Lacquer For Ebonite ?

[L.Velvet]

I got the idea to paint the ebonite but it's Fountainpagan who gave me the most valuable informations about the lacquers, polish, how to apply it

 

Vaibhav is helping me to geting the pen basis from indian manufacturer.

 

Thanks to you both

 

 

And another good news is that I have found a ballpoint clip finally after long time of search http://www.milanspens.com/#!clips/chph ( see at power clip chrome )

 

Tommorow I am getting some pocket money from dad, will buy the supplies very soon

 

Thanks to you all for your support and kind messages. It helps me to continue this project.

Edited July 29, 2015 by L.Velvet

[fountainpagan]

You are most welcome, Velvet. It is a pleasure to help, when I can.

[fromthecrowd]

I too will be waiting for the result!

Urushi is not the only lacquer used on ebonite. Platinum 3776 Jupiter is covered with transparent lacquer of some kind.

[rishminder]

Awaiting the results

[L.Velvet]

Hello everybody !

 

First early test / Crash test

 

I have bought all the supplies today and have made some early test on wood not on fountain pen. Just on an wooden USB pen driver.

 

I bought the supplies after a long day, so I kinda rushed myself , I have forgotten to sand the wood before applying the lacquer, and I have put real thick layers, the coton mèches used was n't quite good either. But I have learned a lot. In one word I did everything that fountainpagan has not recomanded ( I was too excited ) But still the results are impressive.

 

http://i.imgur.com/NA8wp29.jpg

 

The dark red alizarine pigments have a range of shade from red to violet quite dificult to describe and to capture on photos ( with an average quality camera ) so you have to believe me when I am saying that it is very , very intense, you will never see such shade of colors in real life.

 

So today I have made some discoveries with the lacquer ( polish and pigments mixed )

- Ingredients once mixed needs to be filtered ( what I didn't unfortunately )

- The lacquer is semi-transparent.

- More you put layers, more the colors became intense

- It dries very fast.

- the lacquer holds very well even on unsanded wood,

- I had to scratch with a sharp knife to remove a bit of lacquer on the edges.

- The lacquer is odorless.

- The colors are not plain so It doesn't look like plastic at all.
- the polish gives a very thin glassy feel.

- Once lacquered the surface became very smooth

 

 

Once again I am sorry for the photos, I took them at night and they look flat and nasty because I applied the lacquer very inconsistantly in a rush due to my lack of experience. I did also scratch with a knife the lacquer to see if it holds, and yes it does One more detail, I did not sand it after drying it is raw lacquer. here's the result.

 

http://i.imgur.com/0T7QxNX.jpg

 

It's just the first test with one layer. I will make more In waiting of my ebonite fountain pen basis I will try to refine my methonds of applying the lacquer.

Edited July 30, 2015 by L.Velvet

[L.Velvet]

Hello friends,

 

 

Just a preview about what I am doing lately Yes it's ebonite. I will post details later, for now I don't know if it's going to be a sucess, but it's in a good way.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ns3hOar.jpg

Edited August 5, 2015 by L.Velvet

[fromthecrowd]

Impressive progress! Lacquer is quite opaque. Looks like main point of concern are the threads.

[L.Velvet]

Hi,

 

This is not the lacquer ( what I call a mix of polish and pigments, which is actually semi-transparent ).

 

This is the undercoat paint + polish + undercoat paint + polish , I have put some more layers this morning.

Unfortunately, the threads, are not the only concerns, there a few more, like how to paint under the clip, or the most important how to crush well the pigments, and to filter properly the impurities of the lacquer.

 

For the last five days I had a hard time to overcome some problems, had a lot of failure, I think I spend something like 6-8 hours during this only to sand and remove the missed layers of painting. The pen have lost like 0,80 cm in height. Hopefully Fountainpagan helped a lot. She suggested me to put the undercoat painting, after finding the right one yes I have progressed a lot and had some fun.

 

Although, I think inhalating the polish can give very strong headeach .

The result of the underlayer is very pleasing to the eye. I could stop now. But It looks fragile. I don't know yet if it's going to last. I will have to do some test.

[fountainpagan]

Thank you for your kind words.

 

Good progress, Velvet. Well done, and I think you get a good piece of well done work, there

 

No, you don't want to leave the undercoat layer without protection, it will not last.

 

To paint under the clip, if you cannot take it off, carefully lift it in a way that you can pass the coton under it. Use a small piece of wood - an icecream wooden stick, its summertime

In the end it will be easy to put the clip back in place with no harm to it.

