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Sanding Ink Window


kdv

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Ls,

 

Some of my vintage pens have stained ink windows.

 

Until now I haven’t found a method for getting them transparent again.

 

I’m considering using sandpaper (4000 grit to start with?).

 

Does anybody have some experience sanding ink windows?

 

Greetings

 

Kdv

 

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Ive done that with a 149. The window will look lovely - I started with 4000 and went all the way up to 12000 and then liquid abrasives.

But, it will affect the seal in that window area which essentially means you will have less ink capacity.

My Vintage Montblanc Website--> link

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Assuming you're talking about the inside of a view window, since the exteriors don't generally get stained, the ink windows are plastics, so can of course be sanded to a shiny finish, in theory. However, in my experience, any fine good finish depends on having fingertip access to feel the wet sanding happening, not from the end of a stick or rolled sandpaper into an enclosed area. That means that the chellenge is getting directly at the clear area, to work your way up the grits and eliminate the swirls and scratches you've created with the lower grits. Remember that it will look a lot worse after you begin, even with 4000 grit, than it did before you started, until you get up to 8000 and 12000 and it magically starts to clear. Even a water-based liquid abrasive will add scratching to a clear that you have to take away, so I don't: I soak when I can and scrub with naphtha and mild dish detergent, separately. For me, restoration is always about choosing the least invasive evil to get the best positive result, which often means giving up perfection for a lot less risk. In this case the win is less staining than I had before.

 

Tim

Tim

 timsvintagepens.com and @timsvintagepens

 

 

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The safest approach is a wet solution (fine polishing abrasive used for polishing pen bodies) on a wood-shafted q-tip. You can chuck the wood shaft in a drill and work with light pressure and working slowly. You are mostly wanting to remove the ink on the surface. The amount of plastic you need to remove is very small, as the window plastics tended to be impermeable to inks.

Cleaning with mild ammonia solutions first, speeds up the process.

Edited by Addertooth
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  • 3 weeks later...

I'd take a middle ground approach, using my knowledge of the chemistry of surface finishes, and thus technical insights into solvents, cleaners, plastics, and many surfaces.

 

You can try a period of soaks with plain distilled water, changed morning and evening, to see if this will decrease the depth of the staining. Any progress here is a free-plus. Next, move on to a stepwise approach.

 

One, remove all the staining you can see with a 1:10 to 1:8 solution of clear household ammonia diluted in cool tap water. Add a drop or two of Dawn or similar mild detergent per ounce of solution as a wetting agent. Wipe the plastic surface on the inside with a gentle scrubbing motion using a scrap of soft cotton cloth. Rinse and repeat. Alternate with periods of soaking using the same solution. Do not let the solution dry on the surface, however. This should remove most of your staining. Rinse well under cool running water.

 

Two, next try cleaning the dry window area with naphtha (as suggested by another poster) on a cotton bud or scrap of clean cotton cloth. Be sure there is no open flame or sparks nearby. Some roughness to the cloth is fine. Wipe clean, repeat, wipe clean, etc. Then clean the area with some drops of Dawn mixed with cool water, about a ratio of 1:3. Rinse thoroughly with clear, cool water. Most or all of the staining should now be gone.

 

If any color remains and you feel you must remove it, repeat the above process. Finish by gently wiping with Flitz plastic polish, and then wiping that away with a cloth moistened with distilled water. Use only Flitz; do not accept sustitutes. Any traces of ink which may remain should be virtually invisible in actual use. Finish with a final wipe of a small amount of high-grade naphtha. Ronson lighter fluid is actually a very highly-purified product, easy to find, and safe to store.

 

Resist the urge to use any sort of wax on the pen, anywhere inside or on the exterior. Conservators have universally abandoned using these substances as they degrade what they are supposed to protect, and are nearly impossible to remove. Wax is for crayons, not for pens.

 

This step-wise process avoids altering the surface of the plastic, likely creating scratches which will only act as hosts for future stains. It is minimally destructive or invasive, and leaves the pen dimensionally unchanged.

Brian

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Am I the only one who thinks that the probablility is high that the ink window is not stained but ambered? Photos would be interesting.

"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

~ Benjamin Franklin

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Ive done that with a 149. The window will look lovely - I started with 4000 and went all the way up to 12000 and then liquid abrasives.

But, it will affect the seal in that window area which essentially means you will have less ink capacity.

I just realized that you said it was a vintage ink window. Please ignore my earlier post, I was referring to a modern 149. I would never sand down a lined ink window on a vintage MB!!!

My Vintage Montblanc Website--> link

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