Storing pens nib up, down, or sideways?

[Levon]

I'm a relative newbie to fountain pens, I currently have and use 6 pens regularly (none of them fancy, my most expensive one is a TWSBI Eco). Currently they are just arrayed on my work desk, I'm wondering if there's a preferred way to store them?

A cup would be nice, I suppose I could store the "dryer" pens nib down, and the more "wet ones" nib up? Or ...?

What do the experienced users do and recommend? Again, these pens are used daily.

Thanks!

(I can't believe how much fun it is to write with these pens. I really really dislike grading papers/homework, but it's much less dreadful if I can do it with a fountain pen and some color variations).

[Jon Szanto]

You have already thought this out more than most. I believe that the 'conventional wisdom" is nib up, so a cup would be swell.

I tend to not go with the norm always...

The pens on my desk are numerous and usually too many inked. I would say a good half of them (16 I count) are laying flat on their sides on an old Parker ashtray. Hard to describe. Another 20 are stored vertically, with only 3 pointed nib down. Those latter pens are 'dryer', but it is mostly the cap style allows for the pen to dry out, and this keeps them a little more writing-handy. I note that there are also two pens at a 45-degree angle, in desk pen holders.

Is this too many pens inked up at once? Yes. Welcome to my life. I think we all end up finding what works best for us and pens that we keep for good will let us know if they are unhappy in a particular orientation.

(If you open the image in another tab/window you can zoom in and see the various pen situations. The flat arrangement is to the bottom left of the monitor)

[silverlifter]

Inked on desk: flat.

Inked in motion: nib up.

[FredRydr]

Inked: nib up in rack or pocket.
Empty: doesn't matter, but horizontal in slotted trays in drawers.

Jon, do you place your pens in your cup before or after you finish your coffee?

[Jon Szanto]

Jon, do you place your pens in your cup before or after you finish your coffee?

Yes, always.

[Chrissy]

Mine are mainly like those belonging to silverlifter. Decent inked pens: flat safely stored in a Visconti leather pen case, or a couple of cheap ones stand with nibs up with mechanical pencils and a ballpoint in a pen pot. Those in the pen pot dry out.

I don't often go out with inked pens in my bag, but if I do they are also flat in a pen case, not just rolling around in the bottom.

[Fermata]

Daily use pens, usually just the one, is flat on my desk, not in use pens are emptied and put away in a chest.

The OP has a TWSBI Eco. The Eco can have problems with an effective seal between the nib/feed in the section. With the Eco I would leave the pen upright, nib uppermost. Many people just store their pens in a coffee mug but if you want something a little more stylish then have a look at the Chinese brush pots, just check that it has smooth sides.

[suzy01]

With cheaper pens I store them nib up so they don't leak everywhere. With my custom xxxf nib I store it nib down, because it has waterproof ink in there I prefer that it doesn't dry out anywhere in the nib and it flows better if it's been stored nib down). Everything else I shove in the cupboard so it depends how much spare there is as to how they're stored.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Pterodactylus]

I put the inked ones (flat) on a acrylic pen tray on my desk.


.... most of the times, the pen tray is reserved for FPˋs, as my desk is what my wife would call a waste dump many other pens and items are laying On my desk.

[Deb]

I have four inked at the moment and they are all in a cup, nib down. I've always kept pens this way and never had a probem.

[Sailor Kenshin]

In a glass, nib up. I like to actually see them, and storage space is at a premium; even uninked pens take up less of a footprint.

[Fermata]

One of my most painful memories is reaching for a dip pen that was stored nib upright and in a jar, I reached for the pen and the nib went between a nail and my finger, for quite a distance. It was so far in that it was stuck and difficult to remove.

I was quite upset and used words normally only heard from rough boys.

[Levon]

One of my most painful memories is reaching for a dip pen that was stored nib upright and in a jar, I reached for the pen and the nib went between a nail and my finger, for quite a distance. It was so far in that it was stuck and difficult to remove.

Even just the description sounds painful! Yikes.

[FredRydr]

Oh, I was thinking strictly stationary or pocket. When moving about, here's my portable setup which still keeps inked pens nib up so long as the 13" laptop bag is standing up. I use Pelikan 3-pen cases to carry up to 12 at a time, though usually 6 or 9. Even on the road, I like choice! Here is today's carry sitting in a cafe:

IMG_2988.jpg

Some will want to know, left to right today: Balance II, Optima, M200 Cafe Creme, Balance O/S lever, Balance O/S lever, Balance O/S Vac-Fil, 149 (new to me from Baltimore!), Minimalistica, 146, Conklin 50 crescent, Balance Admiral lever, Triumph Vac-Fil. A variety of inks and nib types.

[Paddler]

Inked pens that are prone to leaking (eyedropper filled, Parker 21, Sheaffer Vac fill,) store nib up. Desk inked pens are always nib down in their stands anyway.

[dneal]

The “leaking pen” argument confuses me. Seems that is the problem that needs dealt with instead of which way to orient it when not using.

My pens lay flat on the desk, or nib upright when in a pen slot in a bag or shirt pocket; basically in the orientation the clip is designed for.

[Pterodactylus]

The “leaking pen” argument confuses me. Seems that is the problem that needs dealt with instead of which way to orient it when not using.

My pens lay flat on the desk, or nib upright when in a pen slot in a bag or shirt pocket; basically in the orientation the clip is designed for.

Eye droppers are prone to leaking (into the cap).

Example:
I have currently a century old Waterman 16 inked.
The pen is (like many other old Watermans) a gusher.
When you handle it too roughly (or maybe better formulated: not really gently) it can happen that it drop a ink blob from its feed.
Before noon the sun is shining on my desk.
When I do not block the sun, the pen laying at my pen tray will be warmed enough by the sun to leak into the cap (happened the last days twice with this pen)
So in such cases it helps to store it nib upwards.

[Paddler]

The “leaking pen” argument confuses me. Seems that is the problem that needs dealt with instead of which way to orient it when not using.

My pens lay flat on the desk, or nib upright when in a pen slot in a bag or shirt pocket; basically in the orientation the clip is designed for.

The problem is that many pens do not have feeds with enough capacity to store all the ink displaced when cool air in the reservoir is heated by the hand when the pen is turned down for writing. Piston filled pens have their ink supplies right against the wall of the barrel and heat up rather quickly; faster than you can write out the displaced ink unless the feed has a lot of fin surface that can soak up the ink blob headed for the paper.

[dneal]

No argument about old feed designs without enough buffer to account for air expanding in a reservoir, and that certainly should be taken into account. I don't think of that as a "leak" though.

[grainweevil]

No argument about old feed designs without enough buffer to account for air expanding in a reservoir, and that certainly should be taken into account. I don't think of that as a "leak" though.

Now I'm genuinely pondering what a more accurate term might be.

Anyway, inked pens are largely stored nib up here at the Burrows. One or two seem to get a bit frettlesome about ink flow if not left horizontal, and although that may just be my fancy I nevertheless indulge them. Only the kitchen victims tend to be left lying around, but their life is hard, and sometimes brief, so they undoubtedly earn their lie down.