Why Do You Use A Fountain Pen?

[Rndmness]

Many reasons. The hobby of collecting pens and inks, the variety of colours available, the nib widths you can get and motivation to write!

[Buzz_130]

I voted "Other" for several reasons:

1) the pure enjoyment of capturing my thoughts with a precision instrument developed with as much thought and craft as what I'm about to capture on paper

2) The fun of collecting pens from around the world as a view into culture and values

3) The joy of experimenting with different colors and writing characteristics as they match your style, personality, and pens.

 

Buzz

[J Jordan]

I have a few reasons. The one that I feel is most important to me is the idea that fountain pens write better than other pens, and really don't cause much more trouble! People now act like fountain pens are some scary thing they heard about from a friend of a friend. They leak everywhere, they break easily, they're hard to write with, etc.

 

What's the real downpoints of them anyway? Pens are made to write with. Fountain pens win at that when contesting them versus roller and BP.

It also gives me an excuse to collect something else.

[liapuyat]

I use fountain pens for pure enjoyment. I enjoy the way they write, the way they look, the way I can use different colored inks in them. It's all about the writing experience. The joy of using the pen could have been one of the options in the poll.

[aalmcc4]

I see it as a link to the past. I'm an avid history buff. Using a vinatge pen, say from the 1930's, conveys an experience or "feeling" of history. You can't get that from just reading about it. And, unlike lighting my home with beeswax candles or having my home converted for gas lamps, using fountain pens are more practical for actual use in the modern world.

 

I've done the historical reenactment thing, Civil War, Colonial America etc. Besides I'd get fewer strange looks when I whip out my fountain pen than if I took a stroll to the local 7-11 wearing my buckskins and forage cap.

[Matthew Lee 1959]

When I write I tend to have a death grip on whatever I use and press to the point of pain after a short period of time. I found that using a fountain pen helps to control both of these tendencies. I have to use a looser grip to control the pen and if I feel scratching as I write I know to lighten up. I have found that using the fountain pen as a training tool it allows me to write for a longer period of time.

[jetsam]

I can't remember what my vote was so I deleted it and will update my reasons.

I use fountain pens for the sake of using them. They are no longer tools, they are ends in themselves.

I'm sure some people write without even noticing what they are writing with. I choose my pen before I think of what I'm going to write.

Each different pen I encounter is a different writing experience. They are an entire culture all by themselves, but don't worry; I won't attribute *personality* to them.

Finding the sweet spot on my Dad's Parker 51 tells me how he used to hold his life's pen.

Recently I've been fabricating reasons to write, and often copy down texts. This drastically slows down my reading and allows me to notice and digest what a normal reading pace would pass over un-noticed; a meditative value which focuses the mind, provides therapy for aging fingers and fosters body/mind coordination.

 

Yup, you guessed it. I'm the weirdo who started the *fountain pen dignity* thread.

[NightShadeQueen]

Incredibly simple.

 

It's less wasteful than throwing away many, many plastic rollerballs.

 

(Also cheaper when you believe in super fine tips and the only gel pens in that size available cost like three bucks apiece)

[jetsam]

Incredibly simple.

 

It's less wasteful than throwing away many, many plastic rollerballs.

 

 

Concern for the environment. One of the best reasons.

[AnnieB123]

I love the beauty of the design aesthetic.

I love well engineered functional objects.

I approve of the continuity of expression and connection to scribes/writers-of-words who have passed on hundreds or possibly thousands of years ago.

I really love the way my favourites feel in my hands; they feel right, like an extension of my hand.

I love the preciousness and breathtaking beauty of the high end pens; they're like gorgeous jewelry with the added advantage of being useful.

I enjoy seeing the myriad ways that designers solved various problems.. there's an amazing amount of ingenuity involved in the problem solving process from design to materials, balance etc etc.

 

That sounds really arty farty... but it's true. I just really love writing with FPs. The only one of the listed alternatives that didn't resonate with me was the one about looking cool/posh etc. I'm a bit long in the tooth to give much of a toss what other people think of my poshness (or I rather should say lack thereof).. and I gave up any residual urges to be one of the 'cool kids' decades ago. I'm a certifiable glasses wearing bionerd. (Other girls had Donny Osmond and the Jackson Five on their bedroom walls when I grew up, I had Crick/Watson and that Einstein tongue pic on my bedroom wall).

 

PS edited to add: I also hate the fact that a rollerball/gel pen lasts me little more than a day... over 20-30 years, that's a significant pile of plastic NOT rotting away in some landfill.

