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First of all, I've tried searching for more information on this topic, and didn't find what I was looking for. Forgive me if this subject has already been flushed out. I recently purchased an Esterbrook J on a whim, and set to work on restoring my first pen to working order. I was able to pull the section off and remove the disintegrating sac, but found my first roadblock in removing the nib unit from the section. Long story short, I soaked the pen in a solution of ammonia, water, and dish soap and was able to clean out all the old ink and successfully unscrew the nib unit. Now however, I think I may have damaged the pen! Apparently you're not supposed to soak ebonite in water right, and I could be wrong but the whole section is ebonite. I can't imagine soaking in ammonia did anything to help either. The section is now a different color than the barrel, slightly greenish very dark grey instead of black, and is more matte than glossy, again unlike the barrel. My questions are as follows. If you're not supposed to soak ebonite, how would i have cleaned out the ink from the section? I'm considering attempting to restore the old finish by buffing away the damaged surface of the section. Should I go ahead and give this a try? I've attached a photo of the pen. As a final note, it's possible that it already looked like this. I honestly can't tell. This is a photo from the original ebay listing. It looks like it might already have been even less slightly discolored?

Finally, I got round to the soak tests of these wonderful new inks and the results were rather surprising, to say the least. For dye-based inks, there are one or two that really have great qualities. As you can see below. Before: After: I have to say that the paper I use for these soaks is pretty dire and shouldn't be considered indicative of any lasting permanence etc. But; a half-hour soak in cold water, as usual, followed by a vigorous tap rinse, isn't a bad indication of what could happen and as most of us are probably only prone to the odd spill now and again: well... Great inks and just look at Safari...!