The Pens You Cannot Kill

[OcalaFlGuy]

Ok. There's been tons of what's the best cheapest pen. Yawn.

 

How about one for the pens that You Cannot Kill. They write (nearly) first time every time despite horrible pen hygiene if any at all.

 

You know who they are, you've held them in your Own hands and said, man, I can't KILL this thing!

 

What are they?

 

For me personally it's a P-51 Aero and a C/C Sheaffer Imperial. I am Often astounded that they write in certain circumstance and so well at that.

 

Honorable mention has to go to the Pilot Varsity. One thing about it that is inarguable is that it's bullet proof. I Have Tried to Kill a Varsity and couldn't.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[KBeezie]

Well you can kill plenty of pens with the nib exposed...

 

Isn't the Parker 51 mostly Plastic?

 

Guess it depends on what kind of method you mean by killing, you mean not cleaning them out every so often? Just shuffling around in a bookbag, etc?

[OcalaFlGuy]

I don't mean purposely destroy. Of course, Every nib is fragile.

 

I mean pens that write in-spite of every reason of pen hygiene and your "normal"use that they shouldn't.

 

I can't be the only one who gets regular checkups by the Department of Protective Pen Health.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[linearM]

For me it is a Namiki Falcon black resin. It was my writing pen and drawing pen and one of the first serious pens I purchased. I didn't purchase it for the flex by the way. It started every time, wrote a beautiful line, never skipped. I had it inked for months and I might used it every day so it wasn't sitting long periods unused. If it had ink it worked!

 

A second pen is a Pelikan M630, a beautiful pen and a great pen for correspondence. I have trouble taking it out of my rotation simply because I enjoy writing with it so much. It has a BB nib modified to cursive italic, by whom I have no idea. It writes smoothly, never skips, always starts, and lays down a beautiful line.

[esteroids]

Waterman Carene. I have one that is completely beat up on the outside from construction site abuse, and I've forgotten it, inked up, for months at a time. I can put it to paper after such a period and it writes wonderfully.

 

I predict an enclosed feed will be common to a lot of the nominees.

[orfew]

For me it is my Montblanc 147. It writes whenever I need it to despite my not paying very much attention to it. It is my most reliable pen. It is always accompanied by 5-6 carts so I never run out of ink. I have travelled with it, taken long plane rides and cruises. It just works every time.

[NKessler]

Oddly enough, my TWSBI Vac 700 always writes the minute I touch it to paper, no matter how long it's been since I last used it. I take amazing care of 2 of my 3 700s, but one of them has been relegated to the bottom of my bag. It is constantly being jostled around, scratched up by my metal yoyos and gauges, and only gets used when I remember where it is and don't have another pen on me. Still, after almost 4 months of this treatment, it writes every time and flows perfectly. I'm pretty sure its a fluke, as many other members have had their 700s crack and have had flow issues, but all of mine are just great.

 

 

Other than the 700, my M405 has been consistently amazing since I got it. The broad nib is a nice stub now and I've never once had to worry about it not writing or performing anything under par.

[kidde]

I have a 78g F that was lost, found, lent, lost then returned. Even after being lost sans cap for almost two months, it worked after a water flush. I won't mention the India ink some idiot (me) put in it. I soaked it overnight, then scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Never try and write with a fp while finishing prints with a technical pen. Just one of many truly dumb things I've accomplished.

 

Paul

[pajaro]

Parker 51 aero, Pelikan M400, Waterman Carene, Sheaffer Cadet.

[Joe in Seattle]

Rotring 600 Lava F nib. Also doubles as a Lethal Weapon.

[ac12]

The pens I used in college

• Parker 45s in school, 2 of them
• Parker 51 desk pen at home (my mothers)

None were "cleaned" thru 6 years of college and all survived. The 51 is on a shelf now on display. I have another 51 that I use, so I don't accidentally damage my mothers 51. The 45s were misplaced/lost in one of my many moves.

