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How Do You Choose The Pen You Are Using?


MadAsAHatter

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I have a stand on my desk that holds 5 pens which works perfectly since I only have 5 fountain pens. I keep them all inked up and pick up one at random when I need one. I like the way they all write and the colors I have in them and I don't have a favorite, so that all get pretty equal use.

 

How do you all rotate through your pens? Do you do something similar to me and pick up one at random when you need? Do you have several inked up and use one per day/week? Do you keep only one inked and use it until it runs out then switch?

 

Just curious about how all of you rotate though the pens you use, especially those with larger collections.

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I have two P51's. One is permanently inked with blue ink and another with black. These are my go to work pens - for formal correspondence and such like. On top of that I have a Diplomat Excellence with Pelikan blue-black which has a little more water resitance than most to use for addresses and postcards.

 

Other than that, the rest of the pens get whatever ink I fancy - purple, green and browns.

 

The pistons tend to keep the same colours as, much like the P51's, it's just so much easier that way.

 

So, if I am at work - it has to be a pen with blue or black ink loaded - and it has to work on a wide range of paper. I find Quink or Platinum's inks ideal for that - a wet pen is out of the question as to much ink will just bleed & feather as well. So, the P51 or P45 (with fine nib) seem to be ideal.

 

At home, I've got better paper - so the broad nibbed Izumo comes out to play - and it is more to do with the colour I fancy writing with than the pen. Journals/reviews get done in whatever colour comes to hand. Personal correspondence too.

 

So, the biggest influence is the ink - and the type of paper I'm likely to come across.

Edited by sandy101
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in no particular order but I do try to rotate each and every one of them ( which are proving difficult at times )

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I have some 19 pens inked, two more than normal***, but someone said how nice and dark Edelstein Smoky Quartz was in a wide wet nib..........and I hadn't given the ink a chance, just inking a F nib.....instead of also a M and B nib. (I use to really go OCD on a new ink....5 widths and flexes, 4-5 papers............but after awhile that was to monotone.

 

I inked a black and gold semi-flex Osmia 63, the size of a Pelikan 100 or 140, Geha 760, a medium-small pen which was very IN, in the late '40-50-60's. In that it only says Osmia, it is before 1951, when Faber-Castell finished their buy up of Osmia........becoming for that brand....Faber Castell had it's own second tier pens. Osmia was first tier and Faber Castell bought up Osmia to upgrade it's company.

 

Osmia was as far as I know the only company to tell you which foot the oblique was. BBL= BB left foot. a right foot one would be a BBR.

It being semi-flex is automatically a wet nib.

 

I have two Osmia BBL's, one is actually and it is this one only a OB 1/2 instead of a OBB. That was on the skinny side of tolerance. But it don't really matter, it writes very well in deed.

 

I had Francis re-cork it. He boils a fitted cork in paraffin (a thicker mineral oil) & beeswax and then slaters it with silicon grease. So should be good for the next 70-100 years if it don't end up in the Dark of the Drawer. Cork will dry out if left there for 40-50 years. If used regularly, there is no problem.....

Properly prepared....boiled in oil and beeswax makes cork the smoothest of all gaskets for piston pens.

 

Posted the 63 is well balanced. Almost all vintage pens say pre-70 are well balanced or they would not have sold. Most vintage pens were medium-short, standard or medium-large. The Snorkel is an oddity a Large pen with great balance but it is a thin pen.

Great balance IMO comes from posting those pens. (If you fear mars, wax your pen.)

 

German vintage pens are @ 1/2 a width narrower than modern....so a B or OB is a writing nib not a signature pen like modern wide nibs.)

I have to go to the little plastic index card holder to know for sure what my many pens are inked with.

I also have inked my maxi-semi-flex Osmia 540 with a Supra M nib, with Herbin Blue Pervenche, a turquoise ink, in I ran though naming 5 of my turquoise inks as a recommendation to a noobie.....and realized I'd not used turquoise in quite a while..and had forgotten to mention that ink. :doh: That was the pen I inked before the 63.

When one has 60-70 inks one can be forgetful.

 

One must stay away from Inky Thoughts, or Ink Reviews or one ends up inking yet another pen in one's 64 color crayon box.

 

Writing is 1/3 nib width&flex, 1/3 paper, and 1/3 ink and in that order...........others remind me there is the other 1/3...the user. :happyberet:

 

Pen Rotation...the empty pen cup gets too full and I have to clean them..............that means there's a whole lot of pens that can come out of the humidor and pen case to get some play.

 

I only have some 19 Green-greenish inks, some 6-8 browns and purples (I had been chasing purple when I got ambushed by green....I mean I'd never even thought about buying a green ink...why? Why would one use a green ink????

 

....but I really should use some of those inks in the corner who were 'too good to use'. :headsmack: :wallbash: :doh: My old Cd"A inks................ :bunny01: as soon as I write a pen or three dry. :rolleyes:

 

*** I had been trying to work on getting down to 5-7 pens so I could use up some ink, and buy new ink.............then my wife had a good day at a live auction so stopped off at my near by B&M and got me three MB inks I hadn't had, and the next week I bought 4-5 Kaweco inks................so much for Plan A..... :P

That was four or five inks ago.

 

When you go to Ink Reviews do read any and all reviews by our Ink Guru Sandy1, she uses 4-5 normal widths, and has over the last decade used some 7-8 good to better papers. (not super expensive, not dirt cheap either.....good paper.)

I really need to get those papers.

