… I remember this —
— and the many, many hours it’ll take to soften and scrape all the rubber sac gunk from that J bar, and from the inside of the barrel and the section.
(Which reminds me – I should get around to removing all the latex sacs from my lever-fillers in storage.)
I picked this pen up at the last minute, just as everyone was packing up at the DC Supershow late Sunday afternoon. Was finally able to resac it after my repair supplies came Monday.
Here’s the pen, disassembled. The masking tape is me being kiasu. A strip holds the lever in place (like Waterman’s pens of that period there’s no J-bar so the lever can flop around), and another prevents damage to the section rim.
I installed a size 18 silicone sac before reassembling the pen. Silicone doesn’t release gases over time and so won’t discolor the celluloid.
After a little wipe –
Although the Wahl Oxford was near the lowest tier of Wahl’s lineup, it’s still a quality pen. Although the gold wash on the furniture is all too easily removed, the Oxford used the same celluloid material that more expensive Decobands, Dorics and Equipoises were turned from. This one with its luminescent gold and green marbling, was called “Brazilian green”.
Early Oxfords sported 14K nibs that tended to be simply stamped “Warranted” with a number (“3” seems to be the most common), but these had some flex. Mine is a very enjoyable example, soft and springy, especially as it lays down a wet broad line 🙂
I like these shape, feel and celluloids of these pens better than later Wahl Oxfords. The latter were completely different pens despite bearing the same name.
More attractive early Wahl Oxford pens, from one of my fave pen repair blogs.
And if you’re on FPN, Syd Saperstein (Wahlnut) has a writeup on the Wahl Oxford’s production history.
The pen featured in my last post, but cleaned up and with new sac and J-bar installed.
I couldn’t find a replacement nib so I left the original in.
It’s a very wet writer. I did bend the nib down closer to the feed, and reset nib and feed with hot water but the base metal (I suspect copper) is too malleable and is already bending away from the feed despite my best attempts to write lightly. The spoon tip digs into the paper on some upstrokes too, which is annoying.
We found this Sheaffer 444 in a second-hand goods shop. The barrel was stuck, but the finish was near mint. Not a scratch and stickered too (although the lettering had faded). The section had some scuffing from the inside of the cap but nothing bad.
After a long soak and some work with section pliers, I was able to finally unscrew the barrel. My suspicions were confirmed:
Somehow, the ink cartridge had leaked into the inside of the barrel, and the result was a rusty, gummy mess.
Anyway, managed to clean up the insides as best as I could and managed to sell the pen. A happy ending for all concerned 🙂
This pen was the one featured in my earlier post.
My first Touchdown restoration. Was lucky that there were no major problems with the pen. All I had to do was replace the sac and the O-ring and reassemble. It fills and writes just fine, with a sweet medium #33 nib.
The next one I’m trying to repair / restore:
I bought this one intending to resac it, and finally got to do so. My second repair job 🙂
Upon writing I discovered it’s a little thinner, a little shorter than I would like. I like the pen design though. Although released in the 1949 it seems to me to have a certain Art Deco look. Consider the logotype on the clip:
The metal cap is springy, which is a cute touch for a slip cap.
The first pen I’ve repaired — just an ordinary blue Esterbrook J.
It was working fine when I bought it at the NY pen show this year, but while filling it I heard a loud snap from within the barrel. The section came off easily, and I found that the J-bar had snapped. So much for the pen having been “restored”. :p
Slid a new J bar in, coated the sac with talc, slid the section back on and it’s working again.
The end jewel is chipped. From what I’ve gathered online, it’s a pain to replace. Considering how common these pens are, it’s easier to simply replace the barrel. I’ve discovered I no longer like this pen very much though, so I’m just going to let it be.
One nice thing about this pen is that it still has its original, pliant Esterbrook sac:
writing without rhythm 