Probably some kind of sin, but it worked...

[AzJon]

First off, I'm really kicking myself for not having a before picture of this pen, so I apologize for that in advance.

A while back I picked up a 1920s oversized Wahl rosewood that was in rough shape. There was already superficial damage to the ebonite on top of the oxidation that had already occurred. The whole pen had this yellow/olive haze over the body. Anyhow, I pulled the nib, feed, and section, and cleaned out the guts, but was still left with this terrible oxidation. The pen was a bit beat up, as I mentioned (and will show in pictures) and I decided that it was a prime candidate for some weird tooling.

EXPERIENCED REPAIR PEOPLE THAT ARE FAINT OF HEART AND PEDANTIC GO NO FURTHER.

I also do some simple jewelry making on the side and had a few polishes lying around. I didn't have sandpaper fine enough to remove the oxidation and my only micromesh is the 12000 grit one, which is useless for removing oxidation. What I did have around was #0000 super fine steel wool used for cleaning up lacquer.... Oh yes... I did.



I took the barrell, taped off the metal bits, and went to town. It worked beautifully.

Then I took my flex shaft drill and attached a 6 micron radial bristle disc from 3M and gave it a pass.



Then I removed the tape and used the 1 micron disc (that I have used to polish up gold nibs before) for a final buffing all over.




The end result was great:





Blasphemous? Maybe. Effective? Definitely. I like that it maintained that vintage look and didn't make it into a super high-gloss pen that has very obviously been polished. Always find that level of shine a bit off-putting.

so there you go.

[Chrissy]

Wow! Very impressive.

[Jon Szanto]

If people don't ever try things, we never learn. I think the pen looks very handsome at this point, and I applaud (and 2nd) the business about people overpolishing vintage pens. It's gotten to where I find them somewhat hideous. 0000 is not a stranger to my house, as a wad of that and Windex is the perfect cleaner on chrome parts when restoring old drums and drum sets. It has never marred the surface.

Well done, Jon. I know you'd never propose people do this on a regular basis or on pens other than their own but I think this particular case it ended well.

[AzJon]

I know you'd never propose people do this on a regular basis or on pens other than their own but I think this particular case it ended well.

That's why I kept it from Reddit. I don't want to be responsible for someone that does it and has a problem.

I was looking over at my workbench and just happened to see the steel wool and that the bag says it can be used to finish lacquer on wood. Figured that it is crazy but it just might work.

I just happened to have a flex shaft, but those radial bristle discs worked wonderfully and could be used on a standard Dremel. I was afraid they would get hot, but the bristles stayed pretty cool on the hard rubber and I just kept them moving.

[penwash]

Pedantic-shemantic, you are using your experience, careful thoughts and touch to restore a good-looking pen.

I say let those who never "sinned" before cast the first stone. I'll be here with the other Jon applauding your effort and care

[azkid]

Looks like it came out well! Nicely done. Filing that away for potential future use with all caveats, disclaimers and due care duly noted

[AzJon]

Now to try it on a beater resin and celluloid pen... 😬

[Jon Szanto]

Now to try it on a beater resin and celluloid pen... 😬

I actually *will*! Here's a confession: even though I've seen people restore/polish pens with micro-mesh, even though I know how fine it is, even when I see Brian Gray in his videos turning pens using it... I can't! I still only use some Novus plastic polish and elbow grease. I'm a big baby, I suppose, and I just don't want to mess things up. (I only work on my own pens)

[AzJon]

Now to try it on a beater resin and celluloid pen... 😬

I actually *will*! Here's a confession: even though I've seen people restore/polish pens with micro-mesh, even though I know how fine it is, even when I see Brian Gray in his videos turning pens using it... I can't! I still only use some Novus plastic polish and elbow grease. I'm a big baby, I suppose, and I just don't want to mess things up. (I only work on my own pens)

My concern with micro mesh would be overpolishing the pen. It just looks so...uncanny.

[azkid]

I've had several vintage watch crystals in bad shape that I've had to polish to a usable state. I can usually get them to a point of being pretty darn good and it makes the watch look so much nicer.



I've been using Zona papers from 30 down to 1 micron then follow-up with Dremel, cotton buffing wheel and buffing compound --- red, then white, sometimes green if I feel like it. For deeply scratched surfaces I have to use 600 grit first to prevent buffing from leaving a smoothed out but uneven surface which I think looks worse than scratches. This WWII Waltham crystal was awful when it started. (I wished I had thought to take a before pic)



So for celluloid pens (Esterbrooks, Permapoints) I use the same process but am less aggressive lest I compromise the imprint. I usually leave the deepest scratches and just try to polish out the haze of micro scratches to bring out the depth of the various colors and swirls.

[AzJon]

Nice. Those restorations look good. I would be afraid to use tripoli or rouge on an ebonite body, mostly because it would have to be cleaned off, but isn't a bad idea for resin pens.

Also, yeah, I really need to do more "before" pictures...

[RayCornett]

I use those car wash scrubber looking disks in jewelry work. They are very affective if you use the right grit and rpm.

[AzJon]

I use those car wash scrubber looking disks in jewelry work. They are very affective if you use the right grit and rpm.

that's what I use them for. Less of a hassle than using tripoli.

[KrazyIvan]

I use steel wool to remove hard water stains from my cars windshield. I'll keep this in mind for pens. I don't mind highly polished vintage pens. Maybe that's why I have 3 pens restored by Grandmia.

[Wahl]

That was a great job AzJon !

I´m sure I have also sinned a few times, but if it works

[Eddie Southgate]

I am a sinner and proud of it ! I use whatever works , no holds barred . You did good , now you need to find a proper clip .

Eddie