Parker 45

[Marcwithac]

...and there are the ones with the inscription on the reverse of of the cap as:

 

1/10 12ct R.G

Made in England.

Thanks for the additional info Anthony.

[Marcwithac]

As a follow up, after a long day at the office I successfully installed a new sac in my squeeze converter last night. I cut the sac a tad shorter than I would have liked, but it fills fine. Now the dilemma - do I empty the ink out of the piston converter in my 45, or wait until I use it up? Think I’ll go with the latter as it will force me to use the pen more...

[Charles Rice]

I can't figure it out. I am NOT a fan of hidden nibs. I bought a 51 long ago new and it is my least used pen. Give my a pen with a nib the size of a catcher's mitt and I'm a happy boy. BUT, I do love that 45 which is sitting in front of me with a sack full of mystery ink. This particular pen is one of those, "hey Charlie, I found this in an old dusty drawer, and I know you like fountain pens. Do you want it?" It is one GREAT writer.

 

And a little mystery about the pen, too. I'd love to know who William Gatheridge was as his name is engraved on the pen. (Yes I did a search)

[ParkerDuofold]

...and there are the ones with the inscription on the reverse of of the cap as:

 

1/10 12ct R.G

Made in England.

 

Thanks for the additional info Anthony.

Hi Marc,

 

Thank you for the kudos,... unfortunately,... I cannot accept them... ...Mitto provided that info, not me.

 

However, I'll chime in with this:

 

The "G.F." stands for gold filled and the "R.G." stands for rolled gold.

 

Gold filled is best; this method actually incorporates the gold into the alloy itself.

 

Rolled gold is when a thin layer of gold is rolled over a base metal and heat set.

 

Gold plate is the least desirable... this is the very familiar and well-known method of dipping the base alloy in an electrically charged bath of "gold water" and an ultra-thin coating "clings" to the base alloy that was dipped.

 

I'm not sure which years they switched from what to what, but gold filled is best and can only be found on the early models with the black finial on the base of the barrel... and not all of these were "filled"; the switch over to "rolled" gold was done during the black finial era.

Then they switched to gold plate sometime in the middle '70s, IIRC.

 

You might find this helpful, too:

 

https://parkerpens.net/parker45.html

 

http://www.richardspens.com/index_m.html?page=ref/profiles/45.htm

 

 

Btw, I meant to mention before... I really like your gold and black specimen.

 

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

[mitto]

Hi Marc,

 

Thank you for the kudos,... unfortunately,... I cannot accept them... ...Mitto provided that info, not me.

 

However, I'll chime in with this:

 

The "G.F." stands for gold filled and the "R.G." stands for rolled gold.

 

Gold filled is best; this method actually incorporates the gold into the alloy itself.

 

Rolled gold is when a thin layer of gold is rolled over a base metal and heat set.

 

Gold plate is the least desirable... this is the very familiar and well-known method of dipping the base alloy in an electrically charged bath of "gold water" and an ultra-thin coating "clings" to the base alloy that was dipped.

 

I'm not sure which years they switched from what to what, but gold filled is best and can only be found on the early models with the black finial on the base of the barrel... and not all of these were "filled"; the switch over to "rolled" gold was done during the black finial era.

Then they switched to gold plate sometime in the middle '70s, IIRC.

 

You might find this helpful, too:

 

https://parkerpens.net/parker45.html

 

http://www.richardspens.com/index_m.html?page=ref/profiles/45.htm

 

 

Btw, I meant to mention before... I really like your gold and black specimen.

 

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

Hi Anthony,

 

If the gold content is the same there is no difference between gold filled and rolled gold though the process of adding gold to the base matal may be different. For example '1/10 12k G.F' and '1/10 12ct R.G' would contain the same amount of gold.

 

Also there was no switch from GF to RG or vice versa. The term GF was used on USA made pens while the term RG was used on English made Pens concurrently.

[Bo Bo Olson]

IMO, it is one of the few Large pens that have good balance posted, or my later English made one does but it has a thinner end of the body than the first picture.

Could be the first pen shown is medium-large to the same size as the P-51....I don't know.

[WarrenB]

Nice! I just stumbled across 45s (and 51s, and all the praise for them) and they've gone on the wishlist.

 

Gotta say I'm encouraged by the fact that they had olive green variants. I like green, but I'm slightly disappointed that for most FPs, that means blinding lime/acid greens, or bluish, vaguely artificial 'phthalo' greens.

