Micarta Eyedropper ?

[Scott Searer]

I saw it mentioned a few times (as a possibility) in that long thread that raised some hackles, has anyone tried it?

[Angry__Panda]

On the TWSBI Facebook page they say not to do it. "eyedropper in twsbi Micarta, I don't think it will work, it is not intended in design to do so." That came directly from a comment made by whoever posts for their Facebook.

[professionaldilettante]

I would doubt that it would work. While micarta in this cast is a cotton type material soaked in resin, there is no guarentee that the inside is leak proof. However, if you were to disassemble the pen, and wipe the whole thing down, inside and out, everything with a thin layer of epoxy, I wouldn't see why that wouldn't work. But then again, I have a problem with messing with a new $100 pen.

[fountainbel]

Hi all,

I expected the cotton filled Phenolic (Micarta) would not be suited for using the pen as an eyedropper.

Just made a test on a phenolic bar I had : turned the top flat and appleid a few ink drops on the machined surface.

After an hour the ink was gone, biggest part evaporated but also penetrated in the material.

I then removed 0.2 mm from the surface and one still can see the ink is penetrated deeper.

I expect the cotton fibers are not fully filled with the phenolic, so the fibers can partly absorb the ink.

This impleis one should be carefull not putting the section in the ink during filling, or surely wiping the ink directly off.

Same for the outer surface, be careful and avoid touching the pen with inky fingers !

Preventing staining I personally would rub the pen surface with some beeswax heated "au bain Marie" so it becomes liquid;

This will give the surface a nice patina and greatly reduce staining risks.

Just my 2 cents....

Francis

 

 

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Phenolic003Kopie.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h89/fountainbel/Phenolic002Kopie.jpg

Edited April 19, 2012 by fountainbel