Storing Inked Pens....

[djmaher]

I know it's been discussed before here, but, I always forget.

 

I usually have several pens inked up at once, but, for a number of reasons, they don't always get used with consistency.

 

Some weeks I write alot, while others I may only write a few days and set my pens down for a few days before I come back to them.

 

I understand nib up is the desirable way. As far as I know anyway. Yet, I often forget and just leave my pen(s) lying on my desk, with mostly OK start-ups when I pick it up again.

 

Does it matter what type of pen? Does or should a Preppy get the same treatment as a M600? Would there be reasonable "exceptions" to the recommendations?

 

If you have pens that are hard starters, yet you still want to use the pen/ink combo, does that change things? Does gravity draw ink out of the feed a bit, making it a bit slower starting?

 

Anyway, I'm interested in people's experience and opinions.

 

Also interested in desktop pen storage solutions that people have fabricated for themselves, and also why you have done so. Especially if one has limited space to deal with, and alot of pens on the go.

 

Thanks.

Edited October 21, 2018 by djmaher

[Charles Rice]

I usually have five to eight pens inked at a time. All lie on their sides. I've been doing so for 50 years. Never a problem.

[JayKay3000]

I've had some pens inked up for over a year in the past and write again without issue.

 

Most pens that I have left inked up and do not start several weeks later re-start with a dip in the ink pot and, assuming there is liquid ink in the dispensing mechanism (cartridge, etc) then that takes over after a small amount of time as the ink from the ink pot gets around the feed and starts the stream flowing again.

 

Although, using my rule, if a pen won't start after a few days of no use in standard weather conditions its not worth the effort of ownership.

Edited October 21, 2018 by JayKay3000

[Marcwithac]

I typically have between 5 and 10 pens inked at any one time. Some I use each day, others intermittently, sometimes a week or two between uses. I used to store all of my inked pens nib up to minimize any leakage into the cap. This led to many hard starts. For the past year or so, all of my inked pens lie horizontally (except for a Pelikan 100 that sits on an upward angle in the beak of a ceramic pelican-shaped display) and I have not had any problems, either with leakage or hard starts.

[Honeybadgers]

never had any problems flat in my drawer.

[sanphoemo]

Mine are stored nib down or on the side. None of them leaks into the cap

[Bo Bo Olson]

I often have 17 pens inked............so there will be hard starters. In who knows how long they have been sitting there...nib up.

Could be I'd have less hard starts with nib down.....but as noobie here, nib up was the advice.

 

One could keep a shot glass with 1/4th water on your desk. I'm lucky I live in Germany where we still got to lick stamps. So I have a rubber sponge cup I well wet ever two or three days. Either case, dip and go.

 

If you are going to store an inked piston pen flat....in the dark of the drawer for a generation or three....at least with piston pens, Pelikan Royal Blue is the best ink for long term storage. A bit of water will release a big cloud of blue ink in the bathroom sink. Black is harder and Blue Black releases in strings and takes lots longer to clean it out.

I did buy a lot of old used piston pens.........vintage.....

[ardene]

Five pens inked now. Fewer in the past. All of them lying on their side. I've never had any problems with leaks in the cap.

[LizEF]

I understand nib up is the desirable way. As far as I know anyway. Yet, I often forget and just leave my pen(s) lying on my desk, with mostly OK start-ups when I pick it up again.

 

Does it matter what type of pen? Does or should a Preppy get the same treatment as a M600? Would there be reasonable "exceptions" to the recommendations?

 

I always store my pens horizontal. The only exception would be my Nemosine Singularities tend to blurp, so if one started having problems, I would store it nib up in a pen cup.

 

My avatar is how I store inked pens. Uninked pens lie in a drawer. (I have plans to make a tray, but haven't gotten a Round Tuit yet...)