 

I often feel that the P45 is like the Millennium Falcon of fountain pens. Uninitiated onlookers might think it doesn't look like much, but we know: it's got it where it counts.

Funny, I was looking at a... 'well used' 51, and making the same comparison.

[Tweel]

Hi Anthony,

 

If the gold content is the same there is no difference between gold filled and rolled gold though the process of adding gold to the base matal may be different. For example '1/10 12k G.F' and '1/10 12ct R.G' would contain the same amount of gold.

 

The same amount of gold, and the same technique for applying it. They're the same thing. Like windscreen/windshield, biro/ballpoint, etc.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Tweel

[mitto]

The same amount of gold, and the same technique for applying it. They're the same thing. Like windscreen/windshield, biro/ballpoint, etc.

+1

Edited April 1, 2018 by mitto

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Anthony,

 

If the gold content is the same there is no difference between gold filled and rolled gold though the process of adding gold to the base matal may be different. For example '1/10 12k G.F' and '1/10 12ct R.G' would contain the same amount of gold.

 

Also there was no switch from GF to RG or vice versa. The term GF was used on USA made pens while the term RG was used on English made Pens concurrently.

Hi Mitto, Tweel, et al,

 

Thank you for this information... I have verified it online at several different sources...

 

...apparently I was given some erroneous information when I bought mine.

 

 

All that said, the P45 is still a great vintage pen... and every fp enthusiast should own at least one.

 

 

- Anthony

 

 

EDITED to correct misspelled name.

Edited April 1, 2018 by ParkerDuofold

[Quantisedboy]

I have 2 Parker 45 , one with a steel nib and other with a gold. Unfortunately both are very scratchy (the steel one is way too much ) and unless i fill them up with Noodlers Bulletproof Black ,it's just a horrible experience .Diamine also does great work ,making the nibs feel smooth but overall it's way too scratchy .

[JayHomeBody]

I just got a P45, but I seem to be having a slight issue with it. I love how it writes and how it feels in my hand. But it's been burping or very slowly dripping from the breather hole. I've tried different inks, and thorough cleaning, but still it tried to drip out of the breather hole. I have a really dry ink I want to try in it, but I only have a 30ml bottle of it and changing inks from a bladder pen is so tedious sometime. I tend to use 1 ink in a pen with a sac. One ink and that ink only.

[Chrissy]

I just got a P45, but I seem to be having a slight issue with it. I love how it writes and how it feels in my hand. But it's been burping or very slowly dripping from the breather hole. I've tried different inks, and thorough cleaning, but still it tried to drip out of the breather hole. I have a really dry ink I want to try in it, but I only have a 30ml bottle of it and changing inks from a bladder pen is so tedious sometime. I tend to use 1 ink in a pen with a sac. One ink and that ink only.

 

I think you should start off by disassembling it completely and soaking it in several changes of warm water. It's easy enough to remove the nib and take apart that small feed, collar and nib to clean them, but the 45 has quite a big feed inside the section, and it will need several soakings and changes of water before it's clean enough to refill with any ink. I take at least one overnight soak to clean out any used 45's that I buy.

 

Once it's all spotless and you put it back together and fill it with ink it should be OK. You might need a new converter too, as they can drip when they don't work properly.

[ParkerDuofold]

I just got a P45, but I seem to be having a slight issue with it. I love how it writes and how it feels in my hand. But it's been burping or very slowly dripping from the breather hole. I've tried different inks, and thorough cleaning, but still it tried to drip out of the breather hole. I have a really dry ink I want to try in it, but I only have a 30ml bottle of it and changing inks from a bladder pen is so tedious sometime. I tend to use 1 ink in a pen with a sac. One ink and that ink only.

Hi Adriel,

 

The problem might stem from the way you're filling the pen... which is easy to correct.

 

1. Make sure the detachable squeeze filler is firmly seated into the section... a small air leak can cause ink burping.

 

2. When you finish filling the pen... hold the nib over the ink bottle and GENTLY squeeze out a drop or two of ink back into the bottle... when the bar retracts after squeezing out a couple of drops... it draws a little air in and equalizes the pressure... hopefully eliminating the burps of ink.

 

Hopefully one of these things will solve your problem.

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

[Chrissy]

I never use those awful sac converters. I buy all of my Parker 45's a new twist action converter. Easy to see the ink and to change it whenever I like. I prefer to try and find the ones with the metal band on the bottom if possible. They don't split as easily.

