Pens for People Who Pause

[Swanquill]

My preference is to use a desk pen holder. You can pause for days! You can go on holiday!

 

I found one for 25 cents, back in 1969, at a rummage sale, just as I was first starting to use italic nibs and do calligraphy. It has a lovely heavy marble base and an unengraved brass plate with a gold wash that's wearing out. The base is covered in green felt and it still has most of a green label that says 'Waterman's' and 'Made in Canada'. A paperclip cunningly inserted into the joint keeps the pen receiver from flopping over totally. After close to forty years, I'd say I got my quarter's worth.

 

I suppose that one of the key points is that it was made to receive a fountain pen and is therefore larger than modern desk sets made for slimmer ballpoints. The material is typical fountain pen plastic and smooth in the inside; so, it shouldn't cause more wear than a normal cap. And, boy, is it handier than having to look to where the cap's gone or using up a free hand to hold it.

 

I think in some other threads I've detected some animosity to using pen holders but I'm not entirely clear on the rationale.

 

Lea, a.k.a. Swanquill

[wvbeetlebug]

What I do to avoid this is the following:

 

while writing I leave the cap on the table, on the right from the paper (I am right-handed), so that I can introduce the pen into the cap when I stop writing. This prevents it from drying and also from rolling if I leave it carelessly onto a not-perfectly-horizontal table. I don't really cap the pen, just place the nib inside.

 

It works for me!

Cheers

This is a splendid idea. I keep my pens posted while they're on my desk because I don't want them to roll away. Also because I use them too much to keep uncapping them.

[LedZepGirl]

I always pause when I'm writing and my Duofold, Esterbrooks and Super 21 are always good about it. My Vac on the other hand dries and I have to shake it to get it going again- I still haven't solved all the flow issues with that pen.

[J English Smith]

This is where I have to say the Parker 51s and 45s have it all over Hero 616s. They don't take pausing very well, have to be restarted with a line or two.

 

The nice wet Lamy 2000 is very tolerant of pausing.

[HDoug]

Your question and some of the responses have convinced me that a well designed, friction-free desk pen would be the answer. Now I've gotta get one...

 

Doug

[the hobbit]

A rather unscientific trial...

 

I took my three pens (Parker 51 demi Fine nib (just got it out of the mail box about 30 minutes ago :roflmho: ), Lamy Vista (ef nib), and Waterman Phileas (M nib) and filled them with Noodler's Legal Lapis.

 

First, some quick notes on the three pens.

 

Parker is hooded, so I expect it to work well, and not dry to fast.

 

Lamy Vista is EF, so it should dry out the fastest. On the otherhand, I broke this one in with a bit of pressure, so it is a flexible pen, and tends to hold a touch of ink on the nib. Will this help?

 

Waterman Phileas in Medium. By far my wetest pen. Lays down quite a bit of ink, so I'd think it would last at least better than the Lamy.

 

Paper is a small Cambridge notepad I keep by my computer. It's extra smooth, and made in the USA by Mead, so it's better than notebook paper.

 

Alright, on to the experiment.

 

I set my watch on the desk, warmed up a pen (a short line of little circles to get everything flowing well)

 

I immediately drew a zero, then waited 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, and 120 seconds, writing the time as I went, and either setting the pen down horizontally, or holding it horizontally if I didn't have time to set it down.

 

Results... *Drum roll*

 

The Parker kicked butt. At 2 minutes, it wrote as well as it did when I drew the warmed-up zero. In fact, after almost ten minutes, it started within a stroke.

 

The Lamy (surprising to me) came in second. It wrote well after a minute, but it was scratchy after two minutes, and didn't lay down its usual level of ink (though still very legible!)

 

The Phileas came in last. The numbers where all great, up to 30 seconds. I thought it would go further, but at 1 minute it all but refused to write! I'm surprised by this, but the ink could be evaporating faster due to the larger nib size.

 

I might give this whole experiment another run through, and stretch it out to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 minute intervals, just to give everyone a second chance.

