Modifying the cap on a beat up vintage Platinum Pocket

[PenLovingE]

I picked up this Platinum Pocket, from 66 or 67, for a great price. The plastic polished up nicely and now I've turned my attention towards the cap. There are some minor dents that could be burnished out but the cap is scuffed to the metal below. My question is: Does anyone know how to remove the clip? I was thinking of sanding the whole cap, save for the "Platinum" band at the bottom and the finial at the top,to apply sort of a soft brushed look to the pen. What say the FPN?

[PLANRD]

Hello, I also own several Japanese vintage pocket fountain pens (I had more before, but unfortunately some were stolen and some given to friends). I too have considered modifying pens when their lacquer wears down. However, the uneven adhesion of the original lacquer makes smooth sanding particularly challenging. Ultimately, I chose to refinish them using cashew lacquer.

 

Regarding your question: I once emailed Platinum Pen Company, and their staff responded that personal removal of the short pen clip is not feasible. After extensive research, I only found one modification post on a Chinese forum (Baidu Tieba) demonstrating clip removal. Notably, the user didn't reinstall the clip afterward, leading me to suspect such removal might cause irreversible damage.

 

My recommendation would be to consider sanding the surface to a matte finish followed by spray painting. If interested in traditional methods, cashew lacquer or urushi lacquer could be viable options. For clip adjustments, you might try supporting it with something underneath for minor modifications.

 

I'll share photos of my pocket pens along with vintage illustrations of Pilot's ELITE series from last century for reference. While not strictly pocket pens, the ELITE models are relatively compact compared to standard fountain pens.

 

[Note: For efficiency, I used AI translation while preserving my original Chinese text below to ensure accuracy. Wishing you success in your pen restoration!]

 

(Original Chinese text attached here as reference)

 

你好，我也有几只日本中古口袋钢笔（之前还有更多，可惜有的被偷了有的送朋友了），我也觉得钢笔磨损想要改装。但是钢笔上的漆附着程度不均匀，打磨光滑很难。最后我选择了用腰果漆对其改造。

说回你的问题，我曾经电子邮件询问过白金钢笔公司，他们工作人员回答我个人无法移除短钢笔夹。我个人也搜索了许多，最后发现只有一个中国贴吧里改造帖子取出了笔夹。但是他最后没有装上去，我担心可能是这类笔夹拆除容易造成破坏性伤害。

最后我建议你考虑打磨粗糙后使用喷漆改造，如果有兴趣的话可以使用腰果漆或者大漆进行改造。笔夹下用东西支撑着进行稍微修改。

我将放出我的口袋钢笔图片，以及上世纪百乐的ELITE时绘图片为您参考。尽管百乐的不是口袋钢笔，而是长一些的钢笔。

为了快捷输入我使用了AI进行翻译，并附上我的中文原文，希望不要有翻译缺漏，也祝您修笔成功。

 

[PenLovingE]

18 hours ago, PLANRD said:

Hello, I also own several Japanese vintage pocket fountain pens (I had more before, but unfortunately some were stolen and some given to friends). I too have considered modifying pens when their lacquer wears down. However, the uneven adhesion of the original lacquer makes smooth sanding particularly challenging. Ultimately, I chose to refinish them using cashew lacquer.

 

Regarding your question: I once emailed Platinum Pen Company, and their staff responded that personal removal of the short pen clip is not feasible. After extensive research, I only found one modification post on a Chinese forum (Baidu Tieba) demonstrating clip removal. Notably, the user didn't reinstall the clip afterward, leading me to suspect such removal might cause irreversible damage.

 

My recommendation would be to consider sanding the surface to a matte finish followed by spray painting. If interested in traditional methods, cashew lacquer or urushi lacquer could be viable options. For clip adjustments, you might try supporting it with something underneath for minor modifications.

 

I'll share photos of my pocket pens along with vintage illustrations of Pilot's ELITE series from last century for reference. While not strictly pocket pens, the ELITE models are relatively compact compared to standard fountain pens.

 

[Note: For efficiency, I used AI translation while preserving my original Chinese text below to ensure accuracy. Wishing you success in your pen restoration!]

