Stained Parker 51 pli-lass sac

[ppmiranda]

I had my Parker 51 inked with Sheaffer Skrip purple for 2 days and the pli-glass sac got completely stained from it. It was a brand new sac that was filled prior with GvFC royal blue for 5 weeks and after flushing it regained its original aspect with no trace of blue.

I flushed it several times to no avail. Here's a photo of it right now:
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/01/dfd34802addada9aa9e3e4c2e6e7f9ca.jpg

It's only possible to see the ink level against intense light, most of the time it looks opaque. Right now it's filled with Quink black.

I know the sac can be replaced and that some staining might happen, but surprised me how fast it happened in this case.

I'd like to know if someone else experienced it too.

Pedro

[Lady Onogaro]

Well, most of the sacs in the used pens I have bought have been stained with one ink or another (mostly black or blue-black). I flush them as best I can, and then use them. I don't think I have had many that stayed clear.

Was the Skrip purple a washable version or was it the "permanent" version (I have one of the old bottles with the washable version, though I use the current cartridge versions, too).

[pajaro]

Use another ink in the pen and see if the purple goes away after a while. Ink does have tinting power and if you use the pen the sac is liable to take a stain. The sac in the 51 I bought brand new in 1970 came black. Some other forum users claimed that was a lie, but I know what the sac looked like when I bought that pen. What was your expectation anyway? Did you expect to put ink into the sac and it would remain as NOS?

[mhosea]

The Pli-Glass sacs are made of PVC. It stains easily. Some inks don't stain it, but probably around half of them do, and it's almost immediate when it does, at least in practical terms. Maybe it's not half. I don't actually know, but it's sure not rare at all. It's not something you can reasonably avoid by trying, IMHO, unless you happen to be OK with using something like Waterman Blue exclusively. Other classic, low-saturation sorts of royal/cobalt blue inks are good bets. Purples are bad bets, despite the proximity in hue. If you have one ink that doesn't stain a pli-glass sac, there's probably another ink by the same manufacturer that does. My advice? Forget about it. That's the way they are, that's what they do. It's what they've always done.

[ppmiranda]

I didn't know the pli-sac was so easily stained, it's my first pen with sac and I have it for about one and a half month now.

What distressed me the most is the fact that it became almost opaque, but if it's something common I'll have to get used to it, so I won't replace it because it's pointless. On the positive side, now I don't have to worry about it anymore and might fill the pen with other colors. Thinking about it now, I could have stained it with a more pleasing color…

Thanks for the replies. I have a lot to learn about fountain pens, specially older ones.

[Lady Onogaro]

Hi, ppmiranda,

Definitely don't worry about it. No one sees the sac but you. It's not like a demonstrator pen (and if you decide to get one of those, you will want to know that those can be stained, too--some people don't worry about it unless they are planning on selling it later; I don't anymore. I just use it and enjoy it).

I am a big fan of purple, so I am one of those who would find the sac to be of a pleasing color. :)

[ppmiranda]

I'd rather have it green or maybe turquoise, but it really doesn't matter. As I said before, I'll live with it. I just want to keep this particular pen in good shape because I really like it and I intend to use it lot, so good caring is key. Since there's nothing wrong with it I'll just keep enjoying it.

[Hawk]

Good info., I like the Sheaffer purple but will hesitate to use it in my aerometrics. I'm almost sure the Waterman purple has gone in a 51 aerometric without the staining you show.

[Chrissy]

There are some users who say that some inks might clean out others, but although this is mainly for cleaning converters it might possibly work in sacs. I remember that Sailor Doyou was one of the inks mentioned as a cleaning ink, but I don't remember any others.

I have a Platinum International type pen flush kit that comes in sachets that you mix with water, and it can foam when it cleans so it works very well. It might be worth a try the next time you buy some pen flush.

Even if neither of these completely remove the staining, one of them might make it less opaque so you can see the ink level :)

[mhosea]

I don't know about a random stain on a random PVC sac. Anything is possible. But I've tried to clean vintage pli-glass sacs after replacing them. I used various household chemicals that you wouldn't use if the sac were still on the pen. It's not that it didn't work. It's that it didn't do anything at all. Nothing. I suspect the staining of such sacs is not a surface phenomenon. But a freshly-stained one from some brief exposure? That might be a surface stain...or not.

[ppmiranda]

I had this pen flushed and stored while I waited for a new ink to arrive after the holidays. When I had the opportunity to try a sample of purple I didn't think twice as I had a pen ready. However the new ink arrived earlier than informed, just 2 days after purchase, so I flushed the pen again and noticed the stain. I flushed it several times in an attempt to reverse the staining as much as a could. I don't know if it's superficial or not, but it's clearly flush resistant :P.


Was the Skrip purple a washable version or was it the "permanent" version (I have one of the old bottles with the washable version, though I use the current cartridge versions, too).
I just noticed I didn't answer this question. I don't know if this ink is washable or not. I was told it's a brand new bottle, so I it's a recent ink too. Does that mean it's a "permanent" version?

[pajaro]

When these pens with translucent sacs are new they are clear, but all inks have some tinting power, and so you can't reasonably expect the pen to remain as new if you use it. This isn't apparently well understood by those new to using fountain pens, but think of a translucent plastic tumbler that you use to drink iced tea. The tumbler will take on some stain from the tea, and you will have to work at it to get the stain off if you even can. So with the ink in the sac. The ink has its chemical properties and it is obviously meant to stain paper, so you should reasonably expect it to stain some other things. I am sure this was not obvious to you at the start, but I suppose you can see it now.

I guess I was blessed that the sac in my first 51 was black when new, so I didn't have to be concerned with this. Unless you buy these things just for a collection, you will have to expect that using pens with the inks you like will have some usage wear. If you don't use it to keep it NOS, would you enjoy that?

[ppmiranda]

I am sure this was not obvious to you at the start, but I suppose you can see it now.
Definitely! My prior experience was with converters. I have one stained, but it's very subtle. For some reason I expected the plot-sac to behave the same when in contact with inks.

[pajaro]

I think that if I had looked at one of the clear sacs in one of my 51s in the way you did, I would have gone ballistic.

[stub]

They stain. They just do.
embrace it.

Small price to pay for what it otherwise a kind of mind boggling material engineering that holds together for 70+ years.

So many 51s, UK duos, etc. Unless NOS all stained, but so many after being used and abused and thrown in a drawer 50 years ago without cleaning still work and hold ink after a little soapy TLC.

Plastic cracks, lever filler sacs disintegrate, piston plungers fall apart, seals crumble and the Mighty STAINED Pli-glass aerometric fillers just keeps on going.

Hat's off to Parker. Glad they didn't let the staining get to them and change their product. ha!

[pajaro]

I have one 51 I have personally used for 45 years and many that were old when I bought them. I have never had to replace a 51 aerometric sac. I have bought a few pli-glas sacs and used them on other makes of pen. Esterbrook M2 and a Sheaffer lever filler that I can remember. You have to wonder how long they will last. I don't think I will live long enough to see the end of them.

[ppmiranda]

I've read about the durability of these pli-glass sacs before.

I never really understood the "51", so I bought one to figure out. It's a remarkable pen and, since I bought it NOS, I'm trying to take good care of it. It's also my first antique pen and I have a lot of doubts about how to do it. When I noticed the stained sac, I thought I had ruined it somehow. I'm reading stuff online all the time, but the staining plus-glass scraped me completely.

I'm cool now. The pen is fine and I'm very happy with it.