Curious - How Many Pens Do You Keep Inked At One Time Normally?

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Between two and six (right now four) but I cheat by not counting certain ones. I don't count my Pilot Varsity disposables, even the couple that I've refilled with other inks. They just sit around waiting for the rare occasions on which they might be used, approximately seldom but more often than never.

 

And I don't count my four Esterbrook Dip-Less sets. These are a kind of dip pen that uses a fountain pen nib and feed. They sit soaking in ink from their respective ink wells, and can be picked up at a moments notice, lasting for at least one 11 x 8.5 inch page before needing to be re-dipped. It's an easy way to have four ink colors always available in my main writing area at home.

 

Most of my other pens are not inked at any given moment, but I have a group of about six from which one or two are likely always to be in use.

[TSherbs]

got it down to 5-7

[Moynihan]

12-ish

[Peppers]

Call me crazy, but I have my entire fountain pen collection inked at all times!!

 

It may sound insane when some collections go over a hundred pens, but I only own three. Haha.

[FOUR X FOUR]

That's a good question. I don't always use the pen that's not inked

[cveilleux]

I keep around 3 inked. One of my pens, my Pilot Metropolitan in a fine, is always inked up with Noodler's Black to use on any type of paper I encounter. However, the rest of my pens tend to vary on what I'm feeling like that day.

[GJMekenkamp]

I have only 1 pen, I've been keeping it inked for like 1 or 1,5 years now or so. BUT: I'm looking for a new pen at the moment, one with a finer nib, so in the future it will be 2 pens inked

[Arkanabar]

Right now, I have inked up two Platinum Plaisirs (Sheaffer turquoise and Noodler's Widow Maker, my markup colors), a Hero 616 and 3.8mm Pilot Parallel (Borealis Black), my M400 (Noodler's Blue), and an aqua Pilot Crystal (Waterman Purple). I recently wrote out my Baoer 388 (Diamine Sherwood) and M200 (Noodler's Red-Black, likely to be refilled soon).

So, up to eight. One of the Pelikans is always inked. I am considering making my Plaisirs my pens for black and green, and using Hero 616s for Widow Maker and turquoise. So it'll probably stay at about six or seven (black, green, red-black, blue, turquoise and red, plus the Parallel). The thing is, the Plaisirs can go out of rotation for a month or two still inked because Platinum is so good at ensuring their pens do not dry out.

I don't see my pens drying out much. The Konrad I have is really really bad for that; it'll dry out enough to need dunking in water after a mere three to four hours of sitting capped. I don't use it any more.

When cleaning, I rinse and/or soak until the water runs clear. For some inks and for some pens, this is a lot more work than with others.

[roklpokl]

Right now 8, which is probably my highest number of filled pens. Usually around 5-6.

[Thewordsman]

I currently have five pens inked and ready to go on my desk at all times. I do not know why, but as I began to build my collection, slowly started keeping more pens on my desk. At the moment I have the following pens inked on my desk:

1. 1937 Parker Deluxe Challenger with a 14k gold fine nib inked with Waterman Absolute Brown
2. Sailor1911 Profit with a 14k gold fine nib inked with Noodlers Bernanke black
3. 1960 Montblanc 32 with 14k fine gold (flex) nib inked with Noodlers Zhivago
4. 1986 Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 with14k gold fine nib inked with Noodlers Zhivago
5. Twsbi Eco White Demonstrator fine steel nib, inked with Noodlers Squeteague

I tend to move pens in and out from my collection to my desk, last week I just had my Parker, Montblanc 32 and a Waterman Phileas on my desk, but since I just recently purchased both the Twsbi and the Meisterstuck 149, I guess I have been indulging myself with all five pens at the moment, and since I have just purchased a 1950's Pelikan 400, I suppose one of those five pens I am currently using will end up getting flushed and placed in my safe.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Thewordsman

[FountainPages]

Of my current eight pens, three are piston filled and one button filled. I keep them inked all the time as I use them the most. The other four are cartridge filled and used only sporadically so not inked very much.

[jar]

Three pens inked right now but one just sitting to see if it starts up after long term non-use.

[PhilProf]

Normally I keep at least three pens inked: one with a bright ink for markup/grading; one with a general purpose blue; and a desk set.

 

I'll add others as I experiment with inks or test recently-repaired pens, but the three above are the constants.

[Namo]

Three. Writer, one for red ink, one backup.

 

 

No, wait. That's... Ten?! (looking stupidly at a bunch of pens that must have been inked by little elves, you KNOW how they are... Oh, no, that's twelve actually.)

 

(...)

 

(Gone flushing some pens ... Ooooooooh this is a nice one. Got to put some kind of ink in it... This one too, I guess! )

Edited December 13, 2015 by Namo

[ppdiaporama]

I have 3 in a pouch that get daily use ... then I have a three more that I keep inked in places where I'm likely to want to write but not have my pouch --so one at the office, in my briefcase and another at home. I also keep a Safari inked up with a 1.5mm nib because my daughter loves writing with it --she starts hight school next year, I'm thinking of getting her own.

[aderoy]

Tend to have three - four inked at any time.

• Work daily carry
• agenda
• desk

Of course two fall back pencils

• 2B 2mm
• 2H 0.7mm

so far I have to think that I do not have a problem... May change in future

[Sasha Royale]

I have carried a Parker 45 daily for 40 years. It is inked.

Whichever pen from my collection, that is in rotation use, is inked. Sometimes, two pens.

A reliable "cheapie" is loaded with Heart of Darkness for addressing envelopes, writing labels, and quick notes

by the telephone.

 

How many is that ?

[Peppers]

I have carried a Parker 45 daily for 40 years. It is inked.

 

Had to look that one up. I wanted to find that it was a great pen.

 

Sadly, it isn't a great pen.

 

I found this on a website (along the entire history):

 

'In 2006, Parker announced that it was discontinuing the 45, a pen that had been in continuous production for 46 years and was, for millions of users, the Volkswagen “Beetle” of pens.'

I understood the VW reference. It is not a great pen, it is THE greatest pen.

 

So late to the party, probably can't get one at this point.

 

[masterguns]

Three pens for me this week:

 

Delta Dolcevita Stantuffo, Broad nib, Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

Pelikan M800 Green, Fine nib, Diamine Green/Black

Pelikan M805 Anthracite, Italic Broad nib, Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black

[ISW_Kaputnik]

 

Had to look that one up. I wanted to find that it was a great pen.

 

Sadly, it isn't a great pen.

 

I found this on a website (along the entire history):

 

'In 2006, Parker announced that it was discontinuing the 45, a pen that had been in continuous production for 46 years and was, for millions of users, the Volkswagen “Beetle” of pens.'

I understood the VW reference. It is not a great pen, it is THE greatest pen.

 

So late to the party, probably can't get one at this point.

 

If you will settle for whatever color you happen to find, don't mind a fine or medium steel nib, and don't care whether you have to buy a new converter for it or not, you can probably find one for not much money. I got one for under $10 and another for under $20. If you want a gold nib, and some special color (or a Flighter) you'll probably pay more, but you should still be able to find one. Assuming no nib damage or cracks in the body, the only restoration you usually have to do is cleaning it out.

 

"THE greatest pen" seems a bit overenthusiastic, but they are quite good.