One Pen One Month Challenge

[Mangrove Jack]

When I travel (on business) I take two pens, two identical pens, usually two Pelikan m200s.

I use one pen, if I run out of ink I use the second one.

My trips are usually short enough not to run out of ink.

It's about reliability, which is one of the aspects you get to test in the one month one pen challenge.

When you're on business you cannot afford to pull out a pen and find it won't write...

I fully agree. Reliability is paramount. One of my most, if not the most, reliable pens is the Pelikan M200. I have two. Grey Marble and Demonstrator. I have had stretches of using just one of the M200 pens continuously, and no other FP, for 3 to 4 months at a time.

[Mangrove Jack]

Since my last post above, 3 months ago, I have used just one fountain pen. My Pelikan M200 demonstrator F nib with Noodlers Bad Belted Kingfisher permanent ink.

 

It wrote straight away every time, never skipped or beltched. The only time I used anything else was if I was writing on poor quality paper which feathered or was traveling and I did not carry my FP.

[sandy101]

Yes, I've had a Parker Sonnet SE as an EDC for the last six months. Constant use means it doesn't have hard starts - and a quick clean every so after ensures it keeps working.

 

I think the uncomfortable message for me is that I have too many pens. As a writer (not a collector - or rather an accidental collector). It's better to have a few quality (you decide) pens and use them often than lots of pens and using them occasionally. They work better - and you don't have to worry about hard starts and ink flow and so on.

 

A decent pen, a decent case - and paper that suits your pen - and you are away.

[NumberSix]

It's March 1, 2020. I recently stumbled across this thread, and I am going to give it a go for this month.

 

My first Parker 51 arrived this weekend, a black vacumatic. I inked it up with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, and I have been writing with it all day - testing in my usual writing places (L1917 Bullet Journal, cheap paper desk scratchpad, Clairefontaine notebook for misc journal writing, etc).

 

All feels good. I only had one other FP inked at the moment, a Parker 45 running a Quink Black cartridge. I've now put it away in the closet with the cart still in, as an experiment. I also put my coffee mug full of G2s, etc up on the shelf instead of on my desk.

 

I'm going to keep running the Royal Blue for now. I do have a bottle of Quink Washable Blue on order, and it will likely arrive later this week. I might give it a go during the month, if the mood strikes. I have no idea how long it will take to run through this current fill, though.

 

My desk looks weird with only one pen on it.

[sandy101]

Parker's Blue-Black ink is very nice. I have a P51 permenantly inked with that colour.

 

I hope you enjoy the endeavour and tell us how it is going.

Edited March 2, 2020 by sandy101

[pajaro]

I did this challenge with the Parker 51 I have had for fifty years, and it was fun reliving the halcyon days of youth when it was my only pen.

[bemon]

Is the 5th too late to jump on board with this? Also I assume this is a one fountain pen challenge. Sometimes I need that ballpoint as a backup. So are back up ballpoints permitted?

 

I just cleaned out 3/4 of my daily carries for this morning so I just have my steel L2K with me today and it feels good.

Edited March 5, 2020 by bemon

[sandy101]

No, it's not too late to have a go, if you want to. People have been taking up this challenge as and when it suits them over the two or three years it has been running.

 

The general idea is to use only one fountain pen over the period of one month. You can change inks, and use any feature of the pen that you like. or example, if you have a Pelikan and fancy swapping the nib - you can.

 

Part of the idea is to see how useful these features really are. The fact that you can swap a nib, but do not becasue it proves too troublesome to do so, allows us to assess how useful theses features really are.

 

There is no rule to say that you cannot use other writing implements. Fountain pens are not suitable for all writing tasks or surfaces, and we don't want to lose our jobs over this. If you have to use a biro at work - or to send that postcard to auntie Flo - do so. I would not want Auntie Flo to be disappointed on our account. Also, in the days of "one person, one pen," they also had pencils - and if you find yourself gravitating towards pencils or other pens for particular tasks, then that tells us something. Certainly I found myself using pencils to make rough notes instead of fountain pens last time I did it.

