How to Replace an Ink Sac in a Vintage Lever Filler Fountain Pen
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- I have been asked several times to create a video on how to replace an ink sac on a vintage lever filler fountain pen. Well, here you go.
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You can reach me through my website www.troylaplante.com
The direct URL to this CZcams channel is www.fountainpenfanatic.com - Jak na to + styl
thanks for making this. We have got such a pen from my mother, and we didn't know how to fill it, so thanks for showing that after you replaced the ink sac. My son is happy.
Newbie here. I absolutely loved this video. I have just begun restoring a vintage lipstick pen and I had no idea how to replace the sac. You are so clear and thorough. Thank you Troy. Now on to searching your videos on "how to change a nib". :-) BTW, I am SO mathmatically challenged that figuring out the size of the sac will need my son's assistance. :-)
Lipstick pens worked this way too??
I just purchased three old fountain pens and after watching your video pulled the side lever slightly harder on one of them to hear the crackle and old sac crumble and fall out. Really useful, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge much appreciated.
Thanks for the info! I'm restoring my first 1910's Sheaffer, I'm pretty excited to ink it up!
excellent helpful tips!!
thank you!!
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Side-rant:
I wish sellers didn't gouge so much on the bladder/sac prices. And then add $5.00 to ship one or two dang sacs. Pffft! Grrrrr.
For a person doing one pen; assembling all needed supplies can be cost-prohibitive.
This is just what I was looking for. Thank you.
Great video! You made it look simple. Now, I have to ask myself if I plan to collect vintage pens and do this a lot. If so, then I need to invest in the tools.
Troy, this is a good video. You are clear and concise and note where your technique differs from the technique of others. I have a couple of comments, though.
1. For Waterman lever fillers, it’s always dangerous to try to lift the lever with an ossified sac in it. The lever box is fragile and could easily break with a hardened sac inside.
2. It looks like all of your old hardened sac came out when you dumped it into your palm, but it’s always a good idea to shine a light into the barrel and make sure that the entire sac is removed.
3. The stub grind you mention did remove what was left of the tipping material. This is not a good idea for a good nib, of course. It ruins the nib and the gold will wear down much more quickly than the original tipping material would. A true stub grind would need the tipping of a broad nib to be ground into a stub shape. Of course you said that the tipping was missing on one tine for this particular pen, so you made an otherwise useless nib useful for you. But for the sake of others thinking of making a stub in this manner, be aware that this is not a good way to do it.
I agree with you on checking for more sac residue. I did not show it here, but I do always check for that. Also, since I was going to knock out the nib and feed, I ran all pen parts through the ultrasonic cleaner, including the cap and barrel. I also ran a test tube brush down the barrel and inspected it after. All parts were dried off completely and then polished.
I know what you mean about the lever box. I tried being gentle with it for that very reason, just enough to demonstrate it. I learned the hard way not to be forceful with the lever pull.
Yeah, with that nib, it was either try grinding it to match or chuck it and I was feeling adventurous enough to try it before going to bed last night. Left with those choices, I figured that I have nothing to lose.
Be careful putting barrels in the ultrasonic, too. Getting the pressure bar wet could cause it to rust, especially if it doesn’t get completely dry. This is particularly troublesome for J bars.
I figured you knew well enough on the alternatives for the nib, but I wanted to make sure to warn others.
Totally understood.
Thanks, helped me heaps in restoring my conklin crescent
Good video very helpful. For me the hardest part is to know how to take a pen apart. And mostly it doesn´t wan´t to.
13:42 “Here’s a pen...”
**pulls out Snorkel Demonstrator**
:-)
Troy, Thanks. This helps me better understand the whole process. Nice video.
Very cool, thank you! Hope to get my Oakridge restored.
Thank you!!!! This worked for me on first attempt!
Thank you, I was hoping you would do this video
Perfect video for a newbie. Thanks!
Thank you. That was exactly my intention for this video. I made it because I wish I had found a video like this when I first started trying to fix lever filler fountain pens years ago.
