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My Smallest Wahl yet


KBeezie

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Picked this up yesterday, first find of the new year (along with an early Conklin Crescent filler, and later in the afternoon an Esterbrook SJ). 

 

Found it buried in a little box of junker pens (mostly 3rd tier FPs, BPs, MPs, damaged nibs, etc etc) at the antique mall. 

 

8oGwLNi.jpg

 

Looked it up in the 1925 Wahl catalog while I was in the shop to figure it to be a 214AW miniature pen (2" length, "0" nib, Checkerboard pattern, gold-filled, ring top). 

 

Cleaned up the old ink, polished up a little bit. 

 

cgQ3Yh1.jpg

 

Until this little guy, my smallest Wahl was this 431A (also shown next to one of my thicker Wahl, a Lazulitic blue Gold Seal with a Personal Point #4 "Flexible" "B"). 

 

vl9yip4.jpg

 

Took a little bit of heat and patience to get the section out of the barrel, did notice there was a small crack in the hard rubber tubing used for the nipple, but figured it was minor enough that the sac being shellac'd right on it would be fine, especially since the feed sticks out the back of it, not leaving really any room for it to squeeze inward. 

 

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Got a new sac on it, I adjusted the nib for alignment and heat set it better to the feed allowing me to pinch in the gap between the tip a little bit (still present but much smaller than it was). 

 

Shown here next to the Wahl 431A, Sheaffer OS Balance, the modern Platinum Century #3776, and my Wahl-Eversharp Doric (Jet Black, standard size, vac-filler converted to a button filler, hence the Duofold blind cap). 

 

RwnGWX0.jpg

 

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Karl, that is a fantastic pen, so beautiful. 🙂

Enjoy amd best wishes

Jens

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Yep,  Those Wahl pens with size zero nibs are quite tiny.  They are also fairly delicate. A fair number get cracked when someone tries to replace the ink sac.  

I was surprised there was enough gold left to bring back the finish so nicely.  You did a great job with cleaning it up.

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4 hours ago, Addertooth said:

Yep,  Those Wahl pens with size zero nibs are quite tiny.  They are also fairly delicate. A fair number get cracked when someone tries to replace the ink sac.  

I was surprised there was enough gold left to bring back the finish so nicely.  You did a great job with cleaning it up.

The "tarnish" I suspected was mostly ink due to how it was around the cap lip as well as both cap holes. The main part of loss seems to be down by the tail end of the barrel, but that's to be expected with posting and what not. Cracking was a concern especially given how small it was, so didn't want to rush it. The smallest diameter pen I had to restore (not mine for for a customer) other than this one was a Wahl Bantam in a very nice bright red celluloid, you can imagine how nerve racking that was to get all the pieces cleaned up and to re-use the crimp correctly for the bladder. 

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That's a nice find, Karl! The Wahl metal pens are so well-made and there some terrific engraving patterns too.

 

Here is a 0 size set I picked up not long ago in the wild. I don't collect them, but it was so clean and it came with the box, so I bought it. I don't think one saw much, if any, use.

 

 

DSCN1930.jpeg

DSCN1928.jpeg

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7 hours ago, crescentfiller said:

That's a nice find, Karl! The Wahl metal pens are so well-made and there some terrific engraving patterns too.

 

Here is a 0 size set I picked up not long ago in the wild. I don't collect them, but it was so clean and it came with the box, so I bought it. I don't think one saw much, if any, use.

 

 

DSCN1930.jpeg

DSCN1928.jpeg

Very nice, I've never managed to get an original box or anything like that. 

My first gold filled one was a smooth one, then later on I got the one shown next to the minature above, but originally came with a #2 semiflex needlepoint nib, which isn't original to that length of pen with a clip. Found the #3 Wahl nib on a Japanese Spors (frakenpen that was originally a glass nib) and took that #3 and put it in there making it more or less an original 431A. Now I have a loose #2 Wahl, which I'd like to find a 32_A  body to put it into preferably of the Grecian borders or other design that I don't already have. Next step up would be to find a 54_A, kind of have a goal going. 

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Nice find and a nice job of bringing it back. Since you mention it and if you would like an original box for it, as a small reward for preserving the breed, just drop me a line.

Syd

the Wahlnut

Syd "the Wahlnut" Saperstein

Pensbury Manor

Vintage Wahl Eversharp Writing Instruments

Pensbury Manor

 

The WAHL-EVERSHARP Company

www.wahleversharp.com

New WAHL-EVERSHARP fountain and Roller-Ball pens

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