Singing the Praises of the Esterbrook Fountain Pen

[John in Covina]

Shortbow,

Since the Esterbrook nibs are a limited supply these days, you will have to shop around and also keep your eyes open. I don't know if there are any local fountain pen clubs in your area but if you can hook up with one they often have their sources. Plus see if you can visit a pen show, sometimes you can score there.

You might give Fred at the Fountain Pen Shop in Monrovia a buzz or put up an inquriy on one of the fountain pen boards.

Failing that, it is possible sometimes to fit a nib from other brands to the Esterbrook feed, so should you find a flex fine nib even from a dip pen you might be able to make that work.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

WOW that's the start of a fine collection!

Thanks John, those are just the Esties... Some of those Esties are "bottom level pens" as the top is filled with some Parkers, (51's & Vacumatics) Sheaffers, and my Mont Blanc with a OBB flex nib

Here is the rest of my collection:

Top level pens (These get used the most)

And this is the lower level:

 

[shortbow]

Thanks for the tips. Since I basically live in the wilderness and am probably the only fountain pen user in my neck of the woods, the pen boards will have to be the place to look.

 

[John in Covina]

If you use google or search in yahoo for Esterbrook nibs or Esterbrook Renew amongst the info are stores selling New Old Stock (NOS) nibs, too.

 

[John in Covina]

I flushed out my Estie desk pens to put those back on display. I alos swapped out the "good nibs" and replaced them with 1555 amd 2 of the 2556 nibs.

I put a medium in the blue one and have been rotating thru the Estie pocket pens for resume cover letter signing and envelope addressing. I sent out 41 resumes today and about 90 in the last 5 days.

 

[Widebrim]

Mr first fountain pen was an Esterbrook, purchased in a stationery story in 1971, the year Esterbrook went out of business. It was, I believe, a LJ lever-fill, and was about $2. The idea of replacing the nib was always intriguing to me, more so for damage control rather than the desire to use different types of nibs. I've sold quite a few Esterbrook inkwells and desk sets (particularly the 8 ball ones), and the Renew Point feature is often a selling-point. And speaking of inkwells, they are my real love when speaking of Esterbrook. The Dip-less, in all its varieties through the years, forms a large part of my collection, and I have often used one in my classroom in the past. And, yes, John, the Fountain Pen Shop is the place to go when in need of Esterbrook fountain pens and nibs (although I bought the last of Fred's Dip-less pens about five years ago ).

 

[Hugh Beaumont]

Wow, what a coincidence!

I was just searching for Esterbrook nibs today because cartoonist Charles Schulz used them exclusively. In fact, in his autobiography, he said when he found out the company was going out of business, he bought all remaining boxes of the Radio 914 nib.

Been searching for the 914......

 

[John in Covina]

In the past the number of the three digit dip pen nibs on EBAY was astonishing. There were complete sales cases with un-opened boxes of dip pen nibs coming up regularly.

A favorite thing I hate on Ebay is when the clueless identify dip pen nibs as fountain pen nibs. Arrrrgh!

 

[Widebrim]

A favorite thing I hate on Ebay is when the clueless identify dip pen nibs as fountain pen nibs. Arrrrgh!

Tell me about it!

 

[Bustercat]

Great pics, nice to see the comparitive J-series length for us noobs.

Waiting on my first Esterbrooks (gray lj, black j), purchased cheaply on ebay two days ago. I can't wait and in the mean time have been learning about resaccing them and all the related fountain pen lore. One has a 9668 nib in great condition, so I'm excited.

Hoping to try a 9314 nib and maybe even shell out the bux for a signature nib and a few good stubs. I draw alot with dip pens, and am getting started in designing typefaces, so the idea of having a variable stroke pen in one's pocket seems worth the investment.

 

[John in Covina]

Good luck with your new (old) Esties!

 

[Bustercat]

Thanks!
I'll be sure to post pics when they get here.

 

[Bustercat]

First one came today! A grey one in the box with the manual, absolutely cherry exterior with a little blue ink inside.
Got a scare when I tried to hairdry it apart to check the sac. I heated the wrong section (not the barrel) and wound up squashing it into an oval. Luckily a little more heat I was able to squash it back, the nib fits fine and nothing leaks. Sac feels ok for now, will try to get it apart later. Filled it with some waterman's black i found at office depot. Writes like a champ.

This thing just screams 50's industrial modern, every little part of it. It looks so cool sitting on my tanker desk. I feel like gollum with that ring he he.

Here it is with my watch from the fossil '07 collection, in the tradition of the 'mont blanc/rolex' threads over on the fountain pen network. lol Not a bad match, eh?

 

[Colonel]

I recently inherited my father's Esterbrook pen. I will be sending it off to get it opened up, have the sac replaced, and generally cleaned up. It will be strictly an at-the-desk pen kept for sentimental value - I will carry one of my other pens for routine use. It has the 9668 nib on it (before I started looking into it, I thought 9668 was the model number of the pen). It looks just like the photos in this thread of the "Bell System Property" pen, only mine is a bit worn from constant use.

Dad was a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. When he first applied for the job with the Weather Bureau right after WW2 (he was a meteorologist in the Navy), part of the application process was a handwriting test. You had to have good handwriting to get the job. Anyway, this pen has seen a lot of use. I plan to use it myself, but will consider it semi-retired.

Have any of you used Fountain Pen Hospital for this sort of thing? Recommendations are always appreciated.

 

[John in Covina]

When you use a famous name store such as TFH you will get work that is wll done but at a premium price. An alternative maybe to go online and see if there are any local fountain pen clubs in your area. (The Pen Collectors of America may have a list of clubs.) With a little luck you can find one near by and there will usually be a few pen repair guys as members. They may save you a few bucks plus shipping time and expense.

 

[Colonel]

Thanks, John. That would have been a great idea - didn't even consider the possibility. I found exactly one reference to pen collecting around here. It was a forum post from 2005 asking if there were any other pen collectors around the area (my home town). No replies, so not a good sign. I figured I'd do a search for that person since he used his name. All I found was his obituary, so I definitely missed that connection. I'll probably end up having to send it off somewhere since I live in anything but an urban area. I love living on a dirt road in a farming area, but there are plenty of things that require a web search and shipping to get done.

Again, thank you for the information.

 

[John in Covina]

http://www.pencollectorsofamerica.com/ send them an email they may have some contacts too.

 

[John in Covina]

http://www.thesouthernscribe.com/ this guy has good references

 

[Colonel]

Thank you, John. I'll see what I come up with. I know this Esterbrook is not a high-dollar pen, but the sentimental value to me is priceless.

 

[John in Covina]

This Saturday 2/6/10, 12 noon-ish at the Fountain Pen Shop in Monrovia, CA Mr. Paul Hoban author of "The Fountain Pens of Esterbrook" will be having a talk about Esterbrooks.

It is free to all as part of our local club meeting. The club is the Southern California Pen Collectors Club which some regard as the precursor to the PCA. We get together around 5 times a year in various places in the LA and OC area.