In Your Opinion, Why Do So Many Premium Pens Have Rust Rings On The Grip Section?

[4lex]

I had to send My Platinum President back under warranty because the gold coloured ring on the grip section has rusted. I can see under the loop similar starting with my five year old M600.

What is the point of having this gold ring exactly where you dip it in the ink that often in my case has Ph of vinegar?

When did this fad start? It is not on my older pens or even MB Meisterstuck which is older design.

Edited November 26, 2018 by vonManstein

[Jerome Tarshis]

I don't know when it started. To every time, its own errors. This error belongs to our time. And, to be fair, I've got pens with stainless steel section trim rings that don't seem inclined to rust. With some pens, such as the Parker 75, moving the trim ring a little bit away from the end of the section appears to have helped.

 

There are also such slogans as "per aspera ad astra" and "no pain, no gain" to be considered. Arguably life is struggle. I prefer not to struggle against corroded trim rings, but others must feel it is a tax more tolerable than some other taxes.

[4lex]

I don't know when it started. To every time, its own errors. This error belongs to our time. And, to be fair, I've got pens with stainless steel section trim rings that don't seem inclined to rust. With some pens, such as the Parker 75, moving the trim ring a little bit away from the end of the section appears to have helped.

 

There are also such slogans as "per aspera ad astra" and "no pain, no gain" to be considered. Arguably life is struggle. I prefer not to struggle against corroded trim rings, but others must feel it is a tax more tolerable than some other taxes.

I agree that steel section rings are not problematic. That is my experience as well. But gold plated rings are less durable.

[pajaro]

When the section trim ring is used as a cap clutch ring, there is that additional stress on gold plating and on its attachment to the section. Sometimes they come off and the cap won't hold on the section. I have had some forgettable adventures with that over the years.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Alkali ink??

Japanese ink is from what I just read rather alkali.

So what ink you use can eat at your pen.

[Brianm_14]

Try doing a clean-up. After filling, I always gently wipe my pen with a soft (usually microfiber) cloth, dampened at one corner with warm tap water, and then dry it with the other end. My fingers may be stained, but my pens are clean and rust-free. I would not be afraid to use a wetter cloth if need be, to remove all traces of acidic or alkaline ink.

 

Try it; it might work for you, too. You might even rinse the area in question with a dribble of slighly warm water.

[Honeybadgers]

I have never seen a rust ring develop on any of my pens. Even the cheapie nasty chinese ones.

 

That is truly strange.

[jar]

Non problem if you clean your nib and section.

[mana]

I have never understood the section topping bling rings. Parker Sonnet is a "good" example of a pen which might otherwise be (well, few caveats there...) perfectly acceptable but which ends up being kind of a PITA due to the damn trim ring.

Currently looking for a replacement section for one Mk II Sonnet due to the fact that the gold plating on the zinc-based section ring has completely flaked away leaving behing an ugly grey and black mess. Can't and won't sell the pen as it was given to me as a 30th birthday present by my younger brother. The few other pristine Sonnets that I have are kept purely as collectible objects that are never filled (I do like the design aesthetics wise enough to keep them around).

 

I just do not get the point of that from a materials design perspective. They would be ok if made out of solid or even rolled gold (which is much thicker than just plating). But oh no... gold plated? What were they thinking? Gold plating on a base material like that will not stand the test of time. The usual less than a micron thickness gets gnawed away by repeated insertions to and removals from the cap, contact with ink bottle walls etc. plus the constant humidity inside the cap (if pen is kept inked) becomes a factor once the plating has worn through. This is especially a point in pens in which the trim ring of the section is the part that keeps the pen captive within the inner cap (like in the Sonnet).

[Bo Bo Olson]

Got to get the customer to buy a new pen somehow. ........rolled gold will cost too much....folks would want the rest of the trim in rolled gold too.

It's too bad it's not brass that's gold plated...it can be faked when polished....but that all costs bonus money.

[4lex]

Non problem if you clean your nib and section.

