Any Idea How To Restore The Sanding Of An M1005 Cap Logo?

[kaan]

Hi everyone,

 

I was really addicted to FP's some time ago, after experiencing multiple FP's/nib's/ink's - I stopped buying and started enjoying the pens, less occasionally tho, I used to use my pens at least every month, it's less frequent now

 

My M1005 demonstrator had somewhat unaligned tines, so I sent it to the local distributor for a possible replacement, yet they fixed and re-sent the pen, ~ a year ago

 

The pen had cold-start issues, yet after their tinkering, it worked better, I hoped they had a fp artisan who worked on the pen, instead of a brute tinkering, I didn't pursue the issue after that

 

1-2 weeks after I received the pen from them, I noticed a glare-issue on the pen's sanded logo, the peak of the mother pelikan was damaged, this might be a result of the pen dropping

 

The sanded part in a 1mm+ diameter area is fully un-sanded, if there is any light around, the logo looks a lot like this to my eye: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/741061/thumbs/o-RESTORATION-570.jpg?4

 

I really enjoyed the pen before that, I still try not to judge the pen by the external abuse it has seen, yet that damage is always there to remind me

 

For this reason, without wanting to, I distanced myself from this hobby

 

Lately I've been trying to manually restore the sanding, by using sharp tools, like a pin, to restore the sanding dot by dot, but my attempts were ineffective

 

Any ideas how to approach/solve this issue?

 

Thanks in Advance

[sargetalon]

Would you be able to post a picture of the pen and it's cap top? I assume that you are referring to the newer palladium plated cap tops that were put into service in 2010. Without pictures, I'm not sure that there is a way to recover yours. That part is removable though and if you could source a replacement cap top, you could simply exchange the two. Also, a new cap might be purchased which is probably easier than just sourcing the cap top. Overall, from what you describe, it would seem difficult to repair the existing cap top but pictures certainly would help with that conclusion.

[kaan]

Here are 2 photos of the M1005, and an M600 for reference

 

The sanded part around the beak is no longer sanded, my urge is to emulate the sanding with some pinning and apply some minor pressure afterwards to make it look like the original sanding

 

(The lighting dynamic of the photos might not be too optimal to capture the issue, yet I tried to do my best with an ios camera)

[MarkTrain]

You might be better off to leave it alone as you may end up just removing the Pd plating.

[kaan]

You might be better off to leave it alone as you may end up just removing the Pd plating.

 

Hmm, thanks for that suggestion, so are you saying that what I thought sanding, was actually PD plating?

 

Or are they both PD plating, and I might just move past the plating and into whatever that's underneath?

 

I'm guessing the latter

 

Thanks for all your help in advance, btw

[MarkTrain]

 

Hmm, thanks for that suggestion, so are you saying that what I thought sanding, was actually PD plating?

 

Or are they both PD plating, and I might just move past the plating and into whatever that's underneath?

 

I'm guessing the latter

 

Thanks for all your help in advance, btw

The latter.

[sargetalon]

In this case, I think perfect is the enemy of good. Trying to fix it yourself has a high potential to damage it further. Short of replacing the cap or cap top, leaving it be may be your best bet. Hope you can look past the little imperfections and get to using the pen again.

[DrCodfish]

Four Thoughts:

 

• The odds that you will make it better than it already is by tinkering with it are slim.
• The odds that you will get it perfect (so much so that you won't notice) are slim to none.
• The odds that you will screw it up more, which will bug you more) - pretty good.
• If it bugs you this much, you should probably look to replacing it because you probably are not going to be successful trying to make it "un-noticeably" better and it is already inhibiting your use.
• For me I can't see the area of concern/damage on the cap top in the photo. But that's just me, you now what you can stand.

[Lam1]

I feel your pain, as I cannot get past imperfections too.

All the advice you've got is good and perhaps it is better to leave the pen as is and try to get used to it. That been said this is an amazing pen and it may be worth a little (well, not too little...) investment - Regina Martini has a cap to sell here (no affiliation)

 

http://www.martiniauctions.com/item/id/Pelikan_M1005_DEMO_cap_29541.html

 

An alternative would be to send it to Pelikan and see if they would change just the cap top (could be cheaper than buying another cap).

 

Good luck.

[javierba73]

For me too, the best option is buy other one.

[daenghafez]

+1

 

An alternative would be to send it to Pelikan and see if they would change just the cap top (could be cheaper than buying another cap).

