Packing Pens

[Djehuty]

I'm in the process of packing up all my stuff for a move. My pens are all coming with me in the car, natch, but I want to be sure I pack them safely. I have one of those nifty wooden tool chests from Costco, and have fitted it with pen trays. Ought it be enough to wrap each pen in a paper towel before placing it in the tray? Or would the paper towels be likely to scratch the pens? In that case, what should I use?

 

I've searched the forums, of course, but most of the search hits had to do with packing units in Sheaffer pens. The few descriptions of pen-packing I found were mostly from people with better solutions (custom-made pen-packing boxes!) or foresight (kept all the original boxes) than I.

 

[fly_us]

If you could go to a hardware store, buy a roll of bubble wrap. It should be more than enough.

 

Otherwise i just roll it with some clothes instead of paper towel. At least they are softer.

[Djehuty]

Hm... maybe some old undershirts would work, as long as I don't worry about getting the pens in the actual trays. Thanks, I was mentally fixed on fitting them into the pen trays, which allows little room for packing material.

[gregamckinney]

Two moves ago, I went the bubble wrap route. I used the kind with the small bubbles, and it worked very well.

Just be sure to tape the sides too. Little buggers really like wiggling out of the wrap.

Best, greg

[them700project]

Ive had no issue taking pens to club events in cigar boxes on pen trays. As long as they remain flat and level and there's no aggressive driving.

[FarmBoy]

Put each pen in a ziploc bag. Put the bags in larger bags so you have a few quarts bags full.

[Djehuty]

I'm going to see if I can rig something with these cotton squares I bought ages ago for cleaning off nibs. They're large enough to wrap a pen in one, and less scratchy than paper towels. Old shirts were too bulky for the pen case, and I don't think the Ziploc bags would protect them much from being jostled.

 

Thanks for the advice.

[ethernautrix]

I've moved with my pens several times -- road trips and airplane rides -- and I've taken no extra special care. I keep my pens in cases, and that's how they travelled. Of course, my favorite pens rode up front with me.

 

One suggestion, though: You could roll your pens up in a towel (pen, roll, pen, roll, pen...until the towel runs out) - if you're bringing your towels (or clothing) anyway, that's helps with packing. That is, I use clothing and towels as packing material (dishes, glasses, and so on).

[Buzz_130]

When I moved from overseas back to the US, I packed up all of my wooden cases and put my pens in large travel cases. These cases went into backpacks and briefcases for the long flight back. I didn't have any problems along the way, and the travel cases are put away for the next move.

 

Buzz

[tfwall]

I'm in the process of packing up all my stuff for a move. My pens are all coming with me in the car, natch, but I want to be sure I pack them safely. I have one of those nifty wooden tool chests from Costco, and have fitted it with pen trays. Ought it be enough to wrap each pen in a paper towel before placing it in the tray? Or would the paper towels be likely to scratch the pens? In that case, what should I use?

 

How did you pack them last year for your trip to Berkeley? I assume you already captured some lessons learned and best practices?

[FarmBoy]

 

How did you pack them last year for your trip to Berkeley? I assume you already captured some lessons learned and best practices?

The Berkeley trip was aborted and is now moving into final launch stage. It is about time, I've been putting out that invite to a Pen Posse and the SF Pen Event for what seems like a year...

[tfwall]

The Berkeley trip was aborted and is now moving into final launch stage. It is about time, I've been putting out that invite to a Pen Posse and the SF Pen Event for what seems like a year...

 

The trip happened, but he didn't like the university accommodations and headed back to his parent's house. So, the pens essentially made a roundtrip US crossing already by car.