Hi There From Singapore!

[poisonball]

Hi there! I'm from Singapore, really into fountain pens but alas aren't really rich enough to buy the more drool worthy pens; I've just splurged on a vanishing point decimo on rakuten, and hopefully it willactually turn up....


So we're moving house, because the house is getting renovated, and we had to clean out all our junk to store it away for a year. The whole of last month we'd been packing and stuff -though OUR stuff, had been cleared out. My mother's stuff, is... well, still all over the place.

So last weekend I had been clearing out some last bits of stationery and found what i thought was my mother's fountain pen.

Now I don't really like my mother's fountain pens because I had had the impression that it was thick, heavy stuff that didn't write well for me.

It was a stainless steel parker; I figured what the hell, might as well try andclean it up. I remember having vague memories of trying to clean up one of my mother's pens before (I think it was my mother's . It might be my sister's?) but it hadn't written very well.

But now that I have found the Fountain Pen Network, I decided I could try and soak it in vinegar solution (about half a mug of water to 1 small cap of white vinegar) and see.

This is when I discovered that it was a Parker 45, also known as a Flighter, because it's stainless steel body. It's vintage! The silver trimmed one is made in australia even!

So I cleaned it out - in the lab because I have access to acetone and ethanol, I could clean off the rust and dust - the only thing left is the greenish corrosion on the clip which I suspect is chromium oxide. Not sure how to clean that off other than manual scraping.

The bladder seemed to be busted though - split. So I was a bit disappointed, because it seemed like it was welded to the nib - it and its vintage ness!

Then FPN said that 45s were one of the first models to be completely cartridge/convertors. !

One thing they said was to soak it for 30 mintues with warm water - so I did that. Practised guitar while it soaked.

and then the busted convertor poppped right off!

So I soaked it for 2 days in vinegar water solution, and then another half day of water, and then put it in a little baggie of silicon crystals to dry out .

then when I pulled ito ut to test the ink, I discovered the feed din't quite fit into the barrel anymore. It had shrunk! D:

(FPN now says that sometimes heat can shrink it. Damn I must have put it in too-warm water)

Then I remembered - much earlier this year, I had found another buncha fountain pens from my brother's collection. He'd lost interest in fountain pens by then, and gave them to me .One of these pens was also my mother's parker (HSe must have had two) and it hadn't worked very well I remember.

But i dug it out anyway, and lo and behold it was the SAME PEN.

Except with gold trim!

And then I realised - the pen I was cleaning now, had a gold coloured nib. The pen I just dug out had a steel coloured nib but the barrel had gold trim. it had been swapped over!

Now i have TWO flighters Parker 45! Silver trimmed made in Australia, Gold made in the USA.

So now this pens nib is being soaked too, just to make sure it's fully clean, and then I'll reassemble them and test them out later. :D :D

 

http://delfinnium.dreamwidth.org/file/43091.jpg

The silver/chrome cap's corrosion.

 

http://delfinnium.dreamwidth.org/file/42817.jpg

It came with the gold nib. (And actually the silver accent ring at the base of the pen, not the gold coloured one)


http://delfinnium.dreamwidth.org/file/43436.jpg

more corrosion.

 

 

http://delfinnium.dreamwidth.org/file/43594.jpg

split bladder of the Gold-nibbed, silver trimmed one.

 

 

http://delfinnium.dreamwidth.org/file/42567.jpg

Now both of them!

 

anyone's got tips on how to remove the green corrosion on the silvery clip? ?

[Notgatherox]

Hello!

 

Nice to see more locals here. And if you haven't joined the local Facebook group, do join us! We're Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers , and there's a pen meet in two weeks!

 

 

Btw, there are fountain pens around that are great and don't break the bank. Pilot Tank, Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy Safari, the Hero pens, Platinum Preppy etc.

 

 

Enjoy your vintage pens (sorry no idea how to get rid of the corrosion, I'm not into vintage pens) and write on!

 

 

~Epic

[laserlight]

Welcome!

[poisonball]

Welcome!

 

 

Hello!

 

Nice to see more locals here. And if you haven't joined the local Facebook group, do join us! We're Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers , and there's a pen meet in two weeks!

 

 

Btw, there are fountain pens around that are great and don't break the bank. Pilot Tank, Pilot Metropolitan, Lamy Safari, the Hero pens, Platinum Preppy etc.

 

 

Enjoy your vintage pens (sorry no idea how to get rid of the corrosion, I'm not into vintage pens) and write on!

 

 

~Epic

 

THanks!

 

I dont have facebook sadly, so would it be possible to post that info up somewhere on this network?

 

I have a bunch of cheap good pens! I keep going to Kinokunya and buying plaisirs and petits , though the current star of my collection is the beautiful steel and gold trimmed hemisphere my brother bought for me for christmas!