[kaan]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and support

 

The issue seems smaller now

 

I guess I can try to fix it myself if it keeps on bothering me, and seek a replacement if things get out of hand, or reach out to pelikan with the story

 

But, even though I'm a pessimistic person, I'm optimistic that I can make it slightly better myself, I also hate dealing with shipping / customer relations etc., especially outside the origin countries of the products, that's why I prefer to handle it myself, If I initially corrected the tines myself for example, the pen could have stayed unviolated

 

The main issue is the light reflection, If I could at least prevent that for the originally sanded area, the logo could stand out once again

[Trebor]

If you don't want to send the pen back to Pelikan, perhaps you can buy or swap a cap with another M1005 owner? I'm sure there will be someone on these forums who will offer you a swap, if you threw in a nominal amount (say, $20 USD) because your cap is damaged.

 

• For me I can't see the area of concern/damage on the cap top in the photo. But that's just me, you now what you can stand

 

It took me a few seconds to find, but once you find it, it's pretty obvious. Find the mother pelican's long beak. Then go to the middle of the beak, and look left. There's a little smooth circular spot of palladium, where it should have the sanded finish.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Trebor

[DrCodfish]

OK, I see it now. I understand how when you know something is there it can be hard not to focus on it. Another solution might be to learn meditation through Zen Buddhist teachings. It is not hard to train your mind not to focus on something, or conversely to focus very intently.

 

I did this when I was young many years ago. Then, as with many things in my life I moved on to other things and left my Zen mind behind, .... but the good news is I think it is coming back to me, because I find myself forgetting all kinds of things now.

 

(Sometimes a little levity helps to ease the pain too).)

[kaan]

That's a nice suggestion

 

I also let go off many things in life in order to make myself immune to loss and damage

 

Yet for some things, I just can't/don't want to

 

I don't use fountain pens for actual writing, it's more of a hobby/interest for me, the M1005 Demonstrator is pretty appealing in this aspect, that's why even the relatively smallest damage is bothersome, especially more since it's an external damage, If I did the damage directly, I would add it to the character of the pen, but since the damage was done externally, it's a constant cause of anger for me, that's probably the actual issue, and why I want to solve it

Edited March 21, 2015 by kaan

[Trebor]

If I did the damage directly, I would add it to the character of the pen, but since the damage was done externally, it's a constant cause of anger for me, that's probably the actual issue, and why I want to solve it

 

This is exactly the way I am, so I understand how you feel. Try the classifieds here, and see if you can find another owner near where you live to swap with you. Good luck, I hope you find a solution to your cap problem.

[DrCodfish]

I understand perfectly. Things such as pens inevitably show their age, perhaps little knicks, scratches and just 'drawer wear'. Learning to appreciate this embodies the Japanese ethic referred to as wabi-sabi.

 

The problem is compounded with a demonstrator, they show all their imperfections much more loudly then a pen with muted colors such as the Streseman, or the typical green stripe.

[Sasha Royale]

Since you keep some of your pens entirely for display, photograph them in detail, ASAP.

That is what is important to you. Preserve it. Reserve one or two, including the M1005

for use as pens. It's okay for writing instruments to have CHARACTER.

[kaan]

That is very logical Sasha, I was using the pens a lot in my initial heat, then dropped to ~monthly usages, now they're probably experiencing a 6 months of neglection

 

Lamy's dry very quickly, maybe even in a month with for all stars, and 2 months for the better ones, yet pelikans do keep their ink well

 

It's also pretty fun to write with them with the concentrated/seasoned inks and experience the different shades, yet It's probably logical to drop the active pens to ~2 and use them more

 

It's also a lot of internal stress to have loaded pens, an internal routine is always urging me to re-ink them to prevent dried pens, I should probably do it soon

[kaan]

Hi everyone,

 

I decided to resolve this issue, first by contacting Pelikan, otherwise I'm going to sell the Pen, for some reason It's been bothering me a lot from time to time, I guess every time I get to use my fountain pen, this issue bothers me

 

I've used this form to contact Pelikan: http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US_INTL.Pelikan.submitContactForm.120454.form.customerService./contact-consumer-service

 

I don't know whether it's an efficient way

 

I would appreciate any advice at this point

 

-----

 

I also considered buying the Martini Auctions cap, yet it's probably not an unused cap, the price tag is also high, so I will probably not choose that option