[KBeezie]

I don't think I've owned a pen long enough to know which I can kill the 'flow' of just by letting it sit. Though the X750 and X450 I have start right up even after a few days of not writing (but they're with the goulet nibs, not the stock jinhao ones), one with noodler's black eel (lubricated) and waterman intense black. (likewise all 3 of my sheaffers will write immediately but I use least 2 of those on a daily basis).

 

Thing is though, once I got 'daily' pens preference down, it's going to be hard for me to test it, because in what situation am I just going to let it sit there for weeks on end?

 

Also is it considered bad to not clean out the pen in less than a couple of months? If I'm consistently using them that is.

Edited March 25, 2014 by KBeezie

[nvbrennan]

I'd have to go for Pelikans. They're least fussy of any pen I've owned. For maximum immortality I think I'd go for a 140. Indestructible.

[lahlahlaw]

My 1994 Parker Vector. I found it at my parents home last April and I got it working again, only to leave it inked and seldom used on my desk. Every few weeks I'd write a line or two with it and it never failed to start and never skipped. I finally ended up cleaning it and putting it away after all he ink evaporated out of the huge Parker cartridge - good to the last drop!!

[BT-7274]

An odd Hero 329, due to the fact that I once had it inked with...Inkjet ink. Granted, I was maybe 11, 12 years old at the time, but, to think that it would just start right back up about 5 years later, is something close to a thermodynamic miracle. It's long since been cleaned out properly, inked properly for a short few months, and then permanently retired due to cracking and the fact it was one of my parents' school pens.

 

Honorable mention goes to my cartridge/converter 51, which is still writing despite the fact it got soundly run over by a car in a parking lot. And then rebuilt. I'm fairly certain that this is one 51 that really can't ever die as long as Lamy and Parker stay in business, so it has converters to use. That, and maybe 51 parts remaining available.

Edited March 25, 2014 by White Expressions

[penrivers]

I think Bruce is talkin about endurance trought time under hard, difficult circunstances . To the varsities pen advantages you can add the low price to the ''I don't care about you pen so take care of yourself''.

[Pelikan Vera]

Pelikans....found a 400 on the Berlin flea market, stuck it in a glass of water, unscrewed the nib, flushed and filled. It writes like a dream.

[Water Ouzel]

One of my Twsbi Vac 700s (with an EF Bock nib), a Platinum Kanazawa F, Kaweco Sport Ice EF and Lamy Al-Star EF. Never a skip or hard start, as long as they've got ink. But the decade is young...

[estie1948]

I have a Parker 21 that I got for $1.50 at a thrift store. It was dirty and the cap did not fit down on it as it should. I found that there was a wad of paper stuffed into the cap. Why it was stuffed in there, I will never know. The pen went into a cigar box of pens that needed to be repaired or at least cleaned. I don't know really how long the pen was in the box, but I know it was at least several months. I wasn't in a big hurry to clean it.

 

My granddaughter, about three at the time, got into that particular cigar box and liked the color of that Parker 21. She used the pen to draw pictures on several papers. When I realized what she was doing and which pen she was using, I was flabbergasted. Since the cap hadn't been on the pen correctly at the time I bought it and it had been collecting dust in that thrift store for some time, it never occurred to me that the pen might have anything but dried ink in it. Now after all the time in thrift store and the time in the cigar box, this grimy Parker 21 was writing without any problems.

 

That was a few years ago. That Parker 21 workhorse gets much better care now and is in my regular pen rotation. I love Esterbrook Js and, though it pains me to say it, I don't believe an Esterbrook J would perform as well under the same conditions as that Parker 21.

 

-David.

[Moshe ben David]

Pelikan m800 and m200 (tie), both with medium nibs

Pilot VP medium nib and fine nib, tie

Retro 51 broad nib

Parker 51 aerometric, fine nib

Lamy Vista fine nib

Sheaffer Targa medium nib

Parker Duofold medium nib (modern)