Recommend Black Ink For Vintage Parker 51

[nweissma]

For the first fp that I've held in my hands since I was 15 - I'm 61 - I've chosen a vintage Parker 51. Parker Pen Company recommends that I use only their Parker Quink ink. Some reviewers declare that this Quink is a magnificent rich velvety black (and contains lubricant) and other reviewers declare that Quink's dry state is a watery dark gray. It's this latter quality that I abhor - I seek an awe-inspiring memorable velvety deeply-saturated permanent black that will not cause problems with my 51's mechanism. One reviewer recommended Diamine Onyx Black but this too lacks the sine qua non pizzazz.

 

I solicit your recommendations.

Edited October 1, 2015 by nweissma

[Jerome Tarshis]

In my own experience, the current Skrip black gives an excellent black color, as does Aurora black. Herbin Perle Noire, too. I don't remember if I've used Pelikan 4001 black in a 51, but I think chances are good that it would give an intense black color.

 

A thought worth remembering is that the appearance of any ink on the page may vary according to the width of the nib and the wetness with which it writes. I haven't the slightest desire to write with a dry fine nib, so my experience with intensity of blackness might well differ from the experience of someone else who was writing with what is a fairly frequent combination of fineness and dryness. You can have a nib adjusted to write a wetter line if you like.

 

For me, Quink is black enough and even Waterman's not very widely applauded black is black enough. But that may be because I'm not writing with the same kind of nib as someone else is using.

[dcwaites]

People in Europe/UK tend to be using Parker Quink Permanent Black, which is a solid black colour, while those in the US tend to be using the Parker Quink Washable Black, which, in a less than gushing pen, can look wishy-washy grey/black.

 

You can use pretty well any modern ink in a Parker 51. it will cope with it.

However, if you wish to stick with the 'safe' inks, then the Parker Quink Permanent inks, the Waterman inks, the Sheaffer Skrip inks and the Diamine inks.

 

I am surprised you think Diamine's Onyx Black lacks pizzazz. I have a sample, and found it to be a good, rich, glossy black. It may be that your '51 is running a bit dry. It may need a good soak, a flush with 10% household ammonia, and much rinsing. Or it may be that the nib is adjusted to be a bit dry. With any newly acquired vintage pen, I would start with a good soak.

[zaddick]

Another vote for Aurora.

[Mercian]

Hi,

if you're still looking for a black ink for your "51", here are my thoughts.

I live in the UK.

My experience of (UK?) black Quink is varied.

Plus points:

1) its feel on the page is great - the nib seems to glide along on a wet pool of ink, but the written ink dries on the page very rapidly, and;

2) I have always found cleaning Quink out of my pens to be very easy, requiring only a couple of flushes with cold water.

 

That said, I have not ever used it in my own aerometric "51", because of two of its properties that I find to be less-desirable:

1) I have found that in other pens (UK-made Parkers with UK 'medium' nibs) the ink tends to appear to be a very dark grey-green colour rather than a dark black, and;

2) the property that makes it easy to clean out of pens also makes it somewhat vulnerable to water/spilled drinks (I am a klutz).

 

I have run Pelikan 4001 'Brilliant Black' through my aerometric "51", and found that to be darker than black Quink and only slightly harder to clean out afterwards. It has more water resistance than the Quink, but it isn't an 'archival' ink.

Nowadays the only black I run through my "51" is Noodler's Black.

I love the ink's 'bulletproof' properties, and the fact that it is very dark on the page, with no evidence of 'shading'.

It doesn't appear to be 'shiny' on the page, but it is unambiguously black, and it is light-fast and spill-proof.

I have never had any clean-up problems from it

 

If you are in NY you ought to be able to find Noodler's ink easily.

Full disclosure:
My own "51" is a wet-writer with a UK 'fine' nib. Some people have found 4001 inks a bit on the dry side (Pelikan's pens write wet, so its inks tend to the 'dry' side). If your "51" writes dry or has a very narrow fine nib this may be an issue.
I usually change ink colours after each fill, and 'rotate' my pens after each fill, so my clean-up regime tends rather more to the 'OCD' side than most other people's.

[gregamckinney]

Aurora Black

 

Regards, greg

[ac12]

Depending how wet your pens is, this is what I use:

Waterman black for a dry pen, to get more ink flow

Pelikan black for a wet pen, to slow down the ink flow

Edited January 5, 2016 by ac12