Brought my Danitrio Mikado to a party to show a fellow the finer things in life, as he had expressed interest in fountain pens. I thought the Mikado with the tamenuri paint will win him over. Well, it did and now he's hooked as well. All was well, until we were leaving. One of my colleagues was drunk and we had to carry him out of the car and that's when my beloved pen dropped out of my pocket and on to the tarmac.... Now there's a spot on the cap where it hit, and I have no idea what to do with it as I'm under the impression that you can't fix these things. Thankfully, the rest of the pen is fine. *sigh*

What does the "spot" look like? If it's some discoloration due to hitting the tarmac you may be able to clean it up with a little mild detergent, such as "Murphy's Oil Soap", and some elbow grease. However, if the finish is actually chipped you probably are out of luck. I've got a couple of pens with battle scars from various of life's little incidents and, while they may have lost a bit in absolute monetary terms, I got some good stories to tell in return, and I'm reminded of them whenever I use the pens. Sometimes those are worth more, in the long run, than any amount of money. It is too bad that it happened, but, the reward is evidently one more convert to the "True Faith of the Nib and the Liquid Ink".

Later,
Ron

Unfortunately, the spot looks like I lost a bit of lacquer... Come to think of it... I should push the guy who got drunk to buy the pen, because he was the cause of the pen coming out of my pocket, and I can then take that money to fund the purchase of another one... Must think about this one more.

I would not use any chemical on urushi. They can probably repair it but I would contact Dani or the dealer you bought it from

Urushiol-based lacquer is very resistant to most any chemical. If it were cheaper, I'd suggest using superglue to fill in the chip, but in this case it's probably best to ask Danitrio.

I think urushi being strong is true when the finish is intact, but we are talking about chipped part

Ouch! I know how much I love my Mikado and I would be disappointed, too. But, my pen also has battle scars.

I would go to the vendor you bought the pen from for advice about a repair. The pen is well worth the first aid it needs to be well.

Hi

I feel for you, I really do!! I dropped my beloved raw ebonite mikado, and it was my fault. The tail bit broke such that it will not close properly, but the pen still writes and fills perfectly well. I piece of the screw bit is lodged in the tail and I can't bring myself to get it out for fear of breaking the whole thing.

Any ideas would be greatly welcomed as I am crushed at what I have done to my pen.

Many thanks

Des

I would sell your friend the Mikado (well, you want a FP, don't you ? Here you go, and the dent makes it unique for you ), and then buy a new Mikado

Sorry to hear this. Do you have a pic of this dent?

Kevin

Keep it and use it every day. Now that's it's damaged you won't be so fussed about keeping it perfect any more. I think you'll get more pleasure from the daily use than keeping it on the shelf.

If course, if you have OCD (like me) then you'll probably want to buy another one to keep in perfect condition on the shelf.

Ask about the repair from Dani, but if it's too expensive just keep it. I'd consider it a battle scar and carry it proudly.

It's a Japanese style pen, so maybe you should view it from the perspective of the Japanese wabi sabi aesthetic. A wealth of literature has been written about this and I don't pretend to be even remotely an expert, but I think most agree that it involves the appreciation of the transient and imperfect. For example, a tea cup with visible signs of repair may be appreciated precisely for that reason.

I'm probably not making sense, but if you do a google search you should find better explanations. I think it's a nice way to look at it, especially for those of us who are inclined to look for perfection.

I have heard that when the Chinese create a garden, they leave an imperfection or two. The idea is that pure perfection attracts chaos. It is better to have a minor imperfection, rather than perfection with the possibility of attracting an even worse imperfection from the Lords of Chaos.