General Restoration tips?

**Chrissy** · January 15th, 2020, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by amk

It's worth asking your dentist where you can get some of the dentists' tools like a Tofflemire retainer (for clamping barrels that need cracks mended) and the various scrapers and probes - all very useful when you're repairing pens. I was lucky enough to pick some up from a sale - I think someone's grandad had been a dentist and the tools had last seen use some time in the 1960s!

For someone who lives in or visits the US Dale Beebe of Pentooling has these types of tools available on his website.

**Stands on Feet** · January 15th, 2020, 03:29 AM

Search Amazon for "dental pick". I get dozens of hits. Sets of them are cheap.

**Fermata** · January 15th, 2020, 04:50 AM

Know your limits. there are expert repairers who can make light work of some pen repair problems. Eric Wilson repaired a pen of mine with a crack through the cap threads, easy for him but not for me.

There is also the thought that if we dont employ experts then one day they might not be around.

**Deb** · January 15th, 2020, 05:21 AM

People like Eric and Derrick Purser, to name two Scottish restorers, have an enviable skillset and go way beyond the capabilities of the rest of us. Some years ago Eric restored a silver Onoto which was in very poor condition. He machined replacement parts from solid silver and the ruin of a pen became an absolute delight.

I know my limits. There are some pens I won't tackle and I send them out to those guys. I don't repair for other people except in exceptional circumstances. I don't want to risk breaking someone else's precious heirloom. Not that I break pens often; it's just that the very idea makes me nervous.