A Montblanc 139 Restoration Super Project

[penboard.de]

Hi Tom. It's a superb restoration project. I've ask you a question: what's the reason you didn't use black celluloid to repair the deeper scratch in the black area?

 

Thank you

Well, reason is - you fill the crack with black, and then after hardening you polish - but very often, after polish you have a nice black line with a transparent halo around it.... black coating after years of use, its sooo thin.

 

And I have not yet found the proper recipe to create a celluloid varnish.

 

Best

Tom

[david1600]

can't wait to see final effect

[penboard.de]

can't wait to see final effect

OK, here we are with the report. Sorry, no VIDEO... I do not want to show of the dusty workshop... :-)

 

 

its is ready to go home to its owner ...

 

what has been done?

 

1. Nib came back 90% perfected from the gold smith - with strong eyes you will still see a bit of the wave - but now it looks perfect.

Nib has been masked and rhodium plated after getting out the waves. So it came back to be a perfect tricolor nib.

 

2. Piston is done and working.

 

3. barrel cracks are sealed using liquid celluloid. Luckyly the barrel has not become transparent while polishing.

The barrel remained wavy - to correct this, I would have had to shave off all the black part of the barrel and give it a new black celluloid skirt.

this is a frightening and risky operation, these barrels when grabbed by the lathe´s chuck - they love to fall to pieces.

 

4. Scratches in the area of the inkwindow have been taken out - and polished.

in the black area of the barrel, I could not take off too much material, so one bigger scratch remained.

 

5. Cap is newly made from ebonite with just the silver rings and the big band transplanted from the old cap.

 

6. clip has been polished and newly plated.

 

 

This takes a LOT of time - and not only working time - its a risky operation, tricky - and not always its the day to do such work.

 

Therefore - some repairs take ages to finish. :-(

 

 

Best regards

Tom

 

http://www.penboard.de/shop/pb/MB139SuperRestore.jpg

[david1600]

great job, looks perfect

[daenghafez]

Wow! It's alive!!!! :notworthy1:

[stevlight]

WOW

[osnofian]

That is a fantastic work of passion, dedication and perfection!

Congratulations for your great skills Tom, and please keep up the good work!

[Barry Gabay]

Awesome work, Tom! Congratulations on your great skill, patience, and willingness to share your talents.

[specialk0449]

Tremendous job Tom! Thanks for saving a MB L139 for someone to enjoy for a very long time. The L139 is the "King of Pens".

[Paul Raposo]

Excellent work, Tom :clap1: The skill you demonstrate with your repairs is something to be very proud of.

[karmakoda]

Wow! It's alive!!!! :notworthy1:

+1

Skill, talent and immense patience. Very impressive.

Congratulations to the fortunate owner. I love that cap with those silver rings. How'd you do that?? :hmm1: Stunning.

[Polleke]

Super Tom

Congratulations :clap1:

Edited September 1, 2012 by Polleke

[Inked]

Hello

 

I think you deserve to be called a surgeon!

 

Very nice.

 

Inked

[CS388]

Goodness!

 

World class restoration.

 

Many congratulations and much admiration. Thank you for sharing this. You are truly a master craftsman.

[peterpen53]

Great work, Tom! It's looking the greatest pen again. Congratulations to you and the owner!

[Dr. Eriko]

Excelent work Tom !!! Congratulations !!!

Now I am thinking about send to you my MB 744N circa 1956 for a full restoration service.

Regards

[BrandonA]

Ill probably be in the minority withthis post, but... I'm not sure how I feel about a vintage pen having a new cap made from scratch. I know it is using the original fittings but the bulk of the cap is circa 2012 and no longer vintage. We see people critise pens on eBay calling them Franken pens, I know this usually means that they have completely the wrong parts but I'm not sure how far away this is.

[karmakoda]

Ill probably be in the minority withthis post, but... I'm not sure how I feel about a vintage pen having a new cap made from scratch. I know it is using the original fittings but the bulk of the cap is circa 2012 and no longer vintage. We see people critise pens on eBay calling them Franken pens, I know this usually means that they have completely the wrong parts but I'm not sure how far away this is.

This is a point that is worthwhile being raised, for sure.

The full disclosure of all the restoration work to the client and anybody interested to read about it on the FPN at least removes this pen from the ones that are described as being a specific vintage Montblanc when in fact they are an non-original assemblage of compatible parts.

Having been done by one of the World's best restorers of vintage Montblanc pens also assures the client that the methods used were probably the best, perhaps only options available within reasonable expense of time and resources.

We can be confident that anyone acquiring this pen in the future will be aware of its provenance.

I could take six of my thirties and forties vintage Montblanc pens, and switch most of the parts. A buyer would never know, and in most cases it would not matter.

Tom's generous sharing of the transformation of this 139 does not change what the pen has become, but is a perfect vehicle for educating and informing a large community of Montblanc aficionados.

 

Edit to add: The point I was trying to convey is that this is a beautifully restored Montblanc 139, virtually identical and appropriate to its original form.

The term "frankenpen" usually implies a pen made up of mismatched pen parts not correct for the period or model of the pen.

Edited September 1, 2012 by karmakoda

[ArchiMark]

Great work, Tom!.....

 

Thank you so much for sharing the process with everyone....

 

[nknizam]

Excellent work there, Tom.

Thanks for sharing. I can only dream to do what you have done for the pen.

Well done.