Airplane travel with Fountain Pens: what’s the worst that could happen?
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Hey Pen People!
I’m doing some traveling this week! Seeing the sites in Washington DC. Have you ever taken your fountain pens on an airplane? I haven’t! Let’s see what happens?
I reference three articles/posts in the video. Here are the links to those if you want to check them out for yourself:
From Goldspot Pens:
goldspot.com/blogs/magazine/f...
From Goulet Pens:
www.gouletpens.com/blogs/foun...
From r/fountainpens:
/ is_there_any_fountain_...
And here are the pens I took with me:
The Asvine V126:
amzn.to/3Gij1sh
the PenBBS 456:
www.etsy.com/shop/PENBBSOffic...
The Majohn A1:
amzn.to/3RD5geb
Inks:
Colorverse Planetary motion (from the mini collection):
amzn.to/47t8OFn
Noodler’s Nightshade:
amzn.to/49Raom3
Noodler’s Walnut:
amzn.to/3QDzjk6
Private Reserve Electric DC Blue:
amzn.to/46d4fgO
Some of my links are affiliate links. That means that I get a commission at no cost to you. You know the drill. Help me buy more pens.
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You can also connect to me, download my book about fountain pens, and find me on other social media platforms through my website:
www.stepheninks.com
Contents:
00:00 Introduction
05:26 Inks I’m using
06:52 How pens will be packed
10:11 DC Highlights
10:51 Who’s Burpin’?
17:30 Sample Drawing
19:18 Final Thoughts
Hey Stephen! Thanks for conducting this experiment for the fellow Pen Geeks. I plane travel quite a lot for work. I typically carry 3 pens, tip up. Mainly my Pilot Vanishing Points, and a Sailor Pro Gear. Usually, no ink leaking.
It seems not as big of a deal as I originally thought. Brave of you to travel with gold nibbed pens. Mine never leave my house!
The more air that's behind the ink the greater possibility for a burp.
I've traveled with a few pens and haven't had an issue.
Make sure the cap is secure and keep a towel handy next you use the pen after landing just in case.
I don't trust TSA or baggage handlers and I only take items I can afford to lose.
All good advice. The TSA has wrecked a few of my things before. Fortunately none of them have been my pens. I would definitely never travel with something I counsels immediately afford to replace. Fortunately, there are a lot of great pens in that category.
Happy Holidays! Good day, and I hope you had a nice trip.
I also had the privilege of doing some traveling with my pens. Since I love to draw or sketch anytime possible, I carry from 5 to 8 pens with me. Sometimes, they burp, other times not even a drop. OK, to avoid writing too much, my theory is that it's a combination of pen and the viscosity inks. I have pens that burped on a trip that later on another trip, and under the same conditions, don't. Twsbi's eco and Lamy Safaris tend to burp on occasions but not on a grave scale. Sometimes, it had nothing to do with the pens and more with the planes' altitude. During periods of heavy air-traffic, planes change altitude constantly, altering the cabin pressure. Again, nothing that a piece of rag or paper tissue can't solve.
I appreciate hearing about your experience. I think I’d like to test travel at higher altitudes next time I travel internationally. I am hoping to visit my wife’s family in Korean next summer or the summer after. That might be a good time to revisit this topic. In the meantime, I feel like pen lovers who also love traveling have nothing to fear.
Thanks for the book Stephen, great work! I have been pen turning for almost a year now and am looking to get some more equipment in the new year to start making my own threads, so I can begin making fully bespoke fountain pens. You are still on my list for a pen when they finally come to fruitian! Building up skills on the lathe takes time, but it's been a very enjoyable experience so far. All the best and merry Christmas! Oscar
Very kind of you, and a Merry Christmas to you as well. I don’t remember who the original quote is from, but it’s been said if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Take your time and learn the process! Wishing you all the best!
1. CZcamsr Doodlebud has a number of videos exploring this topic, including building a little low-pressure chamber for testing. Entertaining.
2. Still love that yellow stripe pen.
3. I flew with empty pens and unopened cartridges, zeroing out the possibility of leakage. On the way home I couldn't be bothered, leaving partially full cartridges in the 3 pens, without incident. Anyway I would have survived had they leaked.
4. Nice architectural drawings.
1: cool! I’ll check it out.
2: one of the best decisions I have made in my pen collecting journey was to impulse buy that finish and beg forgiveness from my financially responsible wife after the fact. I can’t believe they never made anything else with this finish.
3: yeah, I guess big burps aren’t really that big of an issue. I was shocked by the one where I left the chamber open. Not a drop.
4: thanks. I’d like to get better at it!
Looking forward to see the results! I'm very curious about this experiment. While I normally take train & bus when travelling, I do have plenty of friends who fly. And I might need to fly if I ever decide to go to Japan.
PS: You do NOT make sad pen videos. You make very HAPPY pen videos!
I think that I was actually very nervous about taking my pens on an airplane, but it seems that I didn’t really have to worry about it. I highly recommend traveling to far off places. It’s good for the soul!
@@stepheninks Agreed! I know Europe well but I'd love to see something entirely different. Glad to know it isn't an issue, I'd like to bring at least one pen with me.
Love your art . I got an asvine M nib because of you and now looks like I should get a Majohn a1 and a pen bbs one in Finer nibs . I'm just getting into Pens and thought I need to learn to draw and write . Love all the art Tips little over whelmed on where to start but I wanna be a fountain pen artist !
The good news about starting a new thing is that you don’t have to be good at it for a long time, because no one ever is. Make sure you do things that you like and that are fun for you. Copy art that you like (as long as you don’t post it as your own, it’s a pretty common practice) and find good tutorials and books. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can build those skills if you put in a reasonable amount of time and thought into your practice.
Nice experiment.
I put my pens on a sealed small box, kind of micro Tupperware. I don't open the box during the flight, and they arrive always ok.
Another good way to do it!
it makes sense that the half full one leaked because air compresses and liquid does not so the air expands when the pressure decreases and pushes ink out .
Yes, that seems to be the operating function. I’m feeling more confident about travel with pens after tying this though.
When I travelled from Alabama to Germany and back I had no issues with my pens. I was nervous about my vac700 leaking but I always close it after righting and it had no issue.
I’ve always been cautioned about traveling with vac fill pens. Just took 3 of them across the country and it was no big deal. I guess you shouldn’t believe everything you read online huh?
@@stepheninks true. Maybe some old pens will leak but the new pens are solid in my experience. Plus you know CZcamsrs always need content. So I guess it’s good for engagement.
@@TristianWrites yeah, CZcamsrs are the worst.
I just take my fountain pens empty and not worry about it. For the flight, I just use rollerballs and mechanical pencils.
I’ve been on two flights since this one, threw a few pens in my bag before taking off, and had zero issues!
my question is whether or not the luggage compartment is pressurised , if not I would expect problems but I'm no aircraft expert so I'm not sure ....
I’ve heard that it isn’t pressurized, but I’m also not an expert.
Air is more affected by atmospheric pressure as well as temperature than a liquid, so a full pen is safer from burps than a half full pen.
Easy science ;)
When you explain it like that, I don’t know how I ever doubted it.
I always put everything in ziplocks. Even roll on deodorant, shampoo, etc. can leak in check-in luggage. Pens, in my opinion, should go onboard with you. I would put cartridges in a zip lock and not fill my pens. TSA...forgot about them.
I once had the TSA absolutely destroy one of my bags because they couldn’t get it open (even though it was just a zip bag). If not for this experiment, I would NOT have left any of my pens in their hands (even the cheap ones).