I am fairly new to the group and enjoy it very much. I am having trouble learning how to "operate this site," but that will come with practice, I hope. My question is ---- How do you use your pens? I have kept a journal for over 40 years and use real fountain pens only. I do not use my pens for much of anything else. So, my question is --- How do you use your pens? Please give examples.

C. S.

I'm tired, so I'm going to give you the quip that my husband would if you asked him: "Quite well, thank you."

(I write fiction is the longer answer.)

I use my fountain pens for my writing needs. Examples include:

1. Shopping lists
2. Writing letters/ notes
3. Notetaking during meetings
4. Training sessions
5. Writing cheques
6. Practicing Chanchery Italics (just learned how to write it)
7. Almost everything else unless the paper or surface does NOT allow it e.g. filmy surfaces, carbon paper, forms etc. Believe it or not some immigration departments do NOT accept ink! Perhaps they scan it and it does NOT come out well?

I have two general classes of pens:

1. Basic writers for taking everywhere and there's higher possibility of loss or damage e.g. shopping, casual meetings, training sessions (Pelikano Junior, Pelikan P10, and Rotring 600)
2. Higher end writers mainly for business meetings (Pelikan Toledo King and Queen, M1000). When I get home, they are immediately stored away to keep them away from my kids. I have 2 young toddlers 1 and 4!

Naturally the basic writers get used more often and I find that they write better than my Pelikan Toledo King and M1000. Nothing beats my Pelikan Toledo Queen! In general the higher end writers don't get to go on business trips.

Have fun!

Thanks for your reply. I use my MB 146 more than other pens, but very seldom take it "out of the house," fearing that it might be lost or damaged. I also use an old Sheaffer of the series that startes with a "T." Can't remember the correct name. It has a nib that is somewhat built into the body of the pen. I also have a Hero pen from China that has the number 250 on it. I use it some, but I do not like the way it feels in my hand. I found an old cheap pen when I moved in with my new wife last year that has a italic nib. I enjoy using it at times and am still trying to learn how to use it with my cursive penmanship.

C. S.

Most welcome! Sounds like you want to treat yourself to a regular writer! Consider the Pelikano Junior. Writes very well and won't break your bank if you lose or break it

There are some pictures here

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...0&start=180

I did almost all of my writing in undergrad with a fountain pen. I'm sad to say that I write less since graduation, but I still write to-do lists and letters on a regular basis.

If only there was some way to update my blog with a pen, I might do it more regularly.

You have touched on a point very important to me. I know that if I want my journals to be read years from now by family members, I should put my pen down and start my journal on the "dot com machine." I just can not stop writing it with my pens, however. I know that very, very soon almost nobody will be able to read cursive handwriting. Then, what will become of my 29 --- at this point ---- 300 page handwritten journals? At some point, someone will just say, "We can't read these old things," and out they will go to the garbage! There is another problem too. My penmanship is not stylish. I think that it is fairly easy to read, but not stylish. My wife's penmanship is hard to read because she prints some letters and uses cursive for other, but it is stylish. Oh, well, in the long run, nothing matters.

Write on into that golden sunrise, where fountain pens rule!

C. S.

I hope it's a long time before journals get thrown out because handwriting is archaic. As much as I love technology, there's something real about writing on actual paper. I've never been able to commit to journaling, but sometimes wish that I did.

Paper isn't subject to power supply failures and hard drive crashes. Journals don't end up with corrupt filesystems.


That being said, I like that my family and friends can follow my website, and that I can share images and media easily.

Have you thought about a digital archive of your journals? You might not be able to convert handwriting to text, but you could certainly scan images. It might be a tremendous amount of work, but it would be one way of preserving them.

We do have an FPN member who blogs 'with his pen' - he writes his blog, scans it and then uploads it to his webspace. He goes by the name chud here...

I love all of my pens with one exception: the Stipula 22 with titanium nib. That one might be used on my dartboard or perhaps it will serve as entertainment the next time I find myself in midtown Manhattan in the middle of traffic with nothing else to do but watch taxicabs roll over the pen.
Richard Binder currently has this pen in his possession and one of these days when I get it back, I might change my mind....

I think with my pen. I'm not a fast thinker, nor a fast writer and I think best if I write things down and go over them while I'm thinking. At least I think that's write. So I write slowly with my fountain pens and add ink if I think I should, or write very thin if I think I should, and underline and smudge. You see, if I get ink on my fingers it reminds me that I was thinking.

I also do everything else (cerebral) with a fountain pen. Letters, To-Do Lists, Design, Arithmetic....

