How To Remove Stink Perfume Smell From Vintage Fountain Pen?

[kealani]

I have just received a beautiful restored Parker Vacumatic in the mail from Ebay. Got it for $83.

 

It has a nasty strong perfume odor on the body and cap.

 

I tried cleaning it with windex, light laundry soap and soft sponge, and alcohol wipes. Also tried "Pet Odor Remover" which normally takes any organic smell away. And, it still reeks so bad that my hand smells from holding it.

 

Questions:

 

1. Can the smell be removed? . . . How?

 

2. Is the smell absorbed into the plastic?

 

3. Should I just try to return it?

 

 

Thanks for your help.

jim

Edited June 15, 2019 by AlohaJim

[Honeybadgers]

the odor should fade with time. Just keep it somewhere with good airflow for a few weeks.

[kealani]

the odor should fade with time. Just keep it somewhere with good airflow for a few weeks.

 

Maybe in a gallon zip lock freezer bag with a box of baking soda?

[ac12]

I have just received a beautiful restored Parker Vacumatic in the mail from Ebay. Got it for $83.

 

It has a nasty strong perfume odor on the body and cap.

 

I tried cleaning it with windex, light laundry soap and soft sponge, and alcohol wipes. Also tried "Pet Odor Remover" which normally takes any organic smell away. And, it still reeks so bad that my hand smells from holding it.

 

Questions:

 

1. Can the smell be removed? . . . How?

 

2. Is the smell absorbed into the plastic?

 

3. Should I just try to return it?

 

 

Thanks for your help.

jim

 

Alcohol is NOT good, as it melts some plastics.

Don't ask how I know.

 

The source of the smell has likely been absorbed into the plastic like a stain.

 

If you want it, then try baking soda or other ideas, but realize that you won't be able to return it.

 

If you are indifferent, return it. And make sure you tell the seller why. Something like that should be disclosed.

But in a shop with possibly hundreds of other pens, and all kinds of shop odor, it may not be easy to determine that the pen smells. My garage toolbox probably smells as bad as that pen.

Edited June 16, 2019 by ac12

[kealani]

 

Alcohol is NOT good, as it melts some plastics.

Don't ask how I know.

 

Okay. good to know. It actually made the smell stronger. Strange.

DW said try wipe it down with vinegar and a paper towel. No change.

I'll let it sit for a week n a ziplock bag with a box of baking soda.

Beyond that, I'll either try to return it or resell it.

Maybe older plastics absorbed oils and scents from peoples hands. Sort of like the nasty colognes some folks wear now and it's on their hands and clothes. Dunno.

Thanks,

j

[Honeybadgers]

 

Maybe in a gallon zip lock freezer bag with a box of baking soda?

 

I wouldn't keep the pen in a container with any chemical compound. I wouldn't even have done any of the before things you did to it.

 

Stop wiping it down with basic and acidic ingredients. You're going to absolutely destroy the pen trying to accelerate something that will fade on its own in a few weeks.

 

The volatile compounds may have gotten into the porous material, but what goes in will come out with good ventilation and time.

 

Don't put it in a bag, that will just seal everything in, and if anything offgasses from the bicarbonate (which is alkali) as well as minute amounts of the bicarb itself vaporizing slowly and possibly depositing onto the pen itself, into a enclosed space could utterly destroy the pen. Everything you've been putting on it has been acidic or basic and is NOT GOOD FOR RUBBERS OR PLASTIC.

 

The bicarb itself won't "suck" the odors from the plastic. If they absorb any odors at all, it will be just absorbing the odors that are naturally vaporized into the air, and would just dissipate. The point of baking soda in a cupboard or fridge is to just absorb the odors sitting in the air. It won't remove the odors from that rotten cheese, it will just absorb what does come off. So a ventilated room would do the exact same purpose. You'd have to literally soak the pen in a bicarb solution. WHICH IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.

