Up until few days ago I owned 8 Parker 51.One was a mint set that I sold.
Other then the sold set all the other pens had a visit to few different experts but they remained to be very poor writers.
They scratch,write way too dry and simply make me want to throw them away.
Never the less I decided to keep on trying untill I will get one pen that will show me what the famous 51 can do.
3 days ago I got my 9th Parker.It is a simple blue Aerometric with a steal cap that looks as if it went throw hard life.Its got scratches and scrafs all over the body (nothing major a pen tech can buff them out easily).
Its got a medium nib with lots of iridium left.
I didnt wait much and didnt even flushed the pen.I filled it with quink ink and run to the paper hoping it will show me how a true battle weery 51 can write.
And I must tell you I was so pleasently surprised what a gorgeous writer.This is the Parker 51 everyone is talking about,this is the pen I was waiting for.Indeed it looks like soldier that saw lots of battles in its lifetime but it sure showed me what true FP should feel like.The nib is butter smooth and the feedback from the paper is close to my Omas Paragon.It si very direct in the way it writes and I must tell you I am in love.This pen looks so good with its battle scars I might just leave it as is and use it with pride.
At last I OWN a Parker 51

Well written, Good to hear that. As for me I am still looking for DJ in good working order under $200/-

Isn't it great when you find THEE pen that is all you hoped it to be???

Congrats to you!

I've never really had a bad writing one, though I may just be lucky.

It might be a matter of expectation.I am extremly finiky about my pens and the way they write.It takes very little to make a pen unpleasent for me.

Two of my 51s are drier writers than the rest (4); these are some of my moleskine pens. Others are a Lamy safari and a Lamy 2000.

They're all great writers though.

Now I'm wondering...are your 51s on the wet or dry side?

Oh boy, I'm looking to get a P51 sometime soon, and this sort of puts me off a bit. I mean, i understand they're vintage, so perfections may not come right away, but I don't want to go through 9 of them to get one that works.

I hope the first one I get works well enough for me.

Good to hear that you didn't give up on it right away though. I certainly would have. I don't have the patience to go through 8 bad writing ones before finding the right one, even though I believe that i should.

Sounds to me like you have 8 spare P51s which you might as well just send right along to me post-haste!

I think that provided you don't have a fine nib and the nib is broken in a bit and the pen has no residue and the nib is not damaged (enough with the ands already) the 51 should be great.
If your nib is uneven or rough then use something to smooth it out. No flaming from the bunch please.
A technician who made my nibs for my 61 gave me a very fine jewellers paper to smooth the nibs out on and get them exactly to my position. He said use it sparingly and I did and my nibs were excellent. I have put two pens in the colection and still have one on my desk. this was in 1978 so 30 years of work.......
If you haven't got anything like this ( I have lsot mine) then use glass to smooth it off. I get most nibs comfortable this way - then the pens are cleaned, dried and in the cabinet they go ;-)

BTW there is a programme on the Queen and Royal Family on tv and I am sure she was using a black 51 with a gold cap to sign her documents, and there seem to be quite a few of these for her to sign........

I have a set of papers that is specificly design to smooth nibs.
I tried one of my scratchy nibs and destroyed it COMPLETLY.I have 2 left hands and better not try this again.