture of the pens and the case as they arrived. The first thing I did was soak the pen in some deionized water for a few hours, pulling it out of the water to let the water inside the pen drain out and then refill the pen. This washed out virtually all of the ink, which turned the water blue likely meaning it was a washable blue ink that was in it. After the water coming out of the pen stayed clear, I used some nylon pliers to pull out the nib and feed from the pen, which come out as shown below. They just pull straight out, if they don't come out easily, I'd suggest soaking in some soapy water maybe then applying a little dry heat (not too much, the pen is celluloid). The nib may come out by itself without the feed, if that happens just pull the feed out with some rubber tipped pliers. Once removed, this is what the nib and feed look like. They can/should be soaked by themselves in clean water just to make sure everything comes off them, could even give them a gentle brush with a toothbrush to make sure. While I was soaking the nib unit, I started on the piston. On the pen, the seal and piston had come loose from the nob and twisting the nob at the back didn't do anything to the piston, which had me a little worried. When I was looking at the threads, i thought they looked a lot like the threads on a Parker Vacuumatic, which I have the tools to remove. So I grabbed that and it was a match. However, as soon as the unit started to unscrew, I realized that using section pliers are a better option. You can see from the photo below, that the piston unscrews from the barrel of the pen at the metal o-ring rather than at the nob. This means that the piston forms part of the barrel at the top of the pen. This makes using section pliers on the back end of the pen the best option for removing it. My pen didn't have any shellac, but I can see some pens might, so not a bad idea to apply a little dry heat, again, not too much. (this photo is actually from putting the pen back together, that's why the piston isn't sitting in the ink window). Once out, I could see why the piston had come loose from the nob. It's different from the TWSBI piston units as there's a screw that's attached to the nob which fits into a threaded hole inside the piston. There is a square hole in the nob piece which the piston fits into to stop it from rotating and the nob turns a screw which extends or retracts the piston. The below shows the pen fully disassembled. To reassemble the pen, I started with the piston. I put silicon grease on the seal to fill the notch and all along the sides of the seal. I also put grease into the hole in the nob unit, on the outside of the piston shaft, and on the threads that screw into the barrel. I then put the piston into the nob unit and fully retracted the piston. I then screwed the piston unit into the barrel of the pen. I only finger tightened the piston unit as I didn't want to crack the barrel of the pen and was confident it wasn't going to come loose. I wouldn't recommend using section pliers to screw it in as you might over tighten and crack the barrel. You could apply some shellac to the threads to keep it in place, but I didn't want to and the fit is good enough on my pen that I wasn't too worried. The pen is much easier to thoroughly clean if I can remove the piston. It was then just a matter of putting the nib back onto the feed and sliding it into the pen. It goes in smoothly and there is a final little bump you can feel it go over telling you it's in there securely. Because of how the nib fits onto the section, it's very difficult for it to be misaligned, but always worth a check as once on the pen it's difficult. After putting it all back together I tested the piston with some water and it worked great, so inked it up and gave it a test and been very happy ever since. For the 619 ballpoint, the pen came with a refill in it, fortunately, but it had long dried out. I was able to find out that the Schneider 75M refills fit the pen and ordered one black and one blue. To remove the refill, the front of the pen simply unscrews. As you might be able to tell in that photo, the Schneider refills are a little too long for the pen and need to be cut down slightly. I used the refill that came in the pen to get the correct size, unfortunately I don't know the length of what I cut off, but it's around a half inch I think. There was a bit of foam in the piece of the refill that I had to cut off, so I pushed it out and put it back into the back end of the refill to stop it from drying out. I then rounded off the corners a bit and put it into the pen. Worked great and writes very well. The click mechanism is a bit unique. To extend the pen, you push the button down halfway and it will stay there with the pen extended for use. To retract it, push the button the rest of the way and it will go back in. This means if you push the button all the way down in one go, it will extend then retract the pen in one push. This took me a couple of tries to figure out and I think would catch your typical ballpoint user off guard, they are likely to think it broken so if you let someone borrow the pen, best to explain. You can see in the below, the pen extended and the button half pushed. Hope that was useful to someone and if you get a chance to get one of these pens, I'd highly recommend it, they look to be very low maintenance and rather easy to restore if there aren't any broken pieces. Again, you can read my review of the two pens here.

Browsing on eBay, I came across several lots of pens, selling for about 10 GBP each plus postage across the pond. Each lot has about half-a-dozen to a dozen fountain pens, mostly of unknown brands. These lots are all listed by the same seller, who has several hundred pen listings. I believe the seller is reputable. He was recommended by FPN. I have never worked with vintage pens, except once - an Osmiroid nib was stuck and I paid someone to loosen it. I thought it might be fun to play around with these pens. Maybe even write with some of them. However, the seller is somewhat vague about the pens' condition. His responses to my inquiries are: Lot 1: all no-names "Most of them doesn't need other than inks, refills and cartrigdes, I think you can increase your skills on nib grinding if you like to do so, simply because they will be sold cheaply than they usually do," "Lot is offered unrestored and I don t have time for it really, they will work I assume, they use international cartridges," (I don't have any interest in nib-grinding.) Lot 3: "4 pieces of whatevers, 2 fountain pen for parts, one parker vector fountain pen, 1 parker 15 ballpoint pen, 1 camel pencil, 3 manuscript calligraphy fountain pens, 3 platignum calligraphy fountain pens, one wooden fountain pen, one blue laque fountain pen, one chrome fountain pen, All need just cartridges, not checked the working condition by the way." Lot 5: "1 sheaffer school pen, 3 parker vector rollerballs, queensway fountain pen in burgundy, nova fountain pen in gray marble, platignum cadet in black, one biro pen, scripto ballpoint, vintage mini orance pencil working, 4 fountain pen for parts, 5 pieces of whatevers. Almost all need restoration." I'm troubled that the seller doesn't have time to determine more about these pens. Can I expect any sense of satisfaction with these pens? Might any of them be a surprise find or even a bargain?

Hi all, first post here. I bought a taperite citation with the hooded nib that needs restoring, but the nib needs replacing. I have been scouring the web for months trying to find a replacement with no success. Having to guess at the nib description as all the engraving says is ‘made in england’ or some such. I have bought other taperites with the intention of nicking their nibs, but they are always in good condition and very saleable, so it would simply leave me with yet another pen needing a nib. Can anyone point me to a nib or provide an accurate description of the nib model so i can continue my search without going bald too quickly? i apologies if i am in the forum, feel free to moderate me. many desperate thanks in advance, Dave C.

This is another recent 452 and 1/2 V acquired. It has both the factory clip plus the ring. It is in the Sheraton pattern (a bit boring, but less common). When it arrived, the lever would only move about 1/16th of an inch. The Sac inside had seriously hardened, and prevented the lever from moving any further. This example of the pen absolutely required the use of a hair drier to separate the section from the body. Upon inspection it was clear that last person who had been in the pen (decades before), had got some shellac on the section/body junction. Still, it came apart without cracking anything, which was good. It will recieve the same #16 sac I used on my other 452 1/2 V (basket weave pattern).

I am trying to restore an old Wearever lever filler pen that I bought on ebay. It's my first attempt at fixing an old pen. When I dip tested the nib and feed they seemed to work well and produced a nice fine line. The sac was a hardened mess inside. So I opened it up and cleaned everything out. I ordered the sac, shellac, and talc from Anderson Pens, and replaced the sac. It was much easier than I thought it would be and so I thought I had done it. However, when I filled it with ink (a Blackstone Barrister Brown), and tested it was very very wet. In fact, it was gushing. So I reset the nib/feed several times with the feed end as close to the nib as possible, then further back. Nothing seems to work. The ink is actually pooling in between the combs and at the base of the section. And every I open it up there is ink all over the nib both top and bottom. Does anyone have any ideas on what is causing this and how I might be able to fix it? The feed is not loose in the section, and is actually hard to remove once it is in position.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I would like to get this pen I recently acquired up and running. How do I get inside the pen to look at the sack? Do i just pull out the nib? Thanks in advance.

Say I've got three Snorkels in front of me. One has a flawless Triumph 14k nib, but the body is busted. One has restored internals, but the nib is a 14k #5 and the body is an ugly grey. The final one has a beautiful burgundy body and the Sentinel cap, but the Triumph nib is busted and the internals aren't restored. How do I get the best parts of each into one nice frankenpen? (Repair newb)

To those who use IR thermometers to test tempuratures of sections and other pen parts when using heat to loosen them - Which one do you use/recommend?

I don't have many Esterbrooks, but I noticed that two of them have their "Esterbrook ® Made in U.S.A." caption completely faded. It is engraved in the pen body, so is still legible, but whatever paint was in it, is long gone. This hasn't really bothered me, but now I have another one (in better condition), and the same caption is painted white on it. So the question is, how can I restore this white caption? Is it even worth to bother with it?

Hello everyone! I recently aquired a vintage unmarked piston filler with a cork piston seal. The only info it had was the nib which says "HUNTCO MADE IN USA". Of what I could find about that it seems to be made here in Hungary with this imported nib, and is probably twice my age, which dates it to the 50s or 60s. The problem is, when I fully retract the piston, it loses vacuum, and it feels like the barrel gets wider (stretched?) where the piston seal was resting the gods know for how long. Addig a frakload of silicone grease helps a bit, but won't solve the problem. After a week of use, the cork seems flexible again.. I'm considering replacing the cork, but I'm not sure it will deal with the streched (?) barrel. Any thoughts/experiences/ideas?

