‘This site describes my facility for the restoration of vintage and classic fountain pens.

Collecting fountain pens and the study of their history is an absorbing activity, but nothing quite matches the satisfaction of bringing the pens back to their state of health when they were made.  Only by handling a pen and using it in the manner originally intended can you recapture an appreciation of the quality of the instrument, and in your imagination, the various people who have written with it over the years.

My main interest is in pens that are generally  regarded as difficult to restore, including De La Rue Onoto piston fillers, Parker Vacumatics, Sheaffer Vac-fill, Eversharp piston fillers, Sheaffer Touchdown and PFM, Swan Visofil, Blackbird Topfill, Ford piston fillers, Waterman safety pens, Conway Stewart piston fillers etc.



 I have completed repairs on over
250 pens in the past year, and
many letters of appreciation have
been received (see ‘Testimonials’).

Please note that there is no ‘we’ in this
operation - each pen is assured
of my personal attention.



I encourage others to do their own repairs, so I am preparing a series of technical articles (Visofil, Ford, Blackbird and Stephens button filler in the technical section of this site).  I also offer tools that I have developed to enable some of the more difficult tasks, and there are some good serviced pens for sale.






Pen Repair Books

1.  Pen Repair (Marshall and Oldfield).

The book was produced in honour of Arthur Twydle (the UK pen guru).  Arthur was starting work on the book with our cooperation at the time of his death, so we have completed it and added as many of his hints and tips as we can remember.  The book now has 264 pages in full colour depicting all aspects of pen repair. The three sections cover general topics, specific pens (such as Vacumatic, VacFill, Swan Visofil etc.) and advanced topics such as nib work, cap lip replacement, plating, threads, machines and equipment etc.

The second edition has a new cover system of half Canadian spiral.
Most of the new pages (70) describe repair procedures for pens not included in the first edition; these include A A Waterman twist fill, Chilton, Dunn, Eagle, Esterbrook, Eversharp Skyline, 5th Avenue, Decoband and Oxford, Glass nibbed pens, Japanese piston, Waterman and Swan eyedroppers, Waterman pump, Onoto Minor, Soennecken, Swan New York Visofil, Mentmore and Platignum piston, Stylographic pens, Demonstrators, and Eversharp, Onoto and Yard-o-led pencils.
In addition there is more basic data, including threads and step by step procedures for making sections.

The price of the second edition is £30.  Post and packing to the UK is £4.50, to Europe £7 and to the rest of the world £13.    I will sign your book if you request it.

For sample pages and ordering information, click the Pen Repair Books link.


2.  Onoto Pen Repair (Crook, Hull, Marshall and Oldfield)

Since writing Pen Repair, we have realised that the enormous interest in Onoto pens has justified the writing of another book to include far more information than it was possible to put in the first one.  Steve Hull has shared his knowledge of Onoto history and Peter Crook has contributed engineeering expertise.  The 34 page high quality full colour publication covers all aspects of Onoto pens that we are aware of.
The price is £10.  Post and packing to the UK is £1.50, to Europe £2.50 and to the rest of the world £4.

Site updates:

29 March  The repair queue is 3 months long.  I am only accepting repairs that cannot be done elsewhere or from old customers sending not more than three pens at a time.   I am reducing my repair activities to concentrate on the design and production of tools, writing, and repairing pens for sale on this site.

10 August  The repair book (second edition)  has grown to 264 pages.  The new contents are described above.  1500 copies have been printed and we have received a few of these for comment.  No further copies will be available until some changes to the cover have been made.  I am very sorry for the delay and apologise to those who have already sent money.  I promise you that the wait will be worthwhile!  

13 August  Some more Sheaffers for sale.

02 September.  My apologies to all who have sent money for the Pen Repair. Printers on holiday now!   Sorry, I can’t give a delivery date, but please be assured that they will be posted out as soon as I get stock - the shipping cartons are addressed!.

Pen of the Month

Sudoku Solver
This will provide you with an assessment of how difficult the puzzle is, and it will solve all the 9 by 9 puzzles that I have tried.  If you would like a copy of my solver (written in Fortran!) please drop me an e-mail and let me know the operating system you have.