How to disassemble and clean?

[KandyPenz]

How do you disassemble and clean the feed on a Paul e Wirt pen with this feed ? It seems to have multiple separate parts to it. 

Years old ink had dried in to a powder which I'm trying to clean out, unfortunately without much luck. 
Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

 

[dipper]

2 hours ago, KandyPenz said:

Years old ink had dried in to a powder which I'm trying to clean out, unfortunately without much luck. 

Tell us what cleaning methods you have tried so far (the methods that don't seem to be removing anything). Then we will be able to suggest small increases in cleaning "vigour" that might start to shift some of the dried ink without putting the pen materials at any risk.

 

For example, if you have used cleaning fluids at room temperature only, then try same methods but warmed to body heat temperature.

 

Or, if you have used only static soaking in a dish of fluid, then try to coax a little flow of cleaning fluid through the feed. Fill pen with whatever cleaning fluid already used, then stand pen upright with nib resting on an absorbent paper towel.

 

Or, if you have already tried fluids A, B, and C, then the chemists here will be able to suggest fluids D, E, etc.

[KandyPenz]

My line of thinking was that its easier to deal with the ink in its dried powder form than in liquid form.

So I have been using a piece of cardboard torn in to a point and using it to brake away and a small art brush to dust out the powder. Once done, I was dipping the brush point in a drop of water and using it to clean the inside. then using a torn paper towel to dry it up.  

What I am struggling to do is getting in to parts of the feed facing the nib as well as between the two pieces of the feed. the tray like piece in the middle is hard to get in to. picture is taken using the phone's flash light to see inside , it looks rather flat on the picture but in real life there is a fair bit of a height difference between the  two parts of the feed

Last ink used on this pen looks to be a deep purple. 

   

[dipper]

2 hours ago, KandyPenz said:

My line of thinking was that its easier to deal with the ink in its dried powder form than in liquid form.

That's an interesting approach.

 

I suggest soaking in plain cold water, then flush-through with water to complete the cleaning operation.

[KandyPenz]

Thank you for the advice. I will try this after work today.

My understanding before was that i shouldn't submerge vintage hard rubber in water but I could be mistaken there.

Filling the entire with water and leaving the outside dry I guess would do the same. I can leave it alone for a day or so like that. that should soak the inside and dissolve any ink. Then flush it with water.

[dipper]

23 hours ago, KandyPenz said:

My understanding before was that i shouldn't submerge vintage hard rubber in water but I could be mistaken there.

That has been mentioned before now in other topics on the FPNetwork forums.

Replies usually point out that ink is mostly made of water, so if safe to put ink through ebonite parts then certainly safe to put water through those same parts.

 

(Yesterday I happened to have been simmering a bent 60-year-old ebonite Parker feed in a pan of water for 20 minutes to straighten it. The bent feed came out perfectly straightened, with the glossy shiny surfaces still glossy, and the matt machined surfaces still matt.)

 

However, there must be some origin to this rumour, or urban-myth, about water and ebonite.

Perhaps, once-upon-a-time, some ebonite pen body had a vintage "patina" deposit on its outside surfaces, from decades of handling, that was altered by a water soak? Or some coating of varnish or polishing compound or talc or .... had been applied to a pen, and that coating reacted badly to water?

Or perhaps the myth had the same origin as the (correct) advice to avoid cleaning off all the grime of ages from fine antique furniture? Such deep cleaning will not damage the piece of furniture if done well, but it may reduce the sale value of the piece. Collectors prefer their antique furniture to retain evidence of its age, dirt included, and not look like a modern reproduction!

 

Ebonite is fantastically tough stuff....

 

[KandyPenz]

I have ended up trading this pen to a local collector friend that was more interested in it than I was.
I was told that soaking is mostly an issue for pre world war pens. This was said to be from around 1908 + or - few years.
 

 

[es9]

I’d hang tight on soaking the whole thing in water. Your initial gut reaction re hard rubber is correct. Water can discolor it very quickly. See here. I don’t know anything about your pen, but I’d suggest posting in the Repair forum. 

[KandyPenz]

I got two pens out of the trade. Both with overlays.
Orange/ red/ purple shades on the Aiken Lambert overlay is gold showing its age and not brassing.  Both overlays are fully intact.