I have this beautiful brass pen that some stupid pharma company painted grey and slapped their drug on it.
How to clean it off and make it all nice and brass like.
Also I have a beauty of an aluminum pen - but its a suzuki boulevard pen. I am keeping that one intact.
Cool.
Buddha.

Depends on the type of paint. If it's silk-screened on then acetone is the way to go. Lacquer thinner will take off most paint including catalyzed paints and powder coat.

Also depends on the "brass". If it's actually brass, and it's bare metal that's polished, then you may wind up having to re-polish the pen after you take off the paint. And then you'll have to re-polish the brass periodically anyway as brass develops a natural patina (oxidizes) and requires frequent maintenance. That's why they make "Brasso", which is both acidic (takes off the oxidation) and has a very fine abrasive for polishing. However, if it's just some kind of gold-tone or brass-tone plating then it may be super thin and also under some kind of clear finish in order to prevent natural oxidation, in which case your acetone or lacquer thinner will likely take off the protective clear finish and then you will be left with dealing with that, maybe have to take all of the protective finish off to get a consistent finish quality and then of course if it's really a very thin plating then you likely will polish through it in no time.

So it really does depend, is it a real solid brass pen with a bare metal finish with something silk-screened on it? If so then some acetone will make short work of the silk screen and touch up with Brasso and Bob is your uncle. Is it "brass appearance" only with maybe clear powder coat over a microscopic brass plating? In that case your attempt to take the logo off may take off the PC and polishing may take off the brass plating.

mr72 brings up some valid concerns.

I've stripped and polished some brass paintball guns before using Aircraft Remover.  Don't know what kind of paint it was, but acetone wouldn't cut it.  Nothing resists Aircraft Remover, though.

The brass underneath the paint definitely needed polishing afterward.
My favorite has been MAAS.  It's much thicker than Brasso and I feel it's a little easier to work with.  It leaves a beautiful finish with little effort.






I'll confirm that brass requires regular maintenance or it turns dull.  I always wondered if I polished up one of my guns, degreased it, and clear-coated it, if it would be maintenance free afterward.  But I felt to go through all that, then strip back down if it didn't work, was more effort than just polishing up my guns the night before going out to play so I never tried.

simichrome works well too for polishing. or even plain white toothpaste. ( used on computer heatsinks before. ) buddha, i guess the question is how bad to you want this pen brasslike?
Aaron
p.s. do you have any macros of this pen ( together as well as broken down?)

I am not wire brushing it.
Pics - yea I'll get it, but its a pharma crap pen from the 90's.
I dont want it to be super shiny and bright, I would rather it was a bit tarnished and old looking. Patina, vintage, aged etc etc.
Cool.
Buddha.

Scotch Brite pad?

Scotch Brite pad will take off a lot of brass in the process.

Aircraft stipper (Kleen-Strip, you can get it at Home Depot) will work but might be a bit excessive... It's nasty stuff and if you get it on your skin you'll be very sorry.

I'd try lacquer thinner first, if that doesn't work, then believe it or not brake fluid will probably get the paint off but the downside is you'll never be able to get paint to stick to it again, which doesn't sound like a problem.

i second the lacquer thinner. or even dot 3 brake fluid. hell it eats car paint, why not enamel from a pen?
Aaron

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on January 03, 2018, 11:24:35 AM
i second the lacquer thinner. or even dot 3 brake fluid. hell it eats car paint, why not enamel from a pen?
Aaron

Yeah see above.

But the silicone in brake fluid will get into the pores of the metal and prevent paint from ever adhering to that again! So in this specific case it's probably ok but in most cases you don't want to ever get any silicone-based product including brake fluid (and armor-all!) near a painted thing unless you never again want paint to stick to it.

true, forgot about the lacquer part.
Aaron