4 reasons you should consider a rotary tool for your next repair job

If you've just begun repairing your own pens, then this post may or may not be relevant to you. It all depends on how far you want to take that knowledge.

However, if you're serious about repairing your own pens, and you're ready to take the next step, then you'll definitely want to read on.

My rotary tool has become in indispensable part of my repair work flow. Without it, I'd often find myself straggling along at a slow pace. Thanks to this mechanical wonder, there many tasks than can be shortened, simplified, and improved in quality.

I'm back!

Well, I just got back home a few hours ago after a much needed vacation. I spent a week in Big Sandy TX, and another week at a state park in TN, around 2 hours away from my house. I had a great time, got to see some friends, catch up on sleep, and get prepared mentally for all the big changes coming up soon in my business. I really enjoyed myself, but it's great to be back home again.

Work will resume as normal on Monday (10/24/11), but I'll begin working through my emails tomorrow morning. I'll do my best to pick everything up where it was left off, and keep things speeding along at a good pace. I appreciate your patience! It's not easy for me to leave behind my business for two weeks like that.

As soon as all your emails are answered, and I begin getting your pens processed as usual, the new website is going on top of my priority list. I intend on finishing it sometime between the end of October, and the first week-or-two of November. The sooner the better!

I'm looking forward to getting back to work, and I'm sure you folks are eager to get your pens back soon! Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions.

Until tomorrow,
-Tyler Dahl

Three cursive italic re-grinds and one happy client!

I recently had the pleasure of grinding three nibs for a client of mine. I love grinding nibs! These were all cursive italics, and all for Bexleys. I haven't seen or handled very many Bexleys before, so this was a real treat.

To the left - a Bexley Simplicity II, now fitted with a lovely broad 777 Pen Repair cursive italic!

To the right - A Bexley Elegancia, now sporting a medium 777 Pen Repair cursive italic!

I really enjoyed testing out both these pens during the grinding process! They are very comfortable in hand.

Here are all four nibs. We have one 2 M CI's, and 2 B CI's. One broad was ground by someone else, though I adjusted the flow, and used it as a template for the other nibs per the customers request. One medium CI started as a B, but I was asked to reground it to a M CI, since the client prefers his nibs in that size.

Another close up shot. Makes me wish I had a better camera to show of the details of the tipping shape. :)

You'll want to click on this one to get a super-sized view of it! Each nib shows wonderful variation, and they're all very smooth too!

Here's that lovely broad CI! I was really liking the way this nib turned out.

Here's a medium CI. Not quite as much variation as the B, but still excellent.

I also had the enjoyment of tuning-up a Sheaffer for this client.

Best of all, it was equipped with a lovely Sheaffer semi-flex "feather touch" nib!

The client was very pleased with the nibs when he got them back! Here's what he told me in an email:

"Hi, Tyler--

It's the first day of classes here at college, and while I am never thrilled to see another summer end, this year, thanks to you, I have lots and lots of options for grading papers and taking notes during lectures.  

Now that I have had several weeks to experiment with your handiwork, I write to thank you very much.  I tend to prefer fine and extra-fine nibs, so I naturally gravitated toward the medium cursive-italics you ground for me.  And they are indeed lovely--fine, with subtle variation, and incredibly smooth.  I have one in my briefcase right now.  But the broad CIs might bring me over to the big side--even greater line variation and even more smoothness; I keep looking for excuses to ink up one of those and enjoy the ride.

The German nibs you ground sell for $15 each at isellpens.com.  As round nibs, they are perfectly serviceable.  But add your reasonably priced grinding, and they are a superb bargain.  If other customers ask you about the possibility of custom-ground steel nibs, I will be glad to sing their praises. With money tight and with the price of gold reaching new records constantly, these are a terrific budget option.

Thank you again, Tyler!  You can bet that I will be back in touch with more work later.  In the meantime, best wishes for success in your business."

- R. I.

Needless to say, I was very happy to hear that he was pleased with the nibs! It's my favorite thing to hear a client who is happy with my work, and willing to return again for more.

Let me know if I can do anything for you. My nib grinding prices are very inexpensive, at only $25.00 a nib! And my amazing 1 week turn-around time lets you enjoy your nibs sooner!

Just send me an email anytime! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. :)

Regards,
777 - Tyler Dahl

A very happy customer, and a really neat nib grind!

I recently had the pleasure of working with yet another customer who was in need of some nib work. Three pens were sent my way, two in need of re-grinding, and another one that needed some feed-to-nib adjustment.

