Doric Refurb (Nib Gunk)

[compnaut]

Hi.

I visited a flea market a couple of weeks ago hoping to find some old and nearly worthless pens to practice nib tuning and sac replacement on. I was looking for victims. Instead, I found two pens that cost more than I was planning on spending for my cruel experiments. They looked interesting and I bought them thinking I would try my hand getting these nicer looking pens in working order after I had practiced on cheaper pens. Well, the more I read about them, the more interested I became in the manufacturers and especially in this one particular model. The first pen appears to be a Kashmir Doric Junior with a #2 nib marked flexible. That word "flexible" was what first caught my eye. It may only be a semi-flex (not really sure) but I would like to repair it and write with it. Having read a lot about how fragile the celluloid pens could be, I am starting to think I should get some help rather than risk ruining a nice pen that has survived these many years. I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer to help me decide if it is worthwhile to try and restore these twp pens.

 

1. I see two areas of a slightly different, brighter shade of green. One at each end of the pen. Does this sound like the beginning of the celluloid crystallization I have read about? If so, is the pen still worth restoring?

2. The nib or the feed, really, seems to be gunked up with a blueish white material. My experience with fountain pens is rather limited. Is this simply dried out ink? Or has the nib been corroded? Or perhaps the feed has deteriorated?

 

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The other pen I purchased that day is a Shaeffer flat-top model 5-30 in green. It appears to be in better shape, and really nice in its own way, but the Doric is the one I am most concerned about at present.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

[pen lady]

The nice thing about gold nibs is that corrosion is not normally an issue. If you just want to clean up the nib and feed until more experienced help writes in, I'd just try soaking. Don't have the water deep enough to touch the section and soak the nib and feed in the usual household ammonia and water mix. (1 part ammonia 9 parts water). See what comes out after a day, then, you can always give things a gentle scrub with a soft toothbrush and a mild dish-soap solution. I've see Dawn recommended. Good luck and I hope that the pen doesn't have the dreaded crystallization disease, it's far to pretty to die young!!!!

[stephenchin]

Sorry to say that definitely looks like the dread crystallization we Doric lovers know too well. More transparency, different, more vivid color, and often microstriations. This is particularly common in the green marble and the burgundy marble early dorics like yours.

 

You will want to segregate this pen from your other celluloid ones as the outgassing affects other plastics. Keep it in a cool dark place with good ventilation and it may remain stable for a while. And be very careful when you use it. The ends are prone to crumbling now without much provocation.

[compnaut]

Thanks for the reply. That's too bad. I was trying to decide whether the pen was so nice (it certainly is a very pretty pen) that I should pay an experienced restorer to clean it up for me. This makes it sound like I should probably skip the expense and try to remove the section and re-sac and clean up the pen myself. The one exception would be if there were some treatment that a professional could use to halt the progression of the crystallization. Everything I read says no, with the exception of a posting elsewhere by someone who bought a celluloid pen with the same discoloration from a vintage pen restorer who (according to her post) claimed he had treated the pen he sold her to halt the progression of the rot. Do you know anything about such a treatment?

[Wahlnut]

Depending on how far the crystallization has gone, (before structural integrity is lost all the way to the exterior of the pen) it can sometimes be arrested. The crystallization usually happens because the polymer chain links break when the polymerizing agent that was used to make the originall plastic breaks down/evaporates out of the plastic. If the crystallized plastic can be reached from inside the pen (remove the inner cap-if the pen can withstand that it's probably strong enough to be a good candidate for this ) with an artists brush (not a Qtip ) then a restorer with experience can apply solvent with the new polymerising oil (sometimes with oil based pigment if necessary) which wicks into the crystallization and fuses. Without the oil the repair will not last indefinitely but can help for many years ( up 10 in my experience). Hint: ever smelled the Doric plastic when heated or cut? What does it have in common with other cellulose products? Say a ping pong ball. What's that odor? It's the odor if the polymerizing agent.

Syd