I'm just wondering. How many pens do you have use in every day life, and what inks do you have in them?

Today I have 9 pens inked:

Namiki Silver Dragon (F) with Pelikan Brilliant Black
Pelikan Souveran M320 (F) with Herbin Rouge Bourgogne
Marlen Journal (BB) with Pelikan Royal Blue
Conway-Stewart Series 100 (medium italic) with Visconti Black
Sailor 1911 (M) with Pelikan Brilliant Black
Haolilai #801F with PR Tanzanite
Aurora Ipsilon Deluxe (B nib) with Pelikan Brilliant Black
Japan Art with Herbin Ambre de Birmanie
Faber-Castell E-Motion with Noodler's Swishmix Lakeshore Spruce

Right now I have two pens inked:

Waterman Phileas (M) with Waterman Florida Blue
Esterbrook Dollar Pen (XF) with Visconti Bordeaux

You can see all my pens in my signature, and my inks are:

Waterman Black
Waterman Florida Blue
Waterman Green
Waterman Purple
Waterman Havana
Binder Blurple (mix)
Parker Quink Black
Pelikan Black
Noodlers BP Black
Noodlers Blue-Black
Noodlers Blue
Visconti Blue
Visconti Bordeaux
Montblanc Violet
Platinum Blue-Black
Private Reserve Midnight Blues
Private Reserve Fiesta Red
and soon to be in my possession Waterman Blue Night

It varies according to the time of year. At the moment, it's my 'holidays' (during which I seem to do more academic work than in term-time) and I'm staying with my mother, so I'm being very restrained and only having two pens inked. Those two pens are my Pelikan M200 (F) and Lamy Vista (M), running Waterman Blue Black and Pelikan Violet respectively.

During term time, I'll usually have three to four pens inked. One will be my Parker 51, possibly running Noodlers Black, or possibly Waterman Blue Black, because it's an excellent note-taking pen. I'll also have one of my cheaper pens around, possibly a Parker Frontier or Vector, or maybe the Lamy Vista, in case the 51 runs out, or I need to lend a pen to someone. They'll likely have similar inks to the 51 in them. I'll also have a couple of my nicer pens (such as the M200 and the Waterman Harmonie) to stay at home for journal entries and letters, and those pens will get my more fun inks, such as Herbin Poussiere de Lune, Pelikan Violet, etc.

I keep about 50 pens inked. I like the ability to have all nib sizes and many ink colors available at one time depending on what I'm writing. I keep trying to get it down to about 30, but once I do then I think "Oh, no - I really need PR Avacado in a wet B nib!" And so I creep back up, one color and pen at a time. It's all so much fun. And, yes, I use them all every day except when I have company.

