Rusty Rembrandt

[oldstoat]

A couple of years ago I bought a new Rembrandt from Andy's Pens; Andy's a good guy and a reputable dealer. Recently I noticed that capping the pen felt gritty and and horrible. When I looked, I was aghast at the rust on the supposedly stainless steel collar where the section and the nib meet. The pen is out of warranty- should I try Visconti, Andy or what?15252152531525415255

Incidentally, the upper photographs after cleaning

[RuiFromUK]

Could it be just encrusted dry ink? Otherwise you might want to liaise with Andy who will contact Visconti as stainless steel does not usually rust.

[jar]

Also look inside the cap and do a good cleanup there. I doubt that what you are seeing is rust.

[Cob]

Try a magnet on the "stainless steel" As a general rule, the best stainless steels are austenitic and non-magnetic.

Cob

[ChrisC]

Talk to Visconti. I've heard they'll fix the problem at their expense. One guy even got 100mL of Visconti ink in a giant bottl as a bonus. Not sure how normal that is, but who knows?

[oldstoat]

The lower pictures show it before being rubbed down; once the surface debris ( rust or not) is out of the way, there's quite a lot of pitting corrosion. I am pretty punctilious about pen hygiene and I've never had this with any other pen. Not really good enough, I'd say, so I'll take it to Andy and see what he knows.

[Bogon07]

I recall seeing a thread on FPN about this problem.
I think Visconti acknowleged a deflect in the manufacture of the earlier magnetic sections and said the later ones should be fine.

Actually just had a look at my Rembrandts and one of them does not make the satisfying click even thought the section looks fine.
On looking inside the cap I can see some residue on the edges of the metal tube about half way up the cap so you may also like to check there too.

[oldstoat]

Update: I went down to Tonbridge today and showed it to Andy. He's going to return it to Visconti ( who charge £20, apparently) to see what they say. I'll post again in due course.

[Annie]

Also look inside the cap and do a good cleanup there. I doubt that what you are seeing is rust.

It really is rust.

[Annie]

Update: I went down to Tonbridge today and showed it to Andy. He's going to return it to Visconti ( who charge £20, apparently) to see what they say. I'll post again in due course.

Been thinking about this. Don't think Andy was specific about where the twenty quid charge was coming from. Could be Visconti or could be Andy, though he did say he had other stuff to send to Visconti that day so still not sure.

[writingrav]

My Rembrandt cap magnet stopped working. I'm not sure if it fell out or what. No problem with rust. Viscnti wanted $50 just to look at it not counting what it might cost to fix. No thanks.

[AndrewG]

Hmm, and there was I looking longingly at a Van Gogh. Seeing as Andy has other stuff to return to Visconti it looks like a brand to avoid. I wonder if Italian pens are as prone to rusting as Italian cars are...

[oldstoat]

The Rembrandt may be the Lancia Beta of pens, but even if it is the bottom of the range, this shouldn't happen to a new pen.