The feed-nib adjustment job was a fairly easy fix, and was fun to do. The really fun job however, is always grinding nibs! At the request of the sender, the first pen, a red Waterman Phileas, was taken down from a medium nib, to something between an XF and a fine. The other pen, another Waterman Phileas in grey this time, was given one of my buttery-stub re-grinds. Originally we were going to take the nib down a size first and then grind it into a stub, but it was decided to leave the nib as is. It came in as a broad and left as a broad stub!

Along the way of fixing these pens, we encountered a slight problem. To this day I still do not know how it happened, but as the professional, it is my job to assume responsibility for any mistakes, even if made by the USPS. :)

The Grey Waterman Phileas had a crack running down the section of it! Uh oh, you can't have that. When you have a cracked section, you have inky figners. The crack allows the ink to flow out onto the section and to your hand, fingers, etc. It's basically a mess. Again, I don't know how a crack could have gotten here by simply grinding the nib, but, I do have a guess. It is very, very hot were I live. It gets up to 103F-107F degrees on some days. It was one of those days when I went up to the mailbox and got this pen out. It's just a guess, but it would seem to make sense that in the heat, the plastic may have stress cracked from expansion of the plastic. It also should be noted that the section cracked at a known weak point. There was a large gouge out of the lip of the section where the crack started. Put that together with the heat and I think we have our misterious FP "killer".

Anyway, I chose to fix it free of charge since it wasn't there when he shipped the pens to me. Unlike all my other pens that are guaranteed for 1 year, this section repair is guaranteed for life! If it ever breaks again on him, he simply needs to send me an email, and I'll ship a new replacement section ASAP. You can check out my crack repair below:

Of course, when I say you can see my crack repair below, I mean this: You can see the absence of a crack. Meaning I did a good job. :)

As you can tell, there is no evidence of any cracks in the grip-section.

If I hadn't fixed it, you would totally see the crack in this shot. The camera is aiming right at it.

So, after this problem was overcome, it was on to the fun stuff!

Here is the Waterman Phileas after the stub-grinding.

Upon receiving his pens back, here's what this customer had to say:

"Tyler--

WOW! What a difference! You are a genius. The Phileas Red pen is fine and spidery and lays down my red ink for a line as smooth as spiders silk!

The Phileas Grey is sporty, has a nice flair and while still broad, not bothersome like it was before.

And the Bulow writes as good as any of my “good” pens, and it cost me only $20 and your fix.

Amazing. I am VERY happy. Don’t see the fixed crack in my Phileas Grey at all.

I will definitely send the Pelican, which writes like a goose quill in comparison; and since you were kind enough to offer to look at that Falcon, (soaping did no good) I’d be fool not to have it working as well as these three favorite pens of mine (now)!

I may have had my doubts when you told me of the problem, but I’m here to testify! You are a miracle worker! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Best Wishes,

Your Happy Customer,"

- Jim B.


I think we were both very pleased with the way these pens turned out! The crack repair has still been holding STRONG for over a month now, and I suspect it will never change. :) I'm still investigating the possibility of the heat-cracking. If that is indeed what it was, which it most likely is - I need to get myself a PO box soon. I believe the main reason for it however, was that  lip crack on the section. The thick edges of the section are what prevent it from cracking. Take away that thick "retaining-wall" and there goes your crack-protection...


Either way, the crack is fixed now, and the customer is very happy! He is still enjoying his nibs, and is preparing more pens to send me. That's the best "thank you - your work is fabulous" gift any customer can give me: sending more pens. A repeat customer lets me know that they really are happy!


Let me know if I can grind any nibs for you. My price is extremely competitive, at only $25.00 a nib! My turn around time for nib grinds is a mere 1 week! That's including shipping. No 6 month waits here! Just one week to get your new-ground nib back into your hand, so you can start using it sooner. Just send me an email, and let me know how I can help you out.


Regards,
777 - Tyler Dahl

Know your nibmeister

Today's post is a lesson in business. As a customer, you really need to know who you are dealing with. When you're preparing to send your pen to someone, and pay for there services, you need to be sure you can trust them. You want to see if they have a track-record of excellent work, and good customer service.

As an example today, I am going to show you two pens that came to me for nib work. I'll begin with the full story - The client sent these pens off to a semi-well-known nibmeister, who's name will remain undisclosed. The client requested both nibs (a  modern Sheaffer Balance and a Pilot Custom 74) to be ground to stubs. After coming back to the client, they were found very unsatisfactory. "Why?" These nibs were not ground properly. They presented this client with the following problems:

Here are some really cool pens...

