Pen Rotation

[spaceink]

I just made a spreadsheet to keep track of my pens' info. On the leftmost column is an Inked Status column showing when it was last inked and if it's currently in rotation, what ink is inside. That way, I'll know if I haven't used one in a while. A good way to know which to pop back into the inked rotation.

 

Pretty anal, I admit, but I'm definitely not that way in other parts of life and being so detailed for this is kind of fun.

Edited March 26, 2015 by spaceink

[FredRydr]

Right now there's a dozen pens in the rack on my desk with various nibs, filled with a variety of inks. Except for a couple of pens that are permanently available , when a pen runs dry, I flush it, dry it and select another. This is what the rack looked like not too long ago. I can say that the rack encourages having many pens inked and ready to write.

 

Fred

 

Edited March 26, 2015 by FredRydr

[tmenyc]

Sasha -- love your logic, but I have two daughters and no sons. Now what do I do?

 

Spaceink -- no more anal than the rest of us. Of course I have a spreadsheet of all my pens and their status, but the only way I can keep track of which ink is in which is by putting the team that's on the floor and their inks in my signature. See below; it changes regularly.

 

Tim

[spaceink]

I even keep track of the ink by changing the status cell color to something that closely resembles the ink's.

 

Nice idea with the sig, Tim. I may have to copycat.

Edited March 26, 2015 by spaceink

[tmenyc]

I even keep track of the ink by changing the status cell color to something that closely resembles the ink's.

 

Nice idea with the sig, Tim. I may have to copycat.

You're welcome to it ... although I can't remember, I surely took it from someone else.

 

Tim

[basterma]

I have my collection in an assortment of boxes some of the pens came in. The boxes have a designated order and I move the pens through them with one box being the first in order. One pen is pulled from that box at a time and used for one fill or cartridge at a time. Once the ink is used up, the pen gets flushed and left to dry and the next one gets pulled from box number one. When the flushed pen is dry, I proceed to bump one pen through to each box until I replenish the "first" box.

[Dronak]

When I started getting into fountain pens, I only had one use so I used it all the time. Then I got a few more, and tried using all of them. The only problem was that I wasn't writing very much at that time, so I ended up cleaning and storing all but one. I used that one for the vast majority of my writing until recently, when I got a few more pens. I'm also writing more now, so I've inked up the other pens and am trying to use all the ones I own. That's a bit of background to say I am using multiple pens, but probably not as much as some others here. As for your questions:

 

(1) Assuming I have time to do so, I currently tend to change pens every time I need to take notes or write something. If there are a lot of meetings at work, I might use a number of pens that day. If not, maybe one or even none if there's nothing I really need to write that day.

 

(2) Keeping the ink flowing in all of the pens is probably the main issue for me. With the amount I'm writing now and how often I change pens, it's not a huge concern, but it's something I try to keep in mind. I don't think there's any particularly special maintenance issues beyond what I normally do for my FPs, as long as the ink's flowing.

 

(3) I guess it takes some conscious effort to ensure that I use my less favored pens, but that's not too hard for me right now. I don't have a ton of pens, so if I realize I haven't used a particular one for a while, that encourages me to use it sooner rather than later. If it gets hard to use all of my pens semi-regularly though, for whatever reason, I'll probably end up cleaning and storing a few, kind of like I did in the past. I'd rather work with a reduced set than have ink dry up in the pens and potentially cause problems. Should I do that, I might consider changing the pens in my working set now and then so I still get to use them all, just in a different way, but that might also depend on why I withdraw the pens in the first place. If a pen just doesn't write very well for me, I think it's more likely to stay in storage; I might try to replace it with a different model from the same brand though, too.

 

I hope this is of some help.

[JLZenor]

You guys are scaring me a little... What have I gotten myself into? I imagine that soon I'll have to buy multiple pens and inks just to play around and try things out.

 

Well, dang. Nevermind. i just bought a fine nib Metropolitan to accompany my medium nib. The pen hoarding has already started...

