Pen advice needed..

Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:

Steel nibs are not to be sneezed at.

Unless they're some of the modern crap steel nibs.

I don't think these are new, rather they are new old stock, but the
flexible nib steel pens with cork grips from Pendemonium have been very
good.
--
Aaron Hsu | Jabber:
``Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to
live at the expense of everybody else.'' - Frederic Bastiat

I'm going to bid on some pens on ebay next week. I'm not sure which
ones yet, I will pick up a couple of vintage ones with flexy nibs.
Since it's very likely, almost certain (?) that they will need repair,
are there different repairers that specialize on different types of
pen? Is there a some sort of directory or a listing where repair
people/companies can be looked up? thx!

Rainy wrote:
Since it's very likely, almost certain (?) that they will need repair,
are there different repairers that specialize on different types of
pen? Is there a some sort of directory or a listing where repair
people/companies can be looked up? thx!

Most pen people have subspecialties, but nearly any of the name brand
pen repairers will work on a variety of pens, including moderns. Several
of them are also authorized dealers for modern pens.

Here's some names for you:
Richard Binder - http://richardspens.com/
Ron Zorn - http://www.mainstreetpens.com/
John Mottishaw - http://nibs.com/

Greg Minuskin (he's a jeweler by day)
Dillon Ang (Dillo on FPN)
Deb Kinney

There's quite a few other good ones, but those should get you started.
So far as I'm aware, the first three are the main ones doing repair and
sales as their primary business.

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

-Lamy 2000
-Parker 51

Not flexy though, but best value in that price range IMHO.

Juan

On May 31, 11:09*pm, Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:


Here's some names for you:
Richard Binder -http://richardspens.com/
Ron Zorn -http://www.mainstreetpens.com/
John Mottishaw -http://nibs.com/

Greg Minuskin (he's a jeweler by day)
Dillon Ang (Dillo on FPN)
Deb Kinney


With Richard and John, be prepared for 5-6 month waits. Richard, John,
Greg, and Deb are primarily known for their nib work, although I know
a few people that use richard for their restoration jobs (and find his
work to be excellent). Ron is more of a restoration guy first, nib guy
second, but he can have a 8 week backlog from time to time - you
should ask before sending things out to him.

I've settled on using Aaron Svabik (www.pentiques.com) and Berton
Heiserman (but you need to get into his shop in Maryland). Aaron has a
fast turnaround (1 or 2 weeks) and does excellent work in my opinion.
Michael Masuyama (used to be Sailor's nib guy www.mikeitwork.com) does
all my nib work on vintage pens, and Deb Kinney does modern nib
smoothing for me. I do my own basic restoration, but I definitely hit
a wall quickly if it is more than a basic resacking job.

Any restorer worth their salt can do a basic restoration - it gets a
lot trickier with pneumatic filling mechamisms or pumps. If you get
something with some extensive damage (missing clips, cracks, bad
coloring, etc), ask before you send it out. Most of the restorers have
sub-contractors that do specific things (Berton sent a Parker Special
of mine out to have new threads put on it)

Inspiring Discovery wrote:
With Richard and John, be prepared for 5-6 month waits. Richard, John,
Greg, and Deb are primarily known for their nib work, although I know
a few people that use richard for their restoration jobs (and find his
work to be excellent). Ron is more of a restoration guy first, nib guy
second, but he can have a 8 week backlog from time to time - you
should ask before sending things out to him.

Good to know -- I'd always wondered how people had specialized.

I have a couple of tragedies that need addressing, and haven't wanted to
wait six months to get the nib fixed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/...1b167125_o.jpg

These are both Italian. The bottom is vintage (a vac-alike), and the
top one's a modern from a maker no longer producing pens.

So Marc (or anyone), who would you go to with such tragedies?

Speaking of weirdies, I need a resac on a Stipula sleeve filler, but
I was going to send that one to Stipula for another reason anyway.

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

On Jun 1, 11:01*pm, Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:

I have a couple of tragedies that need addressing, and haven't wanted to
wait six months to get the nib fixed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/...1b167125_o.jpg

These are both Italian. The bottom is vintage (a vac-alike), and the
top one's a modern from a maker no longer producing pens.

So Marc (or anyone), who would you go to with such tragedies?


Bent nibs are not supposed to be a big deal for most of the
nibmeisters. I'd probably just send them to Deb for the turnaround
time.

One of the things is, if you get to know a nib specialist well, they
get to know your preferences. Deb knows exactly how I like a pen to
write, and now I barely even need to send some instructions. If you
really want a treat, have her do a .6 stub nib.

Within nibwork, there aren't a whole lot of specialties. I like Mike
for his work on vintage nibs just because I was impressed by the
amount of care that he put into my vintage nibs. But I don't think
you'd get any one of them to say that they either specialize in italic
grinds, or something like that. John and Richard are the only ones
that I've found so far willing to put flex on a modern nib.

The only exception is Greg who also does retipping. If you have a
broken tine or missing iridium, he can replace it. He can make a fine
nib into a broad one. He does other nib jobs (regrinding, etc.) but he
told me he wouldn't do nib smoothing.

Inspiring Discovery wrote:
Bent nibs are not supposed to be a big deal for most of the
nibmeisters. I'd probably just send them to Deb for the turnaround
time.

Good point, I'll contact her.

One of the things is, if you get to know a nib specialist well, they
get to know your preferences. Deb knows exactly how I like a pen to
write, and now I barely even need to send some instructions. If you
really want a treat, have her do a .6 stub nib.

I might!

The only exception is Greg who also does retipping. If you have a
broken tine or missing iridium, he can replace it. He can make a fine
nib into a broad one. He does other nib jobs (regrinding, etc.) but he
told me he wouldn't do nib smoothing.

One of these days, I'd like to try an Arabic/Hebrew italic....

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