Hi, my name is Silke and I use a fountain pen.
(This is Fountain Pens Anonymous, right???)

I've just recently started to appreciate a good pen, and remembering how much I enjoyed my fountain pens (which forever got chewed... and broke...) so I figured I'll do myself a favor and get one.

Little did I know how hard it is these days to find anyone who sells them!
I'm not talking about the run of the mill bog standard El Cheapo pens, but a proper one, a good quality pen. It's hard and when you do find one you like - you can't usually try it out first.

Since I like Calligraphy, I went for a Parker Calligraphy pen. It was on the cheap side and it's... diabolical. I hated it. It just doesn't flow properly.
I tripped over this site (a while back) and read up on what various people had to say about pens. Very helpful.
It also made me remember the Parker 51 I used to like the look of.
In fact, in 1979 I won a ballpoint and fountain pen set (metal) by Parker and I remembered how much I loved that fountain pen.
I've lost the fountain pen in one of my various moves, but I remember it fondly. I have no idea which model it was, but it wrote very nicely.
So I hunted.
I hung out on Ebay.
A lot.
I bid on various P51's, and never won one. Until one fine Sunday night at 3am there was a private sale, not much info... a couple of pictures and I thought oh what the hell, I either get it or I don't.
Well.
I won the auction and awaited the pen with trepidation. Would it write? Would I like it? It wasn't refurbished, cleaned or any of the funky bits the other ads promised. It was a pen, in a box.
It arrived.
I ordered ink, having forgotten it was an inkbottle jobby.
The ink arrived. (Diamine - I read up on inks, too!)
I loaded up the pen and... it scratched across the paper.
So I bit the bullet and washed it, panicking that I might break it somehow. I'd never managed to get a pen to write properly again after it had stopped flowing, so with a thumping heart I refilled the pen.

I love it.
LOVE it.
I use the P51 every day, it's immaculate, not a scratch on it, no bitemarks, nothing. And it flows, GOD, how it flows!

Now I'm in a mind to get some others, hence I registered.
I used to have a Pelikan Stenography pen, well, I think I still have it somewhere, but it's the old "no flow" thing again. I might have to find it and see if it can be fixed. It used to write beautifully. (It's ca. 1980)
Of course, now I've realized my penmanship is atrocious after so many years of typing. I need to write more. By HAND, that is.
Anyone want a penpal? LOL

So that's my pen story.

Silke

Hi

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy yourself but just remember that this hobby is addictive

Chaim

Ah hell.
Now you tell me!

Silke

Welcome Silke. You definitely belong with us.

Hi there and welcome too. Sounds good. Glad you bit the bullet. My 51 is my favourite too.
I think you'll end up with a LOT of new pens before you ever find one better than a 51. Maybe you should collect 51s ONLY

Mike

Welcome to the FPN, Silke.

Repeat after me: There is no other pen.
I'm spoiled now.

And the funny thing is, I take it to work with me. The guys eyed the thing as if it would bite.
So I let one of them try it and he scribbled like he would with a biro and said "Not for me". Then, a couple of days ago he was at my desk and needed to write a note and used the P51 (*glare*) and after that he suddenly goes "Oh, I take it back. This is lovely to write with, where did you buy it?"
HA!
Ebay, I said.
He goes "Oh, it's a used pen. I'd want a new one."
*snicker*
"Good luck on that," I said. "That pen is at least 50 years old."
You shoulda seen his face heheh.
I should join the P51 Cheerleading Section.

Oh I found out which Stenography pen it was, too. It was a Pelikan Steno, Model 470. I remember having to buy it when we learned Stenography in school, back in 1980.

That one.
I liked it so much, I tossed my El Cheapo's out and wrote only with the Steno pen, I remember that much.
Lovely pen. Gotta find it.
It's my mission for the weekend!

Silke

Hi Silke and welcome to the FPN. Yes, I suppose this place is something of a Fountain Pen Users Anonymous. Nice to have you here.

Welcome to FPN.

Hi and welcome to FPN!!

Welcome to FPN.

Hello and welcome to FPN.