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The Conway Stewart 560 replaced the 550 in 1963.  As I have both versions, in the same colour, I thought a quick comparison of the two might be useful.  In the photographs the 550 is at the top. The 560 is noticeably longer, about 5mm., than the 550.  The cap is also more streamlined.  It may appear that the difference in length is due to the cap length but, as the next photo shows, this is not the case. The barrel and section are both slightly longer on the 560. As the 560 nib is 'semi hooded' and the 550...

The Parker 17 is rarely dismantled, mainly because there is hardly any reason to do so.  However, as this is a very good example, in the least common colour, I decided to give it a 'nuts and bolts' treatment, and learned something in the process.  This is a 'Super 17' but the 'Standard' comes apart in exactly the same way. I expected the hood removal to be a major issue but was pleasantly surprised when it came away relatively easily after a gentle heating with a hair drier.  The nib and feed were less obliging but reponded to soaking and...

If you were to search, online, for a Conklin Crescent Filler fountain pen you would find that the first 4 pages, 60 listings plus all the ads across the top of the page are for an new pen bearing the name Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler. It looks something like this: The pen is marketed by a company called 'YAFA', and costs around £200, it's made from brass and has a steel nib. The 'real' Conklin Crescent filler, however, was first made about 120 years ago and looks like this: This one is made from hard rubber and has a...

Thr Platignum Senior is a stud filler made around the late 1940s.  As it's name suggests, it is quite a long and substantial pen with a posted length of a little over six inches. The first step in the restoration, removing the nib section, proved a little awkward as the section had been well and truly glued in place.  A number of gentle heat treatments, using a hairdryer, and a lot of patience finally did the job. As expected, the old ink sac had solidified and came out fairly easily, more or less in one piece.  The filler 'stud' is...

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...