I recently bought a 1930's laconite Namiki from an antique market here in Taipei. It's a swell looking pen, but the rubber sac inside has hardened and stuck itself to the inside of the barrel. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove it? I'm nervous that any solvent I use might destroy the pen.

Thanks,

Dan

I use an old dental pick, a bright light and patience. Sometimes it takes me a long time to clean it our but it's fun. Once it's cleaned out I use a brush I bought from Tryphon and some cool water to flush aout any residue.

I agree that any solvents could be risky to the barrel material.

Parker Fan

Hi,

Be careful with water in the barrel, you could rust the J-bar or pressure bar.

Dillon

We have dental picks that come from Dentists' suppliers: quite different from those found at hobby shops, etc... in that these are HARD and will last a lifetime!
We also sell sac scrapers, which are ideal for...scraping off dried sacs (and gummy ones) and are less likely to scratch the inside of the barrel.
These and some patience should solve your problem.Tryphon Pen Repair Supplies

Giovanni beat me to it. I have the sac scrapers and dental pics from tryphon and I've been happy with them. Before I had those I used a lobster/crab pick that I had lying around. It worked ok.

Be patient, you want to scrape not gouge.

It bears repeating: NO soaking, NO solvents.

Hook-type tools are very useful for extracting chunks of hardened sac, but for scraping interior walls of barrels I prefer scrapers that are round in section. Hobby shop brass tubing will serve quite nicely; if you are more ambitious, take steel rod and grind the end at an angle. Round scrapers are much less likely to gouge barrel interiors -- very important with Vacs and other pens with transparent barrels.