Parker 45 - new to me - cartridges?

[Hawk]

Parker converters are easy to obtain. For a Parker 51, the aerometric is a better choice. The vac is more 'fiddely' but they are great pens also. I have and like both. The Parker 21 is a good choice for the money. However, the plastic is more prone to cracking than the 51 (different material).

[pajaro]

You guys are funny - I'll just order some real Parker cartridges and I'm on the lookout now for a decent P51 user as well if anyone has one they don't want anymore


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A decent 51 will run upwards of fifty dollars, and that's probably a tad bit light. For a user grade pen. Sometimes you might get lucky, and you might get one on down the road a piece. Under twenty dollars is a turn of the century price. Back then you might have done it. You still might, with patience.

[Hawk]

[QUOTE=pajaro;201132]

You guys are funny - I'll just order some real Parker cartridges and I'm on the lookout now for a decent P51 user as well if anyone has one they don't want anymore

A decent 51 will run upwards of fifty dollars, and that's probably a tad bit light. For a user grade pen. Sometimes you might get lucky, and you might get one on down the road a piece. Under twenty dollars is a turn of the century price. Back then you might have done it. You still might, with patience.

A friend found and bought me a 51 pen/pencil set in a box for $10. He also found third tier junk pens that he paid up to $15. Through a pen club, I bought two 51's for $30 each at seperate times. Save up a little more money in order to get a good pen.

[pajaro]

That's kind of a contradictory message.

[N6GQ]

So I have been playing with the Parker 45. I disassembled it and cleaned it thorougly. Since I don't have any cartridges or a converter that will fit it, I took the old "Quink" cartridge that it came with and washed it out, and then sucked some ink from some Pilot Namiki blue black cartridges I had laying around, and squirted it into the old Quink cartridge. After quite some time, I finally got it to start, and it now is writing along with a very nice fine line. Really hard to beat, this pen is almost mint, and for $9 on Fleabay, I can't complain. It took a bit of soaking and cleaning, I think the previous owner left the Quink cartridge on there for many years without a cleaning because it really puked ink for quite some time as I was rinsing and soaking.

Nonetheless, I now have what looks like a brand new Parker 45 - no scratches or otherwise. Its sort of a drab green color but that's just fine by me. Now that I know how they work I'll start looking for more of them

Thanks for the help!

[pajaro]

You have done the right things with the 45 to get it running. The style of the 45 is distinctive. I sometimes use one when I feel nostalgic for the 1960s. The pens have a very sixties style, and they are rugged and user friendly. Any of the Parker converters will work in them, but I feel that I get the best performance and the best sense of nostalgia when using the old squeeze converter that came with 45s.

[N6GQ]

You have done the right things with the 45 to get it running. The style of the 45 is distinctive. I sometimes use one when I feel nostalgic for the 1960s. The pens have a very sixties style, and they are rugged and user friendly. Any of the Parker converters will work in them, but I feel that I get the best performance and the best sense of nostalgia when using the old squeeze converter that came with 45s.

Thank you - and yes, I feel the same way. I wasn't born until the late 60's but I do get a nostalgic feel looking at it and using it. I'll start looking for a converter

[Hawk]

When I switch pens to use on a daily basis, quite often I pick up one of my 45's. The one I use most is one that has a shrunken hood due to the cap retaining clip pressing on the hood for years. They are certainly neat and brings me back to when I was young. Enjoy your find.

[stub]

I also admit that nostalgia plays a big role in my enjoyment of the Parker 45 and the Sheaffer Nononsense, though both are genuinely excellent pens.

The 45 really does have a distinctive 60s style. It looks like it would be right at home on the set of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and it was (Like Sheaffer School pens) ubiquitous in my youth. Other than the hood shrink-o-rama they are indeed rugged pens, though I will confess to disliking that one style of squeeze converter in this particular pen. The long tube ones that are shaped just like the cartridges are fantastic but that more bulky complicated one often gets the ink sac pinched behind the squeeze bar. That old pull back converter works great too and so does the modern piston one but for some reason I tend to syringe fill old tap tank cartridges a lot with these pens and b/c I love Aurora blue my travel kit is often a P45 with Aurora Blue cartridges and often a Nononsense with Skrip Blue (a perfectly good medium blue ink that gets no love).

Enjoy.

[stub]

I dig 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6.

#3 is the one where you pinch a hole in the sack and ruin your new pants. #the70s. haha

[pajaro]

The Skrip blue used to be hard for me to read. This changed when I used extra fine nibs. Then the Skrip blue was easier to read. Must be that there is something wrong with my eyes.

[Littleblue]

The P45 was my first foray into the world of fountain pens too. That was over eight years ago. I had a fit full at one point but I only have two beauties now. A Harlequin shield. And a rolled gold and forest green trio (FP/BP/MP) which still have the chalk marks. I have a handful of nibs and sections. My rarest nib is a BB