I also impress with a fountain pen. (At least, I think I do.) My boss is extremely "class" minded and I am of the lowest class he can think of, so when I go to his office, I take out my beautiful fountain pen, unscrew the cap, post it and take notes on excellent paper sheets drawn from a leather folder. He, with the class of his class.... flicks a Bic or something. It might be worth noting here that although he probably doesn't know it, my pen costs more than his suit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to impress anyone else, just keep my position in my own world.

I think I will also comment here, that when I fill a journal I burn it. It is the writing that serves the purpose for me, not being read.

I hope this serves you,
Clydesdave

Hi Charles and welcome aboard!

I use my FPs for everything/anything I need to write. That includes shopping list (and yes, I carry an FP to the store to strike through my list as I'm shopping - Pilot Decimo works great), sermon editing/structuring, note taking, cards, letters, check writing, etc.

Again, welcome and if you have any questions we can help you with, feel free to ask away.

Take care,
Michael

I use my FP's for every use that requires a pen. First drafts of reports or papers. Note taking, check writing, journaling, marking up books, credit card receipts signing my name to certificates etc. Any use that needs a pen I use one of my FP's.
PMS

I do not use my fountain pens for filling out forms that require one to bear down to make multiple copies.

I do use my fountain pens for everything else (yes everything, even suduko).

Brent

Most of what the others said... I also need to sign documents, cheques and letters at work so I use most of my FPs for that. While I was a compulsive pen loser, I feel I am now more careful and am now carrying around a Waterman CF with Lamy Blue (to save the shirt in case anything goes wrong) to meetings to take notes, etc.

I use a fountain pen for almost every writing occasion, and I have many. As both a college instructor and a (grad) student, writing takes up quite a lot of my day. While I collect mostly vintage pens, I use mostly recent pens on a daily basis. I grade papers with a circa 1965 MB149 with PR Sherwood ink, and do most other writing with a Pelikan 800 EF and Noodler's Legal Lapis or a circa 1978 MB149 EF with Pelikan black ink (my calculus pen).

I have only recently returned to using a FP and am trying to use them whenever I need to write anything; notes, writing cheques, (trying to learn) journaling, ticking off items at work, writing up my accounts, letters......anything I can!

I have just bought a Waterman Phileas (fine nib) for everyday use, which is currently filled with Parker Blue. My wife bought me a Parker 95 Thuya Laque several years ago, to which I fitted a medium italic nib, and which I use (often!!) for a change. This is currently loaded with Waterman Violet. Finally, this year's birthday pressie was a new Duofold, which I use for "best". Waterman Havana Brown is in this pen.

I use my Waterman Phileas for everything,checks,shopping list,log book at work ,sudoku,even my fiance uses it ,cause i lost all other so called pens

Two are inked. One is nearly always a P51, the other something "interesting." Generally the two inks are different, though both are demure enough to serve in business settings. (I prefer Waterman inks, by the way. They seem so much more sane.) The remainder are appropriately flushed, flinged, dried, stored for some later date.

I carry at least one, if not both, of the inked pens with me essentially everywhere. I write 90% of what I write with one of them.

Times that I DON'T use my fountain pens:
rapid jotting on files, folders, notes which will be shared in the office (few other people are willing to wait for ink to dry)
carbon forms for duplication
those horrid glossy thermal receipts spat out of cash registers (I generally use their tethered idiot-pen, but have been known to make a point -- and a face -- by drawing out my "real" pen and "finding out" what an abysmal experience their paper is)
loaning a writing implement to another person (unless she knows what she's doing with a FP, in which case I can hardly resist now can I?)
labeling boxes for storage or shipment (I use a black Sharpie)

I always get my workplace to supply me with a packet of UniBall Vision Elite 0.8mm (bold) pens in blue-black. People inevitably start stealing them as soon as they've experienced them. Because they DO covet my office pens, they DON'T covet my fountain pens.

So, the short answer: everywhere I can.

Let's just put it this way -

If I have to write something - ANYTHING - It's with a fountain pen. The only exemption is a dip-pen which is always at my desk in my room. I carry my fountain pens everywhere with me and stopped using and carrying ballpoints years ago.

Everything except multi page forms requiring pressure.

Waterman Carenes are my go anywhere pens.

And I write a LOT. I can go through 3-5 pen loads of ink in a day, so I keep multiples loaded.

I use my FPs fro almostallmy writing. I use a ballpoint or oneof those Pilot G2 gelpensfor signing reciepts, or on multi-part forms, or to hand to someone if they ask for a pen.

I use mine for writing first drafts and 'story bibles,' where I want a fluid line and the 'feel' you get only with a fountain pen. I also use them for sketching when I want a wash as well as line.

These days they are exclusively stay-at-home desk pens.

I stopped using fountain pens for interviews when the cap of my pen rolled under someone's desk and I wasted five embarrassing minutes fetching it back.