A Little Demonstration: How To Polish An Old Pen.

[Eric2018]

I accidentally came across a nice pen which I want to have for quite sometime.

A Parker 45: Gold Cap, 14K Fine nib, made in USA, black Barrel.

 

 

The one I got is quite old, but writes very well. As you can see above, there are lots of mini (not micro) scratchings and rust maybe around the pen, turn up I bought it as the price is nice and I really love the shape of the 45.

 

After writing some days, today I return her beauty.

I need a princess, not a muddy frog...

 

What I need?

 

 

[1] Tamiya Compound, Course, Fine, and Finish.

[2] Cape Cod polish cloth. (it is much better than the Autosol paste)

[3] Some rayon eyeglasses cloth, or you can get some fine micro fibre cloth, or even just some cloth.

[4] glove

[5] cotton buds & paper towels.

 

 

What to do?

[1] Wear the glove. And wash the pen under tab, some mild detergent may help but I just use water this time, beware of flushing small parts away....

[2] dry the parts with paper towel

 

[3] polishing the barrel

[3.1] squeeze some Coarse Compound on the barrel or on the cloth and polish with a fine cloth, for a pen barrel, say 5 mins is good enough.

[3.2] wash off under tap and slightly wipe dry with paper towel

[3.3] repeat 3.1 & 3.2

[3.4] use another new cloth, repeat as Coarse, but using Fine and then Finish (so total you wash six times. for the section area, I use Fine compound for one more time as the scratches from the metal cap are severe.

 

[4] polishing the metal parts

[4.1] cut a little piece of Cape Cod is fine for a pen, in my case, about 3 x 3 cm is good.

[4.2] when the metal part starts, everything will gone black, many oxidised powder will come out. Just continue to polish like 5 mins, until you feel fine. And during polishing the metal, you could wipe off the blackenings by a paper towel.

[4.3] when it is done, wash your hand. then using the soft fine cloth to wipe off the blackenings from the metal surface.

 

ATTENTION: if it is gold plated, I suggest a mild polishing procedures to be followed, otherwise if the plating is too thin, the plating could have a possibility to be wiped off by the polishing ingredient. For my case, although the cap is gold filled, I just have it polished slightly, so that there are still some micro scratches left behind. But anyway, it works really good already. And don't use too much force on polishing to avoid breaking the pen, man, the pen is old already. Quick, but not hard.

 

 

upper left, use cotton bud to polish and dry the small parts.

upper right, the compound paste

bottom left, the size of the Cape Cod cloth

bottom right, half way done, after Coarse and Fine Compound polishing.

 

 

What I get?

 

TADA!

 

I use a brand new Sailor Professional Gear for comparison.

 

 

 

 

[siamackz]

Very nice! Well done!

[PAKMAN]

Nice job!

[mitto]

Good job. Thanks for sharing.

[Eric2018]

[mitto]

Excellent. Enjoy writing with your P45.

[TheDutchGuy]

Looks great! Well done!

[Aysedasi]

Very smart indeed - good job!

[Brianm_14]

Great instructions, especially starting by washing the pen part and donning gloves. All it takes is one grain of grit to cause real problems. I like to use cloths which have been carefully washed by hand, then in a machine, then rinsed a number of times before drying.