Hi Everyone, About one month ago I purchased my first Parker 51 from a member here on FPN. I was rather ambivalent about the pen at first but I had heard that every collection should have at least one P 51 so I took the plunge and got one. To make a long story short, I absolutely LOVE the pen! I am now hopelessly addicted to P51's and want to add more to my collection! The pen I bought here was already broken down, cleaned and was ready to write when I got it. Over the past week I have purchased two additional P51's off the Bay (probably not the smartest move considering my novice state) and they seemed like a good deal. I have not yet received either pen in the post but I am anticipating having to do some cleaning and set up once they arrive. I have immersed myself in learning here and on other sites about cleaning P51's prior to use. Bruce's "sticky" in this section has been most useful as well as Richard Binder's extraordinary knowledge. My question is: when I receive these pens I have an ultrasonic cleaner. Should I immediately start to clean them or should I attempt to see if they fill and write first? If I did use the ultrasonic do I need to take apart the pen to do an adequate job or could I just put the nib,section and sac, not taken apart, in the cleaner? I have never taken a P51 apart and although it doesn't sound too difficult I would rather avoid it if possible. My track record with things like that usually end up with problems, either broken parts, difficult reassembly, etc. In other words, Murphy's Law usually applies to me. I really want to learn to work on my pens but I'd rather not use P51's for my education in doing so. Jinhao's or the like are more to my comfort level when learning. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

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.

I remember reading about folks sending a pen to have the nib ground....I think there was someone in Edinburgh, but anywhere in UK is great : recommendations? I have a couple of pens which need attention: - a Mont Blanc Monte Rosa which has a nib so scratchy as to be unusable - an Omas piston filler which I took apart(I should not have done that....an old habit of taking things apart, but then not being able to get them back Together)and which I now can't reassemble. Grateful for ant help Thanks Alex

Request for a replacement pàrt for the pilot pen venishing point 14K fountain pen. I am enclosing photos of damaged part pl help

I just got into fountain pens at the beginning of this year. Prior to that, I was trying to do calligraphy, but found the dip pens to be a bit of a pain. I am now trying to repair/restore a few pens. I'm currently looking for a feed for a Waterman Stalwart. Any pointers would be welcome! I've been lurking a few places (mostly here and Reddit). I figured I should actually join the community. There's so much good information here! Unfortunately, I've found I don't even know what questions I should be asking. For example, if I had done more research, I would have known not all Waterman 14kt nibs are flexible. I bought the Waterman because I REALLY wanted a vintage flex. Turns out it comes with a 2A nib, which I guess isn't exactly what I was looking for. I'm looking forward to spending even more time and money on this great hobby/obsession!

Hello for the THIRD time, o mighty experts on fountain pens Today, in my newbie buying frenzy, I spent $8.00 on this Epenco lever filler. It's DEFINITELY a gold plated nib The ink sac came out in 1 piece (well, two if you include the "collar" attached to the nib/feed section). The clip has "EPENCO" on it (along with some corrosion), and the band on the cap is faceted (kind of cool! Also a little corrosion). Lever is gold plated, also with a little corrosion. I really like the color and condition of the celluloid body, which is why I purchased it. The nib is losing some of it's gold plating and is stamped "EPENCO" over "NEW YORK" over "US PATS" over "2054306" and "25054307" over "MADE IN USA" I have only two questions for this one. Question #1: Any idea how to remove the "collar" of the old in sac shellaced into place on the nib/feed section? Question #2: What's the best way to determine the sac size for this one? The old sack is as hard as a rock, and I'd like to keep this pen as a writer.

Hello again, Everyone! Newbie here again who went out and spent a little money today (and this emoticon would represent my wife: ). This is a button filler stamped /engraved "Webster Chicago" then there's an empty diamond shape, then it reads "Pen - - ILL". The weird part is the stamping/engraving on the underside of the barrel. It appears to have been done at the factory, in the same style, and depth of the other stamping/engraving, only in a larger font. It reads "LILLIE TROJCAK" That is possibly a name (according to "The Google"), and it has me stumped as to why it would be on a pen. The nib appears to be gold, and not plated. It has a heart shaped breather hole. It is stamped "Gold Bond" over "14k" over 'Made in the USA". The bad: This pen is missing it's clip, it has some indentations like someone used to "nibble" on the end (not really chew, but left a few marks) and the ink sack was disintegrated. I removed most of the ink sack, very carefully, and removed the button mechanism to clean the pen (with no damage, I might add!). Question #1: Any idea of what size ink sac a Webster button filler would take? I'd like to keep this one as a writer. Question #2: Where would I begin to look for a replacement clip? Question #3: Is it worth it for this pen? I bought it because I like the colors of the celluloid, to be honest. I'd like to keep it and write with it. Was $20.00 too much to spend on a pen in this condition? Probably..... --Eric

Have any of you done a restore on this pen? Any tips? Mine isn't here yet so I am researching ahead of time. I finally was able to obtain one for a decent price.

I would very much like to try to learn the basics of how to restore, look after, and nurture fountain pens....I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of suitable websites ( very much a beginner) or books. Alex

I would like to dip my toe into the realm of restoration/repair....just for me, hobby, not to make any money: I'm very fond of the 51, and wondered how good - or not - a subject it would be? Any opinions very gratefully received Alex PS am posting this on the repair forum - hope its ok to do that