Worst Fountain Pen Mistake?

[katanankes]

giving a pen to a girl friend as a gift and finding out she couldn't care less.

[mejdrich]

1) Aurora 88 Demonstrator fell out of my hand and went flying across the bathroom - landed on marble... One tine this way, one tine that way... Ouch.

2) Delta 20th Anniversary - down to the floor - became a hooknose...

3) ST Dupont Orpheo - maybe fell in the sink... Just a bit messed up...

 

Thank God for Richard B. and John M. - the above three are alive today due to their tender ministrations.

 

Dang silly hobby.

[Boston Brian]

When I could not get my fairly new Lamy 200 to unscrew to refill the pen with ink, I took a pair of plairs to the end of the pen leaving teeth marks on the pen, and have never been able to unscrew the end of the pen since. Hence I have a pretty expensive dipping pen! duh!

[Tango Yankee]

Handling a vintage Stetson silverbelly Open Road "100" while holding an uncapped fountain pen with a Noodlers turquoise ink. I was writing down information about the hat. Wound up with a turquoise ink stain on the side of the crown. Those here who are also denizens of The Fedora Lounge will have an idea just how much that hurt...

 

Unthinkingly handing a student the Waterman that my wife had given me so she could sign a form; I almost cried out when I realized she was pushing down on the paper even harder than I'd have expected her to do with a ball point pen. Damage was slight, but enough to make writing with it no longer a pleasure. I need to get that fixed.

 

Regards,

Tom

[troglokev]

My worst fountain pen mistake was attempting to clean a Montblanc 146 using an alcohol wipe. The cement that holds the pen togther is alcohol soluble (this is true of many pens, and in particular any pen that uses shellac). It was like Duck Dodgers' disintegrating pistol (and man, when it disintegrates, it disintegrates!).

 

I later did a similar thing with a spilt drink and a 149, but that was an accident, not a mistake.

[dascoyne]

My worst mistake is buying cheap pens that I don't really want in an effort to keep me from wanting the nice pens I do want...I must stop doing that and, instead, save for the pens I truly will use and appreciate

me too.

[dascoyne]

Big confession time, here.

 

There was an online vendor of Sheaffer pens who was selling the LE Aspen II. I believe he accidentally posted the price for a standard Sheaffer Balance so I placed the order online.

When there were delays in the order he offered a refund but I kept emailing him demanding my pen. I was new to the fountain pen community and I had no problem capitalizing off someone's mistake. In the end he sent me the pen and probably took a loss for it. Although he never said the price was posted in error I could only assume it because the price seemed to be too good to be true.

 

That was more than 10 years ago. I'm planning to send him some money with an apology when I get the chance.

[RoriRants]

I switched to fountain pens from my prior hobby, thinking fountain pens would be a cheaper hobby

 

 

Bwahahahaha :roflmho:

[RoriRants]

My worst fountain pen mistake? Buying my first one. I think you know where this goes from here.

 

 

+a gazillion

[JeanManuel]

I trashed a couple Pelikans some years ago (mistake of youth). I didn't know it was so easy/cheap to change the nib.

[Cryptowolf]

Hmm, a couple of mistakes:

 

- gesturing with a Waterman Carene and throwing it, nib first of course, onto the floor. $75 later for a replacement nib.

 

- breaking a vintage Pelikan 140 while trying to unscrew the body, by turning it the wrong way. :bonk:

 

- Leaving a know-to-foul ink in a Safari for two months without use. Good pen hygiene is a must.

[fourseamer]

Selling my first fountain pen, a Cross Townsend Medalist. Funny after purchasing a few dozen other pens that I still miss that Cross.

[kandarp]

Selling the first 149 that I owned. It was extremely smooth.

[JimB]

My problem was becoming fascinated with FP at all. After overcoming Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) with my camera collection, I have just infected myself with Pen Acquisition Syndrome (PAS) - I now own 21 pens with another on the way & 17 inks with another on the way!

 

Somebody Stop Me!

 

(please don't tell my wife!)

Edited November 29, 2011 by januaryman

[funkypeanut]

A few weeks ago I came out of the restroom at the university library and saw something shiny lying on the floor in the hallway. It was a TWSBI! I picked it up and saw that it had orange ink in it, so I reached in my bag for my TWSBI, which I'd just filled with Habanero that morning, to compare the inks, and no TWSBI in my bag. It must have fallen out on my way into the restroom, and I didn't realize that it was my pen until I reached into my bag. I'm lucky that no one else picked it up or that I didn't step on it on my way out.

[Bill Wood]

Buying a waterman liaison. Once, twice and a THIRD time. Same problem for three times. Ink flow. Thought I could fix it with spare parts. Score 0 for 3. I loved those pens.

[Penny Lane]

My problem was becoming fascinated with FP at all. After overcoming Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) with my camera collection, I have just infected myself with Pen Acquisition Syndrome (PAS) - I now own 21 pens with another on the way & 17 inks with another on the way!

 

Somebody Stop Me!

 

(please don't tell my wife!)

 

Exactly this...

[phrenzy]

Worst part is my biggest mistake happened in my city's only pen shop...I was slipping my new GvFC ebony classic back onto my polo shirt when I discovered that I hadn't screwed the pen into the cap properly and it fell straight onto the hardwood floor and promptly cracked the wood barrel ...

 

Props to the stores staff, when they realised I damaged my pen they looked empathetic for my loss not like someone who just came into the market for a new ebony GvFC FP.

 

Lesson learned, I bought a leather pouch and my nicer pens travel in my pockets now.

[nanahcub]

Mistake 1

I had my Elysee in my trousers pocket. I really liked that pen, very simple stainless steel, elegant, lovely nib etc. I closed the drawer on my desk by pushing my hip against it. The pen snapped in two - most of the section in the cap the screw part of the section still screwed into the barrel.

 

Mistake 2

Taking the pen to a local stationers who said they did pen repairs. I should have gone to a proper pen shop. The guy just tried gluing the broken screw thread back onto the section. I don't know what sort of glue he used, but it didn't hold at all and worse, melted the plastic of the two ends he tried gluing together so that it can (I assume) no longer be repaired properly.

 

It wasn't a particuarly expensive pen, but I'd had it a long time and was very fond of it. That was the pen I signed with when I got married. That is one of the things about pens... they hold memories. They take on a meaining far beyond being simply "a pen".

 

I still have it - anyone out thereknow it there is any chance of it being fixed (I know - that is a silly thing to say when you can't even see the pen), or can recomend anywhere to take it? or might the nib fit another pen? I haven't been able to find out much about Elysee pens, and this wasn't one of their high-end models.

[amk]

My worst mistake is buying cheap pens that I don't really want in an effort to keep me from wanting the nice pens I do want...I must stop doing that and, instead, save for the pens I truly will use and appreciate

 

That's two of us!

 

Worst fountain pen mistake: not realising it was addictive, until it was already too late!