Thread: Fountain pens on eBay

The old bladders are being made and can be easily replaced, I believe they use a type of shellac as the glue. I have had many replaced by my local shop. The Fountain Pen Shop of Monrovia.

John in Covina

Fountain pen question...

Let's say the pen has fresh ink and is writing just fine. Then it is stored with the cap on and tip up. It is not used for several days, weeks, yada.

When you go to use it again, it doesn't want to write. How do you get it going again?

I'm assuming that tapping the tip of the pen on the paper with wood chopping force is not one of the better ways to address the problem :?:

Well what I used to do was turn the pen over and drag the nib backwards on a piece of paper with light pressure, that worked for me but then i'm no expert on fountain pens and i'm sure someone has a better idea.
John

Rinse the pen nib and feed sections under cold to cool water. A running tap is fine. This will rinse away any drybits and bring the new ink from the interior to the nib. Never use hot or warm water as it will re-form the feed section changing the adjustment.

John in Covina

Lynn, I bought 2 older Schaefers a couple weeks ago off ebay. to fill the pens you unscrew the plunger from the back of the pen and pull straight up. Like a antinea on a portable radio. One has a 14K nib and looked like it was in great shape so I got some schaefers black ink and put some in it. Man what a great writing pen. I really like the older fountain pens and will buy more to use. Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread and got me to try one of these pens. I think I am hooked on these two.

If anyone is still interested, I am listing fountain pens I've fixed up on eBay under my ID there, "daviduthe". In the beginning, my advice is to stick to the big four: Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman, and Wahl-Eversharp. Just make sure they're in working condition, unless you fancy getting into pen restoration, too.

Originally Posted by urleebird

Fountain pen question...

Let's say the pen has fresh ink and is writing just fine. Then it is stored with the cap on and tip up. It is not used for several days, weeks, yada.

When you go to use it again, it doesn't want to write. How do you get it going again?

I'm assuming that tapping the tip of the pen on the paper with wood chopping force is not one of the better ways to address the problem :?:

Dip the tip of the nib very briefly in a glass of plain water and it ought to start flowing easily .....

Originally Posted by eggman

Lynn, I bought 2 older Schaefers a couple weeks ago off ebay. to fill the pens you unscrew the plunger from the back of the pen and pull straight up. Like a antinea on a portable radio. One has a 14K nib and looked like it was in great shape so I got some schaefers black ink and put some in it. Man what a great writing pen. I really like the older fountain pens and will buy more to use. Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread and got me to try one of these pens. I think I am hooked on these two.

With the Sheaffers, there are two sorts of plungers and they both work the same way. The older sort has a dark, coat-hanger-like wire connecting the end-cap to the barrel assembly. The newer sort has a shiny metal tube. To fill, unscrew the end-cap and pull out the plunger BEFORE you put the nib in the ink. When the plunger is out, put the nib under the surface of the ink and push the plunger back in smartly, once. Wait about 8-10 seconds, then screw the end-cap in place. Wipe the nib with a paper towel and you're good to go.

Originally Posted by eggman

Thanks John. There are some LH lamy pens on ebay that are the same price as the standard ones. But I think I will look at the standard pens.

I'm left-handed also. There is a nice Web page about fountain pen technique options at http://www.nibs.com/Left-hand%20writers.htm

Originally Posted by urleebird

Have you ever heard of these guys?

http://www.yichengtrading.com/

I don't know anything about pens. I like them, but I don't know one from another other than some look better than others.

I saw some slick looking pens on this site. The enamel ones were very interesting. You have to do a lot of navigation just to see what he has. On one of his pages he has a high price for a particular pen, and on another, the same pen is cheap. Could be that the site is just not organized well and updates become overwhelming. Anyway, he has a large variety to choose from.

Any of his pens worth buying :?:

Japanese pens are of high quality and the vintage ones are highly sought after, such as Sailor or Pilot-Namiki. The Chinese pens on the site you posted are not of that level of quality, but they are new and are cheap to buy because of Chinese labor costs. Most of their designs are knock-offs of earlier Western and Japanese designs. But, give 'em five years ....