What Is The Longest You’Ve Ever Used A Pen?

[Astronymus]

15 years or so. Lamy Safari.

[Addertooth]

Strange answer to a simple question:

 

I used to be very bad about misplacing pens, but because we had boxes of cheap ballpoint pens at work, the loss of a pen was easily remedied.

My typical length of time to keep track of a pen was somewhere between a week and a month. In some cases, they were borrowed, but not returned (people know I always had a pen on me, so people would frequently come to me to "borrow a pen".

 

All that aside, a nicer pen was craved, but considering my "record" with losing pens, I was hesitant to even purchase a $15 pen.

Then I made a promise to myself, If I can use my cheap ballpoint pen for a year without losing it, I would get a nice pen.

A year passed. The pen was not lost.

Two years passed and I was still using the same cheap pen.

It occurred to me I had not kept my promise to myself, a nice Faber Castell ballpoint pen was purchased, and a few weeks later, the fountain pen which mated with the Ballpoint pen.

70 plus pens later, the rest is (as we call it), History.

 

As a footnote, the Faber Castell pen has now been used even longer than the ballpoint pen.

Preferred ink is Montblanc Irish Green.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Addertooth

[tim77]

[...] people would frequently come to me to "borrow a pen".

That reminds me of a professor in the lab where I was a student. He would compulsively take any pens he got near, and regularly had several dozen ill-gotten pens in his jacket pocket. He would then berate us for not having a pen handy and proudly show us his over-stuffed pen pocket. If challenged he absolutely insisted that none were pinched from us. Sometimes he would deny pen thievery *whilst* actually stealing a pen. The peculiar thing was that this didn't appear to be a joke or a wind-up, and it went on for years (decades, for all I know).

Edited March 27, 2020 by tim77

[Honeybadgers]

the longest unchanged pen/ink I've had is still ongoing, but a 3776 in ultra extra fine with diamine registrars for about two years.

 

I've had my wing sung 698 with a pilot italic inked nonstop for the same time, but it's had a bunch of different inks. I'm astounded that the plastic (it's a full demonstrator) hasn't discolored AT ALL. Still absolutely crystal clear.

[bitterwonder]

Since 1963. A Waterman from the mid 30’s . Still use it.

[jchch1950]

Since 1963. A Waterman from the mid 30’s . Still use it.

 

A pen that is almost 100 years old and at least more than 50 years use. Wow your pen is of high quality and you are a very careful owner .

[Bill_D]

I have had my Parker Duofold Pearl & Black since November 4, 1999 and use it just about every day. It was my first grail pen. I had a few other pens at the time but they were in my office at One World Trade Center on September 11, 2001--fortunately I was not-- but I had my Parker with me at the time, so it is my longest-used pen.

[georges zaslavsky]

12 years and it is my Brown Oversize Sheaffer Vac Fill Balance White dot. Otherwise another pen I used during ten years in a row was a 1979 MB 149.

[wrkerr]

I began using my father's Sterling Sheaffer Imperial Touchdown in 1981 when I went to work for Rockwell. Used it everyday. In 1990 I started teaching high school, retiring in 2017. Continued to use the Imperial daily. I went through a lot of Skrip black in that time.

 

Now that I'm retired, the Imperial is used in rotation, probably a month's worth in the year. Still my favorite.

[Mech-for-i]

a Montblanc 114 Mozart which serve me for well around 22 years until its section gave away and crack and split all the way through .. it use cartridge so what's on hand at the moment is usually what I had in the pen , and that's for a EDC pen .. there are other pen that I own and use for longer period but not being used as EDC they are not really subjected to the same abuse and I would not say I am using them as much .. just rotating them along

[Antenociticus]

A Kaweco AL Sport that I bought around 2005, carried constantly for years, and still use sometimes. It's pretty battered by now, and hard starts too often in its old age.

[Parker51]

I have no pens in long continued use. I have some pens which date pretty far back, including a Targa I received from my wife that I occasionally use from 1984. And I have my father's graduation fountain pen, a Sheaffer Snorkel though it needs resacked as the sack failed after about twenty five years. Not so my grandfather's Vacumatic, still writing well after a new diaphragm about 25 years ago. It received very regular use from 1939 through 1974 or so when it was withdrawn from service in favor of some unknown ballpoint, until I received it in the early 1990s. Fortunately for me, my grandfather valued it and didn't get rid of it. He also gave me some pens he had been given, but hadn't used from when he was given them from the late 1930s, some were still stickered, all Parkers.

[RIO]

The Lamy accent with deep red and black colors. I bought in 1999 and is still in use. Part of the lacker is now gone

[Beechwood]

A Parker Senior Duofold that I bought in 1964, it was restored by Arthur Twydle in 1971. I used it until 2015 when I gave it to a friend as my most important pen.

[Beechwood]

 

Same for me - don't use them very often (45 flighter FP and BP) but still get them out once in awhile. Too many other pens to have more than a couple of dozen regular use pens.

 

 

Some years ago, but I remember insults as if they were made yesterday, you criticised me for not using a pen that my father had bought in 1947, a pen that I treasured.

 

You said that I should be ashamed for not using pens that I owned and you compared that practice to keeping wild animals caged up.

 

I had around 300 pens in my collection at that time, all pre WW2 Parkers and pre 1960s MBs.

 

Now you say that you have too many other pens to have more than a couple of dozen regular use pens.

 

Not good Sir, not good at all.

[MHBru]

20+ years ago I got my first FP.. a blue stripe M800. the first ink was Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue. more recently I have moved to Iroshizuku Kon Peki and that pen is in mint condition and in regular use.

[wspohn]

 

 

Some years ago, but I remember insults as if they were made yesterday, you criticised me for not using a pen that my father had bought in 1947, a pen that I treasured.

 

You said that I should be ashamed for not using pens that I owned and you compared that practice to keeping wild animals caged up.

 

I had around 300 pens in my collection at that time, all pre WW2 Parkers and pre 1960s MBs.

 

Now you say that you have too many other pens to have more than a couple of dozen regular use pens.

 

Not good Sir, not good at all.

 

I have around 400 pens at this point, including many that I never intended to use like my collection of Parker 75s. I have several 75 and Premier users, but the rest of that group is simply a collection of different variants and models.

 

But what has changed for me since I apparently castigated you for not using more pens (I don't recall the occasion but take your word for it - sounds like me) is that I retired. When I was working (as a lawyer) I spent my days taking notes and I always had maybe a half dozen filled pens to choose from, and the components of the daily group changed every few days. It was fun to dig up pens that I hadn't used in awhile (simply because I had a number that takes a long time to work through) and acquaint myself with them again.

 

Now, since I am no longer taking notes all day, every day, it has reduced the speed of my rotation dramatically, although I still keep a small array on my bureau and replace them with others when I have worked through that group.

 

I expect that my point about using old pens was that it was rewarding to do so and a shame to not give them a shot. I have used every pen I have that is not part of a 'model' collection or is in infirm condition and might be damaged by use. I even load up one of my inkwells and use one of my late 19th century dip pens just for fun from time to time. Not using nore of my pens every day is about the only regret I have about retiring!

[scratchofapen]

Well, that must be the Lamy Safari (red, black clip, screw in the cap) i used in school,later in apprenticeship (which is 3 years here) and later a good time in university. All in all it may sum up to 15+ years. I came into the hobby far later than that. I still have that pen, even managed to get a correct replacement for a cracked cap some years ago. It was ever filled with black Lamy cartridges.

 

....hmm i should see if i can find a black hole black ink, havent used black ink for more than a decade.

Edited May 30, 2020 by scratchofapen

[Mr. Pink]

A Targa from I can't remember when, and a Parker 51 since 1968?

[Mercian]

....hmm i should see if i can find a black hole black ink, havent used black ink for more than a decade.

That is one of the Great Unanswered Questions and/or Eternal, Never-Ending Quests here on FPN, and its discussion has prompted many, many threads in the past.

 

One such is to be found here.

 

Good luck!

Edited May 30, 2020 by Mercian