Marble/granite/quartz...non-Painted Pens?

[Emt1581]

I love my Pilot Metropolitan. However, with EDC pocket carry they all get really scratched up. I figure if I can find something economical that's made from marble/granite/quartz/etc. on the barrel...it might shatter as soon as I drop it once, but maybe it won't get so scratched up in my pocket. I'm guessing the deal breaker here is going to be the price point...or do cheap non-painted fountain pens exist?

 

Also prefer the finest tip possible so it doesn't look like I'm writing with a sharpie.

 

Thanks!

[Marlow]

Forget those materials for an EDC pen unless your pockets are deeep.

 

As always my recommendation is a Parker 45 flighter. Cheap as chips to buy, huge range of available (and easily swappable) nibs, ultra reliable and will only look even cooler if you drop it on the concrete! What more could you want?!

[langere]

I have a Visconti Millionaire pen, which has a granite sleeve. The best I can tell you is that this is not a cheap pen - the name of the pen gives it away. They usually go for north of $1000 and are a bit bulkier than most because of the material.

 

They are beautiful and mine writes superbly well.

 

So - It's either cheap or granite - hard to get both in the same pen.

 

Erick

[A Smug Dill]

However, with EDC pocket carry they all get really scratched up. I figure if I can find something economical ...

• It doesn't automatically follow that everyday pocket carry means exposed to scratching. I used a matte black Pilot Capless Vanishing Point as an EDC pen for five years, and the few nicks and scratches it picked up all came from being left on the desk among other harder items, not while it was clipped to my shirt pocket or chest pocket inside my blazer. You can always choose not to carry keys, coins, etc. in the same pocket as your pen.
• Alternatively, you could always choose to protect your EDC pen against scratching with a leather or velvet sleeve, and it wouldn't undermine the idea of the pen being easy to carry, even if it takes longer to deploy in use and may feel a little overprotective, especially for something 'economical'.
• Picking something cheap for an EDC pen is a good idea because it makes the pen an expendable and easily replaceable workhorse, not a showpiece.
• You could always go for a pen with a raw brass finish, which could still get scratched but certainly not as badly or noticeably as 'resin' or lacquer.

[langere]

I meant marble...sorry for the error.

 

Erick

[langere]

For an EDC, try Kaweco or its Chinese imitation, DeLike. Metal or plastic pens pens that take a lickin' and that get more character as they get scratched. You know, that can be a feature (scratching, that is) that is nice on some pens/

 

Erick

[Honeybadgers]

Granite and all the other materials mentioned are also an AWFUL material if you want a pen that can resist shock. Those materials are hard but conversely incredibly brittle

 

You're after metal, most likely something like raw steel or brass.

 

If you're in the pilot metro money range, the delike alpha in brass will get scratched up but is meant to actually look that way (it looks even better if you gently sand it with 1400 grit sandpaper to remove the lacquer.)

 

If you've got a little more to spend, look at a Karas Kustoms or the new model coming out from ensso

[SoulSamurai]

If you want a carry pen that doesn't mind some scratches, I think a brushed or matt metal finish would work best. I've seen some brushed steel pens like the Sheaffer 444, and some modern steel, aluminium, brass, copper and titanium pens are available in stonewashed finishes.

 

Now there are some "stone" blanks available for pen turning, you could always have a pen custom made, but I'm not sure these are actually particularly scratch resistant as they are made of powdered stone and a binder.

Edited July 23, 2019 by SoulSamurai

[A Smug Dill]

The best way to avoid marring the finish of a pen cap and barrel is simply not to mistreat it, but/and protect it with some sort of case or sleeve when not in use. Neither of those things prevents or undermines a particular pen being an 'everyday carry' writing instrument, nor add to either the rarity or the price of the pen itself. A thin pen sleeve costs next to nothing, and does not add much bulk at all such that the pen is no longer pocketable.

 

Personally, I strongly believe in consumerism, and support fellow consumers wanting their specific functional and qualitative requirements (of some product or its intended application) met, provided that they're open to the idea that commercial suppliers that manage to tick all those boxes are welcome to help themselves to the prospective customers' open wallets. Being frugal but also particular in one's (uncommon) requirements don't work well together.

 

The whole idea of finding a rare pen with a barrel constructed of material that is uncommonly used by the industry, in the hope that it will resist (cosmetic and other) damage when subjected to unnecessary mistreatment — that one could easily and voluntarily endeavour to avoid, as a compromise/change in one's personal habits — but also not wanting to pay a hefty asking price to a manufacturer that is willing to come to the party on that is... fanciful.

[praxim]

This reiterates Smug Dill's essential points in my own fashion.

• Carry the damaging stuff somewhere else.
• Carry the pen somewhere else.
• Sleeve the pen.
• Containerise the other stuff.
• Use cheap pens.
• Buy a massively expensive pen, of the most sensitive lacquer, and reconsider the first four points.

I take any of my pens out. and some are worth real money to most people. None of them will be damaged by carriage.

 

edit: deleted one .

Edited July 23, 2019 by praxim

[Bo Bo Olson]

Things not to carry in pants pockets with keys, Zippo's and change......a fountain pen.

 

Be Old Fashioned, buy shirts with shirt pockets.............or be New Fashioned and buy pen cases.

Shirt pockets were invented just for fountain pens in @ 1895....along with the detachable clip.

The clip is there for a reason.

 

Your choice, carry your fountain pen properly in a shirt pocket, or let others who are not paying you, to dictate useless fashion shirts with out pockets.

You could also have someone with a sewing machine sew such pockets into pen pockets so the pen will never fall out no matter how much you break dance, or building bounce.

 

Meissen made a porcelain pen....that one don't put in one's pants pockets....and would be rather heavy for shirt pockets. Something for your secretary to carry on a velvet pillow.

[Beechwood]

I would suggest two things, a metal pen and a leather, single pen case, ideally made of stiff leather. They will protect your pen and last for decades.

[Mech-for-i]

none of the material OP suggested made good pen bodies. they are either too brittle or too fragile ; there is good reason why some material end up the mainstay in todays pen ( and not just fountain pen ) ; Aluminum especially anodized one are light, strong ( enough ) and easily put cost and manufacture with ease. And they work well enough for EDC .. Steel especially crushed steel is favored for its even more tough and abuse enduring nature. and Lacquered metal / wood / ebonite / other material are frequently on high end models cause no matter what lacquered surface finish had proven itself over centuries of use as a very viable one.

 

You cannot avoid scratching a pen if you intend to use it EDC as in actually carrying it , it will be scratched, just live with it ; or deal with it, put it in a pen sleeve and carry it accordingly.

[Beechwood]

......or enjoy the wear and tear. There is a lot to be said for a pen that looks well used and enjoyed.

[inkstainedruth]

......or enjoy the wear and tear. There is a lot to be said for a pen that looks well used and enjoyed.

 

Agreed. A lot of my pens are vintage ones. So they have all sorts of dings and scratches, and in a few cases engraved names. And they still write well, in spite of the scratches.

I do carry mine in cases or sleeves, but I will shove three pens into a 2 pen case without thinking twice (this morning it was the Dark Lilac Safari, the Ruthenium LX, and a yet to be inked blue Sheaffer Snorkel...). And inked up pens not being currently used live in a metal canister on the bookshelf next to my bed that used to contain hot cocoa mix, so they probably are rubbing elbows with each other, metaphorically speaking, on a regular basis. They're pens. If I was that paranoid about surface detail they'd be locked in a safe deposit vault. But of course then they wouldn't get used. Or bought in the first place.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth