First P51 and got a few questions?

[top pen]

I just won this P51. I had a few questions for when it arrives?

Is it possible to date an older Parker I known modern ones have date codes but I don't know about older ones?
Is it an easy/necessary job to remove the hood?

[pajaro]

This pen looks like a Mark 4, last model. Plastic on these is more delicate. I would not remove the hood except as a last resort. I would first fill it with water and see if it is clean. Then I would ink it and see how it writes. Removing the hood for ordinary cleaning is unnecessary and risky. Something might break or crack, especially the hood. I have several 51s that have never had the hood off. They work perfectly. Nice pen.

[top pen]

This pen looks like a Mark 4, last model. Plastic on these is more delicate. I would not remove the hood except as a last resort. I would first fill it with water and see if it is clean. Then I would ink it and see how it writes. Removing the hood for ordinary cleaning is unnecessary and risky. Something might break or crack, especially the hood. I have several 51s that have never had the hood off. They work perfectly. Nice pen.

Thanks hopefully it won't require much work.

[jar]

I just won this P51. I had a few questions for when it arrives?

Is it possible to date an older Parker I known modern ones have date codes but I don't know about older ones?
Is it an easy/necessary job to remove the hood?

All the Parker "51"s had date codes. I have a first year "51" and it has the date codes. And it's never a good idea to disassemble a "51" section unless there is absolutely no other choice. The "51" with the flat end is the last iteration made between 1969 and the early 1970s. IIRC it also has "51" on the cap imprint twice.

[pajaro]

The date codes stopped being put. on the barrel about 1953 or about that time.

[azkid]

Mine benefitted from a great deal of flushing and [redacted potentially bad advice, see next post] -- without disassembly (good because it isn't a trivial operation, I gather)

There are other threads out there from which I got the ideas.

Mine had crusty ink on the nib and residue everywhere. So rather than starting with water only, which would be more conservative, I used water with a drop of soap and a small amount of ammonia (well, Windex). And an ultrasonic machine. However...

You might want to double-check and/or look into use of a commercial pen flush product, if yours is filthy.

Or start with water flush and escalate only as needed.

But I am new at this.

[Farmboy]

I don't like the verb soak in terms of cleaning a pen. You don't want to soak as in immerse the pen in a cleaning solution. What you want is to fill the pen and let the cleaning solution sit in the pen for a while then empty it and refill as needed.

I've seen to many pens that were allowed to sit in water overnight turn to a pile of parts.

[Giant_Pens_Are_Silly]

Thanks hopefully it won't require much work.

The normal procedure for restoring a Parker 51 is to clean it out and put ink in it.

In the worst case, they are simple and easy to work on. If you have to remove the hood and fiddle with the nib/feed that can be tricky, but it's very unlikely that you'll need to. Do you have a copy of Da Book? It has great tips and tricks for working on Parker 51s.

[welch]

Most P-51 aerometrics are ready to write as soon as you fill with ink. Don't go into serious repair/restore mode unless something flat out does not work. Maybe flush with water until the water runs clear. That mostly takes out the old ink. The aerometric sac is usually good. These late-late model 51's often have a nice plump tip, since they are new-ish (1970 rather than 1950).