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Project Fountain Pens

Jump to: Pen Intro • Sheaffer Pens • Other Pens • Inks

Sooner or later, a pen devotee will find a pen that stops working, discover a dusty treasure at a flea market, or a rare find for cheap on eBay. In these cases, repairs become an issue. Many pen lovers soon find that doing their own repairs is too intimidating. Others forge ahead, especially with the simplest of repairs, replacing sacs on lever fillers. The pens on this page all need some repair love. Many only need sacs, and will get them from me when I have the right sacs on hand (not to mention the time)! Others await the funding to be sent to a pro - I'm pretty daring about taking things apart, but even I won't crack open a Snorkel or Touchdown filler!

I've also put some of the pens I've sold here. I'm not sure if I'll keep them on the site or not, but for now they can live here.


A vintage Sheaffer Repairer's Kit. Came to me with roughly two dozen pockets of Sheaffer sacs and a whole raft of tools. (Click to view the image larger in a new window)	An assortment of pens in disshabile. (Click to view the image larger in a new window)
(All photos are my own. so please don't take them without asking. I'm happy to share, and may have a higher resolution version; so please ask!)


Arnold	Grey & Red Stripe	F/M 14K GP
Lever-fill	c 1935-45	Resac
Lovely color, a shimmering steel grey with marbled red stripes, bound by smart black pinstripes. Not much of a nib, though. Largely a project pen, though I may see if I can smooth out the nib, or find a replacement on some parts pen somewhere. Needs resaccing.


Hartline Caramel	Amber/Caramel Swirl	Amber glass
Lever	c 1926	Needs sac
An intriguing glass nib fountain pen - I am finding myself fascinated by these things! I never knew they existed until very recently; now I am finding them everywhere. This one is a lovely caramel color, though the yellow barrel end has a endency to pop off. It's not terribly solid feeling, but it needs resaccing, so perhaps when I get it all properly fitted is will have a bit more heft.


Mabie Todd Swan	Green Marble	Nib
Lever fill	c 1940s	Needs sac, maybe nib work
Another project pen. Gorgeous green marble body with no discoloration, basic alloy clip. Cap bands are loose, but the cap is solid. Nib seems scratchy; it's hard to tell, but it may need some smoothing. The barrel has a split in the sac end. If I get VERY brave someday, I may try to repair that! Til then, I'll put a sac in it, and see what it does.


Remington	Copper & Steel Marble	F/M 14K GP
Lever	c 1940?	Needs resac
I think Remington is another sub-brand, much like Arnold. The appointments are a fairly low-grade metal, but the body is beautiful with no discoloration, and the nib is surprisingly smooth, especially for a fine. Project Pen I nabbed on the cheap, needs resaccing, but should be a nice pen!


Sheaffer Balance Set	Marine Green	XK #5 Feather Touch 14K
Lever, with pencil	c 1930-35	Pen needs sac
This is a beautiful set, with only slight discoloration tothe barrel, but plenty of rich green hues still visible. The nib is fairly smooth, but it's really fine, which doesn't tend to be my preference. I've only dipped it, as it needs a sac, so once it's really flowing it may be a bit wetter. Pencil is in damn near mint condition.


Sheaffer Balance Military	Brown Striated	M 14K Lifetime 2T
Lever	c 1940-42	Needs sac, cleaning
This is a fairly battle-worn Balance with the elusive mlitary style clip. It sports a fantastic two-toned LT nib, and the color, while dark is at least uniform. The furniture is rough though; most all the plating is gone from the clip, and it's totally off the band. It might make a nice writer though, once it's filling again.


Sheaffer Ringtop	Black Hard Rubber	Flexy 14K #3 'Self-Filling'
Lever	c 1910-19?	Needs sac
This is an unusual early lever filler. Black chased hard rubber, with clear imprint, no lever box and straight lever. Also unusual is the gold-filled ring top. I have seen these with clips, and with more typical cap bands, never with this little cap top. Seems like a smooth flexy F-M nib, but needs a sac. I'm a little leery of messing with this one, so I will likely send it out... Sweet little pen though!


Sheaffer Clipper Set	Black with Chrome & Gold	M Triumph
Snorkel	c 1952-59	Needs service
Snorkel fillers are so nifty, but a real headache to repair. This one will have to be sent out for repairs, I'm afraid. It's in great shape, so I will have it done, but it doesn't top the list right now. Pencil is near mint.


Sheaffer Craftsman Set	Burnt Umber Radite II	M 14K Feather Touch 2T
Lever	c 194-49	Lever is stiff, needs sac?
This may be a frankenpen, or perhaps just one of sheaffer's innumerable variants. It's a brown Radite Craftsman (wire band, open nib, streamline clip, brown color). However, I've never seen a Craftsman with either a FeatherTouch nib, or a visulated section. Still, a nice pen, and a nice set with a nifty flip-open box.


