How Do You Polish Your Pens?

[yhuo]

Hi guys! I bought a Flitz polish paste and tried to polish my Parker Frontier. It turned out that there's no effect turning my dirty resin into a shiny one but instead, it became even less shiny. (Even it's impossible to remove the paste coating. The only way to bring it back was using toothpaste to scratch off the polish paste.) I used my glass cloth to polish it just as the instruction said. Is there somewhere wrong? How can I polish it? Thx!

[bitterwonder]

I have owned fountain pens since 1963 and have never polished any.

[WaskiSquirrel]

While I haven't owned one as long as bitterwonder, I would guess that polishing should not be a regular part of pen maintenance: it wears down the material of the pen.

[Crazyorange]

The paste might have an abrasive in it which created micro scratches. if you created micro swirls, you will need to buff them out to polish the pen. I use a tiny amount of carnauba wax that makes the pen shiny and smooth.

[FoszFay]

I've tried Meguiar's cleaner (car) wax. It worked on my Pilot 78G, but I only done it as an experiment as it is pretty scratched up; all micro scratches. It really removed most of the scratches, and made it shine like a MB! I was impressed.

 

I wouldn't try anything with more "cut" than it though; you may just put deeper scratches in the plastic. If I tried harder on my 78G, I think I would've gotten out nearly all the scratches, but like I said, it was just a quick experiment.

 

Tom.

[Moshe ben David]

polish? nah. never touch the stuff.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Something similar to semichrome (no brasso too harsh). Mask the imprint. Lightly finger polish, buff off with a flannel cloth or old flannel shirt. Repeat a time or two.

 

I buy old pens, and only want a well maintained look (being lazy) instead of taking more time to try to make it look 'mint'.

I do wax my pens, occasionally. Prevents mars....I post, keeps them shinny.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[Brian Anderson]

As a general rule, for pens in my collection I do not polish, however, I do polish pens I am going to sell with simichrome and on occasion micro-mesh if their are deep scratches, always masking an imprint with painters tape.

[wctang]

I won't polish any modern pens. If I buy vintage, I will give the pen a couple wipes with a jeweler's cloth and that's it.

 

Sorry about your situation with your Parker Frontier. I've never tried to remove any scratches/microscratches from a pen before, so I couldn't tell you how to do it. I'd either leave it the way it is, look at getting a new one, or send it to someone. If I could suggest anything, try simichrome. It will probably be lighter on the pen than your polish paste was.

[papen]

I've heard polishing your pen can make you go blind.

[balson]

i really like ron zorn's wax free pen polish for vintage pens. it really works wonders on most materials. my biggest complaint is that it does not come in a bigger bottle

[maus930]

I hav used Simichrome Polish for years with excellent results and NO problems-- widely avaiable --even Amazon

[londonbooks]

I like Renaissance wax the best of them all. I definitely think it is better than Simichrome. Carnauba wax works better on cars than fountain pens.

[pen2paper]

Time to haul out the flitz embarrassment.. google early sheffield silver..

get too close to your object, obstinately shine cheerily away with Flitz, (because We Know better; ) and then enjoy your devalued once-early silverplate remnants on now mostly copper objects firsthand... hopefully others learn by our mistakes too.

[JonSzanto]

Before you do *anything* to *anything else*, readreadread. In the days before the net, you had an excuse. If you want to try out a method on a piece of junk pen, fine. But don't polish a pen without knowing something about what you are doing, and even then, test in a small area first.

 

For plastic/celluloid pens, I use Novus polishes, and for the hardware, Simichrome. If a surface needs to be protected for some reason, Renaissance Wax.

 

Which brings up another point: R Wax is NOT a polish, it is a wax. It is used to protect a surface after it is already polished. And, yes, please be aware that many collectors, and even many users, prefer their pens to either be unpolished or minimally so, preferring a vintage patina over a fakely glossy surface. To your own pens, do what you wish, but if you ever plan on passing them on in any way, give it due consideration.

[londonbooks]

Before you do *anything* to *anything else*, readreadread. In the days before the net, you had an excuse. If you want to try out a method on a piece of junk pen, fine. But don't polish a pen without knowing something about what you are doing, and even then, test in a small area first.

 

For plastic/celluloid pens, I use Novus polishes, and for the hardware, Simichrome. If a surface needs to be protected for some reason, Renaissance Wax.

 

Which brings up another point: R Wax is NOT a polish, it is a wax. It is used to protect a surface after it is already polished. And, yes, please be aware that many collectors, and even many users, prefer their pens to either be unpolished or minimally so, preferring a vintage patina over a fakely glossy surface. To your own pens, do what you wish, but if you ever plan on passing them on in any way, give it due consideration.

 

I have to disagree. Renaissance wax is a polish - does both wax and polish.

[JonSzanto]

I have to disagree. Renaissance wax is a polish - does both wax and polish.

 

That is your right, of course. It even says "Wax Polish" on the label. However, if a pen has a scuffed or dull surface, the wax has no abrasives, as other polish products do, to buff out the micro-imperfections and bring a glossy finish to the surface of the pen. I suppose you could build up successive layers of wax, but I don't believe many people to consider that a good way to impart a good finish to a vintage object.

 

It is possible we are also speaking in semantics, as I take - as implied above - a polish to be an agent that alters the surface, where a wax coats it.

[balson]

there is some debate about the use of renaissance wax in conservation. renaissance wax may not be reversible on pens because of the heavy duty solvents you need to remove it, so when dust and grime get into the wax over time there may be no way to remove it.

 

http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/jaic/articles/jaic35-01-001.html

[JonSzanto]

there is some debate about the use of renaissance wax in conservation. renaissance wax may not be reversible on pens because of the heavy duty solvents you need to remove it, so when dust and grime get into the wax over time there may be no way to remove it.

 

http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/jaic/articles/jaic35-01-001.html

 

Duly noted. I've used it infrequently, and sparingly. I may use it less often in the future!

[Oldane]

Watch afficionados use a product called Polywatch to polish out small scratches in acrylic watch crystals. That ought to work with pens too.