 

The most I'll ever touch pens with is a 10% ammonia solution (occasionally dilute bleach for de-staining some pens, but that's only in emergencies when I used an ink that I shouldn't... stupid pelikan m205 demonstrator plastic.) and even then, ONLY when absolutely necessary, touching as few parts of the pen as possible, and only for the shortest period of time possible.

 

Acrylics should be relatively inert, but ABS, celluloid, the bioplastics, and ebonite are all BAD things to be putting any solvent other than water onto.

 

Just take it and put it on a table in a room for a few weeks. The smell will fade. All volatiles (odor causing compounds) will eventually leave. If they're volatile enough to smell, that means the odor causing compounds are escaping into the air, which means they will eventually all leave with time. Noodlers pens stink, but the odor fades within a few weeks. Newly cut acrylic stinks, but that odor fades quickly too.

 

Think about it like a bottlecap with a few drops of denatured alcohol in it. The alcohol stinks like hell, but it eventually evaporates and you are left with no smell. Alcohol may vaporize faster than the compounds on your pen, but the principle, vapor pressure, is the same.

 

 

- a biochemistry student.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[kealani]

 

I wouldn't keep the pen in a container with any chemical compound. I wouldn't even have done any of the before things you did to it.

 

Stop wiping it down with basic and acidic ingredients. You're going to absolutely destroy the pen trying to accelerate something that will fade on its own in a few weeks.

 

The volatile compounds may have gotten into the porous material, but what goes in will come out with good ventilation and time.

 

Don't put it in a bag, that will just seal everything in, and if anything offgasses from the bicarbonate (which is alkali) as well as minute amounts of the bicarb itself vaporizing slowly and possibly depositing onto the pen itself, into a enclosed space could utterly destroy the pen. Everything you've been putting on it has been acidic or basic and is NOT GOOD FOR RUBBERS OR PLASTIC.

 

The bicarb itself won't "suck" the odors from the plastic. If they absorb any odors at all, it will be just absorbing the odors that are naturally vaporized into the air, and would just dissipate. The point of baking soda in a cupboard or fridge is to just absorb the odors sitting in the air. It won't remove the odors from that rotten cheese, it will just absorb what does come off. So a ventilated room would do the exact same purpose. You'd have to literally soak the pen in a bicarb solution. WHICH IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.

 

The most I'll ever touch pens with is a 10% ammonia solution (occasionally dilute bleach for de-staining some pens, but that's only in emergencies when I used an ink that I shouldn't... stupid pelikan m205 demonstrator plastic.) and even then, ONLY when absolutely necessary, touching as few parts of the pen as possible, and only for the shortest period of time possible.

 

Acrylics should be relatively inert, but ABS, celluloid, the bioplastics, and ebonite are all BAD things to be putting any solvent other than water onto.

 

Just take it and put it on a table in a room for a few weeks. The smell will fade. All volatiles (odor causing compounds) will eventually leave. If they're volatile enough to smell, that means the odor causing compounds are escaping into the air, which means they will eventually all leave with time. Noodlers pens stink, but the odor fades within a few weeks. Newly cut acrylic stinks, but that odor fades quickly too.

 

Think about it like a bottlecap with a few drops of denatured alcohol in it. The alcohol stinks like hell, but it eventually evaporates and you are left with no smell. Alcohol may vaporize faster than the compounds on your pen, but the principle, vapor pressure, is the same.

 

 

- a biochemistry student.

 

Thanks for the great info. I will follow your advice.

As for fading in time. It's very possible that a past owner had strong perfume on her/his hands and over years it absorbed into the plastic. Perhaps, especially older plastics. I have had this happen in the past and the smell does not go away.

Thanks again for your help.

jim

[kealani]

Thanks everyone for your help.

The cologne/perfume smell on this pen is embedded into the plastic and is simply overwhelming in strength.

I'm going to pursue a return on ebay, if that doesn't work, then I'll list and sell it on ebay. It is a beautiful pen, though I haven't inked it, for someone who the smell might not bother.

