Warm & Oily Pens Or Is It Just Me

[huy3825]

Call me weird but we all have our little OCD secrets, after all we're pen fanatics.

 

I absolutely hate people touching my Lamy Safari because they always leave it feeling warm. It's a different warm feeling from leaving it in the car or picking it up right after putting it down.

And it's even worst when I use my Parker Urban Ballpoint (because I can flick this pen without the fear of ink going splat). When I let other people use it, instead of telling them that I'm OCD over pens, I end up having a warm pen (sometimes even oily GRR). The warm and oiliness is worsened by the fact that it is a metal pen.

Soo... How do you fanatics solve the warm pen issue for pens other than FP. I can solve the oily issue by using the cloth for my glasses but I can't seem to lug around liquid nitrogen. And this is a real annoyance because I start to drift off school work and onto the fact that my pen is warm... >

[logantrky]

WD-40 and a mini ice pack in your pen case.

 

No disrespect, my wife is OCD. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a solution, unless you carry disposable pens for people to borrow.

[lynxcat]

if anyone ever asked to borrow my pens i'd probably carry a disposable ballpoint just for that purpose, and i'm not even OCD about my pens. i just see no reason why i should let strangers mess with things i bought more because i enjoy using them than for any other reason; they can buy their own fancy pens, in my opinion.

[basterma]

I buy sets of pens so I can loan out the ballpoint or rollerball to the uninitiated.

[casualmerlinconstant]

My solutions is simple. whenever people try to borrow my pen: "NO. STAY AWAY FROM THE PEN"

[ac12]

As other said, have a 2nd pen for others to use, either a fountain pen, roller ball or ball point.

Do not let them use your fountain pen...learn to say NO, and hand them the 2nd pen.

[scrivelry]

I can see where you might not want to come across as finicky. On the other hand, I can see that this is a problem for you.

 

I think an extra-nice way to do this is to carry around a Varsity Pilot or a Bic Disposible, and maybe a good ole got-on-cheap-by-the-dozen stick pen. If someone just wants to write something, hand them the stick pen.

 

If someone seems interested in fountain pens, or your pen in particular, lend them the disposible and if they seem not to understand why say "The other one can occasionally get finicky - this one is pretty bomb-proof." That way it does not reflect on you, does not reflect on them, does not make all fountain pens seem "difficult" or "messy" but does keep their warm, greasy mitts offen your stuff.

 

(You can probably say it occasionally gets finicky with perfect truth because just about anything does, occasionally, have a fussy moment. Or have something about it that makes your own fussy moment critical )

 

If they like it, it can open up a discussion of fountain pens and you may make a convert! At that point, you can say, "fountain pens and fountain pen people can be pretty interesting - all types of both. I like my pens to be cold until my own hand warms them so I never loan them, but you can: Buy one like it (name favorite or local source,) or try one at (name local pen store, if you are so blessed as to have one).

 

We all have our quirks and since not liking a warm pen is not something that could ever hurt anyone else I think it's probably a waste of energy to try to train yourself out of it, or to worry about it. Just decide on a strategy, mine or your own or any other mentioned here, and then just go with it as a default. You'll stay un-aggravated and no one ever has to know unless you desperately want to tell them...

 

By the way, you can probably get people to stop asking to borrow your ball point if you consistently lend them a disposible fountain pen when they do...

 

T

[Inkling13]

I wouldn't lend out my pens for the simple reason that they can destroy it in the 5 seconds it takes for them to try and write something. It's not like I enjoy having my prized possessions damaged by random strangers... and about that whole oily thing, you might want help with that cause it's all in your head. Do you not make your own pens warm and oily/moist with use? I suppose pens are best like underwear... it's not for sharing.

[PAKMAN]

The easiest solution for something like this is to not loan out your pens at all!

[huy3825]

Ouch, returning to the days of disposable pens... Cool I'll keep that in mind and get a dozen pack of horrible pens just to annoy everyone

[Centopar]

It kind of *is* just you, but that doesn't mean you should make yourself miserable by putting up with it. Have a loaner pen in your pen roll: I do (because of fear of someone breaking one of mine, not because of body temp/dirt issues), and it suits me and whoever wants to borrow a pen just fine.

[ac12]

I like the idea of a disposable fountain pen to let someone else borrow.

Then if they don't like fountain pens, maybe they will stop asking you for a pen.

[inkstainedruth]

I'll admit that I don't understand the issue about the pen being "warm" when it's returned. I mean, I don't know about Safaris -- but for pens that are made out of ebonite the warm feeling is a selling point. I waffled for a long time about whether to spend the extra $20 and buy an ebonite Konrad over another one of the resin body ones, but was so glad that I did.

Returned to you "oily" or perhaps sweaty is another matter altogether. I'm not a germaphobe (sp?) per se, but I'm just enough OCD (plus have taken food sanitation courses) to think that's not 100% sanitary....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth