Restoring A Vintage Aluminum Fountain Pen

[Pickwick]

I have a vintage fountain pen on the way, and the photos and description is the barrel and cap are made from Aluminum. It's going to need restoration and polishing. The clip is Art Deco with an engraving: "Almite Co". My research show it was made in Japan during the 1930's.

 

I would appreciate advice as to how I go about restoring and polishing the aluminum.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[Flounder]

Any photos? Assuming there's nothing delicate engraved or plated onto the aluminium, I suppose an aluminium polish like autosol.

 

[edit - if it's like item 290605265534, I think autosol would give good results on aluminium that scratched.]

 

 

Edited October 14, 2011 by Flounder

[Pickwick]

Thank you for your reply Flounder, I have a attached a couple of photos by permission of mykdonna on ebay. He's also a pen collector. Hope these are some help for your kind advice.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[framebaer]

Are you sure the clip is aluminum? may not be.

 

The pen definitely looks to be so.

[Flounder]

Bearing in mind I'm just an enthusiast:

 

I quite like your pen as it is, it's got a bit of character to it. I'd say before you start, bear in mind how the pen as a whole will look after polishing. Although the corrosion spots on the cap might not completely disappear, most of the barrel and cap would probably polish up very nicely - but you need to decide if that look might not suit the cap clip's wear, it has a little plating loss.

 

A fresh look on the barrel might be a little at odds with the cap band too, not sure what that is made from in the photo? Anyway something to decide before you commit to polishing. I'd disassemble as much as you can and mask off anything you can't before hand.

 

The main thing I would look out for is those facets. The ridges will polish more easily than the faces, giving an uneven appearance. I'd wrap a polishing cloth round the edge of a desk, and with a small smear of aluminium polish rub the pen straight up and down the length of each facet face, rather than the ridges.

 

When it comes to the polish, I'm not suire how the pen was originally meant to look, between matt and a mirror finish I'd be leaning closer to matt.

 

What does the seller reckon, s/he might have an idea?

 

 

[dcpritch]

I don't have any thoughts as to how to work on it, but that is a great looking pen. Congrats!

 

What is the cap band made of? It looks really interesting.

 

DAVID

[Flounder]

haha, seem to be channelling framebaer as I wrote that.

[eckiethump]

Autosol, then I prefer Wenol as being less aggressive than Simichrome, aluminium pens come up looking like solid silver.

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/eckiefump/Aluminiumpen.jpg

et

[fountainbel]

Nice pen, congtratulations !

When you should decide for polishing, you could also go for "colorless anodising" of the parts after polishing.

Doing so one obtains a protective layer and the material will not restart to oxidize

Francis

[Pickwick]

I don't have any thoughts as to how to work on it, but that is a great looking pen. Congrats!

 

What is the cap band made of? It looks really interesting.

 

DAVID

 

I'm not sure, I hope to receive it this coming week. When I do get it I'll post more information.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[Pickwick]

Bearing in mind I'm just an enthusiast:

 

I quite like your pen as it is, it's got a bit of character to it. I'd say before you start, bear in mind how the pen as a whole will look after polishing. Although the corrosion spots on the cap might not completely disappear, most of the barrel and cap would probably polish up very nicely - but you need to decide if that look might not suit the cap clip's wear, it has a little plating loss.

 

A fresh look on the barrel might be a little at odds with the cap band too, not sure what that is made from in the photo? Anyway something to decide before you commit to polishing. I'd disassemble as much as you can and mask off anything you can't before hand.

 

The main thing I would look out for is those facets. The ridges will polish more easily than the faces, giving an uneven appearance. I'd wrap a polishing cloth round the edge of a desk, and with a small smear of aluminium polish rub the pen straight up and down the length of each facet face, rather than the ridges.

 

When it comes to the polish, I'm not suire how the pen was originally meant to look, between matt and a mirror finish I'd be leaning closer to matt.

 

What does the seller reckon, s/he might have an idea?

 

I did email the seller - mykdonna on ebay to get his permission to use his photos. He was very helpful as he is a fountain pen collector. But he couldn't give me any information on the restoration.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[Pickwick]

Autosol, then I prefer Wenol as being less aggressive than Simichrome, aluminium pens come up looking like solid silver.

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/eckiefump/Aluminiumpen.jpg

et

 

That's a nice pen you have. Who was the manufacturer? When polished is does look like silver.

 

I'll look into Autosol, many thanks.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

[eckiethump]

Autosol, then I prefer Wenol as being less aggressive than Simichrome, aluminium pens come up looking like solid silver.

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af316/eckiefump/Aluminiumpen.jpg

et

 

That's a nice pen you have. Who was the manufacturer? When polished is does look like silver.

 

I'll look into Autosol, many thanks.

 

Kind regards,

 

Pickwick

It's quite unusual, the pen since preparing it as you see it, was over a year ago, that the aluminium has not tarnished as I would have expected it to. Aluminium does oxidise on immediate contact with air.

 

It's a button filler and I believe it was made buy a little known UK company, Bowler. I have come a cross a few of these pens that were Bowler imprinted, but it had proven impossible to separate the blind cap from the body. It also proves quite a challenge with them to get the section out of the body, IIRC, I drilled this one out and replaced the section.

 

The nib in it is quite strange, it is stamped "Bowler 14ct Great Britain" You do come across cheap plated Bowler nibs from time to time, but this is the first 14ct gold one I have had. Also, there was a trend here when a pen was Scottish Made it would be stamped Made in Great Britain,as opposed to made in England (the majority) You will find, this on many Scottish made Onoto pens, or they will be stamped London,(registered office) but not Made in England.

 

Eric