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Thread: Too Nice to use...

  1. #1
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    Default Too Nice to use...

    I was thinking about this earlier. Last year I purchased a first high end pen. An Excellence A with a Gold nib I'd had many decent pens and however the Excellence A was my first with all the trimmings big 14kt nib, a flagship pen etc. I'd been considering buying something like it for the last 3 years a pen I could use for years to come. I think many of us pretend that after buying that big pen purchase we will reach some sort of pen nirvana where you never look at a pen again and feel tempted to buy it.

    Before I bought it I'd at least thought I would be using it regularly however I've barely dipped it since buying it. The phrase too nice to use comes to mind. I don't now if the problem is that I've got other other pens that I'm not too scared too damage and I just one to keep it pristine or is that if I was to start using regularly it would be just another pen.

    It's funny now after wanting it for so long I'm questioning now is it even worth owning a pen I don't use.
    Last edited by top pen; March 1st, 2016 at 12:05 PM.

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    Senior Member jar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    Just like Nukes, use it or lose it...

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    Senior Member carlc's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    Personally I can't see the point in having a pen you won't use. Maybe if it was unique or very rare but then I'd sell it to a collector anyway. A modern pen, absolutely not.

    Ink it - you'll feel better after you have.

    ETA: that one pen/pen nirvana! I'll remind you of that in the coming years. It's a slippery slope you stepped on and it just gets steeper.
    Last edited by carlc; March 1st, 2016 at 12:14 PM.

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    Quote Originally Posted by jar View Post
    Just like Nukes, use it or lose it...
    Eek!

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    Senior Member naimitsu's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    It's a mixed bag for me.
    There are weeks where the only pen(s) I use are the high end pens I have, then there are weeks where I only use the TWSBIs, and then there are the short spurts where the Pilot Metros get exercised.
    But more often than not, I end up rotating through them. I take work notes in multiple colors, so whichever pen has a specific type of color is the one that gets used, regardless of cost and nib size.

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I want to use my pens, so "too nice to use" would translate as "too nice to buy"! I want to put them in my shirt pocket, carry them around, and write with them.


    Fernando Gouvêa -- fqgouvea@roadrunner.com

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    Senior Member KBeezie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I never really had a "too nice" to use pen, but I do have one that I consider "too fragile" to use by my standards, though I do ink it up from time to time I don't like using it too often or taking it places, the Eversharp Doric in the early 30s Kashmir celluloid material that was already chipping pieces off the cap lip just from touch (did have it sanded down a little and re-inforced, as well as a tube installed into the barrel to strength the barrel while the sac was getting replaced with a pure silicone one... making it possible to see the ink from outside the pen as well as preventing discoloration).

    But yea, like Jar said, 'use it or lose it', Unless the pen was primarily meant to serve as a mantelpiece artwork (like say one of those very expensive Maki-e type of pens that are hand made), then it's a tool, a very nice or expensive tool at times, but still a tool.

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    Senior Member Dragonmaster Lou's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I tend to rotate my pens so they all get some use... However, there are some pens that I think are too nice to take out of my house, but not too nice to use.

    Then again, even those "too nice to take out" pens would be taken out for a suitable special occasion. Just not for everyday stuff.

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I can definitely understand that but I make a conscious effort to use every pen I own, whether it's a Platinum Preppy or a Danitrio, Romillo, etc. I definitely baby my more expensive pens and they are relegated to deskpen duty but they still get used everyday. I don't own any super rare, collectible vintage pens that need to be kept pristine. I figure, in the long run, after I'm gone, these pens will be used by someone else, scrapped for their gold content, thrown away, or put in storage and forgotten about. I may as well get to enjoy the use of them while I have them.

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I recently bought a MB 149 of the early 1990's. The pen is in perfect condition and was never inked.

    It's been sitting on my desk for 3 weeks now... I don't know what it is but I have not inked it yet. Funny thing is that I'm not a collector at all. I use every pen I own.

    I don't feel comfortable using that pen at work. I have a team of 80+ people and our cie is going through a difficult period. Somehow it feels indecent to use that big pen at work... and since I'm not writing that much at home...
    Last edited by Fouez; March 1st, 2016 at 05:39 PM.

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    Senior Member fountainpenkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    For me this only happens with vintage pens. Modern ones, no matter how nice they are, don't feel irreplaceable to me. Case in point: I just received a Parker "51" in Midnight blue that is in much nicer condition than let on by the eBay pictures...nearly NOS. Even though it's anything but rare, I'm now in a crisis over whether it, which I purchased to use as a "go everywhere" pen, should be used at all. ugh!
    Will
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    I ink everything. Usually same day I buy it. Never once hesitated. I have purchases un-inked NOS stickered Parkers and Sheaffers from 70 years ago. I ink them.

    I am not interested in collecting art sticks.

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    Now, I don't have any high-end pens, but some that are high-end to me. And I carry almost all of them everyday because I'm a little crazy. . I just never know which one I am going to be in the mood to use.
    Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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    Senior Member ilangai's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    What comes to mind is the same thing that used to happened to me with Records. I use to get rare/hard to get vinyl, listen once and forget about it..
    After few weeks (sometimes months), accidentally started playing it and couldn't stop.
    I think, you're partly still overwhelmed by getting you're desired pen. Wait a few months (give yourself a number, like 4, for example), if you still don't use it.. Sell it and move on.
    ✖ Ilan Gai ✒ An Addict ✖

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    Senior Member Sandy Fry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    It's a pen! Ink it up and write with it.

    David

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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    If it is a real nice pen, it wont leave the house. Down a notch, it will be used on occasions where it is unlikely to get damaged or misplaced. Next tier, kinda take it anywhere. Finally, user grade goes to work with me, I work with my hands and sometimes get dirty.
    We have met the enemy and he is us.
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    Senior Member Kaputnik's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    As with a couple of other people who answered, some of my vintage pens, particularly the really old ones, seem delicate enough that I don't want to take them just anywhere. But they get their turn in the rotation at home. As for the others, I don't have any real luxury pens, but the most expensive ones I do have coincidentally seem to include most of my best writers, so yes, they get used.
    "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
    G.K. Chesterton

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    Senior Member fountainpenkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Too Nice to use...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaputnik View Post
    As with a couple of other people who answered, some of my vintage pens, particularly the really old ones, seem delicate enough that I don't want to take them just anywhere. But they get their turn in the rotation at home. As for the others, I don't have any real luxury pens, but the most expensive ones I do have coincidentally seem to include most of my best writers, so yes, they get used.
    Interestingly enough, it is not the age of the pen, but its condition, that makes me weary of using it. My 1910s Waterman's 14s goes in my pocket to class quite frequently--although it is old, it is reliable, and, most importantly, already in "user-grade" condition, which allows me to use it more--put more scuffs, thread marks etc in it--and feel content. Am I the only one that feels this way.
    Will
    If my p.m box is full, feel free to email me at dabantur@gmail.com.

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