 

As Anthony says, it's quite easy to not push the converter in firmly enough with some of these pens.

[ParkerDuofold]

Just to follow-up...

 

Chrissy's advice on a thorough soak and cleaning might also help the situation, too.

 

 

- A.C.

[ParkerDuofold]

...I never use those awful sac converters. I buy all of my Parker 45's a new twist action converters...

Also good advice... I have replaced most of the squeeze converters on my older 45's to modern piston converters, (even Parker's slide converters are a big improvement), they're just a lot easier to work with... and as Chrissy says... you can see your ink level.

 

 

- Anthony

[Sasha Royale]

What a beautiful Parker 45 ! I have carried a daily Parker 45 for nearly 50 years. You have been

using my favorite combination of Parker 45, loaded with Pelikan Königsblau. ink.

 

Larger pen ? How about a vintage Parker Duofold Senior ? Get a red one !

[KLscribbler]

Hmm, interesting that so many of you decisively prefer the modern piston converter over the vintage sqeeze ones.

 

Personally, I waffle back and forth between the old "cage" type squeeze converters and the modern piston ones. The old "cage" converter seems to hold a bit more ink; I haven't measured it but my gut feeling is that it has approximately the same capacity as a modern Pilot CON-70 (i.e. a full 1ml or thereabouts). The modern piston ones hold a little less, it seems to me they have a similar capacity to a modern Schmidt K5 converter (i.e. 0.7ml or so). I keep meaning to resac the old converters with Pli-Glass so I can get the best of both worlds (large ink capacity + visible ink level), but haven't gotten around to it. And the sacs on mine are all still pliable and good, so it would be a bit of a waste to resac them now.

 

However, when I use Japanese inks, I always swap in the modern piston converters, as the vintage squeeze converters have latex sacs, which might not be the best pairing with alkaline Japanese inks.

 

I don't like the later-production squeeze converters, though. (The ones that look like Pilot CON-20s, slimmer than the old cage-type, with an extensive seamless metal sac guard and a small press-bar window on the side.) Those have a smaller capacity and are essentially the worst of both worlds - smaller capacity and no way to view ink level.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I read something, Filled gold, is just more of a gold layer (in weight) than rolled gold. Rolled gold is like filled gold, pressed onto a base metal under extreme pressure. If gold filled was 'part' of the metal of the pen, it would have to be marked gold....and so little would be 4 K, if that.

 

Rolled gold on pocket watches were guaranteed for 20 or 25 years from brassing while being taken out of the vest pocket a number of times a day.

Filled gold is a bit more expensive in a slight bit more gold is used.

A quick look to refresh my memory....

(Well in the years before the internet, I had an impression....wrongly...that rolled gold had more gold then filled.)

 

""""Gold Filled is actually not what it sounds like. Gold filled doesn't mean that its solid gold. Gold filled is actually composed of a layer of gold bonded with heat and pressure to another type of metal such as brass. Many high quality gold filled pieces actually look like solid gold. In order to actually be marked as Gold Filled or GF an item must actually be at least 1/10th gold. So you say this sounds like gold plated. If gold filled or rolled gold is actually not solid then what is the difference between gold filled and gold plated then anyhow."""

 

Gold-filled jewelry is jewelry composed of a solid layer of gold (typically constituting at least 5% of the item's total weight) mechanically bonded to a base of either sterling silver or some base metal. The related terms "rolled gold plate" and "gold overlay" may legally be used in some contexts if the layer of gold constitutes less than 5% of the item's weight.

 

If the gold layer is 10kt fineness, the minimum weight of the plated layer on an item stamped "GF" must equal at least 1/10th of the total weight of the item. If the gold layer is 12 kt or higher, the minimum layer of karat gold in an item stamped "GF" must equal at least 1/20th the total weight of the item. The most common stamps found on gold-filled jewelry are 1/20 12kt GF and 1/20 14kt GF. Also common is 1/10 10kt.

 

My English made P-45 just says rolled gold on the cap....the barrel is plastic. The nib because it was made in England....and had to compete with Swan and Conway Stewart and a few others....is a regular flex nib.

 

What flex does the ones made in the States have? Nail like the P-51, semi-nail like the P-75 or regular flex?

 

My English made Parker Jr. Duofold is semi-flex...a pleasant and unknown surprise I found in a German flea market. Again, Parker and Sheaffer had to compete with Swan.

My Australian made Snorkel has a BB factory stub, in maxi-semi-flex.