tankerjohn
A little poofier than I prefer
Meet the patient - a mild mannered black Esterbrook J from sometime between 1949-1952 judging by the imprint and lever shape. Nice looking pen...on the outside. Inside, he’s quite sick. The lever barely moves, indicating to me that the sac is rather ossified and a sacadectemy is in order. 
On the operating table. Per the usual guidance, I installed a nib unit for the section removal to prevent crushing it.
A little heat. A minute with the hairdryer on low is all it took.
Pop! We’re in business. Holy crap, where is the sac!?
In there. Ugh.
This isn’t going to be quick or easy. This is why the pros have dental tools. But being neither a pen restoration pro nor a dentist, I make do with an old rifle cleaning kit and whatever screwdrivers I could scrape up.
After a lot of scraping and flushing, I managed to get most of it out. The pros say not to soak the barrel or the filling mechanism will rust. I took my chances because that sac was hard as a rock. Hopefully a few minutes in the water isn’t enough to rust out the J-bar. But it did help soften up the sac pieces.
I don’t think I got it all out, but enough that it won’t interfere with a new sac. And the lever works great, confirming my assessment that the old sac was preventing it from moving.
And there we are, first surgery complete and the patient recovering well and awaiting sac transplant. I am optimistic about his prognosis.
To be continued...
On the operating table. Per the usual guidance, I installed a nib unit for the section removal to prevent crushing it.
A little heat. A minute with the hairdryer on low is all it took.
Pop! We’re in business. Holy crap, where is the sac!?
In there. Ugh.
This isn’t going to be quick or easy. This is why the pros have dental tools. But being neither a pen restoration pro nor a dentist, I make do with an old rifle cleaning kit and whatever screwdrivers I could scrape up.
After a lot of scraping and flushing, I managed to get most of it out. The pros say not to soak the barrel or the filling mechanism will rust. I took my chances because that sac was hard as a rock. Hopefully a few minutes in the water isn’t enough to rust out the J-bar. But it did help soften up the sac pieces.
I don’t think I got it all out, but enough that it won’t interfere with a new sac. And the lever works great, confirming my assessment that the old sac was preventing it from moving.
And there we are, first surgery complete and the patient recovering well and awaiting sac transplant. I am optimistic about his prognosis.
To be continued...
