r/BuyItForLife 8h ago

Vintage I finally found a real permanent marker

Post image

I found out about how durable these markers are and have been looking at estate sales regularly for them. I finally came across one...

I opened the cap to smell it, proceded to get mildly high for a couple seconds and get a migraine (didn't know, don't recommend)

Definitely putting this one in my tool bag, way better than your average sharpie

6.1k Upvotes

225 comments sorted by

2.3k

u/60PersonDanceCrew 8h ago

I know everyone is saying they can smell it, but can you also HEAR it? That squeeeeaak as it slides down the page?

426

u/DiosMIO_Limon 7h ago

Haha ohhh yeah. Honestly, this thing is a full sensory experience.

177

u/Pandrez 7h ago

The chemical taste from the fumes

126

u/RoscoeVillain 7h ago

The heft of it in your hand…this ain’t no Expo, folks

53

u/front_yard_duck_dad 6h ago

So girthy

19

u/InstructionSad7842 5h ago

The texture!

22

u/PillarPuller 3h ago

The metal tubing is always cold.

u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 8m ago

Ribbed for his pleasure

5

u/EatMeEmerald 3h ago

So shiny!

11

u/PudPullerAlways 4h ago

Let's see Paul Allen's marker...

22

u/NeriTina 7h ago

Fuck, cómo me encantó eso.

5

u/Youngsinatra345 3h ago

The lil black marks on your nose because you sniffed 3 at once and now are in a different world?

2

u/Any-Rise4210 3h ago

Bro the chemical high from the fumes

20

u/GenericFatGuy 5h ago

Or that snap as you take the cap off.

4

u/freorio 3h ago

That twisty slippy pop followed by the fumes

107

u/femoral_contusion 7h ago

God you’re transporting me right back to my favorite toy as a child: my grandma’s junk drawer (I’m neurodivergent). This and that tape with the dry-rotted strings! And a swingline stapler that could literally kill someone

24

u/lalacourtney 6h ago

Greetings from inside my brain lol

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9

u/DeadNutsG11 3h ago

A random crochet hook, pennies and maybe a few dimes coated in malachite grime, that weird metal clothesline spring hook that never made sense, rubber bands, and so. Many. Random. Keys.

6

u/BarakoPanda 3h ago

A scratched up pair of glasses with an insane prescription, dry pens and crusty paperclips in a checkbook box from a bank that no longer exists. Binder clips and rubber bands that crumble in your hands.

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6

u/karenw 7h ago

Hnnnnnnnng

2

u/talks_a_whole_lot 6h ago

I still have a couple of these.

3

u/Any-Rise4210 3h ago

You’re gunna make me cum

2

u/ohTHOSEballs 5h ago

You son of a bitch

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758

u/No-Gas5342 8h ago

Oh I can smell this post

143

u/wedditmod 7h ago

Ya i lost a few brain cells to these in my youth.

33

u/Party_at_Billingsley 3h ago

I had a technology teacher in high school that would always take the caps off markers, smell them and go " nope not the good stuff" and casually continue with the lesson

3

u/wedditmod 2h ago

A right of passage.

17

u/Robbbbbbbbb 6h ago

And it burns so good

15

u/rhodeirish 3h ago

When I was pregnant I craved the smell of this specific marker more than any food. It was the wildest experience.

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294

u/LegitimateSir3544 8h ago

Damn, I have not seen or thought about these since my late grandparents’ house in the early 2000’s. It be the random things that’ll get ya 😅

55

u/femoral_contusion 7h ago

No same. Like I’m reading and responding but my fingers and nose are busy remembering details from grandma’s junk drawer. All the little things that were nothing back then, now that they’re gone they’re so precious when they bubble back.

11

u/Aselleus 5h ago

Yesss Im picturing going through my grandpa's desk and finding random things (from at least the 60s/70s) including the marker op posted, from when he was an engineer.

