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How to Replace a Pen Sac

(This page revised March 22, 2015)

[ Reference Info Index | Glossopedia ]

This article is also available as a chapter in The RichardsPens Guide to Fountain Pens, Volume 2, in
either of two printed versions or as an ebook that you can carry with you on your mobile device.

An earlier version of this article appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of The Pennant, the magazine of the Pen
Collectors of America.

Estimated Level of Difficulty

( What’s Your Skill Level?

Level?))

It's tremendously satisfying to start with a pen that won't take ink and end with one that does. It’s
always a good idea to learn by practice rather than waiting until a precious pen is on the line. To
this end, I suggest you buy a couple of cheap pens on eBay or at your local flea market or antique
mall to teach yourself the ropes before you turn your attention to your minty red ripple
Waterman’s Ideal No 7 with the Blue nib. Arnold, Wearever, Epenco, and Tuckersharpe are some
cheap names to look for, and there are countless no-name junkers that go for less than $10.00. (I use
the term “junkers” loosely, as you already know if you've read Don Fluckinger’s Extra Fine Points
the term “junkers” loosely, as you already know if you've read Don Fluckinger’s Extra Fine Points
series on these pens.) If you get pens that have sacs, you can easily rip ’em out. This, too, is part of
learning to resac a pen.

Note
If you do not have access to the right tools and the skill and
experience to use them properly, I recommend that you not
attempt this procedure using makeshift techniques. The risk of
damaging or destroying the pen is far greater if you use
inappropriate tools.

Tools Required

Section pliers[1]
Heat source (see text)
Sac removal tools (see text)
Alligator forceps (optional)
Sharp scissors
Blunt tweezers or sac spreader[2]
Rubber-bulb ear syringe (optional)

Parts Required (see footnotes for more information)

Supply of sacs (shown below)[2]

Supplies Required (see footnotes for more information)

Sac cement[3]
100% pure talcum powder[4]
J.B.’s P erfect P en F lush [5] (optional)
Paper towels (optional)
Rubbing alcohol (78% isopropyl) (optional)

Shown here, from top to bottom, are No 13, No 16 (latex and silicone), and No 22 straight sacs. At
the bottom, for reference, are a Debutante Vacumatic diaphragm and a standard Waterman Ink-
Vue sac.

Many pens — most, really — don’t call for the big guns, so you may not need section pliers
immediately. When the time comes, you can buy the ones shown here very economically.
immediately. When the time comes, you can buy the ones shown here very economically.

For sac removal tools, I use various implements such as hooks and dental picks and scalers. Shown
below are a hook and two dental scalers. Hooks are ideal for grabbing sacs and dragging them out
of barrels. To make a hook, form a loop on one end of a length of heavy-gauge coat hanger wire for
hanging and to provide a “hold onto”; form the other end into a hook and fire harden it by heating
it red with a butane torch and quenching it in cold water; and then grind the hook point into a
flattened scraper shape that can slip between a sac fragment and a barrel wall. Scalers are
particularly useful when it comes time to chisel pieces of petrified-in-place sac away from barrel
walls and section nipples. You can get dental picks from a variety of online suppliers, and you can
reshape the tips to suit your needs.

CAUTION
Read the following instructions completely before
starting to work. Make sure you understand what you
are about to do before beginning each step. Do not
hurry; take your time.

Disassembly, Cleaning, and Sac Removal

The first job is to get the old sac out. This means taking the pen apart. Most pens have a section
that is a slip friction fit (just pushed into the barrel), but some (notably button fillers, Touchdowns,
and Snorkels) have a threaded section that screws out. Virtually all lever fillers, except a few early
Sheaffers, are a slip fit. For simplicity, I’m going to detail the process only the typical slip-fit lever
filler in this article. At the end of the article you will find a section describing how button fillers
differ from lever fillers. For reference, here is a cross-sectional drawing of a typical lever filler.
First, try using your fingers to rock the section gently back and forth sideways, pulling as you rock,
to break it loose. Don’t rock too far or you risk cracking the barrel!

If it refuses to budge, it’s probably shellacked in place. (Sheaffer shellacked Visulated sections but
not hard rubber ones, for example.) You can resort to section pliers and gentle heat. Using your heat
gun, warm the barrel/section joint carefully, spinning the pen around so that all sides of it are
heated evenly and testing frequently by placing it against your lower lip. (If it’s too hot to hold
there briefly, it’s too hot, and you should allow it to cool a little before proceeding.) For a heat
source, I recommend the “embossing” gun that you can get at craft shops (illustrated below). It‘s
inexpensive and reliable, and you can control how much heat it delivers by holding the pen nearer
to or farther away from it, as necessary.

WARNING
Despite what you may have read in various repair
books (including Da Book), do not use an alcohol lamp
or other open flame. Celluloid is explosively f lammable!
Grasp the barrel firmly in your closed fist. (You can enhance your grip by using a rubber gripper
square or a second pair of section pliers.) With the other hand, apply the section pliers to the
section and repeat the rocking/pulling action, twisting a little as if to unscrew the section.

CAUTION
Celluloid begins to soften at about 165° F (74° C), so go
carefully. Shellac softens at about 140° F (60° C), so
that if shellac has been used, you can free the adhesive
bond safely. If heat doesn’t do the trick, do not persist.

If it’s a slip-fitter, enough persistence will make it come loose unless it’s been glued, as many cheap
pens were done during World War II. In that case, you’re better off leaving it to a professional. Yes, I
know, you just blew the price of a pen on tools. Use them on the next pen.

With the section loosened, you should be able to work it gently out of the barrel. Use your
fingernails or a sharp kitchen knife to scrape all remaining fragments of the sac from the end of the
section (the nipple). You need to get the nipple as clean as possible so the new sac will adhere
properly. You can use your knife to scrape off the shellac that is probably there, and you can use
rubbing alcohol as a solvent for this operation. But don’t use alcohol on a transparent section (or
any other plastic section); the plastic used for these sections is likely to be soluble in alcohol!

This is your opportunity to do your pen a favor by giving it a

thorough cleaning. Drop the section assembly into a bath of
J.B.’s P erfect P en F lush or a dilute solution of clear
household ammonia (not sudsy ammonia, and most definitely
not the lemon-scented variety!) for five or ten minutes. Make the
ammonia solution by mixing 1 tablespoon (15 cc) of ammonia
with 2⁄3 cup (158 cc) of water. After soaking the parts,
scrupulously clean off any ink residue and the cleaning solution.
This means flushing water through the system, which you can
do by using an ear syringe to force water through the section
from the sac end. (If you don’t have an ear syringe, you can use your mouth for this job.) When the
assembly is clean, dry it thoroughly; blow some air through to dry the inside.

Clean the cap the same way, paying particular attention to getting the ink out from inside the cap.
One way to do this is to use a paper towel. Twist one corner of the towel into a long thin spear
(sometimes called a twizzle), and insert it into the cap with a screwing motion. Turn in the direction
(sometimes called a twizzle), and insert it into the cap with a screwing motion. Turn in the direction
that will keep the twist tight. Drive the twizzle as far down as you can get it. Repeat as necessary.

Now, if the sac didn’t come out in one piece, extract its remains from the barrel. Long thin alligator
forceps can be helpful here but aren’t a necessity. If the sac is ossified, you can probably just dump
out the chips. Occasionally you’ll run into a sac that has managed to glue itself, whole or in pieces,
to the inside of the barrel. This can get ugly. Take your time; as with the nipple, you want to get the
barrel clean. Be careful not to damage the filler assembly.

If the old sac died and dumped ink all over the inside of the pen, clean the barrel, too. You may also
find that using your soaking solution on a barrel will make it easier to extract glued-in bits of sac.
Get the barrel absolutely dry afterward; any moisture left inside can corrode the parts of the filling
assembly.

Sac Selection and Installation

With everything clean, you’re finally ready to install a new sac. For many pens, my Fountain
Pen Sac Size Guide for Repairers will help you to choose the correct size sac. For pens that
aren’t listed there, try different sizes (you bought the assortment, right?) until you find a sac that
just barely slips into the barrel without being forced, with the filler assembly in place. Then choose
a sac that's a little smaller. For larger pens, go down two sizes; if a No 18 fits snugly, use a No 16. For
smaller pens, you can usually go down one size (e.g., from No 14 to No 13). You need to leave air
space between the sac and the barrel to keep the pen from transferring your body heat into the sac
when the pen is in your pocket. If the sac gets warm, the air in it expands, and it can force ink out
through the feed. This makes the inside of the cap very messy, which is why you just cleaned it. No
matter what sac size you end up with, it needs to be a stretch fit over the nipple. If you’ve chosen
too small a sac, you may have to go up one size. You can try stretching the end of the sac over the
nipple to verify that it’ll go.

