Kultur Soft Question

[jbelian]

I recently acquired an orange Kultur Soft (according to the packaging) that was made in France quite a few years ago (I don't know how many, but long enough ago that the packaging has greyed on the back and the pen has acquired the problem I am describing in this post). It is a kind of cool, odd little pen, and I think I will like it if I can solve one problem.

 

The body is made of something very like silicone (may be silicone, the package does not say), and it is very sticky (as silicone and similar materials will do if left to sit for a while, especially in any kind of heat, like an attic ...). I am not a Waterman person ordinarily, so after searching FPN and this forum and failing to find anything on point, I thought I would ask: Any of you have or had one of these? Ever had the sticky barrel problem? How should I approach fixing it? Don't want to ruin the cool bright orange or harm the material. Even cheap pens deserve respect. I am attaching a photo of similar pens, though none of these is orange.

 

Thank you for any advice you can give.

 

http://image.rakuten.co.jp/hunnyhunt/cabinet/waterman-kultur/kultur-soft-1.jpg

Edited March 30, 2017 by jbelian

[pajaro]

I have the purple one. It's not silicone. It's plastic.

[jbelian]

Thank you. It is soft and kind of squishy, but I admitted I don't know what it's made of. Do you have any suggestions for the sticky material problem?

[Left FPN]

We need pictures of the pen and its packaging.

 

Kultur's are plastic/acrylic. I suspect some form of atmospheric contamination has occurred.

 

I cleared out my loft/atic a week or so back and found something similar. I could not hold the handle on my old Samsonite briefcase. It is a form of plastic whose surface had turned sticky...possibly a similar change has occurred to the Kultur.

[eharriett]

I went through a lot of trouble to get one a couple months ago and I converted it to an eyedropper. I love it to death. It is the pen that holds my company's ink color (use it for anything that will act as form of advertisement). Aside from a slight drying issue which is taken care of with a couple strokes, the pen works much better than it's price would suggest. But I also seem to be a sucker for all things Waterman.

 

Mine is a clear demonstrator. I think it is some kind of acrylic plastic. I wouldn't say it was silicone.

[Left FPN]

https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/1qujbc/lpt_restore_soft_plastic_which_has_developed/

[jbelian]

Thank you for all your help. I have to figure out how to post the images of the actual pen but will post as soon as I figure that out!

[jbelian]

Pics. I believe I solved the problem, at least temporarily, by applying a very small amount of talc. If the stickiness returns, I'll try the alcohol solution recommended above.

 

 

 

[RMN]

Packaging suggests a soft coating: Un douceur a toucher = a softness to touch.

and Finition translucide soft = translucent soft finish.

 

Something rubberised. I have had a pen (sort of refillable fineliner) that had this, as well as the coating on a keyboard wristrest.

 

Nothing seems to help. Water, soap, alcohol. Didn't try nafta.

 

 

D.ick

[pajaro]

Did you see the purple pen in the first post? I have one of those. It is firm plastic with a sort of matte finish surface. If you squeeze it, it is firm. I imagine that if you use any of that junk on the pen, it will ruin the surface effect.

[Left FPN]

Did you see the purple pen in the first post? I have one of those. It is firm plastic with a sort of matte finish surface. If you squeeze it, it is firm. I imagine that if you use any of that junk on the pen, it will ruin the surface effect.

I don't see any of those as junk. The op says the surface is in a bad way anyway. We know the Kultur was produced in many variations and this may just be another of those.

[RMN]

I don't see any of those as junk. The op says the surface is in a bad way anyway. We know the Kultur was produced in many variations and this may just be another of those.

 

I think Pajaro wasn't referring to the Kultur when he used the word junk....

 

D.ick

[Left FPN]

 

I think Pajaro wasn't referring to the Kultur when he used the word junk....

 

D.ick

Hi Dick, I know he was referring to water, soap etc. I would not refer to them as junk.

