How Many Pens Do You Have Inked Up At The Same Time?

[bongo47]

Right now I have 28 inked. This is down from 36 a month ago -- I think that's a record high. I just like having pens available to write with, to choose from when going out, and all of that. I keep sternly saying to myself I have to cut down, but really, there's no reason to, so I don't.

For me the reason I'm trying to reform is I'd keep pulling out pens that had dried. Then I'd clean them, fill and they'd just dry out again with only a couple uses (if that). Sometimes the cleaning wasn't all that easy, and I swear I've spent more time cleaning some of my pens then actually writing with them. I did some serious flushing/cleaning now, and will store them like that until I put them into use among a few. Hopefully then I can do a quicker clean and store them as they go back to the end of the line. At least that's the plan.

[Barkingpig]

Right now I have 28 inked. This is down from 36 a month ago -- I think that's a record high. I just like having pens available to write with, to choose from when going out, and all of that. I keep sternly saying to myself I have to cut down, but really, there's no reason to, so I don't.

THANK YOU! You have made me & I suspect a few others feel a LOT better about keeping more pens inked than we actually NEED. I have surely flushed my share of ink from pens purchased "used" so I figure I can always do it again if needed but I like a "variety" of ink & nib choices so I am guilty of the "excess number @ the ready!"

[R. N. Dominick]

For me the reason I'm trying to reform is I'd keep pulling out pens that had dried. Then I'd clean them, fill and they'd just dry out again with only a couple uses (if that). Sometimes the cleaning wasn't all that easy, and I swear I've spent more time cleaning some of my pens then actually writing with them. I did some serious flushing/cleaning now, and will store them like that until I put them into use among a few. Hopefully then I can do a quicker clean and store them as they go back to the end of the line. At least that's the plan.

 

I pull out all my pens every couple of days and write with them all, to make sure they won't dry out, to check the ink levels, and just to use them. My cleaning sessions take a while too, but that's because I tend to let pens stack up. Right now I've got two lever-fillers waiting to be cleaned, sigh.

 

THANK YOU! You have made me & I suspect a few others feel a LOT better about keeping more pens inked than we actually NEED.

 

You're welcome. I saw so many replies saying "oh, four or five pens" and I just couldn't imagine only having that many going...

[Hector67]

I have over 20 pens and a similar amount of inks (a color specially for each pen). In the past I used to have at least 10 inked all the time. Now I have only 2 pens inked, which I rotate daily. Once one runs out of ink, I wash it and it gets replaced for another I feel like using. This happens about once a week, so a full rotation will take around 2 months. By the time I take out and ink a pen, I feel the joy of visiting an old friend.

 

Cheers,

[Martini1R]

 

I pull out all my pens every couple of days and write with them all, to make sure they won't dry out, to check the ink levels, and just to use them. My cleaning sessions take a while too, but that's because I tend to let pens stack up. Right now I've got two lever-fillers waiting to be cleaned, sigh.

 

 

You're welcome. I saw so many replies saying "oh, four or five pens" and I just couldn't imagine only having that many going...

If all my inked pens are CC pens and with reasonable easy cleaning inks, I won't mind having a few more. I am actually thinking about inking up another 2 pens while I am typing this...

[Cepasaccus]

I have measured the loss of water for some pens over the last year. For modern pens I got 3mg/d with a MB 146 and 10mg/d with a Pilot Vanishing Point. The loss of water can get up to 30mg/d and down to 0.3mg/d (very well sealed safety pen). So a pen can dry up in between three weeks and ten or twenty years. If pens lie around unopened for a longer time than the ink residues could seal it a bit better thereby reducing the vaporization.

 

So a normal pen should probably not lie around longer than two to four weeks until a refill or clean. How many pens you can have inked at the same time depends then on how much you write.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I'd try that myself, if I had a scale that could resolve down to the milligram.

 

(And if we had some gin, we could make gin-and-tonic. If we had some tonic.)

Edited September 4, 2015 by hbquikcomjamesl

[Cepasaccus]

And if it would snow icing sugar we could hold donuts out the window.

