The Pens You Cannot Kill

[Namo]

I've used a Waterman Maestro without any cleaning for almost 20 years and I never had a problem with it. Used only Waterman ink, though. Now the clip cap is not holding well...

[casualmerlinconstant]

Lamy safari-flushed ..never. Ditched by friend onto ground. Still going

[Opooh]

Pelikan M1000.

[Trebster]

My Sheaffer Targa fine in brushed steel is pushing close to four decades of fail-free use. It's sister in black and gold is but a year younger and is similarly proof against fail.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Trebster

[odd_soul]

Parker 51 aero, Platinum 3776 Century, Pelikan M215 and M605. All great pens! My Visconti Van Gogh also starts right up every time, but I also have a fairly wet ink in it, so that might have something to do with it.

[dcwaites]

I have to agree on the Pilot Varsity/V-Pen. I recently found one in the garage, so old that it had a folded nib tip, not the properly tipped nib they make now. It was 10~15 years old. Still had most of the ink in it, and it wrote first time.

Second on the TWSBI. I have an original pre-production 530, which had been sitting, unused, but partly filled in a pen cup for well over a year, perhaps nearly two. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago, and it wrote immediately as well.

Anyway, I rinsed it all out, filled with my new Faux Penman blend and it has been flawless.

[Medsen Fey]

I have an old Waterman Phileas. It was my first "real" fountain pen. It was rarely used. It had ink dry in it on multiple occasions. I didn't even know you were supposed to flush fountain pens. It shuffled from drawer to drawer and got tossed around. About a year ago I really got interested in fountain pens when I pulled it out of the drawer, inked it and had it start writing flawlessly. It still looks great too.

 

I am now giving this poor old pen the respectful treatment it deserves.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Medsen Fey

[Namru]

My Kaweco Sport. It's been in my jeans pocket with a wallet, keys and change for the last 3 years with a rubber sac mod. Hasn't missed a beat and starts up even though I haven't cleaned it for almost two years.

 

Also, I once left a Twsbi 540 inked without use for 11 months. Uncapped it and wrote first time.

[mirosc]

one of the old Pelikan Pelikanos - used it for almost 15 years without a single flush and never had problems whatsoever.

[kpyeoman]

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.

 

A Carene at a construction site...a Carene forgotten...having difficulty processing this...

 

I haven't had any pen that I've thought, "eff you pen, you're on your own -- best wishes" and continued to write with it. If I get to that point with a pen, it gets cleaned out and goes on to a new home.

 

The pen I unknowingly neglected for years, though, was my Sheaffer Javelin. Before I was really into fountain pens and understood pen hygiene and care, it was fed cartridge after cartridge, tossed around in a bag, etc. Still wrote like a champ and still does today (but is being properly taken care of, now).

[athenian]

Lamy 2000

[cjr]

Pelikan Classic 150 with medium steel nib. Got it new around 1980. Abused it all these years by leaving red inks in it for months/years at a time, particularly Private Reserve reds. It never complained and starts up whenever I remove the cap!

[OcalaFlGuy]

I have to agree on the Pilot Varsity/V-Pen. I recently found one in the garage, so old that it had a folded nib tip, not the properly tipped nib they make now. It was 10~15 years old. Still had most of the ink in it, and it wrote first time.

 

A couple years ago I put a Varsity in a nib up orientation on the sun visor of my car and purposely left it there for the summer here in the Sunshine state. I am sure temps routinely hit 120-130 F inside the car during the summer.

 

After 4 months in the car it wrote first touch to paper.

 

If you look hard enough on Fleabay, you can get the 7 pack of them in all the colors for $20 or less shipped. I often suggest That as a "first pen". You get a lot of exposure Cheap to several neat ink colors and if you find out a FP isn't All That for you, you still have some really decent "markie pens". Not to mention, if you Do end up liking them, you then have an idea of what color inks you like best to buy and Refill the Varsities with.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[IcySwan1]

_I

 

_{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.}

_{That is awesome. I am up for any pen that can withstand metal yoyos and gauges. I have a TWSBI 580 but need to get one of those bad boy Vacs.}

_Mike

[scrivelry]

 

A couple years ago I put a Varsity in a nib up orientation on the sun visor of my car and purposely left it there for the summer here in the Sunshine state. I am sure temps routinely hit 120-130 F inside the car during the summer.

 

After 4 months in the car it wrote first touch to paper.

 

If you look hard enough on Fleabay, you can get the 7 pack of them in all the colors for $20 or less shipped. I often suggest That as a "first pen". You get a lot of exposure Cheap to several neat ink colors and if you find out a FP isn't All That for you, you still have some really decent "markie pens". Not to mention, if you Do end up liking them, you then have an idea of what color inks you like best to buy and Refill the Varsities with.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

 

 

They write a little too wide for me, but you can stub them with the scissors on your desk and smooth with a one dollar nail file... which I did immediately after reading your post, because I've been meaning to and keep forgetting...

 

For the pen that would last through anything, I nominate every one of the Sheaffer pens sold on the hanging pieces of cardboard back in the day. They are carts, they can be flushed - the only one that hasn't written for me as soon as ink hit it was one that someone put either glue or some kind of laquer/shellac in. And the nibs always worked right out of the package, at least for me.

[KBeezie]

 

 

They write a little too wide for me, but you can stub them with the scissors on your desk and smooth with a one dollar nail file... which I did immediately after reading your post, because I've been meaning to and keep forgetting...

 

For the pen that would last through anything, I nominate every one of the Sheaffer pens sold on the hanging pieces of cardboard back in the day. They are carts, they can be flushed - the only one that hasn't written for me as soon as ink hit it was one that someone put either glue or some kind of laquer/shellac in. And the nibs always worked right out of the package, at least for me.

 

I've seen people do that with Hero 616s, buy a pack and make a couple of them oblique just by snipping off the tip and filing it down.

[Fabienne]

Pilot Varsity...had the same pen for years and it still writes like a dream.

[grainweevil]

An unknown barleycorn aluminium bodied thing with an "iridium Germany" oblique broad nib that has been battered to death by my father and still refuses to die (it has actual dents and the clip is totally trashed). Pretty sure from the tobacco smell it still gives off that he must be at least the second owner, as he's a non-smoker. He handed it to me with a general air of "you kill it" and I haven't come close. And you should see what he's done to his replacement Waterman Hemisphere; the man is a pen killer par excellence. (I'm adopted. Or it's skipped a generation. Or something. I plan on saving the Waterman when he isn't looking, as it has a rather nice stubbish medium nib...)

[penrivers]

Get a dremel and you can have varsity nibs from xxf to broads.

[sotto2]

My favorite POS pen is my Cross Affinity in black pearl. Man, I love to hate that thing. It refuses to stop writing with Waterman Purple ink. Smoother than glass.