My Parker 51 Writes Like A Desert: Dry.

[DylanKeefe]

Ok, so I recently found a Parker 51 vacumatic in Cordovan Brown in a local antique store, and I got it back from being repaired last week. The nib, while not scratchy, is very...dry. There is no lubrication at all from the ink, and the ink I put in (MB Toffee Brown) is normally a good performer. I watched Steven Brown's video on nib modification a while back, but the methods that he proposed didn't seem safe for the hooded 51. Any suggestions, or should I just buckle and dip into my shallow college student wallet to buy a medium Octanium nib?

[icardoth]

Just return it to the repairman. He should adjust the nib for proper ink flow. The method proposed in the video you've watched can be done removing the hood first.

[welch]

Just return it to the repairman. He should adjust the nib for proper ink flow. The method proposed in the video you've watched can be done removing the hood first.

 

...and I assume your nib is the width you want. Medium nibs are not typical in US-made P51s, and there is no marking that tells you whether you have a fine or medium or one of the specialty nibs (accountant or needle-point, for instance). Octanium and gold nibs can both be wet, dry, in-between, smooth, or anything...depending on the care and skill of the repair-specialist. I have had several P51's "re-nibbed" because I can't write with a fine point. The medium gold nib might be a shade softer than a medium octanium, but the difference is very small. The 51 was not designed to have much "give" in the nib...if a 51 nib were to bend much it would crack the hood.

 

As Icardoth suggests, return it; get it fixed.

[Parker51]

You said you just got it back from the repair person and that means different things to different people. I know one respected specialist in the repair of a specific filing mechanism that will do an excellent job in regard to their specialized area, but they do not clean the collector at all when they repair the specific filling mechanism they specialize in. I know another that will not do that type of filing mechanism at all, but when they work on the type of pens they specialize in, they take the pen down to its parts, and clean everything, including the collector, and it with an ultrasonic device. So, did the repair person do a complete cleaning, or did they just service the filing mechanism? Parker 51s can accumulate a lot of gunk like dried ink in their collectors, and this may cause the problem you described.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Parker51

[OcalaFlGuy]

I agree it should go back to the "repairman".

 

I also have to key in on your description of "like a desert".

 

If a 51 writes "Ok" but just has less flow than one would like, I would think that might point to a nib adjustment.

 

OTOH, if the nib is truly getting so little ink as to have no lubrication from it as you describe, that sounds to me like a more serious flow stoppage,

ala a clogged collector.

 

I don't want it thought that I Always think that's the case, but from Your description, is sure sounds like it to me here.

 

You might also first gander at the hood to nib gap and see if it's Noticeable, that could do it too.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Chi Town]

Yes, we or most of seem to agree that it needs to go back to the repairperson for adjustment. By the way have you spoken with this person about this issue yet, before posting it here? Just curious ? If so what was their reply?? No names please!

[Mike 59]

You might get some more ideas or clues about what might be wrong, from what was repaired.

Even with an empty pen, you can get some idea of what it can do, just by dipping the nib in a bottle of ink, when it should write for a a few dozen words.

If even that does not work, then it points to nib gap or feeder/nib/hood issues.

If you thought about buying a medium nib, do you think you have a fine nib fitted now? A fine nib can still flow well, if adjusted to be.

(I use MB Royal blue in a '51' and it works very well.)

[ac12]

Used 51s can run the range from DRY to WET.

I've had almost the whole range.

- I have one 51 that I have to use dry Cross/Pelikan ink, because it is so wet. With Waterman, the ink would practically pool on the paper.

- I have another that I have to use wet Waterman ink, just to get the ink to flow.

- And everything in between.

 

I don't know how the MB ink compares to Waterman, my gut feeling is it is dryer than Waterman.

As an alternative, I understand that Aurora is even more wet than Waterman.

 

Ask the tech what ink he used to test the pen.

He could have used a much wetter ink than your MB ink.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I AM NOT one who goes "chasing inks" to make a pen write well, that's NOT the way it's supposed to work.

 

OTOH, I recently used a NOS Venus (Estie nib) with PR American Blue and it wrote fine. The new owner used the same pen with some MB Toffee (I think) and it wrote dry.

 

I have personal issues with MB myself. Homey don't play Any flavor of the MB anything game.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[pajaro]

I suppose OP could try another ink just to test the result. Then send it back with the resulting test results.

 

If you have been working with a repair person, keep working with that person or make a switch. You can ruin a nib messing around with it.

[captain1796]

I sound like a broken record, but I just has this issue. I switched from Iroshizuki ink to some Diamine and the problem went away. I did nothing else, it's like two different pens. Took about a minute of writing with the new ink for everything to clear up.

Shawn

[pajaro]

Amazing how a change of ink can affect a pen.

[ac12]

 

 

I AM NOT one who goes "chasing inks" to make a pen write well, that's NOT the way it's supposed to work.

