Parker Vac - Shadow Wave - Circa Q1 1939 - Speedline - Can I soak it!?

October 25, 2023

Hey all,

I have been doing research as I recently acquired a Parker Shadow Wave (Speedline) in Golden Brown. I need to get the pen open, and in the past, I normally just soak the entire pen in distilled water for a couple days to a week or until I can get it open, but I received some advice from an individual not to the do that with this pen, but offered no explanation (other than "you just don't want to do that), so now I am not sure if I want too. I haven't had issues with soaking pens before (hard rubber oldies excluded of course--do NOT even bring water near them lol)...

The Speedline button works just fine, it moves up and down. I plan to use my vac block to take that rear vac plunger out, but it's the section threads that need the soaking. I know they were most likely sealed, so before I use heat, I always like to soak the pen just to loosen things up as much as I can. This also helps with removing the nib and feed once I get the section removed--all details I am sure you all already know.

So, the million dollar question is, can I soak this pen in water? Everyone has their do's and don'ts, and I was trying to search the forum for specifics, but I could not find anything that directly related to my question, so here I am asking. I appreciate it!

October 25, 2023

You don't want to do that. The spring in the pump could rust. I doubt that soaking really helps to get the front end open anyway. The thread sealant used is not effected by water. Gentle application of heat is a better way to go. Don't try to get the section out now, rather warm the barrel and apply steady, firm but rotation of the section. Eventually you'll feel it let go, and then the section will come out, though you may need to warm the barrel a couple of times to get it free.

There's a repair article that I did for the Pennant a number of years ago that's worth looking into.

October 25, 2023

Definitely don't soak the entire thing but I don't see the harm in soaking pen up to the end of the section where it screws in. I'm new to pen repair (about a year and a half into it) and I lot of people don't agree with me on this, but I will almost always soak stubborn pens for a bit if I can't get them open.

I'll try dry heat at first, if it doesn't open with gentle to moderate pressure, I'll soak the section for an hour or two (not the whole pen). My reasoning is that a lot of these pens get ink locked from dried ink. Water won't do anything to sealant, but it will do a good job with ink. Probably less relevant to vacs since they screw in and it's usually not ink holding them together though.

I've done this since I had an unfortunate incident with a Waterman 452 where I heated it to truly absurd levels and it still wouldn't open and I ended up snapping the front of the section with the section pliers. I soaked it for a bit after that, since I needed to get it out anyway, and after just 15 minutes of soaking it came out with no difficulty.

October 26, 2023

Thank you @Ron Z and @LoveBigPensAndCannotLie for your advice and thoughtful replies. Given the sealant part, which I knew about already, is not impacted by water, I will have to forgo the soaking at this point and just jump to the gentle heat to get the section threads to loosen. Thanks again for your replies!

October 26, 2023

Sounds like a good idea, good luck! The Shadowwave ones are my favorites.

October 27, 2023

After I got a couple of Parker 51s, I had some questions, so I contacted Tony Fischier at his site (parkercollector.com). He answered them and then said "And now you're going to start getting Vacumatics...." And I said "No I won't -- I don't like the Art Deco styling on them...." Then someone brought a Azure Blue Pearl Maxima (I think) to a pen club meeting and it was ALL OVER. :headsmack:

And while I only have some of the Pearl colors, I have I think all but one of the Shadow Wave colors. The Red Shadow Wave is probably one of my favorites (even over the two Azure Blue Pearl ones). And a few years ago at a pen show, someone had three different sizes of the Emerald Pearls ($25 price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive) and I just COULD NOT decide which one I wanted the most. So decided to walk away and come back later (in the hopes that someone else would buy at least one of the them to make my decision easier). But then in the next row of tables, literally back to back with the first vendor, someone had a Green Shadow Wave for the price of the most expensive of the first guy's Emerald Pearls -- and I ended up getting *that* instead.... :wallbash:

I did eventually get an Emerald Pearl, just not that weekend....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

November 1, 2023

Update: The section threads were rather simple after using heat............the rear end to get the vac out, I am about to throw this pen in the trash (not really, but I have cussed a little). It will NOT budge no matter what. Heat and the vac block are just not doing NOTHING to it. I think I am venting at this point, but I have never had a pen that won't budge like this one. My fingers are near raw from all the gripping and tightening, and gripping some more. Any advice from anyone for this, I'm open to options. Next step will be a small controlled atom bomb to get this thing open...and even then, I have my doubts.

November 1, 2023

Update to the update. After a little prayer and some cussin', the vac has been removed. Apparently I had to threaten it with the atom bomb and it surrendered without further demonstration.

What I learned:

Don't be afraid of a little heat.
Complain on this forum.
Have nuclear codes ready, locked, and armed.

Parker really knew how to seal their threads. Lesson learned.

November 2, 2023

If you are capable of removing the filler, you can always fill the pen with water from the top of the pen rather than soaking the entire pen. It may soften the ink from inside the barrel. Just make sure you set the pen nib side down inside a jar, in case the water leaks out.

There isn’t really a replacement for repeated dry heat.

November 2, 2023

19 hours ago, Emc^2 said:

Update to the update. After a little prayer and some cussin', the vac has been removed. Apparently I had to threaten it with the atom bomb and it surrendered without further demonstration.

What I learned:

Don't be afraid of a little heat.

Complain on this forum.

Have nuclear codes ready, locked, and armed.

Parker really knew how to seal their threads. Lesson learned.

:lticaptd:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

November 3, 2023

On 11/1/2023 at 9:50 PM, VacNut said:

If you are capable of removing the filler, you can always fill the pen with water from the top of the pen rather than soaking the entire pen. It may soften the ink from inside the barrel. Just make sure you set the pen nib side down inside a jar, in case the water leaks out.

There isn’t really a replacement for repeated dry heat.

Key phrase..."there isn't really a replacement for repeated dry heat." Those are words to live by. Especially with Parker's. 💯