Pelikan Pitting Repair

November 11, 2022

After more than a dacade of regular use, my Pelikan pens have developed deep pitting corrosion at the gold ring at the nib end of the section. I wrote to my original supplier and they gave be contact details for an approved repair service. This did not give me a fixed price to replace the ring but requested the pen to be sent to them for a repair assessment. The charges for just the assessment and post and insurance have put me off completely. I decided to have a go at a repair myself starting on an older, cheaper pen.

I started by cleaning and getting as much of the dark material away from the holes. The next step was to deposit copper into the pitting using a basic electroplating kit and copper solution. This took several layers and rubbing back to get level with the original gold plating surface. I then decided to increase the protection of the base materials with a layer of nickel plated over the copper and hopefully thick enough to avoid porosity. This layer looked quite dull at first but eventually became brighter after polishing and replating a few times.

The final step was to reapply a decorative gold plating layer and get the surface back to the original bling. I have used the pen plating kit before for decorative restoration but this was the first attempt at filling the pitting craters. I feel more confident now. I will use the M600 for a while with the 4001 ink and see how it survives before attempting the process on my M800, which has a rough edge and one deep corroded pit hole.