Part 1. The Broken Lever Saga
There were bits missing at the end of the filler lever. It was broken when I bought it, among other things cosmetic; but that’s the only thing vital for its function. I like the simplicity of the design despite of the Achilles heel, which I think still quite acceptable considering its 85 years of service.
As always with vintage pens, replacement parts ain’t easy to find, and to make matters worse, the only place that I could find selling these online has ran out of stock. I had the option, but I’d rather not cannibalise other pens for parts, which I think is wasteful and more often costly.
Bah! With a slim chance of finding parts; I’ve got nothing to lose anyway, so I’ve decided to do something about it:
A shaped safety pin was the best one among other wires to simulate the broken bits.
The tools.
Right before being soldered together.
Voilà. Ready for resac and assembly.
Part 2. Resaccing Drama
Unlike the normal “one size below, two just to be sure” rule with j-bars or button pressure bars, a Conklin pressure bar depends on the sac to press it against the barrel so that it won’t rattle. The recommended size is #22, but I couldn’t fit one in, and I barely could fit in the #20. No worries.
I pushed the sac in with a blunt tool to get max depth, then marked the pre-cut mark measured against the section nipple depth.
As usual, I made sure that the end gap is there, in order to avoid the pen burping caused by the sac expansion from body heat. Final cut marked.
Shellacked in place. Almost done.
Done.
TR
Pens and Sensibility 