Parker 51 Vacumatic Cleaning/repair

[mikej165]

This week I made the rookie mistake of buying two Parker 51s vacumatics on Ebay without considering that they might require repair before being usable. The first one arrived in the mail today and I'm pretty sure it is going to need some TLC. Since this is my first P51, can someone tell me a little bit more about how the filler works, or at least what I should expect? I know I have to pump it a few times to get it to suck up the ink, but when I pump it should it expel what's already in there? At the moment I have it soaking, and I can see ink leaching out into the water; apparently the previous owner left some in there. I suspect it may be dried out.

 

Tips anyone? Is this something I should be sending out for cleaning? If so, whom would you recommend for the task?

 

Thanks very much.

[Glenn-SC]

Check out http://www.richardspens.com/ for Anatomy of a Fountain Pen II: The Parker Vacumatic (its the same in the "51")

 

I send all my "51"s to Joel Hamilton of inkpen.com for restoration.

[MLKirk]

Hello!

 

Congratulations on your purchase of an outstanding pen model! You will love using them.

 

If you are anywhere in striking range of Columbus, Ohio, I strongly suggest attending the Ohio Pen Show in Dublin, Ohio, November 5-8 (See schedule on web site). You can bring your 51 and have Vacumatic specialist, Ron Zorn, repair the filler right in front of you for a reasonable fee. There will also be other very capable repair folks there too; usually Aaron Svabik of Pentiques (somewhat local from Youngstown), Roger Cromwell of Penopoly to name a couple.

 

If this is not possible, you can send it to any of the above or send to other excellent repair folks like Danny Fudge of "The Write Pen", Tom Mullane (a frequent poster here, Parker 51 specialist & Ohio Show Exhibitor) of "My Favorite Pen" to name a few. There are lots more, too.

 

Seeing as this is your first venture into vacumatic-fill 51's, I suggest having all new acquisitions repaired with a new diaphragm at the very least. You will be impressed watching this done at the show if you can make it. I also suggest getting "Da Book" by Frank Dubiel, a pen repair primer that should be in every pen collector's library. That will be at the show, too. Pendemonium usually has a bunch to sell and is a large exhibitor of the show, too. IIRC, it's around $20 or so.

[mikej165]

Hello!

 

Congratulations on your purchase of an outstanding pen model! You will love using them.

 

If you are anywhere in striking range of Columbus, Ohio, I strongly suggest attending the Ohio Pen Show in Dublin, Ohio, November 5-8 (See schedule on web site). You can bring your 51 and have Vacumatic specialist, Ron Zorn, repair the filler right in front of you for a reasonable fee. There will also be other very capable repair folks there too; usually Aaron Svabik of Pentiques (somewhat local from Youngstown), Roger Cromwell of Penopoly to name a couple.

 

If this is not possible, you can send it to any of the above or send to other excellent repair folks like Danny Fudge of "The Write Pen", Tom Mullane (a frequent poster here, Parker 51 specialist & Ohio Show Exhibitor) of "My Favorite Pen" to name a few. There are lots more, too.

 

Seeing as this is your first venture into vacumatic-fill 51's, I suggest having all new acquisitions repaired with a new diaphragm at the very least. You will be impressed watching this done at the show if you can make it. I also suggest getting "Da Book" by Frank Dubiel, a pen repair primer that should be in every pen collector's library. That will be at the show, too. Pendemonium usually has a bunch to sell and is a large exhibitor of the show, too. IIRC, it's around $20 or so.

 

Just last week I was at the NYC Pen Show, but I hadn't yet purchased these pens so on-site repair wasn't even a thought. Your suggestion on 'Da Book' is well taken. I will check out pendemonium. Thanks!

[Ernst Bitterman]

I've got a step-by-step about diaphragm replacement on my site-- the only difference with a "51" is that it's got more going on in the front end that may want for cleaning.

[mikej165]

I think right now I'm going to end up sending the 51 out for cleaning and refurbishment. Visually it's a good pen; it just needs some TLC to get back to working condition. I've been soaking the tip since last night and have changed the water several times; each time has been a different color, so I suspect I'm looking at ink from way back.

[welch]

Have you dip-written? There is always a better-than-even chance that an eBay pen will need some attention to the nib.

 

Consider that your Vac is more than 60 years old. That nib has probably written a lot, and you have no idea whether the surface was all creamy-smooth paper or bricks. Of all the pens I've gotten from eBay -- including about 20 51s and 61s -- only about three had perfect nibs when I got them.

 

One of the three, by the way, was the most unlikely: a grimy 10 UKP Onoto that no one bid on because it looked like it has been stored in a dump for twenty or thirty years. The gold-filled cap showed as a yellow smudge in the photo.

 

I soaked and flushed for a day or two, and, like magic, the old lever-filler Onoto wrote like a feather. Pure miracle, or,perhaps, the yin-yang balance for that "magnificent English aero medium" that, however, had no "iridium" on its misshapen medium nib.

 

(My rule is: buy from a known respectable seller/restorer, or don't pay more than $20 on eBay and then expect to send the pen for rehab.)

