One Pen For Life

[thatotherguy1]

[snip]

 

Is anyone here really trying to get down (or back) to one pen and one ink for ever?

 

I know I'm not. My collection is growing all the time. The question wasn't really meant as a serious question or as a way for me (or, really, anyone else) to find a single, one, lifetime, never need another pen or ink. It was meant as a reason to think about your collection and your hobby, think about what things you like and don't like in a pen or ink, and (hopefully) help those that are new to the hobby find a direction to take their collection. I find that a collection is much more satisfying if the collector has the ability and the knowledge to seek out items that they know they will like, and the self control to pass on those items that have too many undesirable characteristics. That's the point of the question- what do you REALLY need in a pen and what would you rather do without?

 

All in all, just a fun question to think about for a while

[2n7000]

A Pelikan 140 inked with Diamine Eclipse.

[ac12]

Ha ha

As I just picked up 8 bottles of Pelikan ink yesterday.

Now to figure out where to put all my ink, so I can find them.

[ethernautrix]

My Nakayas.

It's hard to imagine a scenario (or, at least, to take it seriously) where I would be forced to choose one pen for the rest of my life. So, I can get it down to one brand. But I'm still looking side-eyed at my other pens that I also expect to use "forever." (You know, my forever.)

 

 

But, okay, okay, okay, in hypothetical land -- the unpolished shu Nakaya Piccolo.

[catbert]

I know I'm not. My collection is growing all the time. The question wasn't really meant as a serious question or as a way for me (or, really, anyone else) to find a single, one, lifetime, never need another pen or ink. It was meant as a reason to think about your collection and your hobby, think about what things you like and don't like in a pen or ink, and (hopefully) help those that are new to the hobby find a direction to take their collection. I find that a collection is much more satisfying if the collector has the ability and the knowledge to seek out items that they know they will like, and the self control to pass on those items that have too many undesirable characteristics. That's the point of the question- what do you REALLY need in a pen and what would you rather do without?

 

All in all, just a fun question to think about for a while

 

Yes, a useful thought experiment. I thought about it and the related issues in Cardboard_Tube’s ‘Two Roads Diverged’ thread for a long while.

Us talking minimalism felt a little surreal to me, is all.

But I agree that self-knowledge and focus can lead to a more satisfying process in which fewer acquisitions go unused. By accident or design - partly a side-effect of very limited tastes and means - my process had some direction from the outset, and consequently (apart from one expensive disappointment, which can be rectified) my accumulation makes me stupidly happy.

 

Anyway, thanks for starting (and resurrecting) a fun thread.

[thatotherguy1]

Any other thoughts from the forum?

[FountainPages]

That pen would be the Conid Minimalistica...done.

[Manalto]

A Pelikan 140 inked with Diamine Eclipse.

 

One pen and one ink. We are getting Spartan.

[MKeith]

I think I could narrow it down to perhaps 12, but beyond that it would be impossible. Just to many variables. Ink is another matter altogether.

[gordonhooker]

I keep one at work, others at home, and carry a Lamy 2000 with a med nib, and a Lamy 2000 pencil with me.

[fly_us]

A Pelikan 140 inked with Diamine Eclipse.

 

You have one Pelikan and only one ink? You must be fun at the parties .

 

Those who own Pelikan know that they tend to breed very fast, especially then vintage one.

[ThirdeYe]

A ) Sheaffer Valor

B ) My c. 1940 Sheaffer Balance OS vac filler (though I would've preferred it with a lever).

 

This is subject to change, of course.

Edited June 17, 2015 by ThirdeYe

[DrDebG]

This is a difficult question. I understand why people have difficulty answering. We all love our many fountain pens and inks - they are a part of us. To think that we would favor only one pen and ink and scorn the others is difficult. But. . . this is just fantasy . . .

 

With that in mind, I would have to pick one of the following two:

 

1) Lamy Studio with 18K fine nib filled with either J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche, Waterman Turquoise or Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-jaku

 

2) Delta Horsepower with fusion stub nib filled with either Caran d'Ache Idyllic Blue or Pilot Iroshizuku Asa gao

[Manalto]

Thank you for starting this thread, it's hilarious. I think we can safely assume that some of the respondents are married, yet they're unable to make a commitment to a pen - and it's only hypothetical! I wonder what a psychologist would say?

[BillZ]

My wife gave me a Mont Blanc Starwalker FP and rollerball for my birthday in 2007. It got me restarted with my love of FPs. I lost her to cancer last July. I have the pen to remember her. I shall keep it forever.

[NibDog]

Big Red Duofold, MB Mystery Black

[Frank C]

My wife gave me a Mont Blanc Starwalker FP and rollerball for my birthday in 2007. It got me restarted with my love of FPs. I lost her to cancer last July. I have the pen to remember her. I shall keep it forever.

 

Sorry to hear your story. You certainly have two "forever" pens.

[thatotherguy1]

Thank you for starting this thread, it's hilarious. I think we can safely assume that some of the respondents are married, yet they're unable to make a commitment to a pen - and it's only hypothetical! I wonder what a psychologist would say?

Maybe the marriage itself is the reason behind the hesitancy to commit to something so relatively trivial (and hypothetical)

Just some good-natured joking, don't take that comment too seriously, dear readers

 

For the record, after using my relatively new Lamy 2000 and Liberty's Elysium to copy about nine pages of a manuscript I've been working on in one sitting the other night, I can comfortably say that I wasn't far off in my guess for my one pen... that combination took the (shockingly FP friendly but rough) Indian made composition notebook paper fantastically and with no fatigue to speak of after nine pages in an hour or so. Of course, my preferences may well change in the future, but for now I'm loving my L2K.

[thatotherguy1]

My wife gave me a Mont Blanc Starwalker FP and rollerball for my birthday in 2007. It got me restarted with my love of FPs. I lost her to cancer last July. I have the pen to remember her. I shall keep it forever.

I'm sorry for your loss, sir. I'm sure that those pens will remind you of the good times you had with your wife for years to come, until it comes time to join her yourself.

[inkeverywhere]

Just not possible!

 

 

Greg