Polishing older plastic pens

[Gatorade]

I have some older plastic pens that have some surface scratches. Nothing real heavy but I was wondering what you use to buff some of those out? I was thinking of something like the sandpaper used in the last step of polyurithatne on wood. Like wet sanding.

 

A while back there was discussion about using a 1" buffing wheel. My rotary tool only has one speed, high. Besides these scratches aren't that deep. I guess I am thinking of a buffing cloth or possibly something like would be used for nib smoothing. That must have some abrasive qualities.

[Gerry]

That's the general concept Gator, although for the light scratches you are talking about I'd suggest you investigate the abrasive films and flexible sanding pads like the one sold by WoodBin: http://www.simcom.on.ca/woodbin/MicroMeshProducts.htm or Tryphon: http://www.tryphon.it/catalogo.htm

 

[usual disclaimer - no connection, just a satisfied customer of Wood Bin, and of course people here are familiar with Gio]

 

I should mention that for your application, the most satisfactory approach would likely be a liquid polish applied with a soft cloth. I am most impressed with the Micro-Gloss sold by Wood Bin, and haven't yet tried the Tryphon product. I have used TAP Plastics products Novus 2 (fine scratch remover) & 2 (heavy scratch remover), but overall the Micro Gloss seemed to outperform them by a bit. Takes a little elbow grease, but shines like a mirror when finished.

 

The plastic itself has something to do with the final result - the harder the plastic, the better the finish you are able to obtain.

 

For some light reading on the subject of polishing and filling - you might want to look over the following posts:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=28421

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=15723

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=71870

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=72336

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...indpost&p=57800

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...findpost&p=1026

 

There's lots of others available - search for polishing or buffing and you'll turn up bunches. It's been discussed a lot ...

 

BTW, here's a great power buffing reference. Although it speaks to metal a lot - there's plastic references there too, and a lot of general info that is very pertinent. I discovered a lot of the info on my own over several years of testing, asking etc. This 11 pager saves a lot of trial and error. Note particularly the wheel material discussion, and the polish descriptions - in particular the Blue one....

 

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/Buffbook.PDF

 

Cheers,

 

Gerry

[andyr7]

I too use Micro-mesh products and am very impressed. If you get an assortment of grades (I find the plain sheets are the best) and some Microgloss, you can deal with even quite deep scratches.

 

Good luck!

 

Andy

[Gatorade]

I checked th link and some of those products look like the buffer strips sold for filing and finishing your nails. SWHM has some arround and as I remeber they are very fine and give almost a glossy shine to nails without nail polish. Wonder if that would be the same products..... My mind wonders and I am an instant gratificaiton kinda guy. I will raid the nail grooming section of the house tonight!

[TheNobleSavage]

I second the scratch remover from TAP plastics!!! As for the buffing and polishing, I do everything by hand and I achive a wonderful glow to the pens. I use museum wax from tryphon and a very soft polishing cloth to rub the wax into the pens surface. The suff works wonders and it only takes a few minutes to do. I am really sketchy about using a buffing wheel on any of my pens. If you dont know what you are doinf, you can really ruin some pens, especially Celluloid

 

TNS

[Gatorade]

OK I couldn't wait. There is a Dollar Store two stores down that I remembered seeing the nail buffers at. I picked up 2 for $1 and went to town on the Esterbrook cartridge filler I got a while ago. It had been chewed by a previous owner and so it had a good bit of bitemarks. I was able to take down the high spots on the bitemarks and buff it really nice. Now it still has some pits but I can live with that. If I took it all the way down, and I think it would do it, it would take away too much material and it wouldn't look right. Now the high spots are gone and there is polished material between the noticibly smaller pits. Very impressed!

 

Thanks for the input and the ideas!

[TheNobleSavage]

You have twin Daughters?

 

 

 

TNS

[Gatorade]

You have twin Daughters?

 

 

 

TNS

Check my Avitar. They will turn three at the end of May. Katherine and Lauren.

[TheNobleSavage]

I have twin daughters too. They are 3 years and 2 months old. They are identical and really a handful!!

 

TNS

[Gatorade]

Believe me, I know what you are talking about. They are just starting to hit pottie training and we couldn't be happier even if it means keeping a bucket, towels, lysol, and 409 handy at all times!

[TheNobleSavage]

Gillian, is already potty trained by the time she was 2 1/2. Ashleigh on the other hand is not wanting any of that!!! HMMMMMM, I am tired of buying diapers, pullups and wipes all of the time. Thank goodness for Walmart's White Cloud brand. Cheaper and works better than the other name brands!!!

[Gatorade]

No WalMarts arround but I have heard the White Cloud is a great diaper. We have just been buying the biggest box of Pampers we can from Babies R Us. Wipes as well. You should see us when we shop for storm supplies. We double up on diapers and wipes and you would think we were trying to stock our own store. That and the big bags of chicken nuggets that always seem to dissapear after 2-3 days. POOF! My wife saw buy 1 get 1 free on apple juice at Publix and bought 6 bottles. I was tempted to go back and get more. Notice a pattern? Nuggets, juice diapers. The circle of life!

[navajo jack]

When you polish anything, what you are doing is by going from coarse to medium

to fine, you replace large scratches with smaller scratches. With old pens with

noticeable scratches, I start with 4o steel wool, very fine. Then go to the next,

l use tripoli, then white rouge, then finish with Simachrome. There are a myriad

of hand polishing agents available, just go from coarse to fine!!!

nj