 

So the challenge is to use one pen as much as possible (not necessarily exclusively) and to enjoy it. If you find yourself grinding your teeth after two weeks, because you can't stand the pen you are using anymore - then stop.

 

You can come here and let us how it is going - and let us know if you learnt anything at the end of the month.

[bemon]

No, it's not too late to have a go, if you want to. People have been taking up this challenge as and when it suits them over the two or three years it has been running.

 

The general idea is to use only one fountain pen over the period of one month. You can change inks, and use any feature of the pen that you like. or example, if you have a Pelikan and fancy swapping the nib - you can.

 

Part of the idea is to see how useful these features really are. The fact that you can swap a nib, but do not becasue it proves too troublesome to do so, allows us to assess how useful theses features really are.

 

There is no rule to say that you cannot use other writing implements. Fountain pens are not suitable for all writing tasks or surfaces, and we don't want to lose our jobs over this. If you have to use a biro at work - or to send that postcard to auntie Flo - do so. I would not want Auntie Flo to be disappointed on our account. Also, in the days of "one person, one pen," they also had pencils - and if you find yourself gravitating towards pencils or other pens for particular tasks, then that tells us something. Certainly I found myself using pencils to make rough notes instead of fountain pens last time I did it.

 

So the challenge is to use one pen as much as possible (not necessarily exclusively) and to enjoy it. If you find yourself grinding your teeth after two weeks, because you can't stand the pen you are using anymore - then stop.

 

You can come here and let us how it is going - and let us know if you learnt anything at the end of the month.

Super! Well I"ll use my Lamy 2000 steel. It's single downfall is that it doesn't have an ink window, but since I always use the same ink in it anyway I just drain and refill it once a week weather it needs it or not. I guess the challenge- or discovery will be to see if it's ink supply still lasts a week as my sole fountain pen.

[wags]

I cleaned out all of my extra pens on the 29th. Since then I've been doing the OPOM challenge...

 

I have chosen a rather unremarkable (but like new) Sheaffer Touchdown, in black, with a "Feather Touch" nib. It's been inked up with Sheaffer blue-black (which does a good impersonation of a medium grey) since then.

 

I haven't actually decided if I want to go ahead with making it a one ink challenge as well (OPOIOM?). I do like being able to top off the pen without having to clean it. The touchdowns don't hold a ton of ink anyway. But, it's not out of the question at this point.

 

I'm really liking the no decisions, no running out of ink halfway through a letter part of this...

 

Cheers!

[NumberSix]

5 days into the month, and my Parker 51 with Pelikan Royal Blue has been great.

I've been leaving it uncapped for short extended periods, such as 30 minutes or an hour, as I would do with my pilot G2 pens and my scratchpad during the workday. Presumably, this hooded nib keeps it from drying as fast, and I have had zero to one letter of slow start even after more than an hour of uncapped disuse. None of my other pens would do so well.

I did find one item in my bullet journal where I would normally draw a couple of lines with a highlighter to offset a special section. But in the interest of consistency, I simply used my P51 to draw lines. It's not quite as colorful on the page, but it works just as well.

I was worried this 4001 ink might be too dry. (I have a bottle of Serenity Blue and my soon-to-arrive Quink Blue in reserve.) But I have not had a bit of trouble with this ink. It writes smoothly and looks nice on the paper; as a bonus, it dries quickly.

So far so good!

Edited March 6, 2020 by NumberSix

[sandy101]

I was worried this 4001 ink might be too dry. (I have a bottle of Serenity Blue and my soon-to-arrive Quink Blue in reserve.) But I have not had a bit of trouble with this ink. It writes smoothly and looks nice on the paper; as a bonus, it dries quickly.

 

 

That's good to know. I like the sheen on Pelikan Brilliant Black, but have avoided putting it into my P51 on account of its dryness. Certainly my modern Parker pens find it indigestible and seize up.

