How many pens do you keep inked up at one time?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I do have a few saturated inks (seldom used) ....but not quite in the When, I got tired of those new to inks dissing shading inks as wishy-washy or pastel....so tend to overreact ...Even after Years!

 

 Coming in from ball points one wants deep, bright, wet floating letters in all sorts of colors.

 

I was from an era that out side of Pelikan's deep  black (in US schools) , we didn't seem  have saturated much less supersaturated inks in B&W TV days.

 

Then there is feathering or woolly lines...that unfortunately I notice more than some. That seems more prevalent in non-shading inks.

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, Bristol24 said:

This question has been asked numerous time but it is so significant to our hobby/obsession/addiction that it deserves revisiting on a regular basis.

 

3 hours ago, ISW_Kaputnik said:

And yes, there are many other threads on this, but it doesn't bother me, at least, when someone opens up another one.

 

It's not so much that new threads on old topics bother me. When someone asks a question that seemingly have either a factual or a statistical answer, and is one that has been asked and ‘answered’, or at least replied to, by many other (either former or current) fellow forum members, I don't see (or assume) the primary objective of the exercise to be throwing a conversation starter out there and trying to get engagement, especially when someone is new to the hobby and/or community, but take it at face value as information-seeking. (Especially in these pandemic times — and Sydney here has just gone into lockdown — we have more time than ever to individually look up and/or review information on our own.)

 

So, when there are tonnes of previous discussion or studies addressing the question that one could pore over as background reading, I see it as helpful to everyone — including whoever asked the question — to point to all that, so that whoever wants to know can “catch up” on what was said quickly without waiting for others to sporadically reply and put in their two cents' worth; and then the conversation can go forward, if the asker of the question still feels it hasn't been adequately answered (and can articulate why).

 

If someone joins freshly a team or company, and asks a question that has been visited before, I'd point them to all the background and/or reference material to read up on in their own time first. I don't see it as any different; even though none of us are paid to be here, or under pressure to arrive at some sort of usable answer quickly and could appreciate a digest or summary briefing, conceptually it is the same to me. Some of us already have better developed searching skills and/or long memories of what has been previously discussed, and those are the things I don't think one could reasonably expect newcomers to gave a good handle on, so I'm happy to contribute those in the first instance when a question is asked. The “go read up and knock yourself out” is implied, but that's not being dismissive; it's actually respectful to assume someone will have adequate capability to review and sort through the mountains of information and/or data without requiring immediate assistance in that regard.

[Sk33t3r]

I'm still trying to find out what I like in various pens so I have 9 inked up at this point in time with different colors and brands of ink.

[halffriedchicken]

Sorry if bringing up an old question bothers anyone. I asked the question wondering what people are doing currently. For myself, my criteria for inked up pens has changed a bit while working from home. When I travelled to the office i would bring my pens with me and I would have less pens inked but now that i work mostly from home I find myself tinkering with pens more since I have access to them throughout the day.

 

Before I would balance between what was practical to carry, what inks I would want to use, and what pens I would want to use. But now I think the limiting factors have changed to which pens I want to use, how many pens can I keep inked up in use without drying out, and how many pens I want to clean. 

 

Thanks for the links. I appreciate it. 

 

Ken

[Bristol24]

18 minutes ago, halffriedchicken said:

Sorry if bringing up an old question bothers anyone. I asked the question wondering what people are doing currently. 

'Not a problem at all.  I had my limit of four pens inked: a 1951 Parker 51 (Cocoa with 12k filled cap), a late 40s Wearever Combo in metallic grey resin, a 1948 Parker 51 Vac, and a late 40s Inkograph fountain pen that looks very similar to the Waterman's Taperite in the section and nib.  It just ran dry today so it is flushed and put away.  So, in honor of the occasion, I pulled out my 1946 Parker Vacumatic with it's factory stub nib and inked it with some WW2 era Parker Quink Blue Black.  I filled it so it's going to be a few weeks or more before it runs dry...unless I do some serious writing.

 

Cliff

[Bo Bo Olson]

29 minutes ago, Bristol24 said:

a late 40s Wearever Combo in metallic grey resin,

Mine is a camouflage green from when camouflage was the new kid on the block......which I really got to use some time.

 

I now notice I had once two other Camouflage type Wearevers.

Given to a passed pall in England.

I had three pre and post second tier Wearvers 2 as good as Esterbrooks; so not all Weavers were third tier.

Another second tier Wearever was missing the cap....sigh cubed.

The below pens were my second or third Ebay buy. They were from England.

 

 

[langere]

I know that this was not the original question, though you, @halffriedchicken, have stated it:

 

My use of fountain pens actually went down during the pandemic (regretfully!).  Since I taught online only, I did not have the chance to grade physical papers.  Instead, I was stuck to the screen way too long.

 

That has not changed the number of pens I keep inked (3), but they have been inked much longer.  And since then I have purchased a bunch more pens, I am seriously backlogged with inking my new pens.

 

Erick

[sansenri]

Although being a recurring question, when you asked I did wonder whether I would give the same answer as previously, or whether my habits have changed.

I think the number on average has increased slightly, as I have about 7-8 pens inked (while sometime back they would not be more than 4-5), and that depends on the fact that I have recently felt the desire to rotate more pens more frequently.

 

[samasry]

7 hours ago, halffriedchicken said:

Sorry if bringing up an old question bothers anyone. I asked the question wondering what people are doing currently. For myself, my criteria for inked up pens has changed a bit while working from home. When I travelled to the office i would bring my pens with me and I would have less pens inked but now that i work mostly from home I find myself tinkering with pens more since I have access to them throughout the day.

 

Before I would balance between what was practical to carry, what inks I would want to use, and what pens I would want to use. But now I think the limiting factors have changed to which pens I want to use, how many pens can I keep inked up in use without drying out, and how many pens I want to clean. 

 

Thanks for the links. I appreciate it. 

 

Ken

 

Same here, I find that during the Covid era I have about 10 pens inked at a time. During the regular commute prior to Covid, it was about 3 pens inked at a time.   Definitely   you feel that you can compare and experiment with different pens, different paper and inks  to get to  better matches.

 

I would not worry about  the nature of the question or whether or not it was asked before, as  90% of the content of this  forum would disappear  if  you use  that as a rule to put a muzzle on  people and  prevent them form discussing the topics they feel are timely or  important.

[tim613]

I have four inked right now, which is too many for me. Two Parker Urbans , a Parker 45 and a Chinese copy of a Parker 51. I have a Parker 51 desk set at work but we won’t be back full time in the office until September, so the desk pen has been cleaned and will be inked soon. 
 

The two Urbans are carried together because I fear running out of ink and I bottle fill them.

[ParramattaPaul]

At the moment, I have five pens inked. One is vintage, a Wyvern Perfect, and the other are modern pens.  I've used three of them today.

[inkstainedruth]

On 6/25/2021 at 5:34 PM, mizgeorge said:

Ditto
but also not enough...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Muncle]

4 hours ago, langere said:

My use of fountain pens actually went down during the pandemic (regretfully!).  Since I taught online only, I did not have the chance to grade physical papers.  Instead, I was stuck to the screen way too long.

Same here. I kept some paper recordkeeping, all my marking was online as well. Very tedious.

Ironically, my wife started using a fountain pen, since she was working from home as well. She kept picking mine up, and eventually selected a favourite, that will go back to the office with her.

[A Smug Dill]

5 hours ago, halffriedchicken said:

I asked the question wondering what people are doing currently.

