Unlike the modern Parkers (of which I have love-hate relationship, especially in regards to their ink drying problems with cap on! The polish on the resin equals that of lucite on the original 51. It could be that Ive never seen or held a BRAND NEW 51 before. Lawyers take enough pleasure in good drafting so that I now ask myself to what extent they dare think of themselves as doing good drafting as lart pour lart as well as earning a living. But I understand the state if modern pen use enough that Im not surprised that Parker went with the cartridge/converter system. One, this pen is my first experience with any Parker 51 from any year. Steven brown said the same thing in his YouTube review about the plastic flaring out so far at the front. Not even my starter pen costing less than 8$ (Hero pen) have that issue! This new Parker 51 seemed to only capitalize on the legendary status of its predecessor. Change). Unacceptable, at any price point. The nib of the new 51 appears to be identical to the nib on the 2018 release of the less expensive Parker Jotter fountain pen, true. I know there is a tendency for fountain pen users to react strongly to the suggestion that MOST fountain pens are over-priced and that Inky Folks fall for it. Another feeling I had to adjust to with this pen was the fact that the nib is essentially below the tip of the hood, so when aiming for the page I was contacting it lower than I expected, more like a ballpoint than a fountain pen. Grip the tiny, tubular nib (and the black plastic feed inside) firmly and pull them out of the ink collector. As it had been so long since since the last clean, I had forgotten the detail of how to do it, although I had a recollection of there being a few points to bear in mind. I stand by my tastes and also accept that they might change. Powered by Invision Community, Many thanks for the links/resources! It is particularly unfortunate, to my mind, because the fact that the recent Parker Jotter release appears to use the same nibs and feeds would have meant that it would be very easy to source replacement nibs to swap into these pen, and to have options for different tipping sizes and even different grinds. By Thats a theme for me with Parkers these days. Even then, it is not essential to disassemble a pen; it could simply be flushed with water or left with the nib to soak in a jar of water overnight, without being dismantled. But folks are buying them. There should be a converter included in the box, as well as a warranty card and even a little info about the original 51. It does not matter which way round it goes back. [] Pencil Revolution, who liked the new Parker 51 [], Your email address will not be published. Bleh, another bad review Im not sure what I expected although I already figured it would be underwhelming. 6. Thank you. But before pushing the ink collector back into the barrel, first screw on the front shell, to see where the protruding lip (for the hooded nib) finishes up: this is then the top, or 12 oclock position. The art deco vented pen cap pays homage to the early vacumatic version. Its a beautiful and quality fountain pen that is more than comparable to my 70 year old DEMI 51 and 1970s 61. And now yours. I like being able to remove a nib (such as on a Pelikan) to facilitate washing out the barrel and cleaning the nib and feed, to get things running like new, once in a while. The durability of this pen is largely conjecture at this point (ha!) My first fountain pen was a Waterman Phileas I received as a gift in 2004. So I just tried not to think about it so that I could avoid losing sleep over a writing instrument (theres precedent). The nib and feed are still inside the ink collector, with a clear plastic breather tube at the back. Hard to describe what personality is in a pen, but this nib just feels generic, about the same as a Jotter. (via PENCIL REVOLUTION!) And that damn thing ink drying issue. Tighten with wrench but avoid over tightening. My nib is notorious for hard starts. To cut a long story short, I bought a 51 (thankfully only the cheapskate chrome medium tip version) in May '22 hoping all the "bugs" were ironed out. Such a pen could be cleaned only very occasionally and just when necessary, such as if it had leaked, or dried up or if the nib was clogged with paper fibres or if ink flow was unsatisfactory. For the first week I used only this pen exclusively, and while I allowed myself to use whatever pen I liked during the second week, I found myself reaching back for this Parker time and again. I had to recall these as I went along. As a comparison, the Duofold I bought was used, had slightly cracked lip, and the "old" Domino color edition that is more than a decade old. Replace the black plastic feed (and breather tube) back inside the tubular nib, checking that it is centred symmetrically under the nib. Its been nearly half a century since Parker made the 51, and Im not sure why anyone thought that they would just remake it and ignore all of the innovations and buying habits of the last few decades. pencil philosophy: wooden wisdom, product reviews & ephemera, etc. The 51 feels like a mix between the Octanium nibs of yore and a modern medium Parker nib. The new Parker 51 came in last week, and WOW, holy @#$%! Spencerian for English, running script for Chinese) as being representative of call, I highly recommand taking a look at this guy's channel. Going inside the Wing Sung 601 fountainpen. Three cheers, then, for Ruperts well-documented effort. Not sure this is worth the $80 I paid. Wingsung, Hero and probably a few other China based offshoots are capable of making a more faithful 51 with their eyes closed, and they've even improved on the original by getting rid of the sac filler in some variants and all for less than a fifth of the price. User-grade aerometric '51's with a gold nib can be found for less than the price of a steel nib 2021 '51'. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. My pens were, IMO, none the worse for not being thoroughly cleaned as that is understood today. Hello Jerome. So while the sequence is now fresh, it seems a good time to describe the process. Just one year ago, at the Baltimore Washington pen show, I would not be caught dead with a fountain pen. I hear that the French Parkers are made at the Waterman factory, and the latter refers to the bodies of their newest pen, the EMBLME, as being made of precious resin. The refusal to include a converter with the standard/steel 51and the oddly high price smell like modern Waterman to me. I didnt buy this as an heirloom object. I said that the materials of the pen were unimpressive when I first picked them up, but thats not to say that they arent of a decent quality, fit, and finish. First apply a little silicone grease to the threads if you wish. Definitely going to check out vintage Parker 51s instead; I think they are legendary for their durability and innovation, unlike this "lazy" attempt to re-release a brand-name pen. After three days of not touching it, it wrote immediately. Is this the last fountain pen that Ill ever own (do I need it to?)? The new 51 from Parker is a shiny homage to the original, and I like it. The pen itself has an unsurprising feel to it. Im going to be 84 two days from now, and reading this account I feel even more like a dinosaur than the calendar suggests. IM and Sonnet, although they write decent, are plagued with ink drying problems despite keeping the cap on. Never had a positive feel about this since the announcement. It is always ready and never skips or hard-starts. It's not even the same UK based Parker of the 80s and 90s that gained a Royal Warrant. As far as I have been able to tell, the nib section is sealed, probably glued shut. I have inked my pen up once again with Tsuki-yo. I am not sure if I can use the pen unless I can figure out a way to make it write a bit 'wet' and stop skipping. If you come across this pen on a decent sale, or if some of the aspects that Ive described here are enough for you to overlook the faults, I do think that writing with this pen is a very enjoyable experience. In some ways, this could be seen as an answer to Joes concerns last August at the Gentleman Stationer, that too many pens are being released too large these days, and there is a lack of options for people who dont want an oversized pen. Fountain Pen Inventory Database by Jon Rosen. I bring this all up right now to dispel it a bit. Ive never reviewed a fountain pen before. I could see the same gap all the way down the ink collector and was relieved that it is meant to be like this and not some damage of my doing. In my two weeks of writing with this pen I never had an issue with the cap falling off the back, but I never got over the feeling that it might. The posting should feel firm so that you arent left to worry about the cap falling off. I do not check PMs. It's a classic case of buyer's remorse. The short answer is, pretty well. ), Correct if i am wrong but i think they have some of the original machinery from parker so that probably helps. Copyright 2004-2021 The Fountain Pen Network , @hssqqWelcome for FPN, and thank you for your suggestion. So I washed the pen out and put J. Herbin Perle Noire in the converter. The clip looks nothing like anything that ever graced an old 51. But I really like that Parker updates their arrow clips, and I like the current iteration of it. Looking down while writing, the nib barely peeks out from the hood. I say this because the internet has been awash in hot takes for months from people who are unhappy about the fact that this pen isnt the same as the old Parker 51. The nib was definitely to save cost so they can just use the Jotter nib production line instead of opening a new production line; The plastic flaring was to fit the Jotter nib so it doesn't look too exposed (jotter nibs are not meant to be used on hooded nib designs in the parker 51, I mean they could make it look like the Duo Cart or Lamy 2000 but that would anger more people); Most high-end pens are screw cap, I guess that's what they are aiming for but they ultimately missed the mark by a mile; I still feel it was just a move to try to get money from people who felt nostalgic about the Parker 51. Im really glad I held off purchasing one. It sounds like it might be a decent, if not overpriced, pen in its own right. for all of its flaws, it puts ink on paper very nicely. An excellent and well balanced review. Well done Parker! Then I read a review on it. And I am not a barbarian. I will say that the blue cartridge that came with mine was kind of, well, garbage. To quote: I wrote the blog post partly for my own benefit as an aide memoire . Thinking a bit more broadly, and keeping in mind my own experience as a writer, I can say of myself that a large part of what I have written is for my own benefit, not really as an aide memoire although the sum of my writings might constitute a kind of autobiography, but that I am writing for my own pleasure whether or not it is paid work. I bought it for me to write with, not my eventual grandkids. But I dont think the 51 is any more over-priced than my (ahem, 7 and counting) HMISPHRES or, especially, the EXPERT. Pens went on for decades without having very much done to them by the user. Only modern Parker pens alone seemed to be plagued with the ink drying issue; I have about 10+ pens from varying models; none of them, even on lower end models that costs less than IM, had this issue. 4. For what it is, and for what you get when you buy it, I feel it is simply priced too high. There is the oddly high price, at over $100 retail. The nib on the new 51 feels like this sort of nib, married to the sharper nib from the older 51, nibs which I have always found to have a smaller sweet spot than a regular nib. Yesterday, on finding it almost empty I decided to give it a clean. Nice write-up. But many brands reuse nibs among pens priced at different points in their line-up, such as Lamy, or Kaweco. On the Parker page that I linked above there is a nice little history of the Parker 51 model, but none of that is included with the pen. Actually I found it very satisfying. I am a great fan of the vintage ones, and my hopes were not very high, but I said, what the heck. (LogOut/ I am a bit of a Parker fan having used a Vector and a Chinese Hero in school back in the 1980s. This isnt necessarily a negative, and for people used to other fountain pen models that hit the page like this it may nit be noticeable at all. Perhaps the problem is a modern one when enthusiasts such as myself own numerous fountain pens and have rather too many pens in use at any one time and are forever wanting to switch inks around. The cap, for example, has a nice brushed look to it, with a classic styled jewel shape at the finial, and an updated version of the Parker arrow clip. And yet, it isnt bad, and I will certainly use it as a practical workhorse pen, without the need to baby it like a vintage. When I saw that they finally appeared to be doing just that, I started to get excited at the prospect of a modern version of my favorite vintage pen. Your email address will not be published. And at least one more cheer for the likable Wing Sung 601. (And thats the nerdiest fountain pen thing I know how to say.). fountain pens. I have considered to put a epoxy resin inside the cap just to make it usable; I would not mind ink drying issues on open cap, but there is no excuse for ink drying when the cap is put on. I dont know. And another one. I wrote the blog post partly for my own benefit as an aide memoire for when I next want to clean it, my memory not being what it was! There seemed no point in taking it out of service. Every modern re-issue of a classic is always going to be bad, imagine if jaguar did a re-issue of the Mark II? I suppose one could argue that I am so new to fountain pens that my opinion is not very valuable, but I think that anyone who has actually used this pen would have more relevant things to say that any internet troll who owns a few dozen old 51s that they may or may not use. I have comically short fingers, and I can even use a Kaweco Sport unposted. As with the Parthian shot or the sting in the scorpions tail, what some readers might take to be the rich payload comes at the end. And yes thats a vector nib. And the new Sonnet? This is as much a Parker 51 as the "Parker" of today is the Parker Pen Company that gave the world the Duofold, vacumatic and 51. I like this pen. I appreciate the brushed finish on the cap and that there is a polished band at the bottom. Okay, Im begging for it. Alright, all of that is well and good, but how does the nib write? This model does not make history but breaks it. This pen was purchased from Atlas Stationers at retail price. Im claiming New Kid status here. The only saving grace was I got a cartridge converter, an instruction sheet cum warranty card and a blue ink cartridge in the box. It didnt engage right away and felt off. It was so dry that the pen was not very smooth, and I was worried that I got a lemon of a pen. However, I checked my other model 601, (a demonstrator version and so I did not even need to remove the section). Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. But it could also simply be that this pens connection to Waterman means that it costs more. I love snap caps because it allows me to have that quick everyday feel. The flushing of the feed with fresh ink regularly on refilling, serves to keep things running. At first, I was disappointed about the filling mechanism. It also affords an opportunity to see the separate components and better understand how pens work. I confess to being a lawyer, although my occasional drafting is usually mundane and unfortunately more geared towards avoiding ambiguity than artistry. Since buying this pen two years ago, it has stayed inked in my pen cup. Big thanks to OP for taking the hit so I didn't have to as I had actually been mulling over whether or not to pick one of these up for the novelty of it. []. I find no problem with the screw-on cap. In order to repair the skip problem of my NG51,I sent it to one of my friend.He disassembled it and gave me these picturesshows the inside of NG51. I took some pictures of this pen