Do you use a fountain pen?

Do you use a fountain pen?

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Discussion

bitchstewie

Original Poster:

50,767 posts

209 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I work in a role where pretty much my entire working life is spent using a mouse and keyboard.

I have the odd occasion to scribble stuff down and one of the things I'm making a conscious effort to do next year is to be more organised and to try to write in a more structured manner, by hand.

How many of you use a fountain pen?

There are loads of cheap ones out there so it's not about what to buy and more about the practicalities as most of my memories of fountain pens involve black fingers or some kind of explosion in my school bag.

IPK

286 posts

156 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I don't use any other pen. My son bought me one about five years ago now I don't use anything else. The only thing that needs planning a bit is writing cheques.

Robbo 27

3,605 posts

98 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I use a fountain pen daily and have done so for many years. I built a collection of 350+ and had a nice side interest of buying, repairing and reselling.

In the past it was highly likely that if you bought a cheap pen then it would also be troublesome, now there are some very low priced pens coming out of China, Jinhao brand in particular, that cost less than £5 and these give good performance, they should not give you ink blobs on the page or inky fingers.

The only make and model I would avoid is the parker sonnet, I have owned two and they have both been very difficult to write with.

There is an odd pleasure to writing well with a fountain pen that is not there with a rollerball or a ball point pen.

Happy to give advice on pens if anyone needs it, it is one of the very few subjects that I know a little about.




Edited by Robbo 27 on Tuesday 27th December 11:09

Troubleatmill

10,210 posts

158 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Get a decent one.
Visit a specialist shop and try some out.

There is something quite pleasing in using one

motco

15,918 posts

245 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Robbo26, many thanks for the tip! My trusty old Sheaffer was broken and I have never found a decent replacement at a price I'm willing to pay for occasional use. In the past I have habitually used a fountain pen, but like the OP, most writing is now done by keyboard to the extent that my handwriting is very seriously degraded. I'd love to be able to retrain my hand with a good pen. I'll try a Jinhao

Edited by motco on Tuesday 27th December 11:13

Robbo 27

3,605 posts

98 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
quotequote all
motco said:
Robbo26, many thanks for the tip! My trusty old Sheaffer was broken and I have never found a decent replacement at a price I'm willing to pay for occasional use. In the past I have habitually used a fountain pen, but like the OP, most writing is now done by keyboard to the extent that my handwriting is very seriously degraded. I'd love to be able to retrain my hand with a good pen. I'll try a Jinhao

Edited by motco on Tuesday 27th December 11:13
if you like a bigger chunky pen try the Jinhao 159, something smaller and lighter is the Jinhao 599, styled like a Lamy pen.

Chinese fine nibs are usually too fine for European writing unless your handwriting is very small, buy a Medium nib if you can.

In terms of improving your handwriting it is all down to practice, when you can write 8888888888888888888888888 and the last eight is the same as the first you have made it.



motco

15,918 posts

245 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
quotequote all
Robbo 27 said:
motco said:
Robbo26, many thanks for the tip! My trusty old Sheaffer was broken and I have never found a decent replacement at a price I'm willing to pay for occasional use. In the past I have habitually used a fountain pen, but like the OP, most writing is now done by keyboard to the extent that my handwriting is very seriously degraded. I'd love to be able to retrain my hand with a good pen. I'll try a Jinhao

Edited by motco on Tuesday 27th December 11:13
if you like a bigger chunky pen try the Jinhao 159, something smaller and lighter is the Jinhao 599, styled like a Lamy pen.

Chinese fine nibs are usually too fine for European writing unless your handwriting is very small, buy a Medium nib if you can.

In terms of improving your handwriting it is all down to practice, when you can write 8888888888888888888888888 and the last eight is the same as the first you have made it.
Thanks Robbo, I'll look at those. My son is a keen fountain pen user too and uses one in his work. However, as his work is in a busy hospital he's always in fear of losing his pens. I'll order a couple and see what he thinks of them as well.

Robbo 27

3,605 posts

98 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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motco said:
Thanks Robbo, I'll look at those. My son is a keen fountain pen user too and uses one in his work. However, as his work is in a busy hospital he's always in fear of losing his pens. I'll order a couple and see what he thinks of them as well.
That makes sense, you can buy a fine nibbed 599 for £1 including postage, not a huge loss if it gets borrowed or dropped.

