Fountain Pen Thoughts

[mfwebb]

I have been described as a pen snob in the past for refusing to sign my name with a “bic stick” and preferring to walk all the way back to my office to pick up a favourite fountain pen. I’ve been proud of that description for over 30 years

 

Imagine how I feel when, with 6 quality pens to choose from (Pelikans, Parkers & Sheaffers) totalling well in excess of £700, I find that a “cheap and cheerful Chinese flashy” bought off the internet for under £9 including postage and packing writes as smoothly as the best of them and better than the rest. See my review of the Duke Ruby in the Pen Review section of the FPN.

 

I don’t know whether I’m disappointed or pleased

[kissing]

Such is the elusive relationship between Fountain pens and Money

 

Some inexpensive fountain pens write better than expensive ones and some expensive ones write better than inexpensive ones. That's how it is here

[Michael Wright]

Ah, you can now get into Advanced Snobbery , only disclosed at sea, in which you are picky about the technology, but explain that although expensive pens are nice, you don't actually have to pay a lot of money, If You Know What You Are Doing. Kind of like knowing a Peruvian cabernet sauvignon that experts couldn't tell from a grand cru in a blind tasting. This validates your taste for expensive pens.

 

Have fun

 

Michael

[Chris]

I absolutely agree with not using some old biro for something as important as your personal signature

 

I've just witnessed someone's signature and had to say, "You ought to wait a minute for that to dry before you fold it up."

 

But I also recognise the of finding that an inexpensive pen can work extremely well.

 

But please be pleased, because this opens up the world of real pen satisfaction to so many more people for whom spending larger amounts of money on a pen is not a priority. I do believe form should follow function, so an object ought to work properly first.

 

And if someone's first experience of FPs is pleasurable and efficient, we may have a new convert

 

My own case was buying a Cross Century II in a sale for very little money and finding the steel nib is as smooth as smooth, and of course everything else on the pen works flawlessly too. It is a nice writer, but in bright chrome it simply is not as 'nice' as my other daily pens, some of which are actually less than perfect

 

Chris

[Nimrud]

I like what Michael is saying. Seriously cool.

[arvadajames]

I have had the same experience with my Haolilai #601F, a $19 pen. I have other more expensive pens that I like as well, but none that I like better. But, I have also bought less expensive pens (under $50) that I thought were complete junk.

[Lee UK]

But is the way a pen writes the only thing that is important? Obviously if you really do not like the way a pen writes it's not much use but for me it's also the way it looks, the way it feels and the way it makes me feel that I enjoy. I hope that doesn't sound pretentious, it wasn't meant to.

 

Lee

[*david*]

No, of course that's true. If you have a pen that writes well but feels wrong in your hand, it will be uncomfortable to use. If I had a pen that was jewel-encrusted, I would feel wrong even being seen with it, and would never use it. So looks and feel matter in some way at least.

[sonia_simone]

Lee, I think 99% of us would agree, there are other factors that do weigh in. More important to some folks, less important to others.

 

I have a Targa that writes incredibly well but is just too homely to use. If only I could write blindfolded.

 

Fit and finish are going to be more strongly correlated with price, I suspect, than writing quality is. But that doesn't mean you can't find some pens with very good fit & finish at surprisingly low price points.

[Maja]

But is the way a pen writes the only  thing that is important? Obviously if you really do not like the way a pen writes it's not much use but for me it's also the way it looks, the way it feels and the way it makes me feel that I enjoy.  I hope that doesn't sound pretentious, it wasn't meant to. 

 

Lee

Hi Lee,

 

(love your avatar of the Roslyn, WA mural; we visited the set of Northern Exposure while they were filming a fifth-season episode. Super show! )

 

Yup, I have to agree with you----the way a pen writes isn't *everything*...but to me it is the main reason I will *use* a particular pen (or not). I like pretty pens, but more and more I am finding that the ones dear to my heart are the ones that write well. Also, when I am using a pen that writes very well and was acquired for very little money, that makes me feel even better!

 

Cheers,

~Maja

[mfwebb]

Yup, I have to agree with you----the way a pen writes isn't *everything*...but to me it is the main reason I will *use* a particular pen (or not). I like pretty pens, but more and more I am finding that the ones dear to my heart are the ones that write well.  Also, when I am using a pen that writes very well and was acquired for very little money, that makes me feel even better!

 

Cheers,

~Maja

That's what I was meaning about the Duke Ruby. Not only does it write well, but it looks good too. Maybe a bit OTT with the red "ruby" in the top, but it writes so smoothly I just can't put it down. For the past week it has become my pen of choice.

[RLTodd]

My own case was buying a Cross Century II in a sale for very little money and finding the steel nib is as smooth as smooth, and of course everything else on the pen works flawlessly too. It is a nice writer, but in bright chrome it simply is not as 'nice' as my other daily pens, some of which are actually less than perfect

An exceptionally fine and vastly under rated fountain pen. You can pay vastly more for pearls and sable but if you just want to write a few thousand words the A.T. Cross Classics, Townsends, and Solos are hard to equal and very difficult to surpass.