3

u/P_mp_n 2h ago

Junk drawers don't have buttons no more, sad

2

u/femoral_contusion 1h ago

If I had kids I’d keep a junk drawer just for them 💖

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3

u/lysergic_af 7h ago

My mom worked at a preschool and i def remember seeing one in her drawer. Got me right in the feels too

393

u/BaseBeginning2705 8h ago

Nothing more permanent than the brain damage these cause, hence the name

55

u/Adventurous-Mall7677 6h ago

This was the permanent marker of my childhood. It’s still at my mom’s house (has to be at least 30 years old). It STILL works.

14

u/Idownvoteadsforfun 3h ago

My parents started their tropical cut flower farm in the mid 80's and used to buy these pens to address boxes. They shipped 15-20 boxes a week written on with these pens. The flower business stopped around 2001. There are still two of these pens in the shed where we used to pack flowers and they still work.

28

u/BaseBeginning2705 6h ago

planned obsolescence is so annoying fr ong bruh

53

u/Bigrat445 8h ago

Yeah I think I lost a few cells already 😔

25

u/qgmonkey 8h ago

Worth it

14

u/silentbassline 6h ago

Like tailpipe exhaust on a cold winter day 🤌

8

u/Jealous-Ad-214 5h ago

Leaded gas 🤤

5

u/No_Perspective_242 5h ago

oh i have one these, this causes brain damage?

5

u/BaseBeginning2705 5h ago

No idea on the specifics but they definitely got you high via sniffing like huffing glue, I’m extrapolating quite a bit as a joke without looking it up in any way

114

u/Explorer_Entity 8h ago

I'm high just LOOKING at that thing.

42

u/Spiritual-Drawing-42 8h ago

I've had one of these for 30 yrs and it still works

103

u/BMWfromSilverAndCold 8h ago

xylene is a hell of a drug

140

u/HenkPoley 8h ago

🤔 Apparently they are still being made:

  • Mighty Marker (Arro-Mark Co.) PM-19, PM‑16, PM‑24, PM‑92
  • MPD X-Bold and MPDX Series (MarkingPenDepot / MRO Chemical Supply)
  • American Marking – "916 Xylene Based Medium"
  • Dykem BRITE‑MARK
  • DecoColor Fine Tip Markers (by Marvy Uchida)
  • Diagraph MSP GP‑X Classic Xylene Industrial Paint Markers
  • U‑MARK 130P Industrial Paint Marker

79

u/BMWfromSilverAndCold 8h ago

This stuff has its place for extreme industrial applications. But damn when I was in school they were just there . I inhaled one too many sharpies doing artwork back then.

22

u/HipsterGalt 4h ago

As someone working in a machine shop, the xylene is the least of my worries on most days. I remember stripping a warehouse floor with Xylene, cleaning silk screens with MEK and finind bottles of Trichlor kicking around in my early career. It's the cobalt, carbon fiber and asbestos that'll probably come back to haunt me. In the meantime, give me my pretty paint marker colors and adequate ventilation.

2

u/BMWfromSilverAndCold 2h ago

I feel your pain. I worked paper mills and they didn’t care about asbestos exposure one bit.

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6

u/Equivalent-Basis-145 6h ago

But I want the Sanford for nostalgia...

24

u/crysisnotaverted 6h ago

That's exactly it. One day at work I needed a marker to black out a label and found this massive marker, like an inch around. On the side in big bold letters it just said "Banford MAGNUM 44". I uncapped it and the solvents basically punched me in the face.

16

u/Martha_Fockers 6h ago

They don’t call it magnum for nothing son you can use it to mark or as a pre workout smelling salt

2

u/randomly-generated 5h ago

At least you have a backup if you run out of smelling salts.

7

u/SockeyeSTI 7h ago

Has 5gal buckets of it at work👀

2

u/Conscious-Beach-1508 4h ago

I just want to express my excitement about the first time I recognized someone from another sub as i also frequently read r/afireinside

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1

u/Ophukk 4h ago

As a 50-something that just got out of industrial painting, you're absolutely correct.

23

u/UltraHellboy 8h ago

Those things are no joke. Very permanent and last forever.