Different nib widths, different papers, can make an ink look completely different. One wouldn't believe it's the same ink. :thumbup:

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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For me it's more about the ink than the pens to decide what gets used vs. what doesn't. I use Noodler's Air Corp as my go-to professional ink at work. I also have some Diamine Ancient Copper that I load up in a broad nib. The pens themselves get rotated based off of which ink they can use. Right now, my EDC is the cost-effective Pilot Metro with the Plumix nib in it - so if I accidentally drop it or it gets the sticky finger treatment, I'm not out a great deal of monetary or emotional capital. That one gets the ancient copper and is used as my 'red pen' at work or for any writing that I feel should have a touch more flare.

 

For the more professional and workplace appropriate Air Corp Blue-Black, there's some form of vintage workhorse running the ink with a medium nib as my EDC professional pen. Right now it's my Watermans Commando - which looks fantastic and receives lots of compliments. I've been known to mix it up beyond that, but what I use at home will be whatever strikes my fancy, mostly dipping fps to avoid having to deep clean them every time I decide I want to change inks.

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know." - Harry S Truman

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I am trying to get down to only keeping ink in 2 or 3 pens at a time. I have a Lamy Studio with EF for general journal writing. I have a Lamy 2000 EF in my planner. I'll have a rotation of TWSBI Precision or Eco, Ranga, another 2000, a variety of others with italic type nibs for journal writing and correspondence.

Today I have ink in the mentioned Lamys, a Ranga and an Eco.

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Usually have 3-4 inked with different colors of ink. They usually have several different nib sizes/styles. It depends or if I'm going outside or working at my desk, if say I'm doing a crossword or writing in my journal. No real pattern. I have around 110 fountain pens so some don't see use very often, may even be years between them getting inked and used.

PAKMAN

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I choose by brain f*rt or by wild hair.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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How do you all rotate through your pens?

 

You are making the mistake of assuming that there is a rational thought process involved. Pajaro's answer is closer to the truth, combined with the influence of pens on the bench, the pens discussed in threads, and random ebay images seen while looking for something else. "OOH! I haven't had THAT pen out in a while." I'm more like Dug.

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I'm colour blind so have much reduced appreciation for inks compared to those with normal colour vision. I just have a few primary colours available. My choices, therefore, are based on how I want my writing to look and / or how I want to feel the nib-on-paper experience.

 

So, if I want to write quickly I choose a nail in one of about 9 different styles; if I'm in a slow and contemplative mood I might select a soft and flexy nib etc.

 

I keep several Parker 45 flighters ready to go, all with different nibs, 3 Parker 75s with different nibs, a Visofil VT, and my trusty Boheme XL. If I'm feeling really adventurous I break out a very old MB Safety pen with a BB paintbrush-flex nib.

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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For work (hospital, e.r. and ward) I have about 11 pens inked up: different nib size, different coloured inks, all cheapies and less expensive pens. Each morning a different set of 4 or 5 are chosen to join me for the day, "by brain f**t or by wild hair" as pajaro said. (Yes, I do get the odd look and more than one collegue grinned and shook his or her head at the sight of my pens. By now they got used to me and my pens!)

Then at home for journal writing I usually have 3-4 more expensive pens (mostly Pelikan) inked up, also different coloured inks and nib sizes. I also choose them by gut feel, right now a M600 and two M400.

When one pen (work or home) is finished, it gets cleaned and put away, and a new one gets chosen: "oh that one looks nice and might be fun!"

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My method is "Ooh shiny...." B)

Usually it's either a pen that I haven't used for a while going back into rotation, or a pen that I'm inking up for the first time, combined with trying ink samples, and having at least one ink that is good for signing checks and addressing envelopes, and such.

I like to have a variety of colors, and what pen(s) I use on any given day will depend to some extent on what I'm in the mood for, what I haven't used for a few days of the inked up pens, and what I need to be doing.... And I like to see what pen/ink combos work well.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Aesthetically pleasing, well adjusted nib and working well with one of my favourite inks. Simple.

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My selection is more based on having a variety of pens with different nibs inked. I'll have a couple of fine or medium nibbed pens for note taking, a cursive italic or stub for a bit of style,a broad nib pen and a cheap pen I don't mind losing. The pen matching the above is a whim of the moment.

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How do you all rotate through your pens?

I don't.

 

Do you have several inked up

Try several dozen. (My spreadsheet tells me 133 of my pens — not counting my fiancée's — are currently inked, although I don't know how many may have dried up completely since I last got around to using them.)

 

and use one per day/week?

No. Outside of just jotting down a few notes (search terms, shopping lists, warding spells, etc.), if I sit down with the intent to write, I like to have at least three or so colours on hand; the selection of colours for the application or occasion drives the choice of pens to use, more often than the other way around, although sometimes I just want to write with my favourite pens, feel them in my hand and realise the marks I want to make on the page.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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pretty much the one next to the one i used yesterday. a simple rotation but will occasionally pull a second pen if i need a certain color (or more specifically... don't want to use the color in my pen for a specific reason like no red in biz correspondence)

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I choose the pen and ink for the task at hand - I probably have ten to fifteen inked at any one time. If I am making lists or short notes I will usually grab one of my better pens in a narrower nib. For writing, I choose nibs that write smoothly. I grab yama-budo-inked pen if grading, something in a deep brown if writing a personal note, four or five pens with different color inks to plan things out....

 

I do have a tendency to find certain inks that I feel are suited for particular pens. A couple pens I play with to try out different systems, nibs, inks. Once I settle on an ink-pen combo, I rarely change it.

Festina lente

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

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