Corrosion Inside Metal Cap (And Dent On Outside)

[Linkdeath]

I'm in the very beginning of the restoration of my grandfather's Sheaffer Touchdown Tuckaway. My grandfather died 32 years ago, and wrote with the pen until the day he died. It's been sitting in my mom's desk drawer since then, fully loaded with a beautiful blue ink (which I shall identify someday). One thing I've noticed is that the inside of the cap has a very little bit of greenish corrosion inside of it. Does anyone have any recommendations of good ways of cleaning that up?

In addition, there's a small dent in the cap that doesn't affect the utility of the cap. It's about halfway up the cap, far enough to not affect the threads on the cap, but a ways from the end. Is it worth it trying to smooth the dent out? Or should I just leave well enough alone?

Mainly, though, I'd like some suggestions about the corrosion!

[Ron Z]

You can clean out the cap with a scratch pad, or just leave that alone - it won't hurt anything. If you do clean, don't try to make it perfectly clean because you may remove enough material from the threads that the cap will jump threads when screwed on.

 

If you don't have experience and the tools, I would leave the dent alone. It's tough to do with out pulling the inner cap and without a mandrel to back it up.

[Linkdeath]

Thanks for both suggestions. I'll see what I can do about just wiping down the corrosion and the dent I'll leave in place, since it was likely put there by my grandfather anyway...

[ink-syringe]

So many of my Sheaffer's have the yucky greenish muck on the inside of the cap. I hate that. I just bunch up a tissue and twist it inside but I wish there was a more thorough way to clean the inside of the cap. I am not generally a fussy person but that muck irritates me.