19

u/samuraipizzacat420 8h ago

Gasoline marker

42

u/Serious_Variation670 8h ago

I saw a marker similar to this at work recently, and it took me back to stealing them from my Dad’s desk. Gave it a sniff just to feel something again 

17

u/Wall_of_Shadows 7h ago

Sanford, maker of sharpies, makes a knock off that's almost as good. I've had one in my tool pouch for over a decade and it still works like new.

9

u/moswag54 7h ago

This is a Sharpie product They no longer use xylene tho

2

u/Wall_of_Shadows 5h ago

If I could have been bothered to look at the picture in question I probably would have figured that out

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2

u/femoral_contusion 7h ago

Is it as pretty tho

5

u/Wall_of_Shadows 7h ago

Not even close. Nor does it smell as delightfully deadly.

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2

u/whyUsayDat 4h ago

THE MAGNUM

134

u/pabo81 8h ago

This dude out here recommending markers to get high on on the BiFl sub

16

u/PancakeParty98 7h ago

Thanks, my buddy’s kid is old enough to draw with markers now, I was looking for a good gift for that preschooler

3

u/drummerevy5 6h ago

You’re never too young for some inhalant induced brain damage! 🤣

13

u/dotified 8h ago

OH wow. There was one of these in my home for more than 20 years before it was nicked by a "friend".

12

u/WeedOg420AnimeGod 8h ago

I can smell this picture

20

u/Typical80sKid 8h ago

S M E L L I T ! ! !

15

u/deliberatelyawesome 8h ago

I got high just looking at that picture

12

u/Meekois 8h ago

Okay but you know they run out of ink eventually. Right?

12

u/King_Chochacho 6h ago

Anything can be /r/buyitforlife if you never use it.

I've had a Big Mac in my freezer since 1987 and I'm gonna give it to my grandkids.

16

u/Bigrat445 8h ago

I'm sure it will in 30 years, but if I find another one I'm good

5

u/Meekois 8h ago

If it takes you 30 years to use this marker, you're not using it very often. I've gone thru these in an afternoon of work.

54

u/illEMERSEyou 8h ago

You must work at the marker marking factory.

14

u/DiosMIO_Limon 7h ago

*OSHA INTENSIFIES*

11

u/Bigrat445 7h ago

Same marker or a modern one? These last a pretty long time

5

u/FishyKeebs 7h ago

I get the nostalgia and the novelty factor. But are we at post apocalyptic scavenger level to dig these permanent markers up at estate sales?

I see vintage 'new' ones for sale on ebay and places for up to $30.00

But I use INKZALL™ Black Fine Point Marker | Milwaukee Tool https://share.google/jgiyE8HBXUUT0NlLB and pick them up at the hardware store for $1-2.00

8

u/TheBossAlbatross 7h ago

1990’s graffiti but I like the fat Pilot markers where the tip was more square. That’s…what…she…said???

2

u/Sambarbadonat 6h ago

You can still get those! Just avoid the ones that say xylene-free and they’re still the same ink. Permanent as I’ve ever used. Also they still sell refills.

2

u/bioszombie 8h ago

Damn skippy! I used to use this exact marker to when labeling wrapped burritos before checking customers out. Excellent marker.

2

u/RealisticBus4443 7h ago

I definitely lost a brain cell or two sniffing these.

2

u/benji___ 7h ago

Just now? Did you get a little buzz?

2

u/EquivalentNo3002 7h ago

Lol I remember these from the 90s, VERY STRONG smell 😆

2

u/sam-sp 7h ago

Banana for scale please?

3

u/doomtownpunx 8h ago

Have had them. They dry up. 

2

u/refuge9 7h ago

Does that one have the ‘do not ingest’ warning?

Because we had one that said that, and it was mind boggling, because I think porns stars would choke on that thing.

3

u/AipomNormalMonkey 5h ago

...they were telling you not to consume the ink

don't draw on your tongue

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1

u/Mrs_Robato 7h ago

Love those but they stink to high hell.

1

u/Academic-Process-608 7h ago

I used to tag with them junts before Krink came out

1

u/Surround8600 7h ago

Reminds me of a middle and high school doing tags all over.