A surprising number of my colleagues use fountain pens also.

Edited November 26, 2013 by AnnieB123

[Sejdr]

The aestetic of the FPs.
The solidity och a well crafted FP - I have never liked plastic as a material.

I love the aesthetics of the 19th century (The english as seen in for example Downton Abbey the tv-series) and the FP gives me a feeling of that eventhough they had the dip variants.

The feeling, the smoothness when writing with one - can´t beat that feeling! Being one of those that deathgripped ordinary pens when writing with them, its a delight.

Different types of ink and you get to refill it by yourself - all these lovely ink-bottles.

[garythornton]

I am new to this group but have used a fountain pen daily for the last 15 or so years. I remember my mother and others using fountain pens when I was a child. One year my wife bought me a fountain pen as a gift for Christmas. It was a Mont Blanc and I was thrilled. I carried it daily for 10 years and still use it quite often. I have since bought several other fountain pens. I have a nice Waterman (bought at a flea market), a Ferrari brand, pen also bought at flea market, several Sheaffer pens of varying ages, a Scripto and several wood pens made on a lathe. It amazes me how many people that will comment when I use one in a store or restaurant to sign for the bill payment. I also have an old dip pen that is about 150-200 years old. Many have asked what kind of pen is that? They have never seen a fountain pen. I just think it is a way to acknowledge our history and be a little different. Looking forward to learning more from this group. Gary Thornton, Georgia, US

[cbaytan]

Thicker than 1mm, Italic, flex, shading, lot less pressure, zillion colors, mixing inks, traditional, charismatic hobby.

[rtruslow]

Wow, I'm loving the variety of responses and I relate to so many of them. Kelly G may have summarized my reason best in the comment "It is the aesthetics of the whole experience - words flowing onto paper" I like the feel of ink flowing soooo smoothly onto paper and the way it looks after writing; the shading, the line variation. It looks cool to me.

 

Also, like doggonecarl, I am something of a retrophiliac and enjoy using old-style tools; not unlike blacksmithing.

 

All in all it is a nice gift to myself and not too expensive since the collecting bug has not bitten me yet.

 

Rob

[bernardo]

Cause I love FP's!

[shelleybanks]

I learned to write with fountain pens and prefer them to ballpoints. Smoother. Less pressure and pain. Changing ink is fun. And I pay more attention to my writing when I'm using one, so better handwriting, too.

[conib]

FPs

 

1. are refillable with *my* choice of ink

2. have an endless variety of nib sizes and shapes to play with

3. do not end up in the landfill anywhere near as often as the refills for my rollerball pens did

 

 

-- Constance

 

 

[VillersCotterets]

Nothing is more enjoyable than writing with a pen that fits me. Other types of writing instruments don't offer me that repertoire of tactile sensations and ergonomy : I have to adapt my writing to them. With fountains pens, I can have what I want : choice of inks, choice of sizes and shapes of pen, choices of flexibility and feedback, etc.

[bluebunny]

I use fountain pens for a variety of reasons:

• I just plain like them!
• They encourage me to slow down and think about my writing; both what I am saying, and the aesthetics of my writing
• They are easier on my hands to use (I have rheumatoid arthritis and ballpoint pens plain hurt)
• I like the way they feel in my hand
• I like the aesthetics of my pens themselves
• Getting to play with so many different ink colors!

[Lyander0012]

I kind of just thought of another reason why I really, really happen to like writing with fountain pens: I like permanence.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that change and progress and whatnot are perfectly normal (even integral) parts of life, and of growing up. It's just that I happen to be on my last semester of college (with either postgrad or a job waiting for me in the next few months), and I'm very much anxious. It's all the usual stuff, really: "What am I gonna do from here on out?", "Am I making the right choice or am I gonna regret all this a few years down the line?", and "What do I really want to do?".

 

I'm the type of keep memorabilia lying around and adding to the clutter of papers on my desk; they remind me of the fun (and not-so-fun) times I've had over the past four years, and of the resolutions, the choices I've made in the interim. Fountain pens are an extension of that. They... remind me of things. They remind me of places I've been to, things I've felt, and of course, of the people whose lives have touched mine. They help me cope with the fear I have of making mistakes, or better yet, of not being able to rectify my mistakes. Now, I don't want to ramble on too much (trust me, this is still a short post by my measure), so there you have it.

 

 

Cheers!

 

Kevin