Parker 25 Photo Thread

March 2, 2019

Bad? You're evil

I just forgot to include this in my previous one.
Inside the heated shell there is of course a feed. That too is damaged and note that the main damage is done under the metal band.The heat made the soft plastic bend and almost collapse. The lengthy straigt ink channel is almost closed. Below an undamaged feed for easy comparison.
P25 frankenhorror feed.jpg

Wow, yeah ok the feed in mine is pretty much ok, it's just the nib thats a bit screwed, when I got the pen one of the tines was bent up and out, and no matter what I do, they will just not come back together..

As a temporary fix I have used the nib and feed from a Frontier until I find a new nib

Edited March 3, 2019 by Smurf-JJ-81

March 4, 2019

Awesome looking combi - is it perhaps the same nib as in the Sonnet?

Edited March 4, 2019 by Shaughn

March 4, 2019

Awesome looking combi - is it perhaps the same nib as in the Sonnet?

They are very similar, the nib to the sonnet is nicer though, The Frontier was sat in my drawer not doing much whereas my Sonnets are all in ink and that is the only reason I borrowed the Frontier nib

March 7, 2019

Rummaging the pile for unmarked p25s, I discovered that I also have a biro made in AUST !

Would it have been worthwile, financially, shipping parts to down under, and to have a production plant for engraving and then finishing with the epoxy layer and assembling?

Biro aust 1.jpg
biro aust 2.jpg

Hi Shaughn,

Thinking it through, all the parts would of been manufactured in the UK. The caps stamped with a stamp, then painted. Engraving was a completely different process, produces a different type of finish and takes far more time. The stamp was less than a second to make the impression. Then shipped to Australia to be assembled. I guess if the quantity and orders where there to make it worth while then the TAX dodge (if true) would of been worth while. I have no way of knowing what kind of quantities went out to the world. I think that information will be lost forever.

Kind regards,

Darryl

March 7, 2019

Hi Darryl,

Both, I guess. I know the theory of applying an epoxy layer to metal (epoxy powder, static electricity, heat). But at my white ones and the black Nikon, bands and logos seem to be in the layer, not upon. Which made me wonder how it is done.

Shaughn

When I was at Parkers, Newhaven, a majority of pens with logos were screen printed. A multi stage process that uses an etched silk screen to precisely print an image one colour at a time, slowly building up a coloured logo / picture. Each screen had a different part of the image to print. Like screen printing an image on a T-shirt. Obviously one colour was the easiest to print. Two to four colours was common. I remember one customer had an image built up of nine colours. That was pushing the limits, as every different screen / colour had to have a scrap rate included for set up, as you set up and adjust, you produced scrap parts.

I think the P25 logos on the clips were pad printed with a soft rubber pad.

I spoke to the manufacturing engineer a while back. He was in charge of the P25 at the time. He said they initially had trouble trying to find a contractor who wanted to do the job, maintain the quality and consistently apply the paint. He said they used a contractor from the agricultural / automotive industry!

Shame they didn't acid etch any P25s like the Harlequin range, they would of been great! I remember the acid room... a bit toxic by today's standards!

Darryl

March 7, 2019

Which brings me to the mystery of the unstamped caps. I remenber having a P25 cap with only partial engraving which I haven't found yet, but I found one with very shallow engraving (first pic) It is the same typ of engraving as on the second. And my first matte black P25 (bought in 1976) is thus worn out that all black is gone, revealing a blank space where the engraving should be. (pic three and four) Only visible with the greatest difficulty and under a special angle, there are traces of tekst ( in England). That's for me impossible to photograph.
Which makes me think that apparently unmarked caps have their markings shallow and covered by the epoxy finish. Unless, of course, there is an unmarked stainless steel cap that may have escaped quality control...

gravering detail 0.jpg
gravering detail 1.jpg
p25 nonengravement 2.jpg
p25 nonengravement 1.jpg

It's a good point Shaughn. I think there were two possibilities how 'unstamped' caps escaped the factory into our hands!

1. The stamp station was taken out of the deep draw power press, unlikely, but very possible. Hence a cap would come out unstamped. Although this shouldn't of happened, it would of been easy to do. An example of this is the sterling silver Jotters with no feathers stamped on the clip. That punch and die was taken out of the station in the press tool. A very easy detail to take away from a pen to make it a bit different and 'limited'. They did the same to the P45, there are some out there with no feathers on the clip.

2. The stamp was worn out. So when it stamped, it left a very shallow impression. Then when the cap got barrelled, yes in actual barrels (polished and deburred), then linished on centreless grinders, the stamping was even more shallow, or in some cases disappeared. On the whole the quality procedures were pretty good. Tooling was maintained and stamps replaced when worn. Although on the odd occasion a stamp may of been used a little too long! In addition the linishers could also of removed to much material grinding away the stamp impression giving the same result of an unmarked cap.

I have seen a stainless steel unstamped cap recently, unfortunately I don't own it!

Kind regards,

Darryl

March 26, 2019

Thank you, Darryl, for sharing your research!

And this is 25ish enough, I hope:

The clip is marked prOclama, the nib is marked M and iridium.

March 28, 2019

Parker 25 has been, and will always be my favorite, going all the way back to the mid 70s when I saw my high school principal using one. I have several of them, black and flighter, body, with blue, black and green sections. Very durable pen that is always happy to write.

I once forgot one in my pants pocket and it went through an entire washing machine cycle. It came out of the pants but did not open and did not leak, except for a drop or two inside the cap. needless to say it was ready to write as soon as I took it out of the washing machine.