First Impressions - Parker 61 

The FP community needs more late night loopy WaskiSquirrel pen science lectures. Thanks for the P61 review and caveats, useful consumer tips!

Addendum: Its not uncommon to do tons of cleaning and still find traces of old ink while writing initially. The feed in the Parker 61 is about a mile long, and extends from the back end of the capillary cell to the tip of the nib. Between the ink fissure in the feed and the collector (and the special capillary cell itself which contains a coiled sheet of specially prepared plastic), there are a million little nooks and crannies for dried ink to hide. But don't let that put you off, because once it's clean from the old dried ink, successive cleanings for storage are actually quite painless. Just don't leave a Parker 61 inked up so that it dries out! :)

Great little dive into the Parker 61, and this was a first impressions that I've been waiting patiently for. Pretty much mirrors my experience with the Parker 61 capillary system as well. I've even tested the ink capacity conundrum myself, and the interesting thing is that I have some pens which will do 1ml and some others which will slurp up 1.2-1.4ml on a full fill. These are super interesting pens and relatively easy to live with and use (after the arduous initial cleaning process to bring them back to life of course). Once cleaned and inked, they aren't that hard to wash out either for storage. If you are someone who doesn't need to change inks regularly, the Parker 61 is a quirky pen with an interesting filling system that shouldn't be overlooked.

The exterior of the filler is teflon coated so as to repel the ink

You are a great teacher, Jason! We need more like you ☺️

Solid, informative video review, as always! Thanks, Waski!!

From where I was from, fountain pen is a great go away present for someone going oversea to continue and advance their education journey. I received my Parker 61 present from one of my relative in the early 70 which has the capillary filler mechanism. I have forgotten about that pen until I recently found it and get interested to restore it. The cleaning process is not easy, short of calling it painful. I used a small nasal cleaning pump device from the drug store to force water through the pen to clean up the dried ink inside the pen. Finally has no ink and only clear water coming out of the nib when trying to write. Let the pen dry for two days, before trying to ink it, the pen magically writes with some blue/black ink. I thought it was a haunted pen!! The ink still not consumed yet but once its used up then I will attempt to do more cleaning before re-ink. I think the ideal of sticking with same colour of ink is the way to go. Today the gold arrow inlaid fell off the plastic cap of the pen and lucky I noticed that and re-glue it back, but its not staying as flush as before. I think the multi warm bath I use to clean the pen did loosen up the original glue! So be careful the consequence with dipping the pen in warm bath for too many times. btw I have two more Parker 61 with c/c mechanism, they are engraved with 'Made in England' without the '61' marker on the metal cap. The size, feel and look of the 61 is quick similar to the 50's era '51' which I inherited from my dad. All these are great writing instruments.

Great review, and glad to see a Parker 61 get reviewed. I agree the capillary filler holds a decent amount of ink. I have the same black 61 as yours, got it in near mint condition at an antique shop. My suggestion for clearing out the old ink is to dip the capillary filler for 30 seconds in water, and then place your lips over the part where the ink goes in and very gently blow into the capillary filler like a whistle forcing the water out of the nib, and keep blowing until the water runs out and only air comes out of the nib. Repeat this procedure about 4 or 5 times until the water runs clear. It took me about 10 minutes to clean out the pen this way. I find my 61 is a very smooth and a nice writer like the 51s.

Thanks, Jason. I really like the 61 and the capillary filler is very interesting and was novel for the time but ultimately like you said they dropped it in favour of a normal convertor in later models but even though its a buggger to clean its is unique and interesting. I loved the chemistry lesson, 'mickey mouse ears' made me laugh but it's a good teaching system to try to show molecules as everyday items & the meniscus you also explained really well with the cohesion and adhesion properties, & the 'I love you' really funny but again a great teaching approach. Stay safe my friend.

Damn, you are a good teacher!

Capillary action has me climbing the walls! Thanks very much for a great description of a phrase I've heard frequently and not really understood. Oh, and the pen is nice, too.

Now with added Science. Very interesting overview . Great stuff. I always wondered how you cleaned out one of these and now I know the answer. With great difficulty. Pen seemed like a great writer and a fascinating addition to anyone’s collection.

This is the best explanation of capilary(?spelling) action I have heard! Your pupils are lucky. You even got this person who hasn't got a science gene in her body to understand:-)! Your performance is priceless!

That was an interesting lesson and congrats on this beautiful writer!

Thank you for your review. I've had mine from new since the early 1960's. If I remember correctly the filling mechanism was described in the instructions that came with it as an emulsion tube. I seem to remember that later versions were actually converter/cartridge fillers. In fact many wears ago I had it repaired by Parker- the barrel split where it joined the nib section. Parker said when they returned it I could have it converted to cartridge, but I left it alone as it has always worked perfectly- always using Parker Quink Black of course. One thing that has a habit of parting company with the pen is that emblem on the nib section. When It comes to writing, it is indistinguishable with my Parker 51. Evidently the 61, that come out in the 1950's, was a bit of a sales failure. But they are certainly collectable now. Stick to Parker Quink, and you'll never have a filling problem.

Got a ‘Heirloom Pink and Green gold cap’ model today.., This is perhaps the oldest of my pens.Before I started to explain the history of 61 and its capillary filling system to my wife, she took a quick glance at the pen and said “Oh.. you got a Hero is it ?” !! All my enthusiasm got busted in no time ! Well.. this looks identical to Hero pens we used during our school days in the eighties (even though it is 50X pricier than those Heroes), so no fault of hers !

