Jump to content

Check Writing


wvbeetlebug

Recommended Posts

Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed. I tried to search the forum and couldn't find what I was looking for.

 

I've been using a ballpoint pen or Uniball Signo 207 for check writing. I would like to use a fountain pen, but I am concerned about check washing.

 

Do you use a fountain pen to write checks and if so which ink are you using?

Edited by wvbeetlebug

:happycloud9:

 

Cathy L. Carter

 

Live. Love. Write.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Deirdre

    6

  • tfwall

    5

  • pvdiamon

    3

  • Paladin

    2

I write all my checks with fountain pens. I have used many colors to write them: black, blue, blue black, green, brown, etc. (not red). If I wanted to write a check for somebody of dubious honesty, I would use a bulletproof ink like Legal Lapis. For writing checks in stores, for utility companies, and other businesses, why bother? After all, you have a receipt and your check register. If you catch them altering a check, you will probably be able to retire to your own island in Hawaii. For a plumber, building contractor, lawn service, political party, etc., yeah, use something bulletproof.

 

Paddler

 

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use fountain pen ink all the time without problem [other than a stunned clerk in the doctor's office the other day who freaked out at my pen and had to try it].

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also use fountain pen to write all my checks. I use one of the Noodler's bulletproof inks for check writing.

 

French

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is one of those rare instances now where I'll use Diamine Registrar's ink. I don't generally carry a checkbook around with me, so the issue only comes up when I sit down every second-Sunday of the month to do my bill-paying. I load Diamine Registrar's ink in a pen with a 14K nib (preferably a dip pen, but sometimes I'll just load whatever hits my fancy at that moment) and write/sign checks with it. After, I'll flush out the pen completely.

Talking about fountain pens is like dancing about architecture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed. I tried to search the forum and couldn't find what I was looking for.

 

I've been using a ballpoint pen or Uniball Signo 207 for check writing. I would like to use a fountain pen, but I am concerned about check washing.

 

Do you use a fountain pen to write checks and if so which ink are you using?

 

 

 

Guess what? Ballpoint isn't all that safe. The 207 is good to go.

 

I now use fountain pens for just about everything, including check writing and receipt signatures.

 

For my checks, I use Luxury Blue ink (bulletproof, like the Legal Lapis). It dries quickly and won't wash out, and it flows smoothly. I've been using my Lamy Al-Star for thermal paper receipts, as the medium nib allows the ink to flow very well onto the paper. I'm not overly concerned about thermal paper receipts being altered, because the paper disintigrates pretty easily and it would be simple to know that it had been altered. I do still intend to put a bulletproof ink in the Lamy, eventually, though, because a lot of cartridge inks do just seem to wash away. I'll use Legal Lapis or Luxury Blue, probably.

 

For any contract I'd use bulletproof ink, as Paddler has said.

 

I went looking for it, but didn't find it right off. Someone here did a review with several different types of inks, including Noodler's bulletproof Luxury Blue, the UniBall 207, and a couple of other water resistant inks, ballpoint, sharpies, and non water resistant inks, and he did it on the back of a check. I think I'd be more concerned with writing a check with either ballpoint or non water resistant inks - they disappeared completely in his various tests, with little or no effort at all. The Luxury Blue and the UniBall 207 were the only inks to hold up in all of his tests.

 

It's also good to note that check paper and now some prescription papers have built-in tamper resistant features. I figure as long as I'm using bulletproof or near bulletproof inks on my checks, I will be pretty much be good to go.

Edited by kiavonne

Scribere est agere.

To write is to act.

___________________________

Danitrio Fellowship

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a FP to write all of my checks. Who else does that? Forgers would have to know that about me in order to get away with stealing my checks. They'd also have to match the pen nib and the ink (I'm not telling, but let's just say it's a very saturated ink). It's one way to know I wrote the check. One of many "safety" features employed when I write a check.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I definitely use a FP and I use Noodler's Legal Lapis or Eternal Brown. I have found that Iraqi Indigo is much more bullet proof than I had thought, so I sometimes use it. I feel much safer using the bullet proof inks and I am so glad they are available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a FP to write all of my checks. Who else does that? Forgers would have to know that about me in order to get away with stealing my checks. They'd also have to match the pen nib and the ink (I'm not telling, but let's just say it's a very saturated ink). It's one way to know I wrote the check. One of many "safety" features employed when I write a check.

