Polishing An Urushi Nakaya Pen?

[Bill_D]

I have an ebonite Nakaya Writer's Writer's model with an Urushi finish that is a little over a decade old. The pen still works flawlessly but it often develops cloudy patches on the surface. I can rub them off and the oil from my fingers returns the shine, but it does not last like it did when I first received the pen. Does anyone have a method for polishing an ebonite pen with an Urushi lacquer finish?

 

[Drawing61]

A method that has worked for me: gently wash pen in warm water and mild detergent; dry with soft cotton cloth; polish with very mild abrasive (I use a small dab of toothpaste) AND grease (I rub my nose).

[Honeybadgers]

Send Chiaki at wancher an email and ask her what their restoration experts do to polish their vintage urushi lacquers. The two vintage urushi pens I got from them were polished gorgeously.

[Intensity]

I wonder if it's humidity (from handling?) that permeates the lacquer and creates milky patches. Like lacquer on old wooden furniture that you can easily get white "tea cup" rings on from placing hot or even warm cups on the surface for a few minutes. The lacquer clouds up in milky white. That's due to moisture being trapped in the top layer. At least with furniture, a quick fix is to iron the surface with a clean towel or thick cotton sheet placed over the affected surface. A few minutes of ironing gets all the milky rings out. I don't suppose this technique would work on an urushi pen--nor would I recommend it for the safety of the finish--but I do wonder if it's a similar mechanism at work. Maybe this happens when the surface layer ages and becomes too porous. Rubbing the surface of the pen does generate heat, which helps with evaporation of trapped moisture, so that could be it.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Intensity

[Honeybadgers]

I dunno, but my vintage urushi pens don't have any of the hazing.

 

And my urushi pen that was underwater for 30 years - where the urushi is still intact - isn't hazed at all.

[fc2462]

I use the Nakaya polishing cloth that I purchased from Nibs.com:

 

http://www.nibs.com/accessory/nakaya-polishing-cloth

 

Expensive but worth it.

[Honeybadgers]

I wonder what medium they use on that cloth, and if it's basically just a sunshine cloth, or if it has a medium that's somehow more compatible with urushi.

 

Does it feel slightly oily at all? Wonder if maybe it has lipids to hydrate the urushi like oiling a wood block.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Lloyd]

OP: You say it often develops these region? That sounds odd. My Danitrios (and the vintage urushi I sold to HB) never developed these. You should ask on the Japanese pen subforum and contact MartinPauli in this forum about it. MartinPauli make urushi coated pens under the name ManuPropria.

[Bill_D]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I tried polishing with the toothpaste and that seemed to help, and I also ordered the Nakaya polishing cloth. Hopefully, that will help as well. If not, I will reach out to some of the other resources that people have suggested.

[melissa59]

Disclaimer: I know NOTHING about urushi or Nakaya pens.
But after seeing so many posts about them, I was curious so I did some reading.

 

According to the Carolina Pen Co:
https://www.carolinapencompany.com/urushi-price-guide
"Urushi has only one natural enemy and that is UV light. Long exposure to UV light will break down the lacquer over time. Making it become dull and brittle."

 

Here is a blurb about the care of an urushi pen:
https://www.manupropria-pens.ch/welcome/FAQ.html

"It is not necessary to clean urushi with cleaning solution, rubbing with a soft cotton cloth is sufficient."

 

On that same page above, Mr. Martin Pauli writes about the laquer/polish process of the urushi pens:

"Polishing urushi as a very complicating and time consuming process. Urushi artisans should be called "polishers" rather than "lacquerers". After the final urushi coat has been applied and well cured it is ground flat and smoothened, then polished with abrasive paper up to grit 5000. Then the surface is pre-polished "dôzuri" with cotton watta and "tonoko" a very fine clay powder and rapeseed oil to remove the marks of the abrasive paper. Then - after cleaning, the final polishing "uwazuri" steps talke place. The surface is rubbed with high quality transparent urushi "kijiomi" and wiped off completely. Then it is left in the drying cabinet "furô" for 24 hours. This step is repeated 5 times. Then the surface is polished with rapeseed oil and a fine polishing powder "migako" with the finger tips. After cleaning again "kijiomi-urushi" is rubbed in and wiped off again and dried in the furô. Finally the surface is polished with "migako" and the finger tips."

 

I would definitely shoot Mr. Pauli an email and ask if it's safe to give it a rub with a bit of canola (rapeseed) oil or perhaps a fine-grit polishing compound (something without fluoride, peroxide or whatever else might be in toothpaste) that you can use for these extreme situations.