When your fountain pen is sick, send it to the 'doctor'

When you think your prized vintage fountain has given up the ghost, there is no need to cry over it. Or worse still, dump it.

Whether the nib is worn out or clogged, you can send it to the 'pen doctor' to have it fixed.

Sure, you can find online DIY tutorials on how to clean pens. But a word of caution: you might worsen its condition if you're unfamiliar with handling the delicate parts of the pen.

It is better to leave the job to the professional pen doctors to give a problematic pen a new lease of life.

Yes, pen doctors - that's what they are called. Like Mr Atsushi Takizawa, an expert in fixing Namiki pens, the intricately designed gold-dusted lacquer pens produced by innovative pen giant Pilot Corporation.

Like many Namiki admirers and owners, Mr Takizawa is dazzled too by the designs inspired by age-old Japanese lacquer art. But his focus is on the nib, that the company places much emphasis on to deliver good writing performance.

Regarded as the life source of the pen, the gold plated steel nib of the pen point could be loosened, bent or even broken if handled carelessly.

Using tools as well as his tough fingernails, he could bend it back to a proper alignment. Or replace it with a new nib.

Although a Namiki pen is usually sturdy and made to last a long time, poor handling and overuse can result in wear and tear, Mr Takizawa, who has serviced hundreds of pens in his 14 years with Namiki, told AsiaOne at a recent interview.

"I have seen cases where the nib was broken," added the machinery graduate.

But that is not his greatest worry when fixing a pen, which can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

"I have to handle a client's pen with the utmost care. I am most worried when trying to fix old pens. As the older parts might not be available, I have to be extra careful. The pens are likely to have a lot of sentimental value to the owner too, especially when they are passed down from generation to generation," he explained.

What if a pen's ink flow is erratic?

His advice: Don't try to flush or scrape out stubborn ink from the feed yourself. Let him do it for you as he's intimately familiar with the insides too.

And you don't want to dirty your fingers.

Pointing to his stained fingers, he said with a grin: "I'm used to it. It's part of the job. It's easier to remove black and blue stains. But the red ones are more stubborn. It's almost like being in the textile dyeing trade."

Mr Takizawa, who is among a host of Japanese pen repairers in Namiki, said he treats more pens from Singapore, than those from Japan. The reason: people here use the pens often, whereas those in Japan and elsewhere treat them as collectors' items and only write with them occasionally.

Like many 'salarymen' in Japan, he wakes up at 5am at his home outside Tokyo city and journeys by bus and train to his workplace in a busy district of the capital.

"I'll just have bread and milk before I leave home while my family is still asleep," he said.

It might seem like a drab routine to many, but Mr Takizawa is proud of his profession as it involves not only a gentleman's ultimate accessory, but it is also related to the inking of countless important letters, card and documents, from the casual and romantic to business and international milestone agreements.

A stroke of the pen could mean a lot.

chenj@sph.com.sg