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Canadian Vacumatic (junior?) - repair advice


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#1 ElaineB

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Posted 18 February 2015 - 06:11 PM

I got this pen for almost nothing about ten years ago on Ebay.

 

parker.jpg

 

parker2.jpg

 

Imprint says: "Made in Canada Parker Vacumatic" with some patent numbers and what I think might be a date code that looks like .o.

 

Nib says "14K Parker Vacumatic Made in USA" and again patent numbers.

 

The gold trim is in good condition, no brassing or notable scratches. The filling mechanism works well. The plastic has no transparency that I can see. The problem is the nib. It writes, a semi-flex sort of cursive italic, but it's clearly not factory condition. Under a loupe, I can see that one of the tines is very wavy and the tips don't meet well. (You can sort of see this in the second photo above.)The tipping itself is all but gone. I'm guessing that the nib got dropped and someone tried to fix it, grinding away all the irridium in an attempt to compensate for the tine misalignment they couldn't/didn't address.

 

I'd like to get this writing again, but I'm not sure how to approach the repair. Replace the nib? Get it retipped or restored? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 



#2 FarmBoy

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Posted 18 February 2015 - 11:18 PM

Easiest thing to do is replace the nib.



#3 david i

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Posted 18 February 2015 - 11:43 PM

Dunno, Todd. A nib block treatment might help.


David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
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#4 ElaineB

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Posted 18 February 2015 - 11:50 PM

I've been looking at replacement nibs on Nibs.com -- Seems like the average is about $50-60, with $30 installation. Is that more than this pen is worth?

#5 FarmBoy

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Posted 19 February 2015 - 05:03 AM

Dunno, Todd. A nib block treatment might help.

Not the bend that is at issue for me, it needs to be retipped, a deal breaker for most common nibs. 

Now if you wanted to go to a big stub retip, I'm all in.  Big retipped stubs are a good deal compared to original Parker big stubs assuming you can even find one. 



#6 Peterg

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Posted 20 February 2015 - 10:48 AM

It is hard to see from the picture but the tip looks OK to me. As the pen needs servicing I would ask the repairer to straighten the nib, although most servicers would do that as part of a full service anyway.

 

So long as there is a bit of tipping on the end it should be OK. Vintage pens tend to have much less tipping than modern pens and the remains are hardly likely to get worn away in use.


Edited by Peterg, 20 February 2015 - 10:50 AM.


#7 ElaineB

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Posted 21 February 2015 - 04:57 PM

Okay, thanks for all the advice. Hopefully simply servicing it will be enough.




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