Fountain Pen Sac Size Guide For Repairers

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I was kind of curious, I was looking at this sac guide and the one on pensacs.com and they're almost all the same except for the Waterman sacs - those are about two sizes smaller on Richard Binder's guide. Is one of these more right?

 

I saw the note about the sac sizes recommended being 2-4 times smaller than the original but other than the Waterman ones, the recommended sacs are pretty consistent between the two guides so I don't think that's the difference...

 

Anecdotally I just tried putting a sac into my Lady Patricia lever filler and while I don't have a #14 (the recommended size on Richard's guide), I tried a #15 and that felt way too small, I could barely get it over the sac nipple. I can't imagine getting a #14 on there. I tried a #16 (recommended by Pensacs.com) and that fit perfectly - a little tight but not overly so.

[John T]

My first attempt at restoration. A few questions, What size JBar would you recommend and the nipple is .258 inches or 6.65mm, what size sac do you recommend? Cleaning the Nib/Feed/Section right now, The interior of the barrel is clean. And while it is a cheapo pen I like it and want to have it come out nicely.

Edited November 8, 2023 by John T
Wrong numbers

[Vintagepens]

Guides are all well and good, but often as not you'll just have to check what fits by trial and error. That means that you will need to have a stock of sacs in various sizes (14 to 19 will cover almost all standard-sized vintage pens) so you can try them inside the barrel.
NOT on the sac nipple, note -- that is a completely unreliable method of ascertaining what the fit will be inside the barrel, which is what matters. Penmakers in the past did not size their section nipples according to the barrel's inside dimensions.
 

 

[bc.hiker]

Thanks for sharing this great info.  It's really appreciated!