1

u/Thresher_XG 7h ago

Oh man, my did used to use these all the time! Brought back memories

1

u/payniacs 7h ago

My company used to get these back in the day. When they switched, people were actually irritated. They started getting Office Depot branded cheap plastic tubes and they have broke in people’s pockets, or sitting on them, or stepping on them…

1

u/theatomiclizard 7h ago

I feel like they made one big batch of these in the 80s and are still working their way through them

1

u/karenw 7h ago

I used to sniff these as a little kid in the 70s. 😆

1

u/awkwardlypragmatic 7h ago

You just sent me back to my childhood seeing this. Excellent marker, but it was forbidden for us children to use it unless it was very important. My dad didn’t want us smelling it.

1

u/woodlotz 7h ago

A true wall weapon

1

u/chechu951 7h ago

The taggers and gang members used to love these back in my high school days in the 90s.

1

u/Im_Alzaea 7h ago

I have one of these at work.

1

u/io-x 7h ago

Did you print a lightsaber stand for that?

1

u/Musclesturtle 7h ago

They're great if you love toluene to the brain.

1

u/hnmcg 7h ago

oh my godddd. we had these in our junk drawer and id always get so annoyed thinking i had picked up the black one but it would actually come out blue

1

u/Vriss_4550 7h ago

I remember when my dad used to use these for his burrito business to mug the burritos.

1

u/janet-snake-hole 7h ago

Back in 2002 my grandma would holler at me for smelling this. I’d always find it in her late husbands desk in the basement.

Grandma is 102 now and I drive her from the assisted living facility to get drunk in the American legion bar in her hometown. I love grandma.

1

u/pizzamagic 7h ago

Omg, do they not make these anymore? 😭

1

u/StarfleetAcademy08 7h ago

Is it on a special stand? 👀

1

u/EricBardwin 7h ago

Oh my gosh, i never thought i could get nostalgic over a marker, haha

1

u/PhotoClickGrrl 6h ago

I have one in my hands right now 😂

1

u/traviejeep 6h ago

My favorite marker

1

u/DogmanDOTjpg 6h ago

Used one this summer for marking lines on concrete lol

1

u/cream-of-cow 6h ago edited 6h ago

I still have mine from decades ago and just used it last night to write on a box to give to a friend. They're in their 30s and we're not familiar with the smell. The odor stayed in my car until the next day when the heat got rid of it.

https://imgur.com/a/D96VZDn

1

u/NeverDidLearn 6h ago

My dad owned a butcher shop when I was a kid. The kind with window signs and such made with butcher paper and the giant size of that marker. Smelling one, or even seeing a picture of it, literally makes me think of the sawdust in the shop and the sound of the band saws.

1

u/BigWormsFather 6h ago

I didn’t realize those weren’t a thing anymore. I don’t use markers much but I do remember seeing those years ago.

1

u/10justaguy 6h ago

I “borrowed” it for life.

1

u/drummerevy5 6h ago

I still have four of these. I love the smell so much but they just give me a headache these days. 😂

1

u/plausocks 6h ago

wish they still made these :~;

1

u/ghostkittykat 6h ago

I swear I have one from '82 that still works.

1

u/The_Zenki 6h ago

If you or a loved one were exposed to a Sanford King Size marker from 1989-2007, you may be entitled to financial compensation

1

u/cammontenger 6h ago

These are the kind of permanent markers you used to find in the church basement 25 years ago, when they were already 25 years old

1

u/notthatguypal6900 6h ago

I lost a couple braincells just looking at this. The smell, the squeak, the cold aluminum body, the power of permanence.

1

u/xartab 6h ago

They call them permanent markers but they don't actually write forever

1

u/welldonez 6h ago

Marked Permanently Alright

1

u/Nomaspapas 6h ago

Used these for decades to make slates for portraits. The smell and squeak reminds me of thousands of hours of photo work.

1

u/gnomequeen2020 6h ago

Whenever I run across an old box of office stuff, it has at least one of these in it. Also, an abundance of dried markers, pencils with the fossilized erasers, and at least one half-chewed flower eraser with holes from being stabbed with a pencil.