This is one of the many parts of my job that I really love! I get to work with, and test out so many different types of pens. Vintage, modern, cheap, and expensive - I get to handle them all. It's a lot of fun, and I'm always excited about getting to work on a new type of pen.

This last week, I got to work on some amazing vintage specimens. These were sent to me by a repeat customer of mine. I've worked on quite a few pens for him and have immensely enjoyed having him as a client.

I shot some pictures of these for you all too see. These pens are pretty rare, so most of us will not get to see them in person ever.

Another Parker 51 Vacumatic comes back to life!

Here is one of my favorite Parker 51 models. A Cedar Blue Vacumatic with a sterling-silver cap and gold clip. Gorgeous is a fitting way to describe it! Check it out, and be sure to click on these pictures for a super-size view!

The customer seemed very pleased with his pen after it had been restored! This pen has undergone my scratch-removal treatment making look even better than the day it was made! The nib has also been tuned for a smooth and luxurious writing experience.

"Tyler,

I just received the pen.  It looks beautiful and writes with ease.  Thank you for a professional job start to finish."

-Jack M.

Do you need a restoration job like this? My turn-around time is excellent at only 1-2 weeks maximum. Just send me an email anytime!

Regards,

777 - Tyler Dahl

A Parker Duofold Jr. writes again!

Here is an awesome Parker Duofold Jr. that came in the other week for basic-restoration. This pen is a button filler which I love! They're a lot of fun to work on and use. This pressure bar in this pen was very wrinkled and bent but luckily with time, patience, and skill I was able to get it back in working-order again.

Here's what this customer had to say when he got this pen back:

"I finally loaded the Parker Duofold with Noodler's Midway Blue and I am loving it. I brought it to work today and it will be put through the paces of a work day. So far, awesome job getting that Dufold Junior back in the race!"

-I. Romero

Do you need a restoration like this on one of your pens? Just shoot me an email, I'm always more than happy to help and/or answer any questions you might have!

Regards,

777 - Tyler Dahl

New! 777 Pen Repair service form!

This is going to make things a lot easier for all for us! I finally got around to making a printable service form for my customers. This will save you time in trying to figure out what you need to do to send me pens. It will also help me finish your pens faster as I will have the information I need to get started working on them right away.

You can check out and download the form right here!

Please print out one of these for each pen that you send me. Simply include it in the package and I'll take care of the rest. This helps to ensure that I never "mix up an order", and I can get your pens done quicker this way. This means less time sending emails back and forth, and more time for you to actually use your pens!

Let me know if you experience any issues with the form. I'm just an email away if you're ever in need of assistance. :)

Regards,
777 - Tyler Dahl

A big, big order of talc...

First off, for the uninformed: talcum powder is used in the restoration of pens. It acts as a dry lubricant for the inner working of filling systems such as Parker Vacumatics, lever-fillers, button fillers, and most sac pens.

Now, I was running low on this stuff and needed more. I wanted to buy in bulk, both to save on shipping and get a better deal. I found this great guy on ebay who will sell you 4 1lb. bags and give you a fifth one free! Great deal! The stuff arrived in record time too. I ordered it on the 12th, it got here on the 14th!!! Superb customer service and a pleasure to deal with. Go check him out if you need 100% pure talcum powder!

Now, for some pictures of this massive amount of white stuff!

Now I'm quite well stocked to say the least. :)

Regards,

777 - Tyler Dahl

The amazing Ester-Moore nib. A fun little project of mine...

Here's a fun little project that I've been working on for a good friend/customer of mine. I call it the "Ester-Moore" nib. I came up with the idea when I was sent an old Moore pen to restore a few months ago. It was a decent little pen, with a wonderful nib, but sadly the pen didn't pull through. (a moment of silence for its remains...)

So, I was stuck with a hopeless pen and an awesome nib. 'What to do?"... After thinking about it for 5-10 minutes I got this great idea! This particular friend has a few Esterbrooks that I restored for him a while back. I knew he liked his Esties so this was the idea I came up with:

The amazing "Ester-Moore" nib! It's a Moore flex nib in an Esterbrook threaded collar. This means it'll screw directly into any Esterbrook fountain pen.

