How Many People Have Caught The Bug?

[Old_Inkyhand]

Hello everyone!

 

I keep asking myself some questions about the scale of the disease. I mean - this disease which makes us buy fountain pens, inks, good quality notebooks and pen holders, sleeves, cases, spare parts and the other FP-related stuff that barely anyone needs in the modern world many of us desperately need.

 

I guess there is a relatively big number of people who have at least one fountain pen. Many of them don't use their pens - like my father, who stopped using FPs when he graduated, or my grandfather, for whom typing is much less problematic than writing. Sometimes a pen is just an unwanted gift, dusty and abandoned, hidden at the bottom of a drawer.

 

But how many people use fountain pens? There are cheap pens and insanely expensive pens. People write homework, books, quotes, to-do lists, diaries, calculations, love letters, insults, everything... The group is really diversified and the number of those who are a part of this wonderful Internet community is most probably just a small percentage of the overall number of FP users.

 

Some companies, like Newell-Rubbermaid, sell a certain number of fountain pens yearly. But who buys them? Do they become unwanted gifts, do they find their way to some maniac-to-be, or do they join someone's collection? It is difficult to estimate the number of FP users just by the number of pens sold in a specific year. There are also some people who use vintage pens only, or simply have no need to buy new pens, as they already have a bunch of good ones.

 

What do you think? What's - in your opinion - the percentage of fountain pen users in the total number of people (let's say, aged seven or more) in your country? Or among your friends? Or in your company? Or in your street? I'll be interested in all sorts of information.

 

It has probably been discussed somewhere, but I haven't found any topic covering this subject. If such a topic exists, I apologise.

 

Stay inked,

 

Inkyhand

Edited October 10, 2016 by Old_Inkyhand

[ualman]

I think the people here make up for a huge amount of fountain pens being around.

And probably make up for the amount of writing being done.

For a lot of people any ballpoint pen will do, for us here that's definitely different.

[pajaro]

This "bug" is just another manifestation of the modern day junk collection habit. People today collect all manner of items. Pens are no different. I admit I was for a few years enjoying trying all manner of pens recommended here, thinking I would find something better than my Parker 51s and Montblanc 144s and 146. This did not happen, and those 51s, 144s and 146 are what I consider keepers, and most of the rest are junk, the stuff pickers wax ecstatic about. If you are going down the road of pen collecting, enjoy it, but recognize it for what it is, an acquisition lust where you trade using your time for something worthwhile for the satisfaction of buying things for yourself.

 

Watch the Pickers shows on the History Channel. Look at all the junk they pick up and what they believe they can sell it for to people obsessed with collecting. Some day they might be picking over your pen collection.

[Old_Inkyhand]

I think the people here make up for a huge amount of fountain pens being around.

And probably make up for the amount of writing being done.

For a lot of people any ballpoint pen will do, for us here that's definitely different.

Yeah, people who have big collections are probably members of the FPN. However, I think that if we don't count the pens, but the people, I think that actually many, many people treat their fountain pens like normal tools and feel no need to sign up to a forum of any sort. I have a car, but I'm not a member of an automotive forum. I like cycling, but you won't find me on any forum related to the topic. I had a horse, but I wasn't a part of the online equestrian community. Therefore I believe that only a fraction of the total number can be estimated by looking at the number of FPN users (of course some accounts may belong to people who are no longer with us, who stopped using FPs or who accidentally created more than one account). My theory is supported by my observations - in reality I know several people who use fountain pens and maybe one out of ten is a member of a fountain pen fans' forum (and one out of... thirty [?] is a member of the FPN). Please note that I don't live in an English-speaking country - native speakers are probably far more likely to become members of the FPN.

 

 

This "bug" is just another manifestation of the modern day junk collection habit. People today collect all manner of items. Pens are no different. I admit I was for a few years enjoying trying all manner of pens recommended here, thinking I would find something better than my Parker 51s and Montblanc 144s and 146. This did not happen, and those 51s, 144s and 146 are what I consider keepers, and most of the rest are junk, the stuff pickers wax ecstatic about. If you are going down the road of pen collecting, enjoy it, but recognize it for what it is, an acquisition lust where you trade using your time for something worthwhile for the satisfaction of buying things for yourself.

 

Watch the Pickers shows on the History Channel. Look at all the junk they pick up and what they believe they can sell it for to people obsessed with collecting. Some day they might be picking over your pen collection.

