Picked Up A Parker 51 Left Oblique

[lancre]

Visited the Midlands Pen Show in Lichfield on Sunday. My partner bought a Starwalker that he's very happy with. I picked up a Kaweco Sport EF that hardly wrote, the tines were pushed together so tightly that the pen dried up after writing a few words. I spent a few hours at home spreading the tines and pushing the nib up a bit higher. The feed seemed to not fit very well in the section, and the nib and feed were misaligned. It seems to be better now - but I'm not that impressed with the quality control.

 

I picked up a Parker 51 with a left oblique nib for quite a reasonable price I thought. I'm overall really happy with the pen; the nib doesn't have much line variation; it has some. I also noticed that it is a very wet writer. Here are some pictures of the pen; what do you think of the nib and the writing? Is it as expected or do you think it needs some looking at? Sorry about the pictures, I don't have much light in the room at the moment. The barrel is actually a dark turquoise / teal colour.

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/z73kjhL.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/cH65FJO.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZXNhZYs.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/LNJ35KN.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/qn6vMkq.jpg?1

[Bo Bo Olson]

Is it semi-flex?.....if English made?....something I'd never ask of a US made one. I have a English made Parker Jr. Duofold that is semi-flex and it was a .

Both Parker and Sheaffer had English factories and had to compete with Swan and it's array of nibs of various flexes.

I have an Australian Snorkel with a maxi-semi-flex factory stub, BB.

I had been thinking about chasing an early '50's Admiral or President or Saratoga or such in the fairly rare semi-flex when that fell into my hands....a plainer pen, but what a nib.

 

If semi-flex, oblique makes a lot of sense...considering there is not much nib to see......and there for cant.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[lancre]

Is it semi-flex?.....if English made?....something I'd never ask of a US made one. I have a English made Parker Jr. Duofold that is semi-flex and it was a .

Both Parker and Sheaffer had English factories and had to compete with Swan and it's array of nibs of various flexes.

I have an Australian Snorkel with a maxi-semi-flex factory stub, BB.

I had been thinking about chasing an early '50's Admiral or President or Saratoga or such in the fairly rare semi-flex when that fell into my hands....a plainer pen, but what a nib.

 

If semi-flex, oblique makes a lot of sense...considering there is not much nib to see......and there for cant.

 

Nope don't think so. I don't want to push it, but surely the hood would make a flex or semi flex nib difficult to achieve? It's just an oblique nib as far as I can tell.

[ac12]

If the pen is a WET writer, you won't see much line variation. There is too much ink being put down. Though looking at your writing, it does not appear to be a real WET writer.

Try using a dry ink like Pelikan, to see if you can slow down the ink flow.

 

 

Parker 51 nibs are nails.

Because of how they fit (or are supposed to fit) into the hood, they are NOT meant to flex.

Any line variation that looks like flex is just more ink flowing from pressing the pen down, not flexing the nib.

Edited June 26, 2017 by ac12

[Bo Bo Olson]

There is a huge difference between super'Flex' and semi-flex.....just because the word flex is in semi...ALMOST flex......................don't mean it's a superflex. Please read my signature.

 

Semi-flex could be just a wet nib to those who lack experience to tell. And it could be harder to see any tine spread... with a hooded nib.

 

Where was the pen made?

If in the States it will not be semi-flex (there are rumors of some claiming to have one)....if in Great Briton it could be.They had to compete with Swan.

[ac12]

A P51 nib is not even semi-flex, at least not in design.

 

The hooded cylindrical nib of a 51 is NOT designed to be able to flex, unlike the open nib of a Duofold.

[lancre]

Are the Pelikan Edelstein inks dry? I like the bottles they come in. Maybe that would slow the nib down a bit.

[welch]

From my experience, the Edelstein inks are not dry and not super-wet. Just in-between and smooth.

 

Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue is dry.

 

Parker 51? They were not designed to flex or be springy. Just as hard as a pencil. From the numbers of old pens (ok, "vintage") that I've bought or seen on EBay, and from having learned to write in the mid '50s, I doubt that Parker wanted any softness in the P-51 nib. We were taught to write clearly and quickly, and, thinking back, the ideal was a set of letters as uniform as those from a typewriter. It appears that "lancre" has no intention of getting line variation from a 51 nib, which is good, since anyone who presses hard on a 51 nib is more likely to snap the hood.

[FarmBoy]

If the pen is a WET writer, you won't see much line variation. There is too much ink being put down. Though looking at your writing, it does not appear to be a real WET writer.

Try using a dry ink like Pelikan, to see if you can slow down the ink flow.

 

 

Parker 51 nibs are nails.

Because of how they fit (or are supposed to fit) into the hood, they are NOT meant to flex.

Any line variation that looks like flex is just more ink flowing from pressing the pen down, not flexing the nib.

