It's a calculated risk, not a blind bet, there is a difference.
And I just thought of one case where heat will surely destroy your project. Conklin Nozac. If you heat that barrel, it'll shrink, and no, prying out the threaded section out of a shrink barrel like that won't end in a happy note. Trust me on this, I learn it the hard way. And I'm pretty sure the Nozac is not the only pen that will do this, it's just the most popular and expensive.
AzJon (December 10th, 2017), Deb (December 10th, 2017), Seattleite (December 10th, 2017)
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
Replying to myself here: On second thoughts, I won't give you any of that, Daniel. Dunking hard rubber parts or pens in water just isn't clever and there's no need to do it. As regards vintage plastics, I've come across several reports of them becoming clouded from immersion. I have no experience of it myself, not being in the habit of soaking pens but it's out there. As regards the accusation of absolutism, I laugh at it. It's a diversion made by people with no better way to press their argument.
I personally lay that blame solely at the feet of one particularly active video making member of the pen community that tends to be the first contact for pen newbies.
Personally, with how well Mark Hoovers magic "deoxidizer" appears to work, any fear over discoloring hard rubber from water exposure, particularly if you are going to bother with a full restoration, seems to be wholly unmerited.
Why soak? I'll mention it again: because multiple attempt to open a Sheaffer Radite using heat left zero change getting the section out. Further force in attempting to pull the section out would risk breaking, or if the material was softened a bit from the heat, warping the material. Soaking it in cold, filtered water for a few days just above the section let me, with very little force, remove the section. And, as you can see here, obviously ruined the black section and the barrel body.
Too much heat was a great risk for the pen breaking and soaking allowed for the gentle removal of the section.
Hawk (December 10th, 2017)
That's an explanation for one pen. Obviously, I can't argue with your experience in that case. I have no doubt it was the right thing to do when heat had failed to do the job for you. Do you regard soaking as the better method for disassembly in general?
As regards Hoover's reblackening mixture, let's wait and see what the consequences of using it are a while down the road. I never reblacken but that's a different issue for another day.
All I can say is that soaking fits my workflow. It does a lot more good than harm (in my experience), and since I work in phases (work on several pens at a time), it doesn't really slow me down at all.
But you've given me some food for thought on the effectiveness of heating. So now I have two approaches that I can consider.
So thank you again for a thread that generates useful discussions.
AzJon (December 10th, 2017)
My pleasure. I like to hear everyone's opinions.
I have one of Hoover's restored woodgrain pens. I think his pens are very nicely restored and he has spent a long time developing the deoxidzer (not strictly for black rubber). Vulcanized rubber is pretty hardy stuff overall, but I can understand the apprehension.
I will also concede that my repairs aren't being done on shining examples of a pen. Usually just saving an unloved, but otherwise excellent, pen. The pens I fix I usually end up using myself or maybe reselling for a bit more than I acquired them. Perhaps I would think twice before soaking a pristine radite! Water works well for me and I've not seen any particularly convincing reason not to use it if used in a, as Penwash put it, calculated risk kind of way.
I'll discuss Hoover another time. One subject is enough per thread.
If what you're doing works for you, that's fine.
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
"As regards the accusation of absolutism, I laugh at it."
"Dunking hard rubber parts or pens in water just isn't clever and there's no need to do it."
So much for the claims of open-mindedness expressed earlier.
I don't use the described technique to be "clever;"' that's an odd standard. I use it to effectively and safely perform a repair. Obviously, our experience differs; I have had success with my approach, so I continue to employ it. It's curious that you're attempting to tell me that my experience doesn't exist or has no value.
"As regards vintage plastics, I've come across several reports of them becoming clouded from immersion. I have no experience of it myself."
I've come across reports of all sorts of things, many of them wrong. I appreciate your statement that you have no experience of your own with this specific topic; I do, and I rely on that experience.
"As regards the accusation of absolutism, I laugh at it. It's a diversion made by people with no better way to press their argument."
Previously, you'd said you hadn't made absolutist statements. When that's proven to be false, you say it doesn't matter. That's not a particularly sincere approach to discussion.
--Daniel
Last edited by kirchh; December 10th, 2017 at 07:28 PM.
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
My goodness, Daniel, when you get stroppy you begin to sound like Isaacson, and that really creeps me out.
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
Hawk (December 10th, 2017)
“Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.”
― Paul Brunton, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton
In this thread, as in other recent posts, my aim has been to raise the signal over the nolise on this board. Discussion with everyone else in this thread went fine but you, with your usual trollishness are just here for a fight. I won't waste my time or energy on you.
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