Nik da Greek

2,503 posts

149 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I never use anything else. When I was learning to write my school was very old-fashioned and wouldn't let us use biros, so it's sort of stuck with me ever since. I reckon handwriting is better even using a crap fountain pen than a good ballpoint. (not terribly good grammar but you know what I mean)

Mind you, it's a pain at work because our report forms are carbonated.... errrrmmm.. carbonised? Uh... use carbon paper and so a fountain pen doesn't really go through all three layers very well. But I figure that's their problem, not mine

AndrewCrown

2,280 posts

113 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Confirmed Fountain pen user here too....
My suggestions...
Current favourite... Kaweco... Lovely low to mid range German pen which I think writes exceptionally well ... It also for some reason keeps the ink from drying out much longer than any of my others...

Which include...

Rotring Calligraphy set
Lamy.. STmodel.. Keep red ink in this one
Mont Blanc Meisterstuck... Wide nib... For Signing contracts... Or other important things..
Mont Blanc Boheme.. Wonderful mechanism...

Also rather sadly I've searched all over eBay and found replacements for all my old pens...







Patch1875

4,893 posts

131 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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My daughter has to use them at school don't think I have ever tried one before she got hers.

snotrag

14,446 posts

210 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Left handed, so it just doesn't work. I remember the trauma at school of being forced to use one.

aka_kerrly

12,415 posts

209 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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snotrag said:
Left handed, so it just doesn't work. I remember the trauma at school of being forced to use one.
Haha, Back in school a few of the teachers insisted on having seating plans. I was once sat on the left side of someone who was left handed and used a fountain penlaugh He would get halfway across a page before dragging his wrist through the wet ink or having to ark his arm whilst having his wrist almost double backed on itself like a claw.

Robbo 27

3,605 posts

98 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
quotequote all
snotrag said:
Left handed, so it just doesn't work. I remember the trauma at school of being forced to use one.
if you are a left hand overwriter, then its not easy as you would tend to smudge what you had just written, other left handers cope well with an oblique nib, - cut on a slant - the defined wisdom is cut to the right so that it looks like your right foot for left handers and the opposite for right handers.

The wierdest thing I saw was when I was in a pen shop in Kendall and the person in front of me picked up a pen in each hand and wrote with both at the same time, I had expected her to write a b c or something, but it was a different line of poetry from each hand. The shop owner and I were amazed at this party trick, the girl flounced out.

Levin

2,019 posts

123 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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As I'm left handed, I can't exactly use a fountain pen well. I did take an interest in pens in the past, and the Pilot G2 is held in high esteem as a commonly-available ballpoint option. I preferred the Uniball Jetstream as, in my experience, it doesn't smudge nearly as easily.

I really ought to try and find my Fisher Bullet Pen. Great looking little pen, but I found the Schneider refills I was using didn't really last as long as the standard Fisher one.

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
quotequote all
aka_kerrly said:
snotrag said:
Left handed, so it just doesn't work. I remember the trauma at school of being forced to use one.
Haha, Back in school a few of the teachers insisted on having seating plans. I was once sat on the left side of someone who was left handed and used a fountain penlaugh He would get halfway across a page before dragging his wrist through the wet ink or having to ark his arm whilst having his wrist almost double backed on itself like a claw.
Lefty here and love writing with my dip pens and flex nibs

TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I write letters on the PC, about 5 a day at work, but sign them all with my Rotring Core Eternium. Lovely and chunky and great performance for quite a modest price. And I'm left handed too.



AlexC1981

4,903 posts

216 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Those JinHao pens are very cheap! I like the concealed nib and simple slender look of this one, might give it a go.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/JinHao-606-Orange-...

When I search for Jinhao medium fountain on AliExpress, I get suggested searches for medium sized butt plugs....Is that just me?

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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When I was at primary school it was a requirement that you used a fountain pen. I had a fairly cheep parker which I still use to this day (25 years later). Its a nice enough pen, although I do think about treating myself to something nicer.

I don't like the 'speed and flow' of ball point or gel pens any my writing goes quite sloppy. I only use them for writing in cards or similar with shiny paper.

There is something satisfying about signing my name in ink. Feels a bit more classy somehow.

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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I play around with fountain pens every so often. Usually when I'm in WH Smiths or the stationery section of a supermarket and see Parker Vector fountain pens on offer.

But within a couple of months, I'll have lost it, so go back to disposable biros from work.