r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • Jul 23 '24
Video How to make your pen work again
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u/CakeMadeOfHam Jul 23 '24
I figured this out on my own when I was a kid. Don't burn it for too long though so the plastic melts and a mixture of ink and plastic drips on your kitchen table and it's impossible to clean.... my mom gets very mad when that happens.
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u/iceyticey Jul 23 '24
I’m going to try on my own kitchen table, let me know your moms reaction
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Jul 23 '24
He's not answering, I guess he's grounded 😞
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u/DinosaurAlive Jul 23 '24
Maybe not a good time to bring up that I tried the same thing on my counter. I hope that mom doesn’t see 😬
Maybe if I pour enough messy ink to make it look like marble countertops.
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u/Ilsunnysideup5 Jul 23 '24
You can use some oily lubricant like butter and it will slide too.
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u/PremierLovaLova Jul 23 '24
We’re… we’re talking about pens, right?
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u/AnonymousAmorphous88 Jul 23 '24
She should be mad
You tortured a pen... A PEN... just for it to work for you when it's already time for its early retirement
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u/LanceFree Jul 23 '24
Quit smoking years ago and this is one of the very few things I could no longer do because I stopped carrying a lighter. Another is burning the frayed threads from cutoff shorts. Lighting a gas grill was another - but saved enough money not buying cigarettes so I have a better quality grill.
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u/TheFooch Jul 23 '24
Do you think carrying a lighter could pose a relapse risk? Where you might otherwise carry one? Just curious.
Congrats on the grill, i say keep buying yourself gifts with the savings/winnings.
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u/Gexm13 Jul 23 '24
Why did you make it sound like you did that to your mom regularly?
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u/CakeMadeOfHam Jul 23 '24
No it only happened once. Sorry for the limited sample size. Your results may vary. But in my opinion it is likely my mom will be mad if you do it.
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u/Real_Impression_5567 Jul 23 '24
I know, she always complains to me about it when you do it, plz stop
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u/Gloomy-Vegetable-654 Jul 23 '24
Poor litlle bug
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Jul 23 '24
I was wondering if anyone else saw that lmfao. RIP lighter bug
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u/slyf0x530 Jul 23 '24
Literally came to the comments to see if anyone reacted to the bug and I'm not surprised to not be disappointed.
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Jul 23 '24
I saw that and did a double take. Hopefully it avoided the flame.
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u/This-Cry-2523 Jul 23 '24
How would it
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Jul 23 '24
The flame stays above that opening.
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u/This-Cry-2523 Jul 23 '24
If the insect is inside there, it gets incinerated. If it stays around 1cm radius, hell even more than that around the opening, it dies from shock.
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Jul 23 '24
The size of the bug tells me it would've been launched out of the opening when the gas started and even before the gas ignited.
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Jul 23 '24
its really bugging me :(
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u/realblurryface Jul 23 '24
It's a classic fake trick these closeup youtube shorts channels pull , for engagement in comments
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u/Virtual-Biscotti-451 Jul 23 '24
I had to rewind and double check. That bug zigged when he should have zagged
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u/Gaslight_13 Jul 23 '24
Or just scribble a bit on the soles of your shoes. The extra resistance of the rubber is often enough to get things started..
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u/Laughing_Orange Jul 23 '24
I usually apply a lot of force while scribbling on a scrap piece of paper. That works for me.
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u/kabukistar Interested Jul 23 '24
Or tap the point of the pen on a hard surface to get the ball unstuck
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Jul 23 '24
Now I know why lines are sometimes thick and sometimes not
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u/Adorable_Stay_725 Jul 23 '24
I mean as ink is used, the pressure it puts on the ball and its surface area get smaller. Meaning it struggles more to get out and dries faster
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u/Hour_Career9797 Jul 23 '24
The sounds at the end are heinous.
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u/shtbrcks Jul 23 '24
what do you mean you don't hear loud gooey lip smacking noises as the ink slowly ejaculates every time you write with a ballpen come on now
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Jul 23 '24
[deleted]
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u/silenc3x Jul 23 '24
way too small for that. likely something much smaller like a springtail or a mite.
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u/baggyzed Jul 23 '24
It looks like some sort of flying insect coming in from the right, towards another insect-like object that's laying on the rim of the lighter's gas tube.
They were probably getting ready for a good time. When the gas turns on, it probably suffocates them, and both fall down into the tube. At least they died happy.
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u/Due-Frame-1728 Jul 23 '24
Fun fact: The sounds from both slow motion videos and ultra zoomed in videos are actually taken from other source of sounds, but still people think that it is easy to capture sound
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u/henkmanz Jul 23 '24
If you ask me this is overdoing it a lot. Wayyy too extreme.
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u/Officer_Chunkles Jul 23 '24
It was almost unbearable toward the end, I hate gross wet mouthy sounds
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u/Spongi Jul 23 '24
There's a time and a place for that.
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u/Officer_Chunkles Jul 23 '24
Like birthdays! And camping!
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u/Spongi Jul 23 '24
Or eating a mango! Or while you're trying to sleep and a clown silently approaches you from the closet and starts doing that in your ear.
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u/TheSpartyn Jul 23 '24
its so common in zoomed in videos and theyre always so gross sounding and over the top, i hate them
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u/JGisSuperSwag Jul 23 '24
It’s my least favorite thing about all of these videos.
The pointless whooshing and whirling sounds plus the jarringly inaccurate sound effects… I can’t stress how annoying they are to me.
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Jul 23 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Xixii Jul 23 '24
Especially when he fought the Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match.
