Torelli Restoration Of A 742

[TCN01]

This is a rather special pen to me. It belonged to my late father, and has his name hand engraved on it in one of the nicest and most elegant fonts you could imagine.

 

He bought it new in the 1950's, and it landed in my possession when he died in 2010. I don't think he used it since the 1980's, and I think it was put away dirty to boot.

 

So here's what was wrong with it:

 

MAJOR (well "micro" really) dinging on the barrel and cap.

 

Filthy everything.

 

The metal sleeving of the blind cap and barrel were loose, nearly completely off the celluloid beneath.

 

As you can see, no ink window was visible . . . at all.

 

So Brad took the entire pen apart and cleaned and fixed everything (I can post photos of everything taken apart and cleaned if you'd like).

 

He had to create a custom mandrel to facilitate getting the dimpling out of the cap. Shockingly, just about every ding came out.

 

Per the "before" pictures, there was no ink window visible, it looked solid black. So Brad cleaned the ink window (eventually when he creates a smaller version of his striping tool, we'll restore the ink window stripes), and finally cemented the metal back on the celluloid barrel.

 

This thing looks and feels brand new - ready for me to use a little bit and then pass on to my son.

 

Pardon my lousy photography.

 

 

 

 

 

[T4TEXAS]

Such impressive work. Congratulations on investing in the restoration.

[Nathanb]

Amazing transformation - hard to believe it's the same pen!

[Ceelo]

Great story and write up. Nice to see a meaningful restoration of a fabulous pen.

[meiers]

Thanks for the photos.

I think this is a wonderful way to remember your dad.

Edited July 20, 2016 by meiers

[da vinci]

Fantastic work, great pen. Glad you will now be able to pass it to your Son in due course.

[TCN01]

Thanks everyone. He was an elegant man who loved fountain pens and passed that appreciation on to me.

 

I sort of eschew monograms in most everything, but I will say that as a son, it's nice to have a few things of my dad's with his name on them. Worth keeping in mind if you have kids.

[SL_BRABUS]

Look great... ...

 

Thanks for sharing.... .

[mongrelnomad]

What a beautiful restoration of a very special pen. Personally, i would have left the dings (after all, they were part of the pen's story with your father), but irrespective, a perfect job.

Edited July 21, 2016 by mongrelnomad

[TCN01]

What a beautiful restoration of a very special pen. Personally, i would have left the dings (after all, they were part of the pen's story with your father), but irrespective, a perfect job.

[TCN01]

What a beautiful restoration of a very special pen. Personally, i would have left the dings (after all, they were part of the pen's story with your father), but irrespective, a perfect job.

Interesting, I did think about that, but I think the damage came from rolling around in a drawer after my dad stopped using it, so it wasn't quite "his use". Tough call I suppose.

 

I refurbished one of his shotguns (it badly needed it, and I use it often), but along the lines of your suggestion, the gold plating on the middle of the trigger had worn away, and I left that alone. It was like his fingerprints.