How Do You Organize Your Pens?

[paul91hughes]

Until about a month ago, my pens were organized thrown in my bag when I leave the house.

 

I then Purchased a clear pencil case, of which I got for 25pence.

 

Then I decided that I should be nice to my pens and buy them a wallet. This one

 

The wallet annoyed me; I could only fill it 1/4 to 1/2 of the way. I then decided this was way too organised for my likings and reverted back to the pencil case. :roflmho:

Edited March 21, 2011 by paul91hughes

[ANM]

My dad was a machinist and I inherited his tool chest from the 1930's. About 15 or 20 years ago I bought another new one. It's nothing like that wall of pens but I keep mine mostly in here, brand names separate in the drawers except for a couple of misc. pen drawers.

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/matthewsno/DSCF2768.jpghttp://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/matthewsno/DSCF2769.jpg

Edited March 21, 2011 by ANM

[paul91hughes]

The day you find yourself literally surrounded by pens and actually contemplating buying shelves for storage of said pens, that my friends is the day to admit you own FAR too many pens!

 

 

Edited March 21, 2011 by paul91hughes

[ANM]

Please explain the concept of Too Many Pens. I don't comprehend that idea.

[USMCMom]

Please explain the concept of Too Many Pens. I don't comprehend that idea.

 

I don't understand either. Isn't that like having too much money, too much chocolate, too much air?? LOL

[Lindab709]

Too many pens? I would have no idea how many that would be.

 

I don't know how many pens I have. After years of collecting, I'm finally finding the time to organize them. I started by putting all the same brand together, then I go through that box and put the same model/color together. I'm weeding out the duplicates as I go, though for vintage pens, there aren't a lot of exact duplicates. I have put some pens in wooden pen cases with multiple drawers. Others are in plastic bags and cardboard boxes. Some are in leather pen portfolios.

 

I don't have a written inventory, but took photos of everything in 2005 and am doing that again.

[DrPJM1]

I keep mine in a couple of converted cigar boxes. The Sheaffer's are organized by year of manufacture.

[stevlight]

50 pens

5 drawers of a pen cabinet that hold 10 pens each

First drawer Mont Blancs

Second Drawer Pelikans

Third drawer Edison pens Aurora and two indian eyedroppers

Fourth drawer Vintage flex

Fifth drawer Sailor and nostalgic "first" fountain pens and tools.

This is what the cabinet looks like:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/4619380633_d38b54c696.jpg

 

The Mont Blanc drawer:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/4619994848_9509534888.jpg

[USMCMom]

50 pens

5 drawers of a pen cabinet that hold 10 pens each

First drawer Mont Blancs

Second Drawer Pelikans

Third drawer Edison pens Aurora and two indian eyedroppers

Fourth drawer Vintage flex

Fifth drawer Sailor and nostalgic "first" fountain pens and tools.

This is what the cabinet looks like:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/4619380633_d38b54c696.jpg

 

The Mont Blanc drawer:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/4619994848_9509534888.jpg

 

I have one of those pen cabinets and I love it ... so well made. Problem is, I've out grown it. LOL I'm converting an antique spool cabinet into my new pen box. Should take me a pretty good while to out grown that one ... it's huge! Well ... I hope so anyway.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

The ones I actively use:

In my breast pocket. From my right to my left (your left to your right, facing me):

1. Dome-top blue Pelikan M200 (EF, blue ink)

2. Dome-top black/charcoal Pelikan M150 (M, black ink)

3. Crown-top red-demo Pelikan M200 (F, red ink)

4. Crown-top green Pelikan M200 (F, green ink)

5. Heavily customized Pelikano, red with the remains of a coat of brown paint, and an aluminum converter extension handle sticking out the butt-end (brown ink)

6. AAA mini-MagLite

 

Keeping them in that order, and coordinating the barrel color with the ink color, makes it easy for me to grab the right one the first time.

 

 

The ones I don't actively use are in various desk drawers:

 

1. My dad's old Parker 51 FP/pencil set, in the same box as my own Parker BP/pencil set

2. At least 2 Osmiroid 65 lever-fills, one with an Italic nib

3. The remains of a blue worn out (!) dome-top Pelikan M200 with a shattered fill knob

4. Probably, somewhere, a cracked Osmiroid 75 (Pelikan-style plunger-fill)

5. Probably, somewhere, one of those $2 cartridge-only Sheaffers

6. The Parker 25 that I refuse to use.

 

Also various spare nibs, mostly Osmiroid (hey, they were cheap, and if I ever get an Esterbrook . . .), with maybe one or two (gold-plated steel) Pelikans.

Edited March 22, 2011 by hbquikcomjamesl

[jonveley]

Wow, Jon! Uh... who does the dusting?

 

Heh... I'm on my own for that. Whenever I add something I have to scoot the others down, so I just make a point to have rag in hand when I do!

