News — Pen restoration

The Swan Visofil V (Vee, not five) was made from 1935 until 1937, when it was replaced with the 'VT'.  It featured a 'concertina' type filling system involving an open ended tube, rather than an ink sac.  Along with a spring, a see through filler button, and a very long breater tube the system took up a large amount of ink and allowed the ink level to be viewed by inverting the pen. Disassembly is quite straight forward, the whole assembly comes out with the section as it is removed in the normal fashion.  As usual, a little heat is...

Ideally a conservative pen restorer should have very little, if any, use for abraders.  In practice it is quite different.  When dealing with a pen that a previous owner has inexpertly repaired or needs a certain type of repair it is often necessary to use an abrasive technique. If, however, a 'showroom finish, is the aim or the pen has deep scratches or dentition marks that need to be removed then an 'abrasive technique' is unavoidable. It is up to the restorer to decide what level of restoration is appropriate with respect to the surface of the pen body and the general...