alongside a vintage Parker 45 and a more recent Parker Frontier. And that is saying a lot! This isnt a pen blog, though, so I officially dont know what Im talking about. Thepen is simpler in construction than I had imagined. This pen is a cartridge/converter filler, and Parker uses proprietary cartridges and converters. This means that one cannot take out and swap the nib, or even just disassemble it for a more thorough cleaning. Just as with any reboot these days, a vocal corner of the internet have been calling this pen a failure since long before any of them even experienced it. My Lamy 2000 and I: a new chapterbegins. My order got delayed, and Fahrneys basically told me to @#$% off when I emailed them about it being lost in USPS limbo. Today using a fountain pen is, at least around here, a hobby, and I can understand that hobbyists Instead of a jewel, the new cap has a sort of ventilated ring I dont know how to describe it. I read all the negative reviews and thought they are too nitpicky; at least I am glad I didn't buy the deluxe version (250$ for this quality of resin? Joshua Lee Turner and Allison Young: first nightreview. (LogOut/ He is a lacquer pen maker and calligraphy practicioner. The outermost layer of packaging is a white cardboard sleeve with manufacturing information printed on it, as well as the nib choice and color of the pen inside. I really like a nice aerometric system, and I love the early Parker converters that were basically removable aero-filling systems. 2. I completely agree. Overall I dont really understand why they changed so much about the pen. I feared that I had damaged it, perhaps by squeezing too hard to pull out the nib. Is the feed just friction fit into the section? Ive mentioned before that I own very few vintage pens. I always wondered why they didnt reissue it with the same or similar design. However there are other rewards from blogging, not least, enjoying a thoughtful and witty comment from readers such as your good self. My pen did not come with the necessary wrench to unscrew the plunger, but I received one later with the Wing Sung 601A and it also fits the 601. Learn how your comment data is processed. A cheap preppy even starts right up i heard the waterman expert has the same drying issue when the cap is closed. and the screw-on cap. In most videos he uses Chinese xuanzhi, which is the paper for traditional calligraphy, to hold the greater ink flow of calligraphy-oriented pens. I might be biased though, from all three Parker pens I owned, only the Duofold Centennial somehow have no issue with ink drying and had respectable build quality (despite being resin). I bought one of these new P-51s. However, at 2x the price of the Sonnet, the 51 (2021) is one pen that has me feeling pretty disappointed. I love the cap. With its large ink capacity and light use, it can easily stay inked for six months or more. Early thoughts on the Parker Vector XL fountainpen. An empty name that's barely able to still make one good pen line ("duofold") at a ridiculous price compared with the competition that far out classes it in every way. That was the writing experience I was looking for. I mentioned before that I wanted to review this pen on its own merit, not just in comparison to the original Parker 51, but I do think its worth looking at how it stacks up to some older Parker models physically. The pens that started my collection included two original 51s, a demi-aerometric 51, and some lovely 41s. I can live with the filling system (though definitely Parker should have included a converter!) I guess now some people will lose their illusions about this "fancy-dressed" Jotter/vector :). 3. While I really do love Watermans, I admit that they often seem over-priced. The section should be able to be dismantled for cleaning and swapping of nibs. 7. It has proved to be a very reliable writer and exceptionally good value, especially once you include the pleasure of cleaning it. Beautifully done; although I do find it a shame that these days, especially on content sharing platforms and in hobbyist discussion forums, it seems common to unduly focus on particular cursive scripts (e.g. I consider myself as a pretty lenient person, but this is simply unacceptable. There is simply no excuse for modern pens to have their ink dry inside the cap (though they are not the Parker that made the very same Duofold I have IIRC). I truly love my vintage P51. The resin of the section and barrel I initially wrote off as plain and uninteresting, until I caught it in the right light. Especially with the fact that the new editions are screw cap rather than snap cap (something the 51 was known for). Maybe thats true. - John Paul Jones, You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. It brings old Parkers to mind in a way that I havent heard mentioned yet. Ultimately, I think that biggest factor for this pen is its price. It does the job, and thats it. But when compared to, or as a companion for one of its elder brethrenit seems like it might be a big heaping bowl of disappointment. but those brands also offer their ink cartridges in more colors than just black and blue. It's easy! 9. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The complete lack of any literature, warranty information, or even filling instructions also stuck me. I take your point about pens not needing much by way of cleaning. Well, COVID-19 has turned the world upside down, and now I own about # (shhhhh!) On the other hand, I am more and more intrigued with the legends surrounding Parker 51 of why it is one of the quintessential fountain pens of the old (but I'm pretty sure the term "timeless" would be a more accurate for that particular pen). There have been accusations of cheap materials and nibs, of the pen being a rebranded Jinhao, etc. So there is no shell. I expect it to keep writing until Christmas. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Granted the pen looks nice with the exception of the fugly gap between the hood and nib. I was wary of cleaning the sealed hooded section to I loaded up the pen with some nice and safe Waterman Serenity Blue, and I found the medium nib to write smoothly with a very even flow. These are all faults that Id have an easier time over looking with a $20 or $30 pen, like the Parker Jotter. My Urban and my Jotters are very smooth writers, with very stiff nibs. I dont feel strongly about the new 51 because I dont have to turn and turn the damned pen to get the cap off. Glad that I have found this post and pointed out the flaws with the pen. What I do find is that the medium nib, while smooth, has no personality. Flossing the nib works somewhat but still skips and hard starts from time to time. I do realize that there are other brands which choose not to include their proprietary converters with their pens (such as Lamy, Platinum, Sheaffer, etc.) But TBH these free bits and bobs have not alleviated the disappointment I feel at this purchase. Use the wrench to unscrew the plunger mechanism and withdraw it from the barrel, which can then be rinsed. Nib and feed directly inserted into the hood/shell. In between washing the pen parts I took the photos for this post. Press J to jump to the feed. Should've followed Sheaffer's lead when they had re-released the Heritage series pens with the Chevron patterns; at least they branding it as re-release and (from anecdotal experience of other members of this sub) had been satisfied with the pen (sure, it does cost a premium; perhaps this point is too OOT). First, the precious resin shines like the dickens. on Reviewing the Parker 51 Fountain Pen. I'd rather just get one of those vacuum pump wingsungs with a slip cap and a real hooded nib that actually looks like a 51 but is cheaper than a real vintage 51 such that it provides a viable choice of purchase. Next time! My academic cousin, an historian of the British press and at least formerly one of the editors of the Dictionary of National Biography, now writes to me that at our age there are no more prizes or promotions to be won, except book prizes, ha ha, and so we really are writing mostly for ourselves. What's the point? Ive had this pen in hand for last two weeks and Id like to share my impressions so far. It skips, the nib and feed run pretty dry, the darned section gets scratched whilst screwing on or taking off the cap, it feels rather cheap and slippery to hold in the hand. The reissued '51' was to use the brand history of a popular pen, not to actually re-create a proper homage to the original. Now screw the shell back on, over the ink collector. The original pens are ubiquitous on eBay and at pen shows. I had ink in my hands the next day and was hard at work cleaning out lovely old pens. Just a regular section melded to look like a shell. I walked around the ballroom wearing a shop apron full of pencils and a Bic Cristal shirt, handing out pencils and sharpening them with the crank sharpener I was carrying around. In the case of this Wing Sung 601, it is not an expensive pen and I imagine that most owners would not disassemble it. Since there is no money for me in this blog, Samuel Johnson would have me down as a blockhead and I would not like to argue with him. Pull the ink collector out from the barrel. The ring on the section, and the twist capping mechanism, has gotten a lot of flack online. Be careful not to distort the nib or damage the ink collector. I focus most of my acquisitions on Parkers, especially hooded nibbed beauties and also on the standard painted brass tube Waterman pens from the last few decades. Currently, I am thinking of which ink to fill this with next, Im dropping hints/pleas for the Deluxe version in plum from my better half. Instead, they took a nib/feed/cap design from the Jotter, pumped out a resin "hood" that was too wide to actually cover the nib, and fell back to the C/C mechanism while not even including a converter on the standard version. We can also take a peek at the vintage squeeze converter in the Parker 45. And then my new pen came. Plus the original 51 has that SATISFYING closure that I enjoy. The cap posts deeply on the back of the pen, but not particularly firmly, which is another disappointment with this pen. Where are u getting a pilot e95s for $94 tho , amazon (I am comparing market price, not MSRP). But I cant imagine Lucite shining more than this. I put a new piston converter in mine first, and now Im kicking myself for not using one of the old heavy beauties from the 60s or 70s. Mine has the soft rubber diaphragm but I have a later version too with a hard plunger instead. A tubular nib, sourcing Lucite for the barrel, and a proper Aerometric/Vacumatic filler are all too expensive to "bring back". Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc. 5. Definitely not.
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