What Pen Did You Broke/Lose/Spoil Today?

[McPete]

Another non-FP here, but my near new Lamy Tipo MP seems to have given up the ghost, which is worrying given that mum's first Safari FP was a non-starter (bought at the same time, same shop)... I think that's the only pen/pencil I've irrevocably broken. Ever.

[GeorgeP]

This thread is cursed. Five minutes after reading it, I broke the ball off a steel nib I was straightening. I suppose it's time to learn stub grinding!

[diplomat]

This thread is cursed. Five minutes after reading it, I broke the ball off a steel nib I was straightening.

 

But it was not supposed to be like that!! Paranormal influence??

 

btw: stubs make for a great writing experience!

 

 

[ethernautrix]

Andre, I just saw this thread! I was linking to the P51 carnage thread from last summer, and I saw your photo, which was very much like my photos of my broken P51.

 

Ack! So sorry to hear about your bad break!

 

Also, it's terrible, JayJay's Pelikan Toledo! Ack, ack!

 

Ah well, probably everyone's moved on. Still... a Toledo? That would hurt me for a long time.

 

Lisa

[mitchjg]

Arrgggh! Today was the day.

 

20 years ago, my wife bought me a matching Montblanc Roller, BP and Pencil. Lost 'em all within a year. So, I went on strike for 20 years and the pens I used were Marriott, Hilton, etc pens from meeting rooms or cheapos from the office supplies.

 

Finally decided to treat myself nice and went on a splurge: Monteverde Mega, Parker 51, Pilot VP and a couple of nice rollerballs. My favorite quickly became the Pilot VP because I am more of a note-taker than anything else. I have been using an F nib while a nibmeister has been working a cursive italic for me.

 

The VP is gone!!!!!! whimper, whine. Not to be recovered, I think I dropped it in the street while juggling my cell phone.

 

So, what to do. I have to replace it. I have a nib coming to me soon, and lots 'o ink. So, I have to, right?

 

I now have the opportunity to obsess on an F vs. an M or just replacing the body and waiting for the Cursive Italic nib to come back home.

 

sigh...........

[twinofmunin]

Oh, woe is me... my rOtring 600 encountered the washing machine and dryer. It did not emerge in a healthy state. I venture to say it is beyond repair... though I'm not certain.

[SecretAgentMan]

When I got home from work, I pulled my balance out of my shirt pocket. The pen leapt free from the cap and fell, like buttered toast, on its nib. Now the tines are pointing in different directions and my best-writing pen no longer writes.

 

I wanted to do some journaling, so I pulled out a Chinese Hero which stopped writing after a three or four words. It won't release ink now.

 

So I went to a Kaigelu and while I was filling it, the converter came apart and the section and half the converter fell into the ink bottle.

 

I think I'm gonna do the right thing now and go buy Osama Bin Laden a lottery ticket.

[MYU]

I broke something last year... so, it's not today, as the thread requests.

 

But I'll tell it all the same... maybe I'll help avert someone else from making the same mistake.

 

If you ever have flow issues with your VP nib assembly, even after a thorough cleaning, do NOT test it outside of the pen. Always write with the assembly inside the pen. I didn't do this... and applied a little too much pressure in trying to flex the nib a little (to encourage flow). **SNAP**. The feed. Broken. My heart. Cracked.

 

This is one of those very hard to find proprietary nib assemblies. I was a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid idiot and I'm never, never, never, never, never doing that dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb mistake ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again.

 

*whew* glad I got that off my chest.

[Shangas]

Good lord, I hope I never have to post an actual disaster in this thread! One time I dropped my Waterman Phileas onto the floor with amazing results...but that's been it, so far.

[dmendel]

Not a true disaster, but a near miss:

 

This morning, as I went to put my briefcase and my son's backpack into the back of the car, I couldn't find my keys. I placed my briefcase and his backpack on the ground directly behind the car and went inside to get the keys. I then found the keys, got the kids into the car, and then promptly proceeded to back up over the bags! As I pulled out onto the street, my 6 year old son pointed them out in the middle of the laneway ("Hey, look -- that's not something you see everyday.") His $15 Spiderman backpack was perfectly intact. Not a scratch. My nearly 10-year old, $300 leather briefcase, however, was badly scuffed and mangled. My heart sank -- not because of the briefcase, but because of the pens inside it! I pulled out my pen case preparing to be sick, but to my surprise, my now favorite grey pearl striated Sheaffer Lifetime "Triumph" vac-filler (just purchased in March from a fellow FPN member) and my trusty XF blue P51 Special were fine. Phew!

[SecretAgentMan]

My nearly 10-year old, $300 leather briefcase, however, was badly scuffed and mangled. My heart sank -- not because of the briefcase, but because of the pens inside it! I pulled out my pen case preparing to be sick, but to my surprise, my now favorite grey pearl striated Sheaffer Lifetime "Triumph" vac-filler (just purchased in March from a fellow FPN member) and my trusty XF blue P51 Special were fine. Phew!

