Throwing Pens in the Trash

[manoeuver]

Have you thrown a pen in the trash? I mean one that isn't s'posed to be disposable.

I remember a gross chewed up Parker 45, I think I yanked the nib and tossed the rest of it.

I know I had some vintage parts for a while, with the unwelcome to-do of find someone who can use these.
The instant relief I felt tossing them in the trash was worth more to me than the parts could ever mean to whatever dustsniffer might have expressed an interest in getting them for free.

Then there were the new/cheap pens that worked so poorly I wouldn't wish them on anybody.

what pens do you remember throwing away?

[Jon Szanto]

A couple of times when I bought 'lots' of pens, the seller threw in a bunch of true junkers in addition to the pieces I was going for. I guess I was *their* trashcan. Anyway, sometimes there are pens that are so cheap, so broken or otherwise worthless, that there is nothing on them you can salvage. Bin it.

I've never thrown away a drum, though.

[Lady Onogaro]

Yes. I threw away a Noodler's pen. The pen was a waste of $40 dollars. It cracked at the demonstrator window. The piston froze up. All sorts of problems. Junk.

[Chrissy]

Mine was also a Noodler's pen. A Creaper I believe. Tried unsuccessfully to fill/write with it several times until I just gave up and threw it in the bin. Like manoeuver I felt instantly relieved that it was a problem I no longer had to try and solve. :) On the other hand I'm not 100% convinced that it wasn't supposed to be disposable. LOL

[KBeezie]

Don't think I ever outright threw a pen in the trash. I've purchased lots as Jon did. But usually what I'd end up doing is kind of fixing it best I could and then "donating" it off to some hopeful tinkerer to do with as they please without any regret of ruining it further.

[An old bloke]

Two have gone in the bin. Sadly, they were both Platignums that were truly beyond any possible hope of a resurrection.

[KBeezie]

Two have gone in the bin. Sadly, they were both Platignums that were truly beyond any possible hope of a resurrection.

I imagine beyond-resurrection celluloid pens on the other hand deserve a Viking funeral... :P they do go up in flames pretty fast...

[eachan]

Very rarely. Usually I can at least salvage parts.

[FredRydr]

I put them in the scrounge box at pen shows. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

[724Seney]

I put them in the scrounge box at pen shows. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Thank you! A far better approach!
Just because you don't want it does not mean someone else might not have a use for it...or some part of it.

And, the colleague who has such a need, hardly a "dustsniffer looking for a freebie," will be most appreciative.

(Better to just toss the lousy Show coffee into the trash instead.)

[Sailor Kenshin]

I think so. Decades ago, before I understood leaky pens might be fixed.

I used to do the pen show box thing but no longer attend pen shows, so now conduct PIFs for working pens that don't, for whatever reason, work for me.

[penwash]

Yes.

But, to put it in perspective, it's a very, very low percentage compared to the ones that ended up in my parts collection.

[Ron Z]

This was about 45 years ago, but I threw away a Sheaffer Stylust that I bought at the campus bookstore. Loved the pen, didn't like having ink on my fingers all the time. But I was missing two bits of information. One was Sheaffer's warranty. The other was that the leak was where the 180 style nib screwed into the section. If I had known, I would have unscrewed the nib unit, and the applied bees wax or some kind of sealant on the threads to fix it.

I've also tossed cracked Parker 21s. Not my favorite pens.

[Chrissy]

I remember a gross chewed up Parker 45, I think I yanked the nib and tossed the rest of it.

I had a Parker 45 with a badly mangled cap top that someone had unsuccessfully tried to remove in order to replace the broken clip. Even though I bought new parts and worked out how to fit them I kept the mangled top for a while - just in case. But then I chucked it.

[Chuck Naill]

I've got a parts bin myself. If I could find a 1920's large Esterbrook pencil cap. I'd be in business.

[Jon Szanto]

Items like this gorgeous Scripto pen. Modified to write around corners. Nib mashed to avoid poking yourself with anything sharp. I thought maybe it might make a nice fake gold cap on a Sheaffer school pen, but it doesn't fit. So I'll open it up and see if the j-bar is worth saving and the rest gets binned. I save so, so many pens for parts and restoration that the occasional death of one like this gives me no qualms at all.

https://i.imgur.com/IN2092n.jpg

[FredRydr]

I just fished this out of the trash bin because of the interest. No teeth marks!

66280

[Jon Szanto]

I just fished this out of the trash bin because of the interest. No teeth marks!

