Has A Ballpoint Been Able To Replace Your Fountain Pen?

[Bo Bo Olson]

No, and besides Jotters there is a few of my wife's middle class ball points she has put away until she retires....so they don't walk at work..................not that she's going to need them after she retires.

 

My hand scribble had deteroriated so bad with a ball point I could bearly read my printing.

Once I returned after only 40 some odd years to fountain pens, I developed elegant Chicken Scratch.....unreadable of course. But now....I write in Rooster Scratch.....(if slow enough...I Can Read it. )

 

Back in the day.....for school start a fountain pen and a nice Plamate or later a Jotter was bought and stolen. I liked a Jotter but did not like a mechanical pencil...even if it was a Jotter.

 

A decade or so ago.....I won a live auction lot, that had an ugly MB, a 400nn and a typlcal '50's Pelikan 455 ball point....god I can remember those clunkers (all of them not just Pelikan) ....like buying a Chinese pen now....luck would get you one you didn't have to take out your jack knife and do surgery in class to get it to work.

I never liked a mechanical pencil....not even with the mechanical pencil cartridge in my thin silver P-75 ball point.

That Pelikan 450 sat for some 6-7 years in my Burl veneer, cedar lined small humidor.

 

 

 

 

 

Can't use some sort of extension...have no idea what?...so I cut the two pictures of my humidor…..

 

I have no idea why I tried that Pelikan 450 mechanical pencil.

Six weeks later I put it down because it ran out of lead and I didn't know how to work the gadget.....since solved. Nope, didn't use a fountain pen for anything during those six weeks.

Well balanced and nimble in my hand....what a shock!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well, every once in a while I gather up and sell ball points that have snuck into the house at a flea market..………..and over here in Germany we are often a decade behind the states.....or the free ball points had the cheaper old style stift….instead of the gel or hybred cartridges. They do allow a lower hold than the old fashioned stifts. So if push come to shove one could use them when one don't want to use a really good mechanical pencil.

 

Well don't use it much any more,.....keep it on display on a pen stand in the living room next to, or on the glass plate of my two drawer cherry fountain pen box. Out of sight out of mind...…….imagine cobweb dangled ink bottles...……...nope.....in a nice agate pen holder is the place for that temptation.

[Bo Bo Olson]

[Mongoosey]

Replace? no.

 

Supplement? absolutely. My Fisher AG-7 space pen is always on me.

 

That's a beautiful pen. It looks and feels impressive and I love the feel of the click mechanism.

 

I really wish it held a Parker Style Refill.

 

The Fisher Space Pen refill takes too much pressure to write for me, but I do like the idea of it being able to handle anything, being a true EDC.

 

That Zebra F701 hack with the Fisher Space Pen refill is nice, too. My family members who like to press down while writing stole both of mine lol.

 

______________________________

 

But I'm actually doing some creative writing at the moment. I usually use a fountain pen on Tomoe River 52 gsm (Nanami Notebooks), but when I want to do larger composition work I'll shift to basic Large Mead Notebooks so I can sprawl out on some open terrain...

 

...with which I will use fountain pens because I like the feedback of the cheap paper with a smooth nib and ink (Kiwa-Guro, Noodler's black, and Pilot Blue