I purchased this beautiful Doric on Ebay. It was advertised as restored. The pen is a plunger filler The problem is that the blind cap is on very tight. I tried loosening the the blind cap by hand as much as i dared. Can someone tell me should i soak or heat the cap to loosen it? Or should i leave the pen alone and not risk a break in the barrel ? Please advise.

Without X-ray vision it is hard to say exactly what is holding the blind cap from unscrewing. Nonetheless, it may be helpful to remember that the blind cap is (normally) firmly attached to the plunger rod and thereby to the gasket at the other end of the rod. So you may not be just dealing with a stuck blind cap. It could also be that the gasket at the other end it stuck firmly to the inner wall of the barrel, or the insides of the packinging unit or both in addition to the blind cap itself being stuck on its threads. Moderate heat is the universal helper with most stuck parts. But for starters, not more than about 150 degrees. A short soak in cool water is not all that bad, but the section sometimes can get discolored, so for starters, remove the section (it unscrews counterclockwise) first, and expose the business end of the plunger and then do the soak or at least get some water inside the pen to disolve the crusty ink and other residues inside the pen that may be adding to the problem. Now you can apply the heat again if necessary.

Chances are that the gasket needs replacement anyway, so doing the dismantle mentioned above will probably be necessary to get the pen working properly.

But, since one of the options you suggest yourself is to leave it alone, it sounds like you are more interested in the pen as a collector object as opposed to being a pen to write with. Nothing wrong with that, but if so, and you are not comfortable with taking the pen apart, you might be satisfied for now to leave it alone until you decide to have it restored for you or you want to devote the time or attention to the restoration yourself. If that is the case, it is best to avoid the temptation to get that blind cap unstuck for now, as sometimes the shortest path to that goal could cause more damage.

Syd

Thank you for your measured evaluation. I think i will wait and leave pen alone for now. I dont plan on writing with it and its still nice to look at.