How many pens inked up at one time, and how to keep them from drying out?

[Fountain Pen Mike]

Hi!
So, I'm fairly new here still, and I have some questions.
I know there are many here who have a huge number of pens. I myself have four, three of which are inked. I don't write every day, perhaps 3-4 times a week. Starting a journal, so hope to increase that, but.... I would assume if you had a large variety of pens in service, with inks of various "wet" or "dry" characteristics, you might run into trouble.
So what do you do to keep your pens happy.
Load up less ink in the converters so they are emptied faster? empty them back into their bottles and clean the pen if you notice you're not using one or two (or five. )?
Inquiring newb minds want to know.

[VertOlive]

I have 8 of my two dozen pens inked at any one time. I journal a half page a day and write a few multi-page letters each week. When a pen runs out of ink I clean it, store it, and put another pen into rotation. A given pen can remain inked over a month in my house with no problem.

[mhosea]

I have 8-10 inked, generally, in order to have a variety of colors. I just try to doodle a little with each of them at least once every few days. The ones that are less good at keeping moisture in may get a little dose of distilled water if it seems like a substantial amount of evaporation has occurred.

When I was more into pens than I am now, I would only keep each of them inked for a few weeks before they would get cleaned and rotated out, at least briefly. For awhile I was staging ink in sample vials so that I could conveniently fill and dump from the vial to avoid contaminating the bottles. I don't bother with that anymore. Now it might go to 2 months, or maybe even three. Some pens are better than others for staying inked for a long time.

[datainadequate]

I have twenty pens inked up right now, and each pen will get used every 10 days or so. Some cope just fine with being left. If I find one of the others has gone dry, I briefly dip the end of the nib into water, recap it, and leave it for a minute or two. That usually gets the pen flowing nicely again.

[top pen]

Have no idea just been avoiding cleaning them out for the last few months, my guess is 10 possibly more?

[Paddler]

I may have 50 pens, total. At the present time, four are inked. They are tools. One stays in my shirt pocket with a small notebook; two are desk pens for writing drafts and editing; one sits in a glass I liberated at the "Battle of Johnny's Bar". Each pen is inked for a specific purpose or project. When the purpose or project is finished, the pen is rinsed, dried, and returned to the cigar box with all the others on standby. There is no problem with ink drying and clogging a pen. When a new project arises, I lay out the pen collection and allow a pen to choose the work.

[Kaputnik]

I have quite a few pens total. Right now I have four inked, and one of those should be getting close to empty. Two to six is typical. It can even get down to one if I'm taking a long planned trip.

Except that the above is not quite true. I do keep some other pens inked, but I've arbitrarily decided that they don't count. These include:

• A number of Pilot Varsity disposables. These can go a very long time between uses without drying up or even becoming hard-starting. In fact, I've never had that problem with them. But I simply don't worry about it.
• Four Pilot Parallel "Calligraphy" Pens, with nibs ranging from 1.5 to 6.0 mm. Same idea. Used rarely, and I've decided just not to worry about it.
• Some Esterbrook Dip-Less Pens that I keep in my writing area. These are dip pens with fountain pen feeds and nibs. The nib is always sitting in ink from the inkwell when it's not being used. I suppose they could dry up over a very long time, but it's not worth worrying about, and it's a way to keep black and red ink, which I don't use very often, always available.

Other than that, I just accept that I've bought more pens than I need, and that most of them, most of the time, will be un-inked.

[jar]

I usually have two or three pens inked at any given time. I keep them from drying out by using them. If I don't have a good reason to use a given pen every few days I use a bad reason to use a given pen every few days. If I am not going to use a pen at least every few days I empty it, flush it and put it away.

[jbb]

I have about 20 pens inked and strewn throughout the house. Some will start right up others won't and I'll re-ink them. If they really annoy me they get thrown into one of sevearl desk drawers with other out-of-rotation pens.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I refuse to number the pens I own, but to give you an idea...I've given away or sold some 200, and my hutch is by no means empty.

Right now I may have upward of ten inked, because I just fell down the vintage hole, and I'm testing them. Plus, I just got a new Waterman Carene, so gotta test that.

But normally...I would have 5-7 inked.

[Lady Onogaro]

I have so many inked it's silly. But I do use them in my journaling, letters, etc.

[sgtstretch]

I'm back down to 8 inked, but last week I had 12 pens inked. When one empties, I clean and start using another. Once I get down to 5 pens or so I'll start inking some back up. I usually rotate between 4-6 inked pens at one time.

[Fountain Pen Mike]

Thanks, folk.
So I should be good to go with the three or four I'll have inked up most of the time.
My converters for my Safari(already using a cartridge there) and my Studio should be here today, so I'll be inking up the Studio soon.

[ethernautrix]

It fluctuates between two or three and eleven, twelve. Wait, do Preppies and other cheapies count?

[Anne]

Thanks, folk.
So I should be good to go with the three or four I'll have inked up most of the time.
My converters for my Safari(already using a cartridge there) and my Studio should be here today, so I'll be inking up the Studio soon.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that you should never have a problem with your Safari starting up.
I use one as an Every Day Carry pen - it sits ( upright ) in a little pouch in my pocketbook for Very Long intervals between uses and never disappoints when the nib touches the paper.
I am always grateful for its reliability.

[Fountain Pen Mike]

I can believe that. I fell in love with mine the very first sentence I penned with it.