I don't think I'm much of a collector. I'm not a hoarder, I believe. I need a few pens with different colours of ink, because that's what I use on a daily basis to raise my productivity. And I need at least two good pens which would allow me to write for a long time without much hand fatigue. I currently have ten pens, out of which three serve a specific purpose, two have sentimental value and another two are my 'long distance' pens. I don't think I'll stop there, as I have never had any pen better than a Carene (and people say there are quite a few of them), but I don't plan to accumulate them all, nor to spend a fortune on them. Thankfully, my brother and my friends also use fountain pens, so when I feel that I have too many pens, I can always find some of them a loving home

 

I probably asked a wrong question in the title. It should have been: How many people actually use fountain pens?

Edited October 10, 2016 by Old_Inkyhand

[ISW_Kaputnik]

...What do you think? What's - in your opinion - the percentage of fountain pen users in the total number of people (let's say, aged seven or more) in your country? Or among your friends? Or in your company? Or in your street? I'll be interested in all sorts of information.

Stay inked,

 

Inkyhand

 

My opinion, as a way of getting meaningful numbers, is worthless without data.

 

Among friends and co-workers, the only ones that I've seen using fountain pens are the ones to whom I had given them as gifts. And none of them use them regularly, as far as I can tell. One friend did tell me that she had a Montblanc somewhere that someone had given her as a gift years ago, but she hadn't used it in a long time, and wasn't sure where it was.

 

I only recall seeing one person that I didn't know using a fountain pen. It stuck in my mind precisely because it was so rare.

 

The topic has come up before, but it's the nature of online forums to be repetitive.

[senzen]

Percentage of people who have them: 0.5%? because many of those are gifts, maybe 0.1% use them? The difference is this 0.1% can now be pooled worldwide thanks to the web, and with pre sales à la Kickstarter the costs and risks brought down.

[JordanN]

I think some people buy multiple fountain pens as a means of feeling like they have a place to belong. They may hang around a forum like FPN and buy things new pens and accessories to feel the approval of the group. You'll find the same situation at wet shaving forums. I suppose that's why hanging around forums like this one is dangerous; you need overly positive reviews of new things and you feel like the group is telling you to go out and buy that thing or it sounds so amazing that you must buy it. After you buy it, you find out that the pen still doesn't write beautifully by itself with exquisite color, and you buy the next product.

 

You'll find the same thing in "real life" groups, where people buy things and then the group approves.

[SpecTP]

this question is like the guy in the red masque asking how many folks in the abbey feel a little sick..

[Bo Bo Olson]

Old Inky Hand,

Most folks that buy cars read car mags....bikes the same....and they are major items that are what they were supposed to be.....'well known to the performance wished.'

 

Pens we start out and find out we are ignorant for ages. Then we need inks for a bit more color than basic black, & or Blue. Then we need papers to make the inks jump with nibs that do more than just lay an easy wet line.

 

I could get by with 10-20 pens....nib and balance, ..... worth is less a criteria outside often worthy pens feel better from better material.

How could I get by with less than 50 inks???? (I'm trying...by staying away from Inky Thoughts.

Of course I need more and better $$$ papers....I deserve that like I deserve a 16 year old Lagavulin or a bit of Blue Label.

 

There is a difference between scratchy lambs wool winter scarf and cashmere. At no matter what cost now, buy one of cashmere. The $16 silver dollar money, I spent on one close to 40 years ago, was no more than what one costs in fake inflation money today. That like a fountain pen you can leave to your favorite grandkid; and his.

 

 

There is that greed....belonging to The Pen of the Week in the Mail Club....or pen of the month.

 

If a fountain pen is only a bling work tool, left there; one is enough.

If one scribbles, why not different patterns and flexes....or even Italic scripts. If one don't scribble for the fun of it....why there are free ball points all over the place.

I had over 200 of them scattered around the house when I realized I was a fountain pen addict.

The great ones my wife has. The good ones were sold at the flea market. The 'mox nix' ones....well got to try bundles of 10 for an Euro....but would have to waste money buying rubber bands.

[mirosc]

 

What do you think? What's - in your opinion - the percentage of fountain pen users in the total number of people (let's say, aged seven or more) in your country? Or among your friends? Or in your company? Or in your street?

 

my guesstimates:

Friends: 100% have, 80% use a fountain pen regularly

Company: 80% have, 40% use

country: no idea, I'd like to think that at least 10% still have a fountain pen lying at home somewhere, maybe still from primary school (and yes, we are an aging country...), use: 2-3% (most of them being teachers, pupils and students)

[TheRealMikeDr]

I suspect the answer would vary from country to country. I have one friend who has a fountain pen - other than that I don't recall seeing one used in my 53 years on the planet. I might have and didn't realize it but I don't recall seeing one.

