Mirror-Like Finish. How Can I Get To This Result?

[claudewick]

Hi there,

 

I was looking at this video:

 

 

And I got amazed with the superb looking of the pen. How can we get this kind of finish? What kind of polishing products can produce that result, without damaging the pen?

 

Cheers

Edited February 4, 2015 by claudewick

[bsenn]

Micromesh. Available many places. Anderson pens, fountainpensacs.com, etc.

 

Takes a little bit of time and elbow grease, but worth it.

 

Mask off imprints, clips, tassies, cap bands, etc. I use electrical tape, some use masking tape.

 

Brian

Edited February 4, 2015 by bsenn

[Brian-McQueen]

I don't think you necessarily want to do this. If you look around the 2:50 mark, you can see where the imprint has been weakened by this amount of polishing.

[Glenn Atkins]

I would use the Micromesh wet.

 

Glenn

[mariom]

The fellow who did this review also has a video on how he polishes pens here. He is very careful with his masking, so if the imprint is weak on the pen, it's likely it came to him that way. Not unusual on a pen 70-80 years old.

[claudewick]

The fellow who did this review also has a video on how he polishes pens here. He is very careful with his masking, so if the imprint is weak on the pen, it's likely it came to him that way. Not unusual on a pen 70-80 years old.

 

Excelent video!

 

Does anyone knows what compound he uses at 11:40?

 

But what I think that gives the mirror-like finish is that Renaissance Wax he applies at 25:14. Has anyone used it?

[kirchh]

But what I think that gives the mirror-like finish is that Renaissance Wax he applies at 25:14. Has anyone used it?

Search here for that product name to see some discussions about it.

 

--Daniel

[OcalaFlGuy]

Claude, IF you use the Renaissance or any other wax keep in mind they will only mask, and sometimes not very well, any visible scratches.

 

Getting rid of scratches involves abrasive polishing of some sort.

 

Uber shiny pens, IMO, require More care in storage than non-Uber shiny pens, When they get rescratched, the scratches are More obvious.

 

Which Should relegate such pens to either being In your hand or In a case of some sort, be that display or carry.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Cryptos]

I would be cautious on the use of Renaissance Wax. I use it on my swords. The blades come into contact with skin fairly regularly, and the oils and sweat from the skin will break down the wax microcrystal coating fairly quickly and thus necessitate repeated applications - which in my case is a dangerous operation as my blades are live. A pen, unless it is in a display case, gets handled a whole lot more, so I cannot really imagine that R Wax is going to be that all durable. I understand that Bruce uses it in his polishing regime, and I'm not criticising that, but usage over time... a bit of research might not go amiss. What do other restorers use?

[OcalaFlGuy]

To clarify.

 

The only time I ever use RW is for nicely patterned Esterbrooks.

 

I am fairly confident the RW won't damage the Estie material and the RW's permanence isn't an issue IMO with the Esties either.

If I am shooting sales listing pics, I Don't wax the pen before the pics, it's just Too shiny.

 

I don't usually use RW with a solid colored pen (ie; a P-51) even after it's been polished.

 

In my polish regimen, I note that I've used the regimen mainly on P-51's, Sheaffer Imperials and Esties. I feel fairly confident the

RW won't damage either of those 3 pens.

 

The real question is just How shiny do you want it?

 

About as many people don't like overly shiny pens as do. It Can Be a somewhat polarizing discussion.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Cryptos]

Sorry, I wasn't implying that R Wax will damage anything, just pointing out its lack of staying power, based on my experience of using it on bladed weapons.

 

So I wonder if there is a better, or at least longer lasting alternative for pens that get handled a lot? That's all I'm saying...

[FarmBoy]

I find it interesting that restoring a pen now must include polishing the surface to a gloss that never existed, even in fresh from the factory pens. It happens all the time on Flighters--they didn't have a mirror finish, not even once.

