Nail Polish ... Dangerous?!?!

[corniche]

But, if you insisted on doing this, I would suggest a two part epoxy paint. But even then it would be tough to insure an even coating of material when working down inside a barrel.

 

Greetings all,

 

I'm not sure, but perhaps my model railroading experience will come in handy here. May I suggest Polly Scale clear-coat, (it is available in flat, satin and gloss patinas). Furthermore, because it is designed for model trains, the pigment grind is extremely fine- have any of you ever seen an N-Scale rivet on the side of an N-Scale box car?

 

I've seen thousands of them - and the Polly Scale goes on so fine, it doesn't obliterate any of the details- but it does provide an impregnable shell around whatever you put it on- especially if you use 2-3 coats. Polly Scale Clear-coat is a SELF-LEVELING formula, it is engineered to give smooth, even coats so the finish doesn't "pool" around tiny details.

 

It can applied with a brush and since it is an acrylic, (it was designed to be used on fragile plastics such as styrene), it will not melt, craze or warp any plastic parts of your pens like nail polish would, (because nail polish contain petroleum distillates, which are harmful to some plastics). Furthermore, it cleans up with soap and water, (when it is still wet- once it dries, it's like boiler-plate).

 

Give it some thought- if you have any questions about it; lmk, I've used the stuff for years.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

Edited December 29, 2010 by S. P. Colfer

[Vintagepens]

Why do you want to use the pen as an eyedropper-filler?

 

--Daniel

 

Because it's there?

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

Here is a follow-up link:

 

Polly Scale Clear Coat

 

This is for the gloss, but it is also available in flat and satin.

 

All the best,

 

Sean

Edited December 29, 2010 by S. P. Colfer

[stevlight]

Why do you want to use the pen as an eyedropper-filler?

 

So the pen holds more ink--not the miniscule amount of ink the convertor holds.

[Richard]

Any coating at all, no matter what it is made of, will eventually fail. Every time you unscrew the barrel, the metal threads will wear away a little of the coating on the mating surfaces. When enough of the coating is gone, the corrosive process will start. You will not notice it until it's already done irreversible damage.

 

FWIW, nail polish is doubly insidious. Not only are there chemical risks, but nail polish also softens and lets go when it's continuously exposed to water (ink). Ick.

 

As Ron says, we now know that some of the things Frank advocated are just plain bad ideas. Remember, when Frank was writing his book, it was usually easy to go out and find another pen like the one you had just destroyed. Today, that is not the case. It's too bad he never got the opportunity to do a full-scale Version 2 rewrite; when he died, he had a loose-leaf notebook twice as thick as Da Book, full of things he wanted to change. Now that he's gone, his family (which owns the rights to the book) has forbidden the publisher (Pendemonium) to make any change, no matter how insignificant.

[Jimmy James]

That just suggests to me that diligence and cheap pens are the way to go. Clean your Platnium Plasir eyedropper after every fill, and reapply the coating. Every pen is destined for failure of one type or another -- pistons fail, sacs harden, plastic becomes brittle, etc. I'm not the one for this, but I would be interested in finding out of anybody does go this road. I almost feel like somebody should simply to improve our knowledge.