66280Is it "vintage"?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Detman101]

Yep, Noodlers Ahab.
Worst most tinkery pen I've ever encountered.
Literally had to tinker with it for an hour each day before it worked for another 4-6 hours. Then the process would repeat.
And it stank to high hell.
Buried it in the backyard.
Then exhumed it and sent it to a pen-pal in Austria to try out.
He thought it stank too.

[Sandy]

All the cheap Chinese pens I bought.

Caps didn't fit, cap rings became undone and they leaked like sieves.

Cheap pens that ink carpets and shirts cost much more than they "save".

[FredRydr]

Is it "vintage"?
You might think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

[welch]

I have thrown away a few third-tier pens that came in batches of the sort that were inexpensive ten or fifteen years ago..."a dozen assorted fountain pens, Wearever, Whatever, Arnold etc". One was a late-40s Whatever that needed a new sac. The barrel refused to release the section, so I tried waving a heat gun over it. Rather than give up, the barrel stretched and twisted, snarling, "Go ahead...I'll be a pretzel before let you separate me from my grip." That's one I tossed.

[Ron Z]

Whatevers - that's what we call them. It got me in trouble with a couple of people... I don't through them away because I never willingly buy them.

[carlos.q]

I usually keep all my pens, no matter how terrible or mangled. That said, I gladly threw away a Zebra V-301. Worthless piece of @#$&! :puke:

[eicart0523]

I've thrown lots away. Mostly Asian pens that I bought from Wish.com for a few dollars each. It wasn't worth my time tinkering with them to get them to work half way decent. I yanked the nibs and feeds.


Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[scrivelry]

I think I have thrown out a Zebra and a couple of other disposable pens that either had caps which could not be kept alive or which I just could not figure out a way to refill.

When it comes to real pens, though, no matter how whateverish and stubborn they may be, I don't think I've tossed one yet. Then again, this may or may not say anything good about me... All I can really through out is stuff like used tissues and rotten fruit. My tossing anything else is usually worthy of media attention, like a 100 year flood...

[amk]

No. I keep them for bits.
I have thrown parts away - cracked barrels, sections that have been smashed, broken caps. But there's always something to save.

By the way, cracked celluloid bits are worth keeping. They can be used with a solvent or dissolved into a puree to fill cracks and repair missing bits of cap lips.

[SlowMovingTarget]

I've tossed some cheap pens made in India: FPR Muft, Jaipur v1, Airmail 71J... the first two for leaks from the pen body (piston-fillers), the last for leaks around the feed. I kept the nibs... they were all good nibs, just low-quality pens.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I've encountered a couple today that are tempting me.

[Jon Szanto]

I've encountered a couple today that are tempting me.

:pound:

[Runnin_Ute]

I had a Parker 45 go through the wash once. Still writes great, but I did replace the barrel. Ended up changing it from a burgundy to a forest green. And yes I tossed the broken barrel.

Have thought about it with a Parker IM I have that has the dry out issue. Had two, gave one away. I had the original box, so put it back and have almost completely forgotten about it. It hasn't been used in as much as two years, maybe more.

There is a Targa that I got in a PIF that someone in the past tried to stub by cutting the tines. It is angled, so more like a Oblique. The cartridge has a hole in both ends. I just can't bring myself to toss them in most cases.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[ethernautrix]

Seems that I prefer to lose pens than throw them away. Sigh.

[An old bloke]

Seems that I prefer to lose pens than throw them away. Sigh.

I like that idea. It is one I have been contemplating recently. I have a few 'low-budget' (AKA cheap) pens that I've been considering off-loading. I'll 'accidentally' leave one behind at my next dentist's appointment.

[ethernautrix]

Seems that I prefer to lose pens than throw them away. Sigh.

I like that idea. It is one I have been contemplating recently. I have a few 'low-budget' (AKA cheap) pens that I've been considering off-loading. I'll 'accidentally' leave one behind at my next dentist's appointment.

Alas, I tend to lose expensive pens. A Nakaya Piccolo Cigar. An intentionally mismatched set (FP & BP) of Montblanc La Bohemes. Barrel and nib of a Pelikan 600. Just the barrel of a Parker Cisele (a 75? - not sure). Those are the ones that spring to mind. Oh, the barrel and nib of a Sheaffer Connaisseur.

