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My New Pen Chest


Steve Long

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As some of y'all out there know, one of my other hobbies is collecting fountain pens. I have a semi-valuable array of a bit under 900 pens so far, ranging from ultra-cheap everyday use kinda pens to expensive works of art that I'd never dare write with. ;)

 

Another hobby is collecting antique maps from the 1920s and '30s, partly to help with Pulp Hero writing. If you need to know exactly where the police station is on Gibraltar in 1934, where the short-lived nation of Tannu Tuva was, or where the railroads run in the Pulp Era Belgian Congo, I'm your man. ;)

 

So, after many years of waiting, I just got a new pen chest that will hold all my pens on the left, and many of my large-ish antique maps on the right. Check it out! Even Persimmon approves. ;)

 

 

Pen Chest 01.jpg

Pen Chest 02.jpg

Pen Chest 03.jpg

Pen Chest 04 with Persimmon.jpg

Pen Chest 05 with Persimmon.jpg

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38 minutes ago, archer said:

When someone shows off pictures of their fancy or well-stocked pantry, it's called "pantry porn".

 

But somehow it just seems wrong to call this "pen porn".

 

Actually, some of us in the pen collecting community do use the term "pen porn" to refer to pictures of pens and pen collections. ;)

 

I've never heard of "pantry porn" before, but as a somewhat OCD-ish person who loves to organize things, I'm sure I'd enjoy looking at some of it. :D

 

 

16 minutes ago, Jhamin said:

So is this a new piece of furniture you ordered?  Or did you find something really great at a second hand shop somewhere?

It looks great!

 

Thanks! I commissioned it from Hartwood Pens in Fredericksburg, VA; it took nearly three years to finish (due to various unavoidable delays, mostly).

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1 hour ago, archer said:

When someone shows off pictures of their fancy or well-stocked pantry, it's called "pantry porn".

 

But somehow it just seems wrong to call this "pen porn".


   I once used the term “shelf porn” to describe a buddy’s new acquisition of some Star Wars figures he was putting on his bookshelf with pride.  His wife hated that term with the fire of a thousand suns, and let me know it.  She went on at length saying that men would spend their money on any stupid thing, even if they couldn’t ever touch it.

  She was even more unhappy when without a word,  I walked her over to the six foot tall, glass and mirrored display case for her ceramic Pocket Dragons.  I made a “Ta-Daaaa!” motion with a lot of Vanna White waving of hands.  
  She is one of the smartest people I know, but it took her a disturbingly long time to get it.

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44 minutes ago, Cancer said:

The chest reminds me of the ones in which astronomy departments and libraries stored their original Palomar Sky Survey prints.  That amounted to not quite 2,000 14-by-17-inch photographic prints.  Most such chests were steel rather than carpentry, though.

 

Sure, I've seen those. My pen chest is essentially a specialized variant of the "flat file" cabinets used by architects, libraries, and other places that need to store large pieces of paper without folding or rolling them.

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54 minutes ago, Steve Long said:

 

Perhaps I should return to posting "book porn" pictures of a shelf in my library every week.... ;)

 

Actually, I wanted to ask you about the library shelves in the background of the room.

 

I'm wanting to put in something like that something (ideally around 15' long x 8') tall but everything I'm finding that's even remotely close to what I'd want is $10,000-15,000 at the very low end and going up dramatically from there.

 

I was wondering if that was your experience or whether you found some way of getting nice bookshelves without having to sell a kidney. 

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23 minutes ago, archer said:

 

Actually, I wanted to ask you about the library shelves in the background of the room.

 

I'm wanting to put in something like that something (ideally around 15' long x 8') tall but everything I'm finding that's even remotely close to what I'd want is $10,000-15,000 at the very low end and going up dramatically from there.

 

I was wondering if that was your experience or whether you found some way of getting nice bookshelves without having to sell a kidney. 

 

wish I could have gotten mine for only $15,000. If memory serves, the wood alone for all the shelves (I needed a particularly high quality wood due to the nature of the project) cost more than $15,000. Overall I believe the bookshelves alone were 20-25% of my budget for renovating my entire house. That's why I had to save up so long to do it -- since I intend to live in this house for the rest of my life, I insisted on getting the best materials and craftsmen available to me. ;)

 

Unfortunately I had to sell a kidney, a lung, a leg, and my Red Ryder BB gun -- but at least I had lot to read while I was recuperatin'. ;)

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3 hours ago, archer said:

When someone shows off pictures of their fancy or well-stocked pantry, it's called "pantry porn".

 

But somehow it just seems wrong to call this "pen porn".

Technically, it would be pen and paper porn, or (shorthand) PP Porn.

 

Don't hate the messenger.

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47 minutes ago, Steve Long said:

 

wish I could have gotten mine for only $15,000. If memory serves, the wood alone for all the shelves (I needed a particularly high quality wood due to the nature of the project) cost more than $15,000. Overall I believe the bookshelves alone were 20-25% of my budget for renovating my entire house. That's why I had to save up so long to do it -- since I intend to live in this house for the rest of my life, I insisted on getting the best materials and craftsmen available to me. ;)

 

Unfortunately I had to sell a kidney, a lung, a leg, and my Red Ryder BB gun -- but at least I had lot to read while I was recuperatin'. ;)

We can't let you get off that easily.

 

*pause for effect*

 

Tell us more about your wood.  We need specifics.

Just now, Simon said:

We can't let you get off that easily.

 

*pause for effect*

 

Tell us more about your wood.  We need specifics.

I am so going to have to ban myself if this goes on much longer...

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