My First Pen Restoration
My friend found an old (probably 1940s) desk fountain pen on a marble base when clearing out some things after her mother's death last year. The original latex sac was trashed (of course) and the nipple was missing entirely, but the nib looked great (14k Smoothline) and the filling lever seemed to be functional. My biggest complaint about a lever-filler with a black latex sac is that you can't see how much ink is in the sac so you never know how full the pen is. I was thrilled to find clear silicone sacs on the Anderson's site.
I found some tubing to use to replace the nipple and go the sac attached, but I'm not sure there's enough pressure in the sac to fill adequately. I've tested for air leaks and there are none--things appear to be sealed up quite tightly. The lever is making appropriate contact, but the sac just won't fill. I had to take the section off and roll up the sac to remove as much air as possible...and it still only filled halfway. I love the idea of a clear sac, but I'm starting to think the silicone is just a bit too soft, where a latex sac would be more firm.
I'm still testing out options for ensuring a tight seal, but in the meantime I can't give this product a 5 star rating because I'm not entirely sure it works as well in practice as it does in theory. If I discover a fault in my process, I'll be happy to revise this to 5 stars.
