First Parker, A 21 Super

April 8, 2014

Stopped at an "antique" shop in the area. Asked "Do you have any fountain pens?" and as usual they bring a dip pen. They weren't really sure what I was asking about when I said that wasn't a fountain pen. But they had some pens, which were fountain pens. There was a very short pen with a stub/italic nib but the overall shape I wasn't familiar with. So I passed on that at ($13). But there was a Parker 21. It looked like it had been someone's daily work pen. A bit scuffed up but no obvious cracks and the sac on the aromatic filler seemed fine. $16. That seemed an OK price not knowing whether it would really write or what condition it was in on the internals.

So I cleaned it out with water. It had only held one shade of blue it's whole life. And it needed some cleaning, but it didn't take that long to flush it out. So I loaded it up with some Tsuki-yo. And it writes very well! The nib being so hidden sometime makes it hard for me to see whether I've got the pen in the correct position, but I'm happy with it. Especially after seeing the ebay prices for ones that have been shined up.

Anyway some pics. If there are suggestions about how a pen-user, not really a pen repair person, can shine up the barrel without messing it up that'd be great. The cap has a little bit of rust in one spot, so I'd like to get rid of that if I could. Sorry I don't have a good camera, just the iPhone one.

April 8, 2014

Very nice! I have 2 21 parts pens coming in the mail so I can hopefully piece together a few working pens and flip them.

April 8, 2014

If you can track some down, Simichrome polish will shine up the barrel nicely. You can also use it on the cap, but remember to buff in the same direction as the grain on the Lustraloy cap. If you can't find, the Simichrome, go to a beauty supply store and ask for some nail buffing sticks, or Revlon Crazy Shine nail buffing pads. You need the absolute finest grit, the one that manicurists use for a final polish on bare nails, and that will work well too. Good luck.

April 8, 2014

White Lotus, for your cap, get some 00 or 000 steel wool and a tube of Simichrome. Either from a pen supply source, Amazon, Ebay, or a local motorcycle shop. I would wrap the steel wool over the end of an unsharpened pencil, daub with a dot of Simichrome and hit the rust spot with that. At least to start with, use the steel wool and Simi on the smallest spot just to get the rust off. If you decide to use it on the rest of the cap, it will decrease any of the nice frosting still on P-51 caps but shouldn't harm the P-21 caps. Go in the direction of the grain on the cap. Get ALL remnants of the polish off while "wet", it's much harder once it's been on there awhile. Polish with scrap from a flannel shirt. (That is a "secret" polish weapon.)

I've sent you my plastic polishing regimen via PM, it's too lengthy to put in a regular post.

Good Luck with your new pen, hopefully you can get it back closer to looking that way.

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

April 8, 2014

A little bit of the old-school, non-whitening toothpaste on a piece of cloth will also shine it up. The rust is harder to deal with without amending the overall finish, but the nail-buffers aren't a bad idea. There's a four-sided spongy type you may find in local pharmacies with a different grade on each face; the heaviest is too much, but the finest is one I use on some extremely beat up pens, including the points, to good effect.

I should also mention; you now have a VERY GOOD idea whether you'd enjoy a Parker "51"-- there's but a grain or two of difference in the handling of those and the Super "21".

Edited April 8, 2014 by Ernst Bitterman

April 9, 2014

Thanks gents for all the suggestions. I'll see what is available locally as far as these materials. I'm out in the sticks in the village, so sometimes things are limited in what can be found. And sometimes quality is low as the area is poor. But I'm looking forward to making the pen a little nicer (even though it actually is in good shape imo).

cheryl