I suppose if I list it for sale on ebay, that I should also say it smells like perfume but not cigarette smoke.

j

[BaronWulfraed]

Don't put it in a bag, that will just seal everything in, and if anything offgasses from the bicarbonate (which is alkali) as well as minute amounts of the bicarb itself vaporizing slowly and possibly depositing onto the pen itself, into a enclosed space could utterly destroy the pen. Everything you've been putting on it has been acidic or basic and is NOT GOOD FOR RUBBERS OR PLASTIC.

 

The bicarb itself won't "suck" the odors from the plastic. If they absorb any odors at all, it will be just absorbing the odors that are naturally vaporized into the air, and would just dissipate. The point of baking soda in a cupboard or fridge is to just absorb the odors sitting in the air. It won't remove the odors from that rotten cheese, it will just absorb what does come off. So a ventilated room would do the exact same purpose. You'd have to literally soak the pen in a bicarb solution. WHICH IS A TERRIBLE IDEA.

 

Maybe, if one can find a Food Saver vacuum container (strangely, while I can find the heat seal bags every where, and all the Food Saver vacuum sealers have a port for a hose, I have NOT found the plastic containers into which the hose fits) and lay the pen in a bed of activated charcoal (the stuff used in air filters) and THEN apply the vacuum to the container -- the vacuum may speed the outgassing from the pen, and the activated charcoal could then trap the odors.

 

Wouldn't recommend using the bag, as the vacuum would collapse the bag tightly against the exposed areas of the pen, blocking the desired outgassing.

[tim77]

What is the vacumatic made of? Certain plastics make a nasty smell as they age and break down. Cellulose acetate butyrate, frequently used in screwdriver handles, is one notorious example. There's no way to stop the production of the smell, but often all you need to do is keep it well aired so that the smell can't build up.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Thanks for the great info. I will follow your advice.

As for fading in time. It's very possible that a past owner had strong perfume on her/his hands and over years it absorbed into the plastic. Perhaps, especially older plastics. I have had this happen in the past and the smell does not go away.

Thanks again for your help.

jim

 

I doubt it. I really doubt it. Anything that goes in and lingers might be fat soluble and be on the oils of their hands, but that would be remedied with mild dish detergent (dawn brand only, trust us, don't use the cheap stuff, dawn is basically proprietary, despite the patent on their formula being free to use by others, nobody else uses it because it's more expensive)

 

You could try a gentle dawn soap detergent on a paper towel, wiping the pen down with a mild scrubbing motion and then wiping with water. This isn't great for the pen, as it will suck out a lot of the hand oils that also keep it protected, but it might get any fat soluble odors clinging on.

 

Good ventilation is key. Sticking a smelly pen in a drawer or pen case will not let the odors get away, and they'll just re-deposit onto the pen.

 

activated charcoal might do better than the bicarbonate, but it also won't do any better than the air itself. Again, you can't wick the odors out of the pen without direct contact with a solution, which is a bad idea. And sealing it in a bag is just a recipe for disaster.

 

Are you sure that you're not smelling the musty odor of plastics in general as they age? It can actually smell like a ton of things, from kind of flowery to almost like vomit as it ages. Like tim77 said, screwdrivers in particular get a nasty, vomit-like odor if they're exposed to a lot of oil in their life.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[kealani]

 

I doubt it. I really doubt it. Anything that goes in and lingers might be fat soluble and be on the oils of their hands, but that would be remedied with mild dish detergent (dawn brand only, trust us, don't use the cheap stuff, dawn is basically proprietary, despite the patent on their formula being free to use by others, nobody else uses it because it's more expensive)

 

You could try a gentle dawn soap detergent on a paper towel, wiping the pen down with a mild scrubbing motion and then wiping with water. This isn't great for the pen, as it will suck out a lot of the hand oils that also keep it protected, but it might get any fat soluble odors clinging on.

 

Good ventilation is key. Sticking a smelly pen in a drawer or pen case will not let the odors get away, and they'll just re-deposit onto the pen.

