Parker 51 experts: Is there any nice/easy way to buff the fine scratches out of P51 Lustraloy caps without causing harm to the satin finish?

I tried toothpaste the other night, didn't seem to do much. I was afraid to try anything stronger without asking...

emery cloth, 240 - 360 grit, spinning on a becnh motor or bench lathe. Light touch. Or a super fine wire gauge steel brush on a buffing machine, low speeds, little pressure.

QUOTE

emery cloth, 240 - 360 grit, spinning on a becnh motor or bench lathe. Light touch. Or a super fine wire gauge steel brush on a buffing machine, low speeds, little pressure. -- jicaino

Yikes!! Please don't use any motorized machine to do this job. (No, offense, jicaino, but I really got beat up on this one at one time.)

And not only did I get beat up, I did not pay attention to the advice given me to stay away from a buffing machine at slow speeds with light pressure, I ruined what would have been a beautiful Sterling 51 cap. I don't have an alternative suggestion for you except to wait and something will eventually pop up.

Peace,

Phroneo

Uh... I am pretty sure J knows what he is talking about.

Not only does J know what he is talking about, BUT
Ron Zorn uses a motorized hand tool with some special wheels to rebuff 51 caps to virtually new condition...

You were using it on a Sterling cap, which is very soft to begin with... here we are talking about a lusterloy cap... a whole different ball game.

I will contact Ron Z to see what he would charge for this...I am sure I would mess it up with a motorized attempt rather than hand work...

I know Richard B can do it too, he has a lovely before and after photo on his site...but it would take kinda long...I imagine...

actually I like aluminum oxide then micro glass bead blasting. Does a cool job on lustraloy caps. Have done some thick gold plated caps in matte finish and they look really nice too. Now if yu're talking about sterling silver, that's a whole different ballgame, and to add even more difficutlies to that, you have that beautiful looking but uglily hard to maintain rodium plating. It would flake like scorned paint if you brush or sand or burnish (either with a burnisher or with stone and oil or with emery cloth) a rodinated cap.

I use the cap mandrel and the lathe, according to the material I'm working on I set the speed. Sterling silver calls for higher speeds and lighter touch (once you have experience, you should practice solely on scrap material) lustraloy would tolerate both high speed and heavy pressure (more then brass) the key is learn how much the speed changes the amount of pressure needed. When you spin something and rub it it would produce heat and that affects different materials differently. Steels tempers (hardens) by heat - cool cycles. Brass SOFTENS (ever heard of the term "annealed" brass? that's heated white then cool it by soaking in water or just by leaving it alone till it's cool) with this cycles and hardens thru hammering or burnishing or something compressive. Sterling would follow upon brass behavior.

Of course if you dismiss wise advice you'll get up at best beaten if not severely injured. One has the duty to prevent other people for getting hurt, but sadly experience ain't 100% transmissible like many diseases you have to get your own. I have plenty of scar tissue that reminds me everyday about the importance of listening to experienced (not necessarily aged) people.

Phroneo, you have to take into account the fact that I've been between machine tools forever, that I do shop work on several rather complex items like clarinet, saxophones, carburetors, fountain pens, automotive restoration as my hobby, etc. I've worked with my hands on "dangerous stuff" forever and I'm not hesitant in sharing good or bad experiences. The fact is that if you have proper guidance it's safe to give it a go and see what happens. Most craftsmen started just for sh*t and giggles and they discovered that they were good at something. Some people are very good at a very narrow or focused thing (specialists) some people are decently good at a broader range of things, some people are very good at a wide broad variety of things and a very few people sucks at everything (talking bout craftsmanship here) I've known only 2 or 3 people absolutely uncapable of doing any hand work in so many years.

facts are that any resac, nib basic smoothing and alignment, and mainteinance should be a piece of cake for everybody. You need a specialist in restoration if you want your pen to be 100% flawless, or has some issue that you know you won't be able to handle (see, a resac anybody can do, but what if you have a broken nipple or missing parts or something? that's where you need your specialist) or ___ (other reasons, like requiring a special nib cut or something that it would take you years of experience and wisdom to master and you rather spend that time doing whatever you are into)

Every profession has their "dark masters" that want you to think you can't do good, and they have enlightened generous good people such as pen repair pros here that shares and educates us. Everybody refers to the snorkels as "complicated and intrincate"... they're a piece of cake to repair. You don't even need as many special tools as for changing a vac diaphragm. This reputation is based solely on the fact that this type of pens have complex, beautifuly engineered, creative solution mechanism developing.

Hey Phroneo - could you use a font size that I don't need a loupe to read, please?

In general, I agree. It ain't rocket science, but it does take patience, skill and considerable thought sometimes to do the repairs right. The guys who have been working on pens for a long time have a few advantages though:

1] We've had a lot of pens pass through our hands, so have a better idea what weird things will happen with a pen, and therefore know how to deal with them. We have learned what does not work too!

2] We've had a lot of practice, so have developed the "hands" to do repairs without breaking the pens.

3] With that added experience, we've had the time to deveop the advanced techniques that produce better, or maybe even superior results with the repair.

I had 4 or 5 people come to me at the Ohio show to get their pens open so that they could resac them. Every one was a real stinker, every one came apart without breaking. There can be advantages to using the services of a professional repair person!

I do the same with saxophones, if a person would like to repad it, I set the instrument for them to go with a stick of shellac, bag of properly sized pads and voilà. The secret is as you say, Ron, in getting to train that "I know where you gonna give me the headaches" sense.

why?
When you use them the scratches come by again. Less you stored/dispaly them up.

Well, true, f_w. As I intend to use my 51s as daily writers, there's a definite argument to be made for leaving the caps just as they are. I was just curious if there was any way to "gentle" them slightly better without going through the "full treatment."

I disagree with this. You can use your pens with out scratching them!

agree. you can use them and not even faint the brushed or satin lustraloy finish. The bead blasting is even more wear resistent if properly done.

For avoinding bad a** scratches you just have to pay a little attention to where and how do you store your pen. Shirt pocket is good if you ain't carry other stuff around that same pocket. Single pen storage pouches are good too. Purses, briefcases, etc are BAD choices and eventually your whole pen will suffer wear, tear or other significant damage. If there's enough R&R to scratch a lustraloy cap, you pen's at stake.

For my everyday users, I do the ol' thing of removing the clip, polishing them up, then twisting them in a Scotch-Brite scouring pad. Gives them a dull, satin, very lightly-brushed metal effect. The Scotch-Brite pad gets rid of the shine.

Not an original finish, but makes them look good for use at work.

And, to keep them that way all my pens go in a Lamy two-pen soft leather pouch when out and about.

- Mark

If you have some small scratches, an "ink eraser" (pencil type-remember those?) may have just enough grit to get the unwanted scratches out. Ink erasers, have different grittyness so it's trial and error to find one that will scratch/scrape the unwanted scratch away. A GENTLE swirly/duplicate the frosted pattern already there motion will touch them up nicely and minimize or eliminate the scratch. They can be pointed with a knife so one can work on a very small area.

I only wear my pens in pockets...hence the need for tight clips. But yes, my caps stay pretty nice. I expect that if I invest the money, they would stay unscratched for a long time. Overall, the Lustraloy caps seem pretty tough.

On another note, I now have a gray 51 vac that needs restoration - or at least a sac refit. Any recommendations? Ron Zorn has been mentioned as a possibility, anyone else who does good 51 vac work with a "reasonable" turnaround time?

That's a good idea, Fred. I will give that a try. Worth a shot!

Seems that the pros charge about $35 for this - with beautiful results - but that's about what I have been paying for my 51s in the first place.