Month: April 2021

Posted in Restoration

Really, The Dog Ate My Pen – Part 2

Posted on by Danny Watts

As a quick recap (pun intended), previously I blogged about my dog chewing on my wife’s pen, well things got better before they got way worse when I used a hairdryer to soften the plastic of an Esterbrook Pastel pen. I was able to fix the barrel and lever without issue and got overly confident with the cap.

  • The challenge:

I over heated the pen cap and now it’s deformed, plus the jewel and clip have fallen out. I tried heating the cap and reshaping it but nooooo. The cap wouldn’t stay round and it needed it to be tapered at the end, so how am I going to reshape the cap? That’s when the bright idea hit me! I need a form, to mold the hot plastic back into the shape of the cap.

  • The bright idea:

How to make a mold? A quick trip to Hobby Lobby where I found molding clay. Figured I could shape it into a block then press a similar pen cap into the soft clay then bake it. After it cools all I needed to do is heat the pen cap and push it into the mold and it should reform – right? Yeah right!

I bought a small block of FIMO molding clay (2 oz), it cost less than $3. Using only a 1/4 of it I formed a block and pressed a similar pen cap into clay. It looks good, just like an inverse pen cap. Next, into the oven at 230 F for 30 minutes. After it cooled I inserted the pen cap I used to make the imprint just to confirm the baking process didn’t misshape the mold. It was a bit tight so I took a wax shaping tool and was able to shave the inner sides of the mold allowing the pen cap a better fit.

The moment of truth arrived, I inserted the jewel and clip into the mold, then got out the hairdryer and applied heat to the damaged cap until it was very soft. I pushed the cap into the mold and it mushroomed out. Yup it looked just like a pot belly stove so I return it to the heat, it straightened out and pushed it back in. This time it went in but it took a teardrop shape with the point protruding at the clip. Instead of dragging this out the bright idea turned out to be a failure.

For the silver lining, the pen cap does have that inner cap which completely protects the nib and keeps it from drying out, the offensive tooth mark that started the entire process is gone and finally the pen is fully functional.

Posted in Restoration

Brown is the New Black

Posted on by Danny Watts

Late first generation Esterbrook Dollar pen, so called because they cost a dollar in their time, when the average hourly salary was 70 cents per hour. This style pen was manufactured from 1934-1942, the clip design was changed in 1938 as was the introduction of a new lever shape. I believe this pen was manufactured at the very beginning of 1938 using both old and new component parts, because the lever is a new style paddle shape, yet it retains the original clip design. A notable feature of the Dollar Pen was the use of expensive material. Most notably the company had chosen to use the newly available wonder metal – stainless steel. The pen is made of hard rubber (aka ebonite or vulcanite) and is very durable but subject to damage by sun light. Light damage is not immediately obvious, after some time the pen will turn to a brown color, its gloss will fade to a light tan color. The good news is the damaged areas can be repair but hence forth the pen is also susceptible to water damage (spots).

I got this pen at a great price from a seller in Michigan, it really looks more green than brown to me and the presence of white spots is prominent so I assume the light damage is extensive and complicated by some water damage. Well nothing ventured, nothing gained so I set about removing the light and water damage done to the cap and barrel. On a side note, pens made of celluloid also suffer from light damage, they generally darken and damage done to them is irreversible.

Before

After accessing the pen it was clearly in good shape apart from the coloration issue. It needed a new ink sac, the logo imprinted on the barrel was in great shape, no cracks or significant abrasions. So begins the process of disassembling the pen. I was able to remove the nib and section with a minimal effort. The old hardened sac mostly came out but not in its entirety so I removed the lever and snap clip and the remainder of the sac fell out. Over the course of 3 nights and several movies I progressively sanded first the cap then the barrel, using tape when possible to protect the logo imprint and the cap band. Starting with 1000 grit paper, which will remove the discoloration then progressing to 2000, 3000, 5000 and finally 7000 grit paper leaving a perfectly smooth surface. The only issue is the process discolors and renders useless the 1000 grit paper very quickly. I cut strips about an inch wide so I could better focus on a small area at a time. I went through the entire process on the cap and barrel 4 times.

Then the time came for the Sunshine cloth, the nib cleaned up instantly as did the lever. The snap clip ring and J-bar needed a light sanding as did the underside of the leaver. Afterwards they too were polished with the Sunshine cloth. The section required a sanding as well followed by a polishing. Next came the new sac installation followed by putting it all back together. Damn I think it looks good!

After