Refilling ink in pens - is this taking recycling too far? LOL
OK, I guess my secret about loving Pilot G2 pens is coming out.
When I bought them I scanned the package and it said refillable... sounded good. Never got around to actually doing that.
And now I am getting around to it. But it looks like "refilling' means buying the cartridges that fit inside. That wasn't exactly my idea of "refillable"
But I noticed that the cartridges have a small cap that is easily removable. And I am wondering if I could add ink into the cartridge?
But what kind of ink? And uh, how? Like what kind of mess? LOL
I'm thinking even a few ounces of ink would basically have my pens last forever... I know this may be taking the whole reduce, reuse, recycle thing too far. But the pens are still basically good.
An acquaintance that worked for Bic told me that once they made a pen that would write for a mile. They stopped doing it because it cut down on sales.
Have you ever done this? Any recommendations?
Yup, quite a collection (and there are a lot more!)
Comments
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@Marjory Wildcraft My idea of a more sustainable pen would be a dip pen & ink bottle. 🤷♀️
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yeah, but that is like seriously messy... and honestly I think more wasteful of ink. I'm impressed with that emoji though.
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@Marjory Wildcraft I can't see refilling all those pens (and more pens...made of plastic) any less messy, to be honest. It might be even more so. I keep thinking of you trying to use super tiny funnels. I find that picture quite entertaining. Lol
There are some emojis that I like, some others, not so much.
Here are some links for you to try:
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I admire the willingness to go to all the trouble, but I'd have ink all over everything if I tried that. Ink on my hands, on the walls, on the cats...I love those pens, too. But I confess that I just buy a new one.
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What a cool tutorial on filling pens with ink! I agree with Linda Bittle in that I too would have ink everywhere.
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I grew up with pen refills. They used to be metal (brass maybe?) and you bought them in packages of 5 or 10 with school supplies in the fall. All the pens were like that. I know they switched to plastic refills somewhere along the line but then came the beginnings of our throw away world with the inventions by the BIC company. The whole pen became so cheap that it wasn't worth putting a refill in. Cheaper just to replace the whole pen with another throw away BIC.
I'm very fond of a good pen. I like that I can still buy refills and not have to waste the whole shell of the pen.
But I would make a terrible mess with the refilling of the refills, too. I've never seen them with caps on the end before.
I'm also remembering the fountain pens we had that had refill cartridges in them. A step up from the ink and quill. But I have used those (ink & quill) as well. When I first went to school all the old wooden desks had ink well holes in the top corner. What a horrendous mess they made when they spilled!
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My daughter runs a custom leather business. One of there most popular items is stacked leather pens. She has various refillable cartridges and bottles of ink everywhere lol. I asked her her thoughts on the matter. She said that the Pilot G2 pens write so nicely because because they are not traditional ink. They are a special gel ink. She would bet that if you bought bottled ink it would be likely to leak. As far as she knows any bottled ink you find is most likely for fountain pens. She's never heard of a refillable cartridge for ballpoint or rollerball pens. A pilot g2 cartridge is the same size/shape as a standard rollerball it's just gel not standard ink like other rollerballs. She has never heard of refilling the cartridge itself other than one of the comments on this discussion. If a pen says it's refillable that means you can replace the cartridge and cartridges are cheaper than a whole new pen. There are metal refills for ballpoint pens and if it is a Parker style pen you can get gel ink refills. Parker style is the size/shape of the cartridge, there are 3 different cartridge styles for ballpoints.
So basically, if @Marjory Wildcraft really likes the pilot G2, she would recommend her best bet is to buy new refills bc that's still less waste than a whole new pen but it doesn't seem like someone could/would even want to refill the cartridge itself.
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Oh, thank you for that. yes, the ink flows so nicely with the Pilot G2. I didn't realize it was a special gel ink.... Hmm, as far as refilling without mess (is that an oxymoron?) I was thinking a syringe like in the video.
