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Pens of Steel

I am not putting steel-pointed pens on display here, but rather pens with stainless steel bodies… or ones that look close enough to pass.  There is a tendency to call this sort of pen a “Flighter”, after the first of the breed, a Parker “51” developed to please the eye and aeronautical tastes of Kenneth Parker.  That’s an incorrect tendency, as the term is used correctly only on Parker pens (and some pedants would restrict it only to that specific sort of “51”).  However, I find the brushed-steel finish rather attractive, and since this is my site, I’m indulging myself in a gallery of pens that sort.

 

This is not a Parker Sonnet. Honest.

Baoer 388

 

 

Earlier models were rather closer to the original “51” source

Hero 100

 

 

As a Parker, it might technically be allowed the Flighter designation

Parker 15

 

 

Parker definitely advertised this one as a Flighter

The later versions lost the little plastic tail

Parker 45

 

 

This pen takes the notion of “all-steel” to an extremity

Parker 50 Falcon

 

 

There is something overly literal in the naming of an Arrow Flighter

Parker Arrow

 

Just because it’s a low end Parker doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty

Parker Frontier

 

 

Well, maybe it’s pretty in someone’s estimation.

Parker Vector

 

 

1978 - 1987: Pelikan Signum

The late 1970s saw an awful lot of pens this shape.

Pelikan Signum

 

 

Pilot Murex.

Pilot had actually beaten Parker to the “really, really all-steel” punch.

Pilot Murex

 

I’m not sure if this is so much fashionable as stylish

Sheaffer Fashion

 

 

This is actually brushed chrome plating rather than steel; Sheaffer seems to not have gone in for steel bodies

Sheaffer Stylist

 

 

However, the material was not unknown to them

Sheaffer NoNonsense Stainless

 

 

One wonders if steel were cheaper than chrome and brass in the 1970s.

Sheaffer Targa

 

 

It also appealed to Sheaffer’s partners in Japan

Sheaffer (neé Sailor) Sentinel

 

 

It’s interesting that the sections are generally black, isn’t it?

Waterman Hémisphère

 

 

A very dedicated effort to emulate the Parker Flighter look

X-Pens Atlantic

 

 

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