Why Do You Love Fountain Pens?

[inkstainedruth]

I had some sort of pen when I was a kid, which had been my grandfather's. In retrospect it was probably a combo pen/pencil -- it had a lever and I thought that was how replaced the leads.... It's of course long gone.

When I was in college I studied art, so I had all sorts of dip pens (including a bamboo pen) and also a set of Rapid-o-graph technical pens, which I used for drawing.

Fast forward again to about a dozen years ago. I had gotten this book called The Artist's Way (which is a creativity course). One of the things you do is keep what's called a morning pages journal: every day you get up and write three pages of stream of consciousness of whatever comes out of your brain and out your hand. In order to get myself into the habit (I hadn't kept a journal since I was about 13, and then that had mostly turned into a list of what song I had heard on the radio), I decided to get a nice journal and a nice pen -- which meant a fountain pen. I got what I think was a Parker Reflex ($6.95 US at Staples) which had a rubberized section. After a while the rubber disintegrated; I bought another one but eventually the same thing happened. And then Staples no longer carried them, but I still had cartridges (Permanent Blue). So I searched around and found an old time stationers here in Pittsburgh which at the time was an authorized Parker dealer. Bought a Parker Vector and wasn't sure I'd like an F nib until I found how much further a cartridge went... Used it for several years. Then accidentally left it (and the then current journal) at my brother-in-law's in CT and didn't get them back for a month. In the meantime I got another journal, but couldn't replace the Vector easily -- my choices were a $35 pen or a Pilot Varsity; I chose the $4 Varsity but it ran out of ink after 3 days. So I started searching online, and eventually found both Goulet Pens (you can get ink in colors besides black and blue? You can get PURPLE? Oh, want... ) and my way to here. Signed up so I could see ink review images originally. And to read the Parker Forum. And then, well, mostly everything. My 5th anniversary here is in about a week.... I now have over a hundred pens and way more ink than I'll use in a lifetime. And I'm now even collecting pen-related ephemera -- I just got a this on eBay and it came in the mail yesterday: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1944-Carters-Ink-for-Fountain-Pens-Ad-Cats-Kittens-/302205787920?hash=item465cde5f10:g:GW8AAOSwUKxYiNU2.

But I could have worse hobbies. And -- as I have pointed out to my husband -- MY midlife crisis fits in about the floorspace of a sheet of plywood (HIS takes up two commercial storage units...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I guess I didn't actually answer the original question.... They fit my hand better. There are better ink colors. I have a lot of vintage pens and they're prettier, and that's also keeping them out of landfills. They work when the power is out. They have more expressive nibs than ballpoints or rollerballs. And I tend to be more creative writing with them than fighting with the stupid auto-correct on my laptop....

Edited February 7, 2017 by inkstainedruth

[Cincinnatus]

I enjoy fountain pens because I enjoy throw-back items that are disappearing in our high tech world. In addition to fountain pens I wear only manually wind watches and shave with a straight razor.

 

There is something more personal about about a fountain pen, it isn't the standard mass market ball point bought by the dozen. You can select your own shade of ink and style of nib, barrel diameter, and so many other things that make it yous.

[senzen]

I like that they make me want to write more, that they've taught me to have more patience, that they let me use different amazing inks. It's a bit like the slow food movement: take your time to enjoy food instead of gulping it in fifty seconds flat, take your time to think things through and write them down slowly; I used to write frantically and illegibly.

 

I appreciate good ergonomics, and if the pen is good looking all the better, but frankly that comes last.

[oldrifleman]

I have been in love with fountain pens since my dad brought me one back from Korea in the mid 60s. Since then it has been off and on with pens bought and issues found, leading to me dropping it, only to pick it up a few years later. I really love the style, the ability to create some style and the ability to tailor the ink color to my mood. This time around I have picked up some higher end pens that have been adjusted by the dealer and been really pleased! Now working on converting my 13yr old daughter.

[BoBoJones]

Because that's the way I've always done it.

 

Further, fountain pens allow you to mess around with and write with something most sheeple will never want to use.

Edited February 7, 2017 by BoBoJones

[benbot517]

It started in 2014, nearing the end of my senior year of high school. For some reason or another I'd started getting attached to certain ballpoint and gel pens. Don't know why, but I enjoyed using a ballpoint pen refill from start to finish. I had a particular stick pen, I believe it was a papermate eagle, taken from a pack of 20 pens, that I would use until empty, then take apart and put a new refill in. It wasn't built for that, and I had to pry at and the other donor pens open to do it, but it made me happy (and I still have it!).

 

As I started to get into nicer ballpoints I started using a Fisher space pen, first the bullet pen, then the AG-7, which was the model taken on the Apollo missions. It wrote decently, but mostly I liked it for the cool-factor.

 

I'd just graduated, and was at a friend's graduation party when she heard I was getting into nicer pens. She had a couple of Pilot Varsity pens lying around, and let me try one out. From the first moment using it I knew I needed one. Reading pen reviews I'd always seen fountain pens as frivolous things, but after that I knew I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

 

The next day I went out and bought a cross fountain pen. Used it on all my thank you cards. It sort of wonderfully spiraled out of control from there.