 

I've always been attracted to pens - bought a nice Cross ballpoint when I graduated from college 30 years ago - and have used it (along with many other nice Ballpoints) for decades. I never saw the need to try a fountain pen (messy and overly complicated) until a year ago when I bought one on a whim - that kicked things off for me. Why pens??? Hard to say - they're personal to me and there's something tactile about them which allows me to form a "personal" connection with them.

[Kelly G]

In my neck of the woods in the middle of the USA, I suppose the number is 0.01% or less. I live in a small town of around seven thousand people and there used to be another guy in town who wrote with fountain pens; he recently moved so I'm the only one I know of. When I worked for a large international corporation with regional offices in Houston, there were a handful of people in the buildings that had or used fountain pens and most of those were of the have it but don't use it variety. In the "wild" I've only seen a couple of people using fountain pens and that was while traveling for work. We are more rare than we imagine because we congregate and think it is normal.

As far as my use, it is based in a love of good writing, non-disposable pens that have a sense of character. That is why I tend toward vintage pens and pens that have a story. I very rarely write with anything other than fountain pens.

[sidthecat]

I've been the enabler in my office. Animation professionals tend to be obsessive about their tools anyway.

[KKay]

I love pens, ink, and paper. I have been in the hobby for a little over a year now. I bought a fountain pen when I was in my late 20's I think it was. I always wanted one, and had never used one. Nobody I knew or saw ever used one. I was struck by their beauty. So I bought a nice one, now I can't remember what it was. That was almost 30 years ago. It only had cartridges, and they didn't sell bottled ink at the store. This was before the internet and forums like this. Had I known how to do maintenance on my pen, I'd still have it today. (and probably an impressive collection too) I only used the pen every few days, and it was hard starting on me. (or completely dried up) So I finally grew tired of it, and put it in a drawer. It stayed in that drawer for a long time, and finally one day I threw it away. I thought I'd never be able to use it, and make it work properly.

 

A little over a year ago, I decided to learn about them, and give it a go again. If that first pen I bought last year in September had been a dud, I wouldn't be on this forum right now. I didn't spend much, and luckily it wrote quite well. About a month later, I bought pen number 2. Needless to say I have several pens, various inks, and paper too. I have a local friend who mainly likes the vintage pens. He has been trying to get me interested in them, and he finally succeeded. There was one particular pen that he had, that got my interest up. It had a vacuum system. I found I do love those types of pens. I have several pens inked up at once. I like switching colors when I write. I have different sized nibs for different circumstances. I gleaned the internet, and still read reviews, and what people say. I also watch a lot of videos. So yes, I'd say I'm hooked.

Edited October 11, 2016 by KKay

[pajaro]

Yeah, people who have big collections are probably members of the FPN. However, I think that if we don't count the pens, but the people, I think that actually many, many people treat their fountain pens like normal tools and feel no need to sign up to a forum of any sort. I have a car, but I'm not a member of an automotive forum. I like cycling, but you won't find me on any forum related to the topic. I had a horse, but I wasn't a part of the online equestrian community. Therefore I believe that only a fraction of the total number can be estimated by looking at the number of FPN users (of course some accounts may belong to people who are no longer with us, who stopped using FPs or who accidentally created more than one account). My theory is supported by my observations - in reality I know several people who use fountain pens and maybe one out of ten is a member of a fountain pen fans' forum (and one out of... thirty [?] is a member of the FPN). Please note that I don't live in an English-speaking country - native speakers are probably far more likely to become members of the FPN.

 

 

I don't think I'm much of a collector. I'm not a hoarder, I believe. I need a few pens with different colours of ink, because that's what I use on a daily basis to raise my productivity. And I need at least two good pens which would allow me to write for a long time without much hand fatigue. I currently have ten pens, out of which three serve a specific purpose, two have sentimental value and another two are my 'long distance' pens. I don't think I'll stop there, as I have never had any pen better than a Carene (and people say there are quite a few of them), but I don't plan to accumulate them all, nor to spend a fortune on them. Thankfully, my brother and my friends also use fountain pens, so when I feel that I have too many pens, I can always find some of them a loving home

 

I probably asked a wrong question in the title. It should have been: How many people actually use fountain pens?

