Worst Fountain Pen Mistake?

[Blade Runner]

About six years ago, losing a Pelikan pen case with two Pelikan 200s and a Pelikan 400 in the back seat of a DC cab. Kids, don't carry your pen cases in your pants pockets. Talk about learning the hard way.

I recommend afixing a label (for example Brother makes some nice label makers) to the inside of your pen cases. Then there's a chance.

[fabumisskbw]

I was trying to clean out my twsbi and I just washed my twsbi nib, piston, and that little black thing that turns the the piston into my sink.

[79spitfire]

I was trying to clean out my twsbi and I just washed my twsbi nib, piston, and that little black thing that turns the the piston into my sink.

Been there done that!

 

They should be in the trap (the u-bend under the sink) get a bucket and some pliers and pull it off!

[Painterspal]

I accidently pulled the cap off a modern Conway Stewart once, which of course was supposed to unscrew. I remember looking at it and thinking "how did that just happen?" Quess I don't know my own strength.

[junoro]

Taking so long to realize that it's all about matching ink to nib to paper.

 

 

+1

[Dylan]

Thinking that there is "one special pen" that will meet all my pen needs and once I have it I will stop buying more....

[fountainpenjunkie]

I have two:

While cleaning the nib and section of a new Waterman, I shook it a few times to get the excess water off - it slipped out of my fingers and crashed into the sink, bending the nib over quite neatly.

 

The second mistake really hurt. My dear friend bought a beautiful (teethmarks and all) blue Estie 'J' for $2 at an antique shop, while on a business trip in Indiana. I decided to try my first sac repair on that pen. All went well until I started to assemble the body to the section. For some reason I wanted to do this slowly. I turned on the TV and started moving the section gently into the body while watching TV. I heard a "snap" and looked down to see the section angles off at 45 degrees. "Oh (bleep)!" upon inspection, I'd cracked the body. Pen works great has a wonderfully smooth nib. Can't believe I damaged it.

[AlexLeGrande]

I purchased a Waterman Le Mans Opera from Farhey's for $100.00, and returned it because it leaked, but realizing that the converter was notorious for leaking. Try replacing that big boy for $100.00

[Ryan S]

My biggest mistake was letting my teacher use my Lamy 2000 to show me how to solve a problem. She utterly destroyed the nib. Actually wrote with it upside down. I could hear it scratching.. ah it was terrible haha.

[xuan87]

Worst mistake for me is putting nibs in my ultrasonic cleaner for too long, cos the plating ended up coming off. Luckily those pens are cheap...

[PointyThings]

Lots of "doh!" moments repairing pens.

 

Worst one I can recall was heating a perfect oversized jade Sheaffer flattop barrel so I could expand the barrel opening a tiny bit to accept a slightly larger section. The heat caused the barrel opening to shrink like a Shrinky Dink (remember those?), rendering it useless.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I've been remarkably blessed and lucky.

 

No real major pen incidents for me use wise.

 

A couple heat related repair oopsies, one of which was still able to be used and a cracked Estie barrel. Thankfully the pluses there far outweigh the minuses.

 

One close call was leaving my TOP 5 users pen case at Staples and getting about two miles away when they called

and said they had my pens (label inside the case with my phone #), I was already heading back at warp speed having figured it out myself.

 

I guess the one real bad one I can take full credit for was losing (what I didn't know at the time was) a Parker 51 Demi given to me by my father. I was about 13 at the time and thought it was plain and stodgy looking compared to my cool colored see thru Sheaffers. :bonk: I did manage to find one exactly like it a couple years ago, but it's not quite the same.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[ticoun]

dropping the section of my Penusa genesis on the ground the other day, in the math class. only a few scratches on the steel section though.

[Camander_Bun_Bun]

Leaving my MB Cool Blue on my desk in class, my friend's who were fascinated by me using a fountain pen decided to look at it and dropped it on the ground. They damaged the nib and I was out of warrenty...They replaced it for free however since I'm the youngest person that uses their pens apparently.

[savingbirds]

Yes Amyx231, resin is merely plastic............with a $40 name. Thanks

 

Yes indeed.

Only when used in pens!

[reprieve]

Worst mistake? I don't know. There was that time I spilled the better part of an entire bottle of ink and spent the following three hours scrubbing the floor and the walls and the doors and the cabinets with bleach. And then there was that time I managed to launch my Pilot 823 amber demonstrator (with a perfect 0.7mm cursive italic nib ground by Richard Binder) across my bathroom. It hit the ceramic tile floor at high speed and broke into pieces. I eventually replaced the pen (and the new nib from Richard is just as nice as the old one). That one is probably my most expensive pen-related mistake. And then there was that time I thought I would increase the flow of my Aurora Optima's nib (why? it was a great writer! why did I do it?)... yeah, that one still needs to be fixed by a nibmeister.

[alsha11]

Tied for first place:

 

1) Bought a Namiki Vanishing Point off eBay. The medium nib is too fine for my tastes (I mentioned this to the owner of a pen shop in Chicago who said the VP was his most popular pen; he said the Japanese pens are often that way), I find the refilling finicky (managed to dislodge the spring the first time I went to fill it; I was able to fix it, but at first panicked and wrote to Pilot/Namiki and they said I wouldn't be able to fix it on my own and they would want $25 to do it!), and it never sits in my hand nicely.

 

I'd be happy to sell it for $80 - blue - including shipping. I haven't posted enough to be able to sell it in Marketplace. Sigh.

 

2) Less expensive mistake: accidentally bought a Montblanc converter for $21 off eBay (clicked on the wrong thing) and I have no Montblanc pens. Anyone need a Montblanc converter? Or can I use it in another pen?

 

Sigh.

[Dutchpen]

trading my pelikan M800 & M1000 classic pens limited edition set...

 

still regret it today.

[Jack Thorpe]

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.

[blemt]

Gosh-I never imagined this topic to be sooo popular!

 

Can I just say that as a new FP owner, I find this thread incredibly useful as a what not to do?