I got a couple Parker "51"s of eBay recently with "bent nibs" -- I was hoping just "bent" like Triumphs (as in they look bent but aren't), but yeah, they were definitely the appearant victim of suicidal pen arrowing into some firm, flat surface like a tile floor.

One is totally dead -- iridium gone on one side -- but the other is I believe salvagable. I've managed to get it fairly straight, but the tines are bent sideways in such a way as to cause the slit to be closed part way up when the tips are correctly spaced. This restriction is causing, obviously, severely reduced in flow. The pen writes, but is very dry, to the point that Peacock ink is almost invisible.

How do I get this sideways bend out of the tines? I can make any tools, probably. It's far enough up that I cannot use my thumbnails to bend it, too wide there.

Any suggestions quite welcome. I'd like to avoid buying a replacement nib.

Any suggestions for the busted one? I think retipping it would be excessively expensive.

Thanks!

Peter

"51" nibs in say fine or medium are not too hard or too expensive to come by, Ernesto Parker51.com, sells them for $20 and $25 respectively. That would be the simple cure for the one with the busted iridium. As for the other, it is a process of gently teasing it back into shape. IMHO you need to have the nib out of the pen to do this and you clamp it in a pad of paper and gently bend it back into profile. You open up the tines with either a brass shim or 35mm film, less the emulsion. I prefer film, but that is just my experience. I have also found that despite getting the nib aligned perfectly, I have needed to smooth it, once I get it back in the pen.

If all this seems too much, then like I say, a replacement is not the end of the World.

Jim

Well, I think I'm almost home now! I manage to get some of the "S" curve out of the tines and get them spread enough to get decent flow, but forgot to bring ink to work today (after the fiasco yesterday, were I discovered that the cap on my ancient bottle of Sheaffer Peacock leaks -- by holding it sideways in my hand with my computer bag, dripping ink all the way to the car....).

It delivers a nice flow of water, so I will see what ink does tonight. Probably going to have to do some careful smoothing, too, as the tine are not exactly the same length any more, one is just a hair longer than the other and I think I'm going to have to grind it down -- I'm afraid to bend the tines much more for fear of having one break off.

All in all, rather successful -- a nice Cedar Blue Vac 51 with gold fill lined cap, new filler and repaired nib for, what, $15 and some time?

Peter

Tom:

So far it's fine. A bit worn (a rather larger "foot" than I suspect was there to start with), and it won't write upside down, but very smooth with good ink delivery now.

If it goes south, I can always replace it, anyway.

Pretty good for a 60 year old pen that landed tip down somewhere along the line.

Peter

A quick writing sample from my repaired nib. I think I can live with this.....