Brilliant
I liked it., THANKS A LOT ❤ 👍
God bless you for sharing!
7:41 that pop was so comedic
Nice channel!
Thank you Sr
Great video Troy, very nice to see the whole process. I got a question though, if you wanted to change the sac you just mounted in 1 year or so, I guess with the heat the shellac would loosen and would let the sac slide out? I have never worked with shellac I am not aware of its properties. Thanks Troy!
Ramon Blanquer Pulling off the sac a little later would be fairly easy. Just pull it off firmly and it will peel off its mount nicely.
There is in Italian video that shows how to replace a sack adapting a converter
Hello Troy. Thank you for your Outstanding demonstration of removing and replacing an old ink sac in a Vintage, lever-filled fountain pen! Very clear and understandable to a total novice like me.
I got a vintage Eversharp lever-filler through a pawn shop estate sale. I got the pen apart and the ink sac is still mostly intact & flexible, but is cracked/torn. The lever opens completely and I can see the pressure bar move inside the barrel.
I think I can use your directions to replace the sac. 🤩
One Question. There is what appears to be a TINY tube attached from Below the Eversharp’s nib, and extending to about 1 1/4” below the section. It looks like the tube might go into the ink sac, then maybe function like a snorkel from inside the sac. ???
Seems there would be some risk the tube itself could damage a sac, though. 🥺.
This is probably too much to ask here, but otherwise your video perfectly addresses my attempt to salvage this vintage pen. Thank You for your terrific, inspiring video!
Pam O
Hi Troy: added to clarify the tiny tube is fixed from below the Eversharp’s section, and Does Not extend up through the nib’s feed like on the Sheaffer Snorkel pen that I also have. Thank you! -Pam O
That breather tube is something common in Eversharp and is supposed to help fill the sac more completely. I am not convinced it is all that effective, though I have seen how it works on other pens with a clear silicone sac. The filler tube is not a necessity, but the original design does have it. The tube friction fits into the end of the feed inside of the rear of the section.
Thank you!
I've an old Sheaffer lever fill with a metal peg which is very narrow (less than 3 millimeters). What kind of ink sac would that use? Do you have any ideas where I can find the right one?
I would start at www.pensacs.com. They have the best selection of sacs I have found and I buy mostly from them. Sacs are measured in 64ths of an inch. A #16 sac fits a 16/64 of an inch nipple. A web page that has some mm conversions can be found here. www.vintagepensacsandparts.com/product.php/2/0/ink_sacs_for_fountain_pens
I have a waterman Skywriter i found on a walk in the woods . Skywriter written on cap clip and on the nib and Watermans made in Canada on the barrel. It works beautifully but i was wondering : is it possible there is no sac? Because when i lift the lever what i see inside is metal?
"J-shaped bar" do those ever need to be replaced as well? Thanks for a good video! If you dont mind me asking, do you buy the rubber sacs iff of eBay or are there better places to get them? Thanks again! Lily🌷
The J bars do occasionally need to be replaced if they are corroded or rusted out. You can find replacements online from different sellers if needed. I personally have never had to replace one. Even very old ones can usually be cleaned up and re-used. I have been buying all of my pen sacs from www.pensacs.com lately. They have good prices and service. www.andersonpens.com also has some supplies as well as www.indy-pen-dance.com.
Thank you Troy - I just installed the ink sac on an old Waterman's 55. Your video made the job go flawlessly. Question I have is most places say let the shellacked ink sac dry overnight before assembling and filling the pen. Since I am eager to use this pen I did just the half hour as you recommended. You're pretty confident that half hour is all we need? Thanks again for everything.
Yeah, the half hour time frame was recommended to me by someone who does pen restoration for a living in a seminar I took of his. I have never had a problem with that time frame. Sometimes I leave it longer just because I am busy or it is late at night.
I am glad the process went well for you. I tried to make this video and process for the average person without a lot of specialized tools or any experience. I have taken some criticism for it, but it works. And this has worked well for me for years. The funniest criticism has come from someone who only tried this once in his life and he acted like he was some sort of pro.
