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What Inks For Parker 51/21?


smithno

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I bought my first 51 when I went in the US Air Force in 1970. I used Sheaffer blue black for work, red ink for certain letters, white laundry ink and India ink for laundry marking in the 51. Rinsed them out, and then refilled with blue black. I am still using this 51 today, and the hood has never been off, and the sac is original. I won't tell you some of the places I took this pen. In a way it's a very old friend. I suspect that some of these worries are not necessary with a 51. I also believe that the 51 is the best pen that ever was. Well done, 51!

 

wow!

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I did that reckless stuff when the pen was new, and I was in my twenties. Young butterbar, didn't know diddly. I would never do any of that stuff now, and certainly not to any lesser pen. Probably quick washouts helped. I just don't think you need to be particularly scrupulous or extremely careful about fountain pen inks, possibly except Baystate inks, if you don't like staining.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I did that reckless stuff when the pen was new, and I was in my twenties. Young butterbar, didn't know diddly. I would never do any of that stuff now, and certainly not to any lesser pen. Probably quick washouts helped. I just don't think you need to be particularly scrupulous or extremely careful about fountain pen inks, possibly except Baystate inks, if you don't like staining.

Agreed. 51s are essentially armor plate in nature.

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Why's that Farmboy, just out of interest? The only time I used Diamine imperial blue was when i ordered it by mistake instead of royal blue.

Diamine seems to be stingy in 51s. I'd consider it a drier ink than quink.

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Parker 51 Aeromatic with Pli-glass sac should take pretty well any fp ink. Whether you use a wet ink like Waterman or Private Reserve, or a dry ink like Robert Oster or Pelikan will depend on the nib. Wet ink for dry nib, dry ink for wet nib.

 

Parker 51 Vacumatic will have a rubber sac, and so you might want to stay away from the Baystate inks and some of the low pH Japanese inks.

 

Don't forget the Parker 51 was made for Superchrome and Parker 51 inks, which are a lot harder on pens than any current commercial ink.

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“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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In my pens, I limit the ink selection to those available when the pens was introduced. In my Parker 51, I choose Quink, Pelikan 4001, Sheaffer, and Montblanc Torquoise. Starting with Sheaffer School pens and Parker 45's, I would be comfortable using any fountain pen ink. In the case of vintage Parker Duofold pens, I have no inks that were available in 1920. I have had good experiences with Pelikan 4001 and Sheaffer Script. .

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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I've used Noodler's Purple Heart and Private Reserve Ebony Purple (as well as other more "benign" inks) in my Plum Demi 51 Aero -- and also have used vintage Quink Permanent Violet in that pen. I've been told that Sailor inks were "safe" for any pen, and had Sky High stain a brand new replacement pliglass sac on the Teal Aero. It's a case of "YMMV".

I wouldn't put India ink in *any* fountain pen -- but beyond that? [shrug]. The 51 was designed to use Superchrome ink, which I gather made Bay State Blue look meek and mild by comparison. But then, I've used De Atramentis Red Roses (which is both a red ink and a scented one) in a Vacumatic and a Laidtone Duofold. Would I put BSB in a 51? Maybe -- but only after it had been *first* ultrasonically cleaned within an inch of its life (and possibly had a brand new sac put in it as well) so it wouldn't have bad interactions with any prior ink(s), and then have it become a BSB-only pen. And I've got a *new* Noodler's Charlie eyedropper for that purpose already.

How scrupulous a flushing system due you plan to use? Because for me, there's a whole lot more to life than Waterman Mysterious Blue so I put up with the OCD flushing regimen -- but OTOH, that is the ONLY ink I've ever used in the Red Shadow Wave Vac for nearly 2 years and never had to flush the pen or do any other maintenance to it. Again, it's a case of YMMV.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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I lack your daring. The only ink I have used in my Plum Demi Aero is Robert Oster Purple Rock, and I suspect that Purple Rock it will be until the bottle is empty.

