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You've Got Your First Found In The Wild Parker 51 In Your Hand, Now What?

OcalaFlGuy

By OcalaFlGuy
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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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Well, I just got my first Vacumatic Parker 51. I'm doing the long soak...it feels like the sac might be intact, but not getting any indication of flow (I'm planning to expect a restoration needed). This is a black pen, and I'm putting the date at 1947 Q3. The cap is lustraloy, I think, and has the GF arrow clip with the blue diamond. The only thing about the cap is that there is nothing stamped on the cap anywhere. The pen shows what I would expect to be normal wear. The cap, which showed possible rust in the eBay pics, is really clean. The tarnish in the listing is coming off easily with micro-mesh, and may just be old ink. The nib appears to be gold, and is pretty clean.

 

I got this with an old Sheaffer, that (outside a nice Triumph nib) is pretty much a mess. So, I'm putting my investment into my new Parker at about $17.

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OcalaFlGuy Museum Piece

OcalaFlGuy

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Hopefully, at the very least, it'll take up and flow enough ink for you to get a good idea how the nib is flowing before

you end up taking it apart.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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Still working on the hot water soak (thanks for all the input, everyone), but thought I'd post a couple shots of the cap.

 

 

post-114088-0-14373200-1412548449_thumb.jpg

post-114088-0-93431300-1412548515_thumb.jpg

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siopaopei Rare

siopaopei

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thanks for the tips, Bruce. I just bought my first Parker 51 a couple of weeks back and I must say that I'm completely in love with it. I was lucky to have bought one that had no issues. I'm looking to buy another one in the coming weeks so these tips will come in handy in case this one needs some TLC. :)

The Serial Doodler

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Millefleurs Mint

Millefleurs

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Thanks so much for posting this! I purchased about twelve pens for around $50 several years ago in an antique shop, one of which was a Parker 51. I didn't like it - it was very scratchy - so I put it away in a drawer. I'm going to take a look at it this weekend and clean it up and see exactly what I have. This thread will prove immensely useful for me, I'm sure. :)

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Gump Rare

Gump

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Ugh, I just received a great looking 51 today and it has the mushy connector. Also, the collector insanely clogged with one of the most persistent violet inks I've ever seen, 10+ hours of soaking and it still looks terrible.

I've read up on the connector threads and email Ernesto to see if he has any available for purchase. Glad I got into this one cheap :)

http://i.imgur.com/vh9ln0u.jpg?1

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Gump Rare

Gump

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http://i.imgur.com/L3VXS4k.jpg

 

This one is getting pretty ugly, some of the connector had melted into the collector. This is where I'm at after 2 days of soaking and cleaning. Any ideas on what would cause this level of gunking up? I've only done a few of these, and but the persistence of the pink stuff is significantly different.

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siopaopei Rare

siopaopei

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I just got my very first Vacumatic a few days ago and I'm crazy about the way it writes. I've been using it constantly since then. really awesome pen. Easy on the eyes, too. Wrote a review about it here. Needless to say, I'm penfatuated. ^_^ I cannot wait to get more of this kind of pen in other colors.

 

img_0247.jpg?w=634&h=475

 

p1040367.jpg?w=634&h=356

 

p1040362.jpg?w=634&h=356

The Serial Doodler

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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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I now have 2 Parker 51 repairs underway, and another vacumatic coming.

 

I plan to get the proper tools to complete my first vacumatic, and the teal aerometric that I paid good money to someone locally to fix, is not taking ink again. I have a little more confidence, so I finally got it apart (it took 2 weeks to get the hood off it was tightened down on the o-ring so tight), and the coupler has turned to goo under the sac guard. So, I'm now on the lookout for a coupler. If I can't get one at the Ohio Pen Show this week, I'll be ordering from the resources already listed here.

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gweimer1 Antique

gweimer1

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So, it's been a good week.

 

The Parker 51 aero is taking ink and working again. It really is my best pen! I got the new coupler from Ernesto, and met him at the pen show. It turns out he lives where I grew up.

 

The Parker 51 vac is also now working, thanks to getting the proper tool, and spending time in Ron Zorn's class, along with watching him for a while. He gave a handy tip for removing stubborn vac pumps - soak them in vinegar. It takes about 10 minutes!

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Joebob1 New

Joebob1

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Hi all'

What a great forum! I have 2 parkers, one is a 51 special, other looks the same as a 51, no markings, but the barrel is a little shorter. Clip on the cap has the parker arrow. The special is a dark chocolate brown, the other is a batleship gray w/ a cracked barrel, but works fine. I lost the hood on the special, & was able to get another hood in burgundy. Is that what they call the brown? I found an excelent video on repairing a 51 on youtube They said soak the pen in hot water (bout 180 degrees), which is much safer than a heat gun. They ment it when they said you may have to soak it a number of times to get the hood off, mine took bout 5 times I'm waiting for the hood to arrive, & get the special back together. To sum it up, what is the brown color called, & what is the gray parker pen?

Thanks for a wonderfull forum

Cheers, Bob

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NinthSphere Vintage

NinthSphere

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Hi all'

What a great forum! I have 2 parkers, one is a 51 special, other looks the same as a 51, no markings, but the barrel is a little shorter. Clip on the cap has the parker arrow. The special is a dark chocolate brown, the other is a batleship gray w/ a cracked barrel, but works fine. I lost the hood on the special, & was able to get another hood in burgundy. Is that what they call the brown? I found an excelent video on repairing a 51 on youtube They said soak the pen in hot water (bout 180 degrees), which is much safer than a heat gun. They ment it when they said you may have to soak it a number of times to get the hood off, mine took bout 5 times I'm waiting for the hood to arrive, & get the special back together. To sum it up, what is the brown color called, & what is the gray parker pen?

Thanks for a wonderfull forum

Cheers, Bob

 

Yeah, the brownish is burgundy. The smaller gray pen is a demi 51. Essentially, the womens' 51.

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mitto Museum Piece

mitto

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Posted (edited)

So, it's been a good week.

 

The Parker 51 aero is taking ink and working again. It really is my best pen! I got the new coupler from Ernesto, and met him at the pen show. It turns out he lives where I grew up.

 

The Parker 51 vac is also now working, thanks to getting the proper tool, and spending time in Ron Zorn's class, along with watching him for a while. He gave a handy tip for removing stubborn vac pumps - soak them in vinegar. It takes about 10 minutes!

Is the soaking in vinegar vacumatic specific procedure or the same may also be applied for stubborn and unwilling to yield aero hood removal too?

Edited by mitto

Khan M. Ilyas

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OcalaFlGuy Museum Piece

OcalaFlGuy

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Q:

You've Got Your First Found In The Wild Parker 51 In Your Hand, Now What?

A:

Fill it up, start using it.

 

Over the years, that has probably helped the 51 get some bad reviews.

 

People hear it's Superpen, then they get one, do the above, find a pen with weak flow and that it skips, and then posts a Why Does Everyone Like this POC So Much thread.

 

The design that makes it perform so well, especially uncapped for while, Can cause it to become cloggy if terribly maintained.

 

As explained in the opening, a quickie flush that may work for 90% of the pens out there is often Not going to be sufficient for a 51.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

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