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Thread: Parker Sonnet - Thoughts?

  1. #21
    Senior Member pajaro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Parker Sonnet - Thoughts?

    Quote Originally Posted by top pen View Post
    It's nice on here you at least don't have Bruce the ocalaFlGuy condemning every sonnet ever made just because he tried one bad one ten years ago but refuses to try a new one which have been problem free for most people. However he seems to praise some pretty bad pens at the same time.
    I am so with you on this. I have had Sonnets, and found them drying out and hard to start. After a lot of testing with the more than 25 Sonnets I have, I determined that the feed/collector was appearing to be clogged, and that it needed some maintenance when hard starting was apparent. It's easy to break the section down and clean it. That solved it for me.

  2. #22
    Senior Member pajaro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Parker Sonnet - Thoughts?

    Quote Originally Posted by mhosea View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by pajaro View Post
    There must be something wrong with my pens, because the Sailors and Sheaffer No Nonsense pens I have had or have now work just like the other C/C pens. If I leave them or left them (for ones I sold or traded), they dried up by the second day. I have had very few pens which would remain moist and writing right off months after putting them down last.
    Dunno. There are other factors that affect hard starting, namely the adjustment of the nib and feed. I can't suffer that kind of thing, so I painstakingly adjust that behavior out of my pens to the extent that I'm able. Mike Masuyama has my Pelikan M1000 right now because I couldn't quite get it right with that one.

    I have a lot of experience with a green No-Nonsense with a plastic section and a clear plastic inner cap because it's on my desk at work. I usually bring a nice pen to work, so the pens I leave at work often sit idle for a long time. I remember having this one inked for 6 months or so without refilling it. Always started immediately. There was some evaporation of the ink as evidenced by the amount in the cartridge, but the rate was quite slow. I was impressed. Platinum Preppies are similar, though the Preppies I've had are typically dryer, and they sometimes take a few millimeters of the first downstroke to start up after a couple of months. I've had Preppies start up after a just a brief protest without having used them for a year. The Platinum 3776 with the Slip and Seal is advertised to seal well enough for the pen to last for many months.



    OTOH, the Sheaffer Prelude will be a hard starter in a couple of weeks. No Chinese pens with slip caps that I have tried are usable at work to me because they will be hard starters in a matter of days if not used. I gave up on the vegetal resin Noodler's Konrads because of their incredible rate of evaporation, despite my best efforts. I'm not inclined to leave a Parker 51 on my desk at work, unfortunately, so I don't know how long they last unused. When I ink one, I tend to use it. I did have a Snorkel Desk pen there for awhile. It was middling in its resistance to dryout, much better than the Chinese C/Cs, not in the same league as the No Nonsense or Preppies.
    I have used a lot of modern cartridge/converter pens, including Montblancs, Parkers, Sheaffers, Lamys, Pilots, Watermans and others. I think all of them seem to need cleaning out frequently, whatever cleaning out means, breaking the section down to clean or just purging with water. These pens work best for me if I go through the filling routine each day I want to use the pen, and if I keep the pen capped, even for short intervals of non-use. Most fountain pens are going to experience drying up to an extent, but I think older designs like piston fillers and sac fillers like the Parker 51 and Esterbrooks work with less hassle.

    I like the Sonnet even though it sometimes exasperates me by drying up if left uncapped for a few minutes. It's no different from other C/C pens. Some of the nibs I have in Sonnets make any level of trouble worth the trouble: first gen two-tone fines, 18K second gen medium italic, extra fines. You just have to keep them clean. I know I should sell my pens to other people who would use them, because I am getting old, but I can't bring myself to sell some of the best Sonnets and other pens I have. So, some relative will probably sell them at a garage sale someday.

  3. #23
    Senior Member lowks's Avatar
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    Default Re: Parker Sonnet - Thoughts?

    I used to have one of these in school. The black one with the gold nib. I used to think that the nib was too soft especially on the gold one. I really don't know what I would think of it now if I could get my hands on one.

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