[Tasmith]

Aside from a slight drying issue which is taken care of with a couple strokes, the pen works much better than it's price would suggest. But I also seem to be a sucker for all things Waterman.

 

My Kulturs would dry out too. To help stop the drying out, I put a thin bead of Testors Clear Parts Cement around the base of the clip where it attaches to the cap. While is has helped the pens not drying out as fast, it did make the clips a lot less springy. http://www.michaels.com/testors-clear-parts-cement-and-window-maker/10133745.html?mkwid=sjbmx1kuq|pcrid|147297967104|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|prd|10133745&cm_mmc=zadv_PLASearch-_-google-_-Kids-_-Model+Trains+RC&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Kids&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=sjbmx1kuq|pcrid|147297967104|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|prd|10133745

Edited April 2, 2017 by Tasmith

[eharriett]

My Kulturs would dry out too. To help stop the drying out, I put a thin bead of Testors Clear Parts Cement around the base of the clip where it attaches to the cap. While is has helped the pens not drying out as fast, it did make the clips a lot ess springy. http://www.michaels.com/testors-clear-parts-cement-and-window-maker/10133745.html?mkwid=sjbmx1kuq|pcrid|147297967104|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|prd|10133745&cm_mmc=zadv_PLASearch-_-google-_-Kids-_-Model+Trains+RC&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Kids&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=sjbmx1kuq|pcrid|147297967104|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|prd|10133745

Hmm. That's an idea. I pass Michael's every couple of days. I may have to look into that. Thanks.

[TorPelikan]

My experience with the coating of "Kultur Light Soft", it became very sticky after some years of use. Even though stored in dark dry space, it became intolerably sticky.

 

After wiping the sticky material with ethanol, the pen became useable.

I love the pen, but do not use it,

It dries up very fast, as the cap is poorly sealed

[perfectstranger77]

Kultur's are plastic/acrylic. I suspect some form of atmospheric contamination has occurred.

 

No, it has not. This pens have a fine coating of rubber-like material which gets sticky and (quite frankly) unusable over time. It happened to me with a Kultur Roller Ball, so I opted to remove the coating with Isopropilyc Alcohol (similar to what TorPelikan did) which evaporates damn fast and is very gentle with plastics as well as for electronic components, now mine looks as good as new.

 

Here is the result compared to my Kultur Fountain Pen, the roller ball was purchased by my sister on a trip to France on 2002 and the Fountain Pen was purchased by me when I lived in Lyon in 2004. Sorry for the quality but I'm not a pro photographer nor I intend to be.

 

http://i.imgur.com/vvicAHw.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/ynBVLap.jpg

 

Also thanks to Tasmith, I will try his proposition to seal the cap, my Fountain Pen also suffers from bad isolation. Strangely the roller ball doesn't because it has a plastic insert inside which unfortunately doesn't allow to exchange sections.

 

Peace.

[eharriett]

I suppose there's the other way of keeping it ready to go: I keep a scratch pad by all my pens and every morning and evening all my inked pens including the Kultur get scribbled with for a few lines. The result with the Kultur is it is always at the ready.

[perfectstranger77]

I suppose there's the other way of keeping it ready to go: I keep a scratch pad by all my pens and every morning and evening all my inked pens including the Kultur get scribbled with for a few lines. The result with the Kultur is it is always at the ready.

 

But let me tell you that my Kultur is not a hard starter at all, I adjusted the nib a little bit as advised by Matt Armstrong on his YouTube Channel and from that point on it became an instant and superb writer. The real problem for me is that the poor sealing gets the ink evaporated so damn quickly that usually in two days I lose at least a third or even half the load in the converter...

[eharriett]

But let me tell you that my Kultur is not a hard starter at all, I adjusted the nib a little bit as advised by Matt Armstrong on his YouTube Channel and from that point on it became an instant and superb writer.

Can you link to that vid? I just looked and can't find it. I'd like to try that.