Sheaffer Sovereign II	Marine Green Striated	M 14K Triumph Lifetime 2T
Touchdown/Piston	c 1945	Needs gaskets
A sweet little Sovereign, gorgeous color, even a striated section with a big conical nib. These are a bit of a bear to fix, too, so I will need to send it off for gaskets and seals. Otherwise, it seems ot be in superb condition.


Sheaffer Triumph	Carmine Striated	M 14K Triumph Lifetime 2T
Touchdown	c 1942	Needs gaskets
The furniture on this pen is pretty rough, revealing the telltale ionization of the silver underneath the gold plating. This is a shame, as the rest of it is in fantastic shape. No discoloration, the barrel has excellent transparency, and the big conical nib seems to be in great condition. It's an original Triumph, unlike all the other pens that followed it and used the Triumph nib. The giveaway is that huge cap band. It won't draw, though, so I suspect it needs gaskets.


Spors Crescent	Green & White Marble	F/M Glass
Crescent lever	c 1920s	Needs sac
This is an odd bird, to be sure. It looks just like a pre-war crescent filler, but it has a glass nib. Its components reflect the material quality one might expect from a war-era pen; the body is light, and the metal components are of a basic alloy. The color is bright and clear, though yellower in spots; not sure if some places faded, or others yellowed. The nib will need either a light sanding or replacing, as it has a small chip at the very tip, and it needs resaccing.


Unknown: German Glass	Dark Amber Glass	Amber Glass
Piston?	c ???	Piston broken
This is the most unusal pen I've seen. It looks to be a piston or plunger filler, but it is made entirely of glass (well, except for the rubber gaskets.) Sadly, the piston knob broke off, and seems someone tried to cement it back on. I've gotten the glue off, but the piston rod seems tightly fixed inside a rubber washer in the end of the barrel, and I can't pull it out. (I was hoping if I could draw it out, perhaps a glass expert might be able to either rejoin the knob, or make a new one.) I don't think it's useable except as a dip pen, but it's a marvelous and unusual piece!


Unknown Piston	Red & Silver w/ Clear Barrel	Steel
Piston/Plunger	c 1942 (War Era)	Needs gaskets
War-era piston filler, very much like the one pictured on Richard Binder's page here. The nib half of the barrel is a clear ink resevoir, filled by the piston hidden by the 'blind cap' which comprises the aft half of the barrel. The section seems to be either plastic or BHR, and the nib is a relatively cheap steel, once gold plated, and marked only 'Durium 8." No markings appear anywhere else on the pen. The clip seems like a base metal which may have also been plated, the cap band is either the same, or posible brass. The transparent barrel seems like it's fused to the section (as these are known to be) so I doubt Ill try to fix this one, but keepis as a nice bit of pen history.


Venus Red	Red Pearl Plastic	Steel
Lever	c ???	Needs sac
This is marked as a Venus on the clip and lever, and marked "Veri Smoothe Medium USA" on the nib. It has a very wide cap band, and a sort of pearlized red plastic barrel. It seems like a nice smooth nib, but even with a dip, it doesn't feed well. It's gonna need some TLC as well as a new sac.

Sold Fountain Pens


Dewen 'Modern' [SOLD]	Black Lacque w/silver	F 14K GP
Cartridge/Converter	c 2000	Working
Another Chinese Dewen, a decent pen, though not quite as nice looking or as smooth as the Millenium. Something about the brushed steel apppontments doesn't appeal to me, and where they put a brushed steel section on the gold and black pen, this one, where that might have worked, got a polished steel section.


Dollar Demonstrator [SOLD]	Clear	M Steel/Iridium
Cartridge/Converter	c 2005	Working
A nifty little demonstrator i snagged for $3. No legacy pen, but a solid writer, with a nice piston filler. And really pretty filled with bright colored ink. I wish more of the pricier pens had such a filling system.


Huashilai Filigree [SOLD]	Amber marble w/Black	M 22K GP
Cartridge/Converter	c 2005	Working, sort of
Somtimes I have had great luck picking up unknown pens from China on the cheap, others not. Sadly, this is a 'not.' As pretty as it is, it would not write at all, and then the nib & feed popped right out. Too bad, as it is lovely.


Huashilai Swirl [SOLD]	Smoke Marble w/black	M 22K GP
Piston w/blind cap	c 2005	Working
This pen came with the one above. I tried that one first, and then didn't have much enthusiasm for this one. Still haven't tried it, but I will report if I do. Nice looking, but the clip is white, which bugs me. Seeing the photo, I just assumed it was silver-tone.


Namiki/Pilot 88 [SOLD]	Green	BB 14K GP
Cartridge/Converter	c 2000	Working
I want to like this pen way more than I do. It's a NOS Double-bold, so it can do some nice italics, but it's a tad on the scratchy side, and it runs a bit dry on the inks I've tried in it so far. I am really starting to prefer flexy nibs for stroke variance!


Suoshi 2009 [SOLD]	Blue Ribble w/GP	M 14K GP
Cartridge/Converter	c 2009	Working
Pretty pen, mediocre writer, nice balance. Not the best find I've gotten on the cheap, but not the worst, either.

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