Pocket Disasters

[Namru]

I was late catching the train this morning, late enough to get a good jog on. Not enjoyable in the slightest.

 

I finally caught my morning train (it was late... Haw), sat down to read my morning emails and enjoy my tea... But then I saw them. Little patches of magenta, red and brown on my forearm, wrist and palm. I looked down...

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u11/davidfielding3832/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0369.jpg

 

Bugger.

 

It seems I didn't cap my trusty little Kaweco securely enough when leaving the house and it managed to worm it's way free from the cap on my little jogging episode. It's lucky that Sailor's Grenade matches the shirt I suppose.

 

Please tell me this has happened to someone else, so I don't feel like a total clot.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Others have problems with Pelikans.

Jogging, break dancing and back pack tossing are not fountain pen authorized activities.

[Xand3]

This is why I prefer slip/pressure caps to twist caps. I often see people on these forums posting about how twist caps are more secure, and they wouldn't trust a slip cap, but frankly I just can't understand why.

 

I would never feel comfortable trusting my twist cap Pelikan clipped to my shirt for even a simple walk to class. It comes untwisted WAY too easily.

 

But my S.T. Dupont Olympio, Faber Castell Basic, Lamy Safari, Shaeffer 100, GvFC Guilloche, all of which are slip caps? I can't even fathom a situation in which they would "accidentally" uncap themselves and have an accident like this.

[Namru]

This is why I prefer slip/pressure caps to twist caps. I often see people on these forums posting about how twist caps are more secure, and they wouldn't trust a slip cap, but frankly I just can't understand why.

 

I would never feel comfortable trusting my twist cap Pelikan clipped to my shirt for even a simple walk to class. It comes untwisted WAY too easily.

 

But my S.T. Dupont Olympio, Faber Castell Basic, Lamy Safari, Shaeffer 100, GvFC Guilloche, all of which are slip caps? I can't even fathom a situation in which they would "accidentally" uncap themselves and have an accident like this.

Pelikans in that respect are kinda lame, but my Kaweco has lived mostly in my jeans pocket for the last 4 years without issue. I was just a dunderhead this morning

[bullet08]

Kaweco AL Sport is the next pen i'm looking for. seems like well built pen with little issues and perfect for the pocket pants. i'll make extra note to tighten the cap when i get it.

[GTOZack]

Ive ruined a dress shirt this way before, The culprit was a pelikan M1000 it came loose.

 

So i traded the M1000 for something else.

 

 

I bought a MB149 it was slightly better. my MB146 seem snug screwing in and out. The MB149 seem slightly loose but it is snug fit.

 

Pelikan M1000 Forget it, you need a damn plumber's Teflon tape on threads.

[Moshe ben David]

I rarely carry pens in my shirt pocket or jacket pocket. Generally in pen cases. I wonder if anyone has experienced similar loosening of pen caps when in these cases? I haven't, which has always led me to believe that when clipped to a pocket, there was just that much more differential movement leading to the caps loosening....

 

Of course another solution if you're open to it is to carry pens like the Pilot VP. No cap to loosen!

[PAKMAN]

Pelikan 400 for me, never had a larger Pelikan do this however.

[tonybelding]

This is what I like about my Bexley "America the Beautiful". When it was new I wondered if there was something wrong with it, because the cap was so hard to get off. Over the years it has loosened up some, it's no longer a struggle, but it's still never going to come off by accident.

[kidde]

Sorry, you're not special. I almost always carry a pen and paper, frequently the pen is attached to my collar or in a case in a utility pocket. Shirt pocket-collar-case it has happened, but way less often in a case. The price I pay to follow my Scout oath and "Be Prepared".

 

Paul

[Tasmith]

Happened to me with a Pelikan M200. Amodex took out the ink. Now I carry a Pilot Vanishing Point.

[senzen]

Ruined a shirt... With a Pelikan too! But it was my fault, I didn't close it properly...

[LisaN]

Good Heavens, am I the only nerd in this place? Really?

We have these things...

They are called "pocket protectors"

You can still get them.

[AJ50]

My Sheaffer Valor did this to me on a couple of occasions. Don't use it anymore

[lzykramer]

Ive ruined a dress shirt this way before, The culprit was a pelikan M1000 it came loose.

 

So i traded the M1000 for something else.

 

 

I bought a MB149 it was slightly better. my MB146 seem snug screwing in and out. The MB149 seem slightly loose but it is snug fit.

 

Pelikan M1000 Forget it, you need a damn plumber's Teflon tape on threads.

Hahaha, I love the M1000 explanation..

[Sasha Royale]

A pocket protector doesn't have to be the big thing, with the flap that springs the pen clip. A smaller, ID badge cover fits completely

into the pocket. If you want ink all over your clothes, put the pen into the rear hip pocket. I destroyed several Parker 45's that way,

in college days. (I don't do it anymore.)

 

Good choice of shirt, however. Remember >> Red shirt for spaghetti. Brown or black for Chinese food.

[lynxcat]

only stained one shirt this way, and that wasn't a cap malfunction; that was a genuine leak where ink should not have leaked out of a hero 616. (i should write that episode up, and how i fixed it. might make a decent pen review, of a not that decent pen. later, perhaps.)

 

i've had my Pilot 78G unscrew its cap in my pocket once or twice. no stains, though; my shirt pockets are shallow and the nib didn't escape, i caught it just in time each time. i'm leery of carrying screw-cap pens these days, however, i've developed a preference for slip-cap pens down the P51 lines.

 

i don't use pocket protectors because my shirts are too cheap to need them, honestly.

Edited July 2, 2014 by lynxcat

[Lyander0012]

Quite lucky that the ink matched your shirt in this case! My disaster was a classic blue-ink-on-white-shirt sort of thing. Luckily, it was Cross Blue, meaning that it was easily washed away in the laundry )

But yeah, this is why, with a few exceptions for quick notes, I much prefer twist caps to friction-fit ones; the seals are less vulnerable to ink leakage and such

 

That can probably wash out enough for the stain to be unnoticeable, I think. I have Grenade, and it isn't the most waterfast of inks.

 

 

Kevin

[Hooker56]

Wow! And I thought I was the only one! I acquired a '50's era Pelikan 140 I carried it for a couple of days (fortunately not a good dress shirt) and like Namru, I looked down to see Pelikan Turquoise all over my palm and arm. It was about the same sized spot. Amodex got 99.9% of the ink, but it took many applications to finally obliterate it.