I'm just awaiting my first 51 (it's a vac) in the mail and am very attracted to the Noodlers range of colours but have read several posts that seem to suggest they may clog or shouldn't be used on vintage pens. Does anyone have any advice on this? Anyone been using Noodler's inks in a 51 over a long period of time? Is PR any different?

I have been using Noodler's Legal Lapis in my 50's era Parker "51" desk pen for four years. No problems. Period. Ever.

I tried Legal Lapis in a "51" Special -Aero recently and the pen was quite happy. The pen went out of rotation but I will confidently use LL in it again.

Not certain I'd put any Noodlers in any "51". For me Polar Blue can be a more sticky ink. Doesn't make sense to me as it's a polar, but that's my experience with that one bottle.

The "51" Special I used is a known free flowing pen as is Legal Lapis an excellent flowing ink. I would be willing to try Noodlers Black and Violet Vote/Iraqi Indio as they are free flowing for me.

Another consideration is your new pen is a Vac. The ink may work fine, but a Vac is much harder to truly get cleaned, so ponder that.

I'm very wimpy with my vintage pens, so I start with known great flowing, easy to clean out inks like a Waterman Florida Blue or Blue-Black. That tells me how my pen works. I go from there.

I use 'Legal Lapis' in my '51 Blue Cedar vacumatic and have no issues at all. It's a great ink. When this pen runs out I think I'll try the the LL in my '51 Aero and see how that goes.

-Tye

I use Walnut (bulletproof) Brown in my Cordovan Vac. Never any problems - in fact, it behaves rather better than many other inks.

I've heard people using noodler's have had problems if they left any water or other ink in the pen before filling it, is that true? Are there any precautions you need to take first?

I've had no issues using Noodlers in any of my "51"s and I've not heard of issues mixing Nooders with water.

Mixing any two different inks is always chancy.

It was Private Reserve that had a major problem mixing different inks which clotted immediately and clogged whatever they were in.

You may be thinking of 2 now-discontinued PR inks: Tangerine Dream and Cotton Candy. They've been replaced with formulas that don't precipitate (Orange Crush and ?)

As I said "It was Private Reserve that had a major problem ..."
That was the source of the original "mixing issue" issue.

My new aerometric 51 loves Noodlers, but maybe a Vac won't like it. Sometimes it just depends on the pen.

The only real issue with a Vac is that it is marginally harder to flush it out to change colour ink. I use both Noodlers and PR in "51" Vacs and Aeros with NO problems. The only caveat is that with all saturated inks, you need to use the pen frequently, don't let the ink dry out or you will have serious trouble flushing.

Jim

Currently Diane and I are using various Noodlers inks in 5 Parker 51s. I have refilled all of these pens at least twice, making for minimum of three fillings, one has been refilled at least five times. Not once have we had any problems with any of the pens with any of the Noodlers we have used. Mostly I have been using a mix of Russian Aubergine using Inkommunicado's recipe, this uses Racmaninov, Dostoevsky and black. I have also used Luxury Blue, Black, FPN Tulipe Noir. I haven't yet used FPN Manuscript, but that will probably be going into one 51 shortly.

I just am sure to do a good flushing out between fillings, just to be careful, but I do that with all my pens.

Personally I don't think that you will have any problems with using Noodlers in just about any 51 in reasonably good shape. 51s were aeromatics and vacumatics.

My "51" Vac is always filled with Noodlers Tahitian Pearl. It is a great combination. Dries quickly, bulletproof ink, and always starts properly. I don't flush between fills but I usually need to refill every 2 to 3 weeks (it is only one of the pens I have in my rotation and is the only pen that remains in use). [I guess that means it really isn't in the "rotation."]

Andy

I pretty much only use Noodlers in my pens, and I pretty much only use 51s, and I haven't had any problems, either. I've actually had more problems with other inks than Noodlers. I think I read Noodlers might stain up aerometric sacs, but I don't really care about that.