| Restoration: What and Why? |
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Why do vintage pens need restoration? Old fountain pens, like all mechanical devices, are subject to deterioration and damage due to use and due also merely to age. After years of use, ink takes its toll on fountain pens — the inert solids from ink clog the section/feed assembly; corrosive inks harden, or “ossify,” the rubber sac in which the ink supply resides, and they can also discolor plastic barrels and caps. Metal parts corrode; even gold accumulates discoloration. Some plastics are less stable than others, and the former may decay or even disintegrate. Even stable plastics can suffer scratches and dings. (Revised March 2, 2008)
Restoration can frequently reverse or repair the problems of aging. Nibs can be made smooth, filling systems can be made tight and reliable once again, and of course the metal parts can be made to gleam anew. Not all problems can be repaired, however. Plastics that have discolored due to exposure to the dyes in ink, or to the sulfur that gradually leaches out of the rubber sac, cannot be restored to their original colors. Other plastics may become so frangible that they crumble when touched. Such broken or otherwise unserviceable parts can be replaced or mended. The result of careful restoration is a pen that is almost like new. (Discoloration, although unsightly and undesirable in a specimen for display, does not affect the way a pen writes. Many collectors use discolored pens as daily writers.)
Throughout this page, if there is a magnifying-glass symbol (
) next to a pen, click the magnifying glass to view a zoomed version for more detail.
The pictures below illustrate the appearance of a pen before and after restoration.This black chased hard rubber clipless Waterman’s 52 was badly discolored; its sac was ossified; its filler lever assembly was broken; and its nib tines were badly bent.
Restoration goes far beyond mere cosmetic enhancement. The lever assembly was replaced, all exterior hard rubber surfaces of the pen shown here were polished and buffed, with care to preserve the imprint and the remaining chasing, and the metal parts were polished to remove corrosion and staining. But much of what was done to restore this pen is not visible. The ossified sac was replaced. The bent nib and clogged feed were driven out of the section, all three parts were thoroughly cleaned, and the nib and feed were reinstalled and adjusted to write properly.
More extensive restoration can include the repair or replacement of cracked or chipped plastic parts, the replacement of metal parts, or even the fabrication of parts that cannot be obtained. Here is a Dak-Kel (German) piston-filling glass-nib pen:
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The piston mechanism of this pen was totally destroyed: the plastic piston shaft and seal retainer parts had disintegrated at the piston end, leaving only the knob-end portion of the shaft; and the slotted sleeve that would guide the piston shaft and keep it from rotating had been sawn away from the threaded barrel end cap. Shown below are the parts that I made, using modelers’ styrene and brass, to bring the pen back to life:
The brass tube standing upright contains a styrene sleeve that has been cut to form a groove in which the piston shaft’s key rides. All the white parts are styrene; in addition to the black part that survived from the original, the piston shaft comprises seven styrene parts and a new rubber seal.
The next figures illustrate celluloid restoration on the broken cap of a Conklin Endura. The cap was broken completely through, and the inner cap’s lip was chipped. Repair consisted of extracting the inner cap, fusing and restoring the celluloid cap, machining a true surface on the other end of the inner cap (an open tube, not a cup), and reinstalling the inner cap along with a replacement clip.
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The repair of cracked or otherwise damaged nibs is beyond the ability of most restorers, and the usual way to restore a badly damaged nib is to replace it. But many nibs that appear beyond salvation can actually be saved by straightening, retipping, or both.
Ask yourself this: When looking at a pen “in the wild,” be it at a flea market, estate auction, eBay, or an antique shop, do you trust the seller to have restored it completely and correctly? If not, you should assume that the pen will require restoration by you or by a restorer whom you know and trust. Most pens can be fully restored to like-new condition; don't settle for less!
The information in this article is as accurate as possible, but you should not take it as absolutely authoritative.
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