My own feelings are along the lines of 1, 2, and 3. I tried to keep the selections mostly humorous to some extent... I'm sure there are many a broken heart over a pen that was stained with ink, and don't mean to make light of it.

Since my tastes in pen run along the lines of a Model T - any color so long as it's black, I'm obviously not one to worry about ink stains. Or at least I think I'll be OK... I hope. So my preference in ink is a vibrant, saturated ink - and I dislike watered down inks.

In the choices, you forgot

- Stains? I carry sand paper in my vistonti 3 pen leather case for emergencies

and

- Stains? My pens are made of metal! I prefer rust!

Any pen other than a black one is probably going to be stained, eventually. The stains mean that you've been using the pen for its intended, designed purpose. The same holds true for many musical instruments: guitars with spruce tops, maple or fruitwood recorders, fiddles, etc. They may, on rare occasion, even collect a slight "ding" or two. This is all evidence of use. If a pen or other instrument is a good example of its type, it will be used a lot and eventually begin to show its age.

Boat owners are often really fussy about keeping the equipment in pristine condition. You may not come aboard unless you are wearing "boat shoes", etc. These guys have to "protect their investment" because they can't afford to own the boat in the first place. I think if you can't afford to sink it, you can't afford to own it. This is why I buy canoes. If you can afford to buy a pen, you should be able to afford to use it and risk a stain or ding.

Paddler

Heh, perfect way to put it.

Honestly, I love my pens. Rather, I should say, I love using my pens. Actually, it's both. Sure, I want them nice looking and shiny and all that, but I have to use them. It's what I bought them for, to write. They are the tools that enhance my experiences of expression and creativity. I want more. I want them all to stay nice, but I know that they will get their battle scars, the dings and stains. It's ok. I don't intend to let go of them. When I'm gone, I'm sure someone will probably toss the lot. Ohhhh, their loss. Or, maybe I'll just find a way to take 'em all with me.

When I worked for the Fisheries Division in Port Moresby, they brought out a small boat design expert from Scandinavia. His description of a boat? --
A hole in the water, lined with wood, into which you throw torn-up $20 notes.

But yes, your 'investment pens', including the Special Investment Genuine Imitation Lamy Fountain Pen used by Hitler to Surrender to Churchill, go into the display cabinet or safe.

Your user pens get used, and suffer the Slingers and Arrows of outrageous fortune, be they dings, scratches or stains. We take care of them, give them first aid when they need it, send them to pen hospital for serious ailments, and they bear their scars with honour.

I have more than a few old pens with mildly ink stained ink view windows or whatever so why would i expect a new pen to never suffer such things with time and use.

If one wants something to be pristine lock it away in a fireproof safe that is nitrogen purged.

Seriously folks when did the star-wars action figure collector "don't take it out of the box it ruins it's originality" mentality take over EVERY hobby?

We have folks who collect guns they will never shoot, perhaps not even turn the cylinder of a classic colt lest it show the dreaded "turn line", people who expect pens whose very job involves being exposed to a chemical designed to stain, yet to show NO effect from exposure, people who buy knives never to use them.

I mean seriously folks what next, 2nd homes we don't live in lest they get dirty?

Go out and get some mud on your tires and live a little bit.

I voted for the "masterpiece of form and function" option. In fact, ink stains bother me so much that I only buy sacless piston fillers in black - a color of which I am not overly fond.


Dave

I think you missed some options at the bottom end, personally. Ink should stain paper, not pens. And if we're honest, many fountain pen inks don't even stain paper permanently. I've got vintage pens that were used extensively, very obviously everyday users, with completely clear ink windows -- the only color shown is that of the original material and yellowing from age, no ink stains. Heck, some of these I had to clean 50-year-old dried ink out of, and they were not stained.

So I personally don't care what certain ink manufacturers want to claim. Vintage inks did not stain pens when used properly; modern inks should not do so either.

I'm with Jin Stain the paper, not the pen.

