Congratulations on your first pen repair video!👏👏👏. I really enjoyed this. I think you should do some more. Perhaps you could work a few into your normal schedule. Thanks.
I love restoring old sac-filler pens. It’s relatively easy and a lot of them really clean up nicely. It’s fairly common for them to have gold nibs that shine like new with some Simichrome polish. And it’s not too difficult to acquire vintage pens (especially sac-filler) without breaking the bank. Great video!
Great video Doug. It is a lovely sense of achievement to take a pen that has seen better days, bring it back to life and then continue to use in every day writing. I find it a nice balance to have pens that are 70+ years old against our typical hankering after the newest and shinest latest piece of technology. Thanks again.
It is a very adventurous experiment. Something that perhaps I would not attempt. I sent a Waterman from the 1940's to a repair shop in New York City, Fountain Pen Hospital. Works wonderfully. In any case I appreciate this video very much and congratulate you on a successful effort. Love that very scientific term to describe the celluloid - wonky. Fits the description perfectly. Great video, Doug.
Great video. Beautiful pen. You’ve got Lady Luck on your shoulder. You’ve inspired me to work on one of my old pens. Thanks 🙏 . Those poor Lac beetles, good for something.
Nice find! I recently went to an estate sale looking for pens. It opened at 9 in the morning but I was busy, so by the time I arrived at 10 someone had already picked the box clean, leaving behind only a cheap calligraphy set.
Good job Doug I tried with an Esterbrook J and broke it,bought another and succeeded . After that a few different, then bought modern ones like penbbs 456 having viewed both your channel and Chris .
Funny! The last time I tried buying a fountain pen in an antique store, I got a "what kind of pen?" To be fair, it was a small town down south in the other Dakota. I had better luck in the Dakota to the north, except that the one pen had a glass nib. Stay tuned: some problems to solve there. I feel like either fountain pens were rare in North Dakota or else antiquers just don't sell them here. An elderly woman I know recently told me that she has some, but doesn't know what she did with them. Good for you on the heat gun: I've never used one on a fountain pen. I own one, but I've only used it for electronics. On a happier note, North Dakota did give me a fascinating mechanical calculator. I may be restoring it for years! Anyway, vintage pens are what kept me into fountain pens. They are fascinating, and it's an incredible experience to bring a once-loved pen back to life and write with it.
Hi Doug great looking pen,great video.I started out repairing vintage pens & what a rabbit hole that’s turned out to be but I have had hours of enjoyment & satisfaction from restoring pens as old as 100yrs old.Their are some very clever designs,Onoto plunger fillers,Sheaffer plunger fillers,Button fillers & the list goes on.Take my advice if you ever write with a old gold nib it’s a different experience entirely from modern nibs.A great book to help is Pen Repair by Jim Marshall & Laurence Oldfield
Emergency Room Doctor questioning me- " Sir, How did you get this big blister on your hand?" Me- " I was heating my pen up with a heat gun." MD- " Seriously sir, I have no time for jokes. How did you do this?" Bravo for what you did here. You have once again exceeded expectations. I admire your risk taking. You are now officially the "Lazarus of the Pen World"- bringing back pens from the dead. Nice work Doug. Thanks again.
Thanks, MrCabimero! That doctor bit reminds me of when I was practicing playing tennis by myself in a school yard hitting the ball against a wall. I stepped on a rock and sprained my ankle. I went to emergency and had to fill out a form. "How did the accident happen?" I wrote, "I sprained my ankle playing with myself". LOL
Awesome video Doug!! I just watched 2 of Chris' older videos last night with him restoring older pens. Sometimes I even throw them on for background noise while I browse for new pens online. this video and Chris really make me want to get into restoring older pens myself. Don't have the gumption just yet though haha
This has been the last couple visits to thrift stores lately, and we are getting ready to go out and look together, the wife and I, as this video was uploaded/premiered. Cheers. My grail would be to find a Canadian made classic!
What fun! I have an Oxford-Wahl of about the same vintage with a 14k stub nib restored by professionals -- pen $10 US, restoration . . . rather more. And, it is beautiful. But the nib tends to dry in my pocket. Horizontal on the desk, better. I have some other pens of the same vintage which I might take some chances with. But, unless I just want the fun of the restoration work, and getting a gallon of shellac (I totally would) and using 1 ml in 12 years, maybe . . . . Really, as the nibs have cleaned up nicely, I might just dip them at my desk once in a while.
