It Was Fun While It Lasted

[Charles Rice]

Yesterday my boss handed me a fountain pen, a PFM that looked to be in perfect shape. Fountain pens - he has no use for them. Was this a nice gift for all the great work I do? Nope, it was his long dead mother's and he wanted to see if it still worked and if it did, how to fill it. So I took it home soaked it, pumped the snorkel a few times, and then filled it up.. PERFECT!! Just like new.

 

So I gave it back this morning and gave him a quick course on how to cherish a good pen. And did I mention that it wrote beautifully?

 

After a quick thank-you, he indicated that he'll likely never use it. I understand the keep-sake value, but what a shame that it will just collect dust.

 

Oh well, but I had a very enjoyable evening with it.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Charles Rice

[inkstainedruth]

You're lucky -- filling a Snorkel without checking to see if it's still working is often a dicey proposition -- the spring could have rusted out (or be on the edge of that, compounded by you flushing it out).

OTOH, you did get to spend an evening with a cool pen. I don't have a PFM (they're a bit heavy for me) but I do have six regular size Snorkels (variety of colors and nib widths, as well as both Triumph and standard nibs).

Several years ago someone posted the link to an old TV ad for PFMs, which I think was found on YouTube: "Buy your husband a PFM for Christmas -- you know he wants one!" And while the sexist tone of the ad made my skin crawl (after all PFM stood for "Pen for Men"), they did show the fill mechanism and I was going "Oh, that's COOL! I want one!"

Of course part of the joke was that Snorkels and their larger cousins, the PFMs, were apparently Sheaffer's reaction to the influx of ballpoints on the market: the most complicated fill system on the planet! Whereas Parker's was the Parker 61: just stick the capillary filler in a bottle of ink and let it do the rest for you -- the *simplest* fill system on the planet.....

And yeah, I have *both* Snorkels and P61s....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Charles Rice]

Yes, I did figure I was lucky, but I did everything slowly and I encountered no catches. I have a snorkel (my own) that I did need to have worked on.

 

I did like the feel of that pen.

[crescentfiller]

A Pen For Mom!

It was good of you to help him out. Perhaps he'll change his mind and start using it.

Or, perhaps he'll give it to you when you retire--instead of a gold watch!

[Sailor Kenshin]

PFMs are cooooool. I have a green one (probably a II?) that I couldn't put down.

[pajaro]

One of those blasted Murphy corollaries.

[Charles Rice]

A month ago I fixed up a PFM that the boss inherited. Talk about a near mint pen. I filled it up and tried it out. Perfect. And as I stated in the OP, the boss is not what I'd call a friend of fountain pens. But I had hopes. Dashed hopes now. I asked how he liked it. He had not used it. Why I asked. He lost it. Such is life.

[CS388]

Nice story - if a little frustrating!

 

Keep your eyes peeled.

It could be kicking around the workplace, somewhere.

Maybe not far from where you handed it back to him?

 

Of course, if you did find it, it would be your duty to hand it back to him. Eventually.

Once you'd checked there was no damage, etc.

[Parker51]

Lost it, hmm, I would ask for clues to try to find it, letting him know I was concerned given how expensive a pen it is. After all, Ther is lost as in one has no idea where something might be and lost as in recalling putting something away, but not recalling where exactly such as maybe a drawer, but which drawer?

I "hid" some pens once as I was going away on vacation, a few months later I noticed I missed them. (A danger of having too many pens) It took me almost an hour to locate them after checking the places I had considered hiding them. The trays of pens included a PFM amongst them.

[europen]

Mr Pink,

 

Without overly-intellectualizing or politicizing what was originally an interesting post, I'd like to add: had it been myself I wouldn't have given it back. I'd have said No it's permanently broken or beyond repair, or at best suggested he let me use it on permanent loan.

[Charles Rice]

I should 'a moved to Alaska with it.

[Glenn-SC]

I understand the keep-sake value, but what a shame that it will just collect dust.

 

 

He lost it.

 

 

Do you get upset if it is "saved" or upset when it is "lost".

You can't lose something (damage something, wear something out) if you've saved it.

[RedRinger]

That's a great (and heartbreaking) story! And I think a woman who writes with a PFM as her first-choice pen is a woman I would have loved to be friends with!

 

I generally only buy pens that I will use, and I feel like repairing them and using them "keeps them alive" in some sense. I love to think about who used them before me, to whom they wrote, and how marvelous it is that they ended up in my possession and that I get to care for them now. I also like to hope someone will use them when I am no longer able someday.

 

Though I have to say my Rotring collection has been gathering dust as I write daily with my Sheaffer'ses. The Esties have been whining for some use lately too..

 

Maybe it's time to suggest that if the boss ever finds it, you'd be happy to "keep it in a safer place for him" hahaha....

 

 

Matt

[Charles Rice]

Update - he found it and has used it. OMG!!!!

[ralfstc]

A_N_D????????????? How did he like it‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽

[Kelly G]

A convert?

[Charles Rice]

For the boss, it was just a pen. (maybe I should get him some nice pink ink)

[RedRinger]

I recommend Pilot Iroshizuku Momiji...

[Bilbo_Swaggins]

I would recommend something nice yet work appropriate, as I use one at work myself with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai or a Diamine Prussian Blue. Nothing too extreme, but enough for a fence sitter to maybe take the plunge.

[Charles Rice]

I would recommend something nice yet work appropriate, as I use one at work myself with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai or a Diamine Prussian Blue. Nothing too extreme, but enough for a fence sitter to maybe take the plunge.

 

Me thinks anything other that blue would be a total waste of MY money