No New Pens in 2022

[A Smug Dill]

17 hours ago, sirgilbert357 said:

I told you I'm done.

 

And yet, you're still quoting and replying to my rhetoric, instead of leaving it alone, and not worrying about the optics of whether you have any control over the terms of closure in this episode.  I can show you a recent example of someone walking away from an argument they came to realise they couldn't win or make themselves look good in the process, if you like.

 

Oh, and yes, maybe I'm baiting you with what's intended to merely neutralise any semblance of your being in a position to call the shots, and “allow” me to have the last word but still getting closure on your terms. As far as I'm concerned, let's rewind to before you said that. If you have no interest in arguing with me, then just don't.

 

Now, back to buying or not buying pens in 2022…

 

After seeing not just one or two fellow hobbyists — with, hmmm, dare I say, more typically Western sensibilities — venture their opinions about what Chinese manufacturers with significant expertise and proven production capability ought to be doing with all that instead of undermining the supposed hold (or ‘rights’, or sales) of some established Western brands' products in the latter's primary target market(s), I just had to buy the HongDian N6 (especially when a minor discount is being offered by the brand's official store). A next-step-up, torpedo-shaped piston-filler, with a metal cap with markings — Chinese hanzi radicals — that you aren't likely to find on any Western brand's products, and an EF nib (which will most likely be too broad for my personal ‘standards’ for Extra Fine) supported with an ebonite feed, that nobody is going to say is way too close a ‘homage’ to some Western brand's popular model in current production. HongDian is also part of The Hobby and a member of its global community, as far as I'm concerned, so I'm putting my money where my rant is, and supporting it in its endeavours (but not limited to producing what's more distinctly original design).

 

That, and two other HongDian pens really ‘only’ for the fact that they sport nibs with tipping geometry ground for calligraphy (Togi-style). A seemingly well-regarded (at least on English-speaking hobbyist forums) Chinese seller active on AliExpress (and eBay) was trying to profiteer, as far as I'm concerned, by offering those at US$30 a pop previously, even though there was little value-add he brought to the table. (For full disclosure: I've bought other Chinese-branded pens from him before more than once, and I don't appreciate either his manner or his pricing.) No way. Now, I'm only paying (inclusive of shipping to Australia, and our Goods and Services Tax) less than 70% than what that seller asked for, and I'm ordering from what purports to be the brand's official store on one of the marketplace platforms operating out of China. Gotta support that with my spend, too, irrespective of whether I'll write about the performance of the nib (when writing in a Latin-based language, in particular) once I've tried them.

 

So much for no new pens in 2022 for me.

[DvdRiet]

9 hours ago, LizEF said:

the unboxing of boxes video

 

'Unboxing of boxes' -- ermygod, I LUUUUUV this idea! We should totally do it. Could we also do a bonus video about how to determine how big the box for the boxes needs to be? Because mine don't all fit and I think I need a bigger box for my boxes...

[DvdRiet]

14 hours ago, KBeezie said:

 

I noticed on Reddit that works in response too, you could have a zillion of the same answers already for the last several hours, and they'll still reply the exact same thing without even reading the comments.

 

I've seen that too. I suspect that it has something to do with the gamification: collecting karma points. You have to post or comment and have people 'upvote' that to get the points. I'm not sure what you can do with all those points, except that you need 100 to sell on there (without requesting a waiver). I haven't made it past 26 because I'm afraid I can't be bothered with gamification! 😅

[como]

20 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

 

I've seen that too. ...

As they say, for every listener, there are one million posters 😜.

[DvdRiet]

4 minutes ago, como said:

As they say, for every listener, there are one million posters 😜.

 

😄 sad but true!

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

'Unboxing of boxes' -- ermygod, I LUUUUUV this idea! We should totally do it. Could we also do a bonus video about how to determine how big the box for the boxes needs to be? Because mine don't all fit and I think I need a bigger box for my boxes...

 

5 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

I'm not sure what you can do with all those points...

You can gaze lovingly at the ever-increasing number in your profile, knowing that gazillions of people just love what you have to say...   Or you can fall into severe depression due to the ever-decreasing number, knowing that not even the bots like you.   Pretty sure that's about all they're for...