Thanks for this Doug, I have wondered about repairing some of the old and beautiful pens. I'm still not sure that I will take it on, but if I saw a celluloid pen like that one, I might risk it. It was beautiful. I wish I was a pen fanatic with I lived in the UK with all those antique shops. Looking at my pen collection I see that I have a hankering after brown pens and brown/red pens with the Benu Bourbon and a Cesare Emiliano which is almost like horn. Thanks again for keeping me informed and entertained.
I never realized that repairing and restoring a lever fill fountain pen was so... easy. (I use that phrasing loosely because it's a lot of work, but manageable) Because I don't have experience with any vintage pens, really, are most vintage lever filling fountain pens sealed up with shellac in that way? I would love to snag a vintage pen of my own one day to attempt it... I'd just be horrified of causing a melted plastic mess. 😂
Yes, shellac was the standard glue used in pens all the way up into the modern day. Richard Binder (IIRC) commented on seeing a large drum of Zinzer shellac at the Sheaffer factory in 2004 just before it was shut down. Shellac is non-toxic (and can even be food-grade!), waterproof, non-reactive, easy to work with, and removable with reasonable heat. It's basically ideal for these purposes. So buy yourself some bug extract for your pen repair needs! 😄
Strong work-Beautiful pen with a bit of extra “character.” Appreciate the swirl remover tip! Were you able to get the original nib into any sort of working shape?
Cool pens! There's only one Canadian pen I've gotten, so far. A Waterman's nurse's pen from the 1940's. Yep. Glued in can get problematic, especially with celluloid. Depending on if it's the original type or later cellulose acetate (basically the same thing as most modern "celluloid,") they can be extremely flammable if you're not careful. Plenty of the lower end pens have folded nibs. Even through the point right before Esterbrook was sold to Venus, the 1xxx and 2xxx were either folded or folded and welded instead of iridiumish tipping. Some were just punched to get a dimple for the tip (Welsharp was notorious for this.) Fortunately there's almost everything available for redoing an old lever filler. Might not find a lever box and the parts for holding them in (Wahl-Eversharp you can only find used for the Skyline, for example) but a pressure bar, there's only a few that works for most pens, and there's plenty of places that have lists for most pens for the ink sacs. (Here in the United States, I'm partial to Anderson Pens or David Nishimura of Vintage Pens, as they are the same as original ones, and the best prices. 😉 I've easily done around 30 lever fillers, and if I can do it after a stroke, there's almost no one that can't do them. 😁 Good choice for the "generic Chinese nib"! Many older open nibbed pens fit a fairly generic number 5 of today. I've played with a "Genius iridium point" in a 1950s Arnold that has the original kind of scratchy nib (another folded one.😁) Great job getting an old lever filler up and running again! The desk set I'm kinda jealous over. I'm looking for something similar for a gift for a friend. They can use a fountain pen/ballpoint combo, so their fountain pen doesn't get sprung. 😉 Thanks for sharing this! Now on to another vintage pen! 😁
@@InkquiringMinds Good choice of the sac, too. Silicone, ink evaporates faster, and in many, they seem to only be used to preserve a light colour, as the sulphur compounds in latex sacs is prone to discolour certain colours over the decades. (I'm very partial to using the original type sac, myself. 😁) And, if you look at the original Parker service manuals, the imprint, if any, seems to be generally lined up with the top of the nib (and clip usually lines up with the imprint as well. ) Of course, the budget pens are less likely to have an imprint... 😉
I wasn't surprised by the folded nib, but I found it interesting on two points: These pens were obviously not made to last for years and years, but were relatively inexpensive tools, even if they were quite attractive. And seeing celluloid on even such a low end pen shows just how ubiquitous the material was back then.
@@garykarlin1777 the lower end Esterbrook were folded or folded and welded, and they still seem to hold up for quite a while (much better than claims of modern steel stub nibs, for example. I have plenty that are 70+ years old that are still tipped with the folding. It's generally the older flatter feed ones that have worn off the tipping. Of course, I also have only really limited experience with regular steel nibs like the Eclipse used. 😉 I'd probably hunt down a cheap Warranted 14K nib for it. The prettiest vintage pens seem to be the budget pens, so... 😁)
"Hey you..." Pink Floyd. Best YT channel for FPs. Doug, I think that I'm the only subscriber who regularly comments on your fine playing. The rest of your subscribers don't comment.
YOU'RE the one who watches! LOL Thanks R! I got a private note the other day telling me how stupid my guitar playing is and how dumb my hats are, so getting some good feedback is always welcome!
