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3 Attachment(s)
Where do I begin, please help?
Hello everyone. My first post, so sorry if it's in the wrong place. I'd love to know how to get started looking after pens. I inherited a collection of beautiful pens, some boxed, but most in two zippy wallets. There are some real beauties that need TLC and I just don't know where to begin with cleaning, repair, storage, inks, etc. Any advice for a newbie would be appreciated. Thank you very much! (Photos of examples of mending that's needed and quantity of pens that need a clean)
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Pictures, or it never happened! :welcome:
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Welcome! Have you written with any yet? Some pens just need ink. :)
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Thank you for your suggestion. I've added an example of the work needed. I just don't know where to begin!?!
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Can you put any ink in them then? I've only got Quink (I'm new to all this). Sorry.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
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Originally Posted by
Ink Everywhere
Can you put any ink in them then? I've only got Quink (I'm new to all this). Sorry.
Quink is just fine. Give it a try! You can also just dip a pen to test what it might write like.
It looks like you've got some really nice pens there. I'm envious. :)
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ink Everywhere
Can you put any ink in them then? I've only got Quink (I'm new to all this). Sorry.
Quink is good. Take a look at the ink to make sure you don't see mold floating at the top and that the ink is liquid. I've used some very old Quink ink in my pens.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
OMG! I just saw the pictures!!! Yowzer!!! What fun!!!
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Thank you! I will try the Quink then. I'm very lucky, but I miss my Uncle:cry:
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ink Everywhere
Thank you! I will try the Quink then. I'm very lucky, but I miss my Uncle:cry:
I'm sorry for your loss.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Wow...what a haul!
A pen for every day of the month!
Congratulations!
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Great collection but am sorry about your uncle! I know how it feels.
Please keep us informed about how things are going. Welcome to our group.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Welcome! Beautiful pens. See which ones will right just with being filled, then take it from there! Sorry for your loss, too.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Ok, I'll just get going one by one and I'll post a pic each time and see if you can tell what it is and I'll see if they work. Thank you for your encouragement!
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Welcome. :)
Sadly there seems to be something wrong with the Aurora pen in your first picture. It should all be in one piece as it's a piston filling pen but the piston isn't inside the barrel where it should be and I can't see the section that should have the nib inside it. That may be stuck inside the cap.
That pen might need an expert to repair it.
The other pens might already be clean but if they are not then cleaning them just using a cup of barely warm water will probably work for most of them. If you intend to sell some of them then you will need to identify them first. Maybe someone at a pen store might help you out there or maybe one day soon you might have a live pen meeting group where you live, or even a current Zoom meeting group. :)
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ink Everywhere
Hello everyone. My first post, so sorry if it's in the wrong place. I'd love to know how to get started looking after pens. I inherited a collection of beautiful pens, some boxed, but most in two zippy wallets. There are some real beauties that need TLC and I just don't know where to begin with cleaning, repair, storage, inks, etc. Any advice for a newbie would be appreciated. Thank you very much! (Photos of examples of mending that's needed and quantity of pens that need a clean)
Sorry to hear you uncle has passed. Commiserations to you and your family.
I would suggest that first you sort the instruments according to type. It looks like you have a mixture of ballpoints, mechanical pencils and fountain pens. That way you can focus on each type, and address the refills and any repairs separately (it can be a devil of a job working out what leads you need for a mechanical pencil).
However, the good news is that because your uncle invested in a case, the chances are his pens have been well looked after.
I apologise if this bit sounds a little patronising. I'm not exactly sure how much experience to have. This is based on my mistakes as a fountain pen noob over the years. Hopefully this will save you from a broken pens, and an ink stained sofa. Some may choose to point and laugh, but I am sure many members will read them and share my pain.
Do not force anything when trying to get the lids off. Some are slip caps, but the chances are some of them are screw caps - and you won't not know until you try opening them. Forcing a screw cap off can lead to a lot of expensive damage.
It is entirely possible that some of the fountain pens are already inked - and if they are not writing it might just be that the feed is clogged with dry ink. You can fix this by dipping the nib and feed into a cup of water - and that should get them writing. You can also dip the nibs into the bottle of Quink too - that will work, instead of filling them all the way. That way you will know how they write, but it will not tell you if the pen has any maintenance issues(but worry about that later).
It looks like some of your pens might be piston fillers and some cartridge - cartridge convertors.
The piston fillers will not unscrew like the cartridge convertors - they are not designed to come apart. Most piston fillers have a knob at the back which you turn which operates the piston. Do not turn the knob, until you are holding the pen over a sink or cup or something to catch any ink. I lent a piston filler to a friend and he had one of those "What does this button do?" moments and covered himself with ink. It looks like there might be a MB149 (top deck 5 along where the gap is) and a couple of Pelikans (the green pen at the other end of the gap- opposite the "149") and the big green pen in the middle of the top deck on the other side. If they are fountain pens, the chances are they are piston fillers.
Cartridge convertors are great pens too. But there are different sizes of cartridges and convertors - they are not a universal fit. Many pens use the "Universal Standard Cartridge" but some brands (notably Parker) do not. Again - take it easy, if you have to "force something" then the chances are it is the wrong fit. If you are not sure, you can always post some pictures here and I'm sure someone will tell you what it is and what to fill it with.
On the bottom deck on the left hand side, the amber pen with the sloping gold top (between the wooden looking one and the blue one) is a Waterman Carene. If it is a fountain pen, it takes Universal standard cartridges, and the longer Waterman ones. You need a higher grip with this one because of the inlaid nib design. If you hold it too close to the nib, the ink will get onto your hands. Posting the cap (putting the cap on the back) changes the balance and makes a higher grip more comfortable).
If you have any problems, just post an image and ask a question. I'm sure someone knows something.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
What a lovely collection! My advice is as follows: Admire them, all of them. Think of your uncle fondly, and remember him in association with the pens he clearly enjoyed. When removing anything, pulling or unscrewing, do it gently. I have a Gorilla Grip all out of proportion to the dimensions of my hands and my gender, and I whisper to myself, especially with older pens: "Gently, gently", often using only the pads of my fingers. Of late, I have been prone to crumbling sturdy glass vials (at work, in a laboratory) with nothing but too powerful a grip. I wouldn't want to do that to my pens. So "Gently, gently" it is.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
If any pen is a Sheaffer, esp. a Snorkel, don't fill it with ink! First, have it checked out by someone who knows what they are doing.
Take this with a grain of salt. This is advice I read on this or the other forum, from Ruth. FWIW.
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Re: Where do I begin, please help?
Very sorry for your loss!