Parker 51 Aerometric...what To Use Or Avoid Ink-Wise?

[trandy]

I have a 1952 Parker Aerometric arriving tomorrow...it's my first vintage Parker.

 

Any recommendations when it comes to ink?

 

Anything I should avoid?

 

TIA

Edited May 18, 2015 by trandy

[Runnin_Ute]

You can probably use a lot - but what I do (I have a 1953 51 Special aero) is use an ink that is easy to clean out. I have had mine since about July 1 of last year and have only used Waterman Serenity Blue or Diamine Blue Black in it to date. (and has been inked continuously since arrival) Unless you use it a LOT you won't fill it often as it seems to hold a lot of ink.

[trandy]

You can probably use a lot - but what I do (I have a 1953 51 Special aero) is use an ink that is easy to clean out. I have had mine since about July 1 of last year and have only used Waterman Serenity Blue or Diamine Blue Black in it to date. (and has been inked continuously since arrival) Unless you use it a LOT you won't fill it often as it seems to hold a lot of ink.

Thanks for the recommendation....I just ordered some Waterman Serenity Blue....seems like it's quite the bargain....I also ordered some Iroshizuku Asa-Gao Morning Glory....I've been wanting to try it....I hear good things about it.

[musicman123]

First off, I shall state the obvious.

 

Avoid ink that is NOT made for fountain pens. Examples include but are not limited to, India ink, drawing ink, calligraphy ink, god darn printer ink, white out, the blood of your enemies, etc... I'm sure you already knew that but I will put it there just in case.

 

Now, for fountain pen ink, you sure have a lot of choices. There is the safest brands of ink you could use, which have been around since the advent of the fountain pen. Those include ones like Parker, Sheaffer, and Waterman. Those are all around recommended as the safest inks one could use. However, the colors are a little bit bland there.

 

Next up the line, is still quite safe inks, but some may have a little quirk here and there. Those brands are Diamine (relatively safe), Aurora (super safe), and Montblanc (quite safe). Those have been proven to work well without a problem, minus a couple Diamine ones here and there (Looking at you Grape...)

 

Then, we get into the riskier ones, like Private Reserve, KWZI, L'artisan Pastiller (or however it is spelled). Those have quite an impressive line of super saturated colors and lovely ink characteristics. Those couple be fine on most pens, but you should still exercise frequent cleaning in case of clogs, and other icky stuff.

 

Last on the list I would recommend would be Noodler's ink. Some of those have some crazy properties like bulletproofness, that COULD result in problems in your pen. I'm not saying that they 100% will; it is just a high possibility. Another thing is that some inks from Noodler's like Baystate ones could eat straight through an ink sac if given the chance, due to a far-from-neutral pH. I do not recommend using Noodler's ink in vintage pens, just to be safe. I haven't had any major problems yet (other than staining), but I still would be quite careful and caution against them in vintage pens. Modern pens can easily take those inks though, so they are fine and have a large space in my collection.

 

Well, that's all I got. This isn't a full list, but you get the idea.

[ac12]

My list of avoids

• red and purple ink
  • If the ink ever dries out, in my experience, these 2 color inks have been the hardest to clean out of old used pens. For some reason, these inks just do not want to let go of the pen. In comparision, black and blue inks were easy to clean out.
• saturated inks
  • The heavier dye load in these inks make them "thicker" so they stick to the inside of the pen more. Think of cholesterol.
  • So any of the really deep rich inks are inks to avoid.
  • Sorry, this leaves you with less vibrant sometimes boring color inks.

In my case, when I put an ink into a 51, that ink is in there to stay. It is such a PiA to clean out a P51, that I rarely change inks. I have only changed inks for 2 reasons

• The primary reason is, the ink that I put into the pen does not work with the pen. It is either too wet or too dry, so I need to change to a more compatible ink. A dry in for a wet pen or wet ink for a dry pen. This is SOP for me when matching up ink to pen. Because of the construction of the pen, you cannot adjust the nib of a P51 like you can an open nib. Therefore you loose the ability to adjust the pen to the ink, so you are left with matching inks to the pen.
• Change ink color. And I have only done this ONCE, going from black to blue, and blue it will stay.