[L.Velvet]

Thanks a lot I'll proceed more slowly now, one layer per day.

 

Here's some more photos

http://i.imgur.com/hXTwUVq.jpg

 

It's still unfinished. It needs to be sanded, put another layer of polish. The color of the pen is for now more pink than vermillon. After application of the lacquer it will have dark red shades.

http://i.imgur.com/ZOrJDUU.jpg

 

[fomlhaut]

Hey! This is a good idea!

I will probably make the same with some cheap pens I have...

 

Any updates on your work?

Did it end successfully?

[L.Velvet]

hi, i will post photos as soon as i can. I have almost finished the second prototype . It needs now a good nib, and a bit of polishing

[pensnproses]

This is very intriguing.

[L.Velvet]

http://i.imgur.com/dWXZ7E5.jpg

 

It looks less saturated in real life. The lacquer work is over. It needs some more polishing unfortunately I I lost my micro mesh. And the brass clip is not gold anymore

 

Does anybody have a solution to give back to the clip the golden that it use to have ?

[fomlhaut]

Wow! That's an incredible finish!

And if you say that it needs more polish, then it will surely get even better.

You have done a very good work there, taking into account that you are just beginning with this kind of modifications, so you don't have previous experience.

 

Does the colour gradate from dark to light red? Or is it an effect of the photograph?

It kinda reminds me of the the Namiki Emperor Vermillion Red (although it costs several thousand $$$ more... ):

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2699/4106103066_5704d110a6.jpg

 

 

For the polish, I think your best bet would be using a polishing machine like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lxqSMy3RL._SY300_.jpg

Just try to get access to one (family, friends, workshops...) or perhaps try to find someone who offers polishing as a service in your city. This way you will finish it in considerably less time and with less effort than using a micromesh by hand.

 

Regarding the clip... well, I don't really know. The first thing that comes to my mind is using some solvent such as acetone, but you risk ruining the laquer on the pen body (if you touch it with the acetone), so you must be really careful. (Extracting the clip from the body would be the best idea, so that you can work on it only while your pen stays in a safe place ).

 

Another problem of the acetone is that it will soon get very messy, so you may end with red-stained hands and clothes; and it may not be very easy to remove the lacquer at all, but you will not know until you try it.

 

A final option would be trying to get a replacement clip from somewhere else on the Internet... Have you tried searching for it?

 

EDIT:

Sometimes a clip in the same colour as the body can be very elegant and attractive:

http://i0.wp.com/www.collectorpentalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sekishunred.jpg?resize=637%2C494

 

Are you sure that you want to recover the original golden clip?

 

Apart from that thought, another thing that you can do is submerge the clip in solvant (but you must separate it from the pen body before, obviously...).

Edited November 6, 2015 by fomlhaut

[watch_art]

It's an Indian pen - unscrew the finial from the cap top and just take the clip off.

[L.Velvet]

Thanks to you both

Namiki & Tsuchida Ban ei pens were indeed my first inspiration. This is my second try.

 

The lacquerwork is more close to the Tsuchida Ban ei than the Namiki ( I will post photos once at home ftom my pc ) I wish I had the same type of clip as the ball end clip of the Namiki. By the way can somebody tell me where I can buy this kind of clip ? I will try to set it on a next try.

 

By the way I will try to set the nib of a pilot 78g on this. This one will be my everyday pen. On the next I will try to set a 21k sailor nib.

 

Wonderful idea Fomhault

[FOUR X FOUR]

Nice work, Velvet. The pen that you had mounted on the Chinese chop sticks, was a test pen?

[L.Velvet]

Some precision for fomlhaut

 

Acutally watching the colors from my pc monitor the colors are not saturated at all they look right.

Yes the color gradates from dark red to a more darker red a bit like Sailor Kan reki The cap, section

body has a variation in color.

 

This is not the ASA pen basis, this one is a Ratnamson 302 which I prefer over the first one.

 

FOUR X FOUR thanks, yes Edited November 6, 2015 by L.Velvet

[fountainpagan]

Well done, Velvet.

Beautiful nuances.

 

For the polishing, you can also use something like http://www.conrad.fr/ce/fr/product/089207/?utm_source=google-search-product&utm_medium=comparateur&utm_campaign=089207&WT.mc_id=comparateur-gsp-089207&LGWCODE=089207;43857;390&gclid=CIGYwoXo_MgCFWT3wgodL70PuQ

They have polishing mini-discs.

 

For the clip, I can only see electrolysis...

I have sent you a message.