Esterbrook Sac: Duration?

[elysee]

I purchased several Esterbrook fountain pens during graduate school. When I purchased them, they were newly restored with new sacs. How long should these sacs last? That is, what is the approximate lifetime for a sac?

 

Other than waiting for the sac to leak, is there any way in which to determine when the sac needs to be replaced?

[Hobiwan]

It's hard to approximate the lifetime for an ink sac. It all depends on the number of times you fill it and flush it.

 

A sac can conceivably last for years. I got 6 out of mine as a Jr/Sr High School student. And that was me, filling it about twice a week on average.

 

If you're a heavy user, constantly using the lever on it to refill it many times a day, expect it to wear out sooner.

 

I'd say you can figure something's going wrong with the sac is when it the pen starts "behaving oddly", like not writing as long as usual on one filling.

 

HTH

[FarmBoy]

I read somewhere that an archeologist unearthed an Esterbrook J with an original sac marked ESTERBROOK that was still pliable. The article was dated 2316 and didn't say if the pen was inked or not.

[Hobiwan]

Now, Todd, you promised not to use your time machine for frivolous activities.

[ac12]

I would expect mine to last about 10 years.

BUT, life expectancy depends on a bunch of variables, plus the bell shaped curve of averages. So say the average is 10 years, you could be out on the tail of the curve at 5 years or 15 years, average +/- 5. Or just bad luck, like my wife had 2 of her Waterman converters, for the same pen, go bad within 2 years. Both times making a MESS, with the leaking ink.

 

FB hit on something interesting. I've purchased several Esterbrooks with original sacs which were still pliable. How much life is still left in a 50+ year old sac that is still pliable ? Maybe a lot, maybe just a little.

[FarmBoy]

Now, Todd, you promised not to use your time machine for frivolous activities.

It how I find those big piles of pens. Sometimes you forget we don't talk about it

[inkstainedruth]

Now, Todd, you promised not to use your time machine for frivolous activities.

 

I dunno. Finding stashes of Esties for sale at their original price doesn't sound frivolous to me.... Oh, sorry, that would be going into the past, and he was apparently scouting ahead to what future sales prices would be like....

Or as Dr. River Song would say "Spoilers, sweetie!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[gweimer1]

The sac is good as long as it doesn't leak. The trick is trying to figure out when they are going to fail BEFORE they start leaking ink. I know that my Deluxe LK probably has a really old sac, and I should replace it (now that I know how). That's why we generally state that changing a sac of unknown age or reliability is standard procedure on getting a new pen.

 

Hijack...I just wandered my way into a trove of old, unused Venus cartridge pens this week-end. I actually really like these, and I've had one for a while. I bought a small lot on eBay, and was close enough to pick them up. The seller got them at an auction and didn't really know much or have any real interest. He said...."I have more in the garage"...so I took a look. A box of 50 completely new pens, in every color, and still stickered as "fine" or "medium" was on his workbench. I bought the whole box.

[pajaro]

Ten to twenty years. If you are trying to guess about whether a pen needs a resac or not, maybe a ten year criterion would be safer for those not up for an ink leak adventure. Considering that when you delve into the resac you might find a rusty J-bar, maybe sooner than later would serve you better.