cold weather and fountain pens

[officesupplygeek]

Block of ice, OK... but did you get the pen really cold?

 

(current outside temp: -31C. No, I'm not sticking any of my pens out in it)

 

It was a test tube filled with water that I put the pen into then stuck the whole thing in the freezer, so the entire contraption was as cold as I could get it in current conditions...pictures of it all are there on my blog if you want to see them.

 

The temp when I did my experiment was about 30 F outside...has not been below zero here yet (NJ) or even really too much below 30. I might try again using the outdoors as my freezer if it does get really cold.

 

 

I wouldn't leave any pen I like out in the car, be it at +40° C (something like 100° F) or -40 ° (both).

I'm not sure if either of those can be bad for your pen, but I do know that if that's a pen or 3 which you like enough to use anytime, why not just keep in your shirt (or suit) pocket?

Ditto ink. I always have my 15 ml (1/2 oz) Nalgene bottle full, and in my vest pocket, too.

 

Lou

 

Lou, I don't particularly love two of those pens, I never would have run the test with my Lamy Studio, but the $3 Pilot Varsity was something I didn't feel bad about if I ruined it. The Uniball Power Tank on the other hand I really do like, and I bought it with the specific intent of keeping it in the car at cold temps because of its advertised ability to do well in adverse conditions like that. Now I know I always have a pen in the car that I can rely on if I don't have another that has been with me (hopefully in the warmth) all day.

 

[Robert Hughes]

Tell you what, I'll take an Esterbrook (it's got Waterman Havana Brown in it) out and leave it in the car overnight (going to -20F tonight) to see what happens. I'll wrap it in a couple layers of paper, though, in case it goes kablooey...

[officesupplygeek]

Tell you what, I'll take an Esterbrook (it's got Waterman Havana Brown in it) out and leave it in the car overnight (going to -20F tonight) to see what happens. I'll wrap it in a couple layers of paper, though, in case it goes kablooey...

 

Now thats the spirit. A plastic ziplock bag might be a safer bet though.

 

[knitwit1912]

What about pens I purchase from a relatively warmer part of the country, and have shipped to me here in the now-frigid Northeast US?

 

I'd think it depends on the kind of shipping--if it was surface, it could be a kind of slow acclimatization to the temperature change!

 

Though most of the time I would think it would be in a postal sorting facility or a mail truck, which might not be heated in the cargo area, but would be out of the wind and in some cases be getting some of the heat from the driver's cab. In that case it could be a little warmer than the outside, depending on the truck or van.

[Robert Hughes]

Tell you what, I'll take an Esterbrook (it's got Waterman Havana Brown in it) out and leave it in the car overnight (going to -20F tonight) to see what happens. I'll wrap it in a couple layers of paper, though, in case it goes kablooey...

 

Well it didn't get as cold as they were predicting. At 7AM this morning it was only 3 below zero. And the Havana Brown didn't freeze up, to my surprise - the Estie wrote just fine, same as always. I notice the feed fins were full of ink after a few minutes of warming up, but that's to be expected from heat expansion.

Edited December 16, 2008 by Robert Hughes

[Wolverine1]

I have a Parker 51 pen, that was carried by a Marine LT during the Korean War. During the Battle of Choisan Reservoir, it was so cold that the pen froze. It stayed frozen for a few days,and seems no worse for wear. The only repair it needed was getting the original sac replaced a couple of years back.

[officesupplygeek]

Tell you what, I'll take an Esterbrook (it's got Waterman Havana Brown in it) out and leave it in the car overnight (going to -20F tonight) to see what happens. I'll wrap it in a couple layers of paper, though, in case it goes kablooey...

 

Well it didn't get as cold as they were predicting. At 7AM this morning it was only 3 below zero. And the Havana Brown didn't freeze up, to my surprise - the Estie wrote just fine, same as always. I notice the feed fins were full of ink after a few minutes of warming up, but that's to be expected from heat expansion.

 

Thanks for the follow up, I think "only" 3 below is nothing to sneeze at in terms of this test.

[RevAaron]

I didn't leave it in the car, but I did have a nice surprise with a belching pen, due to heat expansion of the air in a pen. Came inside, set the celluloid MB 146 down on my desk on its side, came back in a few minutes to have a whole lot of MB Racing Green burped out. Confused me for a minute- I had filled a just-recorked pen with Racing Green, and thought it was leaking.

 

Nib up, kids!

[Robert Hughes]

I don't think a sac-based pen will get damaged by freezing the ink, but would exercise caution against leaving piston filler pens out in the cold, as water expands at the freezing point and can crack stone without effort, not even slowing down for precious resins.

[wykpenguin]

According to Robet's theory, a fully filled piston would be the most dangerous to freeze.

 

I am not surprised that FPs stand up better to freezing that BPs, after all, do you really expect a tube with a piece of curved metal at one end to be more fragile than a tube with a precision steel ball set inside? I don't. In fact, I have "written" the ball out of numerous Japanese gel pens.