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Thread: Most Irritating pens to work on?

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    Default Most Irritating pens to work on?

    I just have been working on a Parker 51 Dove Grey that I swear someone must have used India ink in. It took the 5 days of soaking, warming and cooling to remove hood. I think it will take another day to remove the remainder of the gunk in the pen. I now have several blisters on my fingers.

    I was wondering what pens other's had found challenging to the point where they wanted to sling the pen as far as the eye could see.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    The last version of the Swan Leverless, the one with a pressure bar. To reassemble it after re-sacing, the button is screwed out fully. The pressure bar is pressed into a slot in the button and a recess in the section. Then the section is screwed into the barrel a half turn, the button is twisted a half turn, and so on. About one time in five this actually works.
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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    I find that pens from a certain, albeit small, set of people are the most challenging.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    I find that pens from a certain, albeit small, set of people are the most challenging.
    Don't be so coy - do tell!
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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    I hate those fragile, crumbly pellet cups on plastic vacumatic filling units.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by top pen View Post
    I just have been working on a Parker 51 Dove Grey that I swear someone must have used India ink in. It took the 5 days of soaking, warming and cooling to remove hood. I think it will take another day to remove the remainder of the gunk in the pen. I now have several blisters on my fingers.

    I was wondering what pens other's had found challenging to the point where they wanted to sling the pen as far as the eye could see.
    I also currently have a large blister in the inside of my index finger from fighting with a Parker “51” hood for several hours! (Misery loves company, but it was worth it: Stub nib!)

    My most frustrating has been attempting to disassemble a later version of the Sheaffer vacuum filler with a triumph nib which it turns out is apparently one of the worst to try and work on. TL;DR the pen is no longer with us...

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Parker 21s have been very un-fun for me. The hoods difficult to remove, the inferior hood and body material is prone to cracking and, at the temperatures required to soften shellac, the hoods easily distort. Also, some of the sac nipples have turned gooey (plasticized) over the decades. And the feeds are extremely brittle at room temps. My "new" vacumatic was a cakewalk compared to the 21s I've worked on.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by azkid View Post
    Parker 21s have been very un-fun for me. The hoods difficult to remove, the inferior hood and body material is prone to cracking and, at the temperatures required to soften shellac, the hoods easily distort. Also, some of the sac nipples have turned gooey (plasticized) over the decades. And the feeds are extremely brittle at room temps. My "new" vacumatic was a cakewalk compared to the 21s I've worked on.
    I'm still in awe of anyone willing to work on 21s and not just put them in the big box of projects that eventually wind up in the box of gullibility.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Deb View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    I find that pens from a certain, albeit small, set of people are the most challenging.
    Don't be so coy - do tell!
    Ever fix a pen that took 3 trips back because the polish didn't glow enough or 5 trips back because the nib wasn't wet enough or find it necessary to rotate a nib 3.5 degrees so it lined up with a feature in the plastic or possibly found it necessary to redo a pen because you used shellac and not rosin to seal the section to the pen or possibly had to re-replace the section nipple because the material you used didn't match the section or redo a restoration because the pressure bar wasn't polished--do I dare speculate how one knows what was inside a restored pen?--well those are the hardest pens to restore.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    Ever fix a pen that ...
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    I'm still in awe of anyone willing to work on 21s and not just put them in the big box of projects that eventually wind up in the box of gullibility.
    Instead of awe may I recommend a cocktail mixture of amusement, pity, and profound second hand embarrassment?

    I think I belong in the gullibility box.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    I don't repair or restore many pens, and usually only work on those that I buy for myself. My latest project was a Parker 100 that seemed to be starved of ink. I even got out the Rapidoeze to soak it in in order to clean it out.

    After soaking and finding it still didn't write properly I looked on the web to see how to remove the nib and feed. That's definitely scary. You have to pull at the tiny nib tip with a pair of pliers and the nib brings the feed out with it. I'm fortunate to have a pair of pliers with yellow plastic grips from Pentooling, and after wrapping a wad of kitchen paper around the nib, that worked.

    There are much easier ways to remove nibs than that pen.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    For "how the heck do I do this, at all?" the Edacoto Super 208. It's a bit like the Waterman Ink Vue with a lever at the end and a transparent reserve tank, and I can't work out how on earth to get started with it.

    For spontaneous self-destruction, 1950s plastic Watermans when you try to get the section out. I now only buy broken ones as a source of nibs (actually very good nibs).

    And not really that irritating, but for some reason the otherwise reliable Parker 45 wins a special prize for being the pen that I most often find caked up with dried ink and needing to be soaked for days... I bought one that I couldn't actually get the cap off. There must have been an entire cartridge's worth of ink in the cap.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by amk View Post
    And not really that irritating, but for some reason the otherwise reliable Parker 45 wins a special prize for being the pen that I most often find caked up with dried ink and needing to be soaked for days... I bought one that I couldn't actually get the cap off. There must have been an entire cartridge's worth of ink in the cap.
    Wow!
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmboy View Post
    I find that pens from a certain, albeit small, set of people are the most challenging.
    Sometimes they pay for the privilege; alas, many times not.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Any broken pen needing work is annoying....but oh the joy in getting them one and all fixed up!
    Mags or Rob Maguire MB 149, 147, 146,144, Mozart, Boehme, Sailor Realo, Aurora Optima, Churchmen Prescriptor and Parson's Essential, Parker 51 1.3 mm stub, Parker Vacumatic 1939 OB Can, TWSBI's (540,580, Mini and Vac 700), Pelikan M 1000/800 Demonstrator 600/200 demoM/200 OBB, Visconti Rembrandts (2), Lamy, Cross, Watermans, Pilots, Sheaffer's, Omas 360 LE 84/360, GvFC, Esterbrooks J and SJ, Bexley Jitterbug, Taccia, Eversharp 1952 flex, Edison Herald, Franklin Christoph Piper.

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    Default Re: Most Irritating pens to work on?

    Speaking of Sheaffer, an early snorkel has given me the most grief. When disassembled it looks like you've taken a watch apart and it goes back together like a puzzle. Don't put this in until the other is backed out to this position then align and catch the threads at the perfect point...I've broken it down twice and the last time it went back together with all the washers and o-rings in place. Totally worth it though, it's great writing instrument.

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