 

(Original Chinese text attached here as reference)

 

你好，我也有几只日本中古口袋钢笔（之前还有更多，可惜有的被偷了有的送朋友了），我也觉得钢笔磨损想要改装。但是钢笔上的漆附着程度不均匀，打磨光滑很难。最后我选择了用腰果漆对其改造。

说回你的问题，我曾经电子邮件询问过白金钢笔公司，他们工作人员回答我个人无法移除短钢笔夹。我个人也搜索了许多，最后发现只有一个中国贴吧里改造帖子取出了笔夹。但是他最后没有装上去，我担心可能是这类笔夹拆除容易造成破坏性伤害。

最后我建议你考虑打磨粗糙后使用喷漆改造，如果有兴趣的话可以使用腰果漆或者大漆进行改造。笔夹下用东西支撑着进行稍微修改。

我将放出我的口袋钢笔图片，以及上世纪百乐的ELITE时绘图片为您参考。尽管百乐的不是口袋钢笔，而是长一些的钢笔。

为了快捷输入我使用了AI进行翻译，并附上我的中文原文，希望不要有翻译缺漏，也祝您修笔成功。

 

Thank you for the thorough response. I haven't considered a lacquer coating. You did beautiful work on your pens! Did you have any issues sanding them between layers?

[PLANRD]

If you aim solely to sand off the original lacquer from the pen cap, manual sanding may result in uneven outcomes. For instance, certain areas prove stubbornly resistant (I’ve encountered spots where the lacquer clings tenaciously, even when using coarser grit sandpaper) or hard-to-reach corners. Without specialized sanding equipment, achieving a completely bare aluminum cap would pose a significant challenge.  

 

The area beneath the clip is particularly difficult to sand. You might try propping it up with a tool and carefully scraping away fragile lacquer sections with a knife to minimize the coated area.  

 

In my own practice, I use cashew lacquer for pen decoration, so I never sand caps down to fully expose the aluminum substrate.  

 

Hope these insights prove useful for your project.

 

如果你只想打磨掉笔帽原本漆面，那么手动打磨很可能有不均匀的状况，比如有的位置不好磨（我在打磨时候发现某处的漆会非常难以脱离，使用更粗糙的砂纸也不行）或者是死角，如果你没有打磨用的机器，试图把它打磨成完全无漆面铝笔帽会是一个巨大的挑战。笔夹下不太好打磨，可以用一根东西顶起再用小刀刮去脆弱部分，让覆盖漆的部分更小

我用腰果漆装饰钢笔，所以并没有打磨到笔帽完全露出铝壳的程度。

希望能对你有所帮助。

[PenLovingE]

On 4/17/2025 at 8:50 PM, PLANRD said:

If you aim solely to sand off the original lacquer from the pen cap, manual sanding may result in uneven outcomes. For instance, certain areas prove stubbornly resistant (I’ve encountered spots where the lacquer clings tenaciously, even when using coarser grit sandpaper) or hard-to-reach corners. Without specialized sanding equipment, achieving a completely bare aluminum cap would pose a significant challenge.  

 

The area beneath the clip is particularly difficult to sand. You might try propping it up with a tool and carefully scraping away fragile lacquer sections with a knife to minimize the coated area.  

 

In my own practice, I use cashew lacquer for pen decoration, so I never sand caps down to fully expose the aluminum substrate.  

 

Hope these insights prove useful for your project.

 

如果你只想打磨掉笔帽原本漆面，那么手动打磨很可能有不均匀的状况，比如有的位置不好磨（我在打磨时候发现某处的漆会非常难以脱离，使用更粗糙的砂纸也不行）或者是死角，如果你没有打磨用的机器，试图把它打磨成完全无漆面铝笔帽会是一个巨大的挑战。笔夹下不太好打磨，可以用一根东西顶起再用小刀刮去脆弱部分，让覆盖漆的部分更小

我用腰果漆装饰钢笔，所以并没有打磨到笔帽完全露出铝壳的程度。

希望能对你有所帮助。

This was very useful information. Thank you!