[NumberSix]

That's good to know. I like the sheen on Pelikan Brilliant Black, but have avoided putting it into my P51 on account of its dryness. Certainly my modern Parker pens find it indigestible and seize up.

 

Unfortunately, I can't speak to the Black, as I have yet to try it. But Royal Blue has been great in my P51 for almost a week now.

 

I tried it a few weeks ago in my 45 Flighter (M) gold nib, and it seemed fine. But I only used it for a day or two. I have also recently tested 4001 Dark Green in a P45 (I forget if it was EF or F, but I think it was the EF), and it worked okay.

 

But then, you said modern Parkers, didn't you? So maybe it's something with those pens. Weird. Pelikan 4001 is supposed to work with just about everything.

[sandy101]

. Pelikan 4001 is supposed to work with just about everything.

 

In my experience it does not. I'm not saying it is a bad ink - I love the sheen. But it is a "dry" ink that some of my pens really don't like it. Parker IM, Waterman, my Italix and a couple of others. My Cross pens love it (but then their nibs and feeds came from Pelikan). I've avoided putting it into my P51 - as it is such a devil to clean.

 

My P51's do like Montblanc ink - and their royal blue is much more vibrant than Parkers RB. When I see Parker RB, I want to die - reminds me too much of fusty school rooms and dictation - it is the "school blue" I used for 5 years + and was the only colour we were allowed to use. The MB looks much livelier.

 

I'll try the Brilliant Black when my (black ink) P51 runs out & see how it goes.

[NumberSix]

 

My P51's do like Montblanc ink - and their royal blue is much more vibrant than Parkers RB. When I see Parker RB, I want to die - reminds me too much of fusty school rooms and dictation - it is the "school blue" I used for 5 years + and was the only colour we were allowed to use. The MB looks much livelier.

 

I didn't grow up with fountain pens, so I don't have the same PTSD response when I see Pelikan Royal Blue or Lamy Blue ink. (Don't tell anyone, but I quite like the color of Lamy Blue LOL) I think I can appreciate where you're all coming from, though.

 

I've been meaning to check out MB Royal Blue, anyway, so I will order a bottle one of these days soon.

[bemon]

Well three days in and I failed. My L2K puked in the cap a little and I needed to rinse it out. I always let the caps dry over night when I rinse them. Had to make a ton of notes for work and considered just using my back up ballpoint so I could stick to one pen. But it really was a lot of writing so I just decided to fill up my M800.

 

I'm still planning on using just one pen though, so I'm going to drain the M800 in the morning and top of the cleaned and dried L2K. So maybe this can be a "one-pen-less-the-five-days-I-missed-minus-one-additional-day-a-month-challenge."

Edited March 9, 2020 by bemon

[JulieParadise]

Don't be so hard on yourself. It does not matter whether your "month" is 25 days long or 31, as long as the main idea behind this challenge is to get to know ONE pen better by using it as much as possible and possibly exclusively over an extended period.

 

Edit: typo

Edited March 9, 2020 by JulieParadise

[ethernautrix]

 

I'm in the middle of my 2P&2I-2020 challenge [special Dispensation for transplanting the Pilot #10 PO nib, would make #3, but I've put back into the Pen Valise the Danitrio Komori with Pilot Falcon SEF nib.]: Pilot 823 (PO) with Noodler's Black and "Pilot Moon" (Moonman C2 with Pilot #10 PO nib) with Akkerman Blue-Black.

 

I've attempted OPOM, but no can do. Two I can do, am doing. This feels good, comfortable. I'll probably add "Komori Falcon" back into use on bike and other trips, cos I love to have an extravagantly beautiful pen with me on journeys.

[ethernautrix]

Here is the currently dry Komori Falcon:

 

 

 

 

[Beechwood]

Doing a one pen, one ink challenge and one razor, one make of blade, one shaving soap all for a month, doing this for a charitable donation, if I fail I have to detail a car which is a full days job.

 

I thought about upping the stakes to include one book for a month, but when I offered Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time it was rejected on the basis that I would need to read each page five times anyway.