Hello readers,
My sister recently asked me to take a look at one of her pens that had stopped working for her. It was having some hard starting and blobbing issues that she just couldn’t figure out. After having repaired a few of my own pens, I thought I could easily take a look at it for her. I was wrong about how hard it was going to be for me.
The pen in question is a LAMY AL-Star with a fine nib. When I first looked at it, I thought that the nib and feed looked slightly askew, so I pulle the feed out to try and put it back together in the correct position. Sadly when I attempted to put the feed back in I missed the correct alignment, and got the feed stuck only half-way in the grip section quite securely. Knowing that I wanted to return the pen in time for my sister’s vacation, I quickly ordered a lilac AL-Star and a little grip pad so that I could try to work on the old section more, when it it arrived, I swapped the grip sections so that I could return her pen in time. I started to work at slowly pulling out the old feed, and after what seemed like forever I thought I was getting some progress. Unfortunately, I was not pulling it out, but instead I snapped the feed off.
Once I had replaced the grip section for my sister and could return it to her, I was still left with my own unusable pen. After some thinking, my mother looked on Vanness Pens and saw that they sold spare grip sections with feeds for LAMY pens. Since I still had the actual nib left in good condition after breaking the feed, this was just the solution I was looking for. I quickly ordered one, and was able to easily get my pen put back together.
When I returned my sister’s pen to her she was happy to have it working again. I learned that I am not quite as ready to take on pen repairs as I thought I was. While it is still unusable, I am still holding on to the old grip section as a reminder to slow down and take my time when trying to work on more pens. I may decide at some point in the future to try and remove the broken feed from that section, but it is still just out of my skills.
That is about it for this little foray into pen repairs gone wrong. Have any of you tried fixing either your own pens or someone else’s pen? While working on a pen, have you broken it instead of fixing it? I would love to hear your thoughts on doing pen repairs for yourself, so please leave a comment! I am not too sure what my next post is going to be about, but I am hoping to get one more up before I get my current grail pen. Until next time readers. Stay happy and healthy, and keep on learning!
Shaggy
Shaggy's Left Handed Journey In Writing 
2 responses to “A Failed Fountain Pen Repair”
I haven’t tried to repair a pen, and I doubt that I ever will be. But yesterday I was unhappy with how clean my Lamy converter was (or wasn’t). I watched a video and tried to disassemble it. No luck. I was afraid of breaking it. But I tried again this morning, and I was successful. So maybe your next pen repair will also be more successful. I hope so, at least!
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As I don’t have a Lamy my advise is subject to “at your own risk.” Most of my repairs are refurbishment of vintage pens. The situation you described is addressed with a “knock out” block. As mentioned I do not have a Lamy so a very large amount of salt is recommended. You could also apply heat to losen the section, a hair dryer or tea kettle (for lots of heat) will work. You could also pose a “what are my options” question on Fountain Pen NEtwork or FP Geeks (you’ll have to sign up first).
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