To post or not to post...

[bernardo]

Do you post your pens? Yes? No? Pease tell us.

[Johnson]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...ic=5857&hl=post

[sky67]

It's difficult for me to vote, because my vote would be for:

 

Depends on the pen.

 

I have some pens that I simply can't post, other's that can but I won't because it would scratch the barrel, and still other's that should be posted and are designed to do so without damaging the pen.

 

Given all this, I usually don't post the caps, except my ST Dupont Orpheo which I almost always do.

 

Steve

[kissing]

I don't post at all now

 

I used to...but I had a change of habit for some reason.

[bernardo]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...ic=5857&hl=post

Sorry, I didn't see the other poll. Maybe because it started last year...

 

By the way, I prefer not to post my pens to avoid scratching. It is true that some of them get better balanced when posted, but nevertheless I don't do it.

[PenWorks]

Thank you for this poll I will watch the votes eagerly.

 

I do not post my pens. Yet I have some pretty big paws, but I find even my lighest pens like a Lamy safari and my Pelikan, I still do not post.

 

Most of the pens I make, are non posting. But I loose more sales to folks who come in and won't give a certain model a look if it doesn't post. Even if they like the pen. That really fries my B**t, because I know they wouldn't post the darn thing anyway. Plus, my large pens would topple over in your hand if they were to post it.

 

Glad to see a good showing for the NON posters

Edited December 22, 2006 by PenWorks

[anniemac]

I always used to post, seemed the best way of not losing anything, and I'd never thought about it until I joined FPN.

Then it all changed, and now I'm obsessive about it, and never, ever, do it. Even got my husband, a cheap ballpoint man, pointing out marks on pens that could be from posting!

I would say do it if pen is designed for it. I have a beautiful Monte Verde "lipstick" ballpoint from US which has screw threads on the end so you can keep cap safe. Otherwise, I don't.

[mengsuan]

I used to post but I don't now. I'm afraid if I will scratch the barrel. Moreover, my pens do not need posting to balance the pen.

[D.R.Mabuse]

Good question! I do, but with reservations. I mean, yes, it does give me better pen length and balance to work with.

 

However, I cringe an the possible (largely imagined, probably) damage I may be doing to the end of the pen. Seems like I'm always burnishing away with my shirt, after an extended session with my crosswords.

 

I haven't quite come to terms with the finite nature of pens, yet.

[alvarez57]

Feliz Navidad, Bernardo!

 

[bernardo]

Feliz Navidad, Bernardo!

 

Gracias, igualmente.

[hatherton_wood]

I always post as I think the pens look much nicer when I am using them. I really think that any slight marks on the barrel due to this don't really matter at all with a pen that is in use and in some ways are attractive in their own right - signs of a well used and good to write with pen.

[wspohn]

Except on pens that become unbalanced when posted, I usually post as it enhances the writing experience, and it also prevents the little buggers from rolling off my desk and committing nib hara kiri, a predilection they seem to possess with almost lemming-like single mindedness.

 

While I do abhor the other tendency for self mutilation when posted, it is really a choice between having a wee ring around the barrel as opposed to having a pristine barrel and a mangled nib.....

 

I do not, however, post my vintage Conklin crescent filler - a rather creative solution to the whole thing, I think.

[RLTodd]

It's difficult for me to vote, because my vote would be for:

 

Depends on the pen.

Same.

[MYU]

Agreed - the previous poll on this had "depends on the pen". Some pens are designed to post the cap (they click nicely into place). Others require it (like the MYU!). And some tolerate it with different results.

 

When I use a Lamy 27, I gently slide the cap onto the barrel, aligning the clip with the top of the nib. So far (I checked with a loupe), I can't see any scratches caused by this. Maybe it depends on the inner cap design. I do not post the cap of a Pilot Murex, as that brushed aluminum will show slight markings (metal against metal).

 

But generally speaking, if the pen is very comfortable to hold without the cap and still looks nice, I'll leave the cap off.

[bernardo]

It's difficult for me to vote, because my vote would be for:

 

Depends on the pen.

I just wanted to be more specific than that. Yes, it could depend on the pen, but what is exactly the dependence between the characteristics of the pen and the posting? Then I thought: (1) Total lenght, and (2) total weight, which implicitly involves the balance.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Oh! I am having a poll deja vu moment!

 

I never need to post in order to make the pen long enough for my relatively small hand. I hold the cap in my left hand and write with my right. I like to have the cap ready for putting the pen right back in it.

 

It never feels right to me when the cap is posted. The cap always makes the pen too heavy, or too much less responsive to my hand movements when writing. A posted cap seems like a drag anchor to me.

[OldPott]

I read somewhere (??) that posting pens is a bit North American and the habit of not posting pens (and especially that of holding the cap in the non-writing hand) is a bit European. How very odd - can't be the case, can it? That said, I tend to do the cap-in-the-hand thing - but then I use Skylines a lot and posting those is ruinous on the lever.

 

Oh oh! - solved it. Use a Capless!

[MYU]

Another episode of Penmanship Class, brought to you by Monty Python's Flying Circus (well, my variation of it, that is)

 

Cleese: Alright class, it's time to begin. Out with your writing instruments and open your books to the first blank page.

Cleese: You there, student in the 1st row, 2nd chair.

Idle: Ummmm, yes?

Cleese: What's that you're writing with?

Idle: It's a pen, sir.

Cleese: Of course it's a pen--what do you take me for?? I don't suppose you know what KIND of pen it is?

Idle: It's a fountain pen, sir.

Cleese: There may be hope for you yet, Squire.

Idle: Thank you, sir!

Cleese: I see that your pen is not adorned with a cap. Can you explain this discrepancy?

Idle: Well, um, it's off the pen so I can write, sir.

Cleese: Off the pen?

Idle: Yes, that's the general idea. Kind of hard to write with the cap on, isn't it?

Cleese: Oh and let me guess, you're majoring innnnnnn... Comedy???

Idle: Well--

Cleese: WHERE IS THE CAP???

Idle: It's... well, it's...

Cleese: Yes? Out with it!

Idle: It's on my desk, sir.

Cleese: On the desk, he says. How very nice. Dainty little capeh iste layen on zee deskah.

Idle: But--

Cleese: We have a serious breach of etiquette here, I'm afraid. You've let this poor, innocent writing instrument lay exposed in your hand, butt naked to the world--oh what sad times are these when careless students lay embarrassment upon their pens!!

Idle: I didn't mean to--where shall I put it, sir?

Cleese: *SIGH* Did it ever occur to you that the right thing to do is to POST the cap?

Idle: Who should I mail it to then, sir? My parents?

Cleese: RIGHT! That's it. I'm afraid I'm going to have to shoot you, Squire.

Idle: If you say so... but can you mail the cap for me afterwards?

Cleese: <exasperated> Better yet, I'll just shoot myself!

** BANG **

Idle: Very well then, sir.

<After Cleese slumps to the floor, Idle looks at the cap, looks at the pen, then places the cap neatly on the end of the pen barrel>.

[Ray-Vigo]

I almost never post, unless it's a cheapo ball point that's laying around the house that I happen to pick up. With my fountain pens I stopped posting when I started to notice how much lighter and more comfortable they were without the cap. I have pretty small hands so size isn't an issue, and I like a lighter pen so that's a help too. Much of my writing is in the form of working notes from work or from class, so as long as I can read it then it's fine. I'm not exactly doing caligraphy.

Edited January 15, 2007 by Ray-Vigo