Parker 61 Capillary Pen

[BKH]

Hi everyone,

 

Last week I made a number of posts on usnavydoc`s Parker 61 Review and some of it got lost because of technical problems with this web site. Anyways I did say I was dreading a dud Parker 61 and my pen just arrived via mail and I put it through the test. My Parker 61 seems to write better than my uncles grey Parker 61. Perhaps if I did the cleaning procedures for my uncles grey P61 it would of written better? His P61 never had a wet ink flow compared to my new maroon p61 pen.

I let my pen sit briefly in water as you can see from my photos and it got progressively darker the water and I also submerged the capillary section in water for a while too and I blew out whatever there was in the fountain pen. So far this pen writes nice enough and it is a Fine nib. It`s like what usnavydoc said the P61 nib is like a nail and stiff and not much flex. So far no complaints and I have been fortunate with my Ebay pens. I reckon my Parker 51 pen will arive soon so I may share how it goes too and I can`t wait. I hope that pen will be ok too.

 

PS I know ..hehe I spelt capillary incorrectly but I`m not going to reshoot this P61 fountain pen.

 

Cheers everyone!

Edited May 30, 2011 by BKH

[Glenn-SC]

Very pretty pen.

 

Nice color and cap!

[Beechwood]

A very nice pen.

 

You may also want to try a broader nibbed 61, probably the best Parker nib for the past 30 years.

[sherbie]

Great pens, the P61. This is, as i,m sure you know, a very early P61, as it has a very thin clutch ring (1956 - 62). I also agree that the capillary is nowhere near as bad as some people describe. Enjoy, paul

[pajaro]

That's a beautiful pen. I always wanted to try one of these Parker 61s, I just never got around to it. What you wrote is very encouraging. I'll have to try one of these.

[watch_art]

There's this too.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/215581_140290136044639_100001909603140_246596_6694033_n.jpg

[andyk]

Hi,

 

Nice pen, love the 61 but IMHO I wouldn't use Penman ink with it I tend to use that only wwith pens that are easy to clean out.

 

Andy

[framebaer]

There's this too.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/215581_140290136044639_100001909603140_246596_6694033_n.jpg

 

 

Watch_art I like your style!!

Edited May 30, 2011 by framebaer

[framebaer]

+1 on the penman ink. I love penman inks but would not put them in my P61's.

[watch_art]

Oh it's not my style. I found the pic on the net in la la land. On facebook actually. I've never had/held a 61, but this looks like a brilliant and easy way to clean one up.

[Profiteor]

I love my P61s. I used to have 3 (Flighter, Signet, standard), and 2 (signet and standard) of them had issues. Fixed up the standard one and sold it to a friend for writing carbon copy checks. He loves it, and it's now quite reliable. The Flighter model is my actual daily user pen (I collect Watermans though!). The Signet has a cracked hood and it's probably not something I can fix, other than hoping for hoods to appear somewhere.

 

All three are capillary fillers and they work great. Definitely not quite as scary as they're made out to be most of the time.

 

I uh, wouldn't put Penman in mine either

[BKH]

I am indeed enjoying this Parker 61 and thanks everyone. Ok, I thoroughly flushed my P61 out of Penman ink and I filled it up with what a lot people in the 1960`s might of used which is the classic Parker Royal Blue Quink ink. Thanks for the Penman warning guys. It`s been my main staple of ink for all my pens and I`ve never had any problems with it and perhaps the problem might be batch to batch Penman inks? But ok I won`t take any chances so I put in a classic combo Royal Blue Quink ink. I`m glad I got a lot of Parker Quink inks from England which the box and bottle still states Quink Solv X on it because I sometimes wonder if the French non Quink ink contains any Solv X at all? I also included a Chinese Hero 329 pen which is a copy to some degree of the Parker 61 pen aside from the aerometric filling system. This Hero pen is a good writer and is on the Fine side nib of writing.

Watch-art this photo you provided shows man`s resourcefulness.

 

Arthur my next nib for the P61 will be the Medium point P61.

 

Cheers everyone!

Edited May 31, 2011 by BKH

[Profiteor]

Penman was just ultra-saturated; some pens didn't care for it. I honestly haven't had any troubles with it; I have several lab notebooks filled with Penman Sapphire (what I wouldn't give for a dozen bottles right now) dispensed from a Parker Sonnet. But, given the sometimes-persnickety nature of the 61, and the fact that I've clogged a 61 on something as benign as Noodler's... just being cautious. Flushing a stubborn 61 is no fun.

[richardandtracy]

I have a Capilliary P61 I don't use at the moment.

 

Not because it's a problem pen, but because it's a demanding pen. It insists on being used at least every other day or else the ink starts to become dried out at the nib due to the cap not sealing completely. At the moment I have too many pens inked to want to put up with that sort of demand.

 

It does have some unusual properties than no other pen posesses. I can use it to write my journal while lying on my back in bed - the capilliary action from the nib to the reservoir is good enough to keep the nib fed even when used upsidedown, how many pens can you do that with? As the ink is getting a little low, it doesn't run out suddenly, just becomes fainter & slightly dryer to write with.

