Anyone know anything about fountain pens?

[viclip]

Thanks all, for the information & advice offered. I've enjoyed learning about these specific pens. Since I don't plan to write with them I won't attempt to fill them either. I do have some white silicone grease so I will lube the piston shaft on the one pen before putting it away.

I did find two Wearever pens with side levers that were mine but I don't honestly remember ever using them in school. I remember having a cartridge fountain pen shortly before getting my first ballpoint.

Hurricane, is that white LITHIUM grease? If so please don't use it, non-silicone greases cause rubber to swell, deform, burst etc.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Hurricane, is that white LITHIUM grease? If so please don't use it, non-silicone greases cause rubber to swell, deform, burst etc.

No, it's the opaque or translucent stuff. I shouldn't have said white.

 

[viclip]

I dabble a bit in repairing my own collection of fountain pens. I use clear ammonia diluted with a lot of water in a ultrasonic cleaner to clean out old ink. You can get a similar result with soaking for a good long while. That is a really nice Sheaffer and they have wonderful nibs. It almost certainly will need a new sac. Take a look at the Fountainpen network forum on repairs.


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Please be careful using ammonia around pens.

Ammonia will attack some plastics, including modern ones. I found that out the hard way when I managed to "cloud" a component in a pricey Pelikan demonstrator piston filler of recent manufacture.

Also, at least one highly regarded professional pen restorer - David Nishimura - holds that even diluted ammonia will damage 14K gold nibs by embrittling them, in turn leading to breakage (esp. flexible nibs). Note that the gold nibs on vintage pens are virtually all 14K. The higher gold content 18K nibs apparently do not suffer from the same weakness ... still, a solution of soapy water will clean pretty well any nib (unless some genius has filled a fountain pen using shellac-based India or drawing ink instead of water-based fountain pen ink).

 

[robrinay]

I was taught to use a few drops of unperfumed Teepol washing up liquid in water for a short soak for ink crusted nibs feeds and barrels and never to use ammonia. While the bits of knowledge that are being shared in this thread are interesting and useful they are not as comprehensive as a pen restoration course or book. It would be a shame if anyone was to damage a pen by attempting a restoration based on these snippets.

 

[robrinay]

You bring up an interesting point about an early plastic which was actually made from milk. It has various names, most commonly "casein".

Sheaffer as far as I am aware never used casein in pen production. Fortunately for Sheaffer, the rival Parker Pen Company had made that mistake early in the 20th century. Parker had manufactured their "Ivorine" line in pretty colors but alas this proved to be a costly & embarrasing goof-up. The following article may be of interest:

http://parkercollector.com/ivorine.html

Sheaffer surely learned from their enemy's mistake!

You're correct of course - mine was a general warning and for some makers you can't be sure what type of plastic has been used.

 

[Shangas]

I've been repairing my own vintage/antique FPs for nearly 10 years now - basic stuff - re-seating nibs, replacing sacs, etc etc etc. Good advice been given overall. Apart from keeping casein away from water, I'd also keep celluloid and ebonite well away from naked flames.