Grandfather's Fountain Pen

[Moondancer]

Having recently gotten back into using fountain pens, while rummaging through my "guy" junk drawer, I found a fountain pen that my Mom had given me several years ago that had belonged to her father, my maternal Grandfather (not by birth, but that's a long story). He died when I was around 6 years old, and I'm going to be 59 in another couple months, so this pen has been sitting around for 50+ years. It's a Majestic pen and from what little research I've done so far, it looks like it was probably a fairly inexpensive pen in it's day.
It's a lever-fill and I played with it a couple times when she gave it to me, knowing nothing about lever-fills. At one point I pulled the lever past the point where it felt like it should stop, it "snapped" and I thought I had probably broken it.

To make a long story short, after finding it again today, I decided to see if I could take it apart. After reading a short article on RichardsPens.com, I managed to get it taken apart without breaking anything. The ink sac has completely disintegrated into bits and pieces. And, it appears that I did not break anything, but just broke the lever free from being stuck on pieces of the sac and dried up ink.
I've soaked the pieces of the pen in hot soapy water for most of the afternoon and cleaned the nib and cap section well. I'm working on getting the pieces of the sac out a bit at a time.

I'll be ordering a variety pack of sacs from RichardsPens.com tomorrow along with some sac glue and trying to get this back into working shape.
While I don't have any memories of my Grampa using fountain pens, let along this particular one, I think it'd be pretty cool to use it after restoring it myself.

The wife thinks I'm nuts to be using fountain pens anyway, so she's got no enthusiasm for this project. Just had to share with someone. Thanks for reading and wish me luck on the restoration.

 

[brianw]

Fantastic.... Take your time, and ask any questions on the restore, there's lots of people here to help, and


Welcome to the nib

 

[nemo]

Great little project and I'm sure it will turn out well -- thanks for sharing! Like brianw says, we're here for you.

Oh, by the way, no more hot water. If too warm it can easily discolor celluloid, hard rubber, and some plastics, so just warm or cool.

 

[Dave258]

Sounds like a good project to me! Even if you do not think the pen is an expensive one, you will remember your Grandfather when you use it! Good luck with the restoration!
Post some pics when you get working on it.

 

[Moondancer]

Great little project and I'm sure it will turn out well -- thanks for sharing! Like brianw says, we're here for you.

Oh, by the way, no more hot water. If too warm it can easily discolor celluloid, hard rubber, and some plastics, so just warm or cool.

Done with the hot water, the body (barrel?) is now soaking in room temp water to try to loosen up the remaining bits of the sac from the inside of it. The J Bar came out during the last session and it's cracked part way across on the "J" end. I've already located a couple places on the web that sells replacements, so I'm GTG on replacing it.
I'm wondering if a small round fine file used gently and judiciously may be helpful in cleaning up the last bits of sac inside. Remember, I'm talking 50+ years of sitting in a box or drawer somewhere before I got it apart.

ETA: if this project works out well, I'm already thinking about trying to find some more old ones off the 'bay to restore. (Probably putting the cart before the horse here, but I can dream, can't I??? )

 

[brianw]

A soft .30 bore brush works well

 

[celestino]

i am new to FPs as well, so i can not make any suggestions, but i can still wish you luck with the project!

 

[nemo]

I use a small bamboo skewer to scrape sac remnants off the inside, only because it leaves no mark that could possibly be seen through a translucent barrel. I generally use wood whenever I can, even for knocking out feed/nibs from the section. Too bad about the J-bar, rust is a killer.

Good luck fishing the 'bay for projects! They're still out there, Moondancer.

 

[Moondancer]

A soft .30 bore brush works well

Hadn't even considered gun cleaning gear... I've got that covered for almost all handgun calibers up to .45, brass brushes and swabs. That's even better than files! Thanks, Brian/Phil/Bob/Jim.

 

[N2theBreech]

Good luck. I don't repair pens, but it sounds like you've got a good chance at success here.

 

[the_edski]

Keep us updated on how it goes! I wish I had a pen with this kind of back-story to restore!

 

[Raatt]

Love the history, it will make the pen special to use and to pass on...lookin forward to some pics when done...

 

[pal]

Nice story, but I must warn you that once you have restored you first FP you will be hooked for good. There is a good sense of satisfaction in restoring and using a fountain pen. Good Luck on this one!

 

[oc_in_fw]

Cool. My grandfather shaved with electrics, but I remember he had a few fountain pens. I need to call my uncle and see if he has them.

 

[Moondancer]

Quick update. I received my J bar(s), the shellac, and pure talc in the mail yesterday. I ordered both the larger and the mid-sized J bars with the expectation based on pen size that the mid-size would be correct. Wrong. The larger one (62mm) is a perfect match in length for the cracked one I took out.
I had ordered the small sac assortment from Richardspens.com and they arrived today. Unfortunately, once again, I was wrong in estimating size. The largest of the assortment is still too small by far. So, another $17 on PayPal just went out for their large assortment.

I had hopes of having it ready to take to work with me on Tuesday, but now it looks like it'll be another week before I can accomplish that.

I'm contemplating soaking the nib in a diluted ammonia solution as I've seen recommended. After soaking it in soapy and then clear water for the better part of a day, I can blow air through it. Do any of you recommend I use the ammonia soak just to be on the safe side?

 

[nemo]

I'm contemplating soaking the nib in a diluted ammonia solution as I've seen recommended. After soaking it in soapy and then clear water for the better part of a day, I can blow air through it. Do any of you recommend I use the ammonia soak just to be on the safe side?

It wouldn't hurt, that's my standard soak. Have fun with the restoration, it sounds interesting so far -- don't forget a photo or two!

 

[Dave258]

What size ink sac do you need that it did not come in the assortment?

 

[airmech]

Although it sounds like he doesn't need it, any idea where the nib repair kit is?

Tom

 

[Moondancer]

What size ink sac do you need that it did not come in the assortment?

Beats me... just bigger than what I got.
Both the O.D. of the largest sac is significantly smaller than the I.D. of the barrel (and I've read to leave one size smaller than will actually fit to allow for heat expansion), and the I.D. of the largest sac is way smaller than the O.D. of the nib O.D.

 

[Dave258]

Out of curiosity, what sizes did you get?