Can't Find A Place For This

[cphenson]

Hi, have been a member of FPN for about ten years but don't often post. Not sure where to put this problem to get help ... so advice welcome.

 

I own a few cheap pens that I acquired when I started collecting. One of them is an Aurora but I have long lost the model information and there are no other markings. It's 13.5 cm with the cap on, translucent red plastic barrel and the nib is marked 'Aurora M'. I recently went into the leather pen case in which it has been stored for about 7 years and discovered that the barrel had become covered in a sticky substance that could only have self-generated. No other pens in the case had the problem though I found an Indian pen I had - a Wality that had been stored in a wooden case - with the same problem a couple of weeks ago. I threw that one away as I never could figure out how to fill it with ink but the Aurora writes nicely. I cleaned off the 'gunk' with paint thinner.

 

I assume this has something to do with the cheap plastic material from which the barrel was made but would like to know how it manufactured itself in a closed, sealed (but not airtight) case. There are 47 other pens in this case, some cheap and some expensive, but this and the Wality are the only pens in the collection that have generated this stuff.

 

Where would be the best place on FPN to place the question for advice? Thanks.

[RMN]

Hi. Things like this, not brand specific, really, could either go to First Stop, or, better in this case, Repair Q&A.

 

 

Actually this is a known problem.

Cure? None, I am afraid, if the barrel is really gooey.

Prevention? Don't store your resin pens in direct contact with leather. The chemicals used to cure the leather produce this result, AFAIK. (Aldehyde and Chrome)

I believe vegetable-tanned leather is safe.

 

 

D.ick

[cphenson]

Appreciate the answer, to both questions. Thanks.

[Dr.Grace]

I've seen something like this with a couple of my cheap pens. The translucent plastic barrels were made to have a matte textured feel to them, but after quite a few years they turned to a gooey mess. The only thing that helped was to manually rub off the goo. It took quite a while to do this. I suspect that the plastic barrels of these pens had received some kind of treatment popular a couple of decades ago that didn't stand up to time.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Dr.Grace

[RMN]

I've seen something like this with a couple of my cheap pens. The translucent plastic barrels were made to have a matte textured feel to them, but after quite a few years they turned to a gooey mess. The only thing that helped was to manually rub off the goo. It took quite a while to do this. I suspect that the plastic barrels of these pens had received some kind of treatment popular a couple of decades ago that didn't stand up to time.

 

I think this is another problem. Indeed some silicone coatings that give a rubberised feel get sticky after some use. I have had this with a computer keyboard and a pentel-pen.

 

What cphenson is referring to is a normal resin barrel going gooey.

 

 

D.ick