[bemon]

I could probably use some motivation to this effect too. I have 25-30 fountain pens, and probably that number again in high quality/value ball points. Most of my fountain pens sit un-inked and I regularly use 4. A Pilot VP is my regular go to. Then I've got a Cross Century ii always with one black ink or another, and a Waterman Carene always with Waterman Blue. Finally, a cheapy Kaweco Sport that I can toss into a duffel bag when I travel.

 

I like to think my other pens are well protected from day to day dings and scratches at home, but I despite being kept in a safe space I wonder what the elements are doing to them. Maybe it's time to establish a rotation.

[WaskiSquirrel]

For several decades I was a one-pen guy, and it was always inked with black. In college, I added a backup pen (also inked in black), but still basically one pen.

 

When my collection started growing, I had no system and I still don't. There is one pen which is my daily writer. It is inked several times a week all year and only gets cleaned about once a year. (Lamy 2000) The other pens float in and out and contain various colors. I try to have one pen for marking student work, but I'm not real choosy about color except that it has to show up. I like to have a broad nib for letter writing as well. Otherwise, it's based on what pen I may have reviewed that week and whatever else caught my interest.

 

Certain pens don't leave the house, but that's another issue. If I'm not writing with a particular pen, that's an indicator that I don't want it. These pens are usually given away. I try to limit my collection to those pens I like and use.

 

I clean only when changing ink color or putting a pen away. Sometimes they'll sit a while before I get around to cleaning them.

 

 

Many thanks for your responses. Some follow up questions: What is the risk of deterioration do to infrequent use? And what indicates that deterioration is occuring?

 

Others can probably address this better. But, the main risks would be sunlight, storing a pen and letting the ink dry in it, dampness, and extreme temperatures. Under normal conditions, I imagine the parts most at risk would be the rubber gaskets. They can deteriorate over time. Vintage pens might add some additional challenges.

[wjeverly]

I don't have a regular rotation routine. I always have at least one pen each inked in red, black, blue, brown, and maybe something else a little more exotic, like a green or burgundy. The pens on my desk tend to stay there for indefinite periods of time until I acquire new ones, or get lonely for old favorites that have been put away.

 

At some point I get embarrassed by the number of pens on my desk and start putting some away for another day...

[aderoy]

For me it is two pens inked for daily use. One with Black, the other with Blue ink. Hard not the have 'one pen to rule them all' i.e. always in rotation.

 

Rarely there will be a third pen with brown or iron gall ink depending on mood.

 

Not the most exciting pen person I guess

[Mister5]

I've purchased so many pens lately that it seems to be what's the latest and greatest. But in the interim where I wasn't binging it seemed to be that I'd have two pens inked, usually the Franklin Christoph 02 Medium Stub, and then another with a finer nib. I'll probably gravitate towards having the FC needle point or another extra fine as pen #1 and a broader nib as pen #2 once I stabilize from recent acquisitions. The Platinum Plaisir with an EF from a Preppy remains my knockaround pen.

[PenPaper52]

 

I have about 10 fp inked up. Different makes, nibs and inks.

 

Most of the pens I use daily are inexpensive school pens. NOS Waterman, rOtring, Reform, Schneider, Sheaffer and Pelican. Then there is a Parker Frontier, Parker Vector, my ROtring art pen, Joy calligraphy set and of late an Osmiroid calligraphy set and an On line Newood calligraphy set. I write a lot of cards and letters every day so I use the pens I have mentioned and a few Chinese pens that I have come to really like a lot

 

My more "expensive" pens don't get used that much.

A FC Loom, two Lamy Studio, a Diplomat Aero, a Levenger Techno, and a Green Ebonite pen with a wonderful 1.5 stub nib. The last mentioned pen is the only one I use on a regular bases.

 

Don't rotate much. Basically I use most of them all the time. The ones I don't use are clean and stored away.

[inkstainedruth]

You guys are scaring me a little... What have I gotten myself into? I imagine that soon I'll have to buy multiple pens and inks just to play around and try things out.

 

Well, dang. Nevermind. i just bought a fine nib Metropolitan to accompany my medium nib. The pen hoarding has already started...

 

Hah! Clearly our work here is done.... Almost, anyway....

