Thanks for the clarification, everyone. My slop about “earning” access seems quite silly now… no hazing, grueling 7-year apprenticeships or even PM’s necessary…

 

In all seriousness, I had wondered if this was in the realm of: “I would have to know you personally and have confidence in your understanding of certain concepts of materials science and handling, etc” in order to be entertained...

 

For myself, I have no intention of messing with any of this any time soon. But many thanks for sharing… I’m glad that this information isn’t actually a secret.

But, the celluloid stuff, which is far nastier than what is mentioned in the article, is still best left unsaid.

 

We are all adults here (or else we couldn’t buy the stuff, anyway)…  if it’s not a trade secret, what is the harm in telling? Is it simply potential damage to pens? Under what circumstances would you feel comfortable telling someone?

 

As one who is ambitious about learning pen repair, I would like to someday earn access to such information… (and I assume that earn would be the correct word here? ‘Dues to pay’ in any field…)

 

Thanks in advance.

Full credit and thanks to Bruce "OcalaFlGuy" for pointing this out over at FPN...

http://www.ebay.com/...3-/350993747822

 

 

Thoughts? How uncommon are these? Are we talking "goal pen" or "Grail pen" here?

 

Many thanks.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the replies...

 

I managed to calm down a bit, do some more research, and went back to this document:

http://www.richardsp...kshop_notes.pdf

 

...if that ain't a good place to start, I don't know what could be.

 

I'm feeling much better about my hobby now… and feeling grateful for folks like Mr. Binder who are willing to share so much of what they know. And yes, one of his classes is VERY high on my list.

 

Cheers.

 

--Keith

This thread over at FPN has me feeling flustered:

http://www.fountainp...air-a-bent-nib/

 

Jim Baer’s comments, in particular, leave me wondering if I even know the first thing about how to smooth a nib correctly…

 

…Smoothing a nib has been the hardest skill to master for me. It is somewhat easy to fool around with and get some beneficial results, heck we even sell nib smoothing kits! Lots of folks are smoothing their own nibs. It seems easy to do but the reality is much more subtle.

 

Smoothing properly is all about shape and correct tine alignment. I still show Richard nibs where the tines look properly aligned to me after I have adjusted ,but aren't!! Many nibs start out from the factory with asymmetrical tines due to vagaries in manufacturing. Adjusting those suckers is truly an art--again it's all about shaping compensation, pad, corner edges on the nib- both inner(slit wall) edges and outer edges. Also the actual surface of the nib can have micro roughness in spots and removing them makes a HUGE difference to smoothness.

 

Anyhow I could go on for pages and pages but to distill down most of what I have learned about fixing nibs is that it truly is an Art to do right. There is a huge amount of feel involved and very minute changes have drastic effects!

 

Do I say don't do it? No, practice on pens you don't mind messing up. Have fun. But please refrain from giving advice that isn't necessarily sound to a newbie who has never tried to fix a nib without knowing the particulars. It's too easy for them to make matters worse.

 

 

Is it just me, or is there way too much conflicting information on this topic? I have seen everything from the likes of Jim’s post above (which I am sure is 100% correct), all the way down to people suggesting that figure-8’s on a brown paper bag is perfectly acceptable…!

 

For the benefit of newbies like me, could someone please point us in the direction of some good/accurate/correct information on nib smoothing? I want to aspire towards professional-quality restorations, not amateurish hack-jobs that “work for me”…

 

On my most recent acquisition, (a VERY humble P51 Vac:  http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649), I have refrained from attempting any smoothing whatsoever, until I re-learn some basics…

 

Many thanks.

 

--Keith

I just ordered a replacement Parker “51” sac from David Nishimura (vintagepens.com) – can I use regular shellac to attach it to the connector, or do I need something else? (I seem to recall that something else was required, but I can't find the thread where this was discussed...)

 

Many thanks!

According to the December 2013 issue of Pen Word magazine, Bonhams & Butterfields will have a Parker Aztec up for auction tomorrow. It seems that they expect it to fetch “$40,000 – 80,000”…

 

Any thoughts…?

 

Anyone planning to bid…?

Hadn't even recalled I owned a bunch of the following.

As a new "51" collector, (with a limited budget,) this post is rather humbling. The same pens you forgot about are the ones I only dream about...

Beautiful collection... I look forward to learning more about what makes these special.

Thanks for sharing.

Your cap is shown at the top of this page: http://parker51.com/PenCaps.2.html

 

Not sure how I missed that! My apologies to Mr. Soler...

Many thanks for the informative and detailed reply.

 

Honestly, I am not so disappointed to learn that these aren’t valuable… I adore this variant and would like to collect them. (Perhaps a good temorary niche for the "51" collector on a budget?)

 

PS: You are far too kind in calling this a “nice” cap…

For some reason, I can't seem to find much information on this particular cap variation -- a gold-filled "51" Vac cap, but with a chevron band, like the one you would see on a lined sterling cap...

 

 

 

Is this a less-common cap? I was very surprised not to find it listed at parker51.com...

 

Thanks!

