What is on your bench?

[lionelc]

good job @Le Vieux without a block.  

[es9]

@Le Vieux That’s really an extraordinary transformation. And I’m not sure how you managed to achieve the final alignment without a block. 

 

Do you mind describing a little more how you used the thin piece of steel? I also have struggled with nibs where there’s a bend along the length of the tine. Also, do you mind posting a picture of the pliers you use? 

[FarmBoy]

To block or not to block that is the nib's dilemma.

 

I find I rarely need one and then it is most likely just a crutch.  Rarely as in less than 1 in 75

 

 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Ah that looks like magic to me; I am still convinced that nib work is a forbidden dark art. I'm okay with every other step of pen restoration but the concept (and implementation) of tuning and fixing nibs is just... lost on me. Rarely do I make a nib write better. I suppose we all have our weaknesses.

[VacNut]

9 hours ago, Le Vieux said:

No block, at all; although its usefulness is appreciated in many cases. I had broken a nib's tipping when I used a block for the first time, so I am cautious ever since. 

 

I straightened the tines, working on both alternatively. Once straight(ish), the wrinkles were addressed. Then the tines needed to be properly adjusted for alignment. During this stage, the tipping halves were also aligned and adjoined. The gap between the tines was adjusted as well, by means of working my way from down up on each tine, separated by a very (very) thin piece of steel, where it can lay flat and be worked upon with small (very small) set of plyers.

 

Anyways, it's easier to show someone how I did it, than it is to tell the story on how. Words are not my forté, so to say.

 

 

That is beautiful work. Are you straightening the tines with fingers and fine tuning with pliers? May I ask how you are working out the wrinkles? I have tried using a softer wooden dowel with limited success.

[Le Vieux]

It's a combination of both, fingers and small pliers. The wrinkles are worked out by means of rolling a thin hickory dowel onto the underneath side of the tine, with my fingers. The stubborn curvatures I tame with either fingers or the pliers; if the angle allows, I use a small tool, adapted by me from a technical drawing kit item.

 

I have no idea how does one call this tool, see pictures here. It locks onto a portion of the nib and helps to change the angle of the wrinkle, millimetre by millimetre, or it can used by pressing the tines with your fingers. The tines (or jaws, if you prefer) have been bent a tad, in order to form a straight line when pressed. I guess it works on the same principle as the pliers I use. The copper trimmings are my idea of having a functional and nice looking tool  .

 

I hope this helps  

[Le Vieux]

8 hours ago, es9 said:

@Le Vieux Do you mind describing a little more how you used the thin piece of steel? I also have struggled with nibs where there’s a bend along the length of the tine. Also, do you mind posting a picture of the pliers you use? 

 

I have attached here a picture of the thing. The pliers are really small, you can see the jaws are almost equal in length with the nib i have used for exemplification. The length of the pliers is 75mm, and the jaw is only 15mm, squarely shaped by me, so to fit the purpose of getting a proper grip on the nib.

 

I noticed I have made a mistake, it is not steel the piece of thin metal thingy, it is in fact brass.

 

I have also attached a picture of the pliers and the gripping tool I use for working on the damaged nibs.

 

Hope this helps.

[Inkysloth]

3 hours ago, Le Vieux said:

 

I have no idea how does one call this tool, see pictures here. 

 

I hope this helps  

This looks like a ruling pen to me - made to rule straight, even lines with ink. Interesting to see one used for nib repair! 

[Le Vieux]

28 minutes ago, Inkysloth said:

This looks like a ruling pen to me - made to rule straight, even lines with ink. Interesting to see one used for nib repair! 

That could be, I wouldn't know, never used one for the intended purpose. It is useful though...

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

8 hours ago, Le Vieux said:

 

I have attached here a picture of the thing. The pliers are really small, you can see the jaws are almost equal in length with the nib i have used for exemplification. The length of the pliers is 75mm, and the jaw is only 15mm, squarely shaped by me, so to fit the purpose of getting a proper grip on the nib.

 

I noticed I have made a mistake, it is not steel the piece of thin metal thingy, it is in fact brass.

