Experiments To 're-Blacken' Hard Rubber

[nono50]

On 8/16/2021 at 3:29 PM, nono50 said:

Hello
Thank you for your comments.
SOME news on the thread (click in the link on the message mentioned above).

SEMPER- J.M. PAILLARD Imported from the United States ...

SEMPER DESOXYDED

 

[VacNut]

On 8/21/2021 at 4:42 PM, nono50 said:

SEMPER DESOXYDED

 

nono50,

My French is horrible, but I was able to follow your experiments through Google Translate. What a wonderful read. Thank you for testing, and documenting your experiment. I have not read through your entire post, but it makes me very interested to try and experiment with your mixture.

 

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

 

BRAVO!!!!!

[nono50]

Hello, 

 

More 6 months after, some new tests from my mixture.

 

forum français de stylo plume

[nono50]

Hello, 

 

few months after, some new tests from my mixture.

 

New re-blacken tests

[txomsy]

Thanks for the update.

[nono50]

SOme new reblacken (waterman, excelsior de Bayard, PSf argent (silver), SEMPER eyedropper,...

 

My Website for a part of my collection of pen and fountain pen...:

 

www.cetout.net

[Inkyways]

How can we get this deoxidising  mix and  is it available to buy???

[grayautumnday]

On 3/5/2020 at 12:46 PM, Dr.X said:

Just did this the other day to a smooth BHR Waterman. Took me about 1hr (or a little more) to do just the barrel. I used all of the grades of micromesh I own (1500, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000). This was a heavily oxidized pen so it took me a while with the coarser grades before I reached black rubber.

 

BUT, I taped off the imprint and, like Sia said, it looks terrible. I'm applying Mark Hoover's gel to the area over and over and it is slowly getting darker, but is nowhere near the surrounding black. I may post a pic when I get home.

 

I'm not affiliated with Mr. Hoover in any way, but am a satisfied customer of his product:

https://www.lbepen.com/apps/webstore/products/show/6766975

I don't use it the way he recommends, mainly because I don't want to remove hardware. So I just paint it on, leave it, then paint more on (because it dries and the only way to fully get the dry stuff off is to wet it with the gel again) and then rub it off with a cotton shirt. The first application is quite dramatic - sulfur-smelling light brown stuff comes off, but subsequent coats work very slowly, if at all. I have yet to get a pen fully black with it again, but it definitely makes a difference and the pens I choose to treat look much better.

 

Thinking it's the bleaching agent used for hair, I bought some "40 Volume Creme Developer" from a local beauty supply store yesterday and applied them to a scrap 52 barrel. This has 15% peroxide in it, but also a lot of other ingredients. It made the area I treated much worse (lighter). So it might be the other ingredients or Mark's product is something else altogether. I may try to find some pure peroxide gel (or make some).

I personally would not use peroxide of any sort to combat oxidization - peroxide (and sodium percarbonate, a granulated powder that breaks down into  a very similar peroxide product when mixed in water) are oxidizers. They will only increase oxidization. They are also alkaline.

 

On metals, oxidized material can least harmfully be released from its base material with the use of weak acids - diluted vinegar, citric acid solution, etc. I'd personally do a spot test on an irreparable pen bit with a *very* weak acid solution soak for 10-20 min with a tiny amount of surfactant (blue dawn is my go-to) and then rubbing with a well-worn softened 100% cotton handkerchief or, even better, scrap of all-cotton t-shirt rag.

 

Another option might be to look at chemicals used as "reducing" agents for indigo dyeing, such as sodium hydrosulfite or thiourea dioxide -- I'd say it's a relatively safe bet that a stabilized/buffered reducing agent like one of those was what created the deoxidizer sulfur smell you described, as they're both sulfur-based.

 

HOWEVER, reducing agents are HIGHLY toxic and often carry a combustion risk if oxygen and or moisture gets into

 the containers they're kept in. They also need to be used outdoors or in a full-lab clean box with its own vent hood on max. 

NOTE: just one of many good safety info blog posts on the hazards of reducing agents (for use in indigo dye vats, but it applies to deoxidizing products anywhere):

https://blog.ellistextiles.com/2019/06/07/a-cautionary-tale-indigo-and-reducing-chemicals/

[grayautumnday]

One other option, that I find extraordinarily helpful in lightening cellulose-browning (oxidation because of warm wet alkali exposure and drying in a normal air environment) in oxidization darkened wood, removing surface rust on steel, removing undesirable overly-oxidized copper/brass patina/tarnish, or removing stubborn soot from unsealed brick or tile -- weak mixtures of oxalic acid. Its most convenient form is an extremely mild abrasive (oxalic acid mixed with superfine kaolin clay -- sold in grocery stores if you're in the USA), a product called Barkeeper's friend. 
 

A spot test with that might be quite worthwhile to those who do a fair bit of deoxidizing.