Restore Barrel Transparancy Of Parker Vacumatic (And Taking Out Nib?)

[vPro]

Hello!

 

I took apart my Parker Vacumatic Junior today (the barrel unscrewed VERY easily) to check the diaphragm and it seems like the pen has had its diaphragm changed recently.

However, now that the pen is apart, I would really love to improve the transparancy of the barrel and if possible - take the nib out to clean it and adjust it a bit further. I do not have any vacumatic tools - all I have is basic tools and a lot of patience. Is this possible, and what should I do?

[Ron Z]

You really should use a Vac wrench to take the filler out. I've seen many threads badly chewed up by pliers.

 

re. improving the transparency. You really can't. The celluloid is stained from the inside, and works its way into the celluloid. That's why many of the pens, like the silver pearl for instance, are darkened.

[vPro]

You really should use a Vac wrench to take the filler out. I've seen many threads badly chewed up by pliers.

 

re. improving the transparency. You really can't. The celluloid is stained from the inside, and works its way into the celluloid. That's why many of the pens, like the silver pearl for instance, are darkened.

 

Thank you very much. The barrel has actually retained a lot of it's transparancy, although it has ambered quite a bit. That makes it hard to see the remaining ink

[FarmBoy]

Best to leave the nib in place unless absolutely necessary. You can clean it without removal. What adjustment is needed?

[Ron Z]

Clear NOS celluloid retains it's transparency with a bit of a bright green tint to it. It's quite bright. If the celluloid is ambered, it is stained.

[rtrinkner]

Don't mess with the nib unless you can't live with it in its current state. If you have a 10x loupe, make sure that the tines are exactly aligned. That's usually the problem, and is easily fixed with your fingernails.

 

If you do have to remove the nib, be sure to use a knock-out block.

 

For me, personally, I try not to remove Vac nibs because they can be a nuisance to reinsert properly. I'm getting better at it, but I still fear ruining the nib when I have to do it. Some of them are really tightly fit.

 

If ink has been flowing well in your nib but just recently slowed, try soaking it overnight in a glass of room-temperature water.

 

I also find that Waterman's Serenity Blue (used to be called Florida Blue) is a wonderful cure-all for many nib "problems." Pelikan's ordinary blue ink is similarly good. Both just seem to flow nicely, even in pens that don't perform as well with other inks. Black and red inks, in my experience, are the ones most likely to clog.

[Manalto]

Would tooth-whitening gel (hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide) remove the amber stain? Has anyone tested this on a scrap?

Edited June 3, 2015 by Manalto

[FarmBoy]

Would tooth-whitening gel (hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide) remove the amber stain? Has anyone tested this on a scrap?

The ambering is not a stain, it is a change in the material causing the color.

 

Exposing 75 year old polymers to strong oxidizers is generally not a good idea. A major decomposition route for all polymeric materials is oxidation.

[Manalto]

The ambering is not a stain, it is a change in the material causing the color.

 

Exposing 75 year old polymers to strong oxidizers is generally not a good idea. A major decomposition route for all polymeric materials is oxidation.

 

You are in disagreement with Ron Zorn, who in this very thread has said twice that the ambering is a stain. I don't know either of you, so forgive me if I don't know who to believe. I'm inclined to side with you because I've seen yellowing of polymeric materials that have not come into contact with apparent staining agents. I will follow your advice and refrain from applying tooth-whitening gel to my beloved Vacumatic. It was just a crazy notion anyway.

[Ron Z]

Maybe we're splitting hairs here. I would side with Todd- different verbage, same outcome. The stain is a change in the material, which can not be removed.

 

I've seen celluloid decompose amazingly fast - as in from clear and good looking to crazed and crumbling literally over night. Frightening. It gave me a healthy respect for the need to protect celluloid from exposure to possibly damaging chemicals that may be just fine for other materials.

[Manalto]

Maybe we're splitting hairs here.

 

We're not. A stain is discoloration left by an outside agent (presumably ink), as opposed to the change in color that comes from the aging of materials. I made the distinction because there are occasions when a stain can be removed.

 

I appreciate the warning about celluloid and will heed it. Despite my reckless idea of tooth-whitening gel, in practice I tend to be cautious - or hands-off - with any kind of cleaner. The feeling of destroying a slightly-dirty-but-otherwise-perfect item that's 80+ years old is not one I'd like to relive.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Manalto

[Ron Z]

How about something like discoloration that is left by an outside agent that also triggers a change in the material itself? Celluloid is subject to both.

[Manalto]

Oh, now you're just making stuff up.

[mhosea]

 

We're not. A stain is discoloration left by an outside agent (presumably ink), as opposed to the change in color that comes from the aging of materials. I made the distinction because there are occasions when a stain can be removed.

 

 

You have your answer already, but I will just add to that this photo of a cross section of the grip section of a 1940's Sheaffer plunger-filler, freshly cut and sanded.

 

[Manalto]

Thanks, Mike. The photo really shows it well.

[Ron Z]

Oh, now you're just making stuff up.

 

I don't think so. I have bins with many, many NOS clear Sheaffer sections. They are bright and clear with no discoloration, no ambering at all. I've handled NOS Sheaffer Triumph and Balance plunger fill barrels as well as NOS Parker Vacumatic barrels. Stunning, bright clarity. Not white, but with a bit of a green tint to it. I've seen and handled black and pearl pens with bright white celluloid. Age has not discolored any of them. But pens and sections that were exposed to ink or (we believe) sulpher released from sacs has darkened many pens or parts that would have otherwise remained pristine. All were changed by some outside material. It wasn't just age.

[Manalto]

I was just teasing you with my "making stuff up" comment, but I'm glad you responded seriously. Your observation about discoloration in the presence of ink and the possibility of sulfur having a role is really interesting and makes sense.

[mhosea]

I think one thing that doesn't come across intuitively from handling plastics is that, while the plastics useful for pen-making obviously must hold liquid ink inside, they are gas permeable to some extent. The original Noodler's Konrad, made of "vegetal resin", seems to be so permeable to water vapor that the ink supply will dry up faster than would be possible just by leaving the cap off most other pens. It doesn't seem so amazing, then, that ambering is both a product of exposure and not superficial.

[Manalto]

From what we now know about plastics sixty-plus years since these pens were made, is there a treatment that can be done (or a coating of some sort) to the interior surface of the vintage materials to reduce the permeability (and therefore the exposure to gasses) thereby preventing or at least slowing down the discoloration process?

Edited June 4, 2015 by Manalto

[Ron Z]

From what we now know about plastics sixty-plus years since these pens were made, is there a treatment that can be done (or a coating of some sort) to the interior surface of the vintage materials to reduce the permeability (and therefore the exposure to gasses) thereby preventing or at least slowing down the discoloration process?

 

Not that I know of. At least not that is available to us. This came up in a discussion about the gas permeability issues of the true silicone sacs.It turns out that they could be made with a coating at significant cost, that would take care of the problem. I don't know what that coating is. That lead to a discussion about whether Captain Tolleys would work as a barrier coating. It dries to a clear polymer, so may have potential. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, and the mess that dipping a bunch of silicone sacs in it hasn't made me very eager to.

 

I would think that this could be a problem with a piston filler as the action of the seal against the barrel wall could cause that coating to wear.