Fountain Pen Body Odor

[fountainpenlady]

Have you ever had a pen whose body stinks, as in smell? I have a Bexley America the Beautiful. Years ago when purchased, it had a kind of plastic toy smell. It was not a harsh smell, kind of a smell reminding me of those hard plastic toys of my youth.

Now, it has a definite different odor, reminding me of one of those gumball machine toys. It stinks!

At first, thought the current smell was my imagination.Yet, each time I fill the converter, and put the body parts back together, I smell it. When I post the cap, I smell it. I don't have to press my nose against it to do so either.

Now, weeks ago, changed it's original nib for one which writes like a dream. It is smooth, flows across the page better than originally; It is perfectly wet, an XF producing a perfect line. Did I mention it is beautifully red? Once again I am enamored with this pen.

Tell me if you had a similar decision to make, what would you do? Ignore the smell and write on? Or would you put it back in its box and find a new love?

[FountainPages]

I just sniffed all my pens, none have any significant or discernable odor. I suggest the resin in yours may have been a bad batch

[OakIris]

I guess your decision depends upon whether or not the stench detracts from the pleasure you get from writing with the pen - it sounds to me as if the smell will be quite the distraction. Maybe you should burn some incense in the room while you are writing with it?

 

Seriously though, I wonder what is causing the unpleasant odor? Which version do you have? (It seems that some of the pens were made of acrylic, some of celluloid, some special editions were even made of ebonite.) I have not read a ton of reviews about the pen, but none of the ones I read mentioned that the pen had body odor! (I think the pen that is infamous for its nasty odor is the Noodler's Ahab pen.) The fact that the smell has changed and worsened with age is rather puzzling; even the Ahab odor eventually dissipates. Is your pen material breaking down or something?!? Is it somehow reacting with the ink you use in it?

 

I can't imagine what could be going on; if I were you, I would contact Bexley about it to see if they can resolve this for you - you love the way the pen writes and looks so it is certainly worth taking the time to get this fixed, if a fix is possible!

 

Howard Levy - President of Bexley Pen Co
bexlevy@aol.com
614. 351. 9988
2840 - B Fisher Road
Columbus, OH 43204

 

Holly

Edited February 19, 2015 by OakIris

[fountainpenlady]

I just sniffed all my pens, none have any significant or discernable odor. I suggest the resin in yours may have been a bad batch

DaRn! I believe I have had this pen since early to mid 2000. I purchased from Richard Binder at a pen show here in NC. He also worked on the nib while I walked around. I kind of mangled the original nib and got the Goulet #6 and replaced it myself for the first time ever. It now writes wonderfully. Now what? Resin can have a bad batch? Have you ever heard of this happening to anyone before? This is what the pen looks like. The second I took a couple of days or ago or something for one of the threads.

Edited February 18, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[fountainpenlady]

Believe, I am going to follow your advice, if only to get confirmation of the smell. I love the pen more now than I did back then. Back then what drew me was the red, the swirls, but definitely the red. I was attending my first Pen Show and found something which I liked. Never heard of a NIb Meister or anything and having Binder work on it while I was there was also a treat.

However, this time around, I love it differently; I was able to tweak the nib myself and make it better, personal to my liking, touch. I'll wait, Expecting new additions to my collection. I'll contact Mr. Levy and go from there. Thanks for providing the contact information. I'll update once I get it back to let all know whether it was the pen, or my nose. Thanks again.

 

Howard Levy - President of Bexley Pen Co

bexlevy@aol.com

614. 351. 9988

2840 - B Fisher Road

Columbus, OH 43204

 

Holly

Edited February 19, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[FountainPages]

Yes, plastics can have bad batches...so can foam used in mattresses. I had some running shoes with a polyurethane midsole that smelled positively disgusting after they started to break down. Had a mattress that had to be sent to manufacturer, only to be notified by same that foam had come from a bad batch. No pens however.

[fountainpenlady]

Yes, plastics can have bad batches...so can foam used in mattresses. I had some running shoes with a polyurethane midsole that smelled positively disgusting after they started to break down. Had a mattress that had to be sent to manufacturer, only to be notified by same that foam had come from a bad batch. No pens however.

Just smelled it again. It seems to be only in the body of the pen itself. The pen cap does not smell. If this were not kind of disheartening to me, it could be also funny. As a writer, how about the title, "Case of the Stinky Fountain Pen" A Bottled Ink mystery.

Edited February 19, 2015 by fountainpenlady

[Randal6393]

If I am not mistaken, the pen uses a c/c filling system?

 

Might be good to disassemble the pen and see if the body can be cleaned inside to get rid of the door.

 

Best of luck,

[fountainpenlady]

If I am not mistaken, the pen uses a c/c filling system?

 

Might be good to disassemble the pen and see if the body can be cleaned inside to get rid of the door.

 

Best of luck,

Yes, I just purchased a new converter and an extra one. I can try that suggestion first and see what happens. Thanks, I'll update with the results.

[fountainpenlady]

If I am not mistaken, the pen uses a c/c filling system?

 

Might be good to disassemble the pen and see if the body can be cleaned inside to get rid of the door.

 

Best of luck,

I just cleaned both parts of the body of the pen. I rinsed both parts of the body, including nib using near hot water and palmolive dish washing liquid(had to use what is available). Now, the pen is clean, smell is apparently not coming from the pen, it is coming from the converter itself. Should I have done something to the converter before using? It is a new converter, I just purchased it.

[fountainpenlady]

Disassembled the pen all together, meaning I also removed the converter, emptied it of all ink. I ran hot water through and over the body of the converter. I reassembled the pen. There seems to be no smell coming from the converter. I refilled with ink. We shall see if this works for my formally, fingers crossed, stinky pen