What Parker is this?

[Laurie]

Thanks for the input Pajaro. I just examined the nib under a loupe and it definately isnt an oblique. It does look quiet a bit more than a fine nib. It is only a slight movement to the left that produces a smoother and juicier writing experience. The nib appears to be aligned properly and as I mentioned before if a person writes with a nib in a certain way for a long time I would have thought the nib would have a small amount of wear in this direction.
I just read an interesting thread on FPN in relation to removing the hood of the 51 and shellac/rosin debate. I noticed you and Mike contributed to that thread. It was back in 2014. I intend to start a new thread on this and ask some questions. Hope you will contribute. Thanks again for your input

[jar]

Look at your toes. Oblique follows toes.

[HughC]

Personally I'd advise against removing the hood or "tinkering" too much. You're better to buy some beaten up ones to practice on before tacking a better pen, it's a case of "if it can go wrong it will". If you must then invest in a hobby heat gun ( mine came from ebay in a lovely pink !!), make up some thread sealant ( this is rosin mixed with castor oil, it's the same rosin as used on violin strings and in all music instrument stores, you put the rosin and a small amount of oil in container ( that you will keep it in not something you want to reuse, a jar is ideal) and melt 'n mix ( the heat gun works well for this) then let cool, if it sets solid repeat until it's a very thick, tacky liquid at room temp.). Now shellac melts at a low temperature and the trick is to take enough time to allow the heat to penetrate through the plastic and not melt it so a short amount of heat all round to start with, try to undo, another short amount of heat and so on. With practice it becomes easier to judge the amount of heat but it's best to start cautiously than disastrously !!
The nib is probably okay, might just need a light sanding to improve it ( again practicing on a junker is a good idea). The finest grit I could find came from an auto paint shop and was 2000 or 2500 grit. Use a very light pressure and basically do number 8 patterns twisting the pen as you go to sand all the edges. Keep the paper you use as it becomes finer over time and can be used for very fine work later.

Regards
Hugh

[mhosea]

Before working on a nib with abrasives, read this first.

Find a vendor in Australia who will sell you a couple of sheets each of 3 micron, 1 micron, and 0.3 micron fiber optic lapping film. Maybe this one will do it, but they don't make it easy to see what the particle size is.

The 12000 grit pads like pictured here are good for smoothing, too.

[Laurie]

Hi Guys. I already had some Mylar 1 micron and 0.3 micron sheets from Goulet Pen Company and I watched the video on its use. I just wrote quite a few figure 8s on the 1 micron and then finished on the 0.30 paper. It did the job and the nib is as smooth as you know what. No skipping. Lovely writer.
BTW if I am after an old Parker 51 aero to do a bit of practice on for disassembly where do I find these. Everything on Ebay is $80 plus. Surely there is someone out there with an old crusty 51 who will take a good price for me to quench my curiosity

[whych]

See my response in the other thread, but try practising on a P17.
Pen Pactice sells c-rings you can use with normal pliers to remove the hood for 5GBP. (http://www.penpractice.com/page3.html)

[Laurie]

See my response in the other thread, but try practising on a P17.
Pen Pactice sells c-rings you can use with normal pliers to remove the hood for 5GBP. (http://www.penpractice.com/page3.html)

Hi Whych. Yes I have found that site and explored the various parts they have available. They have everything except the breather tubes which I found another site where you can get them if need. Seems there is plenty of parts and equipment available to restore the 51s. I still would like to buy a 51 for a basic price that has some problems and work on it by pulling it apart and even if you have to buy a barrel or cap at least you get the experience. It is just gnawing at me. Maybe I need something new in my life.

[Laurie]

Just gave the pen more writing and found it skipping and scratchy. I decided to see how much ink was in it. It was empty. So I refilled and again writing beautifully. But my worry is now that I have only written about two full pages of writing. I follow the recommended filling procedure. Fully immerse nib and press bar and wait a while, press again, repeat 4-6 times and when I cant hear any air expelling I take the nib out of the bottle and then release the bar and hear it suck up air. But it appears that if the sac was full it would write more than two pages. So am I right in assuming it has a breather tube problem or maybe a sac nipple disintegration. No i am not finding an excuse to pull it apart but i would have thought that it would write more than 2 pages.
What are your thoughts on this?

[whych]

Fill the pen with water and keep soaking the pen. If possible, cycle it in a US cleaner.
It has taken 50 plus years for the ink deposits to build up and clog everything, so it will take days/weeks of soaking to get rid of them. Pen flush solutions are all very well, but nothing beats patience and plain water with regular flushing to get rid of it. Keep filling/flushing the pen with water every few hours.