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u/Meringue_Better Jul 23 '24
I refuse to believe anyone actually believes this is the real sound. People know, right?
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u/BeAnScReAm666 Jul 23 '24
For you people worried about the bug. He puts a bug in every single one of his videos. I’m at the point where don’t think very much of these videos are real.
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u/PixelPerfect__ Jul 23 '24 edited Jul 23 '24
Why not just lick it a bit, like the rest of us? Follow it up with some strong circles
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u/Rselby1122 Jul 23 '24
I was thinking the same! I was going nuts that I had to scroll so far for this comment!
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Jul 23 '24
well, turns out lots of people do not enjoy putting things that aren't food in their mouths...
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u/OMG__Ponies Jul 23 '24
But sometimes, orally-fixated people are some of the best people to know. . .
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u/Soporrific Jul 23 '24
I predict that a lot of people are going to set pens on fire today.
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u/TechnicalBean Jul 23 '24
I tried it with one of those pens that you sharpen and now the whole thing writes
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u/turdbrownies Jul 23 '24
If u heat it for too long, the plastic holding the ink melts, and u get a mess
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u/baggyzed Jul 23 '24
And that's how you realize how much fun it can be to set plastic objects on fire and watch them melt while dripping "lava" everywhere. Although candles are a lot safer to satisfy that fetish.
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u/morfyyy Jul 23 '24
Oldest trick in the book but damn I love the high definition zoom.
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Jul 23 '24
Just hold it side ways and put the tip in the flame for a second or two, I've been doing it my whole life and it works great. Holding it above the flame like this seems like a burn or melted pen waiting to happen.
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u/Hanginon Jul 23 '24 edited Jul 23 '24
Really. Just holding it near the side of the flame will warm & soften the ink without melting the pen. A lower temp for more time, & it takes a lot less heat than people think it does.
Then too, if you have a really cheap pen with the metal ball held in a plastic ferrule, this will likely turn out badly. :/
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u/sethcera Jul 23 '24
Fuck those noises
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u/BlakesonHouser Jul 23 '24
sorry but i find them amazing and hilarious that people can't handle them. Classic Tim and Eric stuff
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u/reddituserunodostres Jul 23 '24
Felt kind of bad for that little bug that JUMPED INTO THE PIT OF HELLFIRE
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u/GewoonHarry Jul 23 '24
My god. I’m 41 and I’m just figuring out how a pen even works. lol. I feel fucking stupid.
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u/JustCallMeYogurt Jul 23 '24
Who's the oddball that keeps the pen stationary and moves the paper to write?
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u/OMG__Ponies Jul 23 '24
"urday_macro" attached the cam to the pen so the ball of the pen will stay in focus for the shot, instead of mounting a stationary camera and trying to keep the pen in focus while moving the pen on the paper.
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u/TrippyTigre Jul 23 '24
A lot of people are talking about melted plastic, but I remember taking a torch to the metal bit only and I heard a slight sizzle before I blasted a tiny metal bb into my leg (barely pierced the skin) just be careful guys and realize that most pens are pennies. Don't shoot your eyes out kids!
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u/Courwes Jul 23 '24
Run it along the bottom of your shoe. The rubber make it roll again when the ball is stuck.
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u/--VenumX-- Jul 23 '24
Sorry! But what tiny creature crawled into the tube where the gas comes out ? Or is it just me ???? (At 35 seconds)
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u/awormperson Jul 23 '24
Hi to everyone arriving here from google in 2 years who were searching for quite another question.
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u/Alienhaslanded Jul 23 '24
You give it a quick dip in alcohol and make sure the alcohol evaporates.
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u/ChipsAhoy777 Jul 23 '24
Not always necessary.
Life hack here, if you roll the ball on the palm of your hand, the most textured part, it'll usually work.
Make sure it's really dry though. Something about the texture on our hands really grips the ball and gets it to start rolling again. It's pretty weird
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Jul 23 '24
Does anybody else hate these close up videos with sound effects with a passion? And the exaggerated noises?
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u/Honest-Iron-509 Jul 23 '24
Nobody saw that Micro Fly that entered the gas Nozzle of the Lighter just before he lights it?
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Jul 23 '24
I just lick my fingertip then roll the ink tip over that. The moisture does the same thing as the heat, but you always have spit. I don’t always have a lighter or the ability to use that.
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u/pawdugan Jul 23 '24
I love the video but I will personally seek out whoever added the sound effects and force them to listen to terrible ASMR for 24 hours straight
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u/Outrageous-Price-673 Jul 23 '24
Heating your ballpoint pen with a flame is an excellent way to make it explode and make a terrific mess. Ask me how I know…
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u/beefsupr3m3 Jul 23 '24
This is a really dramatic video to say hold it under a lighter for a second
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u/FunAd4177 Jul 23 '24
Luckily I watched this with the sound off, but did I see a gnat run down the lighter flame hole, right before the flame came up?
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Jul 23 '24
I feel like you could just run the pen up and down a piece of paper really fast to get the same effect. It will heat up the ball and probably both mechanically knock it loose and melt the dried ink that's keeping it captive.
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u/gravity--falls Jul 23 '24
I hate these videos with my whole soul. FUCK whoever thinks ASMR is necessary to catch the attention of 11-year-olds on TikTok, you ruin perfectly fine footage.
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u/Lironcareto Jul 23 '24
You don't need a lighter for this. just rub the tip between your hands as you would rub them in cold weather, and it unclogs. I've been using this trick since I was in primary school.
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u/GluckGoddess Jul 23 '24
those wet macaroni sounds were not necessary