 

I have also attached a picture of the pliers and the gripping tool I use for working on the damaged nibs.

 

Hope this helps.

 

This is very helpful, thank you. Now to pick up a set of tiny pliers and a nib to play with. 

[es9]

10 hours ago, Le Vieux said:

It locks onto a portion of the nib and helps to change the angle of the wrinkle, millimetre by millimetre, or it can used by pressing the tines with your fingers.

That’s really interesting. I’m a little confused though. Are you saying that you use it as a slow, precise clamp? Or do you use it as a pair of very precise, locking parallel pliers? In other words, is the action accomplished by tightening the nut or by movement of the whole tool once a nib is grasped? 

[Le Vieux]

The nut you see is helpful when you need to exert a pressure which your fingers alone cannot apply. But most of the times it works like a pair of precision, parallel pliers. It all depends on the nib thickness and angle of working the bent portion of the nib.

[VacNut]

An Canadian Oddity.

 

They must have been having fun at the Parker Canadian Factory one day.

 

A Silver Vacumatic OS with better than average clarity.

A Standard Vacumatic with a 26’ date code.

A Burgundy Vacumatic OS with a two-tone stub nib.

And a Canadian Oddity. A Burgundy Vacumatic the length of a Senior Vacumatic, with the typical longer end cap, a really flexible nib, but without the 3-Ring wider band cap.

None of the pens required more than the typically cleaning.

 

My apologies for the photo order. The “Senior” Vac is pictured next to an Emerald Vac 1.5, an Extra Long Burgundy OS with a speedline filler and end cap (which makes the pen over 5-5/8” in length), and a Brown Vac Senior with the typical narrow-wide-narrow cap band (still working on repairing the nib). The two “Senior” Vac caps are interchangeable. The diameter is slightly larger than the Vac Major or Slender Max. I wonder if someone at the factory just forgot to make the wider middle band.

 

[Le Vieux]

Quite a nice bunch !

[VacNut]

8 hours ago, Le Vieux said:

Quite a nice bunch !

Thank you. I was very interested in your straightening techniques, as I need to put it to practice on several nibs.

[Nethermark]

I just repaired an Osmia 293 vacumatic filler. The filling system basically functions as the Parker Vacumatic, but with a twist: there is no spring in the filler unit, so you have to pull it out and push it down to fill. On the other hand, the blind cap is attached to the filler unit, so there's no risk of misplacing the blind cap. I typically find them harder to open at the back end than Parker Vacumatics, but it's much easier to remove the pellet.

 

[Le Vieux]

That looks like a very beautiful pen. Never had one of these on my bench, but I am sure the repair it is not a walk in the park. Congrats!

[Le Vieux]

This pen, marked Pan 180 Norske, was sent to me by a client who wished to have the pen reversed to its original filling system. It would appear that at some point in the past, the pen was modified and an aerometric system replaced the original sac/button/blade pack. Not a difficult job, but I was surprised to find that the client knew about modification and took steps toward putting it right. 

 

Regarding the pen itself, I do not know much: 

 

Hypothesis #1: Produced in the 50s by the Norwegian company PAN Den norske fyllepennfabrikken, founded in 1950 by Arne Karlsrud. The pens produced here in several models have very quickly become extremely popular in Norway, especially in the school segment.

 

Hypothesis #2: Produced by a German company (established before 1939) in Manneheim, for Kaweco, Kaweco in turn delivering the parts to Pan Norway, which assembled, completed and distributed them only in Norway. The nibs were apparently made by Bock in Heidelberg. This hypothesis is supported by: the clip extremely similar to the one on Kaweco (arrow type), and by the fact that PAN pens also existed in the Netherlands at the same time, being imported in pieces from Germany and assembled in the Netherlands.

 

[Le Vieux]

Montblanc no. 333 1/2, broken in half. The break was not clean, having cracks extending in several places. A minute (very small) chip was missing from the break line. This repair took some 20 days, on and off. Main thing is that a vintage pen was salvaged, and the client was happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The outcome:

 

 

[es9]

(Can an admin please delete my post — my question was answered. Sorry for the confusion, @Le Vieux!)

Edited September 19, 2022 by es9