what is ebonite and why is it used for pens? How does it feel? Why do you like it?

[mpkandan]

Hi,

This is kandan from Ranga pen company(mpkandan@yahoo.co.in). We manufacture eye catching ebonite pens for the last 50 years. Ebonite is the hardened rubber. Normally it is the mixture of rubber and sulphur. It has peculiar smell. It will be very glazing. The ebonite materials will last long for years.There is no age and end for ebonite pens.

 

Thanks,

Kandan

[Drone]

No, ebonite was made from the latex of the rubber tree (remember, there was no synthetic rubber before the late 1930's). It is a natural product in essence. It is also a thermosetting plastic -- hardens from malleable or liquid to a solid when heated. Once hardened, they do NOT melt or soften with repeated heat, usually becoming harder instead.

 

Modern rubber products are usually synthetic, although there is still considerable natural rubber around (it has some advantages, I think). However, ALL rubber materials are similar, being a heat catalyzed polymerization of butadienes. Silicone rubber is a different material all together, and should not be classed as a "rubber" in the same way.

 

Celluloid is cellulose nitrate (again a natural material, reacted with nitric acid to make a different polymer) and was around quite a while before it was used in pens -- quite reactive and fairly unstable in it's original form, it wasn't until someone figured out how to keep it from deteriorating so fast (and becoming even more flamable than it was when new) that it became popular in pen making.

 

"Precious resin" is a marketing term and means, on it's own, absolutely nothing. All synthetic plastics (including celluoid) are resins (that is, hard, slightly malleable materials that soften or melt with heat -- note that hard rubber does NOT soften when heated). Could be anything from ULTEM super high melting point resin to polycarbonate to ABS high impact resistant to nylon to ,...... whatever. I would guess celluloid because that has an association in most pen buyer's minds with the great pens of the 1930s and 40s, but who knows. Or, for that matter, cares!

 

Peter

 

Excerpting the above quoted post #12:

 

"No, ebonite was made from the latex of the rubber tree (remember, there was no synthetic rubber before the late 1930's). It is a natural product in essence. It is also a thermosetting plastic -- hardens from malleable or liquid to a solid when heated. Once hardened, they do NOT melt or soften with repeated heat, usually becoming harder instead."

 

and...

 

"All synthetic plastics (including celluoid) are resins (that is, hard, slightly malleable materials that soften or melt with heat -- note that hard rubber does NOT soften when heated)."

 

Question-1:

 

If hard rubber (e.g., Ebonite) does NOT soften when heated, then WHY does "Heat-Setting" an Ebonite feed to a nib work; as claimed by many?

 

Queston-2:

 

If hard rubber (e.g., Ebonite) DOES in-fact soften when heated. Then at what temperature does it soften. I have some old notes that say Ebonite used in fountain pens is is typically 30% sulphide content with a density of 2g/cc. Here is a modern reference to a product from Germany used to make fountain pen bodies & caps:

 

http://www.ebonite-arts.de/en/products/ebodust.php

 

Thanks for any replies & best regards, David

Edited January 21, 2015 by Drone

[them700project]

I have this pen with pneumatic filler and 18k nib and it is my favorite.It is light like some have said but feels no different than acrylic to the touch.

[MarkTrain]

 

Excerpting the above quoted post #12:

 

"No, ebonite was made from the latex of the rubber tree (remember, there was no synthetic rubber before the late 1930's). It is a natural product in essence. It is also a thermosetting plastic -- hardens from malleable or liquid to a solid when heated. Once hardened, they do NOT melt or soften with repeated heat, usually becoming harder instead."

 

and...

 

"All synthetic plastics (including celluoid) are resins (that is, hard, slightly malleable materials that soften or melt with heat -- note that hard rubber does NOT soften when heated)."

 

Question-1:

 

If hard rubber (e.g., Ebonite) does NOT soften when heated, then WHY does "Heat-Setting" an Ebonite feed to a nib work; as claimed by many?

 

Surprised no one question this eight years ago. Hard rubber is "hard" because of S-S linkages (disulphide bridges) that form upon vulcanization. When the material is heated some of the disulphide bridges break allowing the material to become more pliable (the higher the temperature the more linkages break). If the material is bent and then cooled the linkages will reform locking in the new shape. The same principle is behind the using of a curling iron to curl hair.

