Who to pay for Parker Vacumatic repair/restoration

[Linkinyeah]

I had the great luck today to find a Parker Major black vacumatic from 1945 at my local thrift store today for $1.20 with original box and paper. The nib is of centered, the pump doesn't depress and there is some oxidation on it, but I am extremely excited. I was able to unscrew the section from the barrel. Who would be a trustworthy person to ask to repair it for me? How much is a fair price for this repair/restoration?

I can pay, but I was hoping to use a pen as payment. I have a restored Esterbrook J in black with a 9556 nib that I was hoping to use for payment.

Please help me.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/eb985063a6bb7e33fc0f71301153d89b.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/2e775564c6f1fb50a1e9aeffba19dc7f.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/6cdd7ef1444bc62c5f2b4e8f5d17e1db.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/89d1e727a0edeaaaae7248a9f47a407a.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/7d4b6dfef63b1a592f7030598d574df3.jpg

Here is a picture of the Esterbrook.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/1d283605d5c07d3bfd56cd3735126394.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/291130faa607ae0921342bd2dc7ce3ec.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170108/0451af5ad2efd139197c3559a4b81e2d.jpg

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[Jon Szanto]

This is a good pen, and you should send it to a good restoration person and expect to pay. Anyone who has been doing this for a while probably has boxes of Esties sitting around. This pen is absolutely worth spending the money on.

I would suggest for quality work, fairly quick return, and most reasonable price, go to Danny Fudge at The Write Pen (http://thewritepen.net/).

[jar]

Danny.

[Linkinyeah]

Thanks for the help. Any ideas how much I should ask for in insurance for this pen when I ship it? Danny's website did a good job of describing his work, and I was surprised at his prices. I will be contacting him for work.

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[Farmboy]

Use a small flat rate Priority Mail box. Tracking and 50$ insurance for 6.80$

[kevmid]

Wow! That is so fortunate a find. Fantastic!! Good on you. :dance3:

...zucchini, bacon, cheese AND a Parker Vacumatic for $1.20! What is there left to look forward to in 2017....

[Jon Szanto]

Use a small flat rate Priority Mail box. Tracking and 50$ insurance for 6.80$

Also, if you want cheap insurance on top of insurance, buy a short length of PVC pipe that the pen can easily slip into. Wrap in tissue, cut pipe just a bit longer than pen, slip pen inside, and tape the ends to keep it in there. If that is put inside the box, you don't have to worry about a person or a machine crushing the pen. Even if you get the money back, sometimes a pen simply can't be replaced.

[Linkinyeah]

Anybody been able to get ahold of Danny at the write pen? I emailed him a couple times over the past couple of days and I haven't heard back yet. Being a teacher it is hard for me to call during the day and I hate bothering people in the evenings on the phone.

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[Lady Onogaro]

I'd just fill out the form and send it to him. When he's done the work he will contact you and tell you the price, or he'll send it back with an invoice.

[Jon Szanto]

Anybody been able to get ahold of Danny at the write pen? I emailed him a couple times over the past couple of days and I haven't heard back yet. Being a teacher it is hard for me to call during the day and I hate bothering people in the evenings on the phone.

There have been times where he has been slow to respond, and I realize that can worry or put off a new customer. However, what Lady O says is good - if you can't wait another day or two to make contact with him in email (i.e. he writes back), pack the pen carefully, fill out the form and put it in the box, and send it. There are few people I would trust like him, and it will be in good shape when you get it back.

[Linkinyeah]

Okay, will do. Can't wait to get this pen back. On his website it says he accepts pens as payment, so I was hoping to hear from him before sending off the Esterbrook. I guess the worst that can happen is he sends back the Esterbrook with an invoice.

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[Jon Szanto]

I either had never seen Danny's notation about accepting pens for payment, or had forgotten, so I apologize for my earlier statement, Not sure if the Estie will fly, but I guess it is worth a try! :)

[KrazyIvan]

I'm sending one of mine to @machinist_paul from Instagram. A buddy of mine has had good luck with him and has had several restored (ie more than 5 and mix of Vac's, snorkels and other Sheaffer vintage pens) by him without incident.

[ahayman]

I've had nothing but great experiences with Danny Fudge. He's restored all my vintage pens, including a Parker vacumatic. He does take a bit longer than I'd like (I'm impatient that way) so expect 3 - 4 weeks.


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[jar]

Okay, will do. Can't wait to get this pen back. On his website it says he accepts pens as payment, so I was hoping to hear from him before sending off the Esterbrook. I guess the worst that can happen is he sends back the Esterbrook with an invoice.

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Add a note in the package asking if he would accept the Esterbrook as payment or partial payment. Remember he needs to look at pens as money so don't expect to get what you would pay for a similar pen.

[Linkinyeah]

Danny did what I believe was a great job restoring this pen. I have never owned anything this old and don't know exactly what is commonplace for a pen like this. Before I bother Danny with a question, I wanted to get some more information. I have noticed this pen will have a trail of ink on the nib. I haven't experienced this with other pens. Is this normal? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170225/3c82466a75a28bc2087f3c5c009a9a05.jpg

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[jar]

Called nib creep. It can be nib and ink dependent. It's pretty normal but if it bothers you try changing inks until you find one that does not show nib creep with than particular nib.

[Jon Szanto]

What jar said, and also: this is not a new pen, and there are probably (based on the pic) micro-scratches and whatnot on the nib that will effectively atrract ink in the same manner as nib creep. Also as he said, some inks may lessen this, and your probably don't want to use any of the more exotic modern inks, mainly because it can take a while to flush out a vac. Stick with a nice standard ink, like Waterman or Sheaffers, and you should be fine.

Congrats - you've got a very handsome pen!

[Linkinyeah]

Thanks for the info, I am currently using Noodler's American eel black. I read somewhere that it has oil in it to help lubricate older pens. I will eventually try other inks. Is this particular ink known to do this, and is it okay to be using in this pen?

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[Jon Szanto]

Yeah, if I remember right it was the nib creeping that stopped my use of American Blue Eel, though I have used it in one particularly dry, balky pen. With a pen like this, I'd ditch the Noodler's inks with additives.

[ac12]

On a Vac, especially the translucent ones, I would not even use Noodler's. Some of the Noodler's inks are OK, others not so. The problem is the range of properties of the different Noolder's inks is BROAD.
As Jon said, I would use a conservative and "safe" ink; Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Pelikan, and maybe a few others.
One reason is the dye load on the saturated inks, make them a PiA to clean out of a Vac. My Vacs only get easy to clean out inks. And inks that do NOT stain.

Some inks will creep. It used to bother me, as I wanted a clean nib. Now I ignore it.

[Linkinyeah]

Thanks for the information about the ink. Unfortunately all the ink I own is Noodler's. I have 3/4 full American Eel in blue and black and just got a new bottle of Apache Sunset, which I thought I would like, but not so much. Anybody want to sell/trade some of the inks suggested above (Parker, pilot, sheaffer, pelikan)?

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