My presentation

[johnr55]

I am happy to be joining this forum, have been reading for some time and not joining. Being born in 1955, I came to writing age at the time of popularity of cartridge pens. By the time I went into fourth grade, we were introduced to cartridge pens. Almost all of us used the ubiquitous Sheaffer cartridge pen with the transparent barrels, as I remember costing about $1.00. We all used washable blue Skrip cartridges. There was some status involved with the various colors of barrels on these pens, with the clear barrel the most desirable. Red, green and blue were most common, and there were very, very few black non-transparent barrels. Also, these pens all had steel points, with the great majority being medium with an occasional fine. I grew up in a small town with limited places to buy anything like pens, so there wasn't a lot of choice. From that time I learned that I preferred fine points. I am left-handed, though with a conventional hold rather than some of those tortured postures. I learned early on also that I had a very light touch to the paper with any writing instrument, so FP's were right up my alley. Sheaffer must've sold millions of those pens and I haven't seen one in years. Of course, we kids were great at knocking them off of desks or dropping them, so they were indeed replaced regularly! I do remember, though, sitting at that age in desks old enough that they had a hole for bottled ink, though none of us used it. My father was an engineer, so he used technical pens. He had an old Sheaffer Balance in his desk drawer but I never saw him use it.

 

By the time I entered seventh grade I got what we students considered a 'prestige' pen, the Parker 45 convertible. I also started using bottled ink and those long thin Quink cartridges. I continued to use it until I reached high school, when I bought an unusual Sheaffer convertible of a type I haven't seen since. It had a cylindrical nib like the old Triumph pens, but an unusual style of metal white-dot cap. I think I still have that pen somewhere, though it developed a persistent leak in the nib.

 

I continued to use fountain pens throughout college. The Sheaffer pens with the steel inlaid nibs were easily available and quite inexpensive; I special-ordered an extremely fine point that didn't bleed on any type of paper and was very frugal with use of ink. I still have that very well-worn black Sheaffer. I also purchased a sterling silver Sheaffer at that time with the inlaid 14k nib, still have that pen also.

 

As I went into the healthcare field, I found little use for fountain pens in day-to-day work in hospitals. Too easy to drop, not suitable for multi-NCR forms, and not permanent enough in thick patient charts. We all used those Bic pens with 3 or 4 colors in one pen. Dreadful to write with. I still carried a fountain pen daily, usually one of those college Sheaffers. I also bought a couple of Sheaffer Targa models and a Montblanc, the traditional-looking one. Never did like it, still have it in a drawer. I bought one of the Lamy 2000 pens then, again not a favorite though I still have it. I bought a Montblanc set, all metal and very slim and black, and used them for several years almost daily.

 

I bought my first Pelikan in the 90's, the 200 model, and these have remained my favorite pens to date. Inexpensive, dead reliable, and I love their XF point. I have several, including 4 of the demonstrator models, and they have been constant companions along with the matching ballpoints. I don't like large pens, they give me writer's cramp and don't fit well in shirt pockets. Give me a smaller size any day.

 

For twenty years including growing up, I used Skrip, either in cartridges or bottle; Quink blue-black; Quink black, and Quink green. Talk about changing times--I can remember back in the 60's in junior high, that my Spanish teacher used to buy Skrip in large quart bottles. She had a tuberculin syringe to go with it. If any student was running out of ink in his/her cartridge pen, they could go to her and pay a penny. They were able to suck ink out of the quart and inject it into their empty cartridge. Can you imagine a teacher being able to leave a syringe and needle sitting around today?

 

I work in medical management now, very seldom working with medical records, and most of my writing daily is with fountain pens. Pelikan or Waterman black or Florida blue now. I guess I'm one of those strange people who started out using fountain pens and just never quit! Besides, it's fascinating to young people who thought they didn't exist outside the movies--

[southpaw]

Hello John and welcome aboard!

 

Thanks for that great intro. I too am a lefty "with a conventional hold rather than some of those tortured postures." There are quite a few lefties around FPN.

 

Hope to see you around.