[KBeezie]

13 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

 

I've seen that too. I suspect that it has something to do with the gamification: collecting karma points. You have to post or comment and have people 'upvote' that to get the points. I'm not sure what you can do with all those points, except that you need 100 to sell on there (without requesting a waiver). I haven't made it past 26 because I'm afraid I can't be bothered with gamification! 😅

I have about 38,000 karma... I may be a bit of a gamification wh$#&

[sirgilbert357]

15 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

 

'Unboxing of boxes' -- ermygod, I LUUUUUV this idea! We should totally do it. Could we also do a bonus video about how to determine how big the box for the boxes needs to be? Because mine don't all fit and I think I need a bigger box for my boxes...

 

LOL. I actually keep all the boxes for my pens!! I've settled on a standard 27 gallon plastic storage container from the hardware store. Of course I have all my watch boxes in there too, plus other stuff, but it is getting somewhat full...

[KBeezie]

7 hours ago, sirgilbert357 said:

 

LOL. I actually keep all the boxes for my pens!! I've settled on a standard 27 gallon plastic storage container from the hardware store. Of course I have all my watch boxes in there too, plus other stuff, but it is getting somewhat full...

Same, but it's much easier when the vast majority of my vintage pens didn't come with boxes to begin with. 

[inkstainedruth]

12 hours ago, KBeezie said:

Same, but it's much easier when the vast majority of my vintage pens didn't come with boxes to begin with. 

Yeah, that's the story I'm sticking with as well.  

I also tend to not save the cardboard Noodler's pen boxes, other than the first one.

Ruth Morrisson aka insktainedruth

[N1003U]

On 1/2/2022 at 12:30 PM, brokenclay said:

Happy New Year, fellow collectors/accumulators/hoarders!

 

For me, enough is enough. Acquiring pens was a stress release for me during the pandemic years, and while the pandemic (alas) continues, I plan to find some other way to deal with the stress and tension.

 

If you feel the same, please join me in celebrating not buying any more pens, but enjoying the ones we have, and perhaps getting rid of some of them. If you've already attained fountain pen nirvana, please come be a role model and share your wisdom.

 

I was about to say how many pens I acquired in 2021, how many I re-homed, and how many I still want to re-home, but then I realized that numbers are irrelevant. Got 20 pens and want to stay there? 2? 200? Good for you!

 

I have one more pen winging its way (crawling its way, maybe it had to swim across the Pacific - it was sent on December 14th) from Jakarta, but then I'm going to stop, because I've got plenty of pens I love to write with.

 

I am coming late to this discussion, but I'll go. While I can't commit to not buying any more pens, I am at a number in my inventory that even as a daily user, I find it a challenge to use every pen in my accumulation over the course of a year. I do not wish the number of pens I own to increase. I much more a user than I am a collector, and the more pens I have, the more difficult it is to use them all (in a reasonable way).

 

I have for a long time, next to my inventory list, kept a list of pens I would like to acquire. Three years ago, that list contained about 30 pens. Today it contains 5 (two weeks ago, it contained 7). I have recently acquired three pens. One was a straight up trade with another FPNer, and two are new purchases. I have also paid one pen forward, so I am still up by net one pen already this year.

 

I am now pretty much to committed to maintaining my accumulation at a constant quantity. When a new pen comes in, another pen must leave. I hold out two exceptions: I still seek a grail urushi (which make and model I will know when I see it), and a particular model from Montblanc, which will remain anonymous--those two are long-term searches, though).

 

So far, I still have a few pens that I don't really like, so passing them forward to make room for new additions is not yet too painful. Soon, though, I will have eliminated those unloved models, and then it will get tough.

 

We'll see how it goes.

 

 

 

On 1/2/2022 at 12:56 PM, Recursion said:

I’ve got 20 pens at the moment and my intention is it stays this way in 2022. I tend to use only 5 of them frequently. So in the end I have to get rid of some I hardly use. For me a fountain pen is a writing instrument first and the aesthetics of the pen come second. So I’ll keep the best writing and ergonomically fitting ones and the rest can find a new home. 

