coffee & fountain pens

[PeterL]

 

Hi,

 

Recently, I decided to refill my fountain pens in our coffee corner sink instead of in the sinks near the toilets. This turns out to be an interesting social exercise: fountain pens, convertors and bottled ink are a very good conversation starter for others who see me rinse, dry and refill my pen. Of course, there's some jokingly scornful remarks ("Woh, medieval stuff !") but then others, who also use a fountain pen, get quite interested when they see the bottle and start asking questions about the convertor and if they can buy it separately. Interestingly, people are much less intimidated when I'm refilling my cheap Pelikano than when I'm giving the Graf von a new drop of ink. I should test this with a wider range of pens and inks (does the colourful Noodler's label get more reaction than the bland Mont Blanc one ? Does a bright colour like R&K Morinda get a more extravert reaction and a more subdued colour like PR Midnight Blues a more introvert, quiet reaction ? There should be psycho-inkology study !).

 

Do you have other stories about how people react when you refill your pen in public ?

 

 

Peter.

 

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Do you have other stories about how people react when you refill your pen in public ?

No, I only have tales of people seeing me swap pens in public as one runs out of ink and I go to the next one that's full.

 

I refill cartridges, and I use syringes and blunt needles to do it. I haven't quite gotten bold enough to go out in public and refill a cartridge with ink while everyone watches and focuses only on the syringe and needle. I'm sure that I could get the police called over to harass me if I were to do that in public. But maybe I will one day.

 

I also need some backlighting to the cartridge so that I can see how much I'm filling it. Out in the regular world I'd stand a really good chance of running the ink over the top of the cartridge, unless I measured out about half a cartridge worth of ink in the syringe ahead of time, but then I'd probably run into the dreaded bubble-bursting-out-of-the-top-of-the-cartridge problem. Yeah, for now I'd better stick to carrying more than one fountain pen with me for this frequent contingency.

[jd50ae]

This was mentioned in another thread some time ago, but at the time I did not consider it have any "social" relevance. It is an interesting question and it made me think, which is not a good thing this early in the day.

 

Anyway, I use to carry a leather pen folder that held 24 assorted pens to work and I would leave it open at my work station.

 

I kept 2 different journals, one for real and one for snoops.

 

The interesting thing was that a couple of unimaginative "supervisors†were always trying to get a glimpse at the journals. But folks with brains and curiosity would stop by and start a conversation about the pens. And more then a few started using wet writers over time and even stared keeping journals. More females then males kept the journals which always struck me as curious.

 

Oh yea, the coffee part. All this new interest in FPs took on a life of it's own in the lounge and coffee time became pen time also.

 

There was one story about a 3rd level “supervisor†that got chastised by his boss for making an off hand remark about FPs. It was further punctuated when his boss pulled his FP (I assume a MB) from his jacket and used it to take notes at their next meeting.

Edited June 16, 2007 by jd50ae

[glencolmard]

Hi,

 

Recently, I decided to refill my fountain pens in our coffee corner sink instead of in the sinks near the toilets. This turns out to be an interesting social exercise: fountain pens, convertors and bottled ink are a very good conversation starter for others who see me rinse, dry and refill my pen. Of course, there's some jokingly scornful remarks ("Woh, medieval stuff !") but then others, who also use a fountain pen, get quite interested when they see the bottle and start asking questions about the convertor and if they can buy it separately. Interestingly, people are much less intimidated when I'm refilling my cheap Pelikano than when I'm giving the Graf von a new drop of ink. I should test this with a wider range of pens and inks (does the colourful Noodler's label get more reaction than the bland Mont Blanc one ? Does a bright colour like R&K Morinda get a more extravert reaction and a more subdued colour like PR Midnight Blues a more introvert, quiet reaction ? There should be psycho-inkology study !).

 

Do you have other stories about how people react when you refill your pen in public ?

 

 

Peter.

 

Although usually filling my fountain pens in the privacy of my office, on several occassions I have deliberately brought pen and ink to meetings I knew would be difficult, tedious, circular and, ultimately, a waste of time. The very act of filling the convertor often distracted a rambling speaker and aided in refocusing the group -- rather like a breath of fresh air or a deep, unfilled, pause. It's amazing what a spot of ink and an understated pen can do to ameliorate turgidity and hyper-exaggerated self-importance. Now, if I could only have learned how to strategically propel the ink. . . come to think of it, it was a former professor from Louvain who attempted to teach several of us this trick. I'm afraid I never acquired the requisite skill!

 

glencolmard

[DrPJM1]

Using a Visconti travelling inkpot in public sure is fun, for all the people expecting an ink mess!

[Ghost Plane]

Glen, I'm sorry we never took a meeting together. You're a guy after my own heart. I know how to make an antique Shaeffer [pun alert] fountain 'cause I saw Dad do it.

[BrianTung]

Just a couple two three days ago I was rinsing out the Sailor brush pen in the humongous restroom (it goes with the humongous floor plan), and someone noticed.

 

"Fountain pen?" he asked.

 

"In a manner of speaking," I said, and held up the brush end. "I use some regular ones, too."

 

"So do I," he said, and pulled his black fountain pen briefly out of his shirt.

 

I saw the birdsplat. "One forty-nine?"

 

He wasn't sure, but he thought so.

[Mike S.]

The sink at my law firm is near the coffee station, and I almost always have to endure some good-natured teasing when I flush my pens. "I never have to clean my pen -- I just take a new one from the drawer over here. Heh heh. They have lots of colors too."

 

One of my favorite comments: "Bet you listen to vinyl records, too." Yes, I do, as a matter of fact.

[donwinn]

One of my favorite comments: "Bet you listen to vinyl records, too." Yes, I do, as a matter of fact.

