Repair Challenges of the Carene

[Chrissy]

The Waterman Carène isn't a pen that has multiple disassembly instructions. You get a complete nib unit, a cap and a barrel. Sometimes you have to play around with the adjusting screw on the nib unit to get the barrel end and nib to line up but that's about as far as it goes.

Occasionally looking for unusual nib units on ebay, I spotted one that looked interesting because a) it was reasonably priced and b) it was an OB. On looking at the pictures I noticed that the nib looked like it had been dropped because it was obviously bent.

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I decided to message the seller and mention this. I also mentioned it might be tricky to fix because the nib wasn't easily removable from the section. She told me that she had bought it like this and had thought it very scratchy. After receiving my message she went back to her seller who gave her a full refund, but didn't want the nib returned. She didn't want it either, so she messaged me and said if you give me your address you can have it to see if you can fix it.

Not 100% sure whether I was up to the challenge or not I gave her my address and received the nib. Yes, definitely bent. My tools of choice for fixing this nib were Pentooling's "#HT-M: SMALLER PLIERS WITH PLASTIC LINED JAWS." and two wooden cocktail sticks. I used the pliers to straighten the nib tines then used two cocktail sticks pressed together with the tines between them to line them up, as well as to flick one tine above the other in order to make sure they were level. This proved to be a bit tricky because the tine tips wouldn't slip exactly together as the slit seemed to be almost closed immediately behind them. However, at this point I was observing the mantra - "you don't want to have to remove this nib."

Anyway, the nib tines were straight and lined up so I filled a converter with Waterman Mysterious Blue and stuck it in. Everything was perfect - until I looked at my fingers. Ink all over them. Oh blast.

I knew the principles of getting a nib out of a Carène section as I had read about it years ago on the other forum, but I had never attempted it because I had never needed to. I really didn't like the idea of using a sharp scalpel blade to raise the horns, so I slipped my thumbnail in the gaps at both sides of the nib and slid it up to the horn tips on each side. Then I gripped the tines between a rubber pimpled sheet and my plastic jawed pliers, but the jaws kept slipping off of the sheet. In the end I just gripped the tines with my plastic jawed pliers and wiggled it. It came straight out. No problem at all. Phew!!! Once my heart rate had normalised I allowed myself to wonder what I was going to use to fix it back in because there was a tiny strip of something clear on the rim edges of each horn that clearly wasn't doing much to seal it anymore. I tried some of my old HMG water resistant adhesive, but either I didn't use enough or it didn't work at all because I still had inky fingers when writing. So I had to dip the nib unit in alcohol and hot water, then remove the nib again. No problem. At least it came out almost as easily the second time.

By now I had also managed to get a brass shim between the tines in order to fix that severe tightness just beyond the tipping. Therefore, the nib tines were perfectly aligned again.

The second time I tried Shellac. Sadly, that didn't work either. After the Shellac experiment I got much more wet ink on my fingers, so that was hopeless. I can't recommend Shellac for this job. The nib had to come out again. *sigh* At least, by now, I felt like I was almost an expert in how to do it!!!!

I then found a product that I had bought a while before from The Pendragons - Ambersil adhesive for silicone sacs. I had never even cut the top off of the tube to use this, but I needed something that might work, and at the point where I was, it stood as good a chance as anything else I had tried so far.

I tipped both horn edges with a blob of Ambersil silicone adhesive and spread it out slightly along and below both horns. Not past the centre gap, but almost up to it. Then I slid it back in and left it overnight again.

Eureka!!!! No leaks, nib tines level and fixed. Looking good. All I need now is a cap and barrel for the nib unit...... Actually, my original "seller" has already mentioned something to me about this so watch this space for part two......

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