 

Yeah, I'd make that trade too. Lucky.

 

[mana]

Oh, woe is me... my rOtring 600 encountered the washing machine and dryer. It did not emerge in a healthy state. I venture to say it is beyond repair... though I'm not certain.

Uh oh... Do you have pictures of the damage?

[Garageboy]

How badly is your washing machine ruined?

[diplomat]

Andre, I just saw this thread! I was linking to the P51 carnage thread from last summer, and I saw your photo, which was very much like my photos of my broken P51.

 

Ack! So sorry to hear about your bad break!

 

Also, it's terrible, JayJay's Pelikan Toledo! Ack, ack!

 

Ah well, probably everyone's moved on. Still... a Toledo? That would hurt me for a long time.

 

Lisa

 

Ah ah... yes we may say that your thread was kind of cursed, since after being in "contact" with it, something similar occurred to me and my beloved P21...

 

As reaction strategy, I sold my P51 (!)

 

Ciao,

[RickM]

 

Ah ah... yes we may say that your thread was kind of cursed, since after being in "contact" with it, something similar occurred to me and my beloved P21...

 

Ciao,

 

I've been reading this thread and now I'm scared, real scared....

 

I've been trying to think of anti-disaster rituals to do to ward off these terrible calamities...

 

Perhaps three times around my desk clockwise, followed by three anti-clockwise to reverse possible damage?

 

Rick

 

Oh, there was about 15 years the disaster of watching my very favorite Shaeffer Imperial pen at the time roll off my desk in slow motion, and me in fast motion, but too late to catch it. Nib first, broken section, gouge on the floor... painful reminder. Maybe I've had my fill? Oh oh, got a bad vibe. Geesh, I'm going to be a wreck for the next few days. Thanks folks...

 

R

[gyasko]

This week i snapped a tine off a 51 nib. Always remove the hood before fiddling with the nib. It's not even the first time i've done this. These are the only two nibs i've ruined in my years of nib tinkering, but it still bugs me.

 

The other mistake i made was to clear away my pen junk in haste. I can no longer find the gold Wasp nib i was trying to straighten. It ought to be here, or maybe over there, or in that -- only it isn't. I can't find the section either. Sheesh.

[cfclark]

Oh, there was about 15 years the disaster of watching my very favorite Shaeffer Imperial pen at the time roll off my desk in slow motion, and me in fast motion, but too late to catch it. Nib first, broken section, gouge on the floor... painful reminder. Maybe I've had my fill? Oh oh, got a bad vibe. Geesh, I'm going to be a wreck for the next few days. Thanks folks...

 

R

 

About two days after I got my Edison Pearl, it rolled off my desk at work. Now, as I explained to a fellow FPNer, I didn't roll it off the desk; I had it parked, cap posted, on what seemed like a level surface to me, with the clip positioned to prevent this very type of incident--and I swear it magically set itself in motion, rolled over the clip and onto the carpet, where the nice flexible nib I had requested from Brian snagged itself and was knocked out of alignment. Fortunately I was able to get it realigned without much further drama, and although it's not quite perfect, it's still far beyond any of my other nibs (which goes to show how out-of-alignment they must be). I think this pen is alive, though--there's no other explanation for this happening. I don't usually name my inanimate objects but I may start calling this one "Christine".

[Gothmeister]

Trying to remove the feed/nib from the section of a Conway Stewart 388, on Saturday, I managed to snap the feed. Am now looking for a replacement or a "spares" pen to buy.

[Sonnet]

Let's see:

• Lost an ivory Sailor Pro Gear last week
• The section of my pink Sailor Sapporo cracked this weekend

Yay me.

[ducatisteve]

Arrgggh! Today was the day....

 

The VP is gone!!!!!! whimper, whine. Not to be recovered, I think I dropped it in the street while juggling my cell phone.

 

So, what to do. I have to replace it. I have a nib coming to me soon, and lots 'o ink. So, I have to, right?

 

I now have the opportunity to obsess on an F vs. an M or just replacing the body and waiting for the Cursive Italic nib to come back home.

 

 

Oh, woe is me... my rOtring 600 encountered the washing machine and dryer. It did not emerge in a healthy state. I venture to say it is beyond repair... though I'm not certain.

 

 

The heartbreak of my life thus far was a silver VP that I had for 5 months that I left at the office. I remember leaving it on top of a legal pad on my desk the night we had the cleaning crew come through, and in the morning it was gone.

 

My rOtring 600 ballpoint (with Parker Gel refills) is the pen that I take and use everywhere except in my journals. It has been through the wash a few times, but other than ruining a couple nice shirts and needing some new refills, all that has ever happened was that it got cleaned! Being the tough nugget that it is, I think that if I really wanted to get all the grime out of the knurled section that I would have to give it a bath in sulfuric acid and lava....I'm sure it's up for the task!