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Waterman's Ideal #7 flush


gwid

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Hi, I just got my first hard rubber waterman Waterman Ideal #7

what would be the steps to clean and flush de pen? I usually dip de pens on water overnight to try to dissolve dry ink but I don't like to harm the finish.

It's ok to soak hard rubber pens? I read somewhere that water can harm the color. it's that true?

Thanks in advance. 

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First: make sure the pen has a new and working ink sac fitted. If you just received the pen and it has not yet been restored or re-sacced, do not attempt to lift the lever to try and fill/flush the pen. In the event that there is an old ossified sac inside the pen, attempting to work the lever against the hardened sac is likely to break the lever box of the pen (which is the main weak point on lever-filler Watermans, and an expensive repair.) So: if your pen is in an unrestored state, re-sac it first or get someone to do it for you.

Now, if your pen already has a fresh working sac installed, then get a glass of plain water, fill the pen with water as if you were filling it with ink, flush out the water, repeat. If there's a lot of old ink in the pen maybe fill it with water and let it sit for a few moments, then flush out the water, repeat. Patience is the main thing here, just take it nice and slow.

Do not immerse the whole pen or any parts of the pen completely underwater. Try not to get the outside of the pen too wet. The combined action of exposure to light + water discolours hard rubber, and while discolouration is of no concern inside the pen (the internals are, after all, often bathed in ink, which is mostly water) the beauty of the outside of the pen can easily be marred by overzealous rinsing or immersion. Try your best to always keep the outside surfaces of the pen dry.

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11 minutes ago, KLscribbler said:

First: make sure the pen has a new and working ink sac fitted. If you just received the pen and it has not yet been restored or re-sacced, do not attempt to lift the lever to try and fill/flush the pen. In the event that there is an old ossified sac inside the pen, attempting to work the lever against the hardened sac is likely to break the lever box of the pen (which is the main weak point on lever-filler Watermans, and an expensive repair.) So: if your pen is in an unrestored state, re-sac it first or get someone to do it for you.

Now, if your pen already has a fresh working sac installed, then get a glass of plain water, fill the pen with water as if you were filling it with ink, flush out the water, repeat. If there's a lot of old ink in the pen maybe fill it with water and let it sit for a few moments, then flush out the water, repeat. Patience is the main thing here, just take it nice and slow.

Do not immerse the whole pen or any parts of the pen completely underwater. Try not to get the outside of the pen too wet. The combined action of exposure to light + water discolours hard rubber, and while discolouration is of no concern inside the pen (the internals are, after all, often bathed in ink, which is mostly water) the beauty of the outside of the pen can easily be marred by overzealous rinsing or immersion. Try your best to always keep the outside surfaces of the pen dry.

Thanks! I will follow your advice! 

Edited by gwid
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I was able to remove the barrel and clean the old sack , nib and feed. the lever and bar mechanism is working.

so far so good.

I am about to resack and ensemble to test the pen and I have this silly  question..

the lever is supposed to be aligned with the nib?  because i forgot to take a picture before taking the pen apart  and when i check pictures on the internet the lever is in a different place on every picture ...  i know the pen should work anyway but where was the lever when the pen was mint?

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Well it's mainly just an aesthetic thing, but most vintage ads of the period do show the lever being in line with the nib, and it does look good that way, so aligned with the nib is good 👍

 

Of course, on pens that have a clip, you may find (depending on how the cap threads were cut) that the clip isn't really in line with the nib, such that if the lever is aligned with the nib, then it isn't possible to have it also lined up nicely with the clip when the pen is capped, so there is then a dilemma between whether you prefer it to look neat and aligned when capped, or when uncapped. 😆

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It doesn’t matter whether the nib is aligned with the lever.  The pen will work equally well no matter how they’re aligned.

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Thanks! I finished my first real "restoration" .  My only issue is that behind the dried ink was a generic Number 8 14k gold nib, but the pen was not that expensive so I am ok with that

the pen works smoothly, fills well and  it looks good ... 

 

waterman.thumb.jpg.d1a5c0b6c174ba1cece92c82cc318ad2.jpg

 

 

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Congratulations! That's a beautiful pen. Some warranted nibs can be nice writers too.

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