How Many Pens Do You Have Inked At Any One Time?

[Pentrawler]

Jinhao 992 in Brown, 1.1 stub nib with Noodlers Brown;

 

Sailor Pro Gear Slim Sky (music nib) with Mont Blanc lavender purple;

 

Kaweco sport 1.1 stub with diamine golden sands.

 

Can only cope with three different sets of nib/colour combinations at once!

[A Smug Dill]

93.

[ambofmil]

93.

 

I'm going to wonder about this number all day, I know it. Maybe even for the rest of my life.

[A Smug Dill]

I'm going to wonder about this number all day,

Will this offer any relief?

 

[ambofmil]

Will this offer any relief?

 

 

I'm agog that this is actually true. I was uncertain before.

 

"93 pens in my household are currently inked"

 

I would pay for a house tour. Now I want to know more about your household and how 93 inked pens fits into the daily routine.

[inkstainedruth]

Me too. I just refilled a few pens that I didn't have time to flush before going out of town for the holidays. Plus inked up 3 more that hadn't come out to play for a while. And, in addition, brought 2 un-inked pens in case I do any purchases when I'm in NYC.

Several summers ago my husband and I flew out to the Seattle area for a family wedding, and then drove to Spokane to visit with friends for a few days. I brought four pens, and ink vials in case I needed to refill.

For this trip? A total of 12 pens along for the ride. And that DOESN'T count the Red Shadow Wave Vac (which decided recently to divest itself of the blind cap jewel and taste (fortunately into the bottom of my purse, which solves the issue of trying to get a replacement jewel that fits correctly). Or the Parker 61 that I bought at the Ohio Pen Show last month (which is still in the "flush until you get ink flowing and then write with whatever the heck is in the capillary filler" mode; or the Noodler's Charlie with Kung Te Cheng in it (it's now at the point where I have to dip the nib because the nib creep is clogging the slit ).

Yup. I'm doomed. Seriously doomed. And what is on the potential shopping list for the planned adventuring later in the week (Fountain Pen Hospital and the Lamy Soho store)? Ink.... Hence the two empty pens....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[KARD]

I usually have 3-5 inked up at a time.

[TackyChic]

One.

 

I occasionally will have two inked, but that only happens when Im too lazy to flush the last one. I also change out the ink (and pen) every every week- I use a FP at work and I like to change it up all the time.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

How many pens do I have inked right now?

 

1 red for correcting documents

1 green for the same

1 with Noodlers bulletproof for permanent things like addresses and labels

1 light blue and a fine nib for practising in my Spencerian books

2 dark blue - one to keep in my bag for notes and one for notes at home

1 light brown medium nib for fast thoughts I need to get on paper.

 

That's a lot more than I expected.

[A Smug Dill]

Now I want to know more about your household and how 93 inked pens fits into the daily routine.

 

 

They don't all fit into our daily routine, of course. My fiancée writes with two or three dozen out of those, inked with different colours, in her personal journalling as well as capturing her story ideas.

 

I like to test (much more sparsely these days, now that I cannot write more than a few lines at a time without my tendonitis flaring up big time) the inks and pens I have, and once I've filled a pen for testing, I don't feel there is any urgency to empty the unused ink back into the bottle and flush the pen. Being lazy also allows me to find out which pens are apt to dry out relatively quickly even when capped.

 

Having a large variety of colours ready for use at a moment's notice is part of what I enjoy. However, for my actual writing – on envelopes and labels, filling out forms, etc. – I usually just use one of my 'EDC' pens, all of which are filled with waterproof (or highly water-resistant) inks that aren't prone to feathering.

 

Now that I've finally received my order of M4*0.6mm plastic screws, and replaced the screws inside the caps of all of our Wing Sung 3008 pens, I think I'm ready to fill another dozen or so pens with the shimmer inks we have.

[TSherbs]

I usually have 3-5 inked up at a time.

This is usually me. But I am up to 8 right now. I had too many blues at once, so I had to add a purple and a red.

[cellmatrix]

My one pen one ink is now: black pilot vanishing point EF/ pilot blue black. Love this combo probably will keep it going for quite a while.

 

I like the fact that it is stealth and people do not know it is a fountain pen.

 

I also like the fact that I have a 350 ml bottle of pilot blue black that I purchased for around $21 which should last me nearly a lifetime.

 

Pilot cartridges are about the easiest of them all to refill. I can use a small plastic pipette to perform this task.

