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Has A Ballpoint Been Able To Replace Your Fountain Pen?


ncpenfan

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I hate to say it... after years of using only Pelikan/Cross/Montblanc fountain pens of various models, and the occasional Parker Sonnet ballpoint, a ballpoint has taken the place of most of my collection!

 

A friend of mine leant me his Montblanc Starwalker Rubber and Metal, and after using it for a week, I found a used one on Ebay and there has been no going back! I keep the fountain pens on my desk, but the balance and weight of this particular ballpoint are perfect for me.

 

Anyone else with a similar experience with a ballpoint or other pen? I haven't used a fountain pen in several weeks! Never thought it would happen.

 

all the best to my fellow stylophiles.

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No, my flex-ball pen cannot produce the line variation that my flex-nib pen does. And nobody says "wow! you have a ballpoint pen!". I do own a nice ballpoint pen, but it does not come in the ink color options my Fountain pens do. I have some things I do ballpoint, (such as writing on very poor quality paper that feathers/bleeds excessively). But then, for any serious writing, I have serious heavy-weight low-acid paper.

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No Ball point has yet made me want to give up my Fountain pens!

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While I have not yet gone as far as to set aside my P51, Sheaffer Imperial and Montblanc 144s, my MB 164 ballpoints with broad points and other ballpoints with broad points have assumed a lot of the writing work. The broad point refills seem to write with less effort and pressure.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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No. After using ball-points for a while after retiring (my one fountain pen at the time being "too good" for common use) I switched back to my fountain pen; then I retired it as "not good enough" while buying a hundred more.

X

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Yes, I've had that experience:

 

I love the Hybrid Ballpoint refills: Schmidt Easyflow9000's and Uni SXR-600-07's, which write nearly as effortlessly as a fountain pen and last a surprisingly long time.

 

I use these refills in the Parker Jotter, which is my EDC, and also in the rOtring Tikky Ballpoint, which is my Default Long Distance Writer that I can use all day all week without hand fatigue, which is something I can't say about nearly all the fountain pens I've tried from starters to TWSBI to Pilot 823, Lamy 2k, Pelikans, and a large majority of those under $200.

 

I was so impressed with the Tikky Ballpoint with these Hybrid refills that I wrote the following review:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/344290-rotring-tikky-ballpoint-review/

 

But I must say:

  • I do still really like the Lamy Vista/safari/al-star, Platinum 3776, and Pilot Prera (especially when posted).
  • And I do still prefer to have at least those fountain pens available because I don't have to worry about picking up new refills and having old ones go dry. I have the fountain pen ink I prefer stockpiled and ready to last beyond any worries.
  • Plus, nothing I've use has felt as good as a fountain pen. It's truly an unprecedented and beautiful experience.
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I have been using pilot G2 rollerballs or pencils to do my heavy duty marking, instead of fountain pen.

 

Fountain pen ink just did not work well when I had to maker quickly on poor quality paper - so I got ink blobs or smears (I'm left handed) all over the place. I'd mark page 1, turn the page and find the ink hasn't dried, or has feathered and gone through the page.

 

I simply do not have the time to faff around with pen & ink combinations when I've got 100+ scripts to mark.

 

So, I stopped using FP for certain jobs, because other writing implements are more suitable.

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Not so much replace as "Horses for courses".

For some jobs fountain pens won't work (well, not for for me anyway), such as marking metal parts or writing on plastic bags.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.

That's why it's called the present

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It depends on what I'm writing. For short notes I won't mind using a rollerball. But if it's more than a page, I'd never use anything else than a good fountain pen.

"On the internet nobody knows you're a cat." =^.^=

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I love writing with my fountain pens, however, I use a ballpoint (Cross Century or Parker Jotter) frequently at work because fountain pens don't write on styrofoam to identify my coffee cup, nor do they make copies in triplicate on pressure sensitive paper.

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... because fountain pens don't write on styrofoam to identify my coffee cup, nor do they make copies in triplicate on pressure sensitive paper.

I'd love to put that to the test with a fountain pen fitted with a Pilot 14K gold #10 PO nib (of which I don't have one) or even a Nemosine steel EF nib (of which I do have two) and inked with Sailor kiwaguro pigment ink. :)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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I love writing with my fountain pens, however, I use a ballpoint (Cross Century or Parker Jotter) frequently at work because fountain pens don't write on styrofoam to identify my coffee cup, nor do they make copies in triplicate on pressure sensitive paper.

 

I had never thought of using a FP for writing on a styrofoam cup so I just used a fine nib MB146 to write on mine. Seems to work fine. But then again for the environment's sake, aren't we supposed to be getting rid of all styrofoam? ;)

 

As for making copies on pressure sensitive paper you should try vintage manifold nibs such as Esterbrook (9460, 9461, 9650) and Pelikan D (Durchschreibefeder) nibs. These hard as nails nibs are also excellent for rapid note taking. :thumbup:

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A ballpoint could never replace my fountain pens. The writing experience feels completely different in my opinion. I've had some really effortless writing rollerballs that were quite nice, but still not as enjoyable as a good fountain pen.

 

Having said that, the comment about about "horses for courses" is about right. There are times I can't use a fountain pen to mark a surface I need to. It is exceedingly rare though, and I usually use a Sharpie or a pencil, not a ballpoint (marking PVC pipe or 2x4's for cutting while in the garage, etc). Those instances are not what I consider "sitting down to write for a bit", it's more like I just needed a different tool for the job I was doing in the moment. The act of actually "writing" for me -- expressing thoughts on a page for an extended period of 2 or more pages -- only ever happens with fountain pens.

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For me, I find the opposite to be true. Fountain pens have more or less replaced my ballpoint pens. Only in circumstances where I absolutely have to use a ballpoint pen do I use a ballpoint pen, for example signing the back of credit cards. I find ballpoint pens require far too much pressure to write and the only reason why the used was that they were standard used in schools and are cheap to replace if lost.

 

Also, I do not really feel in control of my writing when I write with a ballpoint pen; rather than controlling the pen, the pen controls you. With the fountain pen you get a freedom of writing which you do not get with any other ball based pen, whether rollerball or ballpoint, regardless of how easily the ink comes out. A fountain pen has a frictionless writing experience that cannot be replicated through fibre -tipped or felt pens.

Edited by stenolearner
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NEVER...

 

A Rollerball gets consideration when needing to sign duplicate forms (and even then, the highly beat-up Levenger rollerball in my check book uses international standard cartridges).

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