Parker 61 Gold Arrow

[Guest Gracie]

HI. I'm new here, but I've been a long time fountain pen lover. I have two lovely Parker 61 pens with the gold arrow above the nib, but both arrows have fallen off. My question is - what kind of glue should I use to reattach the gold arrows without hurting the body of the pens? Thanks in advance for any information you may be able to pass on.

 

Gracie

[goodguy]

Hello Gracie

 

Parker 61 is known to crack so dont put any glue until you hear from the experts.

 

The right place to post such a question will be in the Parker Forum.

 

I used to have few Parker 61 both the classic capilary filler and cartridge/converter filler and loved both.

Great pens but as states they are prone to crack sometimes on their own so take good care of them.

 

And

 

Edited October 10, 2010 by goodguy

[Guest Gracie]

Hello Gracie

 

Parker 61 is known to crack so dont put any glue until you hear from the experts.

 

The right place to post such a question will be in the Parker Forum.

 

I used to have few Parker 61 both the classic capilary filler and cartridge/converter filler and loved both.

Great pens but as states they are prone to crack sometimes on their own so take good care of them.

 

And

 

[Guest Gracie]

Good Guy indeed! Thanks for the fast reply and the information. How do I get to the Parker forum?

 

I notice you are a Snorkel collector. I am as well, although not professionally. My first snorkel (with a Fine nib) was a high school graduation gift from my father, and it's still going strong and I use it every day. I have collected a few more when I've found them at a reasonable price. I don't have any Montblanc. My favourite pens are my original snorkel, a Parker 51, my Parker 61 with a Fine nib, a Sheaffer Balance II, and my new Aurora with an italic nib.

 

Thanks again Good Guy,

 

Cheers, Gracie

[PAKMAN]

Hi Gracie, I've moved this topic over to the Parker Forum for you.

Edited October 11, 2010 by pakmanpony

[richardandtracy]

Gracie,

 

The glue you do not want to use is Superglue, as it will come off.

 

Use a very thin layer of epoxy instead. You will almost certainly not be able to make the arrow flush again because of the residue of the original glue in the bottom of the socket. Try to gently scrape the bottom of the socket to get rid of as much glue as possible before sticking, but don't use much force as the shells can be fragile and they are, erm shall we say, 'impossibledifficult' to source for replacement. If the arrow ends up standing proud, do not sand the arrow flush as you will abrade the gold plating off.

 

I have six or seven P61's and half of them have missing arrows - but I don't care much as the pens so nice to write with.

 

Oh, and

 

Regards,

 

Richard

The P61 nut.

[Fuddlestack]

My arrows have took flight years ago. I half considered taking my pens to a jeweller I know and asking him to lay in some gold foil, but I don't know the mechanics of this so I'm rather hanging fire.

[Guest Gracie]

Hi all,

 

Wow, what a wealth of international information! Obviously I should have thought of this before. After cleaning carefully, I will try the epoxy today and let you know how it goes. I have a friend who does work with gold foil, and I'll also ask him for suggestions. I did ask him about the glue because he's a bit of a gluemeister, but he wasn't sure what material the Parker 61 used. Back soon,

 

 

Gracie

[richardandtracy]

The P61 plastic appears to be a type of polystyrene. Which is unfortunate, because it's much less stable than the acrylic used for the P51.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[rogerb]

I discussed this at the London Show with Eckiethump (Eric) who's a dab hand at repairs, but has had problems, he said, with this issue.

I showed him my red/gold capillary P61 whose arrow I had attached with Araldite(epoxy) and he agreed it appeared to be very successful

 

Make sure all surfaces are clean, and use a TINY dab of glue ....Good Luck!

[goodguy]

Good Guy indeed! Thanks for the fast reply and the information. How do I get to the Parker forum?

 

I notice you are a Snorkel collector. I am as well, although not professionally. My first snorkel (with a Fine nib) was a high school graduation gift from my father, and it's still going strong and I use it every day. I have collected a few more when I've found them at a reasonable price. I don't have any Montblanc. My favourite pens are my original snorkel, a Parker 51, my Parker 61 with a Fine nib, a Sheaffer Balance II, and my new Aurora with an italic nib.

 

Thanks again Good Guy,

 

Cheers, Gracie

Good luck with the glueing task

 

Snorkels are lovely pens great to use and great to collect.

Its a shame that Parker made the 61 so fragile as it really is a sweet pen and I personally like it much more then the 51 model even though the 51 is conciderably more reliable.

Edited October 12, 2010 by goodguy

[Aysedasi]

My arrows have took flight years ago. I half considered taking my pens to a jeweller I know and asking him to lay in some gold foil, but I don't know the mechanics of this so I'm rather hanging fire.

 

 

Hmm, interesting, or a bookbinder perhaps? I only say that as my brother-in-law is one and does a lot of work with gold leaf..... Fortunately for me, both my P61s have their lovely arrows.

[ggssiso]

My arrows have took flight years ago. I half considered taking my pens to a jeweller I know and asking him to lay in some gold foil, but I don't know the mechanics of this so I'm rather hanging fire.

 

 

Hmm, interesting, or a bookbinder perhaps? I only say that as my brother-in-law is one and does a lot of work with gold leaf..... Fortunately for me, both my P61s have their lovely arrows.

 

Hi, this has been discussed before the answer at the time being that the best glue was that used to stick false fingernails on with,have used it successfully myself.Be CAREFUL & SCRAPE ANY RESIDUE OUT BEFORE APPLICATION BOTH ON THE ARROW & THE HOOD,apply a small amount to each with the tip of a needle.

[Guest Gracie]

I discussed this at the London Show with Eckiethump (Eric) who's a dab hand at repairs, but has had problems, he said, with this issue.

I showed him my red/gold capillary P61 whose arrow I had attached with Araldite(epoxy) and he agreed it appeared to be very successful

 

Make sure all surfaces are clean, and use a TINY dab of glue ....Good Luck!

 

Hi All,

 

One of these pens is red on the hood underneath the arrow, although the pen itself is grey. I'm not sure if this redness is glue or just the effect of the old glue, and therefore I'm not sure if I should be trying to scrape this red off or not. Also, what do you recommend for scraping off the old surface without going too deeply into the material itself? Yet more details...

 

With appreciation, Gracie

[richardandtracy]

The glue originally used seems to have been red. The Burgundy P61 shell doesn't fade to grey, it goes brownish over time.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[Guest Gracie]

Thanks Richard, that's helpful. Now I won't hesitate to scratch off the red whatever, and then I'll try the epoxy. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers, Gracie

[Guest Gracie]

HI All,

 

I did the pens today after several days of cleaning and scraping, and so far the glueing in of the gold arrows seems fine. I'll try to figure out how to put a photo in here for you. Thanks again for all your help. It's a joy to see the pens looking like new again.

 

Cheers, Gracie