I'm of the RsqVet camp. I decry the vast sums spent on decorating "living rooms" no one lives in, forget the second houses never used. While I do have some of what I view as museum piece pens, I am a work-a-day sort that uses pens a great deal in daily work. Therefore, I view my pens as tools and instruments of my "profession." Would it surprise you if I said I treat my suits somewhat the same way, as a mechanic would a jump suit - use them for intended purpose, hang up (i.e. store properly) when not in use, and clean [and press] when necessary. Stains and holes will occur.

Therefore, if either suit or pen gets ink stained [dings or holes in veneer or nap], so be it. It's a badge of honor, service honorably performed. Do we not care for our pens as dcwaites suggested? A little wear & tear and staining of our pens is naught but evidence of our indulgence in [one of] our favorite hobbies, pursuits, past times, [other] along the way in our lives. It's a great way to avoid monotony in the average work day.

Exactly. I have a largeish number of vintage pens, and while most show signs of use and wear to some degree, none has a visible external ink stain; nor does the Pelikan 800 I've been using on and off for the past 20 years or so (and without keeping it in a special box or case etc.). To the extent the point of this topic is to suggest that the staining powers of a certain blue ink are nothing unusual and not worthy of complaint, I disagree. (Nor do I agree with the suggestion that those who don't want their pens stained by ink are equivalent to those who reserve a living room for guests and keep their chairs and lampshades covered in protective plastic.)

Simon

I selected the fourth option. For me, it spoke to the aesthetics of a pen. There might be some light staining, and it really is normal wear and tear. But if the stains are too obtrusive they have harmed the beauty of the pen. I write with my pens; I shoot my firearms. After use, I clean both.

In the case of piston fill pens with ink view windows, staining harms the function of the pen as well as the aesthetics.

"Stain paper, not pens." That phrase would make a great (albeit obscure) bumper sticker.

I agree, up to a point; but:

(1) the "chemical" isn't designed to stain *pens*; it's designed to stain paper, etc. It's very unusual for ink to stain the exterior of a pen.

(2) knowing that stuff will eventually show wear and get dirty doesn't mean it's unreasonable to takes steps to reduce wear, avoid unnecessary dirt, remove dirt when possible, and be dismayed when a new member of a class of non-staining products causes indelible stains.

(3) what if it were all but impossible to fill a pen with a certain ink without permanently staining the exterior of the pen? Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think it's possible to fill a Lamy Safari without submerging at least the very end of the section. A certain blue ink permanently stains the exterior of yellow Lamy Safaris (at any rate, it has done so to at least two of them; whether it also does so to Safaris that aren't yellow or to other pens I have no intention of finding out). No other ink has done so in my experience (nor has any other ink ever stained the exterior of any pen I've used, vintage or modern. I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned about this particular ink (which, I suspect, is what prompted this topic in the first place).

Simon

I agree that you missed some important options. Can we have a "there are too many non-staining inks in the world" please? (J. Herbin, yumm... ^_____^ )

I see nothing wrong with wanting to be very careful with your ink selection in an effort to keep your pen looking good. I do this with my Pelikan anthracite demonstrator -- I settled on Quink Washable Blue for it, and I may never put anything else in it.

At the same time, I also see nothing wrong with caring more about the ink delivery capability of the pen than how it looks. That's how I feel about most of my other pens. They get colors like Bay State Blue and Legal Lapis (not that Legal Lapis is something I worry about staining, but it has horrible nib creep -- I don't care).

I think it's where those two concepts meet that people end up disappointed. You sometimes have to make a choice between the most vivid colors and the safety of your pen. I for one am glad we have such a large variety of inks that we have this choice.

Yes, I know that there is a possibility of my new Pilot Custom 823 clear demonstrator being stained with the purple ink I filled it with, but that was part of the look I wanted. Purple ink sloshing around the barrel of a clear pen, w/ gold hardware. Since, we're on the subject, who knows of a good shade of purple, that would be less likely to stain? It's filled w/ Waterman Purple now.

I don't know of a good purple that doesn't stain much, but isn't the book on Waterman red and their violet/purple that they are notorious for staining?

Yep, I'm one of those perfectionists who doesn't like his fountain pens, once emptied and cleaned, to show any evidence of ink. This is one of the reasons why I like blue and black inks of the unsaturated variety (Waterman, Sheaffer, Montblanc, Dupont, etc.).