Edited to add my list of ink colors:
Danitrio Densho - Noodler's Navy
Sheaffer Brown striated Balance-type pen - Pelikan Brilliant Brown
BHR Parker Jack Knife Lucky Curve - J. Herbin Blue Nuit
Parker 61 - Parker Quink Black
Sheaffer Imperial - Noodler's Blue-Black
Sheaffer touchdown model unknown with Triumph nib - Noodler's Swisher Aquamarine Blue contract ink
Parker "51" flighter - Noodler's Dromgoole's Raven bulletproof
Waterman Phileas - Noodler's Hunter Green
Parker demi "51" - Sheaffer Skrip Blue-Black
Pelikan Go! - with Parker Penman Sapphire
Parker "51" flighter - Sheaffer Skrip Royal Blue
Sheaffer 1950's school pen - Sheaffer Skrip Blue-Black
Parker "51" vacuumatic - Sheaffer Skrip Royal Blue
Parker 45 - Sheaffer Skrip Royal Blue
Pelikan M200 - Sheaffer Skrip Blue-Black
Pilot/Namiki Decimo - Pilot black cartridge
Sheaffer Targa - Sheaffer Skrip Gray
Kaigelu 228 - Waterman Black
Montblanc 146 - Private Reserve Avacado (sic)
Platinum Preppy - Pelikan Green
Pelikan M400 White Tortoise - Montblanc Racing Green
Waterman Kultur - Sheaffer Skrip Green
Waterman Carene - Noodler's Green Marine
Sheaffer Balance-type pen - Private Reserve Sherwood
Parker "51" Special - Sheaffer Skrip Green
Pelikan M400 - Noodler's Swisher Aquamarine Blue contract ink
Sheaffer 1950's school pen - Private Reserve Naples Blue
Parker 45 - Sheaffer Skrip Turquoise
Kaigelu 317 - Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue
Parker "51" - Private Reserve Naples Blue
Waterman unknown vintage model - Sheaffer Skrip Purple
Pilot/Namiki Decimo - Montblanc Violet
Waterman Kultur - Waterman Purple
Esterbrook - Noodler's FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire
Cross Solo B nib - Private Reserve Black Cherry
Sailor Sapporo music nib - Noodler's Walnut
Lamy 2000 - Private Reserve Chocolat
Pelikan vintage M400 Brown Tortoise with flexy nib - Sheaffer Skrip Brown
Unknown Chinese pen with calligraphy nib - Noodler's Walnut
Esterbrook - Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown bulletproof
Lamy 2000 - Noodler's Shah's Rose
Pilot/Namiki Decimo - Private Reserve Arabian Rose
Waterman Phileas - Marlen NYC Pen Show Red
Montblanc 144 - Noodler's Burgandy
Parker 45 - Parker Penman Ruby
Waterman Expert II - Noodler's Dromgoole's San Jacinto Brown
Hero 330 - Noodler's Golden Brown
Platinum Preppy - Noodler's Nikita
Lamy Safari - Lamy Blue cartridge
Parker "51" flighter - Noodler's Tianenmen
Parker "51" - Binder's Blurple/Faux Tanzanite mix
Parker "51" - Aurora Blue

I usually keep about 4-5 pens inked at any given time.

Right now I have:

Pilot VP with Pilot Black
Libelle with MB Bordeaux
Pel M205 with Custom Teal (Diamine mix)
Parker Sonnet with Parker Blue

Other inks that I have/like:

MB Racing Green (Have)
Diamine Monaco Red
Diamine Dark Brown (Have)
Diamine Prussian Blue
Parker Black (Have-Bottle)
Sheaffer Blue-Black (Have)
Lamy Blue-Black (Have)

I really like dark inks, so most of what I have (and like) are among the darker inks.
I tend to use carts more than I do bottled ink, except for my own "custom" ink. I use bottled ink for my Pels, and my vintage pens.

During the summer I keep two pens inked. During the school year, I keep four or five pens inked.

I always like to having something filled with Heart of Darkness. Last semester, I kept a pen filled with Noodler's Nikita, one of Noodler's Hunter Green, and one with Baystate Blue.

oh my goodness - how do you keep track of them all???!!! I really struggle with the ten or so pens that I have!
Leonie

I am impressed. I keep 5 - 10 inked. When it starts getting close to ten I start staging a couple near my cleaning station. I have not yet had a problem of letting any accidentally dry out (about 10 years). Do you have some occationally dry out? If so, have they been hard to clean? JD

I tend to use 5 to 10. Usually a couple are new, on the way in. I have ones that have stuck to special purposes. I have a home office and two reading / writing locations. I have permenant pens located at each of those sites. Work has settled down to three pens, an Urushi Nakaya with pen holder, and blue old style OMAS Paragon for normal writing and a Taccia large red thing with broad nib loaded with red ink for highlighting. For business occations and weekends a pair of Green Marble Montegrappa (FB and RB). Then I rotate a couple new pens around... But one by one certain pens have stuck as "the perfect one for the job". Oh, yes. OMAS Blue in all but the red one.