 

Anyway, my scale can resolve 10mg and so we have to wait a bit longer than with a scale of 1mg, but my pens are in no hurry.

[Sasha Royale]

4

[pajaro]

Eight. Five Parker 51s, a Pelikan M400 and two Montblanc144s (one black and one red). These pens do not seem to dry out. The rest or the pens I am cleaning out and deciding what to do with them.

[inkeverywhere]

I've cut back

 

Only around twenty now.

 

Me too, shamefully down to nine - some for every day writing some for calligraphy.

 

 

Greg

[Zookie]

Anywhere from one to too many. I write a lot and switch pens when I take a break.

[LuckyKate]

Two for out of the house and five at home. But that's almost all my pens, except a few vintage pens and a bunch of broken Ahabs and Jinahos.

[jcindyy]

I have three pens inked up. Two with blue ink (I use these two pens interchangeably everyday) and another one with diamine green|black. I write several pages with each of them every day.

[EricaTX]

Maybe 10-11. I use them all daily at work.

[bongo47]

I have measured the loss of water for some pens over the last year. For modern pens I got 3mg/d with a MB 146 and 10mg/d with a Pilot Vanishing Point. The loss of water can get up to 30mg/d and down to 0.3mg/d (very well sealed safety pen). So a pen can dry up in between three weeks and ten or twenty years. If pens lie around unopened for a longer time than the ink residues could seal it a bit better thereby reducing the vaporization.

This would be amazing to publish here by brand and model. Did you happen to measure a Noodlers Ahab? I've noticed and seen posted on FPN also that they dry very quickly just sitting. I'd love to see that quantified and compared with some similar pens.

 

Oh and any idea how mg of ink translates to ml? I'm guessing loss is pretty much water only, so straightforward, but not my field. And if I'm not mistaken a mg of water is 1 ml. But thinking through ...a standard cartridge is something like 1.5 ml, so that VP would be losing that very 3-4 hours? That can't be right. Help me with the math please.

Edited September 5, 2015 by bongo47

[Sailor Kenshin]

Mmmm...five is ideal, but I have more like...ten? Eleven? Due to ink testing, a couple of new pens, and the fact that I am now allowing SOME of my pens to leave the house with me (three).

 

I do not count Preppys, Petits, the Zebra V-pen, or my Always Inked Check-Writing Pen.

[Cepasaccus]

bongo, I don't have an Ahab. I have mostly real vintage pens. I measured a Romus. That did lose 30mg/d. It is one of my top "losers". That is no wonder as it doesn't have an inner cap. Most vintage pens are around 10-20mg/d.

 

1ml ink is about 1g = 1000mg. So a pen losing 10mg water per day dries up a large standard cartridge in about 150 days. (1.5ml = ca. 1.5g = 1500mg. 1500mg/(10mg/d) = 150d) With 30mg we are down to 50 days and problems much earlier. A VP with converter and 0.5ml ink would also dry up in 50 days.

 

If you have a scale with a resolution of 10mg you can test it yourself. Fill it with water, weigh it and after a month or so again. With weight loss divided by the days you have your value.

 

Cepasaccus

[Martini1R]

 

 

If you have a scale with a resolution of 10mg you can test it yourself. Fill it with water, weigh it and after a month or so again. With weight loss divided by the days you have your value.

 

 

 

Interesting way of doing it by the weight!

[bongo47]

 

1ml ink is about 1g = 1000mg. So a pen losing 10mg water per day dries up a large standard cartridge in about 150 days. (1.5ml = ca. 1.5g = 1500mg. 1500mg/(10mg/d) = 150d) With 30mg we are down to 50 days and problems much earlier. A VP with converter and 0.5ml ink would also dry up in 50 days.

 

If you have a scale with a resolution of 10mg you can test it yourself. Fill it with water, weigh it and after a month or so again. With weight loss divided by the days you have your value.

 

Cepasaccus

Awesome, thanks for correcting me. Can you tell I'm American? Some day we'll catch on to metric system.