 

Yes, but is your amplifier tube, or solid state? :bonk: That is what really separates the space agers from us flat-earthers.

 

Is it a coincidence that the highest cost, highest quality pens are fountain pens, and the highest cost, highest quality audio amplifiers are tube powered? I think not.

[Shelley]

Mostly I fill at home, I like to soak between fills -not sure if this is good practice or not-, but occasionally I fill in chambers, and once, when I was running out of time I filled in court...coffee and pens are a good mix, especially the pleasure of making a good coffee, grinding the beans, tamping the coffee, using just the right amount of water to balance the coffee oil and not weaken the brew...

[PAKMAN]

I love my coffee and pens! The only problem is when I forget and use a pen to stir the coffee but hey a little ink in the coffee just makes it that much better!

[PeterL]

The sink at my law firm is near the coffee station, and I almost always have to endure some good-natured teasing when I flush my pens. "I never have to clean my pen -- I just take a new one from the drawer over here. Heh heh. They have lots of colors too."

 

I hate that comment. Maybe it's because I don't know how to counter it, or maybe it's because it just doesn't make sense. I have 2 fountain pens and both have a different colour. Show me anybody except for 16 year old girls that uses more colours of pens at any one time. And of course, everybody agrees my fountain pen feels much nicer "but...". If it feels nicer, well, I like myself and I like being happy so I bought it as a present to myself

 

I might just get another one, too

 

 

One of my favorite comments: "Bet you listen to vinyl records, too." Yes, I do, as a matter of fact.

 

Well, I don't. But I still use film, not pixels, to record my friends and families. Particularly in black&white, I get very good comments. People are strange

 

Oh yes, and I grind my own coffee beans, of course. Retro is cool

 

 

Peter.

 

[WillAdams]

``I never have to clean my pen --

I just take a new one from the

drawer over here. Heh heh.

They have lots of colors too.''

 

Rebuttals:

 

- Point out that _no_ part of your pen will wind up in a landfill --- the plastic in cartridges is recyclable isn't it? (I toss mine in the recycle bin).

- Corollary: ask if any of the ball points will last X years (where X == the age of the oldest pen you still use), asking them to calculate the volume of landfill space taken up by discarded ball point refills)

- Point out that you have the option of indelible inks which precludes check washing

- Point out that you can use blue inks which can then be eradicated by an eradicator (much more easily than an erasable ball point)

- Ask if they have any italic ball points in the drawer

- Ask if they have any BROAD ball points

- Check the drawer in advance, procure an ink the colour of which isn't represented and ask if it's available

- point out that one can't mix the colour of two ball points, but can fountain pen inks

- ask if any of the ball points have 14K gold appointments (if you have such a pen)

 

William

 

 

[Mike S.]

``I never have to clean my pen --

I just take a new one from the

drawer over here. Heh heh.

They have lots of colors too.''

 

Rebuttals:

 

- Point out that _no_ part of your pen will wind up in a landfill --- the plastic in cartridges is recyclable isn't it? (I toss mine in the recycle bin).

- Corollary: ask if any of the ball points will last X years (where X == the age of the oldest pen you still use), asking them to calculate the volume of landfill space taken up by discarded ball point refills)

- Point out that you have the option of indelible inks which precludes check washing

- Point out that you can use blue inks which can then be eradicated by an eradicator (much more easily than an erasable ball point)

- Ask if they have any italic ball points in the drawer

- Ask if they have any BROAD ball points

- Check the drawer in advance, procure an ink the colour of which isn't represented and ask if it's available

- point out that one can't mix the colour of two ball points, but can fountain pen inks

- ask if any of the ball points have 14K gold appointments (if you have such a pen)

 

William

 

And in the middle of making all of these points I will pause to wind my mechanical watch.

 

[Benjamin McFerret]

One time my boss walked into my office while I was refilling my pen and saw the disassembled pieces on the desk and asked, "What's wrong with your pen?" Another time, someone saw me holding my Vacumatic up to the light and said, "It's a pen." I had to explain that I knew that it was a pen and I was checking the ink supply.

[Kelly G]

In my former vocation I attended lots of meetings and always took notes with my fp's. My different bosses (the position above mine on the org. chart was a training position for senior managers, so I had a number of interesting bosses over the years) reacted to the pens in interesting ways. Most were curious and a few were even closet fp users. One surprised me by dragging out a Rotring 600 on one trip - he knew I repaired my pens and the 600 "didn't work". It simply needed a good flushing and a nib floss and it was up and running. He was appreciative and when I left my position before I retired, he gave me a Yard O Led Grand Viceroy fp - that's a great boss! Most all of my bosses and colleagues were very accepting of my obsession - they all had their own obsessions, of course.

[Chris]

How else do you keep a watch running except by winding it up?

 

My pen ran dry in the middle of a meeting recently (abroad) and so I got out my bottle of ink, refilled the pen, wiped the nib and looked up... to find half the room looking at me as though they had never seen such a thing before.

 

"Oooh, real ink!"

"No wonder your writing is so nice!" (It isn't)

"Doesn't it leak everywhere?" (Not usually)

 

... and so on.

 

Brightened up the meeting!!

 

Chris

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

But please - if you are going to fill your pen with coffee, make sure it is well filtered. The grounds could cause clogging. I would not recommend a french-press for this purpose.

 

 

John

[Rasputin]

I just noticed that I enjoyed all these little "slices of life" almost as much as a new pen review (well...ALMOST as much). Am I become too fixated on FPs? Is that possible? I can hardly wait to find a passage in a novel where the main character is asked:

 

Are you refilling your fountain pen with real ink?

 

Life is good

[Garageboy]

My cigar shop is my social gathering where I refill my pen. A friend of mine works there and is a writer, as well as an FP freak