Cleaning Ink Off Sj Barrel/cap

[Chiro75]

I took some fountain pens on the plane with me over the weekend and they did great going to California, but terrible on the way back. Both my P51 and Sj leaked horribly, I think because my carry-on was lying on its side. Anyway, I didn't discover it until this morning, so the ink had time to sit. The gray barrel and cap of the SJ have a (not unpleasant) purple color now from the Private Reserve ink, and I'd like it to return to the actual gray color.

 

I wiped with microfiber, soapy water and paper towels and that did nothing. I read another thread in which Simichrome was recommended, but I wanted to see if there was any other advice. This ink is pretty tenacious.

[FarmBoy]

Try ammonia/water and then try Rapidio ease ink remover.

 

I like to use a q-tip to continually soak the stained area.

 

T

[777]

I would say yes, simichrome is the way to go. It should work...

 

Maybe your catching on to something! How to make different colored Esterbrooks!

 

Regards,

777

[corniche]

Hello Chrio75,

 

Yes, try a mix of 15% CLEAR household ammonia and 85% water. Let it bathe in this solution for an hour or two; then take it out and rinse it off real good with plain luke warm water from the tap- hopefully the ink will rinse off. If not, take a paper towel dipped in the ammonia bath water and gently rub the spots- followed by a clear water rinse. If this still doesn't work- try the Simichrome.

 

Hope it all comes out for you,

 

Sean

[Brian Anderson]

Had the same situation once, but had a dozen or more pens (caps, sections, nibs, etc.) in my ultrasonic as usual, came back an hour later to notice everything was purple. After I calmed down from near panic, I ran through some clear water in the ultrasonic (did not really help), then let them dry overnight and polished with simicrome in the morning and it was all gone.

 

If you had a lot of ink leak, I would leave that cap in water for quite a while. Short of an ultrasonic, or pulling the inner cap, you'll want to make sure as much ink is out of the inside of the cap as possible, then let it dry for at least 12 hours or overnight. If you don't get it all out, it will come back the next time moisture builds up or you travel again.

 

Best-

Brian

[Chiro75]

Well, contrary to all advice given, I used a medium toothbrush and some Tom's of Maine (fennel flavor, if it matters, lol) toothpaste. I don't know if it was the relatively stiff brush or the toothpaste's mild abrasives, but the combo did the job, a little too well. The beautiful shiny finish that 777 sent the pen in was lost, knocked down to a nice smooth matte finish. Not unpleasant, but the toothpaste/brush was a lot harder on the finish than I expected. My background in doing stuff like this is with steels, as my main hobby used to be knifemaking, so I guess plastics are a lot softer. Duh! So, I have a really smooth matte finish on the barrel and the nice deep polish on the cap, which I like better on this pen, so I'll probably use Simichrome now to bring it up to it's previous glory.

[wpb]

You can get the shine back pretty easily.

 

I use Micro Mesh polishing clothes. I start with grade 3200, then work my way through 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, and finally 12000. I keep the pen wet with water while sanding. I get an amazing shine with this method. I then finish off the pen with Novus polish (a very gentle polish). It sounds complicated, but it's very easy. Only takes about 15 minutes to shine the section, cap, and barrel.

 

Bill

Edited January 26, 2011 by wpb