JD

I have 10 and they are all inked. I use them all, every day or 2 or 3. Usually only 3-4-5 all on one day, when the others are sleeping. It only depends on what feeling/heft I'm interested in at the time. Or just taking notes versus or signing a bill. Here is only a handful of 'em:

Parker Big Red = Sheaffer's red
51 = Rubinato BB.
MB 146 = MB's BB (the pack instructions say that this is iron-gallus-containing)
Crest = my own mix number 17
Charleston = Herbin's Eclat de saphir

Mike <-- Waterman's Florida blue

I only have 7 pens. I keep my signature up to date about which pen drinks what

They are alway inked!

Have 2 or 3 filled at a time with Waterman blue or black. Will nick my better half's if I need more. She keeps a handful filled with nice colours.

I keep 5-7 inked at any one time. I have about 49 ink choices in the pen cabinet.

Right now...
Sailor 1911 Demo : Iroshizuko Kiri-Same
Pilot VP Raden : Mont Blanc Season Greetings 2006
Pelikan M800 : Noodler's Army Green
Pilot VP Yellow : Noodler's Baystate Blue
MB 149 : Private Reserves Black Cherry
Reform 1745 (F) : Noodler's Blue Black
Reform 1745 (xf) : Private Reserves Tanzanite
Lamy Vista : Private Reserves Tanzanite
Paradise Pens 5280 : Private Reserves DC Supershow Blue
Also quite a few of those free eyedroppers pens filled with various ink.
I admit it. I keep all my pens inked
Currently ink count is at 41 and growing

+1 I am wondering how you keep track too.
I have a little moleskin that I write what ink and pen and date. Makes it a little easier I guess

I currently have 6 pens, all of which are inked. I like them all too much to let any sit thirsty on the shelf!

Pelikan M215 (Noodler's Navy) - my everyday writer, always the same
Cross Century II (PR Fiesta Red) - changes almost every fill
Reform 1745 (PR Naples Blue) - changes quite often
Hero 329 (Aurora Black) - inconspicuous cheap pen, always the same
Sheaffer Snorkel Valiant (Papier Plume Forest Green) - not always this ink, but always a green
Waterman 52 1/2V Ringtop (Aurora Black) - first fill for this pen, so a nice gulp of Aurora Black as a baseline, leaning towards a brown for next time.

As you can see, the M215 and the 329 are my stand-by workhorses, with the others used more for correspondence or journalling. Sometimes I'll just get the itch though, and use one of the "stranger" colors for notes or whatnot.

Hi, MiniMaupassant and HenrysPens - I keep 2 separate logs. One is a pen log. I have a handwritten page for each pen. I list purchasing info, a detailed description of each pen, I have a nib section, and I show a sample of the pen's writing with every ink I've ever put into it. By looking at this page, I can see what inks look good in any one pen. AND, I know which ink I last loaded into any pen.

The 2nd log is an ink log. I have the log divided into color families: reds/pinks; browns/gold; purples; blues; blue-blacks; greens; blacks; etc. Within each color family, I have a page for each ink. On that page I write a couple of lines with each pen I've put that ink into. I can quickly see what any one ink looks like in a F nib vs. a M cursive Italic or a stub, an so on.

JDFlood - I use my pens alot. So far, none have dried out. But I consciously look for opportunities to use them. I come from a large family and write several letters almost every day, in addition to the few FPN folks I've written to. Journaling is another way people write alot. If I had pens drying out on me, I know I'd reduce the number of pens I keep ink in. So far, so good.

Yup the newbee has next to nada

Pens...

Pilot VP, Noodler's Walnut
Spalding, some blue/black it came with...

Inks...

Sepia , Mont Blanc
Polar Blue , Noodlers
Sequoia , Noodlers
Walnut , Noodlers

I plan to fill the spalding with the Polar Blue for a work pen in the freezer. I notice long periods in there messes with my VP w/ Walnut.

