Sheaffer PFM I
The Hunt
I was prowling around the evilbay as I am known to do occasionally, and I ran across one of those listings that catch my interest. The most important part was that it was listed as a Sheaffer Snorkel when clearly it was a PFM I. Ooops. Time to add that one to the watch list. By the time the day of the auction arrived somebody had asked about the tumor on the cap clearly (to me) shown on the (slightly fuzzy) pictures. The seller responded that he had no idea but he thought that it might be supposed to be there. So, now I have a mislabeled listing, with an obvious defect that the seller is trying to hide within the required limits of German law. The pictures were fuzzy, but like amateur photographer fuzzy, not the intentional fuzzy pictures usually used to hide important details. It looked to me like a well used PFM I with a defect on the cap and a seller going out of his way to ruin his sale. Time to take a chance. I snagged it at a pitiful price and eagerly waited for the pen to arrive.
The Inspection
What arrived was pretty much what I expected. There were lots of microscratches all over the pen plus a handful of dings. The cap, however, was a little worse than I thought. It was not a big scuff like I thought but a full melted crater. Bugger. Also, the nib was bent down about 45 degrees. Not bent straight down, but instead down and at a slight angle. I have had some practice straightening normal nibs like that and it is a nightmare. I had no idea how to do that with an inlaid nib. Plus the nib is palladium silver and I have no experience straightening those. Add to that that I have never restored a touchdown filler and I decided that I needed professional help. For the price that I got the pen I had plenty of margin to play with plus I did not get it to resell but as a daily user for myself. I have been interested about why people crow about the PFM’s all the time but the price has kept me away from trying one.
The Repair
On a recommendation I contacted Danny Fudge at The Write Pen and shortly thereafter I sent him the pen. He let me know when it arrived and then I settled in to wait. A couple of weeks later a package arrived. It was the repaired PFM with a friendly note and a surprisingly inexpensive bill. Up close or in direct sunlight you can tell that the cap has been repaired but other than that it looks great. You can see light ripples on the nib but the tines were perfectly aligned. I spent a few days fighting with the filling system, as the pen would shoot water 6 feet but not like a stream from a water pistol. I also thought that I was only getting between .25 and .5 ml of ink on a fill. After I used a more accurate measuring system I realized that I was getting between .75 and .8 ml on a fill. Some research revealed that the maximum capacity is only supposed to be .84 ml so everything was good I just did not know what I was doing. The nib wrote a little dry at first but after a few days of use and a little tweaking it started flowing well. I can recommend Danny’s services thouroughly.
The Result
OK, now I get it. The pen is a joy to write with. I do not like large pens in general, but I do like this one. It is big enough for me to write comfortable with either posted or unposted. The balance is good both ways. I think the thing that really makes the pen a winner is the section. Because of the long, tapered section with the inlaid nib I am able to comfortably lengthen my grip and it makes a big difference. I feel like I could write with this pen all day long.
Plus, the pen has presence. That big inlaid nib and the black with silver trim really makes this pen look like a serious pen. It looks the best posted. It gets attention. Like a pen for men even. And the filling system is just neat. It looks neat, and when properly restored it works well.
The nib has no size markings but it writes a consistent medium (.7 mm) line. There is no flex, or really even spring but with a little pressure the line opens to a broad (.9 mm). Further pressure does not produce any other change. I still do not call that spring, just a soft nail. The nib is very smooth with what I would call neutral wetness.
One drawback is that it is really too large for me to carry around in my pocket. If my intention is to get attention I certainly could, but honestly it is too big. It belongs in the inner pocket of a suit coat or something, but not really a shirt pocket. The relatively small ink supply could be a disadvantage to some. It annoyed me at first, but then I realized that I could not remember ever running out of ink but I have lost count of the number of times that I wanted a pen to run out of ink so that I could change colors. The only other issue I have is it does tend to dip ink into the cap. It defeats the purpose to have a pen that you can fill without wiping the nib afterwards but you have to wipe the section before every use. I am going to keep chasing that but so far it only looks like nib creep.
PFM Boxed.jpgPFM Posted.jpgPFM Cap Before.jpgPFM Cap Fixed.jpgPFM Nib Before.jpgPFM Nib After.jpgCode:Length Capped 136 mm 5.37 in. 5 3/8 " Posted Length 142 mm 5.58 in. 5 5/8 " Unposted length 119 mm 4.69 in. 4 2/3 " Cap Length 61 mm 2.40 in. 2 7/16" Cap Dia 15.0 mm .59 in. 5/8 " Barrel Max Dia 12.5 mm .49 in. 1/2 " Section Min Dia 8.8 mm .35 in. 3/8 " Section Length 30 mm 1.18 in. 1 3/16"
Edit: Forgot the link to Danny
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks