How Do You Organize Your Pens?

[ethernautrix]

Wow! Impressive collections impressively displayed or stored!

 

I had the same thought as sexauerw about earthquake country.

[USMCMom]

I purchased an antique spool Cabinet at a local auction several months ago and planned to convert it into a pen case. I've been in the process of moving, but managed to finish the conversion today. This is now "home" for all my pens. It will easily hold well over 300, which I HOPE takes me a long, long time!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Rae]

oooh, USMCMom, I'd love to see bigger pics of that - it looks fabulous!

[Deb T]

I work in what was formerly known as the Slide Library - a collection of 2x2" glass mounted slides used for teaching Art History, etc. We've recently gone digital and are converting many of our slides into digital images.

 

The slides are stored in steel cabinets with narrow drawers. My collection used the Luxor brand but many other collections used Nu-Made. When we finally dispose of our slide collection, I hope to snag one or two cabinets for my pen collection. Right now, one cabinet would hold my entire collection (about 40 pens). If you work at a college or have a contact with an Art History department, you might see if they need to dispose of their slide cabinets. There are wooden cabinets -- usually converted library card catalog drawers. Some departments may sell on Ebay.

 

These cabinets are expensive new. Used ones may be battered, but the drawers are a perfect size for fountain pens.

[niccig]

I love seeing everyone's organization methods! Alas, I don't have enough pens to really need an organization system yet. I have 5, tucked away in my homemade pen roll (there's a RB to fill an empty spot). I have several cups/painted terracotta pots at home and work to corral the giveaway BPs, Sharpies, highlighters, etc.

 

[da vinci]

I use Jonro's database that's free for the downloading here. I believe it's the first pinned message in the Writing Instruments section which would be the one we're in now. It's really well done and has entries for just about anything you want to know about your collection.

 

+1 for me. In terms of storage I have them spread around random boxes, the drawer of an antique desk stand. my office and my brief case.

[USMCMom]

I use a vintage wooden spool cabinet that I bought at a local auction.

[hoche]

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

 

http://www.jonathanveley.com/images/stories/pencils/p1010724.jpg

 

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.

 

Old printers cabinets are great, too. With the dividers removed, what doesn't fit on the wall fits neatly in there.

 

wow, It more then what i saw in the pen shop.

Edited May 13, 2011 by hoche

[BamaPen]

I keep my pens in a variety of cigar boxes that I have modified for pen storage. They are all stacked in a cabinet above my desk. Desk sets and current users are either on the desk or in a pen case for carrying with me. You can see some of my boxes for sale in the Classifieds in the Pen and Paper Paraphenalia section.

 

I use the downloadable database from here on FPN and keep up with date, cost, and condition, plus any repairs I've done or had done to a particular pen. My total collection is a touch over 100 and includes some pencils that match the pens.

 

BamaPen

[StyloBug33]

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/fc0e79e0.jpg

 

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/d5ffe6c6.jpg

[USMCMom]

Here's one, Rae .... There are 6 drawers, each holds about 50 pens. The top lifts and many, many more can be stored there also, but right now, I have boxes and some of the boxes hold pens until I can get them transferred into their new home. There's an inkwell on the top at the upper right corner, with glass insert.

 

 

 

 

[da vinci]

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/fc0e79e0.jpg

 

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/d5ffe6c6.jpg

 

 

Thats a nice looking collection and storage facility!

 

Can you say a little more about it? It looks like a chest with a slide out writing desk? Does the slide out piece have any legs or support under it, or does it have to be used on a desk or table top?

[corniche]

Greetings Drafting Pencil, et al,

 

I have a fairly simple collection of around 25 to 30 pens; the handful that are currently inked and being used, I keep in felt lined coffee mugs in my bedroom and office. The balance of the collection is stored horizontally in felt lined ring boxes that I bought from HSN; they are stored both by brand and by chronological order.

 

I'm posting this late because it took me a couple of days to recover from seeing Jon's "Wall of Pens."

 

All the best,

 

Sean

[Rae]

Here's one, Rae .... There are 6 drawers, each holds about 50 pens. The top lifts and many, many more can be stored there also, but right now, I have boxes and some of the boxes hold pens until I can get them transferred into their new home. There's an inkwell on the top at the upper right corner, with glass insert.

 

 

Oh, that is just beautiful. Thank you very much for the extra photos!

[StyloBug33]

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/fc0e79e0.jpg

 

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/stylobug33/d5ffe6c6.jpg

 

 

Thats a nice looking collection and storage facility!

 

Can you say a little more about it? It looks like a chest with a slide out writing desk? Does the slide out piece have any legs or support under it, or does it have to be used on a desk or table top?

 

Thank you!

 

It is a wooden tool chest from Harbor Freight. It is nice and you can often find coupons. I have it sitting on a little side table. It is actually smaller than I expected, but I still have about 90 pens in it. I didn't put in the divider trays, so that probably helps increase the capacity.

 

If you click on the link to my blog in my signature, there are more photos, etc.

[ANM]

That reminds me. In addition to the two Gerstner chests that I have I also have a spool chest but only two or three of them have pens in them. The rest are pen parts and tools.

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/matthewsno/DSCF2936.jpg

Edited May 14, 2011 by ANM

[Dark_Severus]

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

 

http://www.jonathanveley.com/images/stories/pencils/p1010724.jpg

 

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.

 

Old printers cabinets are great, too. With the dividers removed, what doesn't fit on the wall fits neatly in there.

 

I'm in awe...especially after coming here straight from a thread entitled: Going back to using only one pen: How do you decide?

[Kelly G]

My fp accumulation of primarily vintage pens is somewhere beyond 250 - I stopped counting and don't really keep records of the pens; perhaps someday. I have used various methods for storage but am now using a couple of converted DMC embroidery floss cabinets. See this ebay auction for an example.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUPER-NICE-DMC-THREAD-FLOSS-CABINET-3-DRAWER-VINTAGE-/170639032533?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bae100d5#ht_500wt_1156

Mine are a bit older but the same style. I removed the floss inserts and put in pen slotter trays, two layers to a drawer. One drawer holds a few pens in cases and can be used for expansion. I tend to organize by brand.

[USMCMom]

My fp accumulation of primarily vintage pens is somewhere beyond 250 - I stopped counting and don't really keep records of the pens; perhaps someday. I have used various methods for storage but am now using a couple of converted DMC embroidery floss cabinets. See this ebay auction for an example.

http://cgi.ebay.com/...5#ht_500wt_1156

Mine are a bit older but the same style. I removed the floss inserts and put in pen slotter trays, two layers to a drawer. One drawer holds a few pens in cases and can be used for expansion. I tend to organize by brand.

 

I purchased one of those cabinets from a quilt shop that was remodeling. It's a nice cabinet and used to keep some of my thread.

[FLJeepGuy]

Here we go, the case is a Gerstner International GI-532 with matching GI-B532 in red oak:

 

Top - Ink

1 - Ink Drop cards, business cards, paperwork, etc.

2 - Spare converters, cartridges, syringes, etc.

3 - Pens waiting on repair

4 - Miscellaneous repair supplies and tools (tweezers, shellac, silicone, loupe, sacs, etc.)

5,6,7 - Pen storage for 13 pens per drawer

8,9 - Pen storage for 32 pens per drawer

10 - Boxes, spare nibs, misc. large items and tools

11,12 - Notepads and miscellaneous paper items

13 - Pen storage for 34 pens

14 - Watches, Jewelery, other ephemera

 

Total dedicated pen storage as configured (i.e. - drawers with inserts not counting drawer 3) is 137. The drawers are lined with GoPens.com 12x16 Slotted Display Trays cut to 6x16 to fit the 7" deep drawers.