1940 Sheaffer Balance 500 Vac-Fil Carmine Red *SOLD* $125 US

https://youtu.be/Su2CDPrFsxk

THIS PEN HAS BEEN SOLD!

Hello there. Welcome to Inkquiring Minds. My name is Doug, and I'm back with another Pen Resurrection Sunday video.

Today, I’m resurrecting a circa 1940-1942 Sheaffer 500 “Vac-Fil” pen in this beautiful Carmine Red. I know it’s from that era because Sheaffer discontinued the Balance in 1942 and didn’t introduce the Carmine Red until 1940. Additionally, it features the flattened ball clip, which was released in 1936 and remained standard until the pen’s end. Finally, the 500 designation on the barrel clearly indicates the price of $5, which was the pen’s cost in 1940.

THOUGHTS

So, what are my thoughts on this pen resurrection? Well, it wasn’t easy. I worked two days longer than usual because the pen threw me some curveballs, and I also made a few silly mistakes. The Carmine Red Celluloid is gorgeous, and all the hardware is beautifully polished. That two-tone feather touch nib was a real surprise. It’s incredibly flexible, as you can see. It’s very wet and creates a wide variety of line variations. Horizontally, it’s almost invisible—it’s so thin, just 0.2 mm. However, when you draw vertically without pressure, you get a medium to broad line. The real magic happens when you give it a little push. It’s sensational! Look at how it transforms your handwriting. My handwriting is terrible, but this pen actually looks pretty vintage and calligraphy-like with all the line variation in just a few simple strokes.

My biggest challenge came when I tried to replace the back seal on the piston rod. I drilled it out as usual and got everything in place. But then, when I tried to add the methyl hydrate, I couldn’t control how much I was putting in. I overdid it, and I don’t know what was going through my head. Since I couldn’t see what I was doing and couldn’t measure two drops, I put it in my ink miser cup and let it sit for an hour or two until the light went on. I panicked and thought the methyl hydrate was leaking onto the celluloid. I immediately neutralized it by dunking it in water and letting it dry in an airstream for several hours. I was able to polish it back out, and you can’t see any marks unless you get a loop to see any marring of the surface.

Thank goodness Sheaffer crafted some truly remarkable celluloid back in 1940. It was incredibly thick and resilient. I did lose a few threads from the blind cap, but one thread remains, securing the vac rod.

It took a substantial amount of ink; I measured between 1 and 1.4 millilitres on two separate occasions. And the pen is now beautifully restored. This was the one everyone wanted to see resurrected first. Looking back, I should have done it last to gain more practice, but I learned a lot nonetheless.

My next restoration project will be this Sheaffer Balance 875 pen and pencil set Vac filler. It’s a white dot version in golden celluloid, which is truly stunning. That’ll be my next attempt.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in purchasing this pen, I’m selling it for $125 US plus shipping. Please email inkquiringminds@gmail.com with your name and address so I can provide you with a shipping quote and PayPal payment instructions.

And there you have it. If you like this video, please like and subscribe. And don't forget to ring that bell to get instant notifications whenever a new video is posted. And you can join as a member of my channel for only 99 cents a month. I guarantee I'll answer your comments in the comment section. You'll get cool emojis, badges, sneak peek unboxing videos, as well as instant access to my videos the moment I post them. And as a basic member, you'll get 10% off the price of this pen. As a patron-level member, at $5 a month, you'll get 20% off this price. A bargain at twice the price, I'd say.

And that just leaves it for me to say thank you for watching.

And that's all she wrote.