Soennecken 506

[penwash]

** This is a review that is going to be written in multiple parts.

Part 1

I just got the pen today, after waiting for weeks, this being an international shipment to me.



Soennecken is probably a brand that surprised me the most. For the level of quality that it has both in design and construction, it seems like only small percentage of pen collectors like to talk about it, an outside of them, most pen people never even heard of it.

I got my first one about two years ago, and my first impression was that it's a bland and unremarkable pen. But my hand is immediately attached to it, and won't let go. Later on this particular piston filler model with flat top became one of my favorites.

And today, after hunting and waiting for a long time, I finally got another one, this time in a cooler material, a very, very handsome light gray celluloid with hatch patterns. The clip is not a Soennecken, which bothers me none. When it comes to finding parts, I'm patient, sooner or later I'll get the right one put on it.

The real star is the condition of the cap/barrel/section and the piston assembly. I probably have to replace the cork inside, but I'm almost eager to do it just to see again the super simple but elegant piston mechanism.

Part 2

Now that I had more time to examine the pen, let's uncap it.

Apart from the clip not being the original, the nib also is a replacement. These may sound like a major defect, but I paid nowhere near what a complete sample of this pen, in this condition, would cost me. Moreover, just like the clip, I will find the right nib eventually, or at least I'll upgrade it with a nice 14K gold one. So I am still a happy camper.

The nib is engraved with "Edelstahl Spezial Spitze", obviously a steel nib, but being a vintage steel nib from Europe (or Japan), it has a good chance to be flexible. And it is.

So here we have a dipped writing sample after I cleaned the nib. I was looking for a grey ink, but after I finished my sample of Omas Grey, I only have one other ink with at least Grey in the name: deAtramentis Sahara Grey, which, is more like khaki-olive-green ... really.



One note, this pen is quite comfortable when posted. I don't usually post my pens when writing, and I didn't have to for this pen, but I just want to include this fact which may be useful to some.

In the next part, we'll take a closer look at the piston filler, and possibly putting a new seal.

PART 3

Aaand ... just as I expected. The piston cork is no longer drawing water, so we are going to dive in, folks.

Consulting my repair notes, I learned from the previous restoration that it is not necessary to disassemble the piston knob to replace the cork, so I saved myself a risky step.

When I examined the hard-rubber rim at the back of the pen before opening it, just below the piston knob, I noticed a few gashes from unsuccessful attempt(s) to open it.

Why can't people be more patient when trying to disassemble vintage pens? All it takes is just time and gentle heat (sigh!).

So after a few minutes of heating and twisting using a homemade rubber grip, I heard the familiar creak from ebonite starting to let go of their grasp. After the rim cleared the celluloid barrel end, the metal screw started to unscrew. I continued to take the whole knob+rim+screw assembly out of the barrel. First part done.

Next, we need to open the section, which according to my diagram, just simply were threaded in, so again, gentle heating and rubber grip actions. I managed to take the section out without any drama. Second part done.

The last part is to knock the piston shaft out of the barrel from the front. Because of the construction, the piston shaft can *never* be taken out from the front (section) part of the barrel even when it looks like it can. Then I reach for my *highly specialized, very expensive, ultra precision* ... broken chopstick, and I used it to gently tap the piston shaft, following the groove in the barrel, out from the back. Last part done.

Here we are:




Part 4

After a few duds, I finally was able to put in the new cork. Just to appreciate how well this pen is built, even the tiny ebonite disc -- whose sole job is to prevent the cork from sliding off the shaft -- was threaded with precision.

Quite a bit of heat was needed to re-assemble the pen. Both the piston rim and the section screws in tightly. The heat is very important to prevent the celluloid barrel from warping, which could happen quite easily.

Then it's time to take a deep breath, and fill the pen with water. The piston drew and expelled water. Good. Do it 10x more just to be sure.

Here's a quick sketch to test the pen. The ink is my go to testing ink Waterman Black. The hatching lines on the top serves to test the ink flow. If the ink flow is intermittent, it'll show, if the piston has a leak, it'll drip ink onto the paper.



I'll keep testing the pen for a few days continuously ...

Epilogue

Two weeks of constant use later, the new piston seal works wonderfully, not a single drop of leak no matter what position I store the pen at. I actually spent more time trying to find a 14K gold nib which would fit.

Strangely, and I think I know why, the space within the cap is very short, causing most of my 14K nibs to be just a tad too long when installed. I think at some point the part of the cap that acts as the inner-cap had been shortened to allow the threading on the barrel to engage the deeper cap threads due to the ones closer to the cap lip being worn out from use.

Happily, this Conklin nib seems to be at home with this pen.



As the result, this pen now is a wonderful sketching pen. Of course, if you prefer writing with it, you'll like it as well

Now, the only other thing is to find a Soennecken clip. This one may take a while...