Polished vs. not

[KCat]

At least, I think it's a no-name. I think some parts are were kluged and I haven't got a nib in it right now so I didn't even bother trying to show that.

 

Before cleaning. This thing was filthy! just hand cleaning took off years of eeeeyech! You really could not see that this is actually a gorgeous burgundy pattern.

 

http://www.ghg.net/schwerpt/founts/noname2.jpg

 

After cleaning and polishing with first hand polishing only (Flitz, Terry's Pen Polish) then a buffing with Terry's pen polish and the cheapo powered nail buffer. TPP doesn't seem to do much with hand polishing but adds a lovely luster with the powered buff.

 

http://www.ghg.net/schwerpt/founts/noname3.jpg

[Leslie J.]

That's an amazing transformation.

[feff]

Wow,what a difference! Where does a person find these products?

 

Thanks,

 

Feff

[Maja]

Wow, what a difference! Thanks for showing us what can be done for a seemingly homely-looking pen...Amazing....

 

Is Terry's pen polish the one from Fountain Pen Hospital?

 

Also, I went to the Flitz website and saw two different polishing compounds---a paste and a liquid version (a diluted version of the paste) ...Which one did you use? (or a different Flitz product altogether?)

Edited February 21, 2005 by Maja

[Elaine]

Maja, get the paste

 

Elaine

[KendallJ]

Wow, Kcat.

 

That is a very pretty resin! Hmmm I just ordered the 3 pack polish from Tryphon. Guess I might have to invest in a nail buffer as well...

[KCat]

I use the paste Flitz - though lately I've been using Maas which is a bit stronger, it was flitz that was used (by hand) for this pen. The majority of the cleaning was by hand with the nice shine brought on with the FPH polish plus the buffer.

 

The picture is a little deceptive in that the metal trim is not as shiny IRL as it appears to be in the picture. Certainly it's much nicer but the clip looks like brass vs. stainless so it's quite yellow. the resin color is accurate. Very pretty little pen for such a cheapie. It took a large sac also - it's quite a fat pen. About the same length as an M200.

 

I'm not sure where this came from. It is one of several I'm restoring for a sibling who I believe got them from her MIL.

[einv]

nice work. you mention that just hand-cleaning took most of the grime away. next time you post, would you consider also posting an intermediate picture of the pen that has been cleaned but not polished?

 

i fear your montage while striking, can mislead someone new to all this into thinking that polishing is the only way to get a dirty pen looking clean.

 

without polishing, it is still possible to get a pen to look nearly if not almost as good as your final result.

[Sam Lee]

i think i'm in the middle somewhere. i know that viv doesn't like to polish his pens. i will polish my pens just once, as part of the process of getting them restored to working order. after that, i don't care if they lose their lustre.

[Keith with a capital K]

Elbow grease is an amazing substance to use on pens too.

[KCat]

Per viv's request.

 

The lighting isn't as good on this image so the beauty of the plastic isn't as obvious. It still looks quite good though and is the step at which I realized there was beauty under all that grime. But I hand cleaned/polished the barrel before working on the cap. You can see the difference here between the two even if you can't get exactly the right lighting.

 

http://www.ghg.net/schwerpt/founts/noname4.jpg

[Gerry]

I'm not sure that KC used an abrasive polish in finishing this pen, although I'm not sure of the composition of Father Terry's polish. The Flitz polish makes the statement that it is a non-abrasive polish in its advertizing.

 

So, unless Fr. Terry's polish contains microabrasives, perhaps this is an example of really effective cleaning (and 'elbow grease' - powered or not!).

 

Regards

 

Gerry

[KCat]

I think Gerry is correct. Terry's Pen Polish is a very smooth liquid and I can't tell that there's any abrasive to it at all. it's why it's my last step. I have a sample of Tryphon's protectant but haven't tried that. They feel the same in terms of consistency.

[Alriel]

Hi,

 

I have some of Terry's polish from the FPH. It does have some abrasives in it as it is labeled on my bottle "extra fine abrasives".

Still, it would require a lot of elbow grease to get the great results that you got. Congratulations!

 

Alriel

[KCat]

There's two different products. The Vintage pen polish has "very fine abrasives" (I just double checked on the site)

 

The one I have is for modern plastics:

Label reads - "Terry's Special New Pen Polish: Highlights color with no abrasive"

 

I see the label on the website reads *with no abrasives *highlights color.

 

Anyway - so they're different. I'd say the New Pen Polish I'm using is only a little more efficacious than Tryphon's cleaner/protectant which is not intended to polish but as a cleaner and protectant.

 

whew! now that that's straightened out...

[Alriel]

The one I have is for modern plastics: Label reads -  "Terry's Special New Pen Polish: Highlights color with no abrasive" 

 

Sorry, my bad. My focus (if you can call it that with my growing population of modern pens) is on vintage and so I picked up the vintage polish. I also like to try to "resurrect" older pens and so I generally look for tools to help me do just that.

 

No abrasives! That must have taken a lot of elbow grease!

I feel more comfortable hand cleaning a pen than using a rotatry tool. I do own a rotary tool, but I learned my lesson a few years ago that you can really destroy a pen if you're not careful (or skillful in my case)

 

Speaking about the Tryphon product - good results protecting brassed trim?

 

Alriel