[claudewick]

I find it interesting that restoring a pen now must include polishing the surface to a gloss that never existed, even in fresh from the factory pens. It happens all the time on Flighters--they didn't have a mirror finish, not even once.

 

Very interesting point you brought to this topic. I was assuming that this was the original look of those pens. As long as I wasn't there on the 40's to see a brand new, I have no idea how they actually looked straight from the box, but I never thought it wasn't that shiny look...

[claudewick]

I would be cautious on the use of Renaissance Wax. I use it on my swords. The blades come into contact with skin fairly regularly, and the oils and sweat from the skin will break down the wax microcrystal coating fairly quickly and thus necessitate repeated applications - which in my case is a dangerous operation as my blades are live. A pen, unless it is in a display case, gets handled a whole lot more, so I cannot really imagine that R Wax is going to be that all durable. I understand that Bruce uses it in his polishing regime, and I'm not criticising that, but usage over time... a bit of research might not go amiss. What do other restorers use?

 

 

To clarify.

 

The only time I ever use RW is for nicely patterned Esterbrooks.

 

I am fairly confident the RW won't damage the Estie material and the RW's permanence isn't an issue IMO with the Esties either.

If I am shooting sales listing pics, I Don't wax the pen before the pics, it's just Too shiny.

 

I don't usually use RW with a solid colored pen (ie; a P-51) even after it's been polished.

 

In my polish regimen, I note that I've used the regimen mainly on P-51's, Sheaffer Imperials and Esties. I feel fairly confident the

RW won't damage either of those 3 pens.

 

The real question is just How shiny do you want it?

 

About as many people don't like overly shiny pens as do. It Can Be a somewhat polarizing discussion.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

That's the point and I'm sorry for not being clear before. Abrasive products obviously do harm to the pens and should be carrefully used. I sometimes use semichrome on my pens, but always fearing to damage them. I also have micromesh, but up to now I didn't have the guts to use it. In fact I'm curious about this wax. Is this a safe product for pens? For all kinds of materials (celluloid, "precious resin", acrilycs and so on)? Maybe it's not a product to use on the ones in constant use, but a good option for the ones you're about to store for a while, or for taking photos...

 

Just thinking

[kirchh]

For previous discussions of wax, search the forum for the product name. Also note spelling of Simichrome.

 

--Daniel

[Glenn Atkins]

Micromeash is really ugly until you get to the higher grits, but it is magic.

 

Glenn

[DavyJones]

I use micromesh on celluloid quite successfully, but you have to be very careful to mask off any imprints, trim, etc. I'm not very aggressive with it, and I feel that it helps give a pop to the colors. They don't look like something that's been banging around in a desk drawer for 60 years. It's neat to wipe down and dry off pens after you've used the lower grit numbers, the pens have almost a matte surface. If you use micromesh in stepped increments you can do a pretty good job of controlling just how polished you want the end product to look. On some pens I will not go all the way to the 12000 grit, they just look unnaturally polished.

[bsenn]

... It's neat to wipe down and dry off pens after you've used the lower grit numbers, the pens have almost a matte surface...

 

Yes, I have a black Touchdown which was beat to death. I started with a coarser grit than I'd normally use and did not go very fine because it looked so cool with the matte finish. It is polishing itself up a little around the touch points from normal use. Black might be the only color this works well on.

 

Brian

[JotterAddict62]

I am not worried about the pen being shined to a point of pre-mint. [ new word ? ]

 

I'll work on the pens need to have scratches removed [ practicing on 3rd tier pen first ]

Whatever works for you to make your pens sparkle....

 

 

Ken

[Brian Anderson]

If you use micromesh in stepped increments you can do a pretty good job of controlling just how polished you want the end product to look. On some pens I will not go all the way to the 12000 grit, they just look unnaturally polished.

 

Agreed, on hard rubber sections, I only go to 8000. 12000 has it's uses, hard rubber is usually not one of them.