After testing it out however, we discovered that the feed was to large to allow full flexing of the nib. It kept dragging across the page, which makes it terribly difficult  to write. :)

See how far it sticks out above the nib. Obviously, I had to do something about it. so, after thinking for a while, I decided on something a bit unconventional. I chose to modify it with a high-speed rotary tool to the exact size I wanted.

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Now take a look at this picture! compare it to the above picture and you'll see the difference! The feed is now slim enough to allow full-flexing of the nib without dragging across the page.

I also shortened the feed which can be seen here and in the next photo. This also helps with the dragging issue.

I must say, I think it turned out pretty nice!

So, what do you all think of that? I was very happy with the results and I'm sure the owner will be too once he gets to try it out! I'm thinking of maybe getting a bunch of vintage flex nibs and making a few of these to sell here on the website... It's a bit hard to find the old nibs though, and because of the feed modification it would be a bit pricey. Drop me a comment and let me know if you'd like something like this.

Oh yea, and for those who are awaiting patiently for the next part i the TWSBI review - Fear not. I'm still going to do part 5 and 6. I've just been really busy. Part 5 is coming soon though. Subscribe now so you don't miss out!

Regards,

777 - Tyler Dahl

A new "service" - 777 Pen Repair "tune-ups"

Hello again to all of you who read my blog. :)

Today I'd like to introduce you to a new service I'm going to start running. It's going to be called "Tune-Ups". Obviously, you'll want to know what it's about, so I'll tell you. I'm going to use an analogy to make things really easy to understand.

A fountain pen is like a car in many ways. You need to keep it filled with gasoline (ink) to run properly. And occasionally, you even need to change oil (flush and clean). Sometimes however, there is routine maintenance that you just don't want to do yourself. Things like replacing spark plugs, changing the oil filter, changing tires, etc. A fountain pen has routine maintenance jobs just like this. This is why I'm going to create this new "service". Sometimes your pen doesn't need a "full-restore", it just needs to be tuned back into a factory fresh state.

I've used, as an example for this post, an amazing Pelikan M1000 which was sent to me for nib adjustment. After examining it carefully, I asked if the owner would like a tune-up as it was in need of one. He said yes, and things proceeded as follows:

Here is the amazing Pelikan M1000. This is a pretty big pen. :)

Uncapping this pen reveals it's monster nib!

What we have here is what appears to be a fairly nice Pelikan nib. You'll notice the slight bit of grime right at the base of the nib by the metal section.

Also, the feed and nib are out of alignment.

The large gap between the nib and feed at the front were making this pen flow to freely.

Once taken apart, you can see how dirty the nib really is.

Take look at the nib stains. Also notice the dried ink clogging the fins of the feed.

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Now here's after cleaning! Much better!

The nib is shiny and stain free. - The feed is free of clogs and dried ink.

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Here's again what would appear to be a nice, functioning, clean piston. Let me tell you - it's not.

After removing the piston you can see what it really looks like. Rust stains, dirty grease, and the piston head is bone dry.

Take a loo at the mold on right above the threads of the piston fitting.

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Now, take a look at this properly cleaned piston. You'll also notice the generous blob of 100% pure silicone grease on the piston head.

This is how a Pelikan piston should look. This pen will now be ready to function for many more years to come.

Basically, this what the whole pen tune-ups program is about. Pens often look clean, but when taken apart they are extremely dirty. I've seen good lever-fillers with horribly rusty j-bars. I've seen some lovely pens that just need a good polish to bring them back to their original glory. All of these problems are hidden from the average pen user who doesn't wish to start taking his/her pen apart. Luckily, that's what I'm here for.

Preventative maintenance is much better than waiting until the pen stops working completely, and then sending it in for a full restore. These tune-ups will also be considerably less expensive than a full restore. At $15.00 plus shipping I think this is a fair price for getting your pen back into optimal condition again. Here's what a full "tune-up" includes:

• A full check up - basically looking over the pen in detail for any potential problems (the beginnings of a crack, stiff piston, rust, worn diaphragm).
• Complete disassembly and deep cleaning.
• Re-greasing for any parts that need it.
• Basic tine alignment for nibs.
• De-rusting of any metal components (for example - a j-bar).
• A good polish to give the pen the original shine back to the pen.

That what you get for your $15.00. After a good "tune-up" your pen will be functioning as good as when you go it!

If you're pen is need of this service, just send me an email and we'll get things going. I'd love to get your pen back in good functioning order again. :)

Regards,

777 - Tyler Dahl