Any fountain pen users out there?

[Slothead56]

While we are living in a digital age, the written word still has value.

I’ve been dabbling in fountain pens for a couple years. I like the way they feel and I have to slow down when I write, which, in some cases, actually makes my handwriting legible. I like to use them to write cards and notes, take meeting notes in my professional book, write the occasional check, work on lyrics in my song book...it’s a nice alternative to my typical go to writing utensil, a standard black Papermate Flair felt tip.

I’ve never spent more that $100 on a pen. My favorite has a medium stub nib. It is awesome in so many ways....perfect ink flow, great writing angle, holds a ton of ink. I have no idea where I got it or what brand it is. I dropped the cap under my desk a while ago and it went the way of the missing sock. I cannot find the blasted thing. I found a clear plastic cap from a yellow highlighter that fits, but it’s not going to win any beauty contests.

My questions:

• If you’re a fountain pen person what attracts you to its use?
• What are you currently using?
• Generally speaking, how much was it?
• Can you recommend a retailer that has a great selection?
• Finally, where can I get a great everyday stub pen that I’d be proud to own?

Thanks!

[Methos1979]

Not a fountain pen user perse but I'm thinking about becoming one. I don't write a ton other than initialing and dating documents at work and the few other things you still need to write for here and there. And I am a 'pen snob' in that I typically need to find just the right pen to use at work.

Years ago now I was teaching a class and afterwards I needed to write something for someone and I didn't have a pen. A nearby fellow instructor who was also a businessman of some stature and apparently a fountain pen aficionado handed me his fountain pen (no idea the brand but it looked felt to be of a significant high quality) and I was amazed at the writing experience.

It's hard to explain. I was... cathartic, for want of a better term. It just felt SO good. It just flowed SO smoothly and wrote SO beautifully that the experience stuck with me. The one thing I do like to write out is letters to my elderly mother. Usually around holidays, especially Christmas, I'll write her a long letter by hand reminiscing about the past and she cherishes them. I thought doing this with a nice fountain pen would be a good experience.

But like the original poster above, I don't know a lot and don't want to spend a lot so I'm very interested to hear if there are others out there with this experience. I'm loathe to go find a fountain pen forum (which I'm sure exists) for obvious reasons. Last time I did that (AGF) I ended up spent tens of thousands of dollars and a large amount of time!

[Photojeep]

Hi Slothead,

I've used fountain pens on and off since the 1970's, mostly off actually, and found I loved using them initially but then the fun began to fade. Granted, I always bought the affordable ones that used ink cartridges so that may have had a lot to do with the lack of staying power.

My most recent stint was after a European trip where I was representing my college when team members and I were given a pen set that included a fountain pen. I started using it daily and even found an international-sized cartridge supplier. That led to me buying several others, once again the affordable ones, but after about a year or so I stopped using them. Yes, they're fine to write with and are great conversation starters when I pull it out to sign or write something, but the general upkeep became a problem. Not to mention the issue of getting ink on my fingers (even with cartridges) and the rather constant drying or clogging.

Of course it's possible my problems were caused by buying the cheap ones but at least until I retire and don't have the time crunches or daily stresses of my job, I'll stick to ball point pens.

I'm glad you like them, and I do as well, but for daily writing, I really need to just use the ball point laying on my desk for quickly signing or scribbling.

Best,
PJ

[merlin666]

I have a few fountain pens but don't use them. I gave up on cursive writing around grade 6 or 7, but I admire people who have retained this skill. A fountain pen or other device with a nib is needed for that.

[bsman]

Fountain pens are the devil's tool if you are left-handed, as am I...

[Fogducker]

I have a White Dot Shaefer 3 piece set with a fountain pen with a "snorkel" ink filling system.

Fog

[brad4d8]

I've used fountain pens off and on since grade school (I'm 72 yo). As a kid, they were inexpensive (Wearever and Scripto brand IIRC), then about 40 years ago I bought an "inexpensive" Mont Blanc (still around $100). It used a cartridge, but you could also get an insert that allowed you to use ink. Stopped using it when I needed to fill in NCC Paper forms with several copies that wanted more pressure to copy than was good for a fountain pen nib. It got misplaced years ago, showed up this year but needs to go back to Mont Blanc for repair. As to LHers, there are LH pens as well as nibs for pens that have removeable ones. Some place, I even have a fountain pen designed especially for music notation, I guess a variation on a standard calligraphy pen.

[Glennwillow]

I have a fountain pen and I also bought one for my wife. I use mine a lot; my wife rarely uses hers.

I was ready to buy a fairly expensive fountain pen, but ended up buying an Amazon basics cartridge-type pen. I bought one with a fine point. Mine cost about $10.50 -- not much.

I have taken to writing hand written letters to my grown children and to their children (my grandchildren). My wife found some old stationary and envelopes that belonged to her deceased father, and I have been using that and feeling really good about the whole tactile feel of writing a letter by hand.

I was pretty rusty at writing by hand when I started and being concerned about legibility, I printed everything. As an engineer, I learned long ago how to print super carefully as one would do on an engineering drawing, and when I address a letter, I use that careful style of printing. But my printing on the letter inside the envelope is kind of in between cursive and printing. I can actually write a 7 or 8-page letter on stationary in a reasonable time, maybe an hour, and my wife, who has beautiful handwriting, finds it all very readable.

So with my el-cheapo fountain pen I have opened up a kind of old-fashioned world of Jane Austen or Herman Mellville. I managed to get an old-fashioned, drop-leaf writing desk up to my studio and it's located not too far from the wood stove. I can go up to my studio and spend an hour writing a letter to one of my daughters or to one of my grandsons and it really seems like time well spent. And when the letters are received out in New York state or Massachusetts, they are really appreciated, as if I have sent them something valuable.

So... I have really been enjoying my $10 fountain pen. If I don't use it for a while, the ink cartridge dries out. But I have a fair amount of replacement ink cartridges on hand and running the pen under hot water helps to unplug the tip very quickly. Sometimes I get ink on my writing hand, but that's okay.

One thing I have noticed. Writing with an ink pen is so much easier than writing with a ball point pen. And that is a good thing for someone like me who deals with a fair amount of osteoarthritis in my hands and fingers.

I might buy a more expensive ink pen someday, but this little $10 pen has worked so well for me, I haven't been in any hurry.

- Glenn

PS: My pen does have a fitting that allows me to fill it with ink from an ink well. Maybe I will buy a bottle of ink and try that...

[reeve21]

I'm a dinosaur and still have a pen in my hand most of the day, especially while on the phone--I don't like to take typewritten notes, it is loud and I retain things better if I write them down.

Like Glen, I find using a ball point pen can get tiring, bordering on painful.

I use Pilot V ball "pure liquid ink" pen. It rolls very easily. It also smudges until you get the hang of it. Not a fountain pen, when the ink is gone you just toss it out. But I never run out of ink, and I have dozens of these things laying all over the place at home and at work.

Just don't put it in your shirt pocket upside down!

[robj144]

Originally Posted by reeve21

I'm a dinosaur and still have a pen in my hand most of the day, especially while on the phone--I don't like to take typewritten notes, it is loud and I retain things better if I write them down.

Like Glen, I find using a ball point pen can get tiring, bordering on painful.

I use Pilot V ball "pure liquid ink" pen. It rolls very easily. It also smudges until you get the hang of it. Not a fountain pen, when the ink is gone you just toss it out. But I never run out of ink, and I have dozens of these things laying all over the place at home and at work.

Just don't put it in your shirt pocket upside down!

Wait... you actually still use a typewriter?

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by robj144

Wait... you actually still use a typewriter?

No, but I type on my computer keyboard.

I actually never used a typewriter. When the world went digital I had to learn how to type at an advanced age using a Super Mario typing game on the computer

[RoyBoy]

I used fountain pens for years as an elementary grade school teacher. Just the thought of how many billion disposable Bic pens were going into the landfill drove me to it.

I used Pelikan pens because they were German pens I could afford. They were a bit under $100 twenty years ago. There plenty of $300 banker pens available, but not for me. I also only used the models you could fill out of an ink bottle, otherwise the throw away cartridges were even more nondegradable plastic going into the landfill.

Handwriting is a lost art, I commend you for reviving it.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by bsman

Fountain pens are the devil's tool if you are left-handed, as am I...

Originally Posted by brad4d8

As to LHers, there are LH pens as well as nibs for pens that have removeable ones.

I didn't even think of this! I'm a lefty as well. I guess maybe I'll need to go find a fountain pen forum after all!

[rllink]

I use a fountain pen and I carry a little notebook around to write stuff that I want to remember in it. I am fairly tech savvy, I don't wear a watch because there is one in my phone, but I just like using a fountain pen. I'm not a collector or into them so much that I spend a lot of money on it all. My most expensive is a Monteverde and it cost me around sixty bucks. I have two Pilot Metros that I use most of the time. I like to fill them myself, so I have bottled ink. I'm probably more into the ink than I am in the pens. I also have several fairly nice ball point pens. There is just something about a nice pen.

[OKCtodd71]

You really can't beat a good roller ball pen; no fuss/mess replaceable cartridge, pleasant to write with and can be had in beautiful form, colors, shapes and sizes. I've heard it said (by a snob) that a man in a nice suit with a Bic ballpoint pen in his hand may as well be walking around with his fly open". There's almost always a reasonable middle road.