[jonveley]

My dad was a machinist and I inherited his tool chest from the 1930's. About 15 or 20 years ago I bought another new one.

 

Love those. Great way to repurpose!

[kathleen]

<br />I organized mine on a wall.  2 shelves Eversharp, 1 Parker and Waterman, 1 Sheaffer, then the rest alphabetized by manufacturer:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.jonathanveley.com/images/stories/pencils/p1010724.jpg" /><br /><br />Then I used content management software (CMS) with my web page and created the mechanical pencil museum, half as a resource to others and half to keep things straight in my own mind.<br /><br />Old printers cabinets are great, too.  With the dividers removed, what doesn't fit on the wall fits neatly in there.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

 

I definitely think you need to buy a few more pens. That bottom shelf on the left appears empty, and on each shelf I see some unfilled spaces. What keeps them standing and not falling forward to the floor?

[ANM]

I didn't say that after I organize by brand in a drawer, I attempt to arrange them, more or less by age and or by style.

Edited March 22, 2011 by ANM

[stefanv]

The ones I actively use:

In my breast pocket. From my right to my left (your left to your right, facing me):

1. Dome-top blue Pelikan M200 (EF, blue ink)

2. Dome-top black/charcoal Pelikan M150 (M, black ink)

3. Crown-top red-demo Pelikan M200 (F, red ink)

4. Crown-top green Pelikan M200 (F, green ink)

5. Heavily customized Pelikano, red with the remains of a coat of brown paint, and an aluminum converter extension handle sticking out the butt-end (brown ink)

6. AAA mini-MagLite

 

Keeping them in that order, and coordinating the barrel color with the ink color, makes it easy for me to grab the right one the first time.

 

So the MagLite is in case you have to choose the right coloured pen in the dark?

[JonSzanto]

Keeping them in that order, and coordinating the barrel color with the ink color, makes it easy for me to grab the right one the first time.

Just out of curiosity, what would be the negative ramifications in the event you "grab the wrong one"?

 

 

 

[MarkAL]

These collections are awesome. Very cool! I have 7 pens and I keep them either in my bedside drawer or in a jumbled pile on the kitchen counter. I'm just waiting for my Pelikan 200 to fall in the disposal of my sink and get eaten up.

[RockFL]

QUOTE: "I organized mine on a wall. 2 shelves Eversharp, 1 Parker and Waterman, 1 Sheaffer, then the rest alphabetized by manufacturer."

 

WOW! Love the organization and the collection is beautiful! Thanks for the quote, USMCMom, and the photo, jonveley.

 

I must confess that I copied/pasted the photo and sent an email to my family. I hope this will convince them my meager collection of 10 pens in a Levenger display box is not, in fact, excessive (or obsessive).**

 

 

** Not that yours is, either. Color me WAY envious!

 

 

Edited to correctly attribute the owner of the pen wall and thank USMCMom for a great response when asked how many is too many.

Edited March 22, 2011 by RockFL

[USMCMom]

QUOTE: "I organized mine on a wall. 2 shelves Eversharp, 1 Parker and Waterman, 1 Sheaffer, then the rest alphabetized by manufacturer."

 

WOW! Love the organization and the collection is beautiful! Thanks for this, USMCMom.

 

I must confess that I copied/pasted the photo and sent an email to my family. I hope this will convince them my meager collection of 10 pens in a Levenger display box is not, in fact, excessive (or obsessive).**

 

 

** Not that yours is, either. Color me WAY envious!

 

Excessive or obsessive? No ... not even! LOL You have done well in the department of self-discipline. I joined FPN just shortly before you did and I've out grown my 50 pen case. LOL

[nxn96]

Probably had I realized how far this was going to go, I would have been better organized from the get-go. Therefore, what I've "developed" is more a haphazard "system" that keeps what I have from decending into chaos.

 

I started out looking for one, maybe two, Parker "51"s; in part to see what all the to-do was about, but also to broaden the small rotation of pens (mostly Sonnets) that I was using on a regular basis. Next thing I knew, I was buying one of those felt-lined leather pen portfolios to hold the growing "collection" of "51"s I had accumulated...

 

Then there was the Autopoint salesman's sample case I saw on eBay- just the thing to help me organize the cigar-box full of Autopoint fps, mps and bps that I had accumulated over time...

 

Then there was the upright drop-front desk that belonged to my grandmother that I inherited- just the thing to hold my growing collection of portfolios holding what started out as a couple of "51"s....

 

Well, you get the idea.

 

By the way, in terms of lists, I've tried that a couple of times, but not consistently. What I will do from time to time is to compile a list of what I might consider selling, trading or giving away- essentially those I acquired and later lost interest in, those that came as part of a "package deal" that wasn't the part of the package I was after, or those that are pretty much duplicates of other things I have. That list probably does more to keep any general order than anything else I've tried or developed.