 

The only person I know who actually uses a fountain pen is my wife. She doesn't own any, but I have plenty of good ones she can use. It has been about five years since I saw anybody else using a fountain pen. Those of us who like them use them, but we are a small group in the western world. With ballpoints, roller balls, etc., most people couldn't be bothered handling a pen that can leak ink easily like a fountain pen. People could easily write with a fountain pen if they wanted to, because it isn't difficult. New fountain pens are too expensive, even at the low end. If you were the average person, would you buy a cheap Pilot, or a Lamy Safari, or would you buy a Bic or a fancier ballpoint of roller for a dollar or so?

[inkstainedruth]

Besides other "pen people" (i.e., the regular crowd in my local pen club)? Not too many.

A friend of mine has a few pens (a couple of Watermans and five Levenger True Writers). She uses the pens for everyday writing at her job (she's a tech writer) and color codes the ink to the pen (not something I would do, but it works for her) and that way she can keep track of what engineer is to be working on which part of the system. For her, they're tools. And because of a scar on her finger, more comfortable tools than ballpoints would be. She will happily geek with me about pens and inks, but she's not remotely interested in collecting, and I can't see her ever showing up on FPN.

Another friend apparently used to collect pens, but lost them all in a fire a couple of years ago (she and her housemate got out with the clothes on their backs and one of their cats -- they lost all the others -- and pens were not a high priority under the circumstances).

Had a nice chat recently with a guy in the organization I belong to. He was sitting in front of me at a meeting in August, and was taking notes. I leaned forward and said "Hey, what is that?" and he said "It's a fountain pen...." I said, "Yeah, I see that -- but WHAT?" and it turned out he has a Monteverde.

Beyond those people, not too many....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sears31907]

I'm a computer programmer by trade. I work with the latest greatest technology at my job and have to stay current by learning new things as they come out. I started collecting fountain pens and using vintage pens for the same reason I collect and use vintage straight razors. There is just something rewarding to me about bringing things back to life. Also, Communication with Computers is so impersonal and fake in a sense. There is something about inks paper and fountain pens that make my communications more personal and give me warm fuzzies. I think maybe I lived a past life during the time of the second world war.

[bleair]

I'd be curious to know the approximate number of subscribers / readers of Pen World magazine - which would give us a rough magnitude of how many people find pens fascinating.

 

Then there are people who just think of fountain pens as useful, utility objects (as in what everyday people think of if you were to ask them about ball point pens). I suspect there are many more of these people (i.e. they'd never think search for a website like FPN). This group of people is going to be people who grew up using fountain pens.

 

As an example I have several coworkers who grew up in France, and they'll see my fountain pens at work and comment "wow, you really like fountain pens... but yes, they are good... but people don't really seem to use them here, do they..".

Edited October 13, 2016 by bleair

[corgicoupe]

Other than the people to whom I've given a fountain pen, only my neighbor, who uses a Quill fountain pen. He has a promotional company.

[Jerome Tarshis]

There is probably no way to answer the question that will seem to have scientific validity. In much of the social world I come in contact with, here in the United States, I'll rarely see a fountain pen used.

 

But I've spent much of my adult life in a world of artists and graphic designers. Those people are interested in their tools: pencils, ballpoint pens and rollerballs, and fountain pens. If I go to the press party for the opening of a major art show, I can expect to see some fountain pens used. If I eat lunch with designers, fountain pens won't be universally visible, but they won't be rare.

 

And of course there are people who use them without making them visible to others. I'm sure there are people who have known me for years but never seen me using a writing instrument of any kind. It is writing by hand that is diminishing, not just fountain pens.

 

Although the following point is not directly relevant to the original poster's concerns, it seems worth saying: FPN is only a small thing in the entire world of FP ownership and use.

 

When I began to take an interest, a bit more than ten years ago, I was told that many of the most major collectors didn't go to pen shows, far less spend time on message boards: they knew one another and communicated with one another.

 

About shows that may have changed, for all I know; about message boards it has not. Ernesto Soler and Tim Leros are clearly interested in the Parker 51, but they aren't active here. L. T. Wong and Lee Chait are clearly interested in the Parker 75, but they aren't here, either. Mark Shepherd, who wrote books about several Parker pens, isn't here.

 

Most of the exhibitors at the recent San Francisco pen show, whom we must consider to be serious hobbyists, aren't posting here. I suspect that the same thing is true about exhibitors at the WES show in England. FPN is very far from offering a venue used by any large number of real heavyweights. It can be fun, and I continue posting, but it isn't anything like coextensive with the pen world.

Edited October 14, 2016 by Jerome Tarshis