 

Before using a fountain pen, I hated writing. I liked using up my ballpoint pens, but mostly it was because I felt some sense of satisfaction using a single refill from beginning to end. The actually writing process was very hard on my hands, and I hated it. Writing with a fountain pen was a complete change. I could write for hours without hand pain. Now writing notes was something I was excited to do, and my introduction couldn't have been more perfectly timed: I was entering college in the fall. It's been quite a journey, learning my preferences with nibs, ink and whatnot, and I've enjoyed every second of it. The community is great, and I've met some amazing people through it. I've been having a great time here, and hope that more people can learn about these wonderful writing instruments!

[marcelo]

Because most people don't.

[BoBoJones]

Masochism and the constant and eternal spring up of hope.

[Jamesbeat]

I explained above about why I got into fountain pens, but I never really explained why I love them.

 

There are two main reasons I think.

I'm into vintage pens the most (though I certainly enjoy modern ones too).

I like learning about the history, looking at all the old advertising materials etc, and then actually being able to USE one in everyday life.

It's like firing an antique pistol (something else that I love).

It's a piece of history that you can actually hold in your hand and use for the purpose it was made for all those years ago.

 

Another aspect is that, completely objectively, the process of writing with a fountain pen feels nicer to me than using a ballpoint.

For me, it takes something mundane (jotting down notes at work) and turns it into something pleasurable.

Instead of a chore it becomes something to look forward to.

 

More recently, I have been using pens that I have made myself, which increases the satisfaction even more.

 

I'm the same with shaving.

I used to see it as a nuisance, so I decided to buy a nice vintage DE razor and turn it into a pleasure instead.

 

I don't know who first said 'it's the little things in life', but they knew what they were talking about.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Jamesbeat

[Barkingpig]

I understand what you mean about "the little things." I have found I cannot change many things that are a part of my daily life, many of which are annoying; however those "little things" allow me to ignore, tolerate or make peace with the things I cannot change. This hobby was "the right timing for me," I have altered my house, traveled, created a garden & done many physical things that I no longer wish to repeat. This is such a "small thing," that changes the feeling about writing a check for a bill into a nicer experience than it was before!

 

I feel the same way about filling a pen from a bottle of ink as I did when I purchased my first shaving brush more than 40 years ago.

[sidthecat]

I'd used fountain pens on and off since childhood, but a few years ago I started a project that had me filling up notebooks and I grew dissatisfied with my handwriting. I had a couple of fountain pens and started using them, and one day I read the words "vintage flex".

It's been a downward spiral ever since.

Edited February 10, 2017 by sidthecat

[Cyqa]

I don't even have an easily explainable reason. I love the aesthetics of fountain pens, I love the feeling of writing with one, I love the dedication it takes to own and care for such an exquisite writing instrument, I love the ink colours. I always really loved stationery, and just the look and feel of great quality paper is appealing to me, and such paper demands to be written on with the respect of a fountain pen. I am relatively new into this hobby so I suppose you can say I've barely tumbled down the rabbit hole.

[corgicoupe]

Because they remind me of people and events that I should have paid more attention to in the past.

[mongrelnomad]

I enjoy writing with fountain pens. I am a writer; my days are spent thinking about what I am going to write, or finding a place to put those mental marathons to paper. Fountain pens (and good notebooks, and inks) allow me to practice my trade on park benches, by the beach, or perched upon cliffs in locales undiscovered. If you accept that fountain pens are inherently better than ballpoints, the case makes itself...

[guyinkits]

Like most people, it just makes me want to write more. Why? Because the pen is a beautiful peice of craftmanship, the nib is simple yet complex giving so many different line variations in thickness and wetness of ink, ink has so many more variations in color available and not to mention shading, and writing is an art in in of itself that is becoming lost in the modern era. So working in an office setting, writing is a form of art and expression that I can enjoy.

[Arkamas]

My first fp was a gift from a couple friends - a m nib black Parker Urban with gold trim in a gift box. The very one, in fact, that I saw online some time before on Parker's own site and fell in love with. The rest is in the signature.

[Manalto]

Because most people don't.

 

 

Masochism and the constant and eternal spring up of hope.

 

The short responses are often the best. Brevity is the soul...

[pajaro]

The inks, the possibility of writing with an ink of beautiful hue that can be read back and the chance to mix an ink that gives even more depth and is unique, that will not be created again.

[praxim]

Returning to a fountain pen was a massive relief to my hand after the pain and unreliability of ballpoints for a few years.

 

I am now told that a gel pen will give the same freedom of use. How boring.

[pajaro]

I use a ballpoint every day for grocery lists. The reliability of it under mobile conditions is its greatest virtue. I use good ballpoints, Parker Jotter, Pelikan K400 and Montblanc 164. They have proven themselves over many working years. The charm of the fountain pen is its very variability, the fact that fellow IT people mocked them and the nearly infinite ink color combinations possible.