Dropped My Waterman Hemisphere Tip-First

[TheCowGod]

Hey guys. This is my first post here. I've got a Waterman Hemisphere that I received as a gift about ten years ago. I don't know much about fountain pens but have always enjoyed them, and this pen has worked well for me all the time I've had it. But yesterday as I uncapped it, it slipped out of my hand and, as fate would have it, landed tip-down. Here's a picture of the bent nib:

 

 

Is there a way to salvage it? I see replacement nibs online for something like $60, so I guess it wouldn't be worth investing TOO much in a repair, but if this is something I can straighten myself, I'm willing to give it a shot. But I know a nib is a precision instrument, so I'd like to know whether there's little gotchas I'm not aware of regarding trying to bend it back straight.

 

As far as replacement nibs, I've done a little research, and I know that Waterman changed the design of the Hemisphere in 2010, so I'd need to be sure to get a pre-2010-style nib. But if anyone has any other feedback on that subject, I'd welcome that as well. Thanks, guys.

 

Dan

[sirksael]

Repairing a steel nib is usually not a success, as it is much stiffer than a gold nib. I believe a specialist could do it, but the cost would be higher than buying a new nib.

 

By the way, you can find a whole new hemisphere for less than $60 on ebay, with free shipping.

[mshepp3]

Hey guys. This is my first post here. I've got a Waterman Hemisphere that I received as a gift about ten years ago. I don't know much about fountain pens but have always enjoyed them, and this pen has worked well for me all the time I've had it. But yesterday as I uncapped it, it slipped out of my hand and, as fate would have it, landed tip-down. Here's a picture of the bent nib:

 

 

Is there a way to salvage it? I see replacement nibs online for something like $60, so I guess it wouldn't be worth investing TOO much in a repair, but if this is something I can straighten myself, I'm willing to give it a shot. But I know a nib is a precision instrument, so I'd like to know whether there's little gotchas I'm not aware of regarding trying to bend it back straight.

 

As far as replacement nibs, I've done a little research, and I know that Waterman changed the design of the Hemisphere in 2010, so I'd need to be sure to get a pre-2010-style nib. But if anyone has any other feedback on that subject, I'd welcome that as well. Thanks, guys.

 

Dan

[mshepp3]

Good Day Dan

 

I actually had to do a little research to determine that your flag was Puerto Rico. Mine is hard to see clearly being so small on the website page, so I will tell you it is Bermuda... so we have the island sensibility thing in common.

 

My wife bought me a Waterman Harmonie at a local stationery store, and every time I used it, my fingers were anointed with ink. Turned out there was a fine crack in the grip section at the nib end. The store was willing to share the cost of replacement, but I was unhappy with that as the pen was supposed to be under warranty. But the price was low, so I ended up buying the only other Harmonie they had. I contacted NewellRubbermaid.com (for me in Ottawa, Canada - yours will be in Georgia), and when I figured out the cost of sending the damaged unit back to them, I ended up just having them send me a new grip section with a Fine nib. So now I have two complete Waterman Harmonies with 2 Medium and one Fine nib. I am planning on sending one pen with a Medium nib in it to Michael Masuyama and getting him to turn it into a Stub. I am telling you all this because you may want to "think outside the box" a bit and take the next step in being a fountain pen user / hobbyist.

 

Your problem is that you only need the nib as the grip section is (presumably) undamaged. If Newell Rubbermaid want to sell you more than you need, you might try www.dalyspenshop.com. But you may want to consider using this as an opportunity to explore different nibs, making one pen do the "work" of many. Just a thought.

 

Mark

[Ray-Vigo]

The nibs and feeds should pull straight out on these. Contact the distributor and see if they will sell you either a nib or a section/feed/nib combo. If not, buy a whole new Hemisphere.

[ppurka]

I had a similar experience with a Hemisphere. After I straightened the nib, the tines were misaligned. Photos of it can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/ppurka/Temp#

I first tried aligning the tines (I bought a cheap 10x-20x loup from amazon), and then tried a lot of other stuff to smoothen out the nib - including the brown paper bag trick. What finally worked for me was the nib smoothing kit by Richard Binder. I did only one mistake - I was a bit impatient and quite a bit of the tipping material was lost. Currently, the pen writes better when I write with the nib upside down!

 

IMHO, you won't lose anything in trying to fix it yourself. So, you might as well give it a go and try to fix it. And, I must say - carefully and with a lot of patience.

[carlos.q]

¡Saludos!

First of all, Welcome to FPN!

 

I suggest you get in contact with a vendor that sells by the name of "Pen Seller From France" on Amazon, and I believe on Ebay as well. I don't have his email, but in his Amazon storefront he has nib units that appear to be from the older generation Hemispheres:

http://www.amazon.com/Waterman-Hemisphere-Trims-Medium-Size/dp/B003JLUI7W/ref=sr_1_15?m=A1U9NO092R5QX0&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1366043268&sr=1-15&keywords=Waterman+Hemisphere+nib

[TheCowGod]

Thanks for all the responses. Yep, I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, though I live in Knoxville, TN now. I tried straightening the nib, and it's now pretty straight, but the two tines are definitely not aligned properly -- they are pressed against each other, and one tends to pop up over the other one when I jiggle them.

 

I love the idea of having a stub nib for this pen -- even moreso if I could have the option of switching back and forth between the two. I came across this post which said a Kaweco 1.1 italic nib fits a Hemisphere. I'm new to all this and haven't heard of the Kaweco brand but it seems like something I should research. If it were possible to replace just the nib in my pen with a stub nib, and then maybe buy a replacement medium or broad nib and grip elsewhere, I'd be pretty happy with that solution.

 

The only place I've found just a replacement grip (in chrome, not gold) so far is this site in the UK:

 

http://www.theonlinepencompany.com/pencompany/nibs.php?cat1=Waterman&cat2=Hemisphere

 

A pre-2010 chrome grip with broad nib is USD $43, and shipping to the US is about $11, so $54 altogether. I know you can buy a new pen for about $50, but I love the metallic green color of my existing pen, which doesn't appear to be available anymore (plus it has the emotional attachment of being a gift from my father). So I guess I'll spend the $54 to replace my grip, and then look into replacing the nib in my previous grip.

 

If you guys have any pointers for where I can get a replacement chrome pre-2010 grip, with medium or broad nib, for less than that UK site, I'd love to hear about it I also welcome any more input about replacing my nib with a stub nib. Thanks, guys!

 

Dan