Eeek!

[trdsf]

So I got home last night, took care of my few "upon arrival back home" details, and dropped into my desk chair. Upon reaching for my beloved black Estie to put in its overnight holder, I was first confused, then startled, then horrified to discover that the only thing clipped to my shirt is the cap; the pen is nowhere to be seen, not inside my shirt, not on the floor, nowhere. And having just a few minutes before completed a 4.5 mile bike ride, there were no less than three different cities it could be in... and did I mention that I work second shift, so it was already nearly 1am?

 

Happily, it turned up on the front step of my apartment building, but EEK!

 

And from now on, it rides inside my backpack rather than anywhere external. I'm too old for shocks like that.

[Oggie]

I'm glad to hear there was a happy ending.

[Scrawler]

What a nasty painful and unpleasant experience. I am glad you have been reunited, and hope the pen was not damaged by the experience. You might want to consider acquiring or making a glove or pouch for it. I have a soft leather pouch that will hold one SJ model, which ensures my pen and cap cannot be separated from each other.

[inkstainedruth]

I've that sort of panic. Only it wasn't with an Estie -- it was a kinda pricy Morrison ringtop, which had unscrewed itself from the cap while I had it from the lanyard.

Needless to say it doesn't go out of the house anymore....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Hobiwan]

Hey, I remember moments like that. I used to love running the bike at full speed down the street and into the front yard, then do a circus-rider dismount and walk calmly thru the door as the bike kept running and eventually fell over. Minutes later I'd be back outside on hands and knees looking for my green Esty in the taller grass that grew over the septic tank drain field. Ma never was amused....

[gweimer1]

I had that moment shortly after I got my first Dollar pen. I had come into my apartment after work, reached for the pen, and it was gone. I called work to see if I had left it on my desk. Nope. My heart started racing, and I remembered I had checked the mail before parking and coming in. I jumped back in my car and headed to the mailboxes - a place where everyone pulled up in their car and stepped out to open the locked boxes. As I pulled close, I could see it laying in the parking right at that spot where tires would be. It had come out of my pocket when I checked the mail, and I hadn't noticed. I was fortunate that nobody else had apparently come in since I had, and my pen suffered only some minor abrasions to the cap when it hit the asphalt.

[AAAndrew]

Almost as bad, I once had the pen unscrew and fall into my pocket. The only time I've had to throw away a shirt because of ink stains. And I had just filled it with Aurora black. I can remember the ink but can't remember the pen. It may have been my first Estie, a copper J pen. But that was a while ago. I make sure pens are well closed before putting them back in my shirt pocket.

[trdsf]

This one has an unfortunate tendency to unscrew itself; it's done it at least once before. Is there a way to stop it from doing that?

[pajaro]

I had that happen to a Montblanc 146. Unscrewed itself and fell out of my pocket. It happens with many screw-on caps.

[Hobiwan]

This one has an unfortunate tendency to unscrew itself; it's done it at least once before. Is there a way to stop it from doing that?

 

I read instructions for a pen (I think an older Sheaffer hard-rubber model) that said "screw cap tightly to barrel" or some such. That would butt the section front snugly to the inner cap and create stress between the inner cap and threads that might prevent the cap from working itself loose because of vibration while carrying. Of course we tend to worry about stripping threads ....

 

I know that when I'm lax about capping my tranny snugly, it tends to dry out and not start up like it should (here in the So. Cal desert).

[jspen765]

That is why I use pocket protectors. I can put 5 or 6 pens in one without them badly beating each other. My glasses don't scratch them anymore. And when I pull the cap out and nothing follows, the rest of the pen is (so far) reliably in the bottom. I may have to clean the plastic pocket protector and the neighbors after I fish out the rest of the pen. But I don't have a turquoise/black pocket.

 

And it makes an overwhelming sight to my non-pen collecting coworkers as I walk down the hall with that list to the left....

 

Now if there was a cure for pen splatters...which only seem to happen with white or yellow shirts. Blue/black and dark checked shirts are immune.

 

Jon the eclectic penner

 

(today's pack has a Blue Parker 21 Special, Sheaffer Triumph nib WD Carmine lever filler, Sheaffer Triumph nib Red Touchdown WD, Black Sheaffer Presentation Touchdown White Dot with the largest Sheaffer open nib I have seen in that style, and a Q1 1938 Parker Challenger in Red)

 

If only my favorite weren't always the last one I fixed! Though that Carmine is awful nice...

[jspen765]

Found my pocket protector packet with Blue Esties, Blue J with 9314M (my favorite) and Blue LJ with 9668. The LJ was unscrewing, almost apart. It tends to come loose like many of my Esties. Tightened it up and brought them to work. Still protected though! I have had them completely unscrew, and with the protector I still have the parts.

 

The 9314 compares well with my best pen Minuskin nibbed 1.1 mm Parker 51...just a little less. Both are great writers.

 

I need more 9314s...not willing to pay the high prices. Still regret the one I sold....

 

Jon the eclectic penner.

[sargetalon]

Whoa! It's kinda like that moment when you realize that you don't quite know exactly where your child is or what he is up to...but a whole lot worse. I'm glad that your story had a happy ending and that no harm came to the pen. I frequently check my pocket for this very reason.

[Rob G]

Get some plumber's teflon tape or a small piece of medical tape (the cloth kind) and put it on the threads inside the cap, where it won't show. The cap will stay on much better.