 

OTOH, I recently used a NOS Venus (Estie nib) with PR American Blue and it wrote fine. The new owner used the same pen with some MB Toffee (I think) and it wrote dry.

 

 

Normally for other pens with open nibs, I would adjust the nib to get the ink flow that I wanted.

BUT, the hooded nib on the 51 isn't easy to adjust. There is only the exposed tip, which is the weakest point of the nib to tinker with. You would have to remove the hood to get at the nib, and for me that is NOT easy. So far I have only been able to remove only ONE 51 hood myself, and several more that I gave up on.

So my alternative is changing ink to get the proper ink flow.

[Parker51]

I personally have had Parker 51s fully serviced, at a pen show, and as I sat and watched the Parker 51 Specialist work on them I saw the gunk, as in dried up ink, removed from the feeds. He said it sometimes happens because in the old days people did not flush there pens, simply wrote with them, and while the pens with visible nibs would be cleaned periodically as they visibly were dirty, the 51s wouldn't. He thought it might be that because most 51s were made, sold & used at the same time as ballpoints, even though they were probably being used by experience Fountain Pen users, they were treated more like a ballpoint, except they required filling.

[Jerome Tarshis]

I was there at the time and I rather doubt that this pen-show personage was. We weren't confusing 51s with ball-point pens. Gee whiz.

 

It's true that we didn't clean pens, but when I had both a Parker 51 and an Eversharp Skyliner (as they were originally called) I didn't clean either of them.

 

Nor did I see any connection between a Parker 51 and a ball-point pen just because the 51 didn't have an open nib. Stylographic pens didn't, either. A diesel-electric locomotive hid part of its wheels, but people didn't believe the locomotive had only half-wheels, whereas a steam locomotive had entirely circular wheels. Granted, the 1940s and 1950s have become a time of myth and legend, but BPs were sufficiently new and amazing so that we had a pretty clear idea what was a FP and what was a BP.

[Parker51]

Not confusing what they were, but rather treating the in the same manner as a ballpoint, not realizing how a Fountain Pen works and the need to keep the collector clean.

Most people do not know how things work and are clueless to even basic maintance needs of the machines they use.

I do not believe this reality has changed much over time.

I know a large Property Rental Company that employs someone to change the furnace filters on every furnace on every Property they own because when they tried to have the renters change them it wasn't getting done, even when they supplied the filters and instructions. My own Mother In-law, who was of that generation, was a Farm Wife, and the head of Food service of an entire school district and who was well aware of the idea of maintance had a clothes dryer go out of service because the filter for it clogged up completely. It was a new machine, and the filter was in a different location than the old one and she simply didn't think about it and look for it.

My wife and I have been Antique Dealers in the past, and it recall the inevitable, if something was mechanical and didn't work, it would likely need to be cleaned, everything from apple peelers to milk seperators, but once cleaned and properly lubricated, the old machines would work quite well.

It was a guess, and I believe a good one.

Perhaps people sometimes didn't clean them because they didn't see the part under the hood.

It was in response to what was observed, very dirt feeds.

Maybe you can come up with another reason why the feeds on pens with hoods often are clogged.

Since you were there, maybe you can recall if people ever said anything about it.

Did Parker send out notices advising people to have there pens regularly serviced?

I do not know, maybe they did, but even if they did, that doesn't mean every owner did so.

And while it may be a stretch to compare Automobiles to Fountain Pens, I believe we all know that when purchasing a used car that it is important if at all possible to view the maintance records, or at the least have a mechanic inspect the vehicle because people neglect to sometimes even get the oil changed in vehicles which cost tens of thousands of dollars.

And since you mentioned you cleaning habits at the time, perhaps few cleaned the feeds, but may, just maybe you don't remember your open collector looking rather dirty one day, maybe not even due to ink, but simply dust, after all, dust isn't something new, actually, from what I have read, seen on film, and seen on buildings, until the advent of central air conditioning, one might be exposed to dust quite often, and you ran the collector under some water, and in cleaning the visible dust which was on the collector you inadvertently cleaned out some of the ink residue.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Parker51

[pajaro]

I was just a little kid in the 50s, but when I got a squeeze filler fountain pen at 10 I used to flush the pen from time to time. It just seemed logical. I had no pen knowledge, but we washed our floors, bathrooms, kitchens, etc, so I washed the pen.

 

When I got a Parker 51 set new in 1970 I used to flush the pen sometimes. If I were going to use red ink, it made sense to flush it before and after. Same when I used the 51 to write in India ink on some clothing items, or when I used it to write in white laundry ink. I flushed the pen out before and after. I had some trouble getting all the Carter's red ink out of the pen, surprisingly. This 51 works to this day, and I have no troubles with it. It writes just as if it were a brand new pen. I have never removed the hood, but I have sometimes given this 51 a flush with dilute ammonia. I suppose my experiences with my 51 color my thinking about 51s to the point where I often wonder how anybody can possibly have all those issues with a 51.