[mikej165]

Have you dip-written? There is always a better-than-even chance that an eBay pen will need some attention to the nib.

 

Consider that your Vac is more than 60 years old. That nib has probably written a lot, and you have no idea whether the surface was all creamy-smooth paper or bricks. Of all the pens I've gotten from eBay -- including about 20 51s and 61s -- only about three had perfect nibs when I got them.

 

One of the three, by the way, was the most unlikely: a grimy 10 UKP Onoto that no one bid on because it looked like it has been stored in a dump for twenty or thirty years. The gold-filled cap showed as a yellow smudge in the photo.

 

I soaked and flushed for a day or two, and, like magic, the old lever-filler Onoto wrote like a feather. Pure miracle, or,perhaps, the yin-yang balance for that "magnificent English aero medium" that, however, had no "iridium" on its misshapen medium nib.

 

(My rule is: buy from a known respectable seller/restorer, or don't pay more than $20 on eBay and then expect to send the pen for rehab.)

I've now received my 2nd P51 just today. I've paid $42 for a GF Demi and $22(!) for a GF Blue DIamond. The $22 pen sucks ink from the bottle just fine, but seems to grab the paper a bit - not toothy or scratch; it just doesn't seem the glide. The other pen doesn't suck ink from the bottle, so I'm soaking it now; that one writes a bit smoother. I imagine I'll probably send both to Richard Binder for cleaning, a re-sac, and perhaps a bit of nib smoothing. Even after those costs, I suppose I will have two very nice pens at a reasonable price.

 

Interestingly, I purchased two other pens recently that were in even better shape: a Waterman Commando and a Sheaffer Lifetime Sovereign. They came in a 7-pen lot that cost me $32. Both pens seem to be in very, very good shape. The Waterman, in particular, has a very flexy nib that I know I'll want to get smoothed just a bit; the pen really has a nice feel to it and squirts water across the room.

 

All-in-all, my Ebay experiences haven't been terrible. I enjoy using vintage pens as my everyday writers and Ebay can be fun. Still, in the future I will likely not be bidding on pens from any sellers that don't restore them in advance.

[Glenn-SC]

(My rule is: buy from a known respectable seller/restorer, or don't pay more than $20 on eBay and then expect to send the pen for rehab.)

How sad for you, you're missing a lot of nice pens.

[Aysedasi]

(My rule is: buy from a known respectable seller/restorer, or don't pay more than $20 on eBay and then expect to send the pen for rehab.)

How sad for you, you're missing a lot of nice pens.

 

 

Agreed. For me, Ebay is the resting place for bargains - I've obtained so many over the last few years.

[welch]

(My rule is: buy from a known respectable seller/restorer, or don't pay more than $20 on eBay and then expect to send the pen for rehab.)

How sad for you, you're missing a lot of nice pens.

 

 

Agreed. For me, Ebay is the resting place for bargains - I've obtained so many over the last few years.

 

Sure, there are bargains on eBay, but a P51 vac must be more than 60 years old, and aerometric was probably made in the '50s. Consider that Parker tried to replace the 51 with the 61 and succesfuly replaced it with the 75 by 1970. Hence:

 

- Vacs will need a new sac.

 

- Aeros should have a working filling system

 

- Both have very old nibs.

 

- Further, most US 51s were fine point. I happen to dislike fine points, and hate scratchy nibs. The right side of a nib takes a lot of stress, since our languages mostly go left to right. I've seen P51s that seem to have been used as darts, others that appear to have ben used to hammer nails. I had a 61 repaired that had been "repaired" before, said the nib craftsman, but the earlier repair person bent the nib and slammed it into "place" where it didn't fit. When I wrote, I could feel one of the tines snap against the hood. Such is eBay.

 

It seems better to warn someone new to P51s that any eBay pen probably will require some work before it writes as well as, say, a new $90 Sonnet. Eventually, it can be restored to something better than any fountain pen ever, but necessarily right off the Bay.

[ZeissIkon]

The $22 pen sucks ink from the bottle just fine, but seems to grab the paper a bit - not toothy or scratch; it just doesn't seem the glide.

 

FWIW, my 51 Vac (which I bought in the FPN Marketplace, already restored) seemed a little less than smooth immediately after flushing, but by the time I'd written 3-4 pages it smoothed out (and the ink stopped looking "thin"). I'm pretty sure I just didn't get all the water out of the collector, and the diluted ink was less smooth, as well as fainter. I'd strongly suggest writing at least that much with this pen before you send it away; though you should probably still assume it needs a diaphragm, the smoothness issue may go away of its own accord as you work through to the actual ink you filled...

[mikej165]

The $22 pen sucks ink from the bottle just fine, but seems to grab the paper a bit - not toothy or scratch; it just doesn't seem the glide.

