Why Vegetal Resin?

[alanshutko]

Some pens manufactured in India use a type of vegetal resin that has a distinct odor when new. These seem to be less expensive models.

 

Why is this material used for certain pens? I don't know of the material being used in other countries, so what are its advantages for Indian manufacturers? Why don't other companies use it?

 

In my searches, I've found that many different materials can be called vegetal resin (including celluloid and cellulose acetate) so only a certain type of vegetal resin might be used here.

[inkstainedruth]

Some of the Noodler's pens (which are manufactured in India) are made with vegetal resin. My understanding is that Nathan Tardif chose that material because unlike most plastics, it will decompose (eventually), rather than adding to the amount of plastics in landfills. I've often kinda wondered how it's actually made, because a friend of mine with a PhD in chemistry worked for a while for a plastics company which was trying to figure out how to manufacture stuff like plastic utensils which will decompose.

There have been a lot of complaints about the odor of vegetal resin, but truthfully, I have a number of Noodler's FPCs and Konrads and have never noticed the smell. And I'm the one that my mother used to have smell the leftover roast beef in the fridge to see if it was still "good" or needed to go in the trash...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[alanshutko]

It's not just the Noodler pens, though. The FPR Guru is made of the same sort of material, as are some others from Serwex. I wonder if all of them are doing it for environmental reasons?

[Drawing61]

Of course the Japanese have been using a vegetal resin, urushiol , for a very long time.

[inkstainedruth]

Of course the Japanese have been using a vegetal resin, urushiol , for a very long time.

 

Yes, but the difference is that urushiol is a *finish*. Not necessarily a pen material per se (my understanding is that the urushi is done over another material such as ebonite).

Plus of course I can TOUCH "vegetal resin" pens. Urushi? Not so much....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[tleek]

Nathan Tardiff posted a long video on his preference of vegetal resin. Not only is it biodegradable but also durable, and affordable I would assume. I was wondering myself why you see this material on Indian pens pretty much exclusively. I am a little ashamed to admit it....but I actually like the smell.

[Donald2]

I like the smell too.

[Jamerelbe]

I like the smell too.

+1 - though it is kinda weird...

[Runnin_Ute]

Kind of pleasant actually. At least my Konrad was.

[alanshutko]

My FPR Guru wasn't pleasant out of the box. Definitely more stinky.

[tleek]

I feel like demonstrators have the strongest smell. My Pumpkin Poltergeist Ahab has the odor, my Ahabs Pearl Ahab has a barely noticeable odor, my Demonstrator Konrad and Demonstrator FPR Muft smell very strong.

[deepak23]

Its probably wrong to assume that all vegetal (or plant origin) resins are bio degradable. The resins are water insoluable and hence will take a long time to degrade left naturally. Case in example, Amber, which had been hanging around for 10s of thousands of years.

 

I'd rather use plastic and responsibly recycle it...

[tleek]

Its probably wrong to assume that all vegetal (or plant origin) resins are bio degradable. The resins are water insoluable and hence will take a long time to degrade left naturally. Case in example, Amber, which had been hanging around for 10s of thousands of years.

 

I'd rather use plastic and responsibly recycle it.

How often are we recycling our pens anyway right???

Edited April 18, 2018 by tleek

[bluebellrose]

On 4/15/2018 at 9:56 AM, deepak23 said:

Its probably wrong to assume that all vegetal (or plant origin) resins are bio degradable. The resins are water insoluable and hence will take a long time to degrade left naturally. Case in example, Amber, which had been hanging around for 10s of thousands of years.

 

I'd rather use plastic and responsibly recycle it...

Plastic is still Plastic  just made of deader plants and animals vs not as dead plants