What are these, and how can I fix them?

[Sailor Kenshin]

What do I have here? And how do I fix them?

The one in the middle is what I bought for its conical nib. It's a lever-filler and appears to be a wonderfully smooth Medium or perhaps even Broad, but the gold part of the cone has had all the lettering worn off. The seller threw in this pen on the left, which he thought was a Sheaffer, but I can now see is a Frankenpen.

The body is Sheaffer's, but the section is loose and seems to be a clear amber color. There's an ossified sac in there, and the nib reads Southern Pen Company, and below that is an 'A' inside a diamond, bracketed by the letters DU and LL.

The Sheaffer on the right was given to me. No idea of date or make.

Is it safe to soak any of the sections while still attached to the pen? And where's a good place to find a basic repair or re-sac kit? I have shellac, but nothing else.

My apologies for the awful phone pics. :(



http://extras.ourpatioparty.com/files/9514/4786/3861/3_Old_Pens-640p.jpg

[mhosea]

Don't soak the pens. You need to remove the sections first. You can soak them up to the nib and feed. Just don't get the levers (or caps, obviously) in the water or the J-bar might corrode and fail. Just use the usual technique with a hair dryer or embossing gun to remove the sections. Patience is key. Lather, rinse, repeat. It may take several heating cycles. Sometimes I try several times and don't get it on the first day. But it usually doesn't last the week.

The Frankenpen may be a challenge unless the section is pretty close to fitting. If it's close, you can build it up with layers of shellac. Then you install the section after the shellac has dried. If it's further out, since it's a frankenpen, anyway, you can wrap it with tape or whatever to close the gap, but if you overdo it and get it too tight, you can crack the barrel when reinstalling the section. Try to get it right, and heat the barrel before trying to reinstall the section.

The conical nib Sheaffer is, I think, a 1940's pen that I know little about. The one on the right is a Balance model with military clip. They made these cool wrap-over clips so that the pen would sit down deep enough in the pocket to meet military regs at the time (a regular Balance sticks up quite a ways). Cool pen.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks so much! But I have never before repaired or re-sac'd a pen, so I know nothing of 'the usual.' I do, however, own a hair dryer, so yay.

[mhosea]

When in doubt, check Richard Binder's site:

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/repair/sac_replacement.htm

Note that you don't need section pliers unless it's a hard case. IMHO, you're better off just using something grippy and using your hands. This isn't time-practical for the professional restorer, nor is it particularly easy on the hands, but for us amateurs doing one pen a day, it's usually workable and safer than section pliers.