10 replies to this topic

[2manypenz]

Posted on behalf of Neal Laver:

Posted Today, 04:11

Here's the story linked to Henry's intriguing "vision from far eastern lands!".



A couple of weeks ago I took a fancy to a pen that although very beautiful and desirable, was badly damaged... the photographs were poor, the seller a man of few words, and of course competition from others too. It was one of those heart or head moments really. In the back of my mind I knew someone who I thought would be capable of rescuing this pen, and so after many phone calls with Henry I took the plunge, and became the excited owner of a 1920's Dunhill Namiki. When the pen arrived I was relieved to find a pen far more beautiful than those awful online pictures had suggested.... but the cap damage was not for the feint hearted.... a huge chunk was missing and lost forever.









More conversations with Henry followed, and then the pen was packed off for surgery. More conversations, more sweat and tears (from Henry!) and finally after just a few days, Henry's call that said "it's done, and on it's way back to you!". The pen arrived yesterday.... and wow, what a fantastic job our Henry has done! Have a look at these "before & after" comparisons!










How about that for a restoration! Here's a few more images to savour....
















I can't thank Henry enough for his skill and expertise! I'll leave it to Henry to decide whether or not he will detail the steps he took to restore the damage. He will tell you that this is not a completely invisible repair.... that was almost certainly impossible, but you have to look damn hard to really see where restoration has taken place, and most importantly a beautiful piece of art has been saved!



Thanks again Henry.... I hope you enjoyed the journey!





Neal.

www.neallaverphoto.co.uk The original posting to the thread

Edited by 2manypenz, 18 August 2013 - 05:05 PM.

[JonSzanto]

Thank you, Neal. Indeed, it is just this kind of dedication and skill that keeps me admiring all the fine pen restoration people around the world. Congratulations on a pen brought back to lovely form, and congratulations to Henry for such craft and artistry.

[Procyon]

Really nice to see a work of art like that restored. Thanks for showing it Neal.

[Rocco P]

Great looking pen and incredible workmanship from Mr.Simpole

[2manypenz]

I have edited the OP to show I posted on behalf of Neal. He is not a member of this board just yet. Sorry for any confusion.

[AndyR]

Some years back, the British pen community lost the services of the wonderfully talented Bernard Hawkins (through retirement). Bernard was the first 'plastic surgeon' pen specialist I encountered, and he performed miracles on many of my pens, he seemed to have had a special way with casein! I know many collectors were concerned that Bernard would no longer be available to fettle their pens, but since then Henry has picked up Bernard's baton and run with it. He too has made some great repairs on several of my pens, rare enough to merit restoration (though nowhere near as valuable as Neal's example) but tiny and probably extremely fiddly to work on. I have always been very happy to recommend Henry to anybody who enquires where they might get a 'difficult' repair done, though I'm not sure how Henry feels when all the tricky repairs get sent to him!

Andy

[2manypenz]

Per Henry's request, I am re-posting his explanation of the repair process here as it's easier for me than him....My pleasure indeed!

Posted Today, 12:41

This was a very difficult repair to undertake.

As you can see from the first few photographs which Neal has provided, it was a comparatively huge piece of the cap which was missing, and my first attempt at doing it, was to use a clipless Parker 51 cap, wrapped in a layer of tracing paper, and placed inside the mouth of the cap of the Namiki Pen, to support the resin [dyed black] which was 'poured' into the space provided so conveniently by the idiot who broke the pen!

Patience was the key word from here on, and I had to sit holding the pen cap and tilting it one way, and then the other until the viscosity of the resin had thickened to the extent that I could park the cap onto a piece of 'Blue-Tack' to set. I left it in that position overnight, and when I came down to the workshop the next morning, I removed the 51 cap, and then carefully peeled the tracing paper from the underside of the resin, which was really well-set!

As you can see from the 'before' photographs, the shape of the missing piece is that of a capital letter 'D'. Well, I fairly soon discovered that the two corners of the letter D shape [where the two ends of the curve meets the two edges of the lip of the cap] did not grip onto the cap!!! So, I had to think of another way of tackling the problem!

I took the resin piece out of the space!

I then went through one of my 'spares draws', looking for a pen cap with the same diameter cap mouth, and found one that looked appropriate, both in size, and colour. I then cut [with a piercing saw blade, which is as thin as a needle!] the cap lip off it [just over one centemetre from the lip of the cap].

I put the 'cylindar' shaped piece onto a tapered steel mandril, until it was firmly gripped, then I 'flat-filed' the curved surface of it until it fitted exactly the mouth of the Namiki cap. [BTW, I forgot to mention that I had sawn-off the Namiki cap back to the groove line, near the mouth of the cap!] After I was satisfied that I had a clean fit, I stuck it with Araldite, 'mopped up' any 'splurge' that had appeared inside the cap! And then I waited!

When all was dry, and set hard, I mixed some more resin, [dyed black] and 'dollopped' it into the now 'D' shaped space to receive it, I went through the 'tilting' procedure again, but not for quite so long this time, as there was considerably less resin involved, then it was placed onto the piece of 'Blue-Tack'. Then I just waited!

When it was set, I started to 'cut-back' the resin area, using ever increasing 'smoothness' of carborundum paper, until it was 'level' with the surrounding area, carefully avoiding the gold pattern on the pen cap!

And there you have it!

S'easy really!!!

Truffle Finder.


henrysimpole.com
Beautiful handcrafted fountain pens by Henry Simpole....

[AndyR]

I think the phrase - 'Don't try this at home' probably applies here!

[tenney]

Gee... he makes it sound so simple, doesn't he :-)
True expert restoration such as this is a real art. I've seen some of Henry's work and appreciated it before, but this one surely was very demanding!
Well done, Henry!

[FmrLEO_GJ]

I am truly in awe of the craftsmanship shown in this repair.
Mr. Simpole is as good - and better - than professed by some of my pen-collecting / using friends.

Lovely pen too... Thank you for sharing.

[Truffle Finder]

I would just like to thank everybody who has passed comments about this repair. It was quite a challenge! But it was something that I just love doing, apart from getting something like that done, so that it is more robust, it is in this case, a situation where one is saving a work of art to be appreciated in the future.
A very worthwhile occupation, I think!
Truffle Finder.