@@fountainpenfanatic Hi Troy - thank you for getting back to me. I'm going to subscribe to your channel and see what else you've come up with. I'm interested in learning how to take care of my pens and not damage them by trying to force something i shouldn't. Anyway, my Waterman's 55 is working well and I'm very pleased. thanks again.
@@DougReina Nice choice on the Waterman 55, by the way. I have a red ripple 55 with a Manifold nib and love it.
Hi Troy - sorry to bother you again but I’m a little concerned about the ink flow of this 55. Before I put in the ink sac in I used a rubber bulb and pushed water through the nib from the sac end and it had good water flow coming out the nib. This gave me confidence to go ahead and do the sac. However tonight when I gave the pen it’s first run at sketching and writing, the in flow started off fairly good, but after filling up a page I noticed the line would get thinner and drier. So, I’m wondering what my next move might be? This pen hasn’t been used in years. Perhaps having some wet ink inside it will do something to fix this? Any thoughts? What is a manifold nib and how do I tell if I have one? Thank you, and I promise not to be a pest anymore.
So you just flushed the section and never removed the nib and feed, correct? Sometimes there is ink goo under the nib and on the feed. Sometimes I have run across that and had to get the nib and feed out to clean them up before putting things back together. Unfortunately this means taking the sac off again and knocking out the nib and feed from the sac end. If you don’t want to go that far, you could try taking off the sac and flushing well with ink flush (I have a video on how to make your own on the cheap). At a minimum, you could leave the pen assembled and flush it by lever up/down repeatedly with ink flush then with water. That is the cheapest, least involved first try.
There are also some ways to manipulate a nib for wetter flow. You would have to search for a video on that since I don’t think I have ever done that topic.
A Manifold nib is simply a rigid rather than a flex nib. It says “MANIFOLD” right across its face. I like flex nibs just fine but I personally prefer rigid nibs.
Where can I find section pliers? Or, can you explain further how to modify regular pliers? I may only ever have the one time use for them, on an Osmiroid lever filler fountain pen I packed away 50 years ago but want to use again.
I have seen people that do pen repair for a living take normal jaw type pliers and grind off the angles of the jaw then use some automotive radiator (or other rubber) hose to cover the jaws of the pliers. I don't have a grinder, so I had to buy the section pliers I have. The usual web sites I would go to that I know carried them are not showing them as something they now carry for some reason. andersonpens.com/section-pliers/ is one that still has them on their site, but it does not look good for being in stock.
When making an initial purchase, one normally gets a limited quantity of sacs plus the tools, so it is often good to use a single supplier for it all to save on shipping costs. I bought mine originally from indypendance.com/ along with all the supplies I needed. Now that I have all the tools and basic supplies, I tend to place larger orders of sacs to have on hand at www.pensacs.com/ but they don't sell the tools. Sometimes I can find stuff I need from this vendor in person at a pen show or on their website pentooling.com. They do have various pliers at pentooling.com/pliers.html. I am actually thinking about buying something better than the section pliers I have, though I have gotten a good amount of use out of them over the years.
I forget exactly how I got interested in fountain pens. IT wasn't all that long ago, but anyway, sometimes I tell my friends about my new interest. So, a friend of mine dug up some pens from an old desk that he inherited from his parents. I don't recognize most of the pens. What would you reccommend as far as getting old, unknown pens appraised to see if they are worth anything. Once one has decided to restore a pen, if one is not going to do the work themselves, what is the best way to go about finding someone who could restore a pen (or give some good advice that a pen is not worth restoring)?
John Doe If you can make out any of the brands, I recommend spending time searching both eBay and the forums on fountainpennetwork.com for more info and value ideas. Google the pens you know you may have. It will take time, but there are some great web sites with a lot of info out there. For restoration, my first stop would be antiquedigger.com and use discount code TROY at checkout to save 10%. Greg does good work and is who I check with first. There are some others I could also recommend as alternatives but you won’t save money elsewhere. If you private email me through troylaplante.com or my social media platforms, I will try to help as much as I can.