I'll admit that my file listing the pens that are inked up is not *quite* as OCD as space link's -- I use the same bright color (magenta) to make the inked pens easier to spot against the black text. But I do use other colors to highlight other pens (like the ones that are missing/lost ). Oh, and aqua blue if the pen got "named" (yes, I do name pens as the spirit moves and a good(ish) name occurs to me -- for instance, the Emerald Pearl Vac somehow got named "Spot", as a twist on an old daily cartoon strip where the family dog, which was spotted, was called "Stripe"; the Plum 51 is "Velma").

The inventory list is a bit more colorful -- black for the listing and description, green for when I got the pen, red to remind me that the pen might (or does) need repairs and that will have to get added to the cost, and plum for what I paid (including sales tax, shipping, and repair costs (at which point the red stuff gets deleted). Vintage pens are listed in italic, and I've got notations about whether pens have 14K nibs, if I think the pen needs repairs, etc. Mind you, I have separate inventory files as well -- a spreadsheet charting price trends (I still have more pens under $100 US than over , and nothing $200 or more); and a list by year of when I got the pens (with a fancy star for the ones that were freebies: prizes; PiFs; exchanges; etc).

At one point recently, I thought I had started a chart tracking the overall price points as a bar graph and pie chart (X% were in the $25-50 range, etc.) but I seem not to have saved that (it's one of those things in iNumbers that I normally never use).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

Edited January 20, 2017 by inkstainedruth

[dms525]

I generally have 10 to 30 (Yes. Three Zero.) pens inked. They have different nibs and inks. And they are different sizes. (Some shirt pockets won't accommodate larger pens.) When I have new (to me) pens, I usually test them with several inks, until I find a really good match for the nib and for the color of the pen. I usually rotate when a pen runs dry.

 

I keep track of inked pens with an Evernote table. The column headings are date (of the last fill), pen/nib, ink (with comments) and comments (on previously tried inks and maybe what inks I want to try next in that pen).

 

I also use Evernote notes for ink swab collections, one note per manufacturer, nibs that might need tuning, a complete inventory of my collection, folks I want to connect with at pen shows. I find Evernote very useful. It's on all my devices. No affiliation, etc.

 

David

[Scootz]

I have a 3-pen case, so I keep 3 three pens inked and in daily use at work and home; typically an F, M and B. If I had a larger pen case, I'd have more pens in daily rotation; if I had a smaller pen case, I'd give it away and get a larger one. The fine gets either a red or orange ink for editing, or something dark for note taking, while the medium and broad get whatever strikes my fancy (good odds on a purple). Another 1 or 2 pens with flex nibs are inked but stay home, and are just for fun. The 3 daily use pens are rotated when they run dry, which is usually 1-3 weeks. I work my way through my ~50 pens over time, consciously trying to pick something I haven't used recently. Each time I ink a pen, I jot down the pen and ink in a small notebook.

 

The current daily pens:

Sheaffer Signature, fine, Organics Studio Poe

Pelikan 100, manifold medium, J Herbin Poussiere de Lune

Franklin Christoph #66 Stabilis, broad italic, Diamine Blue Velvet

 

and flex pens:

Desiderata Daedulus, Zebra G, Iroshizuku Kon-peki

Eversharp Air-lite, DeAtramentis Blue Steel

[Mister5]

Normally I have 3-4 pens inked up. The problem arises when I foolishly eyedropper one (thank you Franklin Christoph) or get some new pens. Of course they all "need" to get inked up, and then it takes a lot longer for those pens to fall collectively out of rotation.

 

Usually I'll have a beater pen (Platinum Plaisir), one Piston filler, a stub (often FC 02 med stub, and one random pen inked up.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Mister5

[Cocobird]

I have about 12. My Pilot Metro stays in my purse. The rest are inked, and don't leave the house. I do some journaling every day, and rotate using them. They have all started up right away, except for my Visconti Merry-Go-Round. I did some investigation, and found a big air bubble close to the nib that was stopping the ink to go through. I worked it with the converter, and it disappeared. So far pen rights fine again.