Parker Sonnet in stainless steel

[gylo]

I have the above pen, it was a gift from my mother back in 1996 and so has some sentimental value.

It's now got a new gold nib that intermittently skips on the down stoke unless you push ink through by tightening the piston. It then works for a while before skipping again. Anyway, it’s a nice writer otherwise.

However it also seems to need a rather too regular clean as dry ink seems to collect where the nib meets the pen body or in the cap? In any even if you hold the pen near the gold band you end up with inky hands!

I was just about to send it away to try and resolve the skipping, when i had a chat with my boss, he has a newer Parker sonnet and not only does it skip in the same manner, it has the dry ink around the nib/body as well. Is this typical of a sonnet?

I wondered if anyone has similar experiences, so I can determine if it’s worth trying to get it repaired.?

[whych]

You asked the same question in the repair section.
Did you try any of the suggestions we gave you?

[gylo]

Ordered a loupe and its inked and stood up nib down as suggested!

I have been extremely careful to clean off any residual ink to minimise the gunk issue.

Was just hoping to get feedback on similar experiences in the Parker specific section.

[whych]

Did you have any joy with the pen standing nib down?
Check when you unscrew the nib if the nib is aligned centrally along the feed.
If I remember, the Sonnet nib has a clip that holds it to the feed. Check that is clipped in properly and that the nib makes contact with the feed on both sides.
When you screw it back into the section, hold the nib by the top of the nib and the bottom of the feed, making sure you don't twist the nib around the feed to misalign it.
The first new Sonnet nib had a similar problem with feeding. In disgust, I left it a week and was pleasantly surprised when it started writing perfectly well.
If you are filling from a bottle, make sure you wipe the nib and feed and also around the the bottom of the section. That could be where the ink is from.
I have read that they can leak around the join between the nib and feed. I'll try and discover what they suggest to fix it, but get the pen writing first.
Just check that the converter or cartridge is pushed into the pen properly.
Most of the nibs, gold or steel write pretty well with a decent flow of ink (not as wet as a Pelikan, say, but wet enough). One thing they don't like is to be left for too long between use.
Lastly, wash the ink out of the cap and let it dry out or use a tissue or cloth to dry most of the water out the cap.

[gylo]

Thank you!

[gylo]

You're advice has done the trick, pen has been a good companion all day!

It's early days but thank you whych!

[whych]

Glad you got it working.
The Sonnets are nice pens. The steel and gold nibs write equally well, so you don't have to get a gold nib for a better writing experience.

[gylo]

It seems to have really settled in to be a cracking write, amazing really!:)

[otto2302]

Sorry for bumping an old thread but I registered to this forum because I just finished maintaining my Parker Sonnet Stainless Steel Gold Trim pen. It has a 23k Gold Plating to the Stainless Steel nib and it came to me in a mail about an week ago. Since then it kept skipping like every third or fourth capital letter and if I'd make any big fast loop or tail to an letter it skipped most of it. I then decided to screw carefully the feed off from the body of the pen, remove the nib (it was super easy since the nib was attached to a very small clips on both sides of the feed - no pulling, just unclipping them with fingernails) and soak them in warm water. I soaked them for just few minutes and then cleaned them with cloth and carefully re-assembled the pen. I watched the nib very carefully before disassembly, and I believe that the nib was tilted before. I mean it was only a half of an millimeter but I really think it was in small angle - meaning it was not clipped well to the feed.

After the cleaning and reassembly it writes like a dream, no skipping at all. I can see that more ink is flowing since it's more wet than before. I also add that I didn't use any ink other than Parker's before or after the cleaning so compatibility wasn't an issue. The pen was only week old too so no dried up old ink wasn't the case either.

[whych]

The hard starting/ink flow issues are why so many users are put off by the Sonnet.
Once they start writing though, they are pretty nice for a modern pen/nib combo.