Pen Disassembly

[azimmer1]

Hi
A total newbie question. What is the best way to take apart a Statesman or Emperor pen for either changing the tubes or refinishing the tubes. (Without damaging the pen)
Thanks
Andy

 

[stevers]

What do you mean by "refreshing" the tube?

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Well Steve... I think he means refinishing them. I don't see an edit tag so did you read it wrong??

That said, the best way and pretty much the only way, is to knock it apart. Just be carefull with capped pens, some thread couplers may not survive this.

If it was me, on that high of a pen kit, I would replace the wood and tubes. I juse a dremel tool with a cut off wheel to gently grind off the tube at the hardware. This just needs a small flat spot ground until the tube is cut thru. Once this happens the hard ware will come off by hand.

Now just turn yourself a new body with some $.50 tubes. Let's face it, a new blank is pretty cheap if you break something on the kit you no longer have the pen. I don't mind knocking apart slims and cigars, but the higher end kits...

 

[stevers]

Your right Lee, thanks.

 

[Texatdurango]

Originally posted by azimmer1
<br />Hi
A total newbie question. What is the best way to take apart a Statesman or Emperor pen for either changing the tubes or refinishing the tubes. (Without damaging the pen)
Thanks
Andy

So far in my experiences I found that I have had no problems with damaging any kit parts when taking a pen apart.

I would much rather dissassemble a larger kit than a smaller one. I think the better, larger kits such as the statesman, gent, emperor have "beefier" components that can withstand punching the ends from the brass tubes better than some of their flimzier cousins. I have punched off the ends from my share of pens and have never damaged a pen yet.

The infamous Harbor Freight has a set of transfer punches between $6 and $10 depending if they are on sale or not.

You can completely dissasemble most capped pens by selecting the appropriate punch, holding the pen in hand and tapping the table to knock the end cap off then getting a slightly larger punch and knocking the centerband off then repeat the procedure for the lower barrel.

This method allows you to dissasemble a pen even if you just wanted to redo the finish while retaining the same blanks.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Ditto what others have said. It is important to understand that disasters will happen. Tubes are a minimal cost. Even blanks are not a huge expense (usually). When disaster happens, stop working, have a good cuss session, relax and start over. Always buy extra tubes when placing kit orders.

 

[azimmer1]

Thanks
Andy