Non problem if you have 100 pens in rotation so you use each on average three days in a year. Very much a problem if it is your daily writer.

[Christopher Godfrey]

@Bo Bo: re your suggestion about alkaline ink -- no, no, no! OP wrote that his inks often have the pH of <vinegar> (put your spectacles on, old thing!)...and therein may be the problem...

 

@vonManstein: may I suggest that you go to Richard Binder's website and read his opinion on inks and acidity -- please do yourself a favour. I am not being so rude as to say that you get what you deserve; but -- think of it -- the pH of vinegar? I would never do that to any of <my> pens!

[4lex]

@Bo Bo: re your suggestion about alkaline ink -- no, no, no! OP wrote that his inks often have the pH of <vinegar> (put your spectacles on, old thing!)...and therein may be the problem...

 

@vonManstein: may I suggest that you go to Richard Binder's website and read his opinion on inks and acidity -- please do yourself a favour. I am not being so rude as to say that you get what you deserve; but -- think of it -- the pH of vinegar? I would never do that to any of <my> pens!

On the pH scale, which runs from 0 to 14, the pH level of vinegar is between 2 and 3. There are plenty inks that fall in this range:

1.7 for OMAS Blue-Black, OMAS Royal Blue, Visconti, Lapis Blue;

2.2 for Montblanc Blue-Black, Montblanc Bordeaux, Pelikan Blue-Black, Visconti Turquoise;

2.6 for Caron d'Ache Imagine in Blue Sky

2.7 for Pelikan 4001 Blue, Visconti Permanent Blue-Black, Pelikan 4001 Turquoise, Quink Washable Blue, Waterman Purple;

2.8 for Caran d'Ache Escape in Caribbean Sea

3.0 for Montblanc Emerald Green, Quink Permanent Black, Waterman Blue-Black, Waterman Blue;

 

Source: http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/ink/ink-and-ph-levels.htm

[Honeybadgers]

I found a chart - visconti inks are closer to a PH of 4.

 

Noodlers inks are almost all 7 (neutral)

 

Only iron galls (known to be acidic) should be under 2.

[amk]

Some pens are worse than others.

 

1980s-1990s Watermans are the worst; the trim rings on Lady Elsas, Executives, etc are very often eaten away. That can either be explained by Waterman owners being more negligent than other pen owners, or Waterman pens having thinner plating... . And the CF has two little plated 'wings' by the nib that are almost always eaten away.

 

With Parker 75s the 'calibration' ring can sometimes be eroded, but it's not prevalent as it is with the Watermans.

[jar]

Non problem if you have 100 pens in rotation so you use each on average three days in a year. Very much a problem if it is your daily writer.

Not a problem if you clean it when you fill it. And it would never effect the functioning of the pen anyway.

[pajaro]

Non problem if you clean your nib and section.

 

Montblanc 144, clutch ring around the tip of the section. Always kept the pen clean. Ring came off. $80 trip to MB in Texas. If I had known what to use to re-adhere the ring, I might have avoided that. Loctite makes something that MB uses.

[Polanova]

In my opinion it is a design flaw, therefore I don`t own a single pen with a gold ring at the outer rim of the section. It also looks cheap to me as I associate those rings with those trillion, often German, Pen-of-the-month-pens produced during the 80ies & 90ies. Ebay is full of them.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Polanova

[BaronWulfraed]

Yet I can visualize the concept having been created for the same reason most caps have bands around them... something to hold them together should a crack form (in section when the feed/nib presses in, cap from over-tightening)

[4lex]

Yet I can visualize the concept having been created for the same reason most caps have bands around them... something to hold them together should a crack form (in section when the feed/nib presses in, cap from over-tightening)

I would disagree with that. Hard rubber/ebonite is prone to cracking and cap rings solved that problem. But if you look at vintage hard rubber pens they don’t have the ring on the section. Also, the pressures on the grip section are negligible if you compare it with the pressure on the cap, particularly when the cap is posted.