[laserlight]

I do not have Facebook access until tomorrow, but Notgatherox told me:

 

26 July at 14:00

QA Training Room 175A, Bencoolen Street, #11-08, Burlington Square, Singapore 189650

[RMN]

Hi and welcome to FPN

 

I shudder when I read about vinegar and even Acetone. Acetone can do nasty things to plastics, and I would not use vinegar myself.

Ammonia can be used in a low solution.

I would use a toothbrush and toothpaste on that cap to clean it.

 

Too bad about the converter, but modern Parker converters (and cartridges) fit perfectly

 

These Parker 45s are very good pens, much better than Parkers current low budget line-up.

 

D.ick

[Notgatherox]

 

 

 

THanks!

 

I dont have facebook sadly, so would it be possible to post that info up somewhere on this network?

 

I have a bunch of cheap good pens! I keep going to Kinokunya and buying plaisirs and petits , though the current star of my collection is the beautiful steel and gold trimmed hemisphere my brother bought for me for christmas!

 

By the way, the Plasir is essentially the same pen as the Preppy, apart from the metal body. They have the same nib and feed. But one is 4-5 bucks, the other is 20+ bucks.

 

And the Petit can be converted into a eyedropper, like the Preppy. The Plasir's aluminium body will corrode with ink so it can't be converted into an eyedropper.

If you're interested in going to the pen meet, you can let me know via PM and we can meet up before the pen meet, at least you'll have someone to talk to there

 

 

~Epic

Edited July 11, 2014 by Notgatherox

[poisonball]

Hi and welcome to FPN

 

I shudder when I read about vinegar and even Acetone. Acetone can do nasty things to plastics, and I would not use vinegar myself.

Ammonia can be used in a low solution.

I would use a toothbrush and toothpaste on that cap to clean it.

 

Too bad about the converter, but modern Parker converters (and cartridges) fit perfectly

 

These Parker 45s are very good pens, much better than Parkers current low budget line-up.

 

D.ick

 

I unfortunaly don't have ammonia. I put like very little vinegar and lots of water, and then the next two soaks are just water. Aceton just on the metal barrel and cap, not on the plastics. I know very well what aceton does to a lot of plastics - I'm working in a materials engineering lab. ;__;

 

I tried one of the 45s and it works beautifully! can't wait to see if the other one is just as smooth a writer.

 

By the way, the Plasir is essentially the same pen as the Preppy, apart from the metal body. They have the same nib and feed. But one is 4-5 bucks, the other is 20+ bucks.

 

And the Petit can be converted into a eyedropper, like the Preppy. The Plasir's aluminium body will corrode with ink so it can't be converted into an eyedropper.

If you're interested in going to the pen meet, you can let me know via PM and we can meet up before the pen meet, at least you'll have someone to talk to there

 

 

~Epic

hahaha yes! I know - i've swapped the preppy's nib with the plaisir's, though I don't have silicon grease ( WHERE can it be found?!) so I havent tried out eyedroppers yet.

 

YAY someone to go with!

[Notgatherox]

Silicon grease can be found in Black Tactical at Funan. 4 bucks.

 

Ammonia can be bought from supermarkets. I got my 2 litre bottle from Jason's Supermarket at Raffles City. 5 bucks.

 

Let me know if you'll like to come with me, we could work something out.

 

 

~Epic

[Sasha Royale]

Welcome !

 

NO MORE "warm" water, or chemical solutions ! DON'T FORCE ANYTHING !

 

All the problems arise from dried ink, that cements pen parts together. Room temperature water and time will dissolve old

ink. Flush it away and soak some more. The problem cause is years of neglect. A week of patience is preferred to harsh

remedies. The converter can be replaced inexpensively.

 

The good news is that Parker 45 fountain pens were designed by brilliant people to be highly serviceable, using bare hands.

Unless you WARP, BURN, or DISSOLVE the pen parts, full recovery is possible.

 

Fountain pen ink ONLY in fountain pens.

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

[notVirtuThe3rd]

Hi! Welcome to FPN.

I'm really glad you've joined us.

Enjoy!

Kind regards,

VirtuThe3rd

[Clancy]

Welcome to FPN. It's great to have you here with us.

[Wahl]

 

Warm water, vinegar, acetone,ethanol, all of them bad ideas for cleaning out pens. I don´t even recommend ammonia, just water at room temperature and patience.

[william2001]

Welcome to FPN!

I am glad that you joined us today!

Please feel free to ask us anything about fountain pens and inks.

Please enjoy the forum,

-William S. Park

[Ligaya30]

Hello and welcome to the forums, poisonball! It was great reading about your fountain pen cleaning adventures. Then pens look actually pretty good considering they haven't been used in a while. Hope you have fun while on the forums!