In my case, I have 2 Parker 51s currently inked,

#1 is a dry F nib, with Waterman blue

#2 is a wet M nib (it is so wet that it writes like a B nib), with Private Reserve DC SuperShow blue. Yes this is a saturated ink. But this pen is so wet, that I am not worried about the thick ink. And I accept that I may have to do a cleaning of the pen maybe once a year, to clean out of the pen, and that will probably be a PiA.

 

If your pen is not serviced and cleaned by the seller, I strongly recommend going through a complete cleaning of the pen, as you have no idea what is in the pen. There is a pined thread at the top of the Parker section on what to do with a new used pen.

 

WARNING, depending on the ink you find in the pen, this initial cleaning could take a LONG time. The red and purple inks I mentioned above took about 3 weeks of cleaning, to get most all of the ink out of the pen. To the level that I was comfortable it would not color contaminate any new ink I choose to ink up with. Most of the time was soaking the inside of the pen with water and 4+ times a day ejecting the inky water and sucking up fresh water. I did use a 10% ammonia solution some time during the cleaning, to speed the process along.

[Cryptos]

 

Avoid ink that is NOT made for fountain pens. Examples include but are not limited to, India ink, drawing ink, calligraphy ink, god darn printer ink, white out, the blood of your enemies, etc...

 

Oh, I don't know. The blood of your enemies would be quite good. You would have to put an anticoagulant in it. I was thinking of Warfarin. It would be great for poison pen letters, don'tcha think?

[ink-syringe]

Thanks for the recommendation....I just ordered some Waterman Serenity Blue....seems like it's quite the bargain....I also ordered some Iroshizuku Asa-Gao Morning Glory....I've been wanting to try it....I hear good things about it.

 

 

I have used both those inks in P51s with great success. Both are excellent inks.

 

I spent a long time last night cleaning out a p51 that has given me trouble. I flushed it with water to get most of the ink out then I used water with a few drops of dish detergent and then I did more water. Then, while I was watching a film I sat with a bowl of clean water and an empty cup and filled the pen from the water, and emptied if for a good 40 minutes. I mean I flushed the daylights out of this pen and then I flushed it some more. Then when I was done with that I flushed it some more an then again. I went to town on this sucker.

 

Then I squeezed and shook as much of the water out as I could. Then I sat it upright in a cup with the nib down in a bunch of tissues.. ... etc. etc.

 

Then I filled it (Montblanc JFK ink) and now it is an amazing, problem free pen.

 

What I am saying is: They are a pain to clean. But if you do it right it pays. You think your pen is clean. It is not. & MAKE SURE if you use a little dish soap that you are prepared to rinse like crazy to get that and the ink out too. The famous collector is going to hold any fluid as well as it holds ink, what makes it great is what also makes it hard to clean but in so many cases a really good cleaning is all any of them ever need. A really thoroughgoing cleaning nearly always rights the ship. I'll fill a bunch of times with the same ink before I clean it again.

 

If you have a stingy p51 (rare in my experience) I have found a very free flowing ink like Diamine Midnight to be a great cure for that. But Asa-gao and Waterman Blue are both excellent inks for a P51. My best 51 is inked with Asa-Gao now. It is the only Iro ink I like but it one of the best inks out there imo.

 

Enjoy.

Edited May 18, 2015 by ink-syringe

[SallyLyn]

Repeating what has been said.

I only use Waterman in my aero and vac Parker '51's. I expect these FP to last another 2-3 adult lifetimes. IMO they have lasted close to 2 already. Am guessing I'm the second or third owner.

 

However do have one Parker '51' I exclusively put Noodler's Iraqi Indigo (Violet Vote) in it. It has a great nib. I wanted to use IIndigo in a '51' and that one won. It was not my least expensive to buy but just seemed a good fit. I'm not a great pen cleaner so there are times I have to work to clean it and to make the final cleaning I'll do a fill of Waterman Purple.

 

I use Noodler's in lots of pens but except for the one, only put Waterman, Sheaffer in my vintage pens.

[blINK]

Parker created Superchrome ink for the 51. Granted, it ended up doing some damage over the long term due to its corrosive nature. That being said, I think most of the inks produced today are relatively tame compared to Superchrome. So you really should be able to put any fountain pen ink in your 51 without too much concern. This is assuming you practice good pen maintenance and, as mentioned, this is a little bit more of a pain in the 51 than some other pens.

