Brassing?

I recently picked up an old Parker Vacumatic and I've found I really like
the style of these old pens. The clip, however, looks fairly tarnished
which I guess is what you call "brassing." Is there a good way to clean the
clip or is this a permanent change of color?

Jack Harrell wrote:
I recently picked up an old Parker Vacumatic and
I've found I really like the style of these old
pens. The clip, however, looks fairly tarnished
which I guess is what you call "brassing." Is there
a good way to clean the clip or is this a permanent
change of color?

If it's brassing and not tarnish or shmutz, it's permanent. Brassing
means that the gold-fill (or, if the part is plated, gold-plate) has
worn down thus exposing the brass (or other metal) underneath. The only
way to remedy that would be to have the part replated, and that opens up
a philosophical can of worms or a can of philosophical worms...
whatever. As for cleaning, use a moistened soft cloth. Do not use an
abrasive such as Simichrome or other polish as doing so will only
exacerbate wear of the GF or GP. Tarnish can be removed with lightly
buffing the part with a jewelers rouge cloth. Again, do so only lightly
as overbuffing will cause wear. BTW, shined brass is hard to distinguish
from gold. So, if the piece is brassed and you buff it, it'll shine like
gold but it will darken again in the not too distant future. --- Kind
regards, Bernadette

"BL" blandolf writes:

Jack Harrell wrote:
I recently picked up an old Parker Vacumatic and
I've found I really like the style of these old
pens. The clip, however, looks fairly tarnished
which I guess is what you call "brassing." Is there
a good way to clean the clip or is this a permanent
change of color?

If it's brassing and not tarnish or shmutz, it's permanent. Brassing
means that the gold-fill (or, if the part is plated, gold-plate) has
worn down thus exposing the brass (or other metal) underneath. The only
way to remedy that would be to have the part replated,

That's not true... there's another way... shouldn't be too very difficult to
locate a clip for that pen that is in better condition, and in all likelyhood
will cost far less than having a single clip plated. Most plating companys
won't even bother plating one tiny item or will charge an exhorbitant price,
they're not going to stop and alter their production or assume liability for
loss/damage of one tiny part.. And then it's only plated (not gold fill),
likely just a thin flash... will erode in no time.

and that opens up
a philosophical can of worms or a can of philosophical worms...

Woims... what woims... no steenkin' woms here.

whatever. As for cleaning, use a moistened soft cloth. Do not use an
abrasive such as Simichrome or other polish as doing so will only
exacerbate wear of the GF or GP. Tarnish can be removed with lightly
buffing the part with a jewelers rouge cloth. Again, do so only lightly
as overbuffing will cause wear. BTW, shined brass is hard to distinguish
from gold. So, if the piece is brassed and you buff it, it'll shine like
gold but it will darken again in the not too distant future.

The best way to handle this situation (my opinion) is to "handle it", ie.
simply handling the pen in normal use will restore (and maintain) the existing
clip's finish to/at the best possible condition. If the pen is going into long
term storage (and you're a fusspot) then remove the clip, clean with a jewelers
cloth, de-grease with laquer thinner, then dip-coat with lacquer, perhaps two
coats, then re-assemble. If the pen is subsequently put back into use than the
lacquer will eventually wear off, which will necessitate periodically renewing
the lacquer, or simply use the pen regularly to maintain the best finish
possible... remember, any and all polishing will accelerate metal removal
beyond what will erode during normal usage. I don't recommend polishing any
part of any pen, my philosophy.


---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
Sheldon
````````````

PENMART01 wrote:

That's not true... there's another way... shouldn't
be too very difficult to locate a clip for that pen
that is in better condition, and in all likelyhood
will cost far less than having a single clip
plated. Most plating companys won't even bother
plating one tiny item or will charge an exhorbitant
price, they're not going to stop and alter their
production or assume liability for loss/damage of
one tiny part..

Good point about replacing the clip as another option. but finding good
replacement parts can run into money, too. BTW, a number of pen repair
folks plate parts on a small scale, and it's not that expensive..

And then it's only plated (not gold fill), likely
just a thin flash... will erode in no time.

Not necessarily. Although plating is never as good as high quality fill,
the quality and depth of plating varies.

The best way to handle this situation (my opinion)
is to "handle it", ie. simply handling the pen in
normal use will restore (and maintain) the existing
clip's finish to/at the best possible condition.

Who you? Midas? Handling may make the piece shiny but it won't restore
it. But I'm with you... I'd leave the clip be and just use the pen. ---
Bern

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 09:41:34 -0400, "Jack Harrell"
wrote:

The clip, however, looks fairly tarnished
which I guess is what you call "brassing."

The metal plating has worn off. You can't "clean" this, because the
problem is something missing, not the presence of some extra dirt.

Gold or silver are pretty easy to electroplate and many manufacturing
jewellers are equipped to do so. If you can find someone who still
does this (admittedly hard these days), then it's not usually complex
or particularly expensive to have it done.


You can also nickle plate parts, which looks reasonable and is even
easier to do. However nickel has skin sensitivity problems, so there's
no way I'd do this on something that would be worn or handled all day.

--
Smert' spamionam