The sac needs to be the right length. Most sacs are “straight” sacs; that is, the diameter of the sac is
the same along its entire length. Sacs are made extra long; in most cases you will need to cut your
new sac to the right length. (Very large pens such as a Waterman 58 are long enough that you can
sometimes use the sac uncut.) To find how long it should be, slide it into the barrel, closed end first,
until it hits bottom. Slide it back out about 1/8" (3 mm) so that it won’t butt against the end of the
space into which it fits. Clamp it with your thumbnail right where it enters the barrel, and pull it
out.
Still clamping it, hold it up to the section, lining your thumbnail up with the step on the section
that seats against the end of the barrel. Now mark the point on the sac that corresponds to the step
between the nipple and the part of the section that fits into the barrel. This distance will be
between 1/4" (6 mm) and 1/2" (13 mm). In the illustration here, you can see a bright line where light
is reflecting off the step between the nipple and the rest of the section.

Cut the sac at this point, being careful to cut straight across.

If your pen requires a necked sac (with the open end smaller than the diameter of the rest of the
sac, like the neck of a bottle), you must rely on the information in the Pen Sac catalog or else
measure the space into which the sac fits and then choose a sac of the proper length. (You can cut a
very little of a necked sac’s neck, but cut too much and you’ll end up with a straight sac.) This may
mean that you can’t order the exact sac you need until you’ve taken the pen apart.

CAUTION
Do not substitute nail polish for for sac cement. Nail
polish does permanent damage to celluloid sections
and other parts, and it does not retain its hold when
exposed to ink (which contains water).

With the sac ready to install, apply a small amount of sac cement (shellac) around the outside of
the nipple. Be careful not to let the cement get into the inside; it’ll clog the feed — possibly
permanently! Spread the open end of the sac, stretch it over the nipple, and adjust it so that it’s
pushed all the way down and is seated against the step. If you find that you’re a little clumsy and
have trouble fitting the sac in place, you can buy a sac spreader. Pendemonium offers these little
gems for $5.00. I recommend that you buy yours yesterday, as today — with wet cement drying on
your pen — isn’t the best time to go shopping. The sac should stand straight up, in line with the
section, and the stretched part should be symmetrical on all sides. (The sac shouldn’t be pulled over
toward one side of the nipple.) If you like, you can run a very small bead of cement around for an
improved seal right where the sac butts against the step.
Installing a sac on a Parker section with a Lucky Curve feed is a little different from the standard
installation. Here is how to do this easily. Step numbers refer to the numbers in the image below
the list:

1. Evert the end of the sac and fold it over to form a “cuff.”

2. Slip the open end of the sac onto the feed’s Lucky Curve.

3. Apply shellac to the section’s sac nipple. Holding the section with one hand, use that hand’s
index fingernail to flip the cuff over the nipple. Then, holding the flipped part in place, use
the other hand to roll the rest of the cuff around the nipple.

4. Straighten out the cuff if necessary, then adjust it on the nipple so that the sac is aligned
with the section as nearly straight as possible.

Once the sac is installed properly, put the assembly down. Go away for half an hour to let the
cement dry. It doesn’t necessarily take half an hour, but if you adhere to a firm half-hour waiting
period, you’ll never proceed too soon. Getting itchy and proceeding too soon means having a still-
wet sac come off in your hands or leak in the pen or — worst of all — glue itself inside the barrel.
Now cover the new sac with a thin coat of talcum powder (or graphite). This will make it slide into
the barrel more easily. The sac will also repel moisture, and the filler will work a little more
smoothly. Reinstall the section into the barrel, aligning the lever with the nib as you go. (Some pens,
mostly English brands such as Conway Stewart, usually have their levers aligned on the underside,
180° away from the nib surface.) There’s no need to cement a hard rubber or ordinary plastic
section in place unless it’s close to falling out, but Sheaffer has always recommended that Visulated
sections be shellacked in. If your section is so loose that it really does fall out, you’ll have to shellac
it in regardless of what it’s made of. Shimming with bits of paper can crack the barrel.

