Parker Duofold - Anyone Tried And Tested?

[theverdictis]

Hi All,

 

Have just visited the Parker website and used their pen choosing questionnaire. It came out that the Parker that I am most suited to would be a Parker Duofold Fine Nib. I was wondering if anyone owns one of these pens and if they have any feedback on it?

 

Kind Regards

 

Ben

[The Blue Knight]

I've played with that feature of the website myself. I seem to think the Duofold has been weighted so it nearly always comes up as I've tried it a few times and it seems to always say Duofold for me.

 

It's a really nice pen I have to say I know John Lewis stocks it in the UK you maybe able to try it out there?

[PAKMAN]

Love the modern Duofolds. I gave my International size "Black and Pearl" as a gift to my Son-in-Law as he was ga-ga over it every time he saw it. I found a Centennial size Black and Pearl at the Dallas Pen show to replace it. Also have two of the LE versions of the Duofold (True Blue and Norman Rockwell).

 

They are nicely made pens, can't go wrong with these!

[Paul80]

Hi

 

I have both the International and the Centennial and have also owned the Mini version as well. and for a modern pen made to modern production standards I cannot fault them.

 

Its a shame they use the same cartridge/converter method that their cheapest pens us as it would have been nice for a pen at that price point to have something extra special about them, it would have been a nice selling point if they retained the old button filler of the old Duofolds but production needs and costs take priority these days.

 

They are still a quality product and for me compare well to other pen makers offerings in the same price bracket.

 

Paul

[Charles Rice]

I got one in fine when they first came out. It's one of my favorites - converter or not. I have the matching pencil, too. (I don't think they offer it anymore)

[shuuemura]

The weight and balance is excellent. The nib is very stiff if you like stiff nibs. What irks me is the imperfect sealing of the pen cap. The pen tends to dry out over the course of a few days if not used everyday. Even if used everyday, the nib tends to write a darker line for the first couple of sentences, indicative of evaporation from the nib. I have two modern Duofolds from different eras and they both exhibit this issue.

 

The original Duofold does not have this drying out problem, in my experience.

[icardoth]

Nice pens in my opinion, well constructed and balanced. But nibs are the weak link on them. I have an Extra Fine nib that writes like a medium, a Medium that writes like a wet broad and one with the baby-bottom issue. By the way, I have also one or two that writes beautifully, but they are the minority.

[richardandtracy]

I love the modern Duofold.

 

I think the Centennial looks a bit stubby, but feels better in the hand to me than the International. I have both in Pearl & Black as the material is simply gorgeous.

 

If you cannot get to play with one, and are a bit concerned about spending that much money on a pen, then you could get Chinese lookalike pens to try first. The Kaigelu 316 is a very close copy of the Centennial and the Jinhao Century is a close copy of the International. Both suffer a bit from poor balance by having brass finials on the ends of the barrels, and only come in one nib size, but otherwise give a good idea of the 'real' pen. I use my Kaigelu interchangeably with my Centennial and the Jinhao interchangeably with the International now that I have made my own acrylic finials and made the balance as good as the Parker.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[Aysedasi]

I have a black and pearl Centennial - a present from my wife on our 25th anniversary. Love the pen, but it's taken me four nibs to get the one I really wanted. A fine left foot oblique. Absolutely wonderful. I never use fine nibs but like icardoth, found the Duofold nibs to run pretty wide.....

Edited April 9, 2014 by Aysedasi

[arashdeepsinghmann]

I have Parker Duofold Centennial Pearl and Black that I bought few years back as before that Parker Sonnet was always on my list of collection. you can never go wrong with Duofold it is durable v nicely made and will last forever plus they have made a very nice section to hold nib n feed it fits nicely in your hands and most importantly it always start without any hiccup doesn't matter you keep it in your pen box for couple days with ink filled in it. it doesn't dry it will start just fine after few days. plus pearl/black is very nice finish. I love every thing about it. I hope this help you make your decision.

[penmanila]

I have a dozen or so of the modern Duofolds (and as many of the vintage ones) and I can say that they're all fine performers, although I typically tweak the nibs because they tend to be dry.

[Boston Brian]

I have a black Duofold International and a Blue Duofold Centennial, and I am very fond of both pens, but I have found the nibs to be not as what they claim to be. I purchased a BB nib for the International from a reputable pen dealer and nib expert and honestly I could not see any difference between the broad which I had on the pen and the supposed BB nib which I paid pretty highly for.

[Albinoni]

Hi just some help here on Duofolds, I have a maroon coloured Duofold set which consists of both fountain pen and ballpoint and I bought this back in 1997. Also my Duofold is the one without the logo on top of the cap and is purely flat. But I'm not sure if it's the International or Centennial version, now I do know it's not the larger version. Also were all Duofolds made in the UK because mine is.

[richardandtracy]

Until the closure of Newhaven, all modern Duofold's were made there.

 

Regards,

 

Richard

[Romagno]

I have a few modern Duofolds in both International and Centennial sizes. They are very nice pens, nicely balanced and comfortable in the hand.

 

The fine nibs, in my opinion, write more like vintage mediums - very similar in fact to my P"51" mediums.

[PeterPenPencil]

I own the Duofold International and the Premier, they are both very wet and mine does not dry, even if I go about some months without using them. The pens are one fine and the other extra fine, but I have noticed that they write very thick and bold. I would say they have medium nibs. Both pens were bought new to Streetfair, an authorized seller on eBay, and they also have a web site called: ipenstore.com . The Duofold Premier is a big one, the International is medium size. I like the pens, however, I have many pens that I also use everyday. I have an extra Duofold nib for the Premier, which I am thinking to sell, but I am not sure. I like the way that you can interchange the nibs with the nib holder. A wonderful pen, but I think it does not look so expensive in your hands.

[Sasha Royale]

Oh, you mean those Duofolds.

My fault. Wrong topic. I thought you were referring to the real Duofolds.