Pen accident

[B. Honeydew]

I was on a really, Really, REALLY boring conference call last week.  I started fidgeting with my FP on my desk when I stopped taking notes.  I looked down and realized I had been spinning the pen without the cap on my desk and slinging ink all over the place.  The good news is that the ink didn’t get on my shirt.  What’s your boneheaded FP stunt?

[kestrel]

Leaving my favorite pen, a Pelikan M800 with a Binder Italifine nib, on my desk, uncapped, when I got up to answer the phone.

 

We have cats.  Playful cats.  Mischievous cats.  Diabolical cats.  Wags say that the earth is clearly NOT flat because, if it was, the cats of the world would have knocked everything off it by now.

 

In the 30 seconds I was gone one of the wee beasties, an otherwise adorable tuxedo cat, crept through the not-quite-closed door, hopped into the chair and did what cats do to loose objects elevated above ground level.  The gravitational potential energy of the uncapped pen was swiftly converted to kinetic energy as it fell.  Upon contact with the floor all of that kinetic energy expended itself into deforming the nib into a shape resembling a modern sculpture.

 

It ended well.  The cat survived although I confess to an urge to swab all her white fur with Baystate Blue.  The nib was made good as new.

 

One month later I had just finished restoring a nice onyx Lady Patricia.  It was sitting on the kitchen table, well away from the edge, when I had to dash out to handle something in the yard for my wife.  When I came back the pen had disappeared and there were four cats staring at me with those, "Who, me?" expressions.  I found the pen the next day.  Under the refrigerator.  It had a few extra microscratches but was otherwise undamaged.

[Misfit]

That Bay State Blue comment was hilarious. 
 

I managed to jam a cap on a Jinhao 599. That caused damage to the nib. I got it to work again. Not as expensive a pen as any of the ones mentioned. Oh, I did drop a Visconti Michelangelo from a seated position onto patio cement, and a bit of plastic did chip where the finial is. I also managed to mar the finish on a Levenger L-Tech while trying to change the stylus on the cap. I wish I had a cat to blame these on. 

[Penguincollector]

I dropped my reliable old celluloid Waterman nib down on tile in 1993. It’s super cracked and the nib looks chewed on. I keep it so I can find another similar one but that  

poor little one has had several pen repair folks look at it and say it’s a lost cause. 

[Doc Dan]

My pen accidents came from forgetting the pen was in my pocket and playing football with my friends after school. Needless to say, the pen (more than once) was broken and ink was all over.   😂

[kestrel]

23 hours ago, Misfit said:

That Bay State Blue comment was hilarious. 
 

I managed to jam a cap on a Jinhao 599. That caused damage to the nib. I got it to work again. Not as expensive a pen as any of the ones mentioned. Oh, I did drop a Visconti Michelangelo from a seated position onto patio cement, and a bit of plastic did chip where the finial is. I also managed to mar the finish on a Levenger L-Tech while trying to change the stylus on the cap. I wish I had a cat to blame these on. 

We have a few spare felines we could loan out including the Pelikan culprit.

[Misfit]

5 hours ago, kestrel said:

We have a few spare felines we could loan out including the Pelikan culprit.

If I lived within an hour’s driving distance of you, I’d take you up on that. But alas not. So I must blame myself for my own mishaps. 

[greencobra]

happy to report besides the occasional roll off to the floor, i've never had a serious pen accident. and did i mention i hate cats? the little snobs show absolutely no loyalty of any kind but yet garner carte blanche to escape calamity for any mischief which they find themselves in the middle. of course the head tilt along with that patented, wide eyed feline quizzical look aids their cause. 

[inkstainedruth]

You clearly must be a dog person....

Guess you won't like the story about the time we were visiting some friends years ago, and some guy taking his (fairly good size -- don't remember the breed offhand) dog for a walk without it being on a leash.  And it came bounding up to one of their cats in the front yard.  The cat IMMEDIATELY took offense and made a beeline straight for the dog, and chased it around the back of our friends' place and the guy was going "Call off your cat!" because every time he tried to call his dog, the cat would herd it off in the opposite direction....  (Admittedly, my husband and our two friends and I were trying hard to NOT laugh....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth
 

[Arkanabar]

I made the mistake of soaking a Reform school pen's section in isopropyl alcohol.  Do not expect the plastics from which fountain pens are made to survive such a chemical assault.

 

I had a Rotring Surf.  I managed to twist the nib, using the cap of all things.  I forget whether I was capping or uncapping it.  That was a shame, it was a nice writer with nice ergonomics.

 

I mention regularly how I keep a Hero 616 or Jinhao 51A clipped to the outside of my breast pocket.  I used to do that with my Pelikan M200, and the cap crumbled right below the clip ring several times over.  I don't do that with plastic pens, or screw cap pens, any more.

 

I left a bottle of L'Artisan Pastellier Callifolio Oconto on my desk.  Our Australian Shepherd puppy found it and managed to color herself blue.  Aaargh.

[ParramattaPaul]

I was cleaning the nibs for an inexpensive calligraphy pen when I dropped a nib in the sink's drain two years ago.   It's still there.

 

I had/have no intention of pulling the 'S' trap apart to retrieve it and having to clean up the resulting mess.

[kestrel]

3 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I was cleaning the nibs for an inexpensive calligraphy pen when I dropped a nib in the sink's drain two years ago.   It's still there.

 

I had/have no intention of pulling the 'S' trap apart to retrieve it and having to clean up the resulting mess.

Magnet on a string works for steel nibs. 

If not, alligator forceps work well.  I bought mine from AS & S but you might find them cheaper at Amazon or Harbor Freight.  I use them frequently when repairing pens.  Also to retrieve a ring from a sink trap.

 

https://sciplus.com/10-1-4-stainless-steel-alligator-forceps/

[ParramattaPaul]

53 minutes ago, kestrel said:

Magnet on a string works for steel nibs. 

If not, alligator forceps work well.  I bought mine from AS & S but you might find them cheaper at Amazon or Harbor Freight.  I use them frequently when repairing pens.  Also to retrieve a ring from a sink trap.

 

https://sciplus.com/10-1-4-stainless-steel-alligator-forceps/

That particular nib is well out of reach at the bottom of the lower end of the 'S' trap.  I have several forceps (and surgical scissors). Many were free; given to me after  (many) minor surgeries or suture removals I've had done.  Some hospitals and medical practices simply bin them with 'Hazmat' never to be used again. It's wasteful of them, so I explain that I use them when I fish to remove hooks.  They usually give them to me.

 

[amper]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:46 PM, B. Honeydew said:

I was on a really, Really, REALLY boring conference call last week.  I started fidgeting with my FP on my desk when I stopped taking notes.  I looked down and realized I had been spinning the pen without the cap on my desk and slinging ink all over the place.  The good news is that the ink didn’t get on my shirt.  What’s your boneheaded FP stunt?

Driving down the Garden State Parkway at night, I decided to take a note in the dark, but somehow managed to completely unscrew the section of my eyedropper converted Platinum Preppy filled with Mrs. Stewart's laundry bluing. Fortunately, I didn't get too much of it all over the place, but I stained my favorite Isaac Mizrahi kilted skirt and the velour of the seat of my F-150. :facepalm: