How Many Pens Do You Keep Inked At One Time?

[Noihvo]

30. I'm writing fantasy and every chapter is done in a different ink.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Pilot Falcon - Tsuyu-Kusa (I think this ink is underrated, I experiment inks with this pen)

Agreed. It's just a little bit different a blue from *anything* else I have (and I probably have more blue -- and blue-black -- inks than any other color). But, I'm feeling poor at the moment, between school taxes and having to figure out airfare and travel expenses for a family wedding next month in the Pacific Northwest, or it would already be on my short list.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I have it in a Pilot Metropolitan at the moment.

Edited August 23, 2016 by inkstainedruth

[Arkanabar]

Currently, three four.

Dad's Parker "51" which is filled with some old MontBlanc-Simplo black ink. One of my penitential practices is to limit myself to black ink on Fridays and during the penitential seasons of Lent and Advent. During those seasons, I usually limit myself to a Noodler's Nikita eyedropper, filled with Bad Black Moccasin diluted 1:1 with water. It is my least favorite ink, and my most indestructible pen.

My "flex" nib Stipula Splash, filled from a bottle labeled "Waterman Florida Blue." I think the ink is likely either concentrated, adulterated, or both, because it's unusually dark and extremely lightfast.

My Baoer 388, filled with Noodler's Walnut.

My 3.8mm Parallel, filled with Waterman Violet.

The Nemosine Singularity with the 0.6mm stub just ran out of Diamine Sherwood.

It used to go as high as nine, when I worked in medical records and kept the Parallel, a pen PIFfed to me with a hand-ground stub, and a Hero 616 all filled with black, the color required of all documentation by CMS, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid services. The others would be for whatever writing I did that didn't go into the documentation.

I dislike flushing a pen before it runs dry. I am desperately poor, and a miserly skinflint.

[KLscribbler]

Usually three- my daily writers (Pilot CH91, TWSBI Mini, Muji Round Aluminium FP [the long one] ) are always inked up and ready to go.

 

Sometimes a fourth pen is inked up, that would be one of the old pens in my collection that, though no longer daily writers, I get fond of from time to time. I seldom have five or more pens inked up though, since I find it difficult to use up all the inks in all the pens in what I consider a reasonable amount of time, once the number of pens in use gets beyond five.

[PAKMAN]

Until recently I kept 4-6 pens inked but it took forever before I could ink up another pen. This summer I've gotten down to one and use it until it is empty and then ink up another one.

[Flippy]

I have a very small collection, so I keep all of them inked

[cattar]

3 lately, rather than the usual 7 or 9 or 10.

I had a couple of pen misfortunes. One hit the sink during cleaning. Oops. And one continued its walk when I was out and about.

So I have 3 Platinum preppies inked for awhile:

A fine nib has some combination of Platinum mix-free inks - A red purple now, and probably something browner next week.

Another fine nib has Sailor Yama Dori, because I like that teal/red sheen combo.

An extra fine nib has Sailor Shiguri, too fine to see the sheen, but I like the deep blurple.

Also using dip pens at home.

[ethernautrix]

I had to know (punk to Dirty Harry, "I gotsta know!") what the Namiki/Pilot Blue looked like. Have only cartridges. Hello, Pilot CH912, welcome to the Daily Carry team!

 

 

I was lucky. I like this blue very much.

Edited August 24, 2016 by ethernautrix

[Dragonmaster Lou]

I have four right now, and I rotate among them day to day. They are:

 

• Pilot Metropolitan, currently with Namiki Black
• Platinum #3776 Century, currently with Pelikan Brilliant Red (not a fan, but I want to use up the sample)
• TWSBI Diamond 580 AL, currently with Pilot Blue-black
• Pilot Custom 823, currently with Pilot Blue

[Freddy]

At the present time a baker's dozen..and they all have the Blues.

 

Was this helpful.....Q......

 

Fred

 

Romanesca Uccellini Sonata 3 Op. 7

 

Redactin'......neglected to mention on Harmonica Mundi CD........

Edited August 24, 2016 by Freddy

[lisadan]

Six at the moment. Sheaffer Targa, Sheaffer 100, Sheaffer calligraphy pen, Parker Urban, Parker Sonnet and Parker 25

[BillH]

Four for sketching, a couple Safaris, a Kakuno, and a Platinum desk pen, different nibs and inks (Carbon Black, Lexginton Gray, and Noodlers #41). I would like to be able to find two, three at the most for my everyday sketching.

 

And a Platinum #3776 XF with Kon-Peki for writing. That's still brand new so we'll have to see if it gets re-inked.

[senzen]

All 19.

[Mathematics Teacher]

I just inked 18 for my classroom in anticipation of new students to introduce to the world of fountain pens (8 Jinhao 599A's, 1 x450, 1 x750, 1 159, a Hero 616, 2 vintage Schaeffer school pens, 1 vintage Waterman school pen, and 3 Pilot Plumix's that I stole the italic nibs from.

 

For my personal rotation, I downsized to 2 pens this summer, but I typically have 6-10 inked at a time during the school year. My morning routine includes a shirt, a tie, and 2 pens in the breast pocket - color coordination is a must.

[mivox]

My collection is growing very slowly, so I usually keep *all* my fountain pens inked. That makes 3 right this moment, but soon it will be 5. Currently:

• Lamy Al-Star EF with Noodler's Red-Black
• Lamy Vista EF with Noodler's Zhivago
• Lamy Vista F with Noodler's Navy (diluted ~60/40)

 

I have another Vista EF on the way that I am going to fill with Red-Black, and carry all three Vistas in a pen slip with my Hobonichi. I like the way the pages look with alternating ink colors, and I've been wanting a slick matched pen set to do it with. lol

 

The Al-Star will then become my every-day "whatever ink I feel like using for everything else" pen. Probably be full of various Diamine inks all the time, because I love their colors, but all the Diamines I've tried in the Hobonichi have been smudging nightmares on Tomoe River paper.

 

My Townsend is currently en route to get a nib job... I am not sure what role that one will play when it comes home. I'll just have to find a reason to do more writing, so it can get the love and regular use it deserves!

 

(I also have a J. Herbin cheapo demonstrator... OMG the nib is so damn scratchy, I can't even stand using the thing. That goodness it was cheap.)

Edited August 26, 2016 by mivox

[amarelarte]

Currently 9, I would like to get down to 4-5 but I wanted to start going through some of my samples.

 

Lamy Vista F - Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue

Lamy Dark Violet Safari 1.1 italic - Lamy Dark Violet

Lamy Ocean Blue Al-Star M - Noodler's Luxury Blue

Lamy Ruby Red Al-Star F - Noodler's Tiananmen

Lamy SilverBlue Al-Star F - J.Herbin Poussiere De Lune

Lamy Purple Al-Star EF - Noodler's Purple Heart

TWSBI Eco F - Noodler's Violet

TWSBI Diamond 540 1.1 stub - Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses

Pelikan M205 M - Noodler's Liberty's Elysium

[Precise]

My number has crept over 20 more times than I like. But I do want at least two or three ready-to-write:

 

1. A good writer with a fine nib and snap cap. This is my most-used desk pen and it's an Omas 360.

 

2. A pen filled with red ink for when I go back in my engineering notebook to add later thoughts.

 

3. I used to like my Conklin Word Gage for venturing forth. When I grabbed it, I could always see how much ink it had. But lately my "go-forth" pen is an Ener-Gel.

 

So I can live with two or three. I've been bothered by my large number of cleaned and empty pens. What good are they? A couple are handy for when I take my daily writers out of service to work on them. But I literally have scores of excellent empties.

 

Alan

Edited August 28, 2016 by Precise

[Toams]

At the moment four

Pelikan M400 M + 4001 Konigsblau (EDC)

MB 146 F + MB Royal Blue

Visconti Van Gogh Maxi F + Iroshizuku Ku-jaku

Lamy Safari ST1.1 + 4001 Brilliant schwartz

 

and hesitating about GvFC Guilloche F + GvFC Stone Grey, but like to downsize to two (Peli EDC + 1)

Edited August 28, 2016 by Toams

[peterg]

24 at the moment. All depends upon whether the pens I buy are working!. Most of them are 'rehydrated' as they have dried out during the interim. Don't get much excuses for using them.

[inkstainedruth]

I think I'm back to the "too many to be manageable" range. Like amarelarte, I have too many samples to test (and just bought 4 more! Plus a bottle of ink, the contents of which I figured I wasn't going to like too much -- and I was somewhat right.

I'm doomed, I tell ya -- doomed....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth