Fountain pen, someone?

Fountain pen, someone?

  • Fountain pen

    Votes: 212 70.0%

  • Roller

    Votes: 33 10.9%

  • Computer

    Votes: 38 12.5%

  • I do not write

    Votes: 5 1.7%

  • Others

    Votes: 15 5.0%
  • Total voters
    303
dogberryjr said:
I'd love to use a fountain pen, but for a left-hander they are pretty impractical.
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Yep. I've got a pair of Mount Blanc pens, but they see very little use.

Computers have opened up my writing like nothing else before them. Also, no cramping.
 
A caligraphy pen that came in those learn caligraphy gift sets. I use it mainly at work when I sign people into the patient log book.
However, I would kill for a peacock quill and India Ink well...
 
I use a Kaweco Sport Ice pen as my main pen; I got tired of trying to find the "cheap" rollerball I preferred and decided to try a fountain pen again after many years. The last one I owned was piston filled and leaky. So far(about a year), the Kaweco hasn't leaked and i was able to get one with a medium nib so I like the way it writes pretty well.
Not too bad for a$12 pen. Not worried about losing it since I picked the bright orange body color: it tends to stand out when I set it down.
Still looking for the dark blue/black ink color I really want. Kaweco's own brand is fairly close but not quite there...
Rob
 
I'm quite a fountain pen fanatic.

Used to collect Pelikans (modern ones). Now having about 10 including a M800 clear demonstrator without engraving, Golf LE, m420 and my granddads old 400 brown tortoise.
My daily pen is a red stripe M600, thinking of getting a green stripe M800 with it trough. Really like the M800 size of my demo and LE.


Also wrote some reviews on the Fountainpen network:

Pelikan M800 clear Demonstrator:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/f...510-pelikan-souveraen-m800-clear-demonstrator


Pelikan M420 (black body, silver cap)
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=109795

IMG_0729.jpg


Pelikan Golf limited edition (M800 size, 2500 made)
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=109508

The last years the collectors rush is over, even tried to sell my Golf LE... But still like writing with them.
 
( sigh ) Looks like I'm headed for the scriptoral equivalent of GAS... would that be PAS ?

I used to collect fountain pens, in my youth, and tried to use them... they can be fussy and messy... unfortunately, my best pens either got damaged or went missing... my very favorite was a Sheaffer Snorkel from the late 1940's that a friend managed to lose between the car and the ATM...

Other favorite fountains were Esterbrooks, attractive pens with a wide variety of nibs available... usually my favorite was a Broad Stub. Osmiroid nibs would also fit Esterbrook bodies.

I ventured over to nibs.com to peruse the Sailor and other pens; there are some lovely instruments out there... I wish my handwriting was good enough to rationalize spending $300 on a pen...
 
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I have a few, but have now gone back it the Parker 75 with a new nib (can't remember if it is an italic, but its a '44'). I also use a 51, 61 and pelikan M600- the M800 cramped my hand after awhile) . I have had the parker since I was a student, so it must be 25 years old now). I also use a ballpiont, as the're are lying around, free, etc, but I not keen on them.
 
Normally a Parker Sonnet at the desk. There are slightly bulky for the flying suit so I used a Parker 95 out and about at work.

Kim
 
Sailor Magellan extra fine point. Vac set, several 51s, couple of 45s, Shaeffer Touchdown, Snorkels, and a load of sac fillers of all descriptions. Probably 30 bottles of ink on my shelf - Pelikan is my favorite ink, with a lot of Waterman too.
 
Favorite? In the hand one of my Pelikans. For actual "writing" I really do need the computer- mostly for the ease of editing, and my poor skills at taking a handwritten page and turning it into computer usable text.

I've been using a Pelikan since 1985, I replaced the nib (B) about two years ago and find the pen better than ever. Blue-black ink here.

I'm curious about the Sailors, but don't have any opportunity to try one out locally. Next time I'm in NY or Montreal perhaps (though I've been thinking this for years).
 
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Farvorite (this month) is a Parker 45, with a fine nib, the back of the nib works wonderfully for exremely fine work. They are also cheap. In my pocket today is a Pelikan 405, with Private Reserve Lake Placid blue ink. A Lamy Safari (yellow) with a Medium nib that I ground down to a stub is another favorite. The self-ground nib is so smooth I expect I will convert others. I keep Waterman Havana brown in the Safari, and Parker 45. I Have a Lamy 2000 and Parker 61 that I use with Aurora black ink, at one time those were also my favorites.

The fountain pens are usually used only at home. At work I use a Montblanc Meisterstuck ballpont that was given to me by the company. When traveling I use a Zebra Sarasa 0.5mm gel pen (company standard supply) they are very good writers, and low metal content.

Although I love using a fine pen to make marks on paper, by far most of the words I write are written using a keyboard.
 
I still have the lever fill Conway Stewart pen I won in a national handwriting competition in 1958. Got a new sac put in it a few years ago. Astonished to find that parts are still available for them. New ones are a frightening price!!!(for a pen)
 
The Montblanc Meisterstuck "Chopin" is my favoured pen – I am old enough that I can remember when it was compulsory to use ink in school; we even had the ‘the ink monitor’ whose job it was to mix the days ink from powder! Then again we also used paper with red & blue lines (Those who have used it will know…) not that it shows now as writing has deteriorated over the years.
My wife on the other hand has beautiful writing and although left handed, holds the pen exactly as a right handed person would, so no smudging.

David.
http://davidalockwood.wordpress.com
 
A Cross Century II is my daily pen. Facts is, fountain pens are the only pens that can make my handwriting readable.

They are also much nicer to write with.
 
I was raised on computers, so my handwriting did not get much practice, consequently it looks like an insect ran through some ink and onto the page.
 
I've never used on. I guess I was born too late?

I use to spend Friday evenings at coffee houses reading or writing. I bought pens slightly above Bic level - around $5 - as I couldn't stand any 'roughness' or irregular ink flow. My schedule changed and the two places I went shut down. These days my only writing is using cheap free pens at work.

I'll probably try a fountain pen some time just for the experience, should I ever stumble across one.
 
Roller and pencil

Roller and pencil

I vote roller (there are very good ones). But at work (30 years as IBM application programmer and analyst), I always have been walking along the desks with a lead pencil and a spiral-binded notebook in the hands.
 
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mervynyan said:
I have Montblanc Starwalker fountain pen and roller ball, don't like the MB fountain pen much because they use pre-filled expensive cartridge and only medium nib, not good for small drawings, so I sold the fountain pen. I have also a defunct Parker 51, lovely and simple but no longer work, sadly it has long been discontinued.
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Just to let you and other who might wonder know, it does fit an slim euro converter :) Also for more miles per gallon, fill the cartridges with a syringe.

Also for me there's only few "perfect" nibs straight from the box. Most are good, some are great, but none have been perfect. So all my user pens have gone throe the customizing route (by richard binder). So I can get the width just right to my style and the ink flow which I prefer (relatively generous but not wetting through the paper).

Oh many people seem to be wary about loosing pens. I've losed dozens, but never a single fountain pen (except the ones I've given away for free, cheapies). I bought my first expensive pen in fifth grade, I still have it (although it's a lead pencil by cross, not a fountain pen).

There's simply no other feeling like writing with a good pen. Computer doesn't come close to me personally. Most of my work are on computer but all important things reside in notebooks (or letters to others).
 
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