My First Parker 51 (Still Looking For Info On It's Origins)

[pen lady]

Lovely colour that Cordovan Brown - though I'd be tempted to call it Belgian Chocolate! Good luck with it. Oh and BTW, when I'm polishing a pen, I just stick a little masking tape over any imprint I want to preserve.

Edited August 17, 2014 by pen lady

[Wahl]

Nice pen, but it needs company !

 

What will be the next color ?

[KBeezie]

Nice pen, but it needs company !

 

What will be the next color ?

Probably an Avocado sibling.

[KBeezie]

(Can't edit the last post, so just bumping)

 

Also in regards to the Parker 51, just to be upfront since I found out some new information, just going to bullet-point it.

• The Feed and Collector was in serious need of cleaning, had to soak it overnight in some diluted vinegar just to get most of it out, it's still stained pretty black on the collector but much better, and the feeder tube up to the feed isn't clogged anymore
• The diaphragm/sac was twisted inside the barrel, which turns out that it slipped off the base (note video here:)

He did attempt to straighten out the diaphragm over at my place, but perhaps being short on time or some other reason he folded over the sac, didn't grease the lip, and talc'd it on the ink-exposing side. I haven't attempted to fill it and I suspect the sac already slipped again so I'm waiting til around this weekend when we both have more time for him to come back and do it correctly while I watch (as opposed to shipping it off to the guy I trust to do it). Since for the price I paid, it should have already been in working/filling condition.

So with any luck it'll be straightened away by this weekend.

The Eversharp Skyline I purchased from him prior is working great though, especially after I replaced the cap.

Edited August 21, 2014 by KBeezie

[FarmBoy]

OK where to start.

 

Talc goes on the plunger side away from ink.

 

No grease goes on the lip of the diaphragm.

 

Diaphragm is likely to long and that is why it twisted.

 

The standard is ammonia solution not vinegar. (Pens are not lettuce.)

[KBeezie]

OK where to start.

 

Talc goes on the plunger side away from ink.

 

No grease goes on the lip of the diaphragm.

 

Diaphragm is likely to long and that is why it twisted.

 

The standard is ammonia solution not vinegar. (Pens are not lettuce.)

 

In regards to the bold, even I knew that, thus why I mentioned "ink exposed side" which makes no sense to me because that would just cause the ink to guck up, as opposed to protecting the sac from sticking to itself. (ie: it's equally as silly to pour talc into the sacs of any lever filler or touchdown I've restored myself).

 

The idea behind greasing the lip is to prevent the sac from rolling on itself when screwing back into the back of the barrel.

 

In regards to the diaphragm. This is what it looked like when he took it out (after I showed him the video), where he simply straighted it back out and put it back in (looking at it lit it's like a circle with a sunk center that expands out when pressing on the plunger, but in a water test it wasn't taking in a vacuum, I suspect short of the barrel having an issue it may have simply slipped again, besides I still want him to re-do it and put the talc on the correct side and to use a new sac).

 

 

I did ask if he was using a debutant sac instead of a standard, but I didn't ask about the 'length' that it was cut down to.

[Jerry Adair]

Heed the advice on vinegar vs ammonia (unscented never scented) Proper sac length os 1.062" no longer. Difficult to say because of pics but it almost looks as if the sac is too short. Get the Oldfield Marshall book or mayb Binders blog or even David Nishamuras advide column. Parker actually used some type o grease/lubricant for their repairs. I have never used it I think Binder sells some form of it. I will have to give it a try too. Talc is your friend as well again unsceented

Nice pen

Jerry

[Tylerjordan]

I'd be wary about buying anything from that 'restorer' in the future.

[KBeezie]

I'd be wary about buying anything from that 'restorer' in the future.

 

Or at the very least talk the price down to the point that it's reasonable when you add on the cost of having someone trusted look it over and restore it again.

 

The one that did this P51 is not the same guy I trust down in North Carolina (Sean Nicholson of Write on Time) who is pretty much an artist with anything I send to him.

 

I did find it somewhat humorous that the local guy as a way of reimbursing me I guess, offered a 3 year warranty (I already get a 1 year with Sean if I send something to him), but what good is a warranty if I continually have to return to have something re-done because it wasn't done correctly in the first place?

 

The main issue that remains is that diaphragm/sac (hopefully around this weekend to take care of it), I don't mind the price if it was completely working and restored, but I already had to soak and clean the feed and collector myself, and what I could of the barrel. If I can't get the diaphragm/sac fixed (properly) by him, I'm going to request at least partial refund (35~40) to pay for Sean to have it done. Since I did pay for a 'restored' P51.

