What Is Precious Resin?

[jaqcp]

So, those of you with actual knowledge of plastics, resins, etc., what would be the "best" and toughest non-metal material to make pens from?

[jar]

  On 7/1/2014 at 5:06 PM, jaqcp said:

So, those of you with actual knowledge of plastics, resins, etc., what would be the "best" and toughest non-metal material to make pens from?

 

There is no "BEST" answer. Each product has advantages and disadvantages.

[Mister Mont Blanc]

  On 7/1/2014 at 5:06 PM, jaqcp said:

So, those of you with actual knowledge of plastics, resins, etc., what would be the "best" and toughest non-metal material to make pens from?

Yes jar is correct. They all have their trade offs. A stronger material may be less likely to crack or break but will also be heavier and something very light in weight may be very fragile. So I think this is why each company has their own preferences for materials and Montblanc decided to make theirs as light as possible while being as strong as it can at that weight.

[GTOZack]

  On 7/1/2014 at 5:33 PM, jar said:

best quality of plastics?

There is no "BEST" answer. Each product has advantages and disadvantages.

Lucite, The american fighter pilots had these molded into a bubble canopy for their P-47 thunderbolts, F6F Hellcat, P-51 mustangs D and H, P-38 Lightning G,H and E variants and the molded dome for the B-17's ( especially enclosed clear Lucite sheets to cover all gun ports in a G variant) B-29's and B-24's some even resorted to 2 inches thick armored glass plates for the ground attacker variants ( A-26 havoc, B-25's and P-61 black Widow and etc) and finally the jet age came along, they added 1 to 2 inches thick front windscreen made of extremely rigid Lucite in the shooting stars and Sabre's

 

they do turn tannish brown after a extreme long exposure to sun(20 yrs or so) but if it was dye'd it stays that color forever esp in pens and such

[Joane]

Seconding that lucite is very resistant.

 

My experience with plastics is not scientific but experiential and, in pens, the acrylic used in the reissued Parker Duofold is virtually indestructible. I have some Duofolds in use since the early 1990s and they show no signs of wear whatsoever, even following shocks, dropping, or carrying around in a purse.

[Ceilidh]

Zack, I thought those canopies were plexiglass. Is it the same as lucite? (My dad flew thunderjet.)

[GTOZack]

  On 7/1/2014 at 7:51 PM, Ceilidh said:

Zack, I thought those canopies were plexiglass. Is it the same as lucite? (My dad flew thunderjet.)

Acrylic based yeah

[Ceilidh]

Thanks!

[GTOZack]

speaking of Republic F-84's those were first fighter jets to be capable for in-flight refueling I can imagine the nervousness doing this for first time back then. Today, it is part of curriculum flying high end jets.

 

hats off to your dad

[chunya]

What is precious resin? Baltic Amber?

[Ceilidh]

Yep, my dad was one of the pilots that participated in the first tests of in flight refueling. I think part of being a fighter pilot must be an inability to know when you should be scared.

[ethernautrix]

A coupla, few years ago, Ricky (AltecGreen) had Brian Gray (Edison Pens) make a Morgan out of Torlon (I can't remember which number) which is near indestructible. There's a thread in fpn about it.* t's a gorgeous pen.

 

 

*I'm too lazy to search for it, and USA just lost to Belgium in extra time, 2-1 (all goals scored in extra time), and it was a great game, and the dog is whining (she was worried while I was rooting for USA, not understanding the quiet yelling and dancing around (quiet cos it's after midnight here)), and now I think she wants to play.

 

 

Update: Nope. She just wanted treats.

Edited July 1, 2014 by ethernautrix

[jar]

  On 7/1/2014 at 7:37 PM, GTOZack said:

Lucite, The american fighter pilots had these molded into a bubble canopy for their P-47 thunderbolts, F6F Hellcat, P-51 mustangs D and H, P-38 Lightning G,H and E variants and the molded dome for the B-17's ( especially enclosed clear Lucite sheets to cover all gun ports in a G variant) B-29's and B-24's some even resorted to 2 inches thick armored glass plates for the ground attacker variants ( A-26 havoc, B-25's and P-61 black Widow and etc) and finally the jet age came along, they added 1 to 2 inches thick front windscreen made of extremely rigid Lucite in the shooting stars and Sabre's

 

they do turn tannish brown after a extreme long exposure to sun(20 yrs or so) but if it was dye'd it stays that color forever esp in pens and such

 

Check out the life time of Waterman 100 Year pens.

[Vlad Soare]

  On 7/1/2014 at 10:40 PM, ethernautrix said:

*and USA just lost to Belgium in extra time, 2-1 (all goals scored in extra time), and it was a great game,

 

Great game, indeed. For me, staying awake until half past one in the night (we're GMT+2 here) just to watch a soccer game is an extremely rare occurence. I rarely find it worth the effort. But yesterday it was worth it.

I'm impressed by the US team. They played unexpectedly well. Too bad they were so lacking in defence. Their goalkeeper was fantastic, but even the best goalkeeper in the world cannot resist forever without a functional defence line.

[Pen Nut]

  On 6/30/2014 at 9:55 PM, GTOZack said:

I took an opportunity to do my Macgyver-ness. a friend had shattered older 1980s resin barrel. I had several test sample of plastics, metals, glass I had lying in my garage shelves I do keep them to compare and test their tolerances. ( long story )

 

so I wrapped a towel in bench vice grip, intentionally bent the barrel, it did not show white/clouding creases you would expect to see in plastics . rather it snapped after a slight nudge, about 20 or so pounds of pressure. So we established something, it IS brittle. upon close look the fresh sheared pieces showed many tiny shivers, It resembles to obsidian glass shards. So I may suspect they added silica into resin. to retain their shininess, sharp tone, and scratch resistant.

 

under a strong light it gleamed red-black. but I also put it under infrared light. the pictures revels it is completely invisible. So I had concluded that Silica and resin that's so pure that it is invisible under an infrared light.

 

So rule of thumb, If you are trying to detect fake Mb's put it under infrared to confirm it is completely invisible and only piston, nib housing and the nib is showing. that's one of the extreme ways to confirm genuineness.

 

other than sticking magnet to the nib and risking scratching ( tissue towel wrapped magnet is logical) and checking threading, and such. Checking the obvious German quality of the gold nib and I simply stick whole pen it under infrared light and peek.

 

Ive seen many counterfeits fail the infrared light. they show very subtle silhouettes.

 

 

Like this post. Knowledable poster but able to put the point across so non technical people (me) can instantly get it.

 

Oh and gram for gram precious resin is costly !

[georges zaslavsky]

the composition of the precious resin changed ca 1985 before under light it used to be blue and less prone to shattering (being brittle) and when they modified it, they made it easier to polish so that it will shine all the time

Edited July 14, 2014 by georges zaslavsky

[mirosc]

  On 7/1/2014 at 4:19 PM, RudyR said:

 

 

 

These two explanations should be stickied somehow . And then people in the US wonder why we should study any other language other than English.

 

Add history to that.

"Precious Resin" is a German term even older than Montblanc and Montblanc has just used it like other pen manufacturers have (but they weren't as stupid/clever to translate it literally)

[theverdictis]

Basically it's a marketing ploy, Its just resin, putting the word precious in front of resin 'jazzes' it up for a consumer to think, hmm must be good.

[sd10521]

Every time I see or hear the word precious, I think of the little dog in Silence Of The Lambs.

[theverdictis]

  On 7/16/2014 at 9:26 PM, sd10521 said:

Every time I see or hear the word precious, I think of the little dog in Silence Of The Lambs.

Ha ha, now I'll always think this as well!