[ht1]

I wasn't exposed to a fountain pen until 7th grade. My English teacher made each of us write a 10-page research paper on unlined paper with a fountain pen. I bought a Sheaffer pen with a blue translucent barrel, and I still have the pen. I don't remember anyone else writing with a fountain pen after that, but I still like writing on unlined paper with a fountain pen. I have used a fountain pen often for almost forty years, and for the past six months I have chosen to use one almost exclusively. I purchased a lot of the cheap Sheaffers you described, bought fine nibs directly from Sheaffer for the times I could only find medium in the stores, and I still have several of those. I bought several fine point Parker Vectors, but they were all too scratchy for me. I still have one of those. In my 30's I purchased a Sheaffer brushed chrome pen that uses the slim Sheaffer II cartidge, but I didn't like it. It was too thin, but I still have it. I purchased a Waterman Phileas with a medium point because nothing else was available. I didn't like the medium point. Several months ago I purchased a replacement fine nib from Wateman, purchased several more Watermans with fine nibs, and other writing instruments have been put aside.

[johnr55]

Thanks for your input, ht1. I think that possibly those of us who started young and have continued to use fountain pens for many years, look on these pens rather differently than others who have relatively recently discovered them. I am on the Fahrney's and Joon mailing lists for their catalogs. I must confess that most of what they sell leaves me cold. I love FP's for what they can do, not as flashy pieces of writing jewelry. I'm not interested in showing off, and my favorite pens are those that don't distract me from what I'm writing. Plus, the last thing I want to own is something so precious that I'd worry about taking it out and using it!

 

For example, I own a small fortune in Leica photo equipment, accumulatd over many years. I live on the Texas Gulf coast, where rain and humidity are part of our daily life. I own a parallel cache of Minolta cameras and lenses, and whenever there would be a possibility of damaging one of the Leicas, I carry Minoltas instead. Not something I'm proud of, it seems rather silly to own such expensive photo equipment that I'm reluctant to use it!

 

Though I own many, many pens, and almost all are in mint condition, I wouldn't lay down and die if I lost one during my business travels; I'd simply replace it. FP's are utilitarian for me, and that is indeed why I enjoy them so much. Such a miracle of modern technology when one considers how recently people were dipping with handmade quills and steel nibs!

[playpen]

Nice story. Welcome to the board!

[mike1]

Thanks for the interesting intro and welcome to FPN.

[Ruaidhri]

John,

 

Welcome to FPN

 

I love FP's for what they can do, not as flashy pieces of writing jewelry. I'm not interested in showing off, and my favorite pens are those that don't distract me from what I'm writing. Plus, the last thing I want to own is something so precious that I'd worry about taking it out and using it!

 

Yes. Yes. Yes !

Thank God for commonsense

 

Regards,

Ruaidhrí

[TMann]

Hi John,

 

Welcome to FPN! I, too, spend most of my days working in a hospital, (I'm an anesthesiologist,) and most of the writing I do is on a triplicate O.R. record. Yuck! I've tried using various stiff-nibbed fountain pens, but they really don't work very well. If you're going to be jamming the pen down onto the paper as you write, there may as well be a ball on the tip of your pen...

 

It's nice to have some folks here at FPN who've used fountain pens for a long time. The wealth of knowledge that you folks bring is a real asset to the forum. (I'm still a bit of a newbie, having only really been into FP's for the past year.)

 

See you 'round on the boards!

 

TMann

Edited September 16, 2006 by TMann

[johnr55]

Thank you, TMann. I am a radiologic technologist, registered in radiography and MRI. I started in MR 'way back in the 80's, so it's been a very, very long time since I was working in surgery. I still miss it. Having been under the knife myself in the last few years, I'm amazed at how far your specialty has advanced since I was sharing rooms with you all. I have been in management for many years, and while I miss the patient contact, it does give me the opportunity to write with my FP's most of the time. Wouldn't you know it, though, I also collect watches and I ended up in a field where we all have to wear digitals around the magnets! I deal with physicians very regularly, and am surprised how many of your profession do carry FP's. Seems like they gravitate toward the big Montblanc Meisters. When I see a physician pull one out, invariably it becomes a topic of conversation between us.

[Ruaidhri]

John & TMann,

 

Have you checked out the Sailor Trident - triple nib - mine goes through anything !

 

There are a few very good shot s of it here :Trident

 

Usual disclaimer - no connection.

 

Regards,

Ruaidhrí

[TMann]

Have you checked out the Sailor Trident - triple nib - mine goes through anything !

 

There are a few very good shot s of it here :Trident

Hmm...very interesting! I'll have to see if I can get my hands on one of those someday.

 

TMann

[JimStrutton]

Welcome John, liked the ink story, can't see that ever happening again

 

Jim

[CelticBhoy]

Hi John, Welcome to the Forum!!!!!!