wahl pen with hardened bladder

There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable? I want to buy two for around 30-40, maybe 50, and send to
somebody for repair, but I wanted to ask here first whether that's
possible to repair, or maybe too hard and not worth it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:B:DBS:US:1123

On 2008-06-09, Rainy wrote:
There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable? I want to buy two for around 30-40, maybe 50, and send to
somebody for repair, but I wanted to ask here first whether that's
possible to repair, or maybe too hard and not worth it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...:B:DBS:US:1123

Having never repaired a pen or touched a wahl I would say
"yes". Bladders/inksacs wear out and need replacement.

matthew

In ,
Rainy wrote:

There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable?

Sure, don't let that stop you. Replacing the sac in a basic lever-filler is
easy. If you're looking at Wahl-Eversharp pens and get a Skyline, though,
make sure your repair person is familiar with them -- the bottom of the
celluloid barrel is relatively fragile and can be broken by incautious
removal of the section.

Brian
--

On Jun 9, 5:35*am, Rainy wrote:
There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable? I want to buy two for around 30-40, maybe 50, and send to
somebody for repair, but I wanted to ask here first whether that's
possible to repair, or maybe too hard and not worth it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...58313540&ssPag...

Whoever won that bid stole them for $78. The Oxford has a steel nib,
so its only worth maybe $50 fixed up, but the other one is Lapis Blue,
worth minimum $200 fully restored.

On Jun 9, 5:04*am, Inspiring Discovery wrote:
On Jun 9, 5:35*am, Rainy wrote:

There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable? I want to buy two for around 30-40, maybe 50, and send to
somebody for repair, but I wanted to ask here first whether that's
possible to repair, or maybe too hard and not worth it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...58313540&ssPag....

Whoever won that bid stole them for $78. The Oxford has a steel nib,
so its only worth maybe $50 fixed up, but the other one is Lapis Blue,
worth minimum $200 fully restored.

By the way, what is the advantage of a golden nib?
Is it more flexible, smoother, does not rust, look
nicer, anything else? Another question: is there
a guide online that'd list good common old pens
to look at when shopping ebay, so that I don't
buy something that's known to be bad, or pay
too much for something that should be cheap, etc?

By the way, thanks for help!! :-)

In ,
Inspiring Discovery wrote:

...the other one is Lapis Blue,
worth minimum $200 fully restored.

That /was/ a pretty pen.

Brian
--

On Jun 9, 8:15*pm, Rainy wrote:
On Jun 9, 5:04*am, Inspiring Discovery wrote:

On Jun 9, 5:35*am, Rainy wrote:

There's 2 Wahl pens on ebay both with hardened bladder. Is that
fixable? I want to buy two for around 30-40, maybe 50, and send to
somebody for repair, but I wanted to ask here first whether that's
possible to repair, or maybe too hard and not worth it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...58313540&ssPag....

Whoever won that bid stole them for $78. The Oxford has a steel nib,
so its only worth maybe $50 fixed up, but the other one is Lapis Blue,
worth minimum $200 fully restored.

By the way, what is the advantage of a golden nib?
Is it more flexible, smoother, does not rust, look
nicer, anything else? Another question: is there
a guide online that'd list good common old pens
to look at when shopping ebay, so that I don't
buy something that's known to be bad, or pay
too much for something that should be cheap, etc?

By the way, thanks for help!! :-)

In its most basic terms, gold is a much softer metal than steel. I
know some people that will take a steel nib pen and make it write as
smooth as silk. But I like the softness of the gold nib, it just feels
much better to me (and a lot of other people as well). A friend of
mine makes custom pens and he can put either a Schmidt steel nib or a
Bock gold nib in it, and he grinds the steel nibs and makes them ultra-
smooth. I think they cost him like $3 each or something.

When talking vintage, however, you get into 14k nibs. Most of the
modern (say 1970 onwards) are 18k nibs. 14k nibs have an advantage
because of the alloy, when they bend they tend to snap back to where
they were. This is the legendary "flex" that people desperately want.
18k nibs don't typically flex, the metal is too soft. When you bend an
18k nib, its bent. Because the 14k nibs are harder, they can be make
thinner.

There are steel flex nibs, and the Japanese in particular used them in
the 40's and 50's when gold was scarce. However, I've tried them I
don't like them as much as vintage 14k gold nibs. Maybe I'm just being
a snob, I don't know - gold definitely feels better to me.

The Wahls are known by some in collecting circles as having the best
nibs in the business back in the 20's and particularly the 30's. Their
signature flex nibs are magical to write with. The big decoband pens
are in the $400 - $600 price range, particularly if there's a
signature flexible nib in it (14k gold). As far as I know, Wahl never
made a steel nib which means that the one in the Oxford is a
replacement nib.

Richard Binder's site www.richardspens.com has a lot of essays on
nibs. John Mottishaw's site www.nibs.com has a price list for all of
the nibs (you will see that a lot of the value of a pen is in the
nib).

One of the things I love about fountain pens is that nibs can be
customized to the way you write. What works for one person may not
work for another. I'm now at the point that I can make virtually any
pen (that isn't broken) write nearly precisely the way I want it to.
Sort of the difference between buying a suit off the rack or having
one custom tailored.

Inspiring Discovery wrote:
In its most basic terms, gold is a much softer metal than steel. I
know some people that will take a steel nib pen and make it write as
smooth as silk. But I like the softness of the gold nib, it just feels
much better to me (and a lot of other people as well).

Ditto.

There are steel flex nibs, and the Japanese in particular used them in
the 40's and 50's when gold was scarce. However, I've tried them I
don't like them as much as vintage 14k gold nibs. Maybe I'm just being
a snob, I don't know - gold definitely feels better to me.

I haven't tried the Japanese vintage ones, but the Japanese vintage flex
pens I've seen weren't cheap.

That said, the Pilot Custom 742 and 743 with the FA (Falcon) nib is
pretty sweet flex-wise.

One of the things I love about fountain pens is that nibs can be
customized to the way you write. What works for one person may not
work for another. I'm now at the point that I can make virtually any
pen (that isn't broken) write nearly precisely the way I want it to.
Sort of the difference between buying a suit off the rack or having
one custom tailored.

I've discovered that the Stipula steel nibs are designed for a significantly
lower angle of attack than I prefer, so I've sent off a couple to be
adjusted. Kinda misses the point of saving money, but I might as well
have them write the way I prefer.

--
_Deirdre web: http://deirdre.net blog: http://dsmoen.livejournal.com/
"Memes are a hoax! Pass it on!"