Quinkflow shelf life

[daniel_art]

In your experience, what is the shelf life of Parker Quinkflow ballpoint refills? Google has conflicting information, ranging from two years to forever.

[VacNut]

No worries. You just need one of these.

 

https://theoldpenshop.co.uk/products/parker-suoer-quink-fountain-pen-filling-station-1950s-vintage

 

 

[welch]

A ballpoint refil should last a long time. Are you searching for vintage Parker refills, such as you would have bought for your Jotter in the late 1950s? Otherwise, Parker-format refils seem to go for $5 or so.

[daniel_art]

Not looking for vintage refills. Just wondering how long the refills I have will last.

[VacNut]

Would you consider changing to a very reliable fountain pen? There are many vintage pens that daily workhorses and they only need a bottle of ink to refill them? 
A Parker 21, 51 Aerometric, and 41 come to mind. Admittedly, you may need to flush them with water if you don’t use them for a long time or if you want to use a different color ink? A 21 or 41 can be bought for less than $20 USD.

[welch]

  On 4/13/2025 at 4:12 AM, daniel_art said:

Not looking for vintage refills. Just wondering how long the refills I have will last.

Expand  

 

As "they" have said, a long time. And if a refill ever dries up, you buy a new one for $5 or less. I use Monteverde broad blue-black or broad blue. 

[Estycollector]

  On 4/13/2025 at 4:12 AM, daniel_art said:

Not looking for vintage refills. Just wondering how long the refills I have will last.

Expand  

How often do you use them? 

[daniel_art]

  On 4/13/2025 at 6:55 AM, VacNut said:

Would you consider changing to a very reliable fountain pen? There are many vintage pens that daily workhorses and they only need a bottle of ink to refill them? 
A Parker 21, 51 Aerometric, and 41 come to mind. Admittedly, you may need to flush them with water if you don’t use them for a long time or if you want to use a different color ink? A 21 or 41 can be bought for less than $20 USD.

Expand  

Tried that. Fountain pens do not work well with most pocket notebooks.

[daniel_art]

  On 4/13/2025 at 6:58 PM, Estycollector said:

How often do you use them? 

Expand  

Daily.

[inkstainedruth]

@daniel_art -- What brand/style of pocket notebooks are you using?  You might try looking into using ones which have better paper (I'm presuming that you're having issues with either dry times or bleedthrough -- or both). 

The advantage of fountain pens is that there is a very wide range of ink, that might dry quicker than you expect.  Have you checked out the ink review forum?  Often the dry times are included.

Or the discussions about "good" brands of paper?  Some paper is better than others for using fountain pens.  (Of course, I'm ALSO the kind of person who will use cheap paper and not worry about show through/bleedthrough as much as other people might....)

The other advantage of fountain pens is that you can get ones with very fine nibs.  My husband loves the Pilot Vanishing Point I picked up used in an antiques and collectibles shop a few years ago -- at least, once I swapped out the fine nib assembly on it for an extra fine nib assembly (which -- in the process -- gave me the excuse to by a smaller size Decimo with an EF nib for myself, and I put that nib assembly in his pen and took the F nib assembly for the Decimo).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[daniel_art]

Most of the issue I've had is feathering. I like the notebooks I have been using (Field Notes, or no-name ones similar to Field Notes), and I'm fine using a ballpoint in them. Almost all of my fountain pens have M nibs -- they were purchased for the purpose of sketching. Ballpoints also have the advantage of being retractible, so no cap to loose track of. I know that retractible fountain pens exist, but I'd be afraid of ink getting on my shirt. I have discovered that I prefer ballpoints to rollerballs or gel pens. The ballpoints dry immediately, while the others take a few seconds.

 

Oddly enough, the no-name notebooks seem to have better paper than the brand name Field Notes ones. Go figure.

[inkstainedruth]

I have a couple of Pilot Decimos and gave my husband a full-size Vanishing Point that I found in an antiques & collectibles shop a few years ago for what was (back then) a third of the price of a new one.  I've never had ANY problems with them leaking or burping (although the original Decimo had to have a bit of repair on it because the door didn't close correctly (I had swapped out the EF nib on it for the F nib on the VP -- my husband's preference).  I wasn't having issues with leaks, though -- just with it drying out.  Got it repaired but then lost the pen the same weekend.  Have had NO troubles with the replacement, or with the second one I bought, which has a stub nib on it.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: At this point, the ONLY BP I use (and then not much) is the sterling Ciselé Parker 75 that was in a boxed set I found at an estate sale last November for super cheap.  It remains to be seen how long the refill in it will last before dying/drying out.

But I also remember, back when I was a kid, my mom taking a match to some ballpoint tips we had in the house because they stopped writing -- even though there was still ink in them.  

[Estycollector]

  On 4/13/2025 at 6:58 PM, Estycollector said:

How often do you use them? 

Expand  

I used a Pilot Precise .5mm for three years each Sunday to record in a hiking journal. The pen is still in use. In fact, of the three 0r four Precise pens I've only needed to replace the refill in two pens after 7 years of use. The use was not continuous as in daily journaling, so they never dried out. I have replaced the refills in my vintage Parker ink pens with Onto .5mm roller ball refills. 

[torstar]

he's wise, but it could be risky to ask...