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Thread: Waterman #55 section cracked

  1. #41
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    With a vintage pen, stuff can break, even when you follow your repair procedure properly. You're dealing with a vintage pen, and then your replacement parts even are often vintage as well. The materials can change shape, shrink, and degrade over the years in some cases. I just threw one pen into my donor drawer because the barrel had shrunk noticeably but the cap had not. The barrel and cap would not even come close to engaging. It was a part of an online junk store trove of pens and parts. A week earlier I'd fixed a pen from the same maker, same era, same model - everything fit together snugly and it fixed up just fine. The fixed pen probably got much better treatment over the past 83 years. Repairing vintage pens can be like getting your arrow into a moving target while shooting from a moving car.

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    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray-VIgo View Post
    . Repairing vintage pens can be like getting your arrow into a moving target while shooting from a moving car.
    Wow! That sounds difficult!
    Regards,
    Deb
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    Ray-VIgo (June 11th, 2020)

  4. #43
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Deb View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ray-VIgo View Post
    . Repairing vintage pens can be like getting your arrow into a moving target while shooting from a moving car.
    Wow! That sounds difficult!
    Legolas never had a problem with that sort of thing, and he only had a horse.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Jon Szanto (June 10th, 2020)

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    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Deb View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Ray-VIgo View Post
    . Repairing vintage pens can be like getting your arrow into a moving target while shooting from a moving car.
    Wow! That sounds difficult!
    Legolas never had a problem with that sort of thing, and he only had a horse.
    Regards,
    Deb
    My Blog

  7. #45
    Senior Member grainweevil's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Z View Post
    I've often said that the big difference between an amateur pen mechanic and the true professional is their ability to work their way back out of a repair problem, or take what would otherwise be a disaster and turn it in to a successful repair.
    The difference is only ability. Whether you do it for love (amateur) or money (professional) is neither here nor there.

    Sorry, it's something of a bête noire of mine.
    In the words of Paul Simon, you can call me Al.

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    Deb (June 10th, 2020)

  9. #46
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    I always think of the word "professional" as implying an appropriate level of training or education. Otherwise anyone who does anything for remuneration becomes a professional which rather devalues the term.
    Regards,
    Deb
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    There is some old time definition of who is a professional and that was limited to medicine, law and a couple of others, everyone else was in trade.

    In car and motorcycle racing there is a difference in style between a professional and an amateur, an amateur will know their own limits for example in braking and corning, and drive to those limits, a professional will drive beyond their limits but know how and when to effect a recovery.

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    Deb (June 10th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    The sad thing is that there isn't any training (that I know of) for fountain pen repair. It has to be time served doing the job.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Senior Member grainweevil's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    By all means debate the meaning of professional, but my irritation is with the assumption that being an amateur means being less skilled. It ain't necessarily so. Indeed, arguably a skilled amateur has the opportunity to do a better job as they don't have to watch the number of hours they're putting into it.

    But I don't want to hijack the thread with this; as I said, it's just a particular thing of mine that I can't seem to help reacting to. I'm greatly enjoying the insight into repairer's experiences, although shooting arrows from cars less so...
    In the words of Paul Simon, you can call me Al.

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    Deb (June 10th, 2020)

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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by grainweevil View Post
    By all means debate the meaning of professional, but my irritation is with the assumption that being an amateur means being less skilled. It ain't necessarily so. Indeed, arguably a skilled amateur has the opportunity to do a better job as they don't have to watch the number of hours they're putting into it.

    But I don't want to hijack the thread with this; as I said, it's just a particular thing of mine that I can't seem to help reacting to. I'm greatly enjoying the insight into repairer's experiences, although shooting arrows from cars less so...
    Shooting arrows from cars was a nice little diversion for those of us who occasionally like to think of an image of Orlando Bloom
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Senior Member Fermata's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    The sad thing is that there isn't any training (that I know of) for fountain pen repair. It has to be time served doing the job.
    I think that WES do them Chris but they are aimed at people to do their own basic pen repairs as opposed to persons wanting to set up shop.

    https://www.wesonline.org.uk/librari...epair-courses/

  17. #52
    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by grainweevil View Post
    By all means debate the meaning of professional, but my irritation is with the assumption that being an amateur means being less skilled. It ain't necessarily so. Indeed, arguably a skilled amateur has the opportunity to do a better job as they don't have to watch the number of hours they're putting into it.

    But I don't want to hijack the thread with this; as I said, it's just a particular thing of mine that I can't seem to help reacting to. I'm greatly enjoying the insight into repairer's experiences, although shooting arrows from cars less so...
    I completely agree with you about the amateur/professional thing.
    Regards,
    Deb
    My Blog

  18. #53
    Senior Member Deb's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waterman #55 section cracked

    Quote Originally Posted by Fermata View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy View Post
    The sad thing is that there isn't any training (that I know of) for fountain pen repair. It has to be time served doing the job.
    I think that WES do them Chris but they are aimed at people to do their own basic pen repairs as opposed to persons wanting to set up shop.

    https://www.wesonline.org.uk/librari...epair-courses/
    I didn't do those courses - in fact I've had no training - but I believe those courses are good enough to get someone started doing repairs for payment. When the courses were first offered, they were followed by several new people offering repair services - a very good thing! My familiarisation with pen repair was several years of repairing pens for myself, then selling on eBay followed by a web-based sales site and blog. 3246 pens to date! Mind you, I'm not repairing against the clock - or even repairing every day in normal times (remember them?). We have other sources of income, as most people in this business do - even some of the very best.
    Regards,
    Deb
    My Blog

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