What an interesting post. How could you go wrong with a $12 pen? The celluloid is pretty but the pseudo-hooded nib and section--ugh. This is the first time I have seen anyone NOT arrange the lever in line with the nib and it elicited a very strong OCD response from me. Pity your show is not live, for you would have learnt some very interesting Aussie phrases. A memorable show. All the best from the kangaroos and sharks.
If you spend a little time cleaning up the original nib you may be pleasantly surprised at the writing experience of the vintage nib as opposed to its now writing just like a new Chinese pen. Nothing wrong with Chinese pens, I've got a few, but there's something special about an original old pen that was first writing in some old-fashioned office somewhere nearly ninety years ago.
Thanks, Nick. I spent a LOT of time on the nib. It is brass and very pitted. I have a couple of the "fold over" style brass nibs from some 1950's German student piston filler pens. They are very flexible and interesting. I think I might try to fit one into the Eclipse.
Congratulations on your first pen repair video!👏👏👏. I really enjoyed this. I think you should do some more. Perhaps you could work a few into your normal schedule. Thanks.
It is fun! I use silicone ink sacs as they don't die like rubber sacs, but they do allow ink to evaporate more quickly than rubber.
Thanks for showing us the restoration Doug!
Nice job! I wish there were more vintage pens in charity shops and pawnbrokers here.
You and me both!
I love restoring old sac-filler pens. It’s relatively easy and a lot of them really clean up nicely. It’s fairly common for them to have gold nibs that shine like new with some Simichrome polish. And it’s not too difficult to acquire vintage pens (especially sac-filler) without breaking the bank. Great video!
I’m so excited about your foray into pen restoration!
Thanks Melinda!
Great job and the detailed instructions are very helpful. Thank you. 😊
Great video Doug. It is a lovely sense of achievement to take a pen that has seen better days, bring it back to life and then continue to use in every day writing. I find it a nice balance to have pens that are 70+ years old against our typical hankering after the newest and shinest latest piece of technology. Thanks again.
And it is fun to tinker with things to get them working again. Especially when it is successful!
Finally I know the source of that clicking sound on the background :).
It is a very adventurous experiment. Something that perhaps I would not attempt. I sent a Waterman from the 1940's to a repair shop in New York City, Fountain Pen Hospital. Works wonderfully.
In any case I appreciate this video very much and congratulate you on a successful effort.
Love that very scientific term to describe the celluloid - wonky. Fits the description perfectly.
Great video, Doug.
Thank you, Paul!
BTW- really unique looking pen. A beauty for sure.
Great video. Beautiful pen. You’ve got Lady Luck on your shoulder. You’ve inspired me to work on one of my old pens. Thanks 🙏 . Those poor Lac beetles, good for something.
Amazing finds. Great job on restoring the pen.
Beautiful looking pen. I hope to find a salvageable cellulose pen someday. Congratulation on the successful restore.
Thank you very much!
what a beautiful pen !
Nice find! I recently went to an estate sale looking for pens. It opened at 9 in the morning but I was busy, so by the time I arrived at 10 someone had already picked the box clean, leaving behind only a cheap calligraphy set.
The early bird gets the Pelikan!
Good job Doug I tried with an Esterbrook J and broke it,bought another and succeeded .
After that a few different, then bought modern ones like penbbs 456 having viewed both your channel and Chris .
Funny! The last time I tried buying a fountain pen in an antique store, I got a "what kind of pen?" To be fair, it was a small town down south in the other Dakota. I had better luck in the Dakota to the north, except that the one pen had a glass nib. Stay tuned: some problems to solve there. I feel like either fountain pens were rare in North Dakota or else antiquers just don't sell them here. An elderly woman I know recently told me that she has some, but doesn't know what she did with them.
Good for you on the heat gun: I've never used one on a fountain pen. I own one, but I've only used it for electronics.
On a happier note, North Dakota did give me a fascinating mechanical calculator. I may be restoring it for years!
Anyway, vintage pens are what kept me into fountain pens. They are fascinating, and it's an incredible experience to bring a once-loved pen back to life and write with it.
Thanks so much, Jason!
Hi Doug great looking pen,great video.I started out repairing vintage pens & what a rabbit hole that’s turned out to be but I have had hours of enjoyment & satisfaction from restoring pens as old as 100yrs old.Their are some very clever designs,Onoto plunger fillers,Sheaffer plunger fillers,Button fillers & the list goes on.Take my advice if you ever write with a old gold nib it’s a different experience entirely from modern nibs.A great book to help is Pen Repair by Jim Marshall & Laurence Oldfield
Thanks, Edward, for the excellent information!
