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I am right now in the market for a Nakaya pen. Specifically the portable writer and I want to get some more information about the finish of the pen before I feel comfortable buying it. The main question I have is really about how the finish looks in person compared to some photos I've seen of it. In some photos it looks really wonderful and black with bright red accents. However sometimes it looks like more of a reddish brown throughout. I was wondering what exactly everyone thought about this finish and how it looks. Pictures would really be helpful. The second thing I want to know is how exactly this ages over time. It says the Kuro Tamenuri finish changes and becomes more colorful over time where the black is worn away and the red becomes more prominent. How much does it change exactly and is it going to wear more where my hands touch? Will I get a strange finger shaped red circles on the grip where I touch it? Again thanks for any and all information!

Recently, I acquired a vintage Parker 51 Vacufill. It's a really pretty pen; India Black barrel, Gold filled cap with a perfect Blue Diamond and jewel and a fine 14k gold nib. The barrel says its 1st quarter 1948 and the nib is stamped 1947. This was an eBay pen, and seller purported the pen to be cleaned, flushed, re-sacked, and in good working order. Contrary to the best advice, I filled the pen with Montblanc Midnight Blue (the old batch) and observed a little bit of tooth, a very fine and somewhate dry line. After a short while, I emptied the pen and soaked her for about 20 hours ... re-inked her in Diamine Evergreen and tried again. She remained toothy and writing on the dry side. I flushed and soaked her again, and inked her up with Shaeffer Black Skrip, which my other Parker 51s absolutely thrive on. Same result .. she wrote fine and dry for about a paragraph or so, and then quit altogether. Time for a look under the hood, pardon the pun. The hood was removed (strangely, without any heat) to inspect the collector and the breather tube. The tube, was a plastic replacement type (fine with me I think) and the collector was soaked in pen flush (soap, water and some ammonia) for 30 hours ... I managed to get the collector clean enough, though it was badly stained, but the fin gaps were very clear and the breather tube as well. Long story long, reassembled, inked up with the Diamine Evergreen. She was nice and wet for a paragraph or two and then slowly and completely died away. Although the genius of the Parker design has become evident to me, I'm thinking the issue here is a nib issue. The right side of the nib looks a little worn compared to the left, but I'm not sure that is the issue or not. Other than that, I'm fairly well in the dark here and ready to send the pen out for a professional remedy. Anyone have any input before I box her up? Do I send her to a nibmeister or a general repairman? I'm confounded for the moment and would like to hear the general brainstrust, perhaps others with a common experience ... I also obtained a Parker 51 Aerometric from eBay around the same time, a 1954 Special, and it is the sweetest, most reliable and enjoyable writing instrument I own, or close. Thanks .... Parker 51s ... I certainly DO get it!