Skipping Parker Frontier

**JFB** · October 25th, 2017, 12:36 PM

I just got a Parker Frontier from India, it is an unbelievably dry writer even after a good rinse. It's also prone to skipping. It compares very unfavorably with my Sheaffer Sagaris. I know Dr. Brown in his video review did say it was a very dry writer, but this is too dry!

has anyone else had similar problems with a Frontier? If so can you recommend a fix?

Pax,
John

**pajaro** · October 25th, 2017, 02:22 PM

My USA and India made Frontiers are all dry writers, they might skip and they dry up between uses. Cleanout with detergent, cleanout with ammonia, nib flossing didn't help much. It calls for an adjustment. Every time I try to adjust for improved flow it goes south and the pen becomes useless, so I lived with it with frontier. I don't use them often, but the good looks of the steel and transparent green ones, and the nice feel, suck me back in from time to time. Someone better at adjusting nibs for flow could probably get my pens going better.

**dam** · October 25th, 2017, 08:11 PM

My American made Frontiers have been solid writers and I don't find them too dry. I was curious to try an Indian made model and purchased one on ebay (I can't remember how much I paid, but it was very cheap and in this case, you truly get what you pay for, i.e. not much). The nib was garbage. It was bad. The tipping was a huge, strangely shaped blob and the tines were touching at the tip, which meant no flow. I took out the artillery and flossed the nib with a DE razor blade, them attempted to smooth the nib and widen the tines a little. It sort of works, but unfortunately, it still looks odd. Lesson learned: I will never buy another Indian made Parker (actually Parker licenses some product lines to Luxor - it's a shame such an iconic company has resorted to this kind of practice).

**pajaro** · October 25th, 2017, 09:29 PM

I have two Frontier flighters with fine nibs, one USA made and one from India. I don't see much difference. If I fill them up, they write OK until I cap them and leave them. After an hour or so they need to be restarted, and then they write OK until next time. I find these pens to be like a lot of C/C pens, regardless of cost. Mediocre to good.

Further, I have an apparently India made Sonnet with the golden Lacque finish. OK, but as good as any other Sonnet. I don't know what the story is on these pens, but I think I read they were assembled in India. Cosmetically very nice.

**dam** · October 26th, 2017, 04:49 AM

Originally Posted by pajaro

I have two Frontier flighters with fine nibs, one USA made and one from India. I don't see much difference.

Maybe I was just unlucky, maybe not. However, there have been numerous posts regarding the subpar quality of Indian Frontiers on FPN (which I discovered after getting mine). From afar, they look like the original thing, true, but up close, it's a whole other story.
None of my Sonnets were made or assembled in India, but then again I haven't bought a new Sonnet in many years. I believe only the entry level lines (Vector, Frontier) are made in India.

**JFB** · October 26th, 2017, 08:50 AM

The India Vector I have is, so far, a wonderful writer. It has a very unusual type of feedback, but it doesn't annoy me. Not that it has a direct bearing but...

I recent bought a Serwix (got a second different model in the package with it) a 362 & 392 from India. They seemed very cheap and I didn't expect much from them. I was pleasantly surprised.

The finish of the Vector seems far superior to the two Sewixes, but they are so far smoother writers and more reliable. So somebody in India knows what they are doing.

Dam, yeah the nib is weird. There seems to be a lot of material on the top of the tip-where it's useless. Visually it's distracting when one is writing.

Pax,
John

**dam** · October 26th, 2017, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by JFB

The India Vector I have is, so far, a wonderful writer. It has a very unusual type of feedback, but it doesn't annoy me. Not that it has a direct bearing but...

I recent bought a Serwix (got a second different model in the package with it) a 362 & 392 from India. They seemed very cheap and I didn't expect much from them. I was pleasantly surprised.

The finish of the Vector seems far superior to the two Sewixes, but they are so far smoother writers and more reliable. So somebody in India knows what they are doing.

Dam, yeah the nib is weird. There seems to be a lot of material on the top of the tip-where it's useless. Visually it's distracting when one is writing.

Pax,
John

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Indian made pens in general are rubbish. I happen to have a few Serwex, Wality, Guider, Gama and Asa models and they are all rather decent writers. My problem is with these Luxor Parkers.
Have you been able to get your Frontier to work as you want it to?

**JFB** · October 27th, 2017, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by dam

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Indian made pens in general are rubbish. I happen to have a few Serwex, Wality, Guider, Gama and Asa models and they are all rather decent writers. My problem is with these Luxor Parkers.
Have you been able to get your Frontier to work as you want it to?

Dam, I was just countering the generalization I sense generally from FP enthusiasts in general to lump pens by nationality since I started following these boards-

Seriously, I decided to fiddle with the Frontier last evening and it made a big difference.I flossed the nib and realigned the tines now it's writing so much better. The flow is dramatically improved-no skipping at all. I'm not sure if I was ham-handed or not-it seems more like a medium than a fine now, but I have noticed a lot of alleged fine points seem more like like mediums (to my admittedly untrained eye). There is a bit of feedback, but I wouldn't call it "scratchy" anymore. I'm much happier with it now.

Pax,
John