Also, because the filler felt in mine has become hydrophobic, I have to suck the ink into the pen, and occasionally through, I get a lovely turquoise smile once in a while (fantastic for halloween!).

 

However, I do prefer my less demanding c/c versions, which can be left alone for longer between uses because I know I can blast out any solids in the collector by squeezing the filler, and they share the same amazing nib.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[BKH]

Penman was just ultra-saturated; some pens didn't care for it. I honestly haven't had any troubles with it; I have several lab notebooks filled with Penman Sapphire (what I wouldn't give for a dozen bottles right now) dispensed from a Parker Sonnet. But, given the sometimes-persnickety nature of the 61, and the fact that I've clogged a 61 on something as benign as Noodler's... just being cautious. Flushing a stubborn 61 is no fun.

 

Hi Profiteor,

Just a rough tally it seems like a 50/50% chance of a fussy Parker 61. "(what I wouldn't give for a dozen bottles right now)" Ha ha you almost sound like someone who stopped smoking but it`s with an ink. Your Sonnet is very nice. I wish for a couple of more P61 capillary pens and perhaps one aerometric P61 to top it off. Wish me well! Where I live I don`t have a lot of choices of inks and it`s a good thing I`m not too fussy with my inks. I don`t plan on paying $20-25.00 to ship in a $15.00 bottle of ink so I buy locally from my pen shop. I`m pretty happy with any ink in my pen. Just one ink I never liked was Waterman Florida Blue ink. I live in the tropics and I found that after writing with this ink due to the high humidity the words that I written would spread and fade on my diary. It didn`t happen with my other inks.

[BKH]

I have a Capilliary P61 I don't use at the moment.

 

Not because it's a problem pen, but because it's a demanding pen. It insists on being used at least every other day or else the ink starts to become dried out at the nib due to the cap not sealing completely. At the moment I have too many pens inked to want to put up with that sort of demand.

 

It does have some unusual properties than no other pen posesses. I can use it to write my journal while lying on my back in bed - the capilliary action from the nib to the reservoir is good enough to keep the nib fed even when used upsidedown, how many pens can you do that with? As the ink is getting a little low, it doesn't run out suddenly, just becomes fainter & slightly dryer to write with.

Also, because the filler felt in mine has become hydrophobic, I have to suck the ink into the pen, and occasionally through, I get a lovely turquoise smile once in a while (fantastic for halloween!).

 

However, I do prefer my less demanding c/c versions, which can be left alone for longer between uses because I know I can blast out any solids in the collector by squeezing the filler, and they share the same amazing nib.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

Hi Richard,

I notice that my Parker 61 pen body has a small pin hole which I assume helps with the ink flow for this pen. Perhaps your hole is clogged so that you sometimes have a dry start? I`m only guessing for I do not have any other pens that have this small hole. Does the Parker 51 have this small pin hole on the pen body or any other Parker pens for that matter? You sure have neat ways of writing up side down! Perhaps this was the reason why Parker had a sales ad saying this Parker pen is from out of this world? So astronauts can write with it up side down too!

[Profiteor]

Hi Richard,

I notice that my Parker 61 pen body has a small pin hole which I assume helps with the ink flow for this pen. Perhaps your hole is clogged so that you sometimes have a dry start? I`m only guessing for I do not have any other pens that have this small hole. Does the Parker 51 have this small pin hole on the pen body or any other Parker pens for that matter? You sure have neat ways of writing up side down! Perhaps this was the reason why Parker had a sales ad saying this Parker pen is from out of this world? So astronauts can write with it up side down too!

 

FWIW my 51 Mark III has a hole at the bottom of the barrel, but I'm not sure what for. I doubt it affects the flow of ink in that particular pen, whereas on a 61 that's plausible.

[richardandtracy]

Different ages of P61 have holes in the side, older ones seem to have it & younger ones don't. Half of mine do have holes. I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference whether the hole is there or not.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[BKH]

It`s been about a week since I have started using my Parker 61 capillary fountain pen. My suggestion is to use Parker "Quink Solv-X" ink for it. The slogan for this Quink ink is.."Solv-X cleans your pen as it writes." I do not know about the latest Parker inks from France that don`t say Solv-X on the bottle however I do feel the Solv-X does aid in a better writing experience for the Parker 61 fountain pen. I suppose it helps if my pen is a healthy pen to begin with and I hope my next P61 pen will be just the same. I have not gotten any skipping, dry starts even after leaving my pen untouched for a couple of days. The Parker Quink ink ain`t these fancy smancy Label names that seem to be half the selling point to them and also ink on steroids with souped up colors. In photography terms I suppose Parker Quink ink with Solv-X is like Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film. Both items are from the same era. A classic old faithful that works every time and fortunately I got lots of bottles of the old stuff tucked away.

Edited June 4, 2011 by BKH