 

I have a 51 that wrote a little dry. I have been running Noodler's Blue Eel in it for quite some time and it writes perfectly now and I haven't had a bit of trouble. I give it a good flush every 3-4 fills.

 

But then again, I am one who has used Bay State Blue in a Pilot Metro for more than 2 years and the pen hasn't melted or burst into flames. I also use La Reine Mauve in a Cross LE pen and it is in my top 3 favorite inks. I guess I have just been lucky.

[Ghost Writer]

The Parker 51 aero is a robust pen that in my experience works pretty well with just about any main stream modern ink made for fountain pens -- of course avoid drafting inks and the like. The practice of good pen maintenance (as already pointed out in other replies) is a great habit to form. Your choice is Waterman Serenity Blue is a good one as it has a long standing reputation as a well behaved ink. Enjoy your 51!

[RJRM]

I have a new-to-me Parker "51" aerometric coming and need to select an ink.

 

I understand that there's varying opinions on the 'safety' of different inks and, yes, I've read R. Binder's 'Good, Bad, and Ugly'. Noting that many are of contrary opinion and I may well be a victim of fear mongering, I've nontheless decided to play it safe. My question is: are there any Diamine inks that should be avoided to stay well within the 'most safe' category , which RB advises lie generally adjacent Waterman Serenity Blue in the shallow end of the Pool of Adventure and Despair? If I venture into Diamine Majestic Blue, am I insignificantly increasing my risk profile? Does the lubrication afforded by Diamine compare with Waterman, given the firm nib I expect? It's a 0.9mm medium/broad, if that is useful input to your organic computer.

 

(I have several other pens inked with more radical colour so I can live with a limited choice for this one, so long as it's blue or blue-black)

 

Thanks.

[Sasha Royale]

Fountain pen inks ONLY. I can't think of contemporary inks that would not work well in your Parker.

I lean toward the inks that were available when the pen was made. In my Parker 51's, I am completely satisfied with Quink, Pelikan 4001, Sheaffer Script, and Montblanc inks.

 

I have very limited experience.

[Arkanabar]

You can probably use a lot - but what I do (I have a 1953 51 Special aero) is use an ink that is easy to clean out.

+1 on this. Unless you can centrifuge it, getting an ink out of the collector on a "51" is an extended exercise in tedium and annoyance. Even with a centrifuge, I'd expect it to be far more work than cleaning out a typical c/c filler. I prefer inks with phenol in them for my aerometric "51", e.g. Solv-X or MontBlanc's SuperCleaner SC21, or current production Pilot Blue-Black.

 

If none of those were available, it'd probably be J. Herbin Perle Noire or Noodler's Heart of Darkness, which has NEVER failed to rinse or wipe off of any plastic surface in my experience. I would be less sanguine about regular Noodler's Black or Borealis Black, and most unwilling to use Bad Black Moccasin. (BBM is my Lenten penitential ink, used diluted 1:1 in an eyedropper from which I can pull the nib and feed barehanded to scrub with a toothbrush.)

 

The reason there are so many blacks in this list is because it's a black and lustraloy model, and I want to keep filling it with black like my father did before me.

 

Oh, I don't know. The blood of your enemies would be quite good. You would have to put an anticoagulant in it. I was thinking of Warfarin. It would be great for poison pen letters, don'tcha think?

EoC jokes. Even with warfarin impeding all the many irreversible clotting processes of blood, there are too many solids in blood to use it in a fountain pen.

I have a new-to-me Parker "51" aerometric coming and need to select an ink.

 

I understand that there's varying opinions on the 'safety' of different inks and, yes, I've read R. Binder's 'Good, Bad, and Ugly'. Noting that many are of contrary opinion and I may well be a victim of fear mongering, I've nontheless decided to play it safe. My question is: are there any Diamine inks that should be avoided to stay well within the 'most safe' category , which RB advises lie generally adjacent Waterman Serenity Blue in the shallow end of the Pool of Adventure and Despair? If I venture into Diamine Majestic Blue, am I insignificantly increasing my risk profile? Does the lubrication afforded by Diamine compare with Waterman, given the firm nib I expect? It's a 0.9mm medium/broad, if that is useful input to your organic computer.

