Replaced A J-Bar For The First Time! Thank You All!

[flyingfox]

I found a beautiful Estie in light green at an antique flea market. I just loved the color, and since the price was right (tagged as $30.-, but haggled down to $20.-,) money changed hands and it came home with me.

 

Luckily, I was able to take the section out without too much difficulty. Doubly lucky, as I already had an extra ink sac at hand. I bought four at Philly Pen Show, to repair two Esties I had at hand... from last year's flea market season. Figured I would get a couple of extras in case I mess up. Turned out I was able to replace both without any problem, thanks to Brian Anderson, who kindly showed me how to do it, and the great thread here. Which meant I still had two sacs left! My luck, however, ended there.

 

After removing the fossilized old sac that broken into pieces, the J-bar fell out as well. It was completely rusted and corroded. Sigh.... I was luckier with the two earlier ones, both of them had intact J-bars.

 

I tried to transplant a J-bar from an Estie desk pen that I also picked up at the flea market for $1.50, but it was a tad too long, by like 1/8 of an inch... didn't clear the nipple.

 

I started looking around here, and saw that someone successfully made a J-bar from a hair clip! Since I also had an old hair clip lying around, I figured I could give it a try. I was just too eager to get my new pen working to order the new J-bar/ wait for it to arrive in the mail... And- wow, amazingly enough, it worked!!! It is writing beautifully now.

 

Thank you everyone, for posting the great tips and sharing the great wisdom!!!

 

 

 

The nib was like this...

 

Tried cleaning it... (Got cleaner than this, after all.)

 

J-bar from the desk pen, corroded J-bar, and the new one in making. After this, I peeled off the black plastic thing and bent it to shape. The old one came in handy to measure the correct length!

 

 

Family shot! Since this one is slightly shorter and slimmer, is it an SJ??

 

 

[Hobiwan]

Nicely done! And yes, that would be an SJ.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I'd like to see a pic of the barette J-bar when it is ready to install.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[flyingfox]

I'd like to see a pic of the barette J-bar when it is ready to install.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

Sorry, I didn't see your post until now, and I didn't take any other pics from that time, mainly because I was just too preoccupied with the task at hand.

 

I, however, was "blessed" with yet another opportunity to do this all over again over the weekend, with ample photo-ops. Here they are....

 

This time, once again at a flea market, I found a red J. Yay, finally! I was able to open it up easily... Along with the fossilized ink sac, the broken J-bar fell out. Deja vu, all over again....

 

 

I cut off the other side of my already-mutilated hair clip. An intact J-bar from a desk pen turned out to be too long again. (So J and SJ takes the J-bar that are the same length?)

 

 

Peeled off the black plastic coating thing and marked the correct length, using the old/ broken one that came out of the pen. The J-bar from a desk pen turned out to be too long again.

 

The rest of the hair clip got thrown out. The broken J-bar and the desk pen J-bars are back in my toolbox.

 

 

In the process of making the new J-bar smooth and straight... I filed down the "bump" completely after this shot.

 

 

Hard to show the new J-bar in all its glory, but hopefully you can see that the new one follows the curve of the old one closely? Filed down the bottom a bit more, and it's all done!

 

 

The new red Estie fit in the family right away... They have multiplied so quickly, after I got my very first one about a year ago... Especially considering that they all came from random flea markets and antique stores in the area. (I have never used 'Bay... Am definitely fascinated, but also a bit apprehensive, and the whole bidding process seems a bit too stressful....)

 

 

 

[OcalaFlGuy]

Damn! Great Job! I'm impressed. I really like how you picked the wider part of the new bar to form the J hook with. Seems that would add extra holding oomph and make it less likely for the bar to shift around.

 

GREAT job of MacGyvering!

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[flyingfox]

Damn! Great Job! I'm impressed. I really like how you picked the wider part of the new bar to form the J hook with. Seems that would add extra holding oomph and make it less likely for the bar to shift around.

 

GREAT job of MacGyvering!

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

Thank you! :D Yes, the J-bar is staying put nicely, and the pen is writing wonderfully.