Topic of the Week: Repairs
One of an occasional series that spotlights one part of the Pentrace archive for readers who haven't explored the whole site yet.
Sooner or later every fountain pen needs some attention: a sac that has gone hard, a nib that scratches, a piston that sticks or a cap lip that cracks. Pentrace's writers — working repairers, collectors and the Pen Doctor column — have covered most of it, from simple jobs you can do at the kitchen table to the ones best left to a professional. This page gathers it in one place.
A celluloid cap with its broken lip rebuilt. (Marcello Carli)
Start here
If you only read a few of these, start with the following:
- Care and Feeding: How to Replace a Pen Sac
- Richard Binder's step-by-step guide to the simplest and most common repair of all: replacing a dead sac.
- Do I have to restore my fountain pen myself?
- Burt Janz on when to try a repair yourself and when to send a pen to a professional.
- Anatomy of a Fountain Pen I: A Typical Lever Filler
- Every part of a lever filler, named and explained, so you know what you're looking at before you take one apart.
- Celluloid Cap Lip Repair
- Marcello Carli rebuilds a broken celluloid cap lip with dissolved celluloid and a lot of patience.
- Conway Stewart Repairs
- Jonathan Donahaye walks through how he restores vintage Conway Stewarts, from clips and caps to levers and sacs.
Every article on repairs
Everything in the archive on this topic, grouped by section:
Pentrace East
- Pentrace East: Sailor's Pen Doctor, Mr. Kawaguchi
- Pentrace East: The Pilot Pen clinic with Mr. Komiya
Message Board Archive
Technical
- Anatomy of a Fountain Pen I: A Typical Lever Filler
- How to Replace a Fountain Pen Sac
- Cleaning Vintage Pens
- Anatomy of a Fountain Pen II: The Parker Vacumatic
- Anatomy of a Fountain Pen III: Sheaffer’s Snorkel
- Vintage Filling Mechanisms - Sac Fillers Part 1
- Vintage Filling Mechanisms - Sac Fillers Part 2
Repair
Pen Doctor
- Pen Doctor: Parker "51": Who's On First?, Front-End Disassembly and Reassembly of the Parker "51"
- Pen Doctor: Help for a Sheaffer Touchdown, Why Does My "51" Leak?, I Want a Flex Nib, and I Want It Now!
- Pen Doctor: My Dip Nibs Won’t Hold Ink, Pelikan Nib Skips — Easy to Fix? and Tightening a “51” Clip
- Pen Doctor: Side by Side: The Parker “51” and the Hero 100
- Pen Doctor: Rattling Lever in Sheaffer Pen, Converter Interchangeability?, Pelikan Nib Skips — Easy to Fix? and Tightening a “51” Clip
- Pen Doctor: Fixing Parker “51” Cap Clutches (Not!), More on Leaking Targa Nibs and Finding Replacement Nibs for Inexpensive Pens
- Pen Doctor: More on Leaking Targa Nibs, Finding Replacement Pen Sacs, Using Ultrasonic Cleaners and Still More on Waterman CF Converters!
- Pen Doctor: Adjusting flow in a Parker “51”, Leaking Targa Nibs, Finding Replacement Pen Sacs and Yet More on Waterman CF Converters!
- Pen Doctor: Vintage Aurora Flow Trouble, Fixing a Pelikan Piston? and Nib Tines That Won’t Stay Aligned
- Pen Doctor: Changing Pelikan Nibs
- Pen Doctor: The Other Vacumatic Tool
- Pen Doctor: Basic Pen Care, World's Best Ink Remover and Waterman CF Cartridge Update
- Pen Doctor: Finding cartridges for a Waterman CF and Getting Dried Ink Out of Caps
- Pen Doctor: Fixing a Parker 45 That Does Not Flow and Old Pens: Fill Them, or...?
- Pen Doctor: Repairing Metal Caps and Cleaning a Retractable Montblanc Bohème
- Pen Doctor: How to use Blotting Paper and Restoring Banana-Shaped Pens
- Pen Doctor: New Pens That Stop Writing and Reducing Ink Flow
- Pen Doctor: Sacs Size and Ink Blots, and Brand-New Nibs That Aren't Smooth
- Pen Doctor: Dealing with Skyline Plastics and Father's Day Suggestions
- Pen Doctor: Lockdown Vacumatic Dumps Ink When Filled & Mitigating a nib that catches
- PenDoctor: Stiff Piston in a Stipula 22
FAQ
- Do I have to restore my fountain pen myself?
- Can an old fountain pen be restored?
- My new pen skips! Why? Can it be fixed?
- How should I clean my fountain pen?
New Site Archive (2014-2022)
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