Less is more and quality over quantity is my motto for this year. 

 

There are definitely some pens I use more than others, but I still make an effort to use all of them over the course of a year. My self-imposed requirement to use every pen at least once a year is keeping my overall accumulation under control.

 

I concur with the "quality over quantity" motto, though "quality in this sense is a VERY subjective thing.

 

On 1/2/2022 at 1:08 PM, brokenclay said:

Excellent point! I've found that to be true as well, which is probably why I've wound up with multiple Pelikan M200s when one would do.

 

One M200? No. Not acceptable to me. Acquiring every stinking new M2xx LE that Pelikan cranks out? Also no.

 

I like the M200 well enough to own (and use) a few examples, but now I have enough variety. I have recently gifted a couple of M200s from my inventory, and in introducing someone else to the joys of fountain pens and the M200, have created at least one new fountain pen monster.

 

[A Smug Dill]

5 minutes ago, N1003U said:

One M200? No. Not acceptable to me. Acquiring every stinking new M2xx LE that Pelikan cranks out? Also no.

 

I feel the same. I can't just have an M200 Gold-Marbled writing in blue or teal ink, knowing that I could be using an M205 Blue-Marbled or Petrol-Marbled for that instead; but I don't want a M205 Petrol-Marbled writing in brown ink either.

 

On the other hand, the M200 Golden Beryl just doesn't interest me. The more see-through the LE design, the less I like it.

 

12 minutes ago, N1003U said:

I like the M200 well enough to own (and use) a few examples, but now I have enough variety. I have recently gifted a couple of M200s from my inventory,

 

I even have a couple of double-ups (acquired deliberately, and not by mistake) never inked and sitting in a drawer, waiting to be given away. Not sure if I'm ready to part with any of the ones already in my ten-pen carry case dedicated to Pelikan pens yet…

 

15 minutes ago, N1003U said:

I am now pretty much to committed to maintaining my accumulation at a constant quantity. When a new pen comes in, another pen must leave.

 

With the explosion of new Chinese pen models that sport features such as ebonite feeds and Naginata Togi-style nibs, I just find it very difficult not to buy a few just to see for myself, as it is the sort of development to be ‘celebrated’. I wouldn't mind that much getting rid of some of my Chinese pens on a one-in-one-out basis, but since they are relatively cheap pens that aren't worth selling considering postage charges (even domestically), the handiest disposal channel is the rubbish bin; but I really can't see a good reason to just throw away perfectly competent writing instruments to satisfy an arbitrary rule.

 

[AmandaW]

I have two Pelikan pens and love both - Smoky Quartz and Petrol Marbled - and don't think,  aesthetically, I could manage with much less. Like Smug, it's a teal vs blue pleasure.

 

Would I add more M20x? Well, I do enjoy green inks too and grey... so I couldn't say no, but I'm not actively planning. Yet.

[brokenclay]

I took a little one day vacation this week and inked up and played with a bunch of pens and found a few more for the "sell" pile - pens that I do like but that for whatever reason don't light me up. Two were obliques that are pretty sharp and difficult for me to write with - one will go in the sell pile, but the other (a brown tortoise 400NN) will go to have its nib tuned.

 

7 hours ago, N1003U said:

I am now pretty much to committed to maintaining my accumulation at a constant quantity. When a new pen comes in, another pen must leave. I hold out two exceptions: I still seek a grail urushi (which make and model I will know when I see it), and a particular model from Montblanc, which will remain anonymous--those two are long-term searches, though).

 

I like this viewpoint. Every time I see a picture of a Nakaya Dorsal Fin I want one, but then I realize how big it is and I wish it had a baby sibling.

 

 

[Recursion]

7 hours ago, N1003U said:

quality in this sense is a VERY subjective thing

I totally agree with you there! My top quality pen can be another man’s (or woman’s) rubbish.

[InesF]

On 1/19/2022 at 10:56 PM, LizEF said:

I'll be sure to take lots of box-photos to include in my posted review

@LizEF, looking forward to seeing EF-box reviews! 🤣

 

The box, or more generally the package topic is maybe worth opening a new thread.

