I too, use Noodler’s in my Pens; vintage or not. I was only wondering what others thought.
I have never restored a Pilot Vacumatic. I have a Pilot Custom 823 Piston-filler; but even I would hesitate to take it apart. They are notoriously difficult to work on. Besides, it is one of my favorite pens of all. Damaging it would be catastrophic.
Esterbrooks are a great place to start. They are relatively inexpensive and there are tons of spare parts available. I mostly restore Sheaffer and Parker because they have the best retail values and spare parts like sacs/spares are also easily obtained.
It is fun to take a dingy, old crusted pen and give it a good cleaning as well as replacing what is worn. Writing with a like-new pen that is almost twice my considerable age; is kind of cool. These are pens that were made when fountain pens were actually in use. Unlike many modern pens, these are smooth as glass and QUIET when used.
Old, mass-produced consumer-level pens I love:
Sheaffer Pen For Men - Simply the best.
Sheaffer Imperial (14k nib please)
Parker 51 & good 21’s (I like aerometric better; but vacumatics are fine too)
I liked using a cheapo ultrasonic cleaner on mine. It was not a necessity, but it was neat to watch the ink slowly creep out of the nib while in the bath. Plus the cleaner actually got the crusty stuff out of the nose pads of my glasses.
Totally agree. I have soaked, washed and scrubbed parts that when put into an ultrasonic cleaner just seem to leak ink. There seems to be a real affinity between ultrasonic cleaners and dried ink. If you want to really clean your pen - you have to use an ultrasonic with HOT water and a bit of pen-cleaner (Koh-I-Noor is my favorite - what’s yours?).
Many older pens can be successfully restored by just taking it apart for a deep cleaning. Parker 51’s with aerometric fillers are like that. The sac is almost always fine, just completely clogged with old, dried ink. A couple of runs through the ultrasonic cleaner; and when put back together they work like new.
They’re Parker Vacumatic’s, not Pilot. Don’t know why I typed Pilot?
The Sheaffer Snorkel is a neat pen! I liked the snorkel idea but also like filling through the nib to prime it.
The good thing with Esterbrook’s “J” series is there are plenty of NOS nibs still around, even the flex nibs although they will cost you more than the pen.
I have a ton of fountain pens and have enjoyed them for years. From fancy Sheaffers and Watermans to cheaper Safaris and Preppys.
I will admit though, the thing that keeps me from using them even more than I do is the fact that I find them less than optimal for pocket carry (though I’ve done it a bunch in the past). And pocket carry is where I need a pen most often. So I tend to end up with regular and ultra-fine sharpies in my pocket more than anything.
If you like writing with a pencil, you should absolutely try out the Blackwing ones. Pencil nerds say that they aren’t the same as the “original” Blackwings, but whatever. All I know is that they are a pretty nice pencil. I sat down and wrote my grandmother an 8 page letter with one the other day. That’s more pencil writing than I’ve done since elementary school, I suspect.
Have you tried a Kaweco? Great little pocket carry FP. Nice nibs too. My clear sport has a gold plated steel nib in bold and it’s a buttery smooth writer.
They have a aluminum, stonewashed aluminum, brass, copper, and heat treated colored one’s too although they jump up in price a lot over the plastics.
I was always a bit put-off by the fact that you have to buy the clip for this pen as a separate item. Sketchy.
That said, I have a Kaweco Dia2 which is simply wonderful. Their steel nibs are super-nice. They are quiet and smooth.
Beware of cheap Chinese counterfeits. They are out there. I bought a Kaweco from Holland only to find the nib scratchy and blotchy; and a clip that reads “Kawec”.
Yeah the clip part bugged me too actually. Don’t know what’s up with that?
I got mine from Goulet but another good place is: http://www.seitz-global.com/ You can get a clip and some cartridges as cheap as just the pen in the US on many of the models. They sell legit pens too and have great prices on the R&K line of inks. Free shipping and my stuff usually gets here in 8-10 days.
For a pocket pen, the clip aspect isn’t that big of a deal for me. But I hear what you’re saying. The clip seems like it should be part of the package. I mean, it’s a pen.
Got mine from Amazon. This taught me an important lesson about Amazon: NEVER buy from an overseas seller UNLESS they have a stateside return address. The pen was clearly counterfeit. To return the $120 pen to Holland: $80.
I threw it out and chalked it up to experience. Sending things to America is cheap. Sending things from America to other countries - with the required tracking - is prohibitively expensive. Beware.
I have bought a few pens from Goulet. They are a top-notch retailer for sure. Probably one of the best there is. I am using one their bookmarks now in the book I am reading
I noticed several bad reviews about counterfeits on some LG Ultra headphones I got from Amazon. Wondered why not just return them since they were sold and shipped by amazon? Once I got mine they were real LG’s but they had loaded more colors other than the black and white. All the colored ones were from other seller’s and not Amazon so I realized I had to be weary even on their site.
Goulet is nice and I like their packing. Prices are a little higher and they never seem to have sales but I guess they don’t need too. Also a good reference site for nib sizes and color swatches. But as I’m sure any FP user has found out, the color swabs made from a q-tip compared to a pen nib can vary quite a lot.
Amazon is carrying the full line of Iroshizuku inks. Many colors are only $21 which is a great deal for Prime members!
The new anniversary J. Herbin 1670 just dropped too. Caroube de Chypre.
I just got my TWSBI Diamond repaired. Ink started to leak around the threads of the barrel and pen section. The customer service rep suggested I clean it out between refills because some inks will weaken plastic if left on for a long time. I confess, I rarely did that if ever. Still they replaced it for the cost of shipping, so the fix was cheaper than buying a new pen.
I remember some of the TWSBI 540’s had an issue of the thread end cracking on the barrel if over tightened. Luckily TWSBI replaced the barrels free of charge. From what I’ve read they solved this issue on the 580’s. Glad they replaced your barrel! I really like mine. For a steel nib it writes well and even when capped for a month it writes, right away.
All the ballpoint pens I have at my workplace however are junk and don’t write unless I scratch a piece of paper several times for them to get started. My 580, has been used a lot in the last two years since I bought it. Since I got the extra fine sized nib, I only need to refill it once every two weeks, and it writes every time I uncap it.
Diamine Golden Oasis, it’s Shimmertastic. Writes a bit dry in the 1st pen I tried it with but performs fine and has enough shimmer to shine all the way. Thin lines or flex lines still shows the shimmer. Full flex really sparkles whether on Tomoe river or 24lb copier paper.
“If ink was a woman, this ink would be a stripper.”