Or they could just write all of it in block print except for your signature or even easier, just use a printer to fill in all the applicable info just leaving your signature.

 

Only the most amateurish check washer is going to try to change your 10 to a 100 without changing the written amount on the line below it. Check washers go to a lot of trouble to alter your check and are most likely "go all the way" and not try to save a few seconds at the expense of detectability. They protect your signature and then wash the whole thing is their preferred solvent, usually isopropyl alchohol, and then fill in all the other lines. Done with a printer, this looks just like a check you let the merchant fill in for you and then signed.

 

You are much safer either printing your checks at home with a laser printer and signing them with any old pen OR filling out the whole thing in a bulletproof ink. Even safer of course is paying your bills electronically or paying with a debit card with a personal PIN you enter at every transaction.

Edited by Chemyst
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee, I hadn't made that little leap of thought. That's a great idea. I use FP and bulletproof ink (whatever color) to fill out checks. But what I should do is fill out the check in bulletproof ink and then sign it with PR American Blue. Haha. That gives the checkwasher the worst case scenario.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee, I hadn't made that little leap of thought. That's a great idea. I use FP and bulletproof ink (whatever color) to fill out checks. But what I should do is fill out the check in bulletproof ink and then sign it with PR American Blue. Haha. That gives the checkwasher the worst case scenario.

That would render the check the highest probability of being voided during any attempt to alter it. It is analogous to printing the amount on a laser printer and signing in ballpoint. You just want to make it harder to change the amount than it is to damage the the signature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I try to use Noodler's standard Black or Eternal Luxury Blue in a fountain pen, a Sanford Uni-Ball/Signo/Vision/Eye rollerball (pigmented, non-gel ink) in black or blue, or a Pilot gel rollerball with black G2 unit. If I have no choice but to use a standard ballpoint, I use one with black ink.

 

On two-layer checks ("carbonless" paper under the check), a "manifold" nib (Esterbrook 9460 "medium" or 9461 "fine," but the smoother 9460 works better) will leave a record, a little fainter than a rollerball or ballpoint but still legible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee, I hadn't made that little leap of thought. That's a great idea. I use FP and bulletproof ink (whatever color) to fill out checks. But what I should do is fill out the check in bulletproof ink and then sign it with PR American Blue. Haha. That gives the checkwasher the worst case scenario.

That would render the check the highest probability of being voided during any attempt to alter it. It is analogous to printing the amount on a laser printer and signing in ballpoint. You just want to make it harder to change the amount than it is to damage the the signature.

Funny! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gee, I hadn't made that little leap of thought. That's a great idea. I use FP and bulletproof ink (whatever color) to fill out checks. But what I should do is fill out the check in bulletproof ink and then sign it with PR American Blue. Haha. That gives the checkwasher the worst case scenario.

Now that's evil. I like it!

deirdre.net

"Heck we fed a thousand dollar pen to a chicken because we could." -- FarmBoy, about Pen Posse

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to write checks with ballpoints, but then I read this thread. Since then, I've bought some Noodler's black, and have relegated the ballpoints to things that require multiple parts and things I don't care about permanence quite so much.

deirdre.net

"Heck we fed a thousand dollar pen to a chicken because we could." -- FarmBoy, about Pen Posse

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Completely OT, but I still find it amazing that cheque writing is still so common in the US!

 

Increasingly one can't use them in shops here, and for bills there is online banking. I sort of miss using them a bit, but it does save a little time. I wonder what the situation is in the rest of the EU? (Please don't answer - I should start a new topic.)

 

When I do write them, I use Noodler's Bulletproof Black or FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown.

 

Vivre la difference!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's only two checks I write on a regular basis: my acupuncturist and rent.

deirdre.net

"Heck we fed a thousand dollar pen to a chicken because we could." -- FarmBoy, about Pen Posse

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's only two checks I write on a regular basis: my acupuncturist and rent.

I actually had to order checks about 2 yrs ago, because my landlord wouldn't accept electronic payments and was too confused by checks mailed from the bank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all of the replies. I guess I'll stick with the Uniball 207 for now. I did read the Torture Test thread. That's some very amazing stuff there.

:happycloud9:

 

Cathy L. Carter

 

Live. Love. Write.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My main checkbook has carbons. For this I use a Lamy Studio Rollerball, or a Parker Jotter Ballpoint. My other two accounts use standard checks and I will write them with whatever pen that I have Montblanc or Lamy Blue Black loaded.

"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional and illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33501
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...