 

In my other Parker 51 and my Waterman 3V, I consistently use Montblanc Lavender Purple. In my Parker Victory I use J Herbin Poussiere de Lune.

 

I do flush my pens between fills. Still, I switch from one ink to another only in my cartridge/converter pens.

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I use Sailor Kiwa-Guro in my Parker 51 vacumatic. I haven't had any problems so far.

 

The Sailor ink made my 51 write wet and fine to medium. I turned back to Montblanc midnight blue to dry it up and now it looks EF to F.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Wow. Inks tuning nib tip sizes wider and thinner. :)

 

I have a few pens (including some 51s) that remain ink gushing wet even if I use dry inks in them such as Pelikan.

Khan M. Ilyas

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  • 5 months later...

Hello, I ask your advice. My Parker 51 aerometric writes a little more wet than I would like. I don't want to disassemble the nib and following advice on the forum, want to solve the problem of ink replacement. Now I use Parker Quink Black. What ink do you suggest?

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Pelikan 4001. It helps some of my pens to write thinner lines.

 

Why did the OP have the sac replaced on the 51?

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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The Sailor ink made my 51 write wet and fine to medium. I turned back to Montblanc midnight blue to dry it up and now it looks EF to F.

 

 

Wow. Inks tuning nib tip sizes wider and thinner. :)

 

I have a few pens (including some 51s) that remain ink gushing wet even if I use dry inks in them such as Pelikan.

 

Yes, ink, combined with paper, can make your pen write a wider or narrower line.

 

Rhodia Premium (ivory) paper will let the ink spread sideways a little, compared to normal Rhodia (white) paper.

Soft, absorbent paper will turn your Platinum UEF into a fat Medium.

 

Inks with a high surfactant content (i.e. Midway Blue) will spread more than an ink like Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue.

 

If you want to know the true (native) width of your pen nib, write on Tomoe River or Kokuyo Campus refill paper with Pelikan 4001 RB.

 

The shape of the bottom of the nib, not its visible width, determines its native width. A flat bottomed nib will write a wider line than a nib that is apparently the same width, but has a curved bottom. However, if you write with a wet ink on soft paper, those differences can disappear.

fpn_1412827311__pg_d_104def64.gif




“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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I only own one ink. I'm not an ink junkie mainly because I only like blue-black ink for writing, but also because I hate the performance of non iron-gall inks. I use Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black ink. I like it because it's permanent, doesn't write too wet or too dry, doesn't feather, shades extremely well, and dries down to a beautiful, deep, dark blue. I do want to try a couple other iron-gall based inks for fun, but otherwise I am very happy with this being my only ink in for my Aero 51s.

 

Because I write with my pen's every day, my only maintenance is a water flush every few months. To be honest though, I don't think this is necessary.

Edited by Offret
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I mostly keep Waterman Serenity Blue in my 51 Special, but recently had Lamy Pacific and have had a couple of Diamine inks in it over the years.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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No mention of Parker Penman Sapphire.

 

Very surprised.

 

It is just too expensive?

 

The Parker Penman inks were released at about the same time as the Sonnet. It was the combination of cracked inner caps, along with the higher saturation of dyes in the Penman inks, that caused so much of the clogging that eventually did it in for the Penman inks. I was one of those who experienced this, until I found a way to fix the cracked inner cap, when the problem went away.

 

In the meantime, those who were using Parker 51s were still feeding them Quink (with Solv-X).

 

These days I use either Monteverde Horizon Blue, or Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue, diluted a bit with water to make it a brighter looking ink, in my P51s. Or some of my ever-dwindling stock of PPS. Or one of its clones.

Edited by dcwaites

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“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t.


And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.”


Granny Aching

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Like FarmBoy and a couple of others in this thread I have the ability to restore my own pens. Having said that, specific to the 51, and more broadly (no pun) for most other pens, I tend to stay away from the sparklies, baystates, heavy IG's, (latex or oil based paint, correction fluid :yikes: ) , drawing ink and some others I can't think of right now.

 

Highly saturated and blues and reds I'm not worried about.

 

Glenn

 

 

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