Worst Fountain Pen Mistake?

[kps]

Got a jacket caught in a car door, with two Pilot VPs in the pocket. The faceted ABS one was crushed beyond repair; the metal one was bent to around 135° at the joint, but the damage is almost undetectable after straightening.

[rbadger332]

Opening a bottle of BSB....sidways...while wearing a thin cotton shirt. my shirt was electric blue, and so were my hands, chest, and stomach. Lessons learned. Any ink capable of burning retinas is also capable of staining anything it touches to a point where you consider bleaching your own skin.

[SmoutKa]

That feels really bad... I would keep trying on ebay. I see a lot of elysee pens - much more than I expected. There is even an offer of a section / nib. If it looks really similar to yours, I would give it a try! http://www.ebay.nl/itm/ELYSEE-FOUNTAIN-PEN-NIB-SECTION-ORIGINAL-/260969705130?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc301aeaa

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.

[mremptypants]

I have been lucky so far. All online purchases have great. So to answer the question, I eyedropper overfilled my Passaporto. Put it in my pocket (horizontally ) and drove from sea level to 14,000 feet. My left nipple is permenantly the shade of PR. Blue Suade Green.

[JamesTheBard]

Finally got my first italic nib in and was amazed at how it wrote (Lamy Safari 1.1mm). Noticed it started scratching and decided that I had the requisite skills to fix the problem. About an hour later, realized that said skills were sadly lacking as the nib now had the magical ability to not only write but had gained the ability to carve any and all paper.

 

<sigh>Loved that nib.</sigh>

[ever onward]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/213226-minerva-barrel/page__p__2229025__fromsearch__1#entry2229025

 

 

I am STILL devastated over this. And I still have all the bits.

 

[404notfound]

I got into the habit of using a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol with a q-tip to wipe my pens clean. It worked fine every time, until I swabbed the inside of the cap of my Sailor Reglus and didn't rinse it out with water. I capped and posted the pen after that, and I guess the residual alcohol, trapped inside the cap, did a real job on the pen's finish. Now instead of a nice, glossy surface, the grip is all cloudy, and it's also got a distinct ring around the barrel where the cap posted on it. I tried a variety of other agents in a futile attempt to somehow wipe away the damage, but to no avail.

 

Dumb, dumb mistake. Should have known better than to use rubbing alcohol, even when it worked flawlessly a dozen times.

[imahawki]

A girl at my school 'borrowed' my Parker Sonnet Gold Lustre from my bag. She then bent the nib in front of my eyes, I felt so much pain for my beautiful pen as I watched the nib snap. Good thing is, she had to buy me a new one, I now use a Parker Vector at school. Lesson learned.

 

Did she buy you a new nib&feed, or did you get a whole new pen out of her? (mehehehe...)

She had to buy me a whole new pen!, even better was I managed to fix the old one, so now I have 2 pens instead of one!. She was not happy... . By fix I mean somebody I know had a spare nib and gave it to me... So now I am a very happy boy and she is down £200

One compliant girl.....I am actually AMAZED!!! (Aside from the fact that I don't know her..). If someone broke my pen (which already happend-except with the clip being bent), there would be a .2% chance that I would actually get a new pen... I don't know what grade you are in so maybe things change as people get older....8th Grade is NOT FP friendly, but maybe 9th is...

 

It is depressing. Essentially we live in a world where if a person uses something of yours without permission or damages something of yours through their own fault and none of yours it is simply YOUR fault for having such an expensive item.

[topaz]

Placing my beloved Pelikan m400 XF nib in an open outside pocket of my purse. I spent months looking for it. I dearly loved that pen because it was a very smooth XF- no scratchiness at all. I keep meaning to replace it but I have my eye on a vintage black and white Duofold right now.(Then again...how many Duofolds do I need?)

 

Letting my kids use my pens hen they were younger- lost one of the original Namiki VP pens and mangled several nibs.

[Sparky2]

Long story short – today at work I found that both hands and my lower lip were Electric DC Blue.

[pharmacist]

Actually after hearing experiences from lapis and gmrza I too have to confess: MB is a bit disappointing to me.....For those prices I would expect good flowing pens, but I have tried so many ink in these pens (including MB own Midnight Blue) and never had a good flow in two of these pen (one Meisterstück...). Tried converters and MB cartridges too, never had a good consistent flow and I often have to scratch the tip over the paper or

 

Actually the best flowing pens to me are cheap Lamy and Papermate school fountain pens with an inox tip.... How is this possible ???

[Pinkys.Brain]

Buying a Kaweco sport with an BB nib => babybottom => grinding it to a stub => grinding it to an left oblique => finding out that I needed a right oblique... =(

 

Now I need a new nib unit...

[robofkent]

Long story short – today at work I found that both hands and my lower lip were Electric DC Blue.

 

That's happened to me too....gave my colleagues a laugh if nothing else! :roflmho:

[Effin1]

I soaked a Sheaffer Targa slim in ammonia solution. It was the feathers pattern. It now looks like a plain GF. All the black highlights just floated off the cap so I soaked the barrel to match. Is it now unique? Mind you still can't get it writing unless you write at a 90 degree angle to paper. Even sent it to 'Eckiethump' and he had no luck either. Just a jinxed pen.

[XiaoMG]

Nothing too bad here, other than some purchase regrets.

 

I guess the best story so far was when I went on a date to a teppanyaki restaurant, and filled out the menu with my TWSBI Diamond 530. I normally never post but I did that time, and when I was done writing, I absent-mindedly twisted the cap to remove it. Was completely ignorant of my mistake until I reached for some chopsticks and noticed Kon-peki all over my hand and wrist, and then noticed more on the floor and my leg and everything I'd touched, which fortunately did not include my date.

[leaflet]

I lost my Lamy Safari four years ago. i don't feel like buying a new one because I loved the contrast of black clip&nib to red body so much.

[robofkent]

I lost my Lamy Safari four years ago. i don't feel like buying a new one because I loved the contrast of black clip&nib to red body so much.

 

There is a UK seller called Bargainartshop on ebay who still sells this variety........NOS I presume! I've ordered a few from them already!

Edited May 5, 2012 by robofkent

[leaflet]

I lost my Lamy Safari four years ago. i don't feel like buying a new one because I loved the contrast of black clip&nib to red body so much.

 

There is a UK seller called Bargainartshop on ebay who still sells this variety........NOS I presume! I've ordered a few from them already!

 

 

Oh I should definitely check that out! Thank you

[subbes]

Thinking I could remove the section from a BCHR Mabie Todd Swan myself.

 

The tiny little "crack" noise was almost undetectable by the ear, but I felt it deep in my heart.

[bicfan]

Drawing my Noodler's Piston Fill pen too vigourously from its cap . . . Sheaffer Blue-Black ink stain on my shirt. Was a tough one to remove.