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Lacquering An Ebonite Pen

Aditkamath26

By Aditkamath26
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Aditkamath26 Extremely Rare

Aditkamath26

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Hi pen folk. Recently I've gained a lot of interest in lacquering pens with urushi, but since the material has potential hazards when raw and lack of basic know-how (would appreciate it if anyone could point me in the right direction :) ), I experimented with alternate lacquers and paints. And for the first time I've been satisfactorily successful.

 

I lacquered an Indian ebonite Ranga Model 4c with NAIL POLISH. And it seems to hold itself really well too. Adheres well, stands up to sanding, and has a nice look to it too. Only thing is it doesn't apply evenly.

 

Here's the pen:

 

49671017433_0ec98c7947_z.jpg

 

Only the first layer is done on this one. I'll show you the finished pen soon :)

 

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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Very interesting. Tell us more. How did you do it? What are you aiming for, and do you have a before-and-after set of pictures?

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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Aditkamath26 Extremely Rare

Aditkamath26

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Very interesting. Tell us more. How did you do it? What are you aiming for, and do you have a before-and-after set of pictures?

 

 

So the pen was a polished black ebonite Model 4C. I'm sorry I don't have any before pics, was too excited to start the work.

To be entirely honest, I don't have a vision for this pen. I just want to see where this takes me. The way I have applied the nail polish is inspired by a lot of Bokumondoh's urushi work. I had even thought of crushing eggshells and superglueing them to the pen, give one more layer of nail polish and then sand everything down.

 

But that's being way too ambitious. :)

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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Okay, that gives me an idea of what to compare it with. (I have a few polished black ebonite pens from Ranga).

Frankly, I was wondering what kind of brush you are using? and how many coatings am I seeing in the first picture?

Also, what color nail polish am I looking at?

It looks to me as if you used a broad brush (paint brush?) and going in spirals around the pen body, with gold nail polish.

I think it looks very handsome.

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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Aditkamath26 Extremely Rare

Aditkamath26

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Okay, that gives me an idea of what to compare it with. (I have a few polished black ebonite pens from Ranga).

Frankly, I was wondering what kind of brush you are using? and how many coatings am I seeing in the first picture?

Also, what color nail polish am I looking at?

It looks to me as if you used a broad brush (paint brush?) and going in spirals around the pen body, with gold nail polish.

I think it looks very handsome.

 

 

It is a gold colored nail polish and its quite thin, unlike majority ones out there. So I was able to diagonally apply the nail polish with the included brush itself. The first picture has only one coating.

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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Thanks, it looks fabulous.

I'm not ready to try on my ebonites, but maybe a cheapie to see how it goes...

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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Aditkamath26 Extremely Rare

Aditkamath26

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Thanks, it looks fabulous.

I'm not ready to try on my ebonites, but maybe a cheapie to see how it goes...

 

Welcome :)

If you are trying this, make sure you sand your pen. Also, make sure your nail polish is thin enough, or else it'll be a headache to apply.

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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thanks for the tip. Maybe for now I should give it a pass then - my nailpolish is not really thin. I remember trying this on an old pen years ago, I did not like its color. I did manage to cover it up but it was not looking anywhere near as great as yours does. Then again, I had not thought to sand it... maybe will try that one again. Is there a way to make nail polish thinner? or maybe I just get a new bottle...

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Aditkamath26 Extremely Rare

Aditkamath26

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I have a couple of ebonite pens that could be candidates for this type of project. Are there threads that go through the process to understand what's involved?

 

So basically what I did, was sand the pen with 120 grit (first mistake, the brushing was too rough. Should have gone with 600 or something). Then I used the thin nail polish and brushed it in a diagonal stroke. Then leave it alone for at least 3-4 hours, lightly sand with 2000 grit, then another layer of nail polish. Again, leave it alone to dry and then polish it up a bit with 1500 grit, 2000 grit, 3000 grit and 7000 grit. Its a headache to move the sandpaper along the dried paint so I applied a little bit of talcum powder.

 

But I'll tell you, its not worth it. Mine started chipping today and the pen is back to its original form. I would try with spray paint or wood lacquer.

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langere Antique

langere

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Yes, nail polish was not meant to last. The only way this would work is if you add a layer of more durable transparent material on top of the nail polish.

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Pelikan M1000 "F" nib running Birmingham Sugar Kelp

 

 

 

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sansenri Donor Pen

sansenri

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thanks for the tip. Maybe for now I should give it a pass then - my nailpolish is not really thin. I remember trying this on an old pen years ago, I did not like its color. I did manage to cover it up but it was not looking anywhere near as great as yours does. Then again, I had not thought to sand it... maybe will try that one again. Is there a way to make nail polish thinner? or maybe I just get a new bottle...

Yes, nail polish is soluble in acetone, but add very very small quantities, drop by drop, if it becomes too liquid it will lose it covering power.

Women use acetone to clean nail polish off their nails...

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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Yes, nail polish is soluble in acetone, but add very very small quantities, drop by drop, if it becomes too liquid it will lose it covering power.

Women use acetone to clean nail polish off their nails...

Yes, I know nail polish dissolves in acetone - I've used it to remove nail polish, among other things. But I have no idea how much to add, and I did not know the nail polish might lose its covering capacity if too much acetone is added. Thanks for that extra info!

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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sansenri Donor Pen

sansenri

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Yes, I know nail polish dissolves in acetone - I've used it to remove nail polish, among other things. But I have no idea how much to add, and I did not know the nail polish might lose its covering capacity if too much acetone is added. Thanks for that extra info!

essentially it's like when you dilute ink with water, too much and you will lose the writing properties...

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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essentially it's like when you dilute ink with water, too much and you will lose the writing properties...

oh, duh...

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sansenri Donor Pen

sansenri

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at any rate it seems it's too much fuss to use nail polish, according to the experiences in the other thread...

painting with lacquer is not an easy job...I wonder how Ranga applies polish to it's ebonite pens...

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