Parker 51 - Starting Restoration

[antiquedigger]

Hi,

 

I am in the beginning stages of restoring this Parker 51. I would this Parker 51 on eBay for $37.00. It has a 1/10 16KT Gold Filled Cap and when I took it apart, the nib is an RU (Ruthinium Plathenium I found out what it meant). The barrel is black and has an 8 and one dot, so I believe this is a 1948 - 1st Quarter Parker 51.

 

Everything was removed super easily and did not have any challenges. I cleaned the pump from the worn out sac that was on it. I cleaned up the cap and clip.

 

The two images are of the pen when I received and the second is everything disassembled.

 

 

[Kiaxa]

Man, poor thing looks pretty rough. I wish you luck on your endeavor.

[antiquedigger]

Man, poor thing looks pretty rough. I wish you luck on your endeavor.

yea, it is. I will follow up with after picture

[Flounder]

Don't lose the wee wier vent shim at the barrel end of the collector! The clip looks nicely preserved.

[OcalaFlGuy]

Man, poor thing looks pretty rough. I wish you luck on your endeavor.

 

Yeah but it's cleaned up nicely so far. Though if I'm seeing correctly the cap looks toasted.

 

No biggee there. You can find a 51 with a gold cap in decent shape for about what you paid. Look for a "scungy" looking

pen but where the cap has no dings or brassed areas. Better yet, a clean cap and Trashed pen for even cheaper. Parker's GF is pretty tough, it will take a lot of hand polishing and cleans up nicely. Not much you can do though when the gold layer isn't there at all anymore...

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Florida Blue]

If your 51 has a date code of 8., that would be 3rd quarter of 1948. That would be pretty late for a 51 Vac since the Aerometric was released earlier that year.

 

The dots mean the following: 3=1st quarter, 2=2nd, 1=3rd and 0=4th.

 

The cap seemed to clean up pretty well after a polishing.

[antiquedigger]

Don't lose the wee wier vent shim at the barrel end of the collector! The clip looks nicely preserved.

Thanks, Flounder. I have watched videos about that shim and certainly I am taking care of preserving it. Thanks for the heads up!

[antiquedigger]

 

Yeah but it's cleaned up nicely so far. Though if I'm seeing correctly the cap looks toasted.

 

No biggee there. You can find a 51 with a gold cap in decent shape for about what you paid. Look for a "scungy" looking

pen but where the cap has no dings or brassed areas. Better yet, a clean cap and Trashed pen for even cheaper. Parker's GF is pretty tough, it will take a lot of hand polishing and cleans up nicely. Not much you can do though when the gold layer isn't there at all anymore...

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

Bruce, the cap was just tarnished. I spent the night bringing back the gleam to the cap and the barrel.

[antiquedigger]

If your 51 has a date code of 8., that would be 3rd quarter of 1948. That would be pretty late for a 51 Vac since the Aerometric was released earlier that year.

 

The dots mean the following: 3=1st quarter, 2=2nd, 1=3rd and 0=4th.

 

The cap seemed to clean up pretty well after a polishing.

Thanks for the correction in my error of dating the pen.

 

Do you think this is a legit Vac or should it have the Aerometric filler instead?

[antiquedigger]

Hi,

 

I spent the night working on the barrel, cap and clip. I used the micro mesh 3600 grit up to 12000. Used several light abrasive pastes and simichrome. follow up with a brazilian wax on the barrel. The cap, just simichrome, lots of effort to remove the dirt and get it polished up. There was no brassing, just sever tarnish.

 

Just wanted to show all the updated outside. I am waiting on shellac to finish up the sac and reassemble the pen to complete the restoration.

 

 

Here is the before again:

 

 

[mitto]

Nice work. Congrats. The clip, however, needs more cleaning.

[Flounder]

Wow, the cap came up very nicely indeed. I've often seen old 51 listings with that peculiar "each end" tarnishing, I wonder at the chemistry of it.

 

One of my rolled silver caps was badly marked by a restorer. It was my intention to replace it anyway, so had nothing to lose by polishing. After several months of careful but wince-level polishing, you can only see the problem rotating the pen in good light. They must have been generous with the gold fill/ rolled silver/ roleld gold at Parker.

 

You don't need shellac for the diaphragm, by the way - have a look at the restorer's art site for detailed vac pump info, it goes into even more detail than you'll need for just a diaphragm change. Now I think about it, this is a good time to check the spring for loss of tension, I think there's replacements you can buy now.

 

Your blind cap alignment looks excellent (presumably without the diaphragm installed?) it really helps to clear out the barrel's filler threads for this.

 

 

ps - I noticed you've polished the brass bush! Lol, what an OCD freak! Ahem.

 

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/English%20Parker%2051%20Aero%20with%20RSilver%20Cap/Rolled%20Silver%20English%20Parker%2051%20Aero%20008s.jpg

Edited October 3, 2015 by Flounder

[Flounder]

Nice work. Congrats. The clip, however, needs more cleaning.

 

On blue diamond clips, this is one area where I prefer a more "contrasty" look to flawlessly polished, it makes the detailing pop.

[tamiya]

... follow up with a brazilian wax on the barrel.

 

that sounds, umm, PAINFUL... 8(

[mitto]

On blue diamond clips, this is one area where I prefer a more "contrasty" look to flawlessly polished, it makes the detailing pop.

Yes, but the blackened/tarnished area above the blue diamond - the bend- needs to be cleaned. That would give the diamond more prominence.

[T1Love]

Nice job so far!! Looking great!

[antiquedigger]

Nice work. Congrats. The clip, however, needs more cleaning.

Thanks, Mitto. I am going after it to get it cleaned.

[antiquedigger]

Wow, the cap came up very nicely indeed. I've often seen old 51 listings with that peculiar "each end" tarnishing, I wonder at the chemistry of it.

 

One of my rolled silver caps was badly marked by a restorer. It was my intention to replace it anyway, so had nothing to lose by polishing. After several months of careful but wince-level polishing, you can only see the problem rotating the pen in good light. They must have been generous with the gold fill/ rolled silver/ roleld gold at Parker.

 

You don't need shellac for the diaphragm, by the way - have a look at the restorer's art site for detailed vac pump info, it goes into even more detail than you'll need for just a diaphragm change. Now I think about it, this is a good time to check the spring for loss of tension, I think there's replacements you can buy now.

 

Your blind cap alignment looks excellent (presumably without the diaphragm installed?) it really helps to clear out the barrel's filler threads for this.

 

Blind Cap Alignment Clean Threads.jpg

 

ps - I noticed you've polished the brass bush! Lol, what an OCD freak! Ahem.

 

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy19/flounder2009/English%20Parker%2051%20Aero%20with%20RSilver%20Cap/Rolled%20Silver%20English%20Parker%2051%20Aero%20008s.jpg

 

Thanks, Flounder. I appreciate the heads up on the restorer's art website. The spring, to me, feels really like it has really good tension.

I have cleaned the threads as well on all areas, got in there with a nylon brush and q-tip. The brass bushing, I gave it a bath and use the simichrome to polish and clean the threads. This is my first attempt at cleaning and restore a Parker pen - it is a learning curve and I appreciate all the help everyone has given me.

[antiquedigger]

 

On blue diamond clips, this is one area where I prefer a more "contrasty" look to flawlessly polished, it makes the detailing pop.

I was worried about polishing too much here b/c I didn't want to lose the blue diamond.

[antiquedigger]

that sounds, umm, PAINFUL... 8(

There was no ripping and tearing for this Brazilian Wax