 

Still around 150. Just inked up another two pens with Diamine Writer's Blood, which I recently procured for my wife (who occasionally writes some adult horror fiction, aside from her children's books); the first pen didn't yield the greatest results on the page, but I decided to give it a second chance and put it into a different colour-matched pen that I have lying around unfilled for the past few months. The latter worked well, and (she tells me) she loves it, so she'll keeping that second pen for her ‘exclusive’ use for now.

 

So that's +2 on the total count; I don't rush to clean out the first pen, because I may yet want to test the ink for myself (with some particular pen-paper combinations, or under particular operating conditions), and I'm not short on empty pens for using with other inks if required. When we have >350 inks (and easily as many fountain pens) here, it's easy to get up to >100 pens inked concurrently.

 

5 hours ago, halffriedchicken said:

how many pens can I keep inked up in use without drying out,

 

That's why the cap seal effectiveness is in the top three of my critical requirements for ‘worthy’ (not as in justifying the asking price) fountain pens. I still have a dozen Platinum Plaisir, six or so Platinum Preppy, sixteen Daiso ‘Air-Seal’, and four Monami Penna pens — all equipped with spring-loaded inner caps à la Slip&Seal — that are inked with the colours to which they're individually dedicated, and working off a fill from months ago. (Now) 22 of Wing Sung 3008 pens with different shimmer inks. That's already 60 inked pens sitting in pen cups or cheap pencil cases, before we even start counting what we pull out from our ‘real’ collection of fountain pens to write with for pleasure; those 60 inked pens are just there as ready dispensers of specific colours.

[Detman101]

4 pens...but I only ever use two.
I may drain the two unused Penbbs-355s and store them.
Unless I replace the nib units in them with SODF units I don't think I'll ever be going back to them.

For now, my Opus-88 Demo (SODF-flex) and Penbbs-487 (BlueDew-flex) are more than all I need.

[ethernautrix]

Ideally two; usually (as currently) four.

[N1003U]

On 6/25/2021 at 6:39 AM, A Smug Dill said:

• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347333-how-many-pens-do-you-have-inked-at-one-time/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/338077-how-many-pens-do-you-have-inked-at-any-one-time/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/294697-how-many-pens-always-inked/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/346871-permanently-inked-pens/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/346231-got-10-pens-inked-and-i-want-to-ink-more/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/359174-highest-reasonable-number-of-inked-pens-at-a-time/

 

Folks seem to like discussing this topic regularly, apparently...😜

[Bo Bo Olson]

10 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

One is vintage, a Wyvern Perfect,

I had a greenish Wyvern, (don't know which one) with such a grand semi-flex nib, could have been a maxi-semi-flex nib. I don't know, in it vanished before I invented the term....maxi-semi-flex.

(have 35 semi-flex and 15 maxi-semi-flex pens; so have enough to tell the difference.)

 

It was missing it's cap jewel....and I'd thoughts of going to a gold smith I know and having a Malachite cap jewel made....the beautiful great nibbed pen would have been worth it.

 

It depends on how many pens one has, and how many inks one has and if one is foolish enough to visit Inky Thoughts.....Oh I have that ink, and it is still pretty.

What width nib should I use, regular flex (Japanese soft) or semi-flex.

And how well balanced that long unused pen is.

Then one has to wonder what ink is in the 17 pens inked. If it don't come to mind, one has to look in one's little plastic  index card holding box.

 

Did that and inked murky good shading Seaweed.... MB Johnathan Swift. An ink that I'd not used in years............one of the problems of having only 90 inks....and 80 pens.

 

It is a hard battle to try and stay at 7 pens inked so I use up ink....got 8 right now. Have a new for me  Pilot blue ink, kon-peki, shades somewhat, just enough to enjoy.

[cnnlim]

8 at the moment. I have 2 Parker 51 desk pens that are always inked. I also have 2 Pilot Petit, with red and blue ink that always ink up for marking  purpose. Besides that I have other 3-4 pens that I ink up for note taking and journaling. 

[TitoThePencilPimp]

I kept 24 at one point. Now, only 4.