Thanks for this interesting demonstration of how to refill a 61! Last time I had to clean out a vintage pen all crusted up with ink, at a certain point I just started using it. It wrote for two weeks in blue-green-black, me just topping up with water intermittently. That would definitely be my MO from the start with a 61. Saves a lot of effort, and provides HUGE savings on ink:-)

If everyone that taught science explained it like you.....more kids would pay attention.

Great review as always, and as a student I appreciated the chemistry lesson

Nice video of an interesting pens. I have 3 Parker 61. Two are cartridge pens, the other belonged to my grandfather and it was a gift he received from the company where he worked. That one is a capillary filler and it was never used. The inside of the filler system is still in a bright orange colour. Although I didn't use it yet I think the concept of this pen is great, I think it is one of the best ideas ever made. A clean filling system... However, high maintenance pens, which neeed lots of work for cleaning and could neve be left inked somewhere were destined to end, in my opinion. And so there was a space to be filled by Parker 75 and 45... Another side note: I have a passion for Biology (although I'm not a Biologist) and I loved your explanation how capillary action works in plants. I think if I was your student I would never forget that explanation for the rest of my life and would remember it in college when we need to bring back those basic knowledges that were often forgot... Thanks!

Quite possibly my favorite Parker pen of all time. I have two of them. The 61 will always be very dear to me because of its virtues - and despite its flaws.

This was the most interesting video about fountain pens in a long time! Thank you! The capillary filler means, you can suck the last drop ink out of a bottle. How great is that? Is the 'converter' removable? Because if yes, how about having one per ink color and putting it once here and later there in a pen. No mess with cleaning. One of the most exiting things ever! Would love to see you making more good use out of it!

Unpopular opinion: The Parker 61 is the 51 done right. I like capillary filling, as it means you don't have to wipe the ink off the section. The 61 is a great daily writer for business purposes: Same ink every time, nothing flashy, just reliable. I'm hoping to get a (rare) CT Flighter capillary version one day, and just run through gallons of Diamine Onyx Black. Bliss!

The 61?it had some problems....the embeded arrow on the grip section often fell out.the plastic around the nib wasnt as sturdy as the dupont supplied on the 51s and 61s are ofen found with this chipped and cracked. The barrels would dent and the jewel in the barrel would fall out. Look at the feed of the 51 and 61 side by side...which looks sturdier. The 51. The 51 is a tad longer and was a couple of dollars cheaper in 1957. So if you were walking into the pen shop in 1957 which would you buy?

Nuve video also congratulations now a new parker model is added to your collection which is a materpeice . Well also parker 75 will suit you more as that pen is like some executive user pen . Have a nice day

Have you discovered the UK made Parker 65? It is a practically a 61 with a different section and a very special nib. CC filler, though. I have afw of these and they are fascinating pens.

I've been tempted several times to get one of these but have always been put off by two things: the filling/cleaning/clogging reputation, and the fact that many reasonably priced 61s are missing the arrow insert on the hood. I may end up getting one just for hoarding reasons, but overall it just looks too much work. I'd already concluded what you confirmed: stick to one ink forever. However despite all its shortcomings, I do need to tip my hat to Parker for trying to innovate and do something different. If nothing else, it makes the pen interesting. Edit: one thing I would say in its favour is how this system would appear to be great for filling when the bottle is almost empty & when even hooded nibs would struggle with levels of ink reaching the filler hole. Who knows, it might even have made J Herbin bottles almost useful if it had caught on. Almost.

Nice looking Parker 61! I recently got a Parker 61 with a 1956 rainbow style cap from a fellow in NS. I cleaned it and a little bit of blue ink came out of mine so I filled it with Pelikan Royal Blue and used it until it ran out. I flushed it out with water and switched to Pelikan Brown and it doesn't seem to have the same issues your pen experienced so I wonder if your pen was put away with black ink. BTW great vid!

You've gone & done it now i only have one 61 & guess what short of filler it is.Im off to fill it & try it out👍.PS You know you can get a piece of kit that replaces the capillary filler so you can use cartridge or converter.

Does this have a fiber feed like the pilot varsity since it has a capillary ink system?

A very nice cleaning system. Cleaning it is a bit on a ordeal. How often do you have to do that. Saw some new 51s and 61s recently. They’re a lot thinner than I remember.

I bought one of these just to experience this unusual filling mechanism (are there others besides this one?) It worked pretty much as advertised, but it was kind of a pain to clean out. I did push a lot of water through it with a bulb syringe (from the back out through the nib), in addition to soaking etc. That seemed to work.

I think you should use a black ink in this pen and only black and it will be fine. Having different ink colours in it will take more time to clean it than write with it😁. But doesn’t it leak at the end of that filling cartridge, i can see holes in it 🧐 maybe if you shake it it will leak

An address to send to repair a parker 61 pen in usa, thank you

According to the world famous Pier Gustafson, a pair of human lungs beats a bulb any day. Looking forward to future videos featuring your blue lips. Be careful with the ultrasound as it dislodged the arrow from my 61 and it's impossible to get it properly back in the hole it came out of.

Think you may have been channeling Jim Nabors a little...

"Under the hood" - ha!

I think the water supply in your town is connected to some laughing gas or something! Send some to me.