 

 

A P51 nib is not even semi-flex, at least not in design.

 

The hooded cylindrical nib of a 51 is NOT designed to be able to flex, unlike the open nib of a Duofold.

If you are trying to say Parker 51 nibs are not flexible you are not being understood.

 

You need to stop beating around the bush and say it in plain English.

 

Parker 51 nibs are not flexible.

 

 

Unless.....it looks like this:

 

Which is NOT a cylindrical nib and it is NOT a production 51. Specifically it is an experimental 51 designed to have a flexible nib. For the record it isn't very flexible.

[mitto]

If you are trying to say Parker 51 nibs are not flexible you are not being understood.

 

You need to stop beating around the bush and say it in plain English.

 

Parker 51 nibs are not flexible.

 

 

Unless.....it looks like this:

 

 

 

 

Which is NOT a cylindrical nib and it is NOT a production 51. Specifically it is an experimental 51 designed to have a flexible nib. For the record it isn't very flexible.

Wow. What a pen, Todd.

[sandy101]

My P51 is a wet writer. I use Parker's Quink. It puts down a bit more ink than some pens, but I think that's part of what makes the nibe glibe on the paper - namely it lays down plenty of lubrication.

[inkstainedruth]

I have one Parker nib that is semi-flex: it's on a Laidtone Duofold button filler. The rest of my Parkers? They're pretty much to a man all nails....

I've seen some Vacs advertised as having flexible nibs, but don't own any.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[the_gasman]

Hi lancre,

 

• An oblique nib does not anticipate any line variation at all unless it has been cut with any degree of italicisation (a line width ratio of circa 3:1; whereas a stub has a circa 2:1 ratio). Your nib, when seen from the side, seems to have a more rounded profile, whereas an italic grind would have a chisel-like profile.
• I think that I am right in saying that 51s tend to be generous of ink flow which, if the tines are aligned correctly, makes for a pleasantly smooth writing experience and, for many people, is desirable (though tastes are individual).
• I don't know why the concept of flexibility has crept into this discussion as it is largely irrelevant to Parker 51 nibs.
• I agree with ac12 that your writing doesn't look as if it's from a particularly wet pen.
• My Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst ink is very dry, the Mandarin is slightly dry, and the Aventurine is pleasantly wet and well lubricated (it is one of my favourite inks – a lovely vibrant green).
• If you want line variation, you will need to have the nib ground. I strongly recommend John Sorowka, who is available at pen shows and via email. It would cost £40 but, in my experience, is well worth it, especially if he does it at a pen show because he is a wonderfully engaging man to talk to. The only caution is that he may seduce you into an expensive hobby! He's not pushy; just charismatic.

 

Cheers,

David.

Edited June 30, 2017 by the_gasman

[FarmBoy]

Parker used the phrase "dry writing with wet ink" to describe their then new offering the early 1940s.

[mitto]

So the 51 was introduced as a fountain pen that uses wet ink but writes dry like a dry ink ballpoint would.

[ac12]

With a somewhat dry pen, the ink would dry faster, so would not smear as easily.

If the pen was WET, it would take a while for the ink to dry.

[lancre]

Hi lancre,

 

• An oblique nib does not anticipate any line variation at all unless it has been cut with any degree of italicisation (a line width ratio of circa 3:1; whereas a stub has a circa 2:1 ratio). Your nib, when seen from the side, seems to have a more rounded profile, whereas an italic grind would have a chisel-like profile.
• I think that I am right in saying that 51s tend to be generous of ink flow which, if the tines are aligned correctly, makes for a pleasantly smooth writing experience and, for many people, is desirable (though tastes are individual).
• I don't know why the concept of flexibility has crept into this discussion as it is largely irrelevant to Parker 51 nibs.
• I agree with ac12 that your writing doesn't look as if it's from a particularly wet pen.
• My Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst ink is very dry, the Mandarin is slightly dry, and the Aventurine is pleasantly wet and well lubricated (it is one of my favourite inks – a lovely vibrant green).
• If you want line variation, you will need to have the nib ground. I strongly recommend John Sorowka, who is available at pen shows and via email. It would cost £40 but, in my experience, is well worth it, especially if he does it at a pen show because he is a wonderfully engaging man to talk to. The only caution is that he may seduce you into an expensive hobby! He's not pushy; just charismatic.

 

Cheers,

David.

 

Yeah I met John at the last pen show (the same show where I picked up the Parker) - he was aligning some tines on my Frontier and bemoaning the "shove it in and hope" nib on the Cross Sauvage I also gave him. It was a pretty full-on experience. Did wonders to the pens, though.

 

To have the Parker ground, it would cost 2/3 the cost of the pen (now you know how much I paid for it). I think I'll leave it as it is; it's an entertaining pen, and seems a little different to some other '51's in terms of the juiciness of the nib.