A Namiki Colza Flowers from the 1980s repaired and re-polished

[MartinPauli]

I recently received a Maki-e fountain pen made by Namiki, featuring beautiful colza flowers and a butterfly. On the left side of the clip, where it was inserted into the cap, a part “chip” has broken out. The lacquer is generally a little duller than the section and piece of the barrel with tread protected by the cap. This is due to the influence of light. The fountain pen has either been in a display case or on a writing table for a long time. I personally prefer to use "Shôen Neri" lacquer pigmented with lamp black as a black base coat instead of the commonly used "Roiro Nuri" blackened transparent lacquer. Shôen Neri remains deep black forever, whereas Roiro Nuri reacts strongly to light and becomes matt over time, tending towards brownish.

 

However. I filled the chip at the clip with black urushi and charcoal powder and after the coarse sanding I finished it with Roiro Urushi. After the fine sanding, I made an "Uwazuri" on the whole fountain pen. I rubbed raw lacquer “Kiurushi” on the repaired part and let it cure. This was repeated 3 time. Then I polished the lacquer surfaces with rapeseed oil and "Migako" fine polishing powder. After cleaning, high-gloss polishing followed with Migako without oil using my fingertips. The Makie-e work was executed quite healthy, so therefore a re-polishing was appropriate.

Best regards,

 

Martin

 

[a student]

Well done indeed! You are a person if some diverse skills alright!

[rudyhou]

👍 Very nice indeed.  Thank you for sharing.  We don't get to see this rare Namiki anymore these days.  

[MartinPauli]

Thank you for your comments. Indeed a nice and rare pen. He belongs to a frriend who is wiwidly building up a rematkable Namiki collection. I have just posted the thread since there were many discussions on putting hands on a vintage maki-e pen

[Doc Dan]

That is a beautiful pen and great restoration. Thanks for posting.

[jchch1950]

An important contribution to pen knowledge in general al to lacquer use in particular. A Namiki pen restored to its original condition.