Parker 51 Aerometric Fountain Pens: 'Working' vs Fully Serviced

[@michaeldugger7716]

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!

[@haywoodf]

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]

My pleasure -- I hope it will be helpful.

[@singlesideman]

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]

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.

[@garyvogensen5767]

Wonderful! Thank you!

[@andybamford3987]

Great video. Liked it a lot. Most educational.

[@Vintagepens]

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

[@PedroLauridsenRibeiro]

Nice video! I'm currently trying to restore a US Mk1 Parker 51 Aerometric which belonged to my grandmother (I believe she bought it new). The breather tube is blackened except at the section where it connects to the feed, but luckily unclogged and unbroken (I've run through it with a pair of steel strings and checked the length with a caliper - it's 69.6mm long, right on spec). I've ordered a replacement stainless steel breather tube, but it seems the original still can be used. Did you replace the breather tube in the pen under restoration in this video, or did you clean the original silver one? The breather tube as shown e.g. from 7:20 onwards (inside the new sac) seems pretty clean. If you did the latter, how did you do it? I tried polishing it with some Silvo - it did get somewhat clearer but still far from shining new.

[@Vintagepens]

In this instance the original silver tube was still in good condition and cleaned up readily. Often the silver's surface has become rough with fine pitting, so it cannot be made nice and shiny without removing a lot of material.

[@NihilisticApex]

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]

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

[@Vintagepens]

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

[@NihilisticApex]

@@Vintagepens Thanks David!

[@isaacabeche]

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

[@Vintagepens]

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

[@penkino1]

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]

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 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jX7Zk4aAdq-Aq9U).

[@OcalaFla]

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

[@davidnishimura469]

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

[@arrrgoyle5695]

@@davidnishimura469 Bummer

[@kamrankiaee3866]

I think this is a Parker 21 not a 51

[@JaredWilliams0109]

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.

[@brianmcqueen6175]

Sheaffer Snorkels sometimes suffer similar shenanigans. I made a not-quite-as-thorough-or-well-produced video about that a while ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJisf3iDo5ageZI