Thread: cracked pen. any hope?

Hey Simon

I have had this problem in the past so I will be watching this thread

Ian

Best is to pull the kit apart and fill with CA and sawdust if large re-turn/sand etc and hope all goes well.

In that location it will stick out like the proverbials me I would dismantle the pen completely then reassemble with the repaired section as the clip end ,and covered by the clip ( another use for clips ) it looks like the fittings were a bit too tight and with no give in the blank after gluing that can happen ,also as mentioned in other posts a tiny bit of dried glue inside the tube can cause this as well. Some very fine powdered wood dust ( from sanding is good) pushed into the crack, with a drip of thin CA to fix it up will work As far as I can recall the three slim bushes are the same so should not be difficult to rearrange the assembly , I know it's a pain at this point in a pens production to redo any part of it ,but good practice for when you need to fill and repair more special blanks at a later time . Good luck with it , Cheers ~ John

I agree with John (Gawdelpus). They are slimlines so the barrel can be reversed and hidden under the clip after it has been repaired. Transfer punches will separate it for you. However, if it was me and I didn't want to practice repair work I would retrieve as much of the kit as possible and throw the rest in the bin. Its a really cheap kit and really not worth the effort.

[QUOTE=bassmansimon;1592225]Hi everyone,


I was experimenting with a finish with much fewer coats of CA to give a satin finish.

This was micro-meshed to 12,000 dry on the timber, then has about 10 coats of CA, then polished with the first grade of (1500) micro-mesh.


Sheesh Simon, why did you dry sand the bare timber to 12000 with Micro Mesh ?. Totally NO NEED to do that. Dry sand the timber blank to 600 (max) then do your CA finish, then WET sand with Micro Mesh. ( I prefer a minimum of 10 coats of 'Thin' CA on Slimlines ). If you want a Satin / low sheen finish then don't use CA, use Shellawax or EEE + Traditional Wax or similar. Re-your crack ,.... do what Greg & John have said.

Thanks everyone. Yes the blank lends itself to bring reversed, as there is no definite obvious grain matching between the two halves of the pen like there is in some timber or acrylic blanks.

I might have to leave it in my "to do" pile, since I currently don't own a pen disassembly tool, and would have great difficulty removing the pen mechanism (is this just a job for plyers?) but more so for the clip and cap and the nib, which have been glued in with epoxy.

Simon

Pliers will destroy the blank in a second. Check out McJing Tools on line website. There are one of the advertisers on here. A transfer punch set from them that will do all the pen categories is not very expensive.

Greg

Sorry I meant plyers to remove the pen mechanism. Plyers being on the mechanism, while just holding the pen in the other hand.

I know I need to buy a set of transfer punches or a pen disassembly tool anyway to have in my kit. There are many times it would have come in handy already.

Fill it with coffee and glue or use resin and don't hide it show it of.
David

Disassemble the whole pen, turn the timber away and start again. No point in having a below par quality pen with an oops band or a bogged up crack. Always handy to have spare tubes glued up for this sort of problem.

Pariss I dry sand to 12000MM brings out the best in the timber.

Bassmansimon, after the CA sand to around 3200/3600 MM for a satin finish, have done that before and has come up a treat

Cheers
Darren

I wouldn't bother with attempting a repair or recovery. If the plated fittings are glued in place, they probably be useless to you.

You can buy spares for the 7mm kits, so you could re-use the upper section by making a new lower with a new blank, tube and nib and even convert the damaged lower into a 7mm keyring - but is a slimline really worth it ?

To me I would either use the pen for yourself and show it off to would-be customers. The kit is not an expensive one.

Yes get yourself a set of transfer punches. Comes in handy for more things than just dissasembly.

As far as finish goes, those people that dry sand with MM are actually wasting money in that the MM wears a whole lot faster and becomes useless after a few passes sanding bare wood especially the finer grits. You are burnishing the wood as well as the pads. A better solution is to use the Abernet pads designed for bare wood. No need to get to such a fine grit if you are putting a CA finish on it. To me that does nothing to enhance the look. Just get rid of any sanding marks before applying CA. Add more coats of CA to give a deeper look or enhance the grain by tinting or staining. To get a satin look in CA, do your normal finish to 12000 and then either use some nonwoven pads or the middle grade of the MM pads. This way you have the full coats of CA.

Originally Posted by bdar

Disassemble the whole pen, turn the timber away and start again. No point in having a below par quality pen with an oops band or a bogged up crack. Always handy to have spare tubes glued up for this sort of problem.

Pariss I dry sand to 12000MM brings out the best in the timber.

Bassmansimon, after the CA sand to around 3200/3600 MM for a satin finish, have done that before and has come up a treat

Cheers
Darren

I totaly agree with all the others and especially darren as there would be nothing worse than a bogged up crack

Cheers everyone

give it to some rellie as a reject and forget about it what will it cost you ...a couple of dollars