[MYU]

I find the Lamy 2000 holds up well, if the nib has been periodically flushed. Same for the Lamy 27.

 

I use a Pilot MYU (701 and 500BS) fairly often. I find that all I have to do is give a little extra pressure and it'll resume writing. And that's with F and EF nibs.

 

And of course, there's the venerable Parker 51. I'd have to say it probably outlasts them all.

[Djehuty]

Well, the Parker "51" is no surprise. Is there anything that pen can't do? Fill it with a wet enough ink, and it could probably put out forest fires!

 

I should probably get a desk pen holder... but that would mean I'd have to clear off my desk and make it useable.

 

[dcwaites]

My P51s do best, all still write without a hitch after 15 minutes uncapped. One even recovered fully within three words after being uncapped for over 6 hours.

 

My Hero 51 clones (100s, 329 old style) come in next, lasting at least 10-12 minutes and starting perfectly.

 

If any of my other pens (Jinhao, Duke, Haolilai, Reform) skip a beat after only a couple of minutes uncapped then they get a good clean and maybe a different ink.

 

Dry writing nibs and dry inks also need to be considered. If you have a dry writing nib that skips at the start after less than two minutes uncapped, I would look at a wetter ink (of which there are many recommendations on FPN).

 

 

[georges zaslavsky]

I happen to pause when I have to make my work desk clean and my daily users which are the man 100, the 149 and the ad 2000 longitude write pretty well even after being an hour or two uncapped. I generally use inks that are very liquid and have good fluidity.

[duna]

My P51s do best, all still write without a hitch after 15 minutes uncapped. One even recovered fully within three words after being uncapped for over 6 hours.

 

My Hero 51 clones (100s, 329 old style) come in next, lasting at least 10-12 minutes and starting perfectly.

 

If any of my other pens (Jinhao, Duke, Haolilai, Reform) skip a beat after only a couple of minutes uncapped then they get a good clean and maybe a different ink.

 

Dry writing nibs and dry inks also need to be considered. If you have a dry writing nib that skips at the start after less than two minutes uncapped, I would look at a wetter ink (of which there are many recommendations on FPN).

 

Really interesting. I'm doing this test now. My Hero 100 (Pilot Black ink on old computer paper) up to now passed 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 20 min marks without problems, and the 20 minutes test is actually wetter than the 6 and the 10 ones.

30 min is due in a few minutes.

Pilot Prera M (great pen and always a great starter) , same paper but Koh-I-Noor Blue ink reached 14 min but showed fatigue since 4 minutes, with barely legible numbers.

Lamy Al-Star B is still running great after 14 minutes, same paper and Koh-I-Noor Blue ink.

I suspect that the very absorbent paper and, first of all, very humid air here (Venice mainland) are responsible for this behaviour. Probably turning AC on and with different paper things would be different.

 

EDIT: after 40 minutes Hero and Lamy still write great, Pilot Prera with its much finer nib is almost dry (barely legible writing) and have to be 'restarted' in order to write again. Test suspended and pens capped. Next time, AC on, will be harder...

Edited July 12, 2008 by duna

[metropolitan]

I've asked about this here before, after becoming frustrated with a Libelle drying after what seemed to be a minute or so.

 

 

Currently, I take notes in meetings with either a Lamy Vista fine point or a Parket Sonnet fine, either of which still responds instantly after up to about 10 minutes of non-use.

 

The key, obviously, is to fill all the margins of your notebooks with doodles. Not writing for a few minutes? Then make cool swirls in all the colors you've brought with you that day...

 

 

[MYU]

Well, the Parker "51" is no surprise. Is there anything that pen can't do? Fill it with a wet enough ink, and it could probably put out forest fires!

 

I should probably get a desk pen holder... but that would mean I'd have to clear off my desk and make it useable.

That's a really good idea! I certainly makes sense to me. You just slip the pen into the holder while you pause, then pick it back up when you're ready to write again. I don't know how air tight they are, though... might be good to have a portable cap too.