My point of view is a bit cold hearted: a box I can't use for something else is wasted resources and money. While I find Kaweco's metal boxes useful for keeping all sorts of small stuff sorted in them, I still have limited such small stuff. For all other plastic and cardboard boxes I have no use and regret that I have to buy them.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, InesF said:

For all other plastic and cardboard boxes I have no use and regret that I have to buy them.

 

I don't think there would conceivably ever be a world or era in which the retail consumer — or, in other words, some random individual acquirer of as few as a single unit of a commercial product — can expect to be given access to a teardown of every separable component within a product package, and the option to reduce his/her expense by selecting only all the bits that he/she wants or likes. As a consumer myself and not a manufacturer, retailer or investor on the supply side, I don't see the relationship dynamic as one in which consumers should be given such fine-grained control over the deal, unless that intangible (pretence of) fine-grained control is something he/she is being charged a premium for, either covertly or eyes wide open.

 

Buyers are of course welcome to throw away the physical bits for which they have no use (but paid for anyway), or perhaps able to ask sellers not to include those components if that helps reduce shipping costs (but still having paid for those components in the purchase price of the product package), or try to sell off those unwanted components and recoup some of the cost of acquisition. However, (the illusion of) additional control should only be offered on terms that would make it a pyrrhic victory, for little other benefit than the psychological satisfaction, and not an economic one. To me, a different formulation would be that the customer wants to sell back those unwanted components to the supplier, at full attributable price and without any effort or risk (of having to find a secondary buyer for such, and not being able to recoup the full price). That is value to the consumer, and so if anything, the consumer should be given a choice of, ”Yes, you can have the benefit of such a service/convenience/guaranteed outcome, for a premium of $X on top of the purchase price,” that makes it not financially worthwhile. (Kinda like when you recycle stuff that doesn't lead to significantly cheaper prices for products made of recycled material that are fit for one's purposes nevertheless.)

 

 

[agaric]

Whenever I buy something that doesn't require a container and I have my own bag with me -- a pair of shoes, a t-shirt, a book, etc. -- I always forgo their cardboard box or plastic bag. And I always throw away boxes that come with pens (the Kaweco tin case is the only exception). They just feel so useless and redundant and I wish the buyer was always given the option. But I can sort of understand how the packaging can be a part of the entire experience of a purchase, especially when the item is expensive.

 

edit: to tie it back to the topic, I think my preference for keeping nothing redundant accounts for my decision to acquire no more pens. There is just absolutely no "need" (at least for the moment).

Edited January 22, 2022 by agaric

[TSherbs]

For all you folks who want and/or promote the manufacture of additional packaging, just remember that there is a tree, a mine, a factory, and often a landfill or an incinerator or an aquifer that will be affected by your decision and thus in aggregate have an affect on future generations. I stopped purchasing through Goulet because they would not heed my requests to put less refuse in my packages. IMO, fancy, no biodegradable boxing is obscene. It hurts me every time I throw a sample vial out. I'm on a moratorium with them, too. 

 

I've written about this before. Sorry to repeat.

 

And I always skip the unboxing portions of videos. 

 

Despite whatever Dill says, I long for a world in which the consumer had more control over the (bleep) that is put in the packaging. Styrofoam peanuts are a moral crime these days.

[DvdRiet]

9 minutes ago, TSherbs said:

For all you folks who want and/or promote the manufacture of additional packaging, just remember that there is a tree, a mine, a factory, and often a landfill or an incinerator or an aquifer that will be affected by your decision and thus in aggregate have an affect on future generations. I stopped purchasing through Goulet because they would not heed my requests to put less refuse in my packages. IMO, fancy, no biodegradable boxing is obscene. It hurts me every time I throw a sample vial out. I'm on a moratorium with them, too. 

 

I've written about this before. Sorry to repeat.

 

And I always skip the unboxing portions of videos. 

 

Despite whatever Dill says, I long for a world in which the consumer had more control over the (bleep) that is put in the packaging. Styrofoam peanuts are a moral crime these days.

 

+1!