Just something diffrent

[Firefyter-emt]

I picked up this nice 1940's Waterman Taperite set, a fountain pen and pencil. I knew the pencil was shot, but the price was right. I mean, a has a 14k nib and cost $20 shipped, right?

Anyway... I was looking at the pencil and while there is no way it will ever write again, I thought I would convert it to a ball point with a slimline kit. I need a black blank first so I shot off an e-mail to the Princess, but I thought I would share a preview of what I am starting with.

Here is the pencil with the "slimline like" slip cap design.

Here is a close up of the cap. That jewelers band looks much better in hand than you would think by seeing a photo of it.

My plan is to make a sleeve to fit a 7mm tube inside the cap. This will be fitted on my metal lathe so that the OD is perfect and then glued inside the original cap. Then I can re-create the shape of the waterman pencil using slimline parts and nib. This will then be mated with the vintage cap to give me a ball-point twist pen, yet look every bit like the original.

PS, if anyone has a spare 10k slimline nib, preferably one of the smooth nibs with out the ridge let me know. Any 7mm nib wil be ok, all mine have the ridge, or are silver plated Euro style. I only need just the nib part if someone has one sitting in a parts pile. Drop me a PM if you happen to have one.

 

[stevers]

Another nice find. Good to see you again Lee. It's been a while.

 

[LEAP]

Looks like yo have caught up enough on the pen mills to actually start playing again. Neat project, can't wait to see the finished pen.

 

[ldb2000]

Great to see you playing once again Lee . What's wrong with the lower section ? , Couldn't you just strip out the guts and rework the existing nib assy ? .

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Well, I have not started this yet, to be honest! But I have been able to get a little more time in the shop the last few weeks. Major changes at work have been a bit crazy this summer.

The pencil is shot and might have something missing like a collet for the lead. There are two reasons not to gut it, first the material has faded and the lower half is really blue and not black. Plus everything is totaly diffrent, even the nib size. (This was a pencil, remember) Because the cap is a straight slip on, just like a slimline, I can make a sleeve just like a barrel trimmer sleeve to make the cap fit the slimline kit. The pencil itself is almost the same OD and length as a slimline / Euro so it will be a perfect conversion.

Quick and simple fix... too bad it's a ball point! I am sure it will be my #1 ball point, but I hardly ever use a ball point with my fountian pen collection. (It's over three dozen now, not counting my kit pens!)

 

[ldb2000]

It's too bad , if it were in decent shape it would be worth reworking the nib section to accept a slimline tube and tranny just to keep it all original , outside at least . I would think it would just need to be redrilled to let the refill fit through , and a sleeve to accept the tube/tranny assy .
"To bad it's a ballpoint"!!! :tongue: You Fountain pen snobs are all alike :devil::biggrin:LOL

 

[bitshird]

Looks like a great project Lee, can't wait to see it finished

 

[workinforwood]

No doubt I have 7mm slim nibs in 10k gold, but it's probably cheaper for you to buy a slim kit at a local woodcraft. Pretty sure my nibs do have a ridge, and it's the shipping that makes it a bit silly. You can just buy a kit for $3 or less and then you get to keep the tubes and the transmission. If you insist on me shipping a nib anyhow, let me know.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

No doubt I have 7mm slim nibs in 10k gold, but it's probably cheaper for you to buy a slim kit at a local woodcraft. Pretty sure my nibs do have a ridge, and it's the shipping that makes it a bit silly. You can just buy a kit for $3 or less and then you get to keep the tubes and the transmission. If you insist on me shipping a nib anyhow, let me know.

Well the problem is that if I buy just one kit and have it shipped to me, I am spending at least $5.00 to $10.00 once it's shipped, for just a nib. I do not have a local Woodcraft close enough to drive to. As for shipping, in a padded envelope it's under a buck. I hardly ever make slimlines and have maybe two dozen kits in stock, but most all are chrome and the few gold ones I do have have the stepped nib. I am looking for one like a Euro would have or some of the slimlines had the non-stepped. Berea I think. Push comes to shove, I will just toss a 24k nib on it. The better nib would be nice, but not worth ordering a kit just for that.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Butch... After using all FP's for so long, I honestly hate how a ball point feels to write with. It's like taking notes with a crayon. LOL

The nib on it now is way too small to be drilled out. Plus, it is a screw on to the internals like the kit pencils we have.

 

[ldb2000]

Oh , so now your picking on Crayons !!! . That's my prefered method of signing checks to pay my bills :clown:
I understand about the lower half of that pencil . I just love old pens , even beat up ones ,one of my favorite pens is a , 1950s I think , Parker 51 ballpoint that has seen better days .

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Yea, I have been keeping an eye out for a 51 ball point pen to match my P-51 fountain pen that I have. (A nice restored cedar blue/gold cap vac filer)

 

[workinforwood]

Ok, I don't have a slim nib in 10k or 24k, I mic'd them all and they are all euro's. I do have something better, more work for you but more work usually makes a better product. I know this picture sucks, but it's good enough. This is a brass hose fitting from god knows what, that I've been planning forever to do something with. I mic'd the threaded ends and inside a 7mm tube. The threads can be filed off and the end filed down enough to squeeze into a 7mm tube without compromising the fitting. The ridges can be ground down, filed, cut off whatever, even the flat spot up top has plenty of meat for shaping and it already has a small hole in it. I will send it to you for free if you are going to use it for this pen, otherwise I'm keeping it. Doesn't even need a padded envelop, it can handle a beating no problem. Looks like gold as brass does, but won't wear from use!

PM your address if you need it.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

The problem with the brass is the color will not be the same as the gold of the Waterman cap, and this cap has a LOT of gold showing!

BTW, if you have a smooth 7mm nib for a Euro, that will work just fine too. 10k is best, but 24k will work just fine. My main thing is to fit a smooth nib on the pen as the pencil has a smooth shape now and I want to stay as close to the ball-point / pencil design of the Waterman's set as I can.

 

[workinforwood]

I have lots of euro gold nibs, 10k and 24k. I have bought both and don't know the visual difference. I can send some, just tell me where.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Not a problem really, I do not expect to see a ton of use as it is a ball point. However, I do carry a FP and ballpoint on rainy days as the FP's do not work all that well in wet conditions.!

PM sent, and thank you!

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Wow, did I luck out tonight! I found that the ID of the Waterman cap matched the OD of the upper tube from one of my Olympia kits. This is perfect because I can install the brass sleeve that the Olympia uses to engage a 7mm transmission in the cap. This sleeve with 1" of the upper cap tube pressed over it, was a press fit into the cap of the Waterman. Now it is prefectly set up to have a Euro style pen barrel fit to the pen. The lower body is just a hair longer than the Euro (about 3mm) so I cut a custom 7mm tube to length and glued up the lower body tonight.

This is going better than I hoped it would!

 

[nava1uni]

I have a plain nib that you can have. Is the ridge you are referring to inside or outside the nib? Let me know and if you want one I will send it to you.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Cindy I am all set, Jeff has already sent me the nib and the pen is done. Take a peek at my new post, but thanks for the offer!