Pelikan Pencil Conversion

This project has been sitting on my bench now for close to a year.

I was sent two old pencil bodies and asked to convert them to take Parker refills.

Like any time you are using old parts there is a risk.

We tried my first idea on a green one that was a common color and I ended up with a bunch of bits. Bad day.

So that is why this one sat on my desk for so long trying to come up with a idea that would still have a complete pen at the end of it all.

One day like many of my projects a solution just hit me and this is what I ended up with.

Homemade Tools

This was a tool that my wife wanted me to make up for her to hold her heat gun and small hot iron for her wax work.

I am now going to build one to hold my Dremel on my work bench.

We looked at buying one of these for her but looking at them they seemed to be really flimsy for what you were getting.  So a few dollars at the hardware store a bit of welding and here is what I ended up with.

PS I build better pens than I do welding.

A good solid tool

Orange Black Hard Rubber Comission

This was a custom commission modeled after my 51 style pens.

It had to take a long Waterman cartridge and have a F nib.

The ebonite was some stock I got a while ago from a vendor in Germany and it is a really nice color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is now on it's way to it new owner and I was a little sad to see this one go,

Squeeze Filler

This was a filling system that I have been thinking about trying for a while now.

With some encouragement or I should say some pushing from a friend at our pen breakfast.
So this is what I ended up making.  I had some black/red ebonite in my stash so there was enough to make a matching section.
The hardest part was installing a breather tube on the small nib unit that I was using.  Then making up the section was a bit of fun as well.  It had to have threads for the body, a area for the metal squeeze unit to mount on and then the sac had to be able to be mounted as well.
Any way I was quite pleased at how well it turned out.



So all in all a great day in the shop and I have a nice pen to use.  

Now I am told all I have to do is figure out how to make the cap with a clutch in it.

So off to the drawing board.

Parker Ad pen mod

I got this pen the other say and decided that I wanted it to be a fountain pen not a roller ball so this is what I came up with.

I have a lot of Esterbrook nibs so that is what I used in it.

I also had to make up a new section as well to take the screw in nibs.

Indian Pen Mods

I have a real love hate relationship with Indian made pens.

I love the fact that they are all hand made and even with their little imperfections it only reminds me that they were made by a person and not a machine.

Now the down side is that most of them are ED fillers and they always seem to throw up at the worst of times.

Here is a picture of the first four I decided to have a serious talking to.

Pen number one moving from the left is a Onyx pen.

A brown ebonite with a metal cap.

A couple problems with this one, the nib had a bent tine and of course the throwing up problem had to be addressed.

I found a English Parker 25 nib that fit into it perfect.

To install the sac on this one I had to use a Cross cartridge and cut the nipple off and cement it into the section and then cement the sac onto the nipple that stuck out of the section.
But now it is a very smooth well behaved pen.
Check one off as a win

Pen number two is a fantastic sized hooded ebonite pen made by Ratnamson but once again it had a habit of throwing up at the worst times.

It was a simple fix of adding a sac on the end of the section.

Now a really nice writing well behaved pen.
Check number two as a win.


Number 3 is an Indian Parker 51 clone all done in ebonite made by Guider.

Great feeling pen in the hand but again the upchuck issue.
Another simple fix with a sac.

Check number 3 as a win

Number 4 is the first Indian ED that I owned.  It is also a Guider.  I have loved and sworn this pen off so many times I can't even count them all.  I would fill it like I was instructed burping the last 2 turns into the bottle of ink and STILL it would throw up on me so back to the drawer it would go until a couple of months later I would think this is the time but NO up she came again.  So a sac and problem solved.

Check number four as a win.

So if you have issues with your Indian ED fillers try a mod on them.


This has got me thinking that a sac might have cured my kids from throwing up when they were younger hmmmm

Parker 21 Liquid Ball Point

Another small project from my good friend.

"should be no problem" lol

21 with a cracked hood

 

Before

 After



I was not able to use the clutch ring because it has a smaller hole to match up with the shell threads not the larger body threads.  So I made the section the same size as the clutch ring so I hope it fits good but if not then I can make it a bit smaller.

A Dressed Up Set

I spent my weekend working on this pen set.  It is a M200 ballpoint and fountain pen.

A little bit of history on this set.  I have a good friend who has taken on his own to make me the best custom pen person there is.  I say on his own because I sure was sure not around when this vote was taken.

It always starts out the same little smile and a twinkle in his eye and the words "I have something to show you".

Nothing is ever anything that I can say "no problem" to at all because there is always some little twist that takes it from a very quick and easy to what the heck, I have to think in this for a while.

This set was one of those.  I have done lots of the 200 fountain pen binde but I have never worked on a ball point and my biggest fear is having to hand a customer back a bag of pen pieces and saying whoops.

I have had this set on my bench for I would say 3 months now because I was afraid to get it on to the lathe.

Well today was the day.  I would have a great looking pen or a pile of parts.  

Happy to report I don't have a bag of parts to return to my customer.

So I have to say thank you for always making me think outside the box.

M1000 Nib Holder

This was a custom build for a customer.

It had to be matte black ED filler and no pocket clip.

This pen is close to a 149 sized pen and will hold a ton of ink.

 

 

This  material is Delron.  

I was at my metal supplier a while back and they were moving some metal around on these black rollers.

I was able to score one from them and when I got the commission on this pen I thought a perfect match.

 

 

Orange HR Wearever Repair

I got this pen the other day and it looked as though someone had tried to drill some holes with the nib.

I had an Esterbrook 3556 Osmiridium tip nib that I was able to install into it.

 

I kept the HR feed so if I ever find a nice nib for it I will be able to reinstall it.
Any way another nice pen that I am able to get up and going and it will take the full range of screw in Esterbrook nibs as a bonus.

Pen Rescue

I got this pen a bit ago at the market and it was missing it's nib and feed.

A quick 10 min on the lathe and it now sports a Esterbrook screw in nib.

I could still put in an original nib and feed if I ever found one but I really like it as it is so I think I will keep it like this.
A really nice looking vintage pen.