 

Plus Sean gave me all the information he normally uses for fixing up the P51 himself so that I can watch when the local guy comes by this weekend to correct (with a new sac) if things don't look right, like cut too long or too short, or not installed correctly. I'd try to do it myself but the money I'd spend on the tools would be about how much I could have Sean do it, and I least want to give the local guy a chance to make it right, as I'd rather not burn that bridge given some of the stuff I could hold and purchase form him locally (even if I plan to send it off afterwards, it's also because I ran into it him that I had a chance of holding a MontBlanc 149 in my hand... wasn't quite as magical as I expected...).

Edited August 22, 2014 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

An update. Met up with him this morning over at the local coffee shop where he replaced the sac completely. Turns out the one I had in there had a pinhole where the little red bead is. Watched him do all the steps and measure off the sac to the right length, and talc the correct side and what not. I had already taken care of the front of the pen so was no need for him to venture there.

 

With the water test, it's consistently taking up and spitting out around 1.7 to 1.8ml of water into a sample vial (tried it about 6 times), and that's not counting what I whisked away from the collector afterwards.

 

So far I'm impressed, just trying to decide which ink to use in it. I'm thinking something a bit more mild and free-er flowing like maybe one of the Akkerman samples I have (Binnenhof Blues maybe?), though I could do something like Diamine Saddle Brown or Noodler's Texas Pecan (both of which a brown that may match the body but they also run a little dryer). Though I would probably want to pick an ink that I have a bottle of since I'd like to avoid having to flush out the vac just to ink change. (got bottles of Noodler's Black Eel, Liberty's Elysium, Apache Sunset, Texas Blue Steel, Texas Pecan, Texas Live Oak, Diamine Imperial Blue, Saddle Brown, Grey, Syrah, Eclipse, and R&K Salix).

[pajaro]

That's a whole lot of trouble to get a pen restored. I have a few vac 51s, two with a bad sac. I am not going through all this kind of hooey to get them fixed, though.

[Florida Blue]

So far I'm impressed, just trying to decide which ink to use in it. I'm thinking something a bit more mild and free-er flowing like maybe one of the Akkerman samples I have (Binnenhof Blues maybe?), though I could do something like Diamine Saddle Brown or Noodler's Texas Pecan (both of which a brown that may match the body but they also run a little dryer). Though I would probably want to pick an ink that I have a bottle of since I'd like to avoid having to flush out the vac just to ink change. (got bottles of Noodler's Black Eel, Liberty's Elysium, Apache Sunset, Texas Blue Steel, Texas Pecan, Texas Live Oak, Diamine Imperial Blue, Saddle Brown, Grey, Syrah, Eclipse, and R&K Salix).

 

I might stick with Diamine or Akkerman (although I don't know much about their inks). There have been instances of some highly saturated Noodler's inks turning diaphragms into goo. Diamine inks are known to be relatively safe.

[OcalaFlGuy]

That's a whole lot of trouble to get a pen restored. I have a few vac 51s, two with a bad sac. I am not going through all this kind of hooey to get them fixed, though.

Just send them to Danny Fudge. $30 and Robert is your Father's brother.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[KBeezie]

 

I might stick with Diamine or Akkerman (although I don't know much about their inks). There have been instances of some highly saturated Noodler's inks turning diaphragms into goo. Diamine inks are known to be relatively safe.

 

Haven't had a problem yet with my choices of Noodlers, granted I'm not using harsher inks like BayState line or kung te-cheng. (and if you do some searching the 'sac' into goo has never been scientifically proven, as not reproduced that I could find, it's more likely the sac material was from a bad batch from a specific production of sacs).

 

Also in regards the P51's nib size, after some cleaning and such and that being fixed up, It's most likely somewhere in between a western fine and western medium, not quite a medium, but not quite a fine.

 

http://static.karlblessing.com/pens/inked/rhodia_aug_25_2014.jpg

 

That's a whole lot of trouble to get a pen restored. I have a few vac 51s, two with a bad sac. I am not going through all this kind of hooey to get them fixed, though.

It was supposed to have already been restored. If I had paid the 'unrestored' price, I would have sent it off to Sean (Write On Time) For about 30-35 and it would have come back like-new.