Button Fillers

As you might expect, you need to take a slightly different approach with a button-filling pen. For
reference, here is cross-sectional drawing of a typical button filler:

In most button fillers, the pressure bar rests against a flat surface on the back of the section where
it fits into the barrel. (See the diagram above and the photo below, the upper pressure bar.) If the
section is threaded, as most are, unscrewing the section before you remove the pressure bar can
twist the pressure bar inside the barrel, damaging the pressure bar, the section, the barrel, or all of
these parts. Beginning c. 1930, Parker Duofolds have pressed-in sections. Initially, these pens had a
metal “trough” screwed into the barrel to provide a rest for the pressure bar, which was cut slightly
shorter; later versions have a shorter pressure bar that has its own support in the form of a strip
coming back along the length of the barrel through the button hole, with a flange to catch on the
edge of the hole. This later pressure bar is sometimes known as a “Mark II” type (below, lower).
Some third-tier button fillers have pressure bars as described above, with press-fitted sections that
are glued into the barrel. Among these models are the Wearever Deluxe 100 and most Arnold
models.

In order to remove the pressure bar from a pen with a threaded section, you must first remove the
button. In most button fillers, the button is simply pushed into the barrel. The button has cuts
dividing it into four “fingers” that are slightly springy, with a little flange on the end of each finger.
Pushing the button into the barrel squeezes the fingers until they clear the hole at the barrel’s end;
once clear, they resume their normal shape and hold the button in place. Removing it without
damage is best done with a Parker button remover; but if you do not have this tool, you can use
Nylon or Nylon-jawed pliers. If you do not know in advance whether the section is threaded, take
the button and the pressure bar out first.

Parker’s final button filler, the VS, came in two versions. The earlier version has metal threads
under the blind cap, and these threads are part of a ferrule that holds the button in (below, left).
The button does have the springy fingers and can be pulled out, but it is usually easier to unscrew
the entire assembly. To unscrew the threaded ferrule, use a standard Vacumatic tool; the threads
are exactly the same. Later VS pens have plastic threads (below, right), and for these pens you must
pull the button out as on earlier Parker models.
Third-tier button fillers with glued-in press-fitted sections often have buttons that fit tightly over
the end of the pressure bar and cannot be removed through the back of the barrel. For these
models, because you will not be twisting the pressure bar when you remove the section, the button
and pressure bar are not a potential source of damage.

Some modern button fillers, such as those made by Filcao of Italy, have a threaded collar that holds
the button into the barrel. The button in these pens is not split into fingers, and you cannot pull it
out. Unscrewing the collar will free the button.

When reassembling any button filler, be sure that the pressure bar goes on the right side of the sac!
For a pen with a threaded section, you should insert the pressure bar at an angle so that it contacts
the barrel wall, then slide it down and into position. Complete the operation by reinstalling the
button to keep everything in place.

Notes:

1. We use section pliers daily, often two pairs together, and we’ve settled on what we think are the best. The
pliers shown here, K-D Products Model KD 135s, are actually intended by their manufacturer for use in the
automobile industry. Don’t be lured into buying cheap lookalike pliers, though; I’ve used several brands of
lookalikes, and they don’t work alike.

2. There are tables of sac sizes for various pens here. Sacs are available from several online sources. Silicone
sacs are sometimes a better choice than latex because silicone doesn’t outgas sulfur vapor that can cause
some celluloids to turn brown. It’s also transparent, a nice feature for demonstrator pens. But silicone is gas
permeable, and if you store inked pens lying horizonally or nib downward, they will leak.

3. Some pen suppliers can sell you sac cement; most offer small bottles with an applicator brush for about
$5.00.

4. Do not use baby powder or ladies’ dusting powder, or any powder that contains fragrances, cornstarch, zinc
oxide, or other additives! Some of these products are oiled to protect delicate skin, and oil eats rubber. Others
are abrasive instead of slippery, and that can be just as bad. If there’s no plain talcum powder in the house,
buy some. (I should point out that pure talcum powder is not easy to find these days. Your best bet might
be a billiards supplier, but one enterprising collector wrote to tell me that he had obtained a lifetime supply
by slitting open an old bicycle inner tube!) If you absolutely cannot find talcum powder, you can substitute
powdered graphite. This stuff is sold by hardware stores and locksmiths for lubricating locks and other
mechanisms that are exposed to cold and wet. It's messy, but it does work.

5. J.B.’s P erfect P en F lush is a special formulation of surfactants and cleaning agents. I don’t make
it, but I’ve been using it for many years, and I think it works very well. If you don’t have it and don’t have
time to purchase a bottle, a solution of 1 tablespoon clear household ammonia (not sudsy ammonia, and
most definitely not lemon scented) in 2⁄3 cup of water will work almost as well.

The information in this article is as accurate as possible, but you should not take it as absolutely authoritative or
complete. If you have additions or corrections to this page, please consider sharing them with us to improve the
accuracy of our information.

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