Fountain Pen Deoxidizer Instructions
Thank you for purchasing our Fountain Pen Deoxidizer. I use this product almost every day to work on my hard rubber pens. One of the things you will have to remember is that many of the companies who manufactured fountain pens would purchase their rubber from different rubber companies. This rubber was not always produced using the same formulas or techniques, so you will not always get the same results. Also, the level of oxidation as well as what caused the oxidation may play a role in the process. You may have to put the pen back into the solution a number of times to get the results you want. In extremely cases where the oxidation is very bad the pen may not get its black color back.
I recommend that you have a dedicated area to work with when you are doing this. The deoxidizer tends to be a bit sticky. I would also suggest that you do a number of pens at once if you want to get the most use of the solution.
You can put different type of Rubber together into the solution without any ill effects.
I suggest you have the following things on hand when using the deoxidizer.
Cotton Balls
Tee Shirt Rags
Cue Tips
Mineral Oil (This can be found at any Pharmacy)
Glass Jelly Jar that is not more then 4-5 inches high.
Take the pen completely apart first. I then stuff the cap and the barrel with the cotton balls. This is not necessary but I do find it saves me time when later cleaning the pen as the product is a bit sticky.
Once the pen is apart take the bottle of deoxidizer and dump it into the jelly jar. You can then insert the pens into this. I will usually do about 10-12 pens at a time to maximize the use of the product but that is up to you.
Immerse the pen/pens for about 20 minutes. After this pull them out and using the tee-shirt rags rub the pen down vigorously. You will see the oxidation coming off on the rag. Do not worry, it is not harming the pen. It will not hurt the chasing or the imprints. Often they are better when the oxidation has been removed. Once done look at the pen and decide if you are happy with the results. Some pens that have minor oxidation do not need to be immersed more then once and others will need to be put back into the solution several more times. If you do need to immerse them a second time you will find that you can leave them in for a longer period of time. I would suggest 1 hour. Repeat the process with the tee-shirt rag. I do not recommend leaving them overnight in the solution. If you don't have time to repeat the process then wipe the pens off and put them into the solution the next day again.
Once you are finished with the pen you then clean it using the mineral oil. Do not use water. Water is not good for hard rubber and should never be used to clean the pen. I will pull out the cotton balls and use the cue tips soaked in mineral oil to clean the inside of the pens. Even with the cotton balls you will get some residue inside the pens. Some mineral oil on the tee-shirt rag will take care of the outside as well.
I personally will put all the pens parts in the mineral oil and then let them drip drip but not everyone likes to do this as this process can take several days to get the oil to drip out. If you have time I do suggest it though. The mineral oil is very good for the hard rubber. It protects it and keeps it from cracking.
If you have my polish then I recommend you take the extra fine and polish the pen with this afterwards. This will not hurt the imprints or the chasing as the abrasive is extremely mild and breaks down quickly. If you are worried try a small amount of it on an area to see the results first. The polish has anti-oxidants in it as well which will protect the pen from further oxidation (which most commercial polishes will not do) and will give it shine.
I will often use my pen balm as well after this to give it more shine if I think it is necessary. The pen balm is a blend of waxes that I have produced for this purpose.
Where I have found this product to work extremely well is with cleaning red hard rubber as well as mottled and ripple pens. It is also fantastic for doing over lay pens as it will not harm any of the metal.
RED HARD RUBBER
You will notice that you don't have to worry about streaking from the metal on the red hard rubber which is a huge plus. Also, the red hard rubber because of its hardness will not need to be immersed very long. You can even just put a bit on the rag and wipe the pen with it and you will see immediate results (though I do still recommend immersing it to get the best results).
OVERLAY PENS:
Immerse the pens as you would the others. Remove the barrel or cap while leaving the other immersed. Take a toothbrush wrapped in a micro-fiber cloth and rubber into the filigree vigorously from all angles. This will remove most of the oxidation.
After this I would suggest the following: If you have a drill I suggest you get one of the 3" to 4" round cotton buffers that can be attached to the drill (email me if you would like a photo of this). Push the filigree into the wheel. This will allow you to remove the oxidation more efficiently. For those of you who have lathes then just put this wheel into the chuck.
Please email me with any questions. I am sure that I missed something here. I will try to update this as questions come in.