 

But I keep a couple new full cartridges in my briefcase in case I run out when on the road.

[cellmatrix]

 

"93 pens in my household are currently inked"

I horror the horror of cleaning out all of these pens. I shudder to think of it.

[A Smug Dill]

I horror the horror of cleaning out all of these pens. I shudder to think of it.

 

I don't usually clean my 'inked' pens – a few of which may have dried, or even clogged, and no longer write as-is, but they would be in the minority – until I'm either getting ready to change inks or preparing them for a long 'sabbatical' from writing.

 

As for the actual cleaning procedure, a temperature-controlled ultrasonic cleaner (which doubles as the perfect thing in which pens can soak in a warm bath overnight), a bulb syringe, and a few drops of household ammonia and dishwashing detergent make life a lot easier. Converters (or, as much as I'm loathe to admit, sub-$10 piston-fillers such as the Wing Sung 3008) that lend themselves to be completely disassembled facilitate the endeavour.

Edited December 29, 2018 by A Smug Dill

[cellmatrix]

Perfect, I was going to suggest an ultrasonic cleaner and diluted ammonia. These have always served me well in the past.

[hongthai]

I wrote two pens regularly and dumped both items

[TSherbs]

I'm up to 11. That's a lot for me. a couple new pens and inks are the cause.

 

 

.

Edited January 20, 2019 by TSherbs

[sombrueil]

All of them.

Currently:

 

in my shoulder bag: Pelikan M120, De Atramentis Document Black

 

on my desk:

Esterbrook SJ, Herbin Violet Pensee

Waterman RHR ringtop, Diamine Denim

Pelikan 400NN Tortoise (vintage), R&K Alt-Goldgrun
Eversharp Skyline Demi, Diamine Ancient Copper

 

 

[penzel_washinkton]

Finally starting to give the ECO a break and give Wing Sung 3008 a go with the daily black ink.

So currently I have :

Wing Sung 3008 - Noodler's Black

Pilot Kakuno - Diamine Marine

(Not determined yet) - Diamine Ancient Copper

[KLscribbler]

Ah, forgetful me. I kept thinking I'd already answered this thread, when the fact is that I've merely posted an answer to a similar QOTW on Goulet's blog, and quite a long time ago too.

 

I used to always have 4 pens inked up at any one time, now it's 5. They fit into specific roles:

 

2 core writers - comfortable, large capacity pens that I can write with all day. The reason for two rather than one is that I sometimes manage to write dry a full Lamy 2000 or CON-70 in one day, and I prefer the feeling of security that comes from having two pens inked - when one runs dry I can quickly switch to the other without a break in the writing session.

 

1~2 EDC - tough, easily repairable, easily replaceable, convenient-to-use pens that I have on my person at all times. Must be able to withstand the abuses of pants pocket carry, and be small enough to carry in that manner. Must be slim enough to fit in regular (i.e. not designed for FPs) pen sleeves and pen loops.

 

1~2 "fun and flair" pens, or testing pens - pens I use just because I enjoy them, pens that have interesting nibs, or pens that show off inks well. Testing pens are those I've just acquired and am testing out, or old pens I'm testing with new inks or papers.

 

If I have 2 EDC pens inked at a time, then I'll have just 1 fun/testing pen inked, and vice versa, so the total number of inked pens stays at 5.

 

1 annotation pen - this is a new category. I previously did all my annotations and commentary in pencil, but have recently switched to doing it in ink due to a desire for greater color contrast between text and annotations. This is also the only category in which I may use nibs finer than Western Fine in width.

 

As an example, my current loadout is:

 

Core writers:

- Pilot Custom Heritage 91 SM nib + Sailor Sei Boku

- Lamy 2000 M nib + Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black

 

EDC:

- Lamy Logo M nib + Pelikan 4001 Blue-Black

 

Fun:

- TWSBI Mini, 1.5mm stub + Sailor Yama Dori

- English Parker 45 Flighter, silver tailpiece, 14k M nib + Iroshizuku Ku Jaku (love this pen, nice Newhaven nib fun to write with, shades well with the Iroshizukus)

 

Annotation:

- Vintage Pilot Elite half-crosshatch, F nib + Binder Burgundy

 

I'm going on vacation in a week's time though, so I'll start flushing them out for storage in the coming week. All except for the Lamy Logo - that one's going to Taiwan with me, box of Lamy Blue-Black cartridges in tow.

Edited January 20, 2019 by KLscribbler