[Runnin_Ute]

I try to keep inked pens nib up, but that doesn't always happen. Uninked I keep in a cigar box lined with pen trays. (currently I have two of them)

[KBeezie]

Depends on the pen, but I just have a habit of having them in their case, upright and if they're not upright they're usually laying at an incline where the nib is upward a little.

 

I don't write that frequently either but I don't exactly "store" a pen if it's inked, more likely to be forgotten about but rather it's out and ready to use.

 

If it's been a few weeks since last inked, or last used, I usually do a refill (expel the ink into my refilling vial, shake it up good, and refill, topping off the ink vial if I need to [with an agitation of the bottle before I do]).

 

That way the ink isn't solidifying so much from evaporation.

[senzen]

Because I'm very particular about how inks look and want to avoid evaporation with pens that left in the open will evaporate, I ended up getting single velvet pouches for most of them; and because I want to see which ink is in which pen quickly, I put small bits of paper at the end of each pen with the ink... So many of these pens end up being stored upside down as they're inside a pen pouch that stands up... Probably a no no but I've had no problems, save for my couple of cursed Sonnets which of course had to leak into the cap... I now keep them in a clear top case now. My more expensive pens don't have problems with evaporation so I keep them in regular pen sleeves (e.g. Nock Co Lookout). I really should get a pen box with a clear top for all of them, just don't want to spend the money.

 

This is probably an example of overthinking it and not a path to follow, but hey, we can all learn from good and bad examples! And my inks look like I want!

 

[JakobS]

Over here, over there, just about anywhere....though most on their side, except when in my shirt pocket!

 

If ya gotta baby it, its not a pen, its a project....

Edited October 23, 2018 by JakobS

[Olya]

Always horizontal. I never understood the general "nib up" advice, as in all my life fpens were kept horizontally and never any problem (as school kid of course fpens were kept horizontal in our pencil cases and not really cared for too much either..).

 

I tried briefly keeping them nib up, but that didn't work too well, some pens dried out quicker and had trouble starting up and had ink flow issues. So that was abandoned pretty quickly.

 

The only time I keep my pens nib up is when my handbag is crammed full with stuff and there's no other way.

 

Even when flying I don't pay too much attention to the nib up position and so far so good! (Actually I do store them nib up when flying, but sometimes stuff moves around when looking for something in my handbag and my pencil case shifts into another position and the whole nib up thing flies (ha!) out of the window..).

 

My un-inked fpens and all other pens are also all kept horizontally.

[pajaro]

Always horizontal. I never understood the general "nib up" advice, as in all my life fpens were kept horizontally and never any problem (as school kid of course fpens were kept horizontal in our pencil cases and not really cared for too much either..).

 

I tried briefly keeping them nib up, but that didn't work too well, some pens dried out quicker and had trouble starting up and had ink flow issues. So that was abandoned pretty quickly.

 

The only time I keep my pens nib up is when my handbag is crammed full with stuff and there's no other way.

 

Even when flying I don't pay too much attention to the nib up position and so far so good! (Actually I do store them nib up when flying, but sometimes stuff moves around when looking for something in my handbag and my pencil case shifts into another position and the whole nib up thing flies (ha!) out of the window..).

 

My un-inked fpens and all other pens are also all kept horizontally.

 

+1.

Experience shows this works. Lay them horizontally.

[Driften]

I find my pens do best stored horizontal. Some don't care, but some don't liked being stored nib up and horizontal works for all of them.

[sansenri]

me too, when stored horizontal. Often 6-7 inked.

Nib up works with some very reliable pens (Pelikan, for example). My pens that go to work stay in a pen pouch in my office back pack and are stored vertically nib up in a pocket of the back pack. I don't usually have problems with them because they get used the most (at the moment I have two Bexleys nib up in the pouch and they have been working properly for at least a week).

My ED pens (ebonite) just love to stay horizontal, they write for a month with one fill (barrel will take 4-5 ml...) and never a hard start. Nib up they tend to dry out.

Edited October 26, 2018 by sansenri

[Houston]

 

I always store my pens horizontal. The only exception would be my Nemosine Singularities tend to blurp, so if one started having problems, I would store it nib up in a pen cup.