Fourteen at the moment (if I counted correctly):

- Black Parker "51" vac with medium nib filled with Noodler's Black (always on my pen pillow on my desk)
- MB 144 (the little one) in burgundy (M) - FPN Tulipe Noire (ditto pen pillow)
- Levenger True Writer M in SeaGlass with Pilot's Iroshizuku syo-ro (stunning!) - stays in its matching pen stand
- Levenger True Writer Medalist B in Amethyst with Noodler's Iraqi Indigo (<- bought before name change) - this one moves around
- Pelikan M400 red stripe (F) with Swishmix Burgundy - this one moves around, too
- Esterbrook deskset (M) filled with Noodler's Black

In pen wrap:

- Plum Parker "51" M with FPN Tulipe Noire (perfect combination)
- Namiki Décimo in gray (F) with Pilot's Iroshizuki tsuki-yo
- Ruby Visconti Vedo piston-fill with an italic nib filled with J Herbin's Rose
- DaniTrio Hanryo M with Noodler's Black
- Bexley blue (with sparklies!) Sheherazade M with Noodler's Blue-Black
- Pelikan 605 blue M with FPN Van Gogh Starry Night
- Preppy with J Herbin's Larmes de Cassis
- Black Safari with F, filled with PR's Black Cherry

I have lots more, but most are cleaned and put away. I do rotate some of them out, though. The Safari, for instance, will soon be replaced, though I'm not sure yet with what. So many gorgeous pens! And so many beautiful inks! I may take up kudzu's practice and start inking a lot more. I switch off pens when I'm writing, so no one gets neglected.

I'm a noob, so my collection is quite limited:

Lamy 2000 XF with Noodler's FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown
Parker "51" Aero with Legal Lapis

I have the ED pen that came with the Legal Lapis uninked, and a red Esterbrook J in dire need of restoration, but I'm in dire need of time, so it'll just have to sit for a while...

I usually--not always--have three pens inked. One is for work-related writing, such as notes and signatures. It always has black ink. These days it is an Aurora Talentum with OMAS black ink. Another pen is for casual or weekend walking around. Lately it has been having green ink, either MB's British Racing Green or, as now, J. Herbin's Vert Empire. The casual pen is usually on the small side; currently it's a Parker Sonnet. And the third is for editing. It always has a reddish ink, which lately has been and probably for a long time will be Sailor's red-brown. At the moment it's a red lacquered Waterman Gentleman.

My current rotation:

Waterman Blue Black
MB Bordeaux
MB Black (2 pens)
MB Royale blue
MB Sepia
MB Engish Racing Green
MB Violet
MB Turquoise
MB Iron Gall Blue Black
1:1 Mix of Waterman Florida and South Seas Blue.

Carene F - Levenger's Cocoa
Carene stub - Arabian Rose
Phileas F - Levenger's Gemstone Green
Phileas F - Waterman's South Seas Blue
Phileas M CI - Arabian Rose/ Levenger's Cardinal Red mix
Reform M CI - PR Copper Burst
Parker Frontier M CI - Shah's Rose
Lamy 1.1 Italic - Shoreline Gold
Ici et La M - Daphne Blue
Majestic CI - ... emptied today and waiting ...

These are my inks:


1. Aurora – Black
2. Diamine - Burnt Sienna
3. Diamine - Crimson
4. Diamine - Imperial Blue
5. Diamine - Imperial Purple
6. Diamine - Presidential Blue
7. Diamine - Prussian Blue
8. Diamine - Saphire Blue
9. Diamine - Violet
10. Diamine – Amaranth
11. J. Herbin – Bleu Myosotis
12. J. Herbin – Bleu Nuit
13. J. Herbin – Bleu Pervenche
14. J. Herbin – Bouquet D’Antan
15. J. Herbin – Larmes de Cassis
16. J. Herbin – Lie de The
17. J. Herbin – Orange Indian
18. J. Herbin – Poussiere de Lune
19. J. Herbin – Vert Olive
20. J. Herbin – Violette Pensee
21. Levenger – Amethyst (2)
22. Levenger – Blue Bahama (2)
23. Levenger – Cobalt Blue
24. Levenger – Cocoa
25. Levenger – Gemstone Green
26. Levenger – Pinkly
27. Levenger – Smokey
28. Montblanc – Bordeaux
29. Montblanc – Racing Green (2)
30. Montblanc – Sepia
31. Noodler’s Ink - Army Green
32. Noodler’s Ink – Luxury Blue (Bulletproof)
33. Noodler’s Ink – Old Manhattan Black (Bulletproof)
34. Pelikan – Brown
35. Pelikan – Turquoise
36. Pelikan – Violet
37. Private Reserve - Avacado
38. Private Reserve - Black Cherry
39. Private Reserve - Black Magic Blue
40. Private Reserve - Burgundy Mist
41. Private Reserve - Cooper Burst
42. Private Reserve - Ebony Blue
43. Private Reserve - Ebony Purple
44. Private Reserve - Midnight Blues
45. Private Reserve - Plum (2)
46. Private Reserve - Sonic Blue
47. Private Reserve - Tanzanite
48. Waterman – Havana

Why all these inks? Because I enjoy writing with different colors. Right now I have 22 pens inked and I am having fun writing with all of them! Gigi

Gack, someone has MORE pens inked than I do? I don't feel so bad suddenly!

Parker 61 in Rage Red, Skrip blue-black being changed to Nooder's BB
Platinum Preppy Eyedropper with Polar Blue
Hero 100, Skrip Blue-Black, soon to be something else
Waterman's Ideal Celluloid, Noodler's Beaver
Snorkel Admiral, Noodler's Forest Green
Parker 61 in Black, GF cap, Noodler's AirCorps BB
Hero 300, FPN Gallileo Manuscript Brown
Hero 616, Baystate Blue
Parker "51" Vac, Noodler's Black
Estie Copper LG, Quink Black 9460 nib
Hero 329, Noodler's Squeateague
Black Estie J, FPN Tuilpe Noir
Gray "51" Vac, Hero Blue-black
Copper Estie J, 1550 nib, Noodler's Standard Brown
Pelikan 21, Luxury Blue
Sheaffer Cadet 23 semiflex nib, Quink or Sheaffer Black
Gray Parker 61, Hero Blue-black
Rage Red Parker 61 Mk I, Noodler's Walnut
Hero 330, Quink Black
Hero 329, looks like Skrip Blue-Black
Parker "51" Special, Zhivago.

I have many more pens (these things are like Lay's potato chips, you can't have just one....) and a total of 34 inks, some in duplicate.

And I just won another Sheaffer TM on eBay....

Peter

Well, my "regular" friends think I'm crazy with fountain pens; now I can tell them I'm far from being as carried away as some. I usually keep most of my pens inked, here is the current program:

1. Sheaffer Connaisseur: Aurora Black
2. Sheaffer Targa: Duke Blue-black
3. Parker Sterling Cisele: Caran D'Ache Amazon
4. Waterman Expert II: PR DC Supershow Blue
5. Lamy AL-Star: Noodler's Red-Black
6. Lamy Safari: Namiki Blue

I have a few others that are currently dry for one reason or another. Keeping six going is enough of a challenge anyway.

I have twelve pens inked right now - more than usual because I just bought a few of them and am giving them a preliminary trial to see if they need more work.

Esterbrook J. Black. 1551 nib. Levenger's Cobalt Blue ink. New (to me) pen. Works well so far.

Sheaffer Craftsman TipDip. Black. F1 nib. Vintage Peacock Blue Skrip ink. New. Works, but is a tad dry.

Sheaffer Valiant/Saratoga Frankenpen. Blue. F two-tone open nib. Levenger's Amethyst ink. New. Works really well.

Sheaffer school pen. Red. F nib. Noodler's Fox Red ink. Used for editing.

Esterbrook SJ. Black. 2668 nib. Blue Black Quink ink. Writer. Pocket pen.

Sheaffer Vigilant. Black. XF Waverly nib. Noodler's Green Marine ink. Writer.

Sheaffer Viewpoint. Green. F italic nib. Noodler's Legal Lapis ink. Journal poster

Sheaffer white dot Snorkel desk pen. Black. Two-tone Triumph XF nib. Blue Black Quink ink. Writer / editor.

Sheaffer Touchdown desk pen. Possible Frankenpen. Black. F Feather Touch nib. Pelikan Brilliant Green ink. Computer desk pen.

Sheaffer school pen. Green. F nib. Noodler's Green Marine ink. Gig-bag pen.

Manuscript pen. Black. M italic nib. Noodler's Legal Lapis ink. Journal poster

Manuscript pen. Black. M italic nib. Ersatz cartridge black ink. Writing exercises.

Paddler

*thinks hard*

I try to keep the number of inked pens down but lately I went on a buying spree of pens and inks (all on the cheap side) so I wanted to test-drive a number of them.

Pilot Petit 1, refilled with J Herbin Diabolo Menthe (almost perfect color match)

Pilot Petit 1 in brown (I love these mini-pens)

Platinum Preppy in blue-black (excellent writer, nice, nice color, less of a blue-black than a lovely mid-tone blue)

another Plat Prep in yellow (the worst pen I've ever used that didn't actually spew ink all over. Scratchy, impossible to read, had to add a shot of brown to the cart. How can there be so much difference within the same brand and model???)

Pelikano Jr in blue---just used up the icky cart that came with the pen, refilled with Waterman FL Blue, much nicer!

Full-size Stypen (Red cap, white barrel with primary color design filled with, uhh, oh, nuts, I forgot. I think Levenger Skies of Blue?)

Mini-Stypen (red, white, blue design, filled with PR American Blue, nice writer, nice ink)

Mini-Sty (orange and turq design, Levenger Blue Bahamas, goes well with the turq elements)

Sailor Calligraphy (blue barrel, custom blue ink)

Hero 616 (evergreen barrel, custom olive ink)

Really, that's way too many pens for me to have inked. I like to keep it under a half-doz, but at this moment, I wanted to try a number of new pens

I keep a log similar to the first for pens, but the second for ink is a really good idea! I'll be doing that from now on!

Ryan.

I go through phases.

I often keep just three pens inked, and stick with a specific ink in each pen for a couple of months. One pen will have a blue-black or a black, another will have a brown or a green, and the third will have a red.

At other times, like now, I have more pens inked, usually as I try new ink purchases, decide what shade of a particular colour to use, or choose which pen to put into daily use before settling down with the main three.

This is what's inked at the moment:

1. Sailor 1911 F - Sailor nano-carbon Black
2. Sailor M81 F - Sailor Blue-black
3. Pelikan M400 semi-flex EF - Noodler's Blue-black
4. Pelikan M400 F - Waterman Havana Brown
5. Pelikan M805 B - Noodler's Walnut
6. Pelikan M805 EF - Pelikan Brilliant Brown
7. Spalding Mini Pen F - J. Herbin Cafes des Iles
8. Rotring Art Pen 1.1 italic - Private Reserve Copper Burst
9. Rotring Art Pen 1.5 italic - J. Herbin Pousierre de Lune
10. Reform Calligraph 1.9 italic - Noodler's Firefly

Ryan

Hmmm . . . looks like my lucky number 13!

3 Platinum Preppys converted to EDs, each with a Noodlers Baystate Ink in it (Blue, Concord Grape, & Cape Cod Cranberry)
Blue Dollar piston filler demo, Waterman Florida Blue
Red Dollar piston filler demo, Diamine Monaco Red
Green Pelikan M1000, MB Racing Green
Blue Royale Omas Paragon (1995, large size), MB Violet
Pilot Sesenta Brown, Caran d'Ache Grand Canyon
1928 Parker Duofold Senior "Big Red", Waterman Havana Brown
Frankin-Christoph IPO, Noodlers/Swishers Aquamarine Blue Contract Ink
Pilot MYU Large, Noodlers Black
1960s MB 149, MB Violet
Pilot Custom Bible, Pilot Iroshizuku kon-peki