I am looking to purchase a tool to aid in the removal of Parker 51 Aerometric hoods…

 

Which of these would you recommend? Perhaps another option…?

 

Many thanks.

 

http://pentooling.co...ker51tools.html

 

ITEM #12827: PARKER AEROMETRIC 51 FRONT END DISSASSEMBLY PISTOL GRIP COLLET.  Greatly simplifies the task of taking apart the shell/filling unit on an Aerometric Parker 51. An almost identical design to that used in the Parker factory, this tool incorporates a triple start thread just like that used on the joint between the filling unit and the front end of a fine thread Aerometric 51. THIS TOOL WON'T WORK ON THE LATER, COARSE THREAD AEROMETRICS. The thread configuration in the tool shown here consists of 3 parallel, non-intersecting, 16 TPI threads rather than one and it is very resource intensive to fabricate. The last photo shows all three threads starting in parallel inside the collet. Previous (non-Parker) suppliers of copies of this tool used a single, 48 TPI thread which does not match the Parker thread and can cause damage. This tool is true to form and will not mess up your threads if threads are lined-up before compression of the collet. A must for anyone working on a lot of 51s. This tool greatly simplified my life. The pen shown is not included.

 

 

http://www.penpractice.com/page3.html

 

Parker 51 shell removal
The shell can be removed by gripping on the 48tpi 3-start barrel thread without damage to the sac protector or sac attachment…

A steel three-point grip tool (similar to the Vacumatic pump tool described above).  I consider this to be the best possible tool for the job.  It requires a 3-jaw chuck or Loggerhead pliers like the Vac tool.

 

 

 

Thanks to all for the replies -- this really is the place to be for quality-over-quantity in penland...

I'm not sure who you're referring to with the "big dogs" label, but I'll assume you mean the people that have been in business a long time to the point most of us in the hobby know their name.

Indeed. By “big dogs,” I really mean “big names” – the folks who not only measure their turnaround time in months rather than weeks, but also have names that even a casual hobbyist might recognize: Richard Binder (gee, ya think?), Ron Zorn, David Nishimura, John Mottishaw, Mike Masuyama, probably a few others…

But I had enough trouble with someone who entered the business a few years ago, whom I won't name but you would recognize immediately because he's at all the shows and has gotten to know a lot of people, that I wouldn't trust a sac change to him. The more I talked to folks, the more I found out that I wasn't the only one with this experience.

There are one or two, as John Danza mentioned , that may be less "trustworthy" IMHO.

I would be very interested to hear more about your experiences with these “controversial” pen people… Reading FPN, you would think that there aren’t any. It seems like any bozo who has ever replaced a sac for a stranger is hailed as a mythic superhero over there… no negative criticism allowed at all...

BTW, are you in Janesville? We have a pen club there now. Too I will be posting shortly about a major pen hoard I scored there last week.

I’m not actually in Janesville, though I do hope to visit someday. The screen-name is simply meant to express an addiction (“jones”) for the pens once made there… at the time I signed up, it seemed a bit more clever than “51Fiend” or “ParkerAddict51”…

Please do post photos, though! Thank you for this forum and for your very insightful reply.

Some of the best-known pen professionals have famously long turnaround times that are incontrovertibly "worth the wait," while other folks can seemingly have your pen back to you within a couple weeks...

Aside from name recognition, what separates the "big dogs" from the others?

As a new "51" collector, I really enjoyed these...

You write with a gliding ease such as you've never experienced!

I can't thank you guys enough for saving me from a Dumgai... not to mention the sharing of detailed knowledge.

The evil Frankenflighter shall menace me no further.

Curses!

Thanks to all for the quick, knowledgeable replies -- good thing this seller takes returns...

I had really hoped that this might be one of the correct bandless caps... lesson learned.

If I may ask those more experienced for an honest opinion... how did I do on this one?

http://www.ebay.com/...ME:L:OC:US:3160

Many thanks!

The topic says it all -- I'm quite curious as to what some of the really serious collectors actually use from day to day. Is there a point where collecting and use intersect? A separate "collection of users"...?

Thanks for your thoughts and/or photos.

Greetings everyone! I was quite pleased to discover this board a while back and felt that it was finally time to say hello and offer my thanks for this community's existence. I really like that there's a place to talk about pens where folks are free to engage in passionate discussion and need not fear censorship for using the expression "crap shoot"...

As you can probably gather from the screen name, I'm a fan of vintage Parker...

My focus in the hobby is repair and restoration, though I am increasingly pursuing that with the idea of also building a collection at the same time, not just accumulating. I recently got my confidence up enough to try working on a non-black, non-parts-grade pen... I've got a thing for Sterling-cap Parker "51's" and have decided to go after all of the common colors. These pens are no collector's pieces, but they are a joy to repair and a joy to use each day at work. Each one also helps develop my skills, and I hope to someday work up to much nicer examples and even sell a few.

BTW: I also like Vacs...and Duofolds... and Snorkels and Skylines... and I could go on for some time...

I look forward to participating here. Thanks again!

--Keith, Central VA