mhosea
August 26th, 2014, 06:45 PM
call for desperate measures.
I have a small collection of Parker VS's in good condition, a black with a gold-filled cap, and rust, blue, and gray with lustraloy caps. The plastic that VS's were made from is not that robust. These pens are best handled with care. My first VS broke in half in my pocket when I lifted a large cardboard box. So the VS's, while they're all working, and working very well, stay pretty much unused, and if they are inked, they don't leave the house.
Every now and then I check Ebay for good deals on VS's, and I managed to snag a supposedly NOS one (from 4th quarter of 1946, as it turned out) at around $35, a good price. I didn't think it was NOS from looking at it, but maybe it had just been dipped. Anyway, that didn't matter, because I was mainly going for a VS separate from the collection that I might carry a little. So the pen arrives yesterday, and the mailman thought this was a good place to put it. My wife disagrees.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5559/14861661840_bede755eff_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDgUhY)
After a thorough stonewalling by the PO as she tried to complain about it, she brought the box to me. Fortunately, the pen seemed to have escaped injury by being on the unflattened side, but close inspection revealed that the barrel had stress fractures. I was not altogether certain that they hadn't been there all along, but the circumstances with the box actually having been run over, not to mention the low price that I got it for, put me in a weak position to complain to the seller. :) Oh, well, $35 was a good price even for parts, as the grip section, nib, feed, pressure bar, and button were in perfect condition. But I got the idea that I might resurrect it using a Kullock "51" barrel that had not worked out for me because the hood that came with it was too short. If it threaded on, I could open the pen to squeeze the sac directly, but, alas, the "51" barrel has a larger ID and easily slides over the threads, which didn't figure to match anyway. So, I thought about all manner of solutions.
One possibility was to epoxy the barrel on. I could install a silicone sac and make it a blow filler. Then hopefully I would never have a reason to get back into it. But this seemed drastic, and destructive. What if I came upon a VS barrel and blind cap for a good price and wanted to restore it completely? I resolved to wait for inspiration, but as I was rummaging through my drawer, I saw a trimming from a silicone sac. What if I covered the VS threads with a silicone sac trimming. If the barrel would then sort of thread on, I could shellac it in place. Then the repair would be completely reversible. Wonder of wonders, this actually worked. I drilled a small hole in the end of the barrel, installed a silicone sac, threaded the barrel on with some shellac, and voila! A working VS blow filler with a translucent Lucite barrel. The ink can be seen in the silicone sac with back lighting.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3854/14861596749_8e9a7833ea_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDgyWH)
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3897/15047961872_374652f45b_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oVJJNu)
Although it's a "blow filler", and so could be refilled in the field without an accessory, I prefer to use an accessory rather than my own breath.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3879/14861760067_5286b8d8c7_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDhpux)
One really nice thing about it is how light it feels. It's all of 16g filled with ink. I'm not altogether sure how strongly the barrel is connected to the section. It seemed as though the tightness was just right so that the shellac is really just insurance.
I have a small collection of Parker VS's in good condition, a black with a gold-filled cap, and rust, blue, and gray with lustraloy caps. The plastic that VS's were made from is not that robust. These pens are best handled with care. My first VS broke in half in my pocket when I lifted a large cardboard box. So the VS's, while they're all working, and working very well, stay pretty much unused, and if they are inked, they don't leave the house.
Every now and then I check Ebay for good deals on VS's, and I managed to snag a supposedly NOS one (from 4th quarter of 1946, as it turned out) at around $35, a good price. I didn't think it was NOS from looking at it, but maybe it had just been dipped. Anyway, that didn't matter, because I was mainly going for a VS separate from the collection that I might carry a little. So the pen arrives yesterday, and the mailman thought this was a good place to put it. My wife disagrees.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5559/14861661840_bede755eff_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDgUhY)
After a thorough stonewalling by the PO as she tried to complain about it, she brought the box to me. Fortunately, the pen seemed to have escaped injury by being on the unflattened side, but close inspection revealed that the barrel had stress fractures. I was not altogether certain that they hadn't been there all along, but the circumstances with the box actually having been run over, not to mention the low price that I got it for, put me in a weak position to complain to the seller. :) Oh, well, $35 was a good price even for parts, as the grip section, nib, feed, pressure bar, and button were in perfect condition. But I got the idea that I might resurrect it using a Kullock "51" barrel that had not worked out for me because the hood that came with it was too short. If it threaded on, I could open the pen to squeeze the sac directly, but, alas, the "51" barrel has a larger ID and easily slides over the threads, which didn't figure to match anyway. So, I thought about all manner of solutions.
One possibility was to epoxy the barrel on. I could install a silicone sac and make it a blow filler. Then hopefully I would never have a reason to get back into it. But this seemed drastic, and destructive. What if I came upon a VS barrel and blind cap for a good price and wanted to restore it completely? I resolved to wait for inspiration, but as I was rummaging through my drawer, I saw a trimming from a silicone sac. What if I covered the VS threads with a silicone sac trimming. If the barrel would then sort of thread on, I could shellac it in place. Then the repair would be completely reversible. Wonder of wonders, this actually worked. I drilled a small hole in the end of the barrel, installed a silicone sac, threaded the barrel on with some shellac, and voila! A working VS blow filler with a translucent Lucite barrel. The ink can be seen in the silicone sac with back lighting.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3854/14861596749_8e9a7833ea_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDgyWH)
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3897/15047961872_374652f45b_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oVJJNu)
Although it's a "blow filler", and so could be refilled in the field without an accessory, I prefer to use an accessory rather than my own breath.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3879/14861760067_5286b8d8c7_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oDhpux)
One really nice thing about it is how light it feels. It's all of 16g filled with ink. I'm not altogether sure how strongly the barrel is connected to the section. It seemed as though the tightness was just right so that the shellac is really just insurance.