Lovely silver that I'm afraid of damaging. Pen just rolled in from a former user and that section is STUCK! Tried warm water, putting it in the freezer [just the silver body, NOT that beautiful cap]. I've grasped it in paper towels, dish towels, even my dishwashing gloves! It's not budging.

Keeping in mind I've got girly hands and I'm afraid of damaging the soft silver, any suggestions on getting in before I lose patience and send it back to the seller? I KNOW she's been using it because I got ink on my towels after trying the water treatment. The Montegrappa tech told her it can happen with temperature differences, which we certainly have between NY and FL, but this is ridiculous.

Any reasonable ideas welcome.

Bump in hopes someone can tell me how to loosen a silver section that seems welded shut. Otherwise I'm going to have to send this pen back. Help!

I've had this problem with bottled ink and an assortment of jars -- to the point where I've had to walk away from the task out of frustration. It's likely weather-related (shift in temperatures). The Montegrappa 300 is a c/c so there should be no reason the section is glued/welded to the barrel. It's possible that residual ink may have seeped out of a cartridge or converter and it's the dried ink that's making it difficult to unscrew the section.

Your best bet would be to use a strap wrench or section pliers both available from Tryphon or perhaps a local hardware store. I have both and they are designed for just this kind of task. Barring that, continue to run the hottest tap water that your hand can stand on just the section, then keep trying to unscrew it.

If it's due to temperature differences, how about sticking it in the fridge or freezer for an hour. Be careful about the freezer though, some plastics go very very brittle.

Regards

Richard.

I tried the freezer, but obviously not long enough. I only put it in 5 minutes because I was afraid of damaging something. And I ran the hot water over the join rather than just the section.

6 people have tried it now including 2 hefty men. I'm ready to load the thing into a crossbow and fire!

Sorry to hear it hasn't worked. Possibly you could soak in the freezer for an hour, then dip the section in near boiling water. With any luck, in the next 10 seconds you'd have a window when the section had expanded but not the innards.

Plasticts tend to expand/contract about 10x more than metals, so soaking the pen at low temp may have the greatest effect.

Regards

Richard.

I thought the threads inside the 2 silver pieces were silver? I'm talking about silver section not unscrewing from the silver body

Oh heck.
I hope silver's not like stainless steel. If it is, oh dear.
Stainless suffers from 'micro-welding' or 'galling' where grains weld to one another across the thread, making it impossible to remove without damage. The only way to avoid it is to keep the threads well greased. There is no cure after its happened.

Now, I do not know if galling happens with silver. It is not a material used much in general engineering! I wonder if any jeweler types could help?

Regards

Richard.

Yes, it's true about galling on stainless steel threads (and aluminium as well as copper, and so forth). I'm not an engineer, jeweler, or one who would have any data on the matter -- but I don't think sterling silver is prone to galling. In fact, I understand that a thin layer of silver on top of a bearing material provides galling resistance.

If you want to keep the pen, I would invest in one of the section pliers or strap wrench (links above) and try to unscrew the section/barrel that way. Better yet, perhaps contacting Ron Z back channel might be in order. He may not have seen this thread yet (so many pen repairs, so little time). You can also send it to him for a look-see. Then again, the bow & arrow method (back to the seller?) will work as well...

For gripping the barrel you might try the stuff sometimes laid on shelves to keep things from moving. It's a sort of open net material that appears to be made of slightly foamy vinyl. It's also used for "cap snafflers", as just a round piece for getting a better hold on jar lids. Look in the housewares section of a Walmart or similar store.

The shelf stuff comes in a roll for about $1; you can wrap as much around the barrel as it takes to get a comfortable grip.

Unless you've done it before, I would avoid using a strap wrench on the barrel, since the fulcrum of the handle will apply considerable local pressure and possibly collapse the tube.

Sometimes, threaded joints loosen after many (tedious) cycles of heating and cooling. The silver itself can probably stand considerable heating. It will also conduct the heat very well to non-metal parts which may then soften or melt and deform or fall out.

Caveat- I don't do pen repair, I have just broken a lot of little things, and big things. Some of them I fixed.

Remember -- Don't force it; get a bigger hammer!

Oo! I have some of that stuff in the pantry. I'll try that before I try my local jeweler/watch maker. I'd really rather keep the pen. It's pretty.

Update - local jeweler couldn't get the pen open. Sending it to Montegrappa first thing next week.

Sorry you couldn't get it open, but when you've tried everything it's either send it back or take a sledge hammer to it. While the sledge is very satisfying, it doesn't often solve the problem.

Regards

Richard.

The sledge hammer was VERY tempting...