@@fountainpenfanatic Thank you for your advice, Troy. I suspect most of them are not worth restoring, but one or two of them might possibly be.
John Doe That may well be true. Then again, it may be fun to learn how to restore a lever filler just for the sake of learning. Once you have all of the right tools, it is fairly inexpensive to bring a pen back to life. Or you may be able to sell them off to someone with the desire and ability to fix them up.
How do you take the nib out of a pen like that, so far I've had no luck with mine
Communism Man This required a knockout block, small hammer, and push rod. Seldom can they come out from pulling them out. You have to knock them out from the sac end.
Thanks much for sharing this. I will try to order some sacs and gear to do this on my own. Congrats on your own grind! Three questions if you don't mind. 1) Do you get your sacs and tools mostly at Anderson's? 2) Is this pretty universal among lever fillers? I have an Athena from Japan which is also a lever-filler and seems very close in design to this. 3) Maybe too specific, but I was curious about the feed. Mine is the same. It doesn't have any visible fins on the feed. Was that common before pen-makers went from ebonite to plastic? Just wondering. Thanks again.
Most all lever fillers, button fillers, and some aerometric fillers are all the same principle, using a latex or silicone sac. The sac replacement will be similar on all of them.
Anderson Pens is not a bad place to get sacs and tools, but there are other options. When I buy a lot of sacs, I use www.pensacs.com. Supplies and tools can also be found at www.indy-pen-dance.com and pentooling.com.
Feeds come in all shapes and designs. I have some that are fin-like and others that are flat. I see more ebonite feeds that tend to be flat rather than plastic, but I see feeds full of fins in both materials.
Thanks for watching and interacting. Hopefully, you find this helpful.
@@fountainpenfanatic thanks for so many detailed suggestions. We don’t have a repair person in Hawai’I and my hobby is on a budget so those DIY tips will be very helpful. Good to know more about feeds too. Thanks much. It is always fun to lean about history… in addition to just shopping for FPs. Aloha
Even with no repair person in your area, www.antiquedigger.com offers repair services and I have used him before. There is a 10% discount code online 'TROY' you can also use.
@@fountainpenfanatic another person suggested him recently. Good to know and thanks for the code. Aloha.
Greg at Antique Digger has done a lot of work for me. I buy from him regularly, and we have become friends over the years.
Would graphite work just as well as talc?
I have never really thought about trying graphite. I have used it for locks and for wheels on pinewood derby cars as a solid form lubricant but have not for pens. The purpose of talc is to keep the sac from adhering to the inside of the barrel. I am not sure how graphite would work or react with the latex or with the different materials used like celluloid, hard rubber, or early plastics. I figure that it would be harder to clean up in the future if you have to replace a sac based upon how much I have worked with graphite over years of having boys in Cub Scouts and Royal Rangers programs with pinewood derby events. All of the professionals I have talked to, followed, or taken a class from use talc, so I figure there must be something to that choice.
Where do you buy the sacs
I usually buy them from www.pensacs.com/. You can also try www.indy-pen-dance.com/Fountain-Pen-Sacs.html or pentooling.com/suppliesmatls.html
where can i buy the old sac online?
I have been buying most of mine lately from www.pensacs.com. I have also purchased from www.indy-pen-dance.com and www.vintagepens.com. You can also try pentooling.com andersonpens.com/repair-supplies/pen-sacs/ or www.vintagepensacsandparts.com
thanks much bro
can you use a cartridge instead of the sac. i just bought cheap pens. the sac does not suck good.
Pens with a sac were not made for cartridge use, so they most likely will not accommodate one. They are also generally not made to disassemble easily for frequent ink changes like you would do with a cartridge/converter system. They were manufactured prior to the prevalence of cartridges and were made to have a permanently fixed ink bladder (ink sac).
So I suppose I cannot replace the sac with a piston filler converter?@@fountainpenfanatic
Sac residue on the nipple.... Jesus I need to grow up