The Perfect Work Pen

[ParkerDuofold]

Uh, oh. There's gonna be a run on pen cases at Amazon... this could put the buying dpt. in a frenzy.

 

They are nice looking cases... and you can't beat the price... I think I'm gonna buy one or two as auxiliary mobile devices.

 

 

- Anthony

[Moonshae]

All of my work is done electronically, so the only reason to have a pen at the office is to take notes during a meeting. To that end, I prefer something that stays wet fairly long between uses because I don't attend a lot of meetings. However, I usually carry a pen in my jacket pocket anyway, so my meeting pen is generally whatever I'm carrying that day.

[AL01]

If you could build the perfect fountain pen to carry to work what would it be. We all have different wants and needs. So here is my current idea of a perfect pen for work:

I am a maintenance tech in a big chemical plant. A ball point would be so practical but I use a rotating line of economical pens.

My perfect pen would be a steel nib, anodized aluminum, vanishing point. Prefer blue and under $50 so a damage or loss wouldnt hurt as bad.

I need one handed fast action. No cap to remove or drop, Steel nib that will do carbon copys. Body that wont break when I lean over equipment and rest my weight on it. And while Im dreaming the clip would be easy to replace if it gets sprung.

 

Parker Sonnet...

 

Sheaffer Prelude...

 

(Lamy Al - Star?)

 

They all look wonderful...

 

... Are dead reliable...

 

And have fantastic clips and snap caps!

 

All three are great pens, but the one I am most familiar with is the Sheaffer Prelude.

 

They all look nice too!

 

If you have any questions about my choices, feel free to ask.....

 

- AL

[Noihvo]

 

[SpecTP]

I like Nock Co pen cases or Taccia pen rolls.

[catapult1]

When I worked in manufacturing, I used to carry my pen around with me all day long. But, I didn't use a fountain pen back then. There were lots of people around who would absentmindedly use whatever pen happened to be around, and then they would carry the pen with them back to their own desk. I lost 50+ disposable ballpoint pens this way. Even when I switched companies, people at the new workplace did just the same thing. One day, I was looking for a new box of disposable ballpoint pens, and talking with the office manager, describing how I had already lost all the other pens. She gave me a box of pink colored (the exterior was pink, the ink was black or blue) breast cancer awareness promotional pens, so it would be obvious who had absentmindedly taken my pen. Sure enough, I soon saw other people using the pink pens. I just let them keep them, and I didn't bother asking for any of the pens back. I'm sure the same thing would have happened if I used a fountain pen, even a unique personalized one, with my name printed right on it. I think I would not take an expensive pen to work with me, knowing that it would soon get lost. When I started getting into fountain pens a few years ago, I realized I could only use them at home, and I do not bring them to work with me. So the perfect work pen, for me, would be a reliable writing pen, very inexpensive, that I wouldn't mind giving away to co-workers.

[KellyMcJ]

When I worked in manufacturing, I used to carry my pen around with me all day long. But, I didn't use a fountain pen back then. There were lots of people around who would absentmindedly use whatever pen happened to be around, and then they would carry the pen with them back to their own desk. I lost 50+ disposable ballpoint pens this way. Even when I switched companies, people at the new workplace did just the same thing. One day, I was looking for a new box of disposable ballpoint pens, and talking with the office manager, describing how I had already lost all the other pens. She gave me a box of pink colored (the exterior was pink, the ink was black or blue) breast cancer awareness promotional pens, so it would be obvious who had absentmindedly taken my pen. Sure enough, I soon saw other people using the pink pens. I just let them keep them, and I didn't bother asking for any of the pens back. I'm sure the same thing would have happened if I used a fountain pen, even a unique personalized one, with my name printed right on it. I think I would not take an expensive pen to work with me, knowing that it would soon get lost. When I started getting into fountain pens a few years ago, I realized I could only use them at home, and I do not bring them to work with me. So the perfect work pen, for me, would be a reliable writing pen, very inexpensive, that I wouldn't mind giving away to co-workers.

 

I keep my pen ON ME at all times (except when I'm using it). I wear a belt-bag and it is clipped inside an outer pocket along with my pocket notebook.

 

This same belt-bag also has a designated pen holder, which my Sailor won't fit in. I have a Uniball in that (I bought a whole box of them before I started using a FP at work). Whenever I run across that "I need your pen" person at a training, the Uniball is there. I don't even care if I get it back.

[Hauriant]

I am a teacher as well, but I rarely ever sit at a desk during working hours for any length of time. I am usually writing notes to/for kids, marking up their assignments, or doing a "work" journal (Brainstorming lessons, to-do lists, observations, etc.)

Before I got into FP's I was a "pen socialist" and would use whatever floated through the environment, which could mean cheap ball points up to the occasional G2. Since getting into this hobby, my ultimate work pen would be. . .

- something that *looks understated*. . . the last thing I want my students worrying about is that their teacher is flaunting a luxury lifestyle. Boring pens also aren't attractive to magpies.

- Good writer, (duh)

- Capless, since I am usually wandering from location to location and student-to-student every ten minutes. It's too easy to leave a cap at a different desk or even in a different classroom.

Ideally, my perfect "work pen" would be something like a Lamy Logo or CP1 but with a VP-like clicker.

I have a VP though and it works pretty well.