 

activated charcoal might do better than the bicarbonate, but it also won't do any better than the air itself. Again, you can't wick the odors out of the pen without direct contact with a solution, which is a bad idea. And sealing it in a bag is just a recipe for disaster.

 

Are you sure that you're not smelling the musty odor of plastics in general as they age? It can actually smell like a ton of things, from kind of flowery to almost like vomit as it ages. Like tim77 said, screwdrivers in particular get a nasty, vomit-like odor if they're exposed to a lot of oil in their life.

 

Unfortunately, I have a "wolf" nose due to chemical sensitivities. This smell is on the level of the "Axe" bodyspray cologne sold in stores. It's pretty fragrant. Not a chemical smell. Right now I have it wrapped in a paper towel in a zip lock bag ready to return to ebay seller unless he gives me a hard time about it. I think this is similar to an old pen that lived in a smoke filled home for 50 years and the user had cigarette or cigar hands. The smell is embedded.

 

thanks for the help.

jim

[kealani]

 

I doubt it. I really doubt it. Anything that goes in and lingers might be fat soluble and be on the oils of their hands, but that would be remedied with mild dish detergent (dawn brand only, trust us, don't use the cheap stuff, dawn is basically proprietary, despite the patent on their formula being free to use by others, nobody else uses it because it's more expensive)

 

You could try a gentle dawn soap detergent on a paper towel, wiping the pen down with a mild scrubbing motion and then wiping with water. This isn't great for the pen, as it will suck out a lot of the hand oils that also keep it protected, but it might get any fat soluble odors clinging on.

 

Good ventilation is key. Sticking a smelly pen in a drawer or pen case will not let the odors get away, and they'll just re-deposit onto the pen.

 

activated charcoal might do better than the bicarbonate, but it also won't do any better than the air itself. Again, you can't wick the odors out of the pen without direct contact with a solution, which is a bad idea. And sealing it in a bag is just a recipe for disaster.

 

Are you sure that you're not smelling the musty odor of plastics in general as they age? It can actually smell like a ton of things, from kind of flowery to almost like vomit as it ages. Like tim77 said, screwdrivers in particular get a nasty, vomit-like odor if they're exposed to a lot of oil in their life.

Dawn dish soap and a damp paper towel did not work.

I don't want to mess with the pen too much since I want to return it at this point.

 

I have 2 other vintage pens, 1940 and 1945 Skyline Eversharps that do not smell.

 

thanks for the help.

jim

[kealani]

What is the vacumatic made of? Certain plastics make a nasty smell as they age and break down. Cellulose acetate butyrate, frequently used in screwdriver handles, is one notorious example. There's no way to stop the production of the smell, but often all you need to do is keep it well aired so that the smell can't build up.

 

I don't know about vintage plastics. This pen is in great shape. The plastic is more like those old black telephones that used to hand on the kitchen wall. That type of plastic maybe. Not the modern hard stuff.

 

Thanks for the help.

jim

[praxim]

If the smell camer from the outside then it will go away, as Honeybadgers has repeated. The alternative is that it is being generated continuously by the pen, not merely the efflux of something it has absorbed. Self-generation is entirely possible. Saying it is not a chemical smell is meaningless. There aren't any others, merely how acceptable they are to an individual.

 

I agree entirely with you trying to get a refund or selling the pen if you can not.

[kestrel]

I am not a biochemistry student so honeybadger can step in if I get anything in this wrong. I do have severe perfume allergies and this is what the doctors have told me. Most modern perfumes use scents derived from fossil fuel derivatives like coal tar and such. They are supposed to be volatile (they evaporate) because if they weren't they would have no odor and scentless perfumes are an oxymoron. They can't be too volatile because then the scent wouldn't linger and the wearer would lose his or her allure too soon. Eventually these aromatic hydrocarbons will go away if allowed to vaporize into the air whether on skin or clothing or celluloid.

