I am interested in cleaning and polishing a pre-WWII fountain pen and mechanical pencil. I'm concerned that I will damage them (e.g., remove gold plating or scratch the plastic) if I use typical supermarket metal polishes.

One is a black "Sailor 21" pocket type (long cap with a short barrel) fountain pen with a 21K nib. The other is a jade-colored Sheaffer's Lifetime Goldfilled mechanical pencil.

Thank you.

See "Simichrome on FPs?" in this forum.

Sputnik1,

You have to be reasonably careful in your selection of compounds, it depends on the pen material.

Firstly the trim, gold-plated usually. Remember it is very very thin so any polishing will remove some gold. If the trim is "brassed" it means some plating has worn off and no amount of polishing will improve it, you have to understand the base metal will tarnish again so I generally just use a jewellers cloth for this.

If the pen is celluliod or plastic I have found Mothers plastic polish to be fantastic. This polish is generally used for perspex polishing and works wonders.

BHR is another matter all together, often it has started to oxidise and turn brown. I'm not an expert with this but do not get water near it, it will turn browner, greenish, even yellow...yuk.

Alternately to all above there are some great resources for pen polishing materials. I would recommend contating Giovanni at www.tryphon.it for some great products. usuall disclaimer yada yada yada

Gary