[Inky.Fingers]

my submission: a Rotring 700 FP

[Karmachanic]

Dunno if this would work for you, but here goes. In a previous century there was a time when one could puchase a ball point on a cord to wear around ones neck. Or let it hang into your shirt pocket. Cord was attached firmly to the cap. Pull the pen out with one hand. With practice one could put it back with one hand. Stick it back in your pocket.

 

Perhaps you could rig a Safari in the same way. Inexpensive and practical

[escribo]

In my former line of work, before I was retired in 2010 due to the real estate bust of '08, I would have loved to have known about the Monteverde One Touch Tool Pen. My life was measuring land and drawing and reading maps. The pen likely would have been more symbolic than useful, but would have been the envy of the office.

 

There may be others besides the Monteverde. I'm going to look into it, now that it has crossed my mind (thank you OP). Comes with a medium IPG--hope it's a #5; it does not look like a #6. I'll likely swap in a better nib if I can. A relatively wet-ish needle point.

 

Actually my Pilot VP was very useful in my work as well, but a bit heavy for a shirt pocket.

 

EDIT: I just now bought a yellow Monteverde.

[TSherbs]

Pilot Decimo (F)

 

I must carry my pens in my shirt pocket and be able to write with them quickly with one-hand access.

[escribo]

Pilot Decimo (F)

 

I must carry my pens in my shirt pocket and be able to write with them quickly with one-hand access.

 

Thinking about a Decimo as well. AFAIK they are plastic-bodied instead of the VP's brass body, therefore lighter.

[TSherbs]

 

Thinking about a Decimo as well. AFAIK they are plastic-bodied instead of the VP's brass body, therefore lighter.

 

Pretty sure it is a lacquered metal. Just make sure that the work environment is not "rough" where you might press hard on the nib: the nib is small and thin and cannot take pressure like a nail can.

[Noihvo]

I am a teacher as well, but I rarely ever sit at a desk during working hours for any length of time. I am usually writing notes to/for kids, marking up their assignments, or doing a "work" journal (Brainstorming lessons, to-do lists, observations, etc.)

 

Before I got into FP's I was a "pen socialist" and would use whatever floated through the environment, which could mean cheap ball points up to the occasional G2. Since getting into this hobby, my ultimate work pen would be. . .

 

- something that *looks understated*. . . the last thing I want my students worrying about is that their teacher is flaunting a luxury lifestyle. Boring pens also aren't attractive to magpies.

 

- Good writer, (duh)

 

- Capless, since I am usually wandering from location to location and student-to-student every ten minutes. It's too easy to leave a cap at a different desk or even in a different classroom.

 

Ideally, my perfect "work pen" would be something like a Lamy Logo or CP1 but with a VP-like clicker.

 

I have a VP though and it works pretty well.

 

 

Dunno if this would work for you, but here goes. In a previous century there was a time when one could puchase a ball point on a cord to wear around ones neck. Or let it hang into your shirt pocket. Cord was attached firmly to the cap. Pull the pen out with one hand. With practice one could put it back with one hand. Stick it back in your pocket.

 

Perhaps you could rig a Safari in the same way. Inexpensive and practical

 

[jonschram]

Finding the perfect "all around" pen is one of the (several) reasons I joined this site a few days ago. I have a pretty varied job/life: we live on a small farm, own rental houses, work in a more office environment, and I am in the Guard. So in an average week I might spend a day in a skidsteer, install a sink, attend a business meeting, and then go to Drill. I've gotten by for years with a Pilot v-5 roller-ball...which I guard fiercely from "pen snatchers." They are everywhere.

 

New to fountain pens, but I have some preconceived notions of what I want from an everyday carry pen. Thin body, sturdy clip, nigh-indestructible construction, and utterly reliable. Threaded, snap, or clicker doesn't matter to me. Cost, within reason, doesn't matter as long as it's bullet proof.

 

Now for in the house at my desk I would put writing performance and enjoyment at the top of the list.

 

Have a few different pens on the way to narrow it down some more, but the above would be my dream work pen.

[Inky_paws]

The perfect work pen really does depend on what you're doing. In my job, I make a note, then a few minutes later, another note, then... The delay is just too long long to leave a pen uncapped (I've tried) but so short that it drives me crazy capping and uncapping all the time. Today, for instance, I made over 60 notes through the day. So for me, the perfect work pen is my Pilot Vanishing Point - just press the button and write, then press it again. It's a little fat, and a little heavy, and it has that clip, so I understand why it may not suit everyone, but I've got big paws and, because I naturally use a tripod grip, that clip is a bonus because it locates the pen perfectly. Now that I'm using Pilot's ink, it's my perfect work pen.

[Donald2]

Are there any fountain pens out there that have a built in massage vibrator that can gently massage the hand and fingers while writing to eliminate the discomfort of arthritis?

[AL01]

Eh....

 

NO.

 

We are talking about fountain pens, not technalogoy.

 

(I misspelled on purpose.)

 

[Inkling13]

Are there any fountain pens out there that have a built in massage vibrator that can gently massage the hand and fingers while writing to eliminate the discomfort of arthritis?

You would actually make things worse, as you lose sense of how hard you grip the pen. At least this is what i find hving held test tubes in the lab in device that vibrates it to mix and resuspend materials. My kind felt that I didnt have a good grip on it, and thus held on white-knuckled.