Emergency Room Doctor questioning me-
" Sir, How did you get this big blister on your hand?"
Me- " I was heating my pen up with a heat gun."
MD- " Seriously sir, I have no time for jokes. How did you do this?"
Bravo for what you did here. You have once again exceeded expectations. I admire your risk taking.
You are now officially the "Lazarus of the Pen World"- bringing back pens from the dead. Nice work Doug. Thanks again.
Thanks, MrCabimero! That doctor bit reminds me of when I was practicing playing tennis by myself in a school yard hitting the ball against a wall. I stepped on a rock and sprained my ankle. I went to emergency and had to fill out a form. "How did the accident happen?" I wrote, "I sprained my ankle playing with myself". LOL
@@InkquiringMinds I am literally laughing out loud! I used to work in an ER, so it hit home!
Crazy Wonky Cool!
Awesome video Doug!! I just watched 2 of Chris' older videos last night with him restoring older pens. Sometimes I even throw them on for background noise while I browse for new pens online. this video and Chris really make me want to get into restoring older pens myself. Don't have the gumption just yet though haha
He is very informative!
This has been the last couple visits to thrift stores lately, and we are getting ready to go out and look together, the wife and I, as this video was uploaded/premiered. Cheers. My grail would be to find a Canadian made classic!
I have re-sac-ed some Esterbrook model Js and I have enjoyed it. Fun and rewarding! Good job on your restoration!
Nice vid, Doug. I happened to go into an antique store two weeks ago and found a fairly nice Parker 51 in good condition for only $99.
Good price!
What fun! I have an Oxford-Wahl of about the same vintage with a 14k stub nib restored by professionals -- pen $10 US, restoration . . . rather more. And, it is beautiful. But the nib tends to dry in my pocket. Horizontal on the desk, better. I have some other pens of the same vintage which I might take some chances with. But, unless I just want the fun of the restoration work, and getting a gallon of shellac (I totally would) and using 1 ml in 12 years, maybe . . . . Really, as the nibs have cleaned up nicely, I might just dip them at my desk once in a while.
Very cool, Rob!
Way to go. I’ve picked up a similar green pen that is also very wonky. I didn’t have enough patience to defeat the shellac yet
It took a LOT of patience!
Thanks for this Doug, I have wondered about repairing some of the old and beautiful pens. I'm still not sure that I will take it on, but if I saw a celluloid pen like that one, I might risk it. It was beautiful. I wish I was a pen fanatic with I lived in the UK with all those antique shops. Looking at my pen collection I see that I have a hankering after brown pens and brown/red pens with the Benu Bourbon and a Cesare Emiliano which is almost like horn. Thanks again for keeping me informed and entertained.
Thanks, Babe!
Very well done. A beautiful celluloid pen, definitely worth the effort. Are you going to try out the original nib?
It is so corroded and flimsy, I'm not sure. I have a couple 1950's German folded brass nibs that I'm going to try first.
I never realized that repairing and restoring a lever fill fountain pen was so... easy. (I use that phrasing loosely because it's a lot of work, but manageable) Because I don't have experience with any vintage pens, really, are most vintage lever filling fountain pens sealed up with shellac in that way? I would love to snag a vintage pen of my own one day to attempt it... I'd just be horrified of causing a melted plastic mess. 😂
Yes, shellac was the standard glue used in pens all the way up into the modern day. Richard Binder (IIRC) commented on seeing a large drum of Zinzer shellac at the Sheaffer factory in 2004 just before it was shut down. Shellac is non-toxic (and can even be food-grade!), waterproof, non-reactive, easy to work with, and removable with reasonable heat. It's basically ideal for these purposes. So buy yourself some bug extract for your pen repair needs! 😄
Strong work-Beautiful pen with a bit of extra “character.” Appreciate the swirl remover tip! Were you able to get the original nib into any sort of working shape?
It is brass and very corroded. I have a couple of folded brass nibs from a couple of 1950s German student pen piston fillers that I might try with it.
Cool pens! There's only one Canadian pen I've gotten, so far. A Waterman's nurse's pen from the 1940's.
Yep. Glued in can get problematic, especially with celluloid. Depending on if it's the original type or later cellulose acetate (basically the same thing as most modern "celluloid,") they can be extremely flammable if you're not careful.