 

I bought a Sheaffer's Balance a few years ago. It was a great pen, a size and color I had been seeking for years. It also reeked of Obsession which is one of those scents that can put me in the emergency room. It spent six weeks on a pedestal made of old film canisters on my screened in back porch before I could bring it back in the house again. If you really like your Vac you may have to do something similar. The key is air flow over time.

 

Good Luck. Vacs are nice pens well worth saving.

[Bibliophage]

To reiterate some of the above.

 

1) If it's a perfume-like odour, it will disappear with time. This is a complaint on shaving forums about ARKO. (Personally, I like the odor, and don't think it smells like bathroom urinal puck. ) The technique used by people there is to shred the soap up into a container, then leave it exposed to air for a couple of weeks.

 

2) Activated charcoal will help absorb the released compounds if you keep it inside. You could put it in a semi-sealed container (old tupperware or lunch meat container with some holes in the lid) if you want to have it in a controlled environment, yet not have to smell it constantly.

 

If you put it outside, i.e. the garage, don't bother with the activated charcoal.

[Honeybadgers]

 

Unfortunately, I have a "wolf" nose due to chemical sensitivities. This smell is on the level of the "Axe" bodyspray cologne sold in stores. It's pretty fragrant. Not a chemical smell. Right now I have it wrapped in a paper towel in a zip lock bag ready to return to ebay seller unless he gives me a hard time about it. I think this is similar to an old pen that lived in a smoke filled home for 50 years and the user had cigarette or cigar hands. The smell is embedded.

 

thanks for the help.

jim

 

 

If it bothers you that much, there is no shame in returning it. Some people are absolutely more sensitive to smells than others! I personally like the smell of the noodlers/indian bio plastics, but most people HATE it.

 

Don't mention to the seller that you wiped it with all the things you did

Edited June 17, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[kealani]

I am not a biochemistry student so honeybadger can step in if I get anything in this wrong. I do have severe perfume allergies and this is what the doctors have told me. Most modern perfumes use scents derived from fossil fuel derivatives like coal tar and such. They are supposed to be volatile (they evaporate) because if they weren't they would have no odor and scentless perfumes are an oxymoron. They can't be too volatile because then the scent wouldn't linger and the wearer would lose his or her allure too soon. Eventually these aromatic hydrocarbons will go away if allowed to vaporize into the air whether on skin or clothing or celluloid.

 

I bought a Sheaffer's Balance a few years ago. It was a great pen, a size and color I had been seeking for years. It also reeked of Obsession which is one of those scents that can put me in the emergency room. It spent six weeks on a pedestal made of old film canisters on my screened in back porch before I could bring it back in the house again. If you really like your Vac you may have to do something similar. The key is air flow over time.

 

Good Luck. Vacs are nice pens well worth saving.

 

"Obsession", wow. You even know the names of the scents. That's advanced.

. . . This scent seems to be well absorbed into the pen. I had another that DW gave me that her MIL had owned all her life since WWII. It ranked but more of old perfume sweat funk. I gave it back.

. . . This pen smelled so bad that I could smell it as soon as I opened the box, still not unwrapped the plastic packaging. That happens often to shipping as packers have Axe cologne, etc, on thier hands (Amazon) but as long as the product is okay, then fine.

Thanks for the help. . . . I've contacted the seller for a refund. Don't know if he'll give me a hard time on Ebay. Some do. Always a chance of that.

jim

[kealani]

If the smell camer from the outside then it will go away, as Honeybadgers has repeated. The alternative is that it is being generated continuously by the pen, not merely the efflux of something it has absorbed. Self-generation is entirely possible. Saying it is not a chemical smell is meaningless. There aren't any others, merely how acceptable they are to an individual.

 

I agree entirely with you trying to get a refund or selling the pen if you can not.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Return in progress, we'll see if it happens or turns to hassle.

I really want to keep the pen as it's a beauty and a good price, but, oh well, there will be others.

jim