Brown Cap

[rustynib]

"I tried myself the linseed technique. Linseed oil indeed seems to provide a nice finish and at the end the pen looks better. I had mixed results with bleach. Linseed oil however provided excellent results even withour bleach, at least in ne case. I had a bhr Swan fountain pen with very minor oxidation, and now it looks brand new, after being around for 90 years...

 

I think linseed oil is the right way to go.

I just discovered this web site of modern producers of hard rubber

 

http://sem-ebonite.com/

 

you can choose English as a language and then you can navigate the site. They tell you how they prepare the mix: "Our hard-rubber dust is produced solely from natural rubber (Crepe No. 1), linseed oil and sulphur."

Therefore, they seem to confirm that linseed oil is indeed an ingredient of the mix. Maybe we should play with sulphur and linseed to achieve further improvements? Maybe a bath of linseed and sulphur?"

 

 

 

Thanks!!

[HenryH]

Great idea: I'm going to try the linseed oil tactic on an old Esterbrook Dollar pen, to see if I can restore the original look.

But we should discriminate between boiled and raw linseed oil. The "boiled" linseed oil has been heated and has had siccatives added to it to improve drying time. The raw oil will have a much slower drying time (x4), which allows it to penetrate more deeply before hardening. The drying agents added to the boiled oil may include heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium - stuff you don't want to absorb through your skin. Also follow directions on the container when discarding the oil wetted rags - linseed oil of any kind is a significant spontaneous combustion hazard.

[professionaldilettante]

This is terrible. Everyone has been misled, and I'm afraid that many pens will come to harm. Sure, bleach will eat away all the oxidized material, and will warrant a good polish. If your pen is smooth, it may not be noticeable after the polish, but chased pens would be better off treated with the commercial reblackening solutions, such as the G10 system used by Richard Binder. Preferrably, all pens should be treated with this, as it does not alter the pen's surface integrity. If you don't believe me, Take a look around on pipe smoker forums, where examples of highly oxidized ebonite pipe stems are treated with bleach. They are definitively eaten away by the bleach. Other than the G10 system, there is also the PMBHRPPNo.9.

 

Here is an extensive discussion of the right way to restore BHR pens. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/57816-caring-for-and-maintaining-ebonite-pens/