Esterbook Fountain Pen Restoration

Fixed up this 1950’s Esterbrook for a client. This is a Red Esterbrook with a 9550(Firm Extra Fine) nib.

Repair was a simple and fun. Thanks to Kim for letting me work on her pen.

Sac Replacement

Old original sac was twisted and hardened. I removed the old sac, and replaced it with a new sac with the right size and length. The adhesive I used was shellac. I taped the sac on and let the shellac harden for about 30 minutes. Before applying the new sac, I made sure to remove all of left over pieces of the old sac and lightly sand the lip of the section to allow the new sac and shellac to hold in place. The new sac was dusted lightly with talc powder as to prevent the sac getting stuck in the barrel during refilling.

Nib Polishing

I used a little bit of simichrome to clean the nib up. It always a satisfying process watching the nib come to life.

Nib Tuning

This pen required some alignment and some light grinding to smooth out all of the rough edges. Now it writes properly, with proper ink flow, and with no skips or scratchiness.

Body Polishing

Also used a bit of simichrome and applied wax for decent clean up and a nice shine. The pen came out well!

Conclusion

This was a fun project. It was quite easy in nature without any complicated repair. All it was a simple clean, sac replacement, alignment, light grind, and light polish. The only thing left to repair and or replace was the jewel of the cap (not pictured). The jewel was chipped and needed a replacement. At the time, I did not have the tools or extra jewel to replace the cap.

I did bring up the issue to Kim when I first assessed the pen, to which Kim did not notice nor care. In my opinion, the effort to replace the jewel was not worth the effort. From what I’ve seen, the process involved opening the cap from the inside (which may risk breakage – this is an ~80 year old pen after all). Another solution I’ve seen was removing the jewel and gluing it on the top. Knowing me, I would have opted for the former solution, which for all intents and purposes, is riskier, more time intensive, and a more costly repair.

All in all, I’m proud of the work I’ve done here and wanted to say that this was a fun and easy project. Thanks for allowing me to work on the pen Kim!