 

FWIW, my 51 Vac (which I bought in the FPN Marketplace, already restored) seemed a little less than smooth immediately after flushing, but by the time I'd written 3-4 pages it smoothed out (and the ink stopped looking "thin"). I'm pretty sure I just didn't get all the water out of the collector, and the diluted ink was less smooth, as well as fainter. I'd strongly suggest writing at least that much with this pen before you send it away; though you should probably still assume it needs a diaphragm, the smoothness issue may go away of its own accord as you work through to the actual ink you filled...

Good idea. I have the pen soaking now. The water from it runs mostly clear now. I suspect I'll let it dry for 24 hours before inking it up. It's a good looking pen. I really like its old style cap with the blue diamond.

[ZeissIkon]

Good idea. I have the pen soaking now. The water from it runs mostly clear now. I suspect I'll let it dry for 24 hours before inking it up. It's a good looking pen. I really like its old style cap with the blue diamond.

 

I didn't have the patience for a 24 hour dry, so I wrapped the point in paper toweling and gave several iterations of the "thermometer shake", but it's now obvious that isn't quite adequate for a P51 collector. I might have to get a salad spinner or make a "sling centrifuge" -- I've got plastic pipe, and caps are cheap, as is nylon clothesline...

[mikej165]

Good idea. I have the pen soaking now. The water from it runs mostly clear now. I suspect I'll let it dry for 24 hours before inking it up. It's a good looking pen. I really like its old style cap with the blue diamond.

 

I didn't have the patience for a 24 hour dry, so I wrapped the point in paper toweling and gave several iterations of the "thermometer shake", but it's now obvious that isn't quite adequate for a P51 collector. I might have to get a salad spinner or make a "sling centrifuge" -- I've got plastic pipe, and caps are cheap, as is nylon clothesline...

Since I've never owned a good P51 (or any P51) before these two, I don't know how much liquid a good one will hold. But I do now know how they behave when they're bad: the demi won't pickup any ink whatsoever, so that one is going off for refurb. As for the other one, the judgement is still out. Still, when all the costs are factored in, they'll still both be great pens at reasonable prices.

[Glenn-SC]

Sure, there are bargains on eBay, but a P51 vac must be more than 60 years old, and aerometric was probably made in the '50s. Consider that Parker tried to replace the 51 with the 61 and succesfuly (sic) replaced it with the 75 by 1970.

But why did they "try" to replace the "51"?

Not for better performance!

Lower costs, maybe easier operation, or to have "something new", but not for better writing performance.

I have all three and much prefer the "51".

 

- Vacs will need a new sac.

Only about 1/3 of the Vacs I've found in the wild have needed new diaphragms.

 

- Aeros should have a working filling system

Again, while only one Aero has needed a new sack, about 1/3 have needed Feeder work or the breather tube replaced.

 

- Both have very old nibs.

Yes, those beautiful hand made and tweaked nibs! Sweet.

 

- Further, most US 51s were fine point. I happen to dislike fine points, and hate scratchy nibs.

I like Fine points and specifically seek them out.

I hate scratchy but Fine does NOT equal scratchy my friend.

I have some beautifully smooth Fine nibs.

 

- The right side of a nib takes a lot of stress, since our languages mostly go left to right.

While it is reasonable that a nib "could" wear as you propose, guess all I can say is that I have never seen or bought a nib that was worn that way, of any pen, of any brand that I have purchased.

 

- I've seen P51s that seem to have been used as darts, others that appear to have ben (sic) used to hammer nails. I had a 61 repaired that had been "repaired" before, said the nib craftsman, but the earlier repair person bent the nib and slammed it into "place" where it didn't fit. When I wrote, I could feel one of the tines snap against the hood. Such is eBay.

Anyone can abuse a pen, new or old.

On eBay ask questions and check pictures.

 

It seems better to warn someone new to P51s that any eBay pen probably will require some work before it writes as well as, say, a new $90 Sonnet. Eventually, it can be restored to something better than any fountain pen ever, but necessarily right off the Bay.

It is "Buyer Beware".

But again, how sad for you.

I hate how Sonnets write, so I would rather have a Restored "51" for the same price, it will be made better, be higher quality, write better, and last longer.

[adamg6000]

I have very poor hand writing and am dyslexic the only fountain pen that I have ever found that makes my hand writing look ok and possible to read is a parker 51 also I don’t mind using a parker 51 I hope that you will find yours will give you the same joy

 

I have several from Ebay only one with a poor nib all are Aeromatic with each pen I have a matching 51 pencil and with two I have a 51 ballpoint I like to keep the sets in vintage leather cases

I have a 51 pencil and have been looking for a pen to match it and have found a Vacumatic the same I am waiting for it to arrive and then will send it and my other pen with the bad nib to have both serviced to be honest I don’t mind what the cost is the parker 51 is jest the best pen I have ever used. I have some modern pens good makes two solid gold and they are jest left in my desk Good wishes from the UK

[mitto]

I have never bought a vintage pen in restored condition. All my pens are antique store finds. And Parker 51 is the main area of my focus. I buy 51s in whatever condition these are. I restore them, I use their parts. I also buy 51 parts to use in completing my pens in need of replacement parts.

 

For me the P51 is the best pen.