Tips On How Not To Lose Your Pen.

[Dangles]

I was wondering what everyone's views are on keeping precious pens from being lost.

 

One of the most commonly touted advantages to having a fountain pen is the economy with which long-term use can bring. However, if you lose your pen, which happens often with disposables, that advantage is clearly moot.

 

I'm new to fountain pens and although I'm not particularly absent-minded (never lost a wallet, key, or cell phone), I have lost plenty of cheaper pens in my day, and worry about using fountain pens on a regular basis for work as well as pleasure.

 

Thus far I can only plan on never putting the pen down on a desk and only putting it back on my person (pant or shirt pocket maybe).

 

Anyone one else have any tips or advice from experience?

[ArchiMark]

Very good question, Dangles..

 

Having lost an expensive pen about 1.5 years ago, I can relate to this issue....

 

Here's a few thoughts to start things off:

 

1. Be very mindful of which pens you take with you when you leave home.

 

2. As you mention try to establish a pattern of how you take pens with you; shirt pocket, pen case, etc...

 

3. Before you leave somewhere, check to see that you have your pen(s) with you.

 

4. If possible, put your name and email and/or telephone number on your pen case.

 

5. Repeat steps 1-4 above and rinse and repeat....

[Ghost Plane]

Pen goes in case inside same purse pocket every single time. Keep cap in hand if lending to someone. NEVER leave it on your desk. NEVER leave it sitting unattended. Treat it like any other object that costs a month's income.

 

People forget that the kind of fountain pens that got kept a lifetime weren't cheap to begin with.

 

And for pity's sake, keep your pen away from the uninitiated who think all pens are cheap disposables and can be stolen and trashed at will.

[OcalaFlGuy]

I vote for a leather carry case with at least 3, preferably 4 pen slots. (FP and BP + another FP at the least)

 

*WITH a label with your name and phone # on the Outside of the pen case*

 

Not only is this most likely to get your pens back to you if you're separated but also almost eliminates any damage from them being dropped.

 

While I don't generally go hog wild on pen cases, I would probably get a very nice, vegetable tanned leather carry case for my most used. They deserve the nicer case. The increase in quality is clearly visible in the upper shelf cases.

 

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

Edited March 4, 2012 by OcalaFlGuy

[Koyote]

Related advice: Don't buy anything that you can't afford to lose.

[professionaldilettante]

It's like children. You need to keep a close eye on them, be mindful of them at all times. Kinda hard not to have a child you can't afford to loose. It's easier if you start with one pen, a cheap one to train good pen toting habits, before you accidentally loose a keeper.

[Dangles]

Thanks for the tips. And yes, I'm starting out with cheap-o fountain pens under 20 USD. No plans to buy anything beyond entry-level just yet.

[Mikale]

To help me know I have it on my person I use a pen case and established a pattern of putting my pen in the case after every use. Establishing this pattern will cause you to do it by second nature. When I get home every thing I carry on my person I place on the dresser. At home I have another fountain pen that never leaves my desk, and store it in a small box with 3 bottles of ink. For taking notes while answering a phone call or for lending out to co-workers I have disposable ballpoint pens handy. I will never lend my 'precious pen' out for someone else to use.

 

 

[htom]

Shirt pockets, vest pockets, coat pockets, are places that pens with distinctive clips have gone walkabout from, and not come back. Now that I know the trick, I suspect they've all been nabbed by pickpockets. Cases, notebooks, secured pockets, brief case or attache case are where they travel now. They fly in checked luggage.

[ever onward]

I'll echo the suggestions to develop good pen habits from the get-go. Particularly, never put a pen down without capping it, and if you're walking away from whatever you're doing for more than a minute, always put your pens back into your case, pocket, purse, desk drawer, whatever.

 

If you force yourself to be ultra careful in the beginning, by the time you're toting more expensive or well-loved pens, you'll be doing these things automatically.

 

I learned to enforce these habits when one of my first few starter pens took a suicidal dive into my wood floor. But (knock, knock, knock on wood) nothing like that has happened since. Now I'll cap my pens and put them away without even noticing what I'm doing.

[asaha]

Since you never lose wallet, phone, key and did lose many cheaper pens. I guess it may just because the pens are cheaper and you do not care. If you keep an expensive pen for everyday use, you may never lose this one

[Blade Runner]

Be careful about leaving a pen in a shirt or jacket and leaving the garment somewhere.

 

I put a label inside my pen cases in case an honest person finds it and wants to return.

[donnad333]

Related advice: Don't buy anything that you can't afford to lose.

 

Koyote... I'm with you on this one!

[Roger W.]

I don't know how good advice can be - some people are just pron to losing things. I have the same pens that I use that I bought in the early/mid 1980's. I have a pocket knife that my father gave me when I was 11, one end cap I did lose on it but, I've had it 35 years now. I don't tend to lose things though, I am missing a Sheaffer ringtop from about 13 years ago when we moved. I think it is in a box with something that I will find someday.

 

I guess I'd say to return the pen to your pocket so you don't leave it on a table. I once left a lighter on a window sill at college and it was gone a few hours later when I remembered - should have put it in my pocket. I've lost more things through lending them. My ex-wife once lost a vice-presidential ball point of mine that she left at an ATM - simply unforgivable (OK it wasn't the cause of the divorce but, it would have been as good as the actual reasons though). A college mate of mine accidentally dropped another lighter in the campus pond. OK, first keep it in your pocket and second, don't let anyone else use it.

 

Roger W.

[Blade Runner]

If not on your person, carry'em in a pen case. They can escape through the smallest openings.

[Wheatflower]

I was wondering what everyone's views are on keeping precious pens from being lost.

 

 

My current solution is "don't take it out of the house". Going out of the house is the sacred task of my brave and intrepid Preppies.

[imadeadend]

I second the case idea. My westone 3 headphones cost me more than any pen ive ever bought (north of 300 dollars) and they came with a small case. The only places they go are in my ears, or in the case. And the case always goes in my bag. I think the same should go for expensive pens, keep them in a case unless you have them IN YOUR HAND and develop a habit!

 

Also, make a habit of checking the area you were sitting every time you leave a room or train, bus, etc. This is one habit ive thankfully got down pat

Edited March 5, 2012 by imadeadend

[yamborghini]

Acquire OCD checking your pens haha

 

I always check my pens and mentally number them off before I leave a place. Pen pouches are wonderful because you can leave them on top of say a book when ur studying and you can never forget them. The weight won't feel the same if one pen is missing. Also I tend to scatter my pens across the table. This makes you check your pens when you pack up and make sure your pen case is full.

[ethernautrix]

If all else fails...

 

#19. Accept loss forever.

 

 

 

 

--Jack Kerouac

[snowblink]

Don't put your pen pouch in a jacket pocket and carry said jacket folded over your arm. Now always carried in a zipped pocket of bag.