The most dreaded repair step...

[Jon Szanto]

Well, no matter how many years this goes on, the one thing I hate above all others is removing a section from a pen!

It really does seem to go one of two ways:


it comes out really easily, really fast
it is going to give you nightmares.


You try soaking, you try gentle heat, you be patient, you use gentle but firm moxie, you set it down and do it tomorrow, you swear that THIS TIME you won't be impatient and use too much dry heat and end up with a banana pen, you wait to hear it release, hoping that any tell-tale little click isn't a crack in the barrel, and you cuss and swear and try to be patient...

And sometimes it comes out without any damage.

Anyone else have any particular corner of repair/restoration that gives them fits?

[jar]

No longer. I learned long ago that my talent was neither patience nor hand-eye coordination and that there are others more suited than I.

[Cob]

Having re-sacced at least 400 pens I must say I can only recall one section problem - a Waterman's W5 - a stripey one and I cracked it - REPLACING the bloody section through being in a hurry: always A Very Bad Thing when working on pens.

The big pain I find (apart from removing lever boxes from old Waterman's pens without breaking the flimsy little tabs) is removing the ends of caps - the threaded tops found on early Swans and especially on Croxleys. Some of the latter had clip screws (as always combined with the inner cap) that were threaded along their entire length. It saved a little lathe time, but when those fine threads have been in ink for 65+ years it's no laughing matter. I have one here right now that after a vast amount of heat (can't soak because they are BHR) I finally got the damned thing out.

Will it go back? After hours of cleaning, ultra-sonic &c.? Ha ha! About half way. Drives me mad!

Actually (edit) even worse are the jewel-type screws fitted to Conway Stewarts and Wyverns amongst others - bloody impossible - 98% of the time!

Cob

[penwash]

I have one:

Knocking out the feed and nib out of a rare and precious 100+ year old BCHR section that has a super thin wall filled with solidified (ossified?) ink.

After all the heat, gentle persuasion -- wishing you can just soak that hard rubber section in water -- to that final tap on the blunted screw with a tiny mallet when a tiny 'click' sounds.
.... And you see black pieces of the section wall on your hand.

http://cinemagogue.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/luke-skywalker-noooooo.jpg

Good bye 100+ y.o section, and good luck finding another one that fits that equally fragile BCHR barrel.

[christof]

Removing screwed sections on vintage German piston fillers like Montblanc for example can be quite risky.
I try everything to avoid doing this but on 1950's pens it's necessary to get the new cork seal in.
And I've had some celluloid Waterman's with glued sections. This can be a pain as well.
...and I don't really love to replace diaphragms, specially to remove the old pellet from the filler cup...
C.

[DaveBj]

Reading these posts has multiplied my respect for pen restorers!

[Cob]

Reading these posts has multiplied my respect for pen restorers!

And for the manufacturers of headache pills too, no doubt!

Cob

[Hawk]

Reading these posts has multiplied my respect for pen restorers!

And for the manufacturers of headache pills too, no doubt!

Cob

Don't forget the distillers of adult beverages and other similar liquids.

[Cob]

Reading these posts has multiplied my respect for pen restorers!

And for the manufacturers of headache pills too, no doubt!

Cob

Don't forget the distillers of adult beverages and other similar liquids.

The trick is not to consume too much Scotch otherwise one might find oneself reaching by mistake for the acetone!

C.

[grainweevil]

...hoping that any tell-tale little click isn't a crack in the barrel...
I'm suddenly getting flashbacks to experiences of knurled sections on some post-war English Waterman pens; even when section removal is going well, it sounds absolutely horrendous.

My own modest repair career bête noire is the removal of shells on hooded pens. It's no mystery as to why; my one serious breakage thus far was a 61 that shattered even as I tried to unscrew it and I still feel a little sick remembering it.

[Farmboy]

The most dreaded repair step...


Fixing pens that have been 'restored'.

[Hawk]

Reading these posts has multiplied my respect for pen restorers!

And for the manufacturers of headache pills too, no doubt!

Cob


Don't forget the distillers of adult beverages and other similar liquids.

The trick is not to consume too much Scotch otherwise one might find oneself reaching by mistake for the acetone!

C.

Acetone in the belly would not be good. Scotch, on the other hand, would be a poor solvent/cleaner for repairing pens. Besides, using Scotch on a pen might make a grown man cry. I prefer 'Jack' but I can sympathize with Scotch connoisseurs.

[Jon Szanto]

The trick is not to consume too much Scotch...

Sorry. Not possible.

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I'm most terrified of nibs. I'm terrified that straightening a nib may result in irreparable damage to a one of a kind pen.

[Aristosseur]

Reinstalling a nib in a brittle section and feed...

[mmd]

Gold filled trim vintage Waterman missing a lever box......

[amk]

There is something remarkably liberating about starting with a pen you grabbed for £3 out of a parts box, with a crack in the cap, a wonky nib, and a barrel that someone's Doberman used as a chew.*

When it comes to a really nice Waterman red ripple... I put it to the back of the queue :-)





* Oh, I forgot: it's a Wearever. I can mess it up as badly as I like.

[RayCornett]

Well, no matter how many years this goes on, the one thing I hate above all others is removing a section from a pen!

It really does seem to go one of two ways:


it comes out really easily, really fast
it is going to give you nightmares.


You try soaking, you try gentle heat, you be patient, you use gentle but firm moxie, you set it down and do it tomorrow, you swear that THIS TIME you won't be impatient and use too much dry heat and end up with a banana pen, you wait to hear it release, hoping that any tell-tale little click isn't a crack in the barrel, and you cuss and swear and try to be patient...

And sometimes it comes out without any damage.

Anyone else have any particular corner of repair/restoration that gives them fits?

Sections for me, too. Amazingly I have only had two crack during removal. I am usually really patient and will let a pen go for days before going back to it to give it another go. The patience eventually pays off.

However, there are two pens I will no longer repair/restore for anyone. The Waterman Taperite(Crusader especiallly) and the Parker 21. Their fragile bodies. They're the type that no matter how careful, no matter how patience, no matter how gentle, you're gonna crack or shatter one of them trying to get that section out or something. Then there is the common Parker 21 hood cracks at either side of the feed. I once repaired those cracks on a 21 hood 5 times before I eventually just bought a replacement.

[Jon Szanto]

However, there are two pens I will no longer repair/restore for anyone. The Waterman Taperite(Crusader especiallly) and the Parker 21. Their fragile bodies.

Absolutely. I've only cracked three pens - a Wearever, and two Taperites. I stopped even trying on the Taperites after that.

My favorite was a fellow pen friend who was attempting, with great patience, to remove a Taperite section. The barrel ended up crushing between his thumb and finger in the middle of the barrel, simply from trying to have a firm grip. Those things are nasty.

[penwash]

However, there are two pens I will no longer repair/restore for anyone. The Waterman Taperite(Crusader especiallly) and the Parker 21. Their fragile bodies. They're the type that no matter how careful, no matter how patience, no matter how gentle, you're gonna crack or shatter one of them trying to get that section out or something. Then there is the common Parker 21 hood cracks at either side of the feed. I once repaired those cracks on a 21 hood 5 times before I eventually just bought a replacement.

Add to the list: Waltham.
After 3 pens (2 similar models, 1 completely different) that cracked (after being soaked for days), I am now convinced that they used glue instead of shellac on the darn things at the factory.

[amk]

Really nice to have a list of "pens not to repair". I keep seeing Waterman Taperites at flea markets.... I'll steer clear! Any more that I should be aware of?