Search the Community

Hi all, One thing I've been wondering about the Super 21 (the upgraded 21 with a proper hooded octanium nib and collector). Is the sac nipple in the Super 21's aerometric filling system vulnerable to the same sort of softening that sometimes occurs on 51s? I just wondered about this while refilling my Super 21 - this one has seen continuous usage for about 45 years now without problems. (Well, ok, maybe the tines have gotten a wee bit misaligned over the years... but apart from that... it's perfect.) So far, my thoughts about maintenance of this pen ran mostly in the "if it ain't broke..." vein, but having become more aware of the (thankfully small) number of issues that could affect 51s (sac nipple softening, breather tube corrosion...), I started to wonder whether Super 21s are vulnerable to the same problems, and whether I ought to have the internals of my pen checked, just for peace of mind. Then again, it ain't broke, and there's always a risk associated with opening up an old pen. I would have to get a professional pen repairer to do it for me, as I've never done any servicing of pens that required heat or shellac. I don't think I would be confident enough to use this pen as my first practice, considering its sentimental value. On a side note, is it necessary to remove the hood in order to correct slightly misaligned tines on a Super 21? Mine has always had misaligned tines since I got it from my father. I've always taken a "grin and bear with it" attitude to it, since the misalignment is small, I write with a very light hand and it doesn't bother me that much, and most of all - I was afraid of cracking the feed or the hood if I tried to exert pressure on the tines in any direction. Thanks & regards, CZM

Hi everyone, I thought I would post here about my very first FP adventure. I own a few Parker 21's (not sure if Mark I or II, but definitely non-Supers and Supers) and try to use only the ones in worse condition, (admittedly my one and only 61 is on my desk at home). I used to carry my 51 until I found out how valuable it was and it is now in my drawer. I decided to fix a particular 21 Super with a broken nib using another 21 Super as a donor, the latter having a good F nib but a cracked hood in three places. It was leaking so much ink it was impossible to use (grey hood in the photo attached). I should have really come here first, alas I just went my own way and after reading up a bit I started looking for stuff like shellac, section pliers, nibs etc and came across Pendemonium. I wrote to them and they very kindly gave me excellent advice on what to do - and not to do. In particular, after using a hot water bath to remove the hood on both units, replacing the nib and screwing the hood back on it would consistently leak around the clutch ring. I then watched a few more pen repair videos and realised hoods are usually shellacked back on. I thought I would need to do that, but Pendemonium suggested I use pure silicone grease as 21 hoods are notoriously fragile. I was about to buy grease but realised I have a small tub with watch grade grease I have been using to seal watch back covers for years and decided to use it. I had already placed the nib in the right angle before screwing the hood back on. However after applying some grease with a brush the hood would screw back on further than before when no grease was used, so I readjusted the nib. All seemed to be well until I realised the pen was leaking because the hood had developed a crack after screwing it back on! Turns out the grease lubricated the thread so the hood screwing further up, more pressure was actually applied to it so it cracked. When I was younger I used to fix 21 hood cracks with glue and was mostly successful, of course results used to be aesthetically unpleasant. I already had another 21 Super with a cracked hood in two places which I had 'fixed' by carefully cellotaping the crack and the 'fix' had lasted for over a year so went and cellotaped the newly fixed 21 Super. So far so good, no leaks at all, so much so I will take it on a two hour flight next week. I wonder if I can buy NOS Parker 21 Super and non-super hoods from anyone? Those are the only bits that need replacing on my dodgy 21's (I did buy a few sacs a few months ago thinking I would need to replace those but I have not needed to). Many thanks for any ideas and for going through my long post.

Hello denizens of Parker-world! I recently developed an acute form of Parker fever and went on a bidding spree on the E-nabler-bay. Rather than blow all my money on a single new (Pilot) pen, I decided to try my hand at buying vintage and fixing up pens myself. No pics yet but here are the 5 pens slowly winging their way to my door: Parker 45 Flighter, Parker 51 x 2, Parker 21 Super x 2, and Parker 21 Non-Super. I'll have to be careful with the 21's since I already cracked the section of my Parker 45, which I only received this month! I plan to carry the 45 and 51's around as part of my fountain pen EDC. The 21's will stay on my desk to minimize cracking. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get them! (I credit Penkino1 and his Parker 51 videos for starting my Parker fever)