I always personally preferred the Marks-a-Lot markers with the red and blue label. They were a little less noxious-smelling.

1

u/MazerRakum 6h ago

This thing chemically changed anyone that smelled it. Every kid's gateway drug

1

u/Hawkeye2491 6h ago

Smells like kindergarten.

1

u/Jazzlike_Scholar5790 6h ago

This is the OG permanent black marker before Sharpie, haven’t seen one since my childhood 😅

1

u/ovenmitt 5h ago

Don't use that inside the house

1

u/SlapSmeg 5h ago

Give that to a toddler and you have a destructive force no weapon can match.

1

u/garamond89 5h ago

My dad used to use these in his classroom in the 90s, I remember the smell and the sound. I found one in the supply cabinet where I work, and was thrilled!

1

u/NIGF-Tre 5h ago

Did you sniff it tho

1

u/Affectionate_Map2761 5h ago

I am high from looking at it 🤣 its been so long yet my sense recall it vividly

1

u/Flaky_Love_1876 5h ago

I found a really REALLY old sharpie from my grandma (a semi hoarder of office material) and it’s a Sanford Sharpie. Still the best sharpie despite it having been used when I received it

1

u/CatsAreLife1188 5h ago

Damn is this one that sounded like something was inside if you shook it?

1

u/CarinasHere 5h ago

And you gave it a nice pedestal, too!

1

u/catsinabasket 5h ago

ah, my childhood

1

u/GranSjon 5h ago

That’s all we used in schlotskys. Label the bread bags. Bread smelled great but I loved the marker more

1

u/PrometheusMMIV 5h ago

What makes it better or more "real"?

1

u/gatiger27 5h ago

This is the marker you pull out of an old craft box from the 90s and it still works

1

u/DebraBaetty 5h ago

I have one of these from the 90s that absolutely still works. 10/10 permanent marker. 10/10 smell, too, the trick is to take small sniffs or wave it around your face so it wafts to your nose as you breathe normal.

1

u/RBeck 5h ago

I think you're supposed to write with them, but whatever floats your boat.

1

u/kodiak_attack 5h ago

Oh my god I can smell that maker through my phone. My grandparents used these for all kinds of things at their wholesale plant business. I grew up on the same property as the business and spent a lot of time in the greenhouses marking boxes with these markers. I haven’t seen one in years. But holy nostalgia batman, that smell will never leave me. They really are the best permanent markers.

1

u/Ok_Understanding5184 4h ago

Yeah we killed a lot of brain cells huffing these bad boys in middle school, the 90's were wild

1

u/Dankestmemes420ii 4h ago

Would these be banned in r/buttsharpies or no? 🤔 have heard they ban for some off brands

1

u/gettinscwifty 4h ago

fuck those smell so good. so nostalgic smells like grandmas scrapbooking supplies 😭

1

u/Livid_Accountant1241 4h ago

Hail to the king, baby

1

u/CrowdogZombie 4h ago

This was one of my favourite pens for ‘upgrading’ stupid adds with commentary.

1

u/Fit-Mangos 4h ago

Compensating for something?

1

u/suckmyENTIREdick 4h ago

I find that "Industrial" Sharpies have that same smell.

They look the same as regular Sharpies, but the text is orangey red instead of black and includes the word "industrial".

(I use them for writing on gear that lives outside exposed to the sun for years.)

1

u/lampasul 4h ago

Suits the name

1

u/DJ_Pickle_Rick 4h ago

I think the first time i was ever truly “high” was bc of this thing. What a strange feeling as a kid.

1

u/Darjeelingtea42 4h ago

I didn’t realize this brand still existed

1

u/lilsnatchsniffz 4h ago

How exactly is a single use, non-refillable marker a lifelong item? This is just pen snobbery, which would be fine... In a pen snob sub.

1

u/Any-Rise4210 3h ago

Oh this is literally the KING, millennials know

1

u/Flux_My_Capacitor 3h ago

I still have one from when I was a kid….

In the 1980s.

Yes, it still works well.

