Thanks very much for all the information put forth in this video. I am planning to purchase a vintage Parker 51 very soon and will be much better informed as result of your video. Thanks!

Wonderful! Thank you!

Thanks David for documenting your profound experience and expertise and sharing it. Such a huge resource for current and future custodians. Very much appreciated and kudos to you.

@Vintagepens

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure -- I hope it will be helpful.

Great video. Liked it a lot. Most educational.

I love silver, especially when used for fountain pen bodies, but it seems an odd choice of material for a breather tube that is constantly immersed in a water based liquid, especially given its reactivity and propensity to oxidize. I wondered why Parker chose silver as the material for their breather tubes in the 51. Parker has made some strange decisions over the years, and this seems to be no exception, and it's more expensive than stainless steel, although it's possible that silver was actually cheaper than stainless at the time that they used it.

@Vintagepens

10 ай бұрын

It is a bit of a mystery. It might have been too expensive to make them out of stainless steel; consider that hypodermic needles were costly enough at the time that they would be sterilized and reused, and even resharpened.

This is an expanded video followup on a blog post from a few years back, which can be found here: vintagepensblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/yes-aerometric-parker-51s-can-have.html

Hi David, im a little confused. Your web site you recomend " For silicone sacs, we have found that a stronger and more reliable seal is provided by a silicone sealant such as Devcon" ? So do we use shellac or sealant ? Cheers

@Vintagepens

Жыл бұрын

For conventional latex sacs and PVC sacs, use shellac. For silicone sacs, use silicone. Note that Parker never used silicone sacs -- the transparent "Pli-Glass" sacs used for the Aerometric 51 etc were always PVC, as are our new replacements. There is some confusion nowadays about this, which wasn't helped by sellers past who misrepresented their transparent PVC sacs as silicone (see kzread.info/dash/bejne/iYGqxLWDca2zpdY.html).

Hi David, this is a very helpful video. I am in the process of restoring my Parker 51 (1950 Mk1 UK) and wanted to replace my breather tube. The current one looks black in colour so potentially ebonite? - can I replace this with a steel breather tube?

@NihilisticApex

Жыл бұрын

Just to add, the broken piece of the breather tube retrieved from the feed looks to be metal - maybe corroded silver?

@Vintagepens

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a corroded sterling silver tube. Replacement with stainless steel would be the best option.

@NihilisticApex

Жыл бұрын

@@Vintagepens Thanks David!

Hello friend, this is Isaac, I speak from Brazil. What is the function of the breathing tube? Mine broke, does it work without?

@Vintagepens

Жыл бұрын

The pen will not fill completely if the breather tube is missing or clogged.

David, what would you have charged for this 51 refurbishment?

@davidnishimura469

Жыл бұрын

I don't offer repair services to the public, so can't really give you a meaningful figure.

@arrrgoyle5695

Жыл бұрын

@@davidnishimura469 Bummer

I think this is a Parker 21 not a 51

@JaredWilliams0109

5 ай бұрын

You can see from the nib it's a 51. A 21 nib looks like a traditional nib stuck in the body. Also the 51 nib was gold and 21 is always a metal alloy.

Sheaffer Snorkels sometimes suffer similar shenanigans. I made a not-quite-as-thorough-or-well-produced video about that a while ago. kzread.info/dash/bejne/oJt9sKeGnpTTc5M.html