Edited August 25, 2014 by KBeezie

[Florida Blue]

 

It's most likely somewhere in between a western fine and western medium, not quite a medium, but not quite a fine.

 

 

Then we are both right

 

I've heard both stories about the melting diaphragms and sacs: caused by highly saturated inks or a bad batch of sacs from the Pen Sac Co. I just like to err on the side of caution.

[KBeezie]

 

Then we are both right

 

I've heard both stories about the melting diaphragms and sacs: caused by highly saturated inks or a bad batch of sacs from the Pen Sac Co. I just like to err on the side of caution.

 

Yep... I guess Finium is better than going one way or another.

 

Understandable but seems to be mainly ones like Baystate and those that run really really dry. So far I been fine with Liberty's elysium, and most my other inks are pretty mild. Not to mention I typically check with Sean as he's been using noodler's in his vintage pens longer than I, and choices like Black Eel, polar line, some of the Texas inks, etc. Has been fine in everything I used it in outside of being a little dry running for particularly finer nibs. I've no plans to get something like baystate, kung te-cheng, Bernanke, Dragon Napalm, etc.

 

Also I suspect if ink was a factor it could also be possible that some people are not flushing completely (such as some of the posts I see that only need to pump it a couple of times and they think it's ready for new ink, and something left behind gets fused with new ink, especially in something like a vacumatic where it's going to take longer to flush out).

Edited August 26, 2014 by KBeezie

[FarmBoy]

 

Then we are both right

 

I've heard both stories about the melting diaphragms and sacs: caused by highly saturated inks or a bad batch of sacs from the Pen Sac Co. I just like to err on the side of caution.

Time to correct a few misconceptions.

 

This 'bad batch of sacs' happened something like 8 or 10 years ago.

The sacs went to (bleep) sitting in bags they did not need to be in a pen to participate.

The sacs did not come from Pen Sac Co.

 

The story gets changed every time I hear it and is most often repeated as lore by people that didn't repair pens when the event happened.

 

Farmboy

[Apothic]

Sounds like the P51 is doing it job, and I agree with your nib size. You're going to enjoy using it and these pens are very reliable. I'm also going to go ahead and say that you made out over all in this deal. Didn't you say $70? Lets not forget that this P51 isn't exactly… an entry level model. He bought a VERY good transitional P51 vac, (in my favorite color ) plus it was done locally. I wish I could find gems like this locally from someone who knows a good pen. I'm sure the restorer missed a step in the process or you caught him off guard. Don't loose that number

 

I'm happy for you. Cool inks BTW.

 

Apothic

Edited August 26, 2014 by Apothic

[KBeezie]

Sounds like the P51 is doing it job, and I agree with your nib size. You're going to enjoy using it and these pens are very reliable. I'm also going to go ahead and say that you made out over all in this deal. Didn't you say $70? Lets not forget that this P51 isn't exactly… an entry level model. He bought a VERY good transitional P51 vac, (in my favorite color ) plus it was done locally. I wish I could find gems like this locally from someone who knows a good pen. I'm sure the restorer missed a step in the process or you caught him off guard. Don't loose that number

 

I'm happy for you. Cool inks BTW.

 

Apothic

 

Figured my Sheaffers weren't getting much love, and I might enjoy the P51 Vac as more of a workhorse for the upcoming semester, as sort of a companion to my Montblanc 225. (the fact that it's in between a Western Fine and Medium, works for me, because the MB225 is more like a Japanese EF, which may be useful on some really crappy paper or when I need black and fine). I found it amusing that the final ink capacity holds a little more than my MB225 (around 1.5ml), but that's going to be good with the line with it puts down.

 

Didn't take long for me to adjust the forward portion of the pen (I do have a mentor I check in with every so often), I just didn't have the tool for the back end and I didn't want to risk cracking the barrel. I Would have had a Grey P51 vac before this, but the seller in restoring it, cracked the barrel, then cracked the replacement barrel (both had an uneven thickness all the way around), we decided it was best not to risk a third attempt.

Edited August 26, 2014 by KBeezie

[JonSzanto]

Time to correct a few misconceptions.

 

This 'bad batch of sacs' happened something like 8 or 10 years ago.

The sacs went to (bleep) sitting in bags they did not need to be in a pen to participate.

The sacs did not come from Pen Sac Co.

 

The story gets changed every time I hear it and is most often repeated as lore by people that didn't repair pens when the event happened.

 

Thanks. Misinformation is so hard to counteract.