 

(I have several other pens inked with more radical colour so I can live with a limited choice for this one, so long as it's blue or blue-black)

 

Thanks.

RJRM: YMMV, as may your pen hygiene. For me: I say, avoid the Diamine Shimmertastic inks. I would also wish to avoid pigmented inks like Sailor Kiwa-Guro and any nano-carbon inks. I would also avoid J. Herbin's 1670 line, as they all carry particulates. I would also consider avoiding IG inks, as they dry to a water-insoluble solid.

[lapis]

My aerometric is from 1960 and I've used practically everything in it without ever having a problem. But come to think of it, I hardly ever used any Noodler's or Private Reserves in it simply because of their excessive saturation. To be really safe, stick to Watermans, Herbins, R&Ks and other "normal" inks which are all easy to clean out with normal, luke-warm tap water alone.

 

Mike

[ac12]

The 51 could stand up to the nasty inks that Parker used in the past, I don't worry about todays inks.

 

However, I agree with Arkanabar. The problem with particulants in ink is that you don't know how they may settle in the pen, and clog the feed. And a P51 is a difficult pen to clean in the first place, if it gets clogged it is even harder. So no pigment/particle inks.

 

Even some dye based inks are fussy and the dye or whatever else in in the inks can settle and clog the feeds. Here are some inks that have varying degrees of clogging in my pens: Diamine Sherwood Green, Diamine Red Dragon, Noodler's Liberty's Elysium. Based on how Liberty's Elysium behaves in my cartridge pen, I would not put it into a P51. Because I have had to periodically floss the nib to get the ink to flow again, dipping in water did not clear the nib.

Edited April 26, 2016 by ac12

[inkstainedruth]

I've used a variety of inks in mine. And yes, that included PR and Noodler's inks; I had some problems with Noodler's Manhattan Blue in the Teal Aero, but have used both PR Ebony Purple and Noodler's Purple Heart in the Plummer with no issues whatsoever.

Personally, I'd avoid Baystate Blue, but that's more because it doesn't play well with other inks. And unless the pen you're getting was dismantled and ultrasonically cleaned, and then had a brand new pliglass sac installed, there's no guarantee that there isn't still some ink residue left in there somewhere; I've seen the photos someone posted a couple of years ago at an attempt to make the "perfect" blue-black, using BSB and Noodler's Black (the results were Not Pretty (™).

Oh, and Sailor Jentle Sky High (yeah, a blue ink) stained the replacement sac on the Teal Aero. Just sayin'....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[RJRM]

Beautiful looking (on the computer screen) Diamine Majestic Blue.... Scary or not so scary? If I 'commit' to it (look to use the whole 80ml bottle in the pen without swapping colours) as I hear it's hard to clean out, am I flying close to the sun? R. Binder says Diamine is next to Waterman in terms of ease but then I hear Majestic Blue might be the black sheep of that family....

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

As you have received the benefit of Members' experience over time, knowledge, savvy and wisdom, I have little to add.

 

What little I have to add is to query your intended use of the P51:

 

> If used as a daily writer, I reckon most inks are suitable. I do have reservations about some of the cellulose-reactive and nano-particle inks. If considering such inks, prior to loading into your P51, kindly use them in a more easily maintained pen, such as a c/c filler, to determine the maintenance / tedium overhead. Perhaps the much admired PR DC Supershow Blue, which has a very high dye load, could be used to evaluate your Tedium Tolerance: Use PRDCSsBl for a week, then do a clean-up, and without drying the pen load it with Yellow ink, let it rest over night, then later on see if the written line is Yellow, which is good, but if Green go back to square one.

 

> If used as an occasional writer, then select simple aniline dye inks of the sort that were in the market when the P51 was introduced. For the most part they can be rinsed away with plain water, and should any inky residue remain will not form a persistent mass that requires chemicals other than water to remove nor invoke an event horizon when the next ink comes aboard.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited April 27, 2016 by Sandy1

[fabri00]

Parker ink.

I use it since 30 years when I want ta have a safe ink and it has always been Ok.

[Arkanabar]

I suggest Noodler's Heart of Darkness. IMX, it dries faster and behaves better than Noodler's Black. I used to use Pelikan 4001 and it was really good -- rather water resistant, fade resistant, and well-behaved.