How do you choose?

[chupie]

I only have three, and I feel like I need them with me at all times! You know, in case I want thin, or more weight or.... you get the drift. Hopefully (fingers crossed, fedex tried to deliever it today. I am hoping my signature on their door thingy will convince them to leave it in the office tomorrow) tomorrow I will have my sailor 1911M with zoom nib. Oh my.

 

I don't have a pen case, but righ now, I am using a solid glass case that I bought at Shopko. I have the pens in their little felt cases and just put them in there to carry in my purse. Actually works pretty slick. I should take a photo. Anyway, does one get over the "I can't figure out which to leave home" syndrome?

[handlebar]

Once you have so many that you HAVE to leave some home, maybe

I have 19 pens now and take 2 per day in rotation (except my expensive pens).Since my case accepts only two, that helps limit them.

 

But trust me, i do know how you feel!!

 

Handlebar

[TMann]

Chupie,

 

Don't worry. There are others of us who have the same problem. There have been times that I've found myself standing in front of my desk saying to myself, "Waterman or Pelikan, Waterman or Pelikan?" while my wife and kids sit waiting in the car.

 

My wife rolls her eyes at me a lot.

 

TMann

Edited January 11, 2006 by TMann

[Blade Runner]

On our last Christmas break I couldn't decide and brought 24 inked pens.

J

btw, I'd get more than a 3 pen case.

[petra]

I always take at least two pens... different inks for different meetings, etc. Plus, you never know if you'll run out of ink or a pen will get finnicky... but I also only have 2-pen cases right now. If I had a 3-pen case, I'd probably be carrying three. No wait -- a 4-pen case, that's what I need... a 4-pen case that also holds a bottle of ink...

 

Petra

[chupie]

It'll be really bad when I have colors to choose from!

[_EL_]

It's hard to choose one pen over all the others

 

I tend to select two, sometimes four, pens based loosely on what I believe I'll be doing all day. Typically an XF for short notes in one of my small notebooks. F and possibly an M for longer texts. And the nof course colours, I like red and purple for corrections...

 

 

E.

[KCkc]

Not really if you have it down to a science and mathematical algorithm of trhe concept of rotation. You see if you integrate all the number of pens available, inked, and factor in the different combination of nib width and ink , then...

 

Just kidding, I usually have 10 pens inked with different nib sizes and mostly with Blue ink, and 1 with Yard O led Claret or CS green. Then I just pick by whatever my eyes landed on first and take 4 to work. The hardest one is to pick the pen to be filled with Claret or CS green since I really have to pick one over all others...

[memphislawyer]

i have two ballpoints and one fountain pen. i take the ballpoint with me when i wear a suit and use it for show. i leave the fountain pen at work, which is were i do most of my writing. when i get better, ill get a new fountain pen or pens for home with the italic nib so i can do chancery italic ala Mr. Pickering. ill leave the inks there. for work, im gonna use the florida blue by waterman, but i think ill go darker blue or even go with a violet/purple, no wait, redbrown or that brown for documents, or, wait, heck i cant decide. seems like i am headed to more pens and more inks. BUT NOT JUST TODAY

 

sam

[Richard]

Memphislawyer, you are a sick person. The way to health is to swear off ballpoints. Don't own them, don't carry them. If someone wants you to use a ballpoint, then make that person provide one for the brief seconds that you have to touch the thing. If you need to make carbon copies (as when you're signing a credit card receipt other than those godawful thermal ones), consider that in most cases you keep the second sheet while the merchant keeps the top one. You already know what your signature looks like, so there's no reason to worry about pressing hard enough to transfer through -- but if you're anal retentive enough that you simply have to, then get a pen with a manifold nib (also known as a "nail").

 

If you check the pages of my pen collection, you will find that on page 11 of my vintage American pens there are four vintage ballpoints. Take note, please, that all of them are fitted with gel refills.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/ca.jpg

 

Also, I don't carry them except on the rare occasions when I know I'm going to get stuck filling out a multipart form that actually matters, such as when I take Registered packages to the post office and don't have any Registered Mail receipts in the house to fill out beforehand.

 

Can you see the tongue planted firmly in my cheek?

[Titivillus]

I only have three, and I feel like I need them with me at all times! You know, in case I want thin, or more weight or.... you get the drift. Hopefully (fingers crossed, fedex tried to deliever it today. I am hoping my signature on their door thingy will convince them to leave it in the office tomorrow) tomorrow I will have my sailor 1911M with zoom nib. Oh my.

 

I don't have a pen case, but righ now, I am using a solid glass case that I bought at Shopko. I have the pens in their little felt cases and just put them in there to carry in my purse. Actually works pretty slick. I should take a photo. Anyway, does one get over the "I can't figure out which to leave home" syndrome?

I got to that point of pen paralysis but made a decision that I would only have 3 pens inked at a time. Really you can only use one at a time but with 3: I have usually a fine nib for note taking, a wider nib for letters and when I feel in a wide nib mood, and finally a wildcard usually with an interesting ink.

 

So like the person who lays their clothes out the night before I have the pen I will use that day ready to take with me. Granted I don't use a FP at work so most of my writing is done at home.

 

As my collection has progressed I have gone through a lot of pen purchases and sales, eighty pens sold at last count, so every pen I own right now is one that I really enjoy since it doesn't stay around too long if I don't enjoy writing with it.

 

Kurt H