Two ‘franken-pens’ and a repair spree…
I’ve been on a bit of a repair spree lately, and here are the results! First three repair job are: an Arnold, an Eversharp Skyline, and a Wearever 2-in-1.
The black Wearever 2-in-1 was a real wreck, and it had been languishing in a box of parts for years. On a whim I dragged it out, and after a serious cleaning, and a new sac, it’s turned out to be a wonderful little pen! The nib (basic steel, once gold-plated) is far smoother than it has any right to be! And it cleaned up to a really smart, sort of deco-looking piece.
The Brown Skyline was pretty basic: new sac, a good cleaning and a polish. It’s provenance however, is more interesting. I found it, or rather its parts, in a $5 jar of assorted pen parts (mostly old ballpoints). What’s more, there was an extra nib, feed & section unti in the jar….
The Arnold, however is where things got interesting. It, too had been languishing for a few years, as the nib was pretty much hopeless. But it’s such a gorgeous body: look at that silver and crimson stripe! I fiddled with the nib, seeing if I could smooth it out, but it was really too far gone. THen I got to wondering…. I had that extra Skyline nib unit… Well, the nib was the wrong size for the feed, but, the section was almost a perfect fit. A bit of light sanding, and the Skyline section fit like it had always been there. A good polish all around, and my stylish Arnold now sports a lovely, smooth, 14K Eversharp nib!
 |
 |
| Left: Three of my repairs: Brown Eversharp Skyline, Black Deco Wearever Two-in-one, Arnold/Skyline Right: Closeup of the Skyline nib, feed & section on the Arnold pen. Looks perfect, doesn’t it? (Click to see larger images) | |
My next repair was another happy coincidence, of sorts. You may recall back in December I picked up a mixed lot of Sheaffers, including that fabulous Jade Flattop? Well, in that lot was a second Jade Flattop, badly discolored, and lacking a cap. It had a huge, gorgeous 14K nib, though, and I resolved I’d find a cap for it. Well, I sort of did….
Just the other day, I snagged another eBay lot (I am hooked on those batch lots – dangerous stuff, but then again, they’ve yielded some real prizes!). This lot had a couple of Sheaffer vac-fillers: a brown striated Balance and a brown Tucky, a green Lambert-Aiken, and a big black and pearl lever fill Balance completely without innards.
 |
 |
| Left: The pretty rough Balance body (shot from the eBay listing) Right: A new pen, the restored Balance barrel and cap, and the section & nib from the discolored flattop. (Click to see larger images) | |
Of course, it wasn’t long before I thought of that big fat gold nib looking for a home… and once again, by happy coincidence, it fit with only a quick sanding of the nipple to match the taper of the Balance. The barrel was a real mess to clean, though; the sac seemed to have burst and adhered to the inside of the barrel in a crusty, inky, mess. Yuk! But after a pretty intense bout of poking and scritching, a new sac, and a thorough polish, I have a fantastic pen!