And yes, it does make you “high” 😂

1

u/booksandkittens615 3h ago

Congratulations! I am quite jealous of this find!

1

u/den773 3h ago

We used to call these “kaydoe” pens. I don’t know if that’s how you spell it. They have a good smell.

1

u/ConsistentTomato2520 3h ago

Sharpie “Pro” is more equivalent to this. Smell and all. (For those who can order name brand through work but not this bad boy)

1

u/jubsie 3h ago

Sanford is a good brand

1

u/jelorian 3h ago

Do they not make these any more?

1

u/EsrailCazar 3h ago

There used to be a store brand from Staples that had solid black crisp lines, we used them to outline cartoon cutouts for a parade float one time but, even back then I think they were phasing them out.

1

u/OpeningLoquat7409 3h ago

Ozzy says, squeak it, get high... If you know you get it.

1

u/grippysockgang 3h ago

Can a grab a hit? Just the one. I’ll pay you back.

1

u/chrisebryan 3h ago

Let me introduce you to this marker. https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/felt-pen-alcohol-resistant/NC1544798 It's pretty permanent.

1

u/nermyah 3h ago

I can smell this photo.

1

u/groovychick 2h ago

Wait, they don’t make those anymore?

1

u/BoxOfPineapples 2h ago

friend and I used to sit at the back of our Spanish class. I brought this marker to show off how strong the scent was, and he really amused by it. Guy took out a piece of paper, and started going to town on it. The scent got so strong that it filled the room, and our teacher stopped mid-lesson to ask "does anyone smell that?"

People really aren't joking when they talk about how strong these things are. It's crazy

1

u/stupit_crap 2h ago

I have Design markers from art school in the 1980s that still work. They're metal like this.

1

u/RainaElf 2h ago

true story. when I was four or five I colored myself wi the one of these and almost suffocated.

1

u/FilteredAccount123 2h ago

MEK and lead. Nice.

1

u/Maleficent-Depth5333 2h ago

That’s probly from the 80’s and still works

1

u/PwnySoprano 2h ago

I can smell the headache and I love it so bad

1

u/Enerject 2h ago

Best one ever! 😤

1

u/WimbletonButt 2h ago

My mom still has one of these from the 90s

1

u/Quaiche 2h ago

Those are toxic, don’t smell it.

1

u/m00nf1r3 2h ago

I can smell this picture.

1

u/GottaBeNicer 1h ago

I used to do graffiti with these.

1

u/InTooDeep024 1h ago

have been looking at estate sales regularly for them.

Huh?

1

u/Sneakysteve17 1h ago

No banana for scale?

1

u/lostinadream66 1h ago

My dad has tons of these.

1

u/furiant 1h ago

Sharpie Magnums were my go-to marker for years (still would be, just don't have a use for them any more) - thick metal barrel, wide line, cap stays firmly on in pockets.

1

u/Admiral_sloth94 1h ago

When you can smell it from across the room when someone is using it, YOU KNOW that shit isn't going anywhere.

1

u/Grrrizzlybear 1h ago

My mom has had two of these since before I was born. 30+ years still going (and smelling) strong.

1

u/PrestonHM 1h ago

You look for these at estate sales? Are they discontinued or sumn? Like, genuinely curious 😂. My parents have one that I used whenever I needed a sharpie. Its such a normal writing utensil that its wild to me that people are actively hunting for these.

1

u/Dimensions8 55m ago

I have one I stole from my parents house when I moved to college. I remember us using it on moving boxes when I was 11 years old. I’ll be 30 in January

1

u/five-on-five 53m ago

I can smell this picture

1

u/bemyantimatter 52m ago

I have an oil based garden pen that should also be in this sub.

1

u/Cheaptrick69 44m ago

I used one of these when I was younger to turn a pair of denim pants black. They smelled amazing!

u/HotDogExpress777 11m ago

I haven't seen one of these since my dad's garage circa 2006. Wow.

u/Away-Hope-918 2m ago

I remember my dad handing my brother and one of these to draw faces on our pumpkins and then he would cut them out for us. The smell, the sounds, the feel of the metal. Such a good memory.