The Height of Form and Function aka Esterbrook?!

[grainweevil]

There's a difference between being enthusiastic in advocating the pen variety you love and starting to deride pen brands that you don't. Please let's not wander into that trap, and for the love of mike, let's not have the thread descend into MB bashing.

As to PVC sacs in Esterbrooks, I'm sure they're excellent. They're also non-standard, which I would suggest makes them not really in the spirit of the original claim of form and function.

Anyway, Chuck, you'll be pleased with me - I have my first Dollar pen. Currently in quarantine, unfortunately, but hopefully will clean up nicely in due course. Life being what it is, what's the betting I don't have the correct size of sac?

[Chuck Naill]

If I am going to make a wide general statement about Esterbrooks being the height of something, I must make comparisons in order to validate why. I have owned a MB149 just as I currently have two Parker Vacumatics. No derision was intended, but only did so to make a comparison of reliability and simplicity.

I don't plan to use PVC, just curious about using them. If the same as in my Parker 21, they have a different pliability and not sure an Esty j bar and lever would work as well.

Yes, I am pleased you got a dollar. I have one sac left. I usually purchase 6 at a time from Anderson Pen. So, congratulations. I see Deb thanked your post. She's forgotten more than I will ever know. It is just that I have been surprised at how well an Esty cleans up and especially how well they write. Being able to use anything 90 years old for a common, daily purpose is very pleasing for me.

As an aside, I recently got another Parker 51 that was supposed to have be restored, but wasn't. I sent it out to be re-restored and got a message last night that the collector was the wrong size and part of the old diaphragm was floating inside the part that holds the ink. I would never have been able to have corrected the problem myself as I have been able to solve every problem with an Esty.

Anyway, just enjoying the discussion, but again not disparaging another's opinion and certainly not a different brand. I mean, we are all advocates of FP's here. I apologize if it appeared otherwise.

[Deb]

I think it's good to be cautious about PVC sacs in lever fillers. They do put more stress on the delicate lever.

I don't know about having forgotten more than you will ever know. I have forgotten most of what I used to know.

[grainweevil]

I don't plan to use PVC, just curious about using them. If the same as in my Parker 21, they have a different pliability and not sure an Esty j bar and lever would work as well.

I think it's good to be cautious about PVC sacs in lever fillers. They do put more stress on the delicate lever.

I wondered about that myself. Pajaro would be the one to know, I imagine.

I don't know about having forgotten more than you will ever know. I have forgotten most of what I used to know.

Oh crumbs, Deb, tell me about it.

[guyy]

I’ve heard not to use PVC in celluloid pens. That would include Esterbrooks.

[pajaro]

The Esterbrooks I put PVC sacs in were a few done around 2012. A couple of J pens and a couple of M2 pens. Maybe others. All of these are working well. I pulled the section of a J sacked with a latex sac at the same time, and it feels funny on the surface of the latex. It feels as if it needs a resac. This is what I had hoped to avoid with the PVC.

Delicate lever? Doesn't feel delicate. Perhaps, Deb, you have seen a lot of them break?

Yes, using PVC sacs breaks with the usual custom. I try things. I bought a nice Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial, inlaid nib, from Main Street pens that Ron Zorn had resacced with a PVC sac in lieu of a latex sac. Working great. So, should I try something that promises to reduce maintenance and is generally not outwardly visible, or should I be bound by tradition and keep resaccing every eight to ten or so years? The answer depends on what you are after. A collector who doesn't use the pens or uses them little would go with the latex sac, because it's not performance he's after but a sample of something in original condition. Ideally he might have NOS pens and not bother resaccing. A user might be OK with PVC, because it might never need a resac. If it doesn't break, no need to fix it.

[corgicoupe]

I have found the 9314F nib to be preferable to the 9314M.

[Chuck Naill]

Just a casual eBay observation; these pens have doubled or tripled since I was restoring them.

[Ron Z]

Just a casual eBay observation; these pens have doubled or tripled since I was restoring them.

They have indeed as more of them have landed in collections.

I evidently missed a good part of this thread for one reason or another. They aren't "just" lowly Esterbrooks anymore. The nibs 9XXX nibs are getting to be harder to find. But I still find pens at flea markets and antique shops.

FWIW, two sizes of sacs were used in Esterbrooks. For the early Dollar pens and transitional J with out the tray inside, a #18. For the other pens including a J with the sac tray inside, a #16.

PVC sacs are at this point almost extinct since Martin Smith passed a number of years ago. David Nishimura still sells #14 PVC, and his Parker 51 sacs are PVC. The sacs are a bit stiffer, and I had one or two levers fail out of all the pens they went in, usually the pin or spring ring. Never in an Esterbrook.