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so now I am wondering if YES I am taking recycling too far! LOL
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Back when I was young, I loved my fountain pen. Dip the tip in the jar of ink and raise a little lever on the pen and it fills up. Occasionally it would leak and that was messy, but for the most part, a very good pen. Wonder where it has gotten to in all my stuff. Pretty sure I must still have it.
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@Marjory Wildcraft no judgment here -- they're my favorite pens, too! :)
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I remember the old stick pens and ink bottles that I had to use in 6th grade--all the splatters and blobs of ink too, and the ink-stained fingers. Then along came the ballpoint pen--equally messy in those first years. Now they are a joy to write with, that is, the better pens are.
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@Marjory Wildcraft I don't think so! A little here, a little there (times...how many people) can add up to a WHOLE LOT! lol 😉
@marjstratton Same here! I love writing with a good fountain pen the best and I'm happy for the reminder to dig all of mine back out! 😊
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@Marjory Wildcraft Your posting took me back a few years! lol I remember the refillable cartridges, I thought WOW this is unreal! marjstratton, I too remember the pens with the lever on the side, after placing the tip of the pen in ink, just raise that lever and it sucked up the ink! (It also tended to dribble right after filling! I still have one, and my grandchildren were amazed when I explained it to them.
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@water2world If I ever find mine, the grands will probably be old enough to enjoy seeing it! lol.
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Well, I just went on Amazon and bought 50 refillable cartridges for the G2.
And if you are thinking "wow, 50 cartridges? Seriously Marjory?" ....
Yup, I like to journal and write - in the physical. Why not buy more than a few years supply of cartridges while they are only like $1.00 each? They will never be cheaper than now.
The magic of ink flowing out of a pen onto paper is still mesmerizing after all these years... hmmm, that gets me to thinking: I need to pick up some journals too! LOL, that stocking up process never ends, does it?
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@Marjory Wildcraft no! The stocking up never ends lol. Once you have enough of one thing you think of 3 more that you should also stock up on. And yes now if definitely time. Spend the money while it is worth something.
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In a raspy voice: "Back in my day we didn't have fancy pens with balls in them. We plucked our chicken for our quill. And we didn't have fancy smancy ink. We harvested berries from the woods and that was our ink. And that's the way we liked it!" 😂🤣
My favorite pen is the metal Zebra pen. They write so nicely lol. I do need to get myself a fountain pen though. 🤔
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@Cornelius We tried the feather! It's not like we have a shortage of those around here.
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@LaurieLovesLearning How did it go? Did it write smoothly lol? I have written with a quill once on a field trip for school. It went ok, but pens are definitely easier lol.
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@Cornelius I no longer remember, but @hedgehog girl says she will try it out. We'll get back to you on that. 😄
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Well @Cornelius, it appears that I didn't get back to you on the quill writing, but I never got a report on it either.
But, I'm back to report that I ran across this article on "How to recycle" pens, etc.
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@LaurieLovesLearning Back when I was teaching I used to gather all of the broken crayons at the end of the year and spent the summer melting them into new shapes in the sun. I had a few different silicon molds I used. The brain & smiley faced ones were by far the favorite. They became so popular that students from other rooms were brining me broken crayons in exchange for the formed ones lol. I melted them down and gave them back to their teachers for classroom prizes. I think I saved 9 million broken crayons from the dump in about 3 years.
I love recycling things but think refilling my old ink pens with a syringe is a bit much for me and I would have a huge mess. I do buy the pens I can replace the cartridges though. I do have fond memories of working with a calligraphy quill pen and dipping ink and a beautiful piece of artwork.
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I was so surprised G2 pen refills on Amazon!! Amazing. I love G2 Pilot Pens. I got some cheapo pens that looked similar to G2 pens and guess what they are not even close. Some off shoot brand that doesn't last even 3 months!
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@LaurieLovesLearning That article is fantastic! Making candles from old crayons sounds fun!
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@gardneto76 I remember some time around kindergarten or first grade, our assignment was to bring in any wax we could find. Scrap candle stubs, crayons, etc.
As a class project, we melted them all down together, poured the molten wax into cut-off small milk cartons, added wicks, and created candles to take home. It worked very well and is something TGNers could also do!
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