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Thread: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

  1. #61
    Senior Member reprieve's Avatar
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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    To respond to the OP's query, I have had excellent experience with Martin Ferguson of Martin's Pens. I don't think he's been mentioned in this thread yet, but I'm sure many folks here are familiar with his work, especially since he's a regular at many of the US pen shows. He restored two Parker Vacumatics and a Sheaffer Snorkel for me a couple of years ago and I was very impressed. He explained every step of the restoration to me, let me watch him work on my pens, and seemed very interested in teaching his skills to a new generation. He's very familiar with Parker pens, and if you've got a vintage Duofold, which I think the OP mentioned, that needs to be restored, I wouldn't hesitate to send it to Martin. I've also bought a couple of vintage pens from his table and they were all in perfect order. I've only interacted with him at pen shows, though, so I have no idea what his turnaround time is.

    I've also used the services of (and have been very happy with): Joel Hamilton (he replaced the seal on one of my vintage Montblanc piston fillers); Ron Zorn (he resacced a bunch of Esterbrooks for me when I was new to fountain pens and didn't yet know how to do it myself); John Mottishaw (who I often recommend for nib work but who also does top-notch repairs and fixed my Omas's broken piston); and Gerry Berg (he restored my Sheaffer Tucky's shot plunger filler).

    For nib work, all of my pens go to either Michael Masuyama or John Mottishaw.

    I know there are many others out there who do very good work, but these are the folks who I've had first-hand experience with and who I trust with my most cherished pens and who I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to others.
    (By the way, I am not affiliated with any pen business. I am only a satisfied customer of the above-mentioned folks.)

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  3. #62
    Senior Member dr.grace's Avatar
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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Good post, AltecGreen! By the way, who is the person you'd pick for repairing Japanese eyedroppers?

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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Quote Originally Posted by dr.grace View Post
    Good post, AltecGreen! By the way, who is the person you'd pick for repairing Japanese eyedroppers?
    It is one of two people I can think of. As far as I know, neither of them participates in on-line venues, neither has a web site, and I don't believe either advertizes.

    Which reminds me of something relevant.

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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Mtsheehan,
    Your last post, was it a selfie?
    We have met the enemy and he is us.
    -Pogo

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    Senior Member dr.grace's Avatar
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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by dr.grace View Post
    Good post, AltecGreen! By the way, who is the person you'd pick for repairing Japanese eyedroppers?
    It is one of two people I can think of. As far as I know, neither of them participates in on-line venues, neither has a web site, and I don't believe either advertizes.

    Which reminds me of something relevant.
    What would be the harm in letting these people be known?

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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?


  9. #67
    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Quote Originally Posted by dr.grace View Post
    Good post, AltecGreen! By the way, who is the person you'd pick for repairing Japanese eyedroppers?
    I’m back from travel.

    Eckiethump (Eric Wilson) in Scotland. The shipping and repair cost makes repairing the lower end no name Japanese eyedroppers a dicey proposition economically.




    Quote Originally Posted by dr.grace View Post

    What would be the harm in letting these people be known?
    Depending on the person, there are several reasons.


    Many of the people we know do take in work from the public. However, they do not like the attention having their name out on the internet brings. They have a stable clientele and have no need to advertise. So we respect their privacy by not throwing their name out. They can do that themselves if they ever change their mind. On occasion I will recommend one of them back channel. In these cases, it is usually because the person needing work lives close by the person I have in mind.

    Some others will only occasionally take work from the public. These people often have huge backlogs from collectors. There are a lot of collectors out there and they often send dozens of pens at the same time for repair. It is a different game when someone sends you 36 pens to fix and have no urgent need to get them back. As oppose to the one pen someone on the forum might send and expects immediate attention. Also, collectors who have been around understand that sometimes things go wrong. They just shrug it off and salvage the parts for another repair. A forum person will just post a complain on a forum. It is a different relationship.

    The third case is a person who does not take public work at all. Many of these people are experts at specific brands and have specialized skills for fixing specific pens. They also tend to have rare parts. You have to know the person or have an introduction to get work done.



    My general rule is that I will only mention a person online who I know advertises and accepts work from the public. I try to respect the privacy of those who do not advertise.
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  11. #68
    Senior Member dr.grace's Avatar
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    Default Re: Reliable pen repair/restoration?

    Thanks for the explanation. This was a foreign concept to me, as I've never been to a pen show and, in 25+ years of using fountain pens, have only bought them over the internet (with one local exception).

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