Vanishing Point Raden Finish?

[pocky]

Hey y’all,
I read a post online from reddit that the Galaxy Raden finish wore off within a few years. My question is—has anyone else experienced the same thing? Thanks!


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[Hamtaro84]

Not to my experience, and I have two of them. Granted I don’t use them every day but I think the finish is pretty resistant.


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[Jon Szanto]

Reddit.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, did the person who relayed that info describe how the pen was cared for? How it was carried? Was it used in 'rough' environments?

Virtually any pen can be destroyed, and virtually any pen can look like new for decades. The factor to be taken into account is how the pen is utilized and cared for.

[pocky]

Hi John, yes Reddit . And yes—the person mentioned using it daily for around 4 years, but not much else. They included a picture below which I found interesting —https://m.imgur.com/a/0ttLc


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[Manupropria]

Raden is a fragile lacquer. The raden particles are sprinkled into wet lacquer.
If the lacquer was thinned with Oil or Chemicals the urushi is weak and doesn't bind urushi and Raden or when the raden particles are not completely clean, or if the raden particles are not completely surrounded by urushi it can happen, that some of them fall of. Or it can be, that the polishing process was not well done enough.

For things used everyday the polishing process "Uwazuri" should be made as following.

Uwazuri the Traditional Way
After grinding the surface it is pre-polished gently with some cotton, "Tonoko" a fine clay powder and Rapeseed oil.
After cleaning properly, transparent urushi is rubbed into the surface and cleaned off completely with paper, then cured for 24 hours in the "Urushimuro" at 75% constant humidity.
This is repeated 5 to 6 times.
Then the surface is polished with "Migako" polishing powder, Rapeseed Oil and the fingers.
Then again properly cleaned and trasparent lacquer is rubbed in as before 2 times.
Then end polishing takes place as described above.
Finally the surface is polished with fingers and tonoko without oil

The "Uwazuri" is made to fill micro pores and in the case of Raden the gaps between urushi and raden particles

I have attached pictures of a Saya (Sword Sheeth) made some hundred years ago. These damages come from the wodden core that has shrinked over the years. Solid pen body material dosn't shrink.
And to be mentioned, that pigmented urrushi is weaker than the black transparent Lacquer "Roiro Nuri" uesd on your pen

_MG_0615.jpg_MG_0616.jpg_MG_0617.jpg_MG_0615.jpg_MG_0616.jpg_MG_0617.jpg

[Jon Szanto]

Hi John, yes Reddit . And yes—the person mentioned using it daily for around 4 years, but not much else. They included a picture below which I found interesting —https://m.imgur.com/a/0ttLc

My mention was simply to note that reddit users can be... hard on their pens. The photo helps and while it doesn't look like abuse of any kind, it seems that the person may have particularly caustic hand oils and sweat, as it appears the issue is where they grip the pen. Not something I've seen before. It could just be an outlier.

[pocky]

Yes of course! I didn't mean to sound off-putting. I'd never seen it before which is why I posted. Thank you

Hi John, yes Reddit . And yes—the person mentioned using it daily for around 4 years, but not much else. They included a picture below which I found interesting —https://m.imgur.com/a/0ttLc

My mention was simply to note that reddit users can be... hard on their pens. The photo helps and while it doesn't look like abuse of any kind, it seems that the person may have particularly caustic hand oils and sweat, as it appears the issue is where they grip the pen. Not something I've seen before. It could just be an outlier.

[pocky]

Thank you for the informative post! As a side note--the Saya looks amazing.

Raden is a fragile lacquer. The raden particles are sprinkled into wet lacquer.
If the lacquer was thinned with Oil or Chemicals the urushi is weak and doesn't bind urushi and Raden or when the raden particles are not completely clean, or if the raden particles are not completely surrounded by urushi it can happen, that some of them fall of. Or it can be, that the polishing process was not well done enough.

For things used everyday the polishing process "Uwazuri" should be made as following.

Uwazuri the Traditional Way
After grinding the surface it is pre-polished gently with some cotton, "Tonoko" a fine clay powder and Rapeseed oil.
After cleaning properly, transparent urushi is rubbed into the surface and cleaned off completely with paper, then cured for 24 hours in the "Urushimuro" at 75% constant humidity.
This is repeated 5 to 6 times.
Then the surface is polished with "Migako" polishing powder, Rapeseed Oil and the fingers.
Then again properly cleaned and trasparent lacquer is rubbed in as before 2 times.
Then end polishing takes place as described above.
Finally the surface is polished with fingers and tonoko without oil

The "Uwazuri" is made to fill micro pores and in the case of Raden the gaps between urushi and raden particles

I have attached pictures of a Saya (Sword Sheeth) made some hundred years ago. These damages come from the wodden core that has shrinked over the years. Solid pen body material dosn't shrink.
And to be mentioned, that pigmented urrushi is weaker than the black transparent Lacquer "Roiro Nuri" uesd on your pen

_MG_0615.jpg_MG_0616.jpg_MG_0617.jpg_MG_0615.jpg_MG_0616.jpg_MG_0617.jpg

[Robert]

Martin's insight on these matters never ceases to amaze.