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Hello, My handle is Doc13. I have my grandmothers Waterman “Skywriter” made in Canada. It has a pump lever for the bladder/reservoir, so I would like to restore it to working order. I also came across a bottle of Scripts ink she used and it was sealed enough that it is still half full of ink. I feel blessed with this find and want to treat the family treasure with the respect it deserves. Any advice would be appreciated. Doc13

Hi, I recently purchased the following (my first vintage pens) 1. A Waterman- 'Skywriter', 1930's Made in Canada, green marbled celluloid, lever filler. 14k nib marked 'R' (inside a diamond) Canada 2. A Waterman Ideal No.32 Lever Filler, 1930's, Made in Canada. 14k 'Waterman's Ideal England 2' Nib Apart from anything else anyone wants to pipe in about - as I know nothing about these pens or vintage pens in general - what I'm specifically wondering is: 1.would there be something metal in these pens other than the nibs (which are gold) that would be affected by Iron Gall inks, or should they be very safe to use Iron gall inks with ? I have read that IG inks can create other issues like particulate coming out of solution, and I've also read that they are perfectly fine except for their interactions with metal-so I don't know what to make of that and am probably stearing clear of them for the time being as a result of that. Is there anything specific about these pens that I should be aware of that is unusual and warrants some unusual or specific care or something that I would be unaware of - other than what would apply to most any 'vintage' pen. My thought is I'll clean them out more often than I do my 'regular pens' with soapy water ? Inks - The only non pigment inks I own are Diamine 1864 Blue Black - any reason not to use this in these pens ? (I'm not planning on putting the pigment inks in these-yet anyways) Also I'm hoping for any advice or possible warnings with the following ink considerations. Ideally they would be permanent, eternal, neutral ph, fade resistant etc. , but I already know that I won't be able to check all those boxes so I'm expecting to have to flex somewhere - water resistant is ok, but a neutral-ish ph and fade resistant are my goals, as I feel I have control over keeping the paper safe from water (mostly). So here goes : Black--love black - my main ink. (I usually use Plat.Carbon Black - it's awesome, if you didn't know lol) J. Herbin Perle Noire, or Pelikan 4001 Brown - Cacao du bresil, or Lie de The - (leaning towards Cacao - grey brown from what I can tell) Green - J. Herbin's Vert Empire , or Diamine Evergreen. Red Brown/Black - (something kind of dried, darkened blood-looking) Diamine Oxblood, or Diamine Rustic Brown, (Noodlers Red Black, or Black Swan/English Rose would be nice but I'm reluctant to put those in these pens) Thanks.

I was asked lately to put a new point in a de-nibbed Waterman Skywriter. This took more than the usual amount of work; apparently the point has been out long enough for the section to shrink to fit the feed by itself. ...and in the course of working on the problem, I find that the feed itself is made of celluloid. This befuddles me, and I want to check with the collective intelligence about how to proceed on setting it, because as things stand the point/feed gap is enormous. My first instinct is to proceed as one would with a rubber feed, but gently, on the basis that damp heat will certainly deform celluloid and at a lesser temperature than rubber calls for. But since this is an entirely novel situation, I hesitate for fear that the feed will shrivel to a nothing. Informed opinion? Shared experiences?