Plenty of the lower end pens have folded nibs. Even through the point right before Esterbrook was sold to Venus, the 1xxx and 2xxx were either folded or folded and welded instead of iridiumish tipping. Some were just punched to get a dimple for the tip (Welsharp was notorious for this.)
Fortunately there's almost everything available for redoing an old lever filler. Might not find a lever box and the parts for holding them in (Wahl-Eversharp you can only find used for the Skyline, for example) but a pressure bar, there's only a few that works for most pens, and there's plenty of places that have lists for most pens for the ink sacs. (Here in the United States, I'm partial to Anderson Pens or David Nishimura of Vintage Pens, as they are the same as original ones, and the best prices. 😉
I've easily done around 30 lever fillers, and if I can do it after a stroke, there's almost no one that can't do them. 😁
Good choice for the "generic Chinese nib"! Many older open nibbed pens fit a fairly generic number 5 of today. I've played with a "Genius iridium point" in a 1950s Arnold that has the original kind of scratchy nib (another folded one.😁)
Great job getting an old lever filler up and running again!
The desk set I'm kinda jealous over. I'm looking for something similar for a gift for a friend. They can use a fountain pen/ballpoint combo, so their fountain pen doesn't get sprung. 😉
Thanks for sharing this! Now on to another vintage pen! 😁
Thanks, Paul, for the excellent information!
@@InkquiringMinds Good choice of the sac, too. Silicone, ink evaporates faster, and in many, they seem to only be used to preserve a light colour, as the sulphur compounds in latex sacs is prone to discolour certain colours over the decades. (I'm very partial to using the original type sac, myself. 😁)
And, if you look at the original Parker service manuals, the imprint, if any, seems to be generally lined up with the top of the nib (and clip usually lines up with the imprint as well. ) Of course, the budget pens are less likely to have an imprint... 😉
I wasn't surprised by the folded nib, but I found it interesting on two points: These pens were obviously not made to last for years and years, but were relatively inexpensive tools, even if they were quite attractive. And seeing celluloid on even such a low end pen shows just how ubiquitous the material was back then.
@@garykarlin1777 the lower end Esterbrook were folded or folded and welded, and they still seem to hold up for quite a while (much better than claims of modern steel stub nibs, for example. I have plenty that are 70+ years old that are still tipped with the folding. It's generally the older flatter feed ones that have worn off the tipping. Of course, I also have only really limited experience with regular steel nibs like the Eclipse used. 😉 I'd probably hunt down a cheap Warranted 14K nib for it. The prettiest vintage pens seem to be the budget pens, so... 😁)
Great video and a cool looking pen. Is that a Gibson in the intro?
It is a 1968 Yamaha FG180 Red Label (Nashville strung)
Hello. As always it is an interesting video. I was wondering if you still own this pen?
Yes I do!
"Hey you..."
Pink Floyd.
Best YT channel for FPs.
Doug, I think that I'm the only subscriber who regularly comments on your fine playing. The rest of your subscribers don't comment.
YOU'RE the one who watches! LOL Thanks R! I got a private note the other day telling me how stupid my guitar playing is and how dumb my hats are, so getting some good feedback is always welcome!
Not true! I have commented many times on your wonderful guitar playing and your fine voice.
@@jeffroberts532 LOL! Yes, you are right Jeff! You always do, and it is always appreciated! I was just making a small joke! LOL
I think my urologist has a set of sack spreaders. I don’t think they’re used for pens though.
I was waiting for you to say that!
What an interesting post. How could you go wrong with a $12 pen? The celluloid is pretty but the pseudo-hooded nib and section--ugh. This is the first time I have seen anyone NOT arrange the lever in line with the nib and it elicited a very strong OCD response from me. Pity your show is not live, for you would have learnt some very interesting Aussie phrases. A memorable show. All the best from the kangaroos and sharks.
LOL Sorry for triggering your OCD!
@@InkquiringMinds No worries, mate. Half a bottle of Beenleigh rum cured the tremors.
If you spend a little time cleaning up the original nib you may be pleasantly surprised at the writing experience of the vintage nib as opposed to its now writing just like a new Chinese pen. Nothing wrong with Chinese pens, I've got a few, but there's something special about an original old pen that was first writing in some old-fashioned office somewhere nearly ninety years ago.
Thanks, Nick. I spent a LOT of time on the nib. It is brass and very pitted. I have a couple of the "fold over" style brass nibs from some 1950's German student piston filler pens. They are very flexible and interesting. I think I might try to fit one into the Eclipse.