Hi Everyone

I have to start by saying I'm not a fan of the Lustraloy cap. Although they look nice when perfect, the finish doesn't seem durable enough for my liking.

However, looking at the P51s at Wet Inc, I notice that quite a number of them have 'refinished caps with matte finish'. Is this an attempt to restore the original 'frosting', or is it intended to be an acceptable substitute? Does anybody know the process involved, or have such a pen, and could share their opinion?

I do this kind of work. I don't know exactly what process Parker used, but I've developed a process that works to produce the desired result.

Richard, Ron and Daniel do these nicely. I had a 51 first year wedding band cap with amazingly bad engraving (a stamped name that was gouged out in a metal cap!) which, along with removal of the problem, received a nice refrosting by Daniel. I've watched Ron do these in person during our many repair sessions at the heart of the Main Street Pens dungeon in Syracuse. most impressive. To my casual eye the look is quite on target with original factory haze (but not a purple haze). It goes without saying- though i shall say it anyway- that Richard does a grand job with frosting too, though i think he likes chocolate frosting best.

Always there are sticky issues regarding restoration and refinishing. As you know, i am in general not a fan of blackening collectable hard rubber pens (but have little problem with low grade users being tweaked if it makes owners happy). So why do i seem to be ok with frosting caps?

Dunno. Maybe have yet to think it through. On one hand, i adverstise frosted pens as such. No sneaking. Just sold backchannel (not on the website) a grand First Year 51 with wedding band cap, metal pump n' jewels, the whole bit. I offered to have the shiny (now) cap frosted and watched Ron return it to a remarkably original look, at the request of new owner.

Perhaps it is that frosting up a lustraloy (watch for hacks who just scratch up the pen a bit though!) cap seems (so far) on par with polishing an extensively but superficially scratched pen! The factory frosted the caps and polished the pens. We can do same. Few folks insist their vintage plastic pen retain the 80 years of acquired grime and toothmarks if a light polish can make them pop.

There is no doubt that this process is not dirt cheap when done by the pros. Daniel i believe wraps the price into the whole GNIDing process but you'd have to ask him. I think the Rest and Relaxation twins (R n R!) charge like 25-35 bucks a pop. When i believe a pen would benefiit, i thus usually do this on flighters and first years and maybe jeweler's band pens. Not worth it for Lustraloy Aeros... unless of course it is your dad's pen, you want it to look grand. Personal choice and all that.

What i can say is that Richard, Ron and Daniel do a respectful and quality spin on this procedure. Amongst the 100+ 51's i still own, i'd trust them to do these the right way.

best

david

Aw c'mon Daniel....

Show the reverend's cap i sent you.

d

Unfortunately, i did not shoot the "51' daniel fixed for me under my usual controlled conditions for before and after. This picture probably minimizes the depth of damage to the cap.

Still, i find the comparo to be illuminating.

regards

david i
http://www.vacumania.com


And a second shot of the injured cap, post repair

Thanks very much guys, for the info, pointers and photos. It's not so much that I want one of my own pens restored (although of course, I might do at some point in the future), as wondering whether I'd be happy with a pen with a refinished cap. Like David, I've no objection in principle, but I was just curious about the process. Without any particular recommendation for Mike McConnell's work in this area, I'm hesitant to buy from him - although it looks nice enough in his photos (see one below).

Chocolate frosting by the way, might go quite nicely with Cocoa...

...and the 'after':