[Mookli]

Reading this as an engineer, and materials guy, was very entertaining, We touched on all the technical points chemistry, historical, variants and similes.

most of what was said is true, but the meandering topic doesn't seam to be addressing the question posed, that is one of aesthetics with some concern about performance.

I would propose that for sake of this discussion, the material, known as "ebonite" (a modern hard rubber) is just that! a fully functional modern material.

 

So materials do have subtle characteristics and the technical terms we use to describe them, as warmth or weight, don't really capture the essence of what we are experiencing. I also believe that things of subtle nature take a while to be noticed so it is hard to evaluate in a side by side comparison.

 

So here is another way of looking at Statius question of "Basically, why ebonite?"

Brian Gray designer of this pen made decisions about what material to use, and from all the choices he had available, he thought for this pen, ebonite would be best.

 

Personally I would trust his decision, I love ebonite

Mark

[Oldane]

To me, ebonite feels like a cross between acrylic and wood. Veri nice, varm and "organic" to the touch. And very light weight. If you don't like the smell, just imagine the taste of it. That's what saxophonists and clarinettists do with their old favorite ebonite mouthpieces - taste them. Talk about suffering for your art. Know that, been there, I played reeds years ago. And no, the Noodler Ahab is not ebonite and doesn't smell like ebonite.

Edited January 21, 2015 by Oldane

[Cob]

No, ebonite was made from the latex of the rubber tree (remember, there was no synthetic rubber before the late 1930's). It is a natural product in essence. It is also a thermosetting plastic -- hardens from malleable or liquid to a solid when heated. Once hardened, they do NOT melt or soften with repeated heat, usually becoming harder instead.

 

Modern rubber products are usually synthetic, although there is still considerable natural rubber around (it has some advantages, I think). However, ALL rubber materials are similar, being a heat catalyzed polymerization of butadienes. Silicone rubber is a different material all together, and should not be classed as a "rubber" in the same way.

 

Celluloid is cellulose nitrate (again a natural material, reacted with nitric acid to make a different polymer) and was around quite a while before it was used in pens -- quite reactive and fairly unstable in it's original form, it wasn't until someone figured out how to keep it from deteriorating so fast (and becoming even more flamable than it was when new) that it became popular in pen making.

 

"Precious resin" is a marketing term and means, on it's own, absolutely nothing. All synthetic plastics (including celluoid) are resins (that is, hard, slightly malleable materials that soften or melt with heat -- note that hard rubber does NOT soften when heated). Could be anything from ULTEM super high melting point resin to polycarbonate to ABS high impact resistant to nylon to ,...... whatever. I would guess celluloid because that has an association in most pen buyer's minds with the great pens of the 1930s and 40s, but who knows. Or, for that matter, cares!

 

Peter

Well I have to say that hard rubber does soften when heated - I have done it - twice - and panicked until I remembered the wonderful property of hard rubber. Deform it - dent it - whatever and just heat it up and as if by magic it returns to its original form. My first experience was with the delicate section on an ancient Onoto; I had warmed the section rather enthusiastically in trying to remove the nib and feed. Well they came out but the end of the section was horribly deformed. I heated up again without squeezing it between my fingers and Bingo! it is now circular again. Similarly breather tubes used to be made of BHR. I was trying remove one and over did the heat and it developed brewer's droop with a kink. Heated up again and it's ramrod straight.

 

Marvellous stuff, but by golly I hate that olivey-greeny-brown foul colour it goes to with light and age - and water is bad and ammonia is the worst.

 

Cob

Edited January 22, 2015 by Cob

[Cryptos]

I have a confession to make. I was given a Guider pen (thank you de_pen_dent) that is a monstrously large ebonite eyedropper. Although I have dipped it I have been unable to find any silicone grease locally so haven't had a go at the eyedropper part yet. But... there are days when I take it out of the pen cup, unscrew the section and just sniff it. I love the smell of ebonite.

 

 

 

Is there a support group for me?

[Tresconik]

I have a confession to make. I was given a Guider pen (thank you de_pen_dent) that is a monstrously large ebonite eyedropper. Although I have dipped it I have been unable to find any silicone grease locally so haven't had a go at the eyedropper part yet. But... there are days when I take it out of the pen cup, unscrew the section and just sniff it. I love the smell of ebonite.

 

 

 

Is there a support group for me?

Try filling it anyway and see what happens. It probably won't leak.