I've also given away plenty of pens (a range of prices). But thrown away? I would think I'd remember, but... This is a very vague and faded memory (is it even real?), did I throw away a Montblanc 146 cos it kept leaking and I didn't know I could send it in for service? (I was alone in this so-called hobby for years. I had no idea, for instance, about "nib-meisters" until after February 2008, which is when I Googled my way to FPN.)

Oh yeah, I had to throw away a Pelikan...I don't know, 200? Solid green barrel. I was a teenager and filled it with India ink. I didn't know. I kept it for a while even after it was (I thought) irreparably damaged. I had to have thrown it away.

Cheap pens, though? I typically find new homes for them rather than throw them away. I used to take all my unwanteds (that I didn't think about selling) to Pen Posse in SF, which started the Box of (I've forgotten what Ricky ended up calling it) -- people would bring their unwanteds and take other people's unwanteds. I loved that.

[Chip]

I've tossed a few parts, e.g. a cracked Wahl Eversharp cap, an orphan that I bought on the web to get a gold-plated clip with the wee roller, that I needed to restore a nice coral flat-top. But most of the pens I couldn't use or fix went into a box: the Bone Pile.

https://i.imgur.com/3v16k82.jpg

Posted the photo on this board and someone spoke up, so I sent her the lot. Which made both of us happy.

[Kaputnik]

Well, to start with, we mean fountain pens, right? Let's see.

Lately, on the rare occasions when a Pilot Varsity has run out of ink, I've thrown it away. Yes, I know that they can be refilled, and have done it successfully, as well as having a couple of failures. But I don't want to bother any more.

I've done the same with some Bic disposable fountain pens some years ago.

One of my first fountain pens was a Hero Parker 51 clone which I'm almost certain was not even a real Hero. Their actual products are decent quality for the price, but this thing was unbelievably badly made. Instead of a normal nib with a slit in it, it had two separate metal pieces side by side. Into the trash with it.

I think that's about it. Everything else has at least been saved for the possibility of using some of the parts. Maybe some of the parts have been thrown away.

I've given a few fountain pens away to friends who may very well have ended up throwing them away, but it's more likely that they just lost them. In one of those cases I know that she uses it occasionally.

[Ugly Old Guy]

Like a watch that a replacement battery or strap costs more than the same watch new, I have tossed ballpoints that used a refill that cost as much as or more than a new one.

[Chip]

There are so many free/promotional ballpoints and rollerballs to be had, that finding refills is a butt-cramp. I've never bought an upmarket ballpoint or roller-ball pen that would justify the effort.

Never lost a fountain pen. Nor my spectacles or car keys. Being a backcountry ranger, with all my stuff in a pack, taught me to avoid losing things.

[Chuck Naill]

The Parker ball points are cheap and easily available as well as several refills to fit them perfectly. My Parker Flighter 24 is superb with an Onto .05 mm refill

[Scrawler]

There are so many free/promotional ballpoints and rollerballs to be had, that finding refills is a butt-cramp. I've never bought an upmarket ballpoint or roller-ball pen that would justify the effort.

Never lost a fountain pen. Nor my spectacles or car keys. Being a backcountry ranger, with all my stuff in a pack, taught me to avoid losing things.

I really don't like throwing away the platinum ball at the tip when I need a refill. If I stick any old refill in to a fine pen I will have an "any old" writing experience.

[Kaputnik]

Didn't mean to mention ballpoints, but since others have brought them up, I very seldom throw one of those away, either. They have to be so badly broken that there would really be no point in trying to save them.

A few years ago, I scoured my desk drawers for all the disposable ballpoints I had, as well as a few cheap refillable give-aways. I took them in to work and left them in a communal pen cup we have, whence most of them have since vanished. Most were probably lost or tossed after a couple of uses, but I didn't do it myself. And when I acquire more promotional giveaways somewhere, I put them in the same pen cup.

The ballpoints I have left are an assortment of Parker Jotters, Space Pens, and Cross clones, a couple of multi pens, and some novelty pens or souvenirs. They're either pretty good quality or associated with some sort of memories, and they don't take up a lot of space. I probably have refills available for every kind of pen that I own, and am unlikely to use them all, since I really do use fountain pens most of the time, and other non-ballpoints more often than not. But even with ballpoints, I don't like throwing away something that works perfectly well. And although I sometimes give one away, I don't put them in that pen cup, which is just one step away from the trash.

[dneal]

Just tossed a Noodlers something or another (piston filler), following the bottle of GvFC Gulf Blue I had inked it with. Life's too short for crappy ink and pens.

[An old bloke]

I hear that.