Not exactly a restoration, as such, but at the very least a good clean-up!
Having had great success with the last two pens, I decided to disassemble this Parkette (A pen manufactured for ladies in the early 1900s, by Parker). The lever worked well, and it seemed to fill perfectly fine too, but the pen had a rather annoying rattle. This usually means that bits of perished ink sac are having a great time bouncing around inside the barrel of the pen, and this can lead to problems later on. Think back to the Sheaffer pen, the first one that I took apart. The lever mechanism wasn't working, but when I had got all the old ink and rubber out of the barrel, the lever was freed and worked again.
I assumed that though the Parkette seemed to fill fine, the ink sac inside must be expiring if I could hear a rattle. The section did not want to be removed, so I soaked it in warm water, gave up, and gave it to my Dad, who immediately got it open.
Fountain pen restorers from around the world are going to be flying to the UK to get Dad to remove firmly stuck sections from pens. I think he has pliers for fingers or something. I clearly did not inherit this trait, but at least I have a substitute for the spark plug pliers that people normally have to use!
Something surprising was revealed once the section had been removed.
A fully intact ink sac!
The rubber was coated with pure talc or chalk, as it should be, and still felt supple. No cracks or pieces missing.
I shook the barrel, and some bits of old rubber fell out. So I assume that somebody restored the pen, failed to clean out all the old hardened rubber, but installed the new ink sac perfectly. Odd, but I am grateful to not have to buy one to get the pen working!
After a thorough clean and polish, I put the pen back together, and it is beautiful. The nib is smooth and writes well. I love the green, black and red marbling!
I was exceptionally fortunate to not experience any breaks or cracks in the barrels or feeds when removing the sections of these pens, and I hope that it may give others confidence to restore any vintage pens that they may own. You can do it, even without all the fancy tools, you just need to be careful and above all patient. If you have any questions, please comment below and I will give you all the advice that I can.
I had such fun doing this, now go and try it for yourselves!
Look at you go! Well done, again.