 

My avatar is how I store inked pens. Uninked pens lie in a drawer. (I have plans to make a tray, but haven't gotten a Round Tuit yet...)

 

Off topic, but I was heartened to see your comment about Nemosine Singularities blurping. I've had that issue with both of mine, and kind of sidelined the pens. Do you know of a discussion thread, anywhere, about how to deal with this Nemosine proclivity? ...or have you figured out a way to counter the tendency?

 

--h

[LizEF]

Off topic, but I was heartened to see your comment about Nemosine Singularities blurping. I've had that issue with both of mine, and kind of sidelined the pens. Do you know of a discussion thread, anywhere, about how to deal with this Nemosine proclivity? ...or have you figured out a way to counter the tendency?

 

--h

 

I just don't fill them through the nib & feed - fill the converter directly. I suspect that if I wrote long enough for the feed to get saturated, they would burp again, but I rarely do that, especially since I gave away my Nemosine EF nib (I think I'll be getting it back next month, so maybe I'll start using one again). But despite the fact that this seems to work for me, I've also sidelined them - haven't done much writing with those 0.6 stubs - I like my gold and palladium nibs too much...

 

Anyway here are some threads on topic:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338611-nemosine-singularity-problem-with-burping-a-little-help-please/

 

This one recounts the really odd fact that it never burped when I had Apache Sunset eyedroppered in it - maybe because, again, it bypasses the feed saturation bit and maybe I never wrote long enough with it:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/220978-nemosine-singularity/page-9

 

In this thread I reported that a different converter solved the burping, but later on I decided that wasn't totally true - I think it just helps slow down the problem (I tend to think that's the deal - if a Singularity has the problem, the best you can do is slow it down, perhaps to the point it's a non-issue, perhaps not):

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/317140-karas-kustoms-fountain-k-mini-first-impressions/?hl=%2Bnemosine+%2Bsingularity+%2Bburp&do=findComment&comment=3763146

 

And this appears to be a summary of my whole experience:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/239068-a-review-of-the-nemosine-singularity-demonstrator-fountain-pen/page-3?hl=%2Bnemosine+%2Bsingularity+%2Bburp&do=findComment&comment=3795214

 

If you prefer to read less, start with that last one.

[Houston]

 

I just don't fill them through the nib & feed - fill the converter directly. I suspect that if I wrote long enough for the feed to get saturated, they would burp again, but I rarely do that, especially since I gave away my Nemosine EF nib (I think I'll be getting it back next month, so maybe I'll start using one again). But despite the fact that this seems to work for me, I've also sidelined them - haven't done much writing with those 0.6 stubs - I like my gold and palladium nibs too much...

 

Anyway here are some threads on topic:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338611-nemosine-singularity-problem-with-burping-a-little-help-please/

 

This one recounts the really odd fact that it never burped when I had Apache Sunset eyedroppered in it - maybe because, again, it bypasses the feed saturation bit and maybe I never wrote long enough with it:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/220978-nemosine-singularity/page-9

 

In this thread I reported that a different converter solved the burping, but later on I decided that wasn't totally true - I think it just helps slow down the problem (I tend to think that's the deal - if a Singularity has the problem, the best you can do is slow it down, perhaps to the point it's a non-issue, perhaps not):

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/317140-karas-kustoms-fountain-k-mini-first-impressions/?hl=%2Bnemosine+%2Bsingularity+%2Bburp&do=findComment&comment=3763146

 

And this appears to be a summary of my whole experience:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/239068-a-review-of-the-nemosine-singularity-demonstrator-fountain-pen/page-3?hl=%2Bnemosine+%2Bsingularity+%2Bburp&do=findComment&comment=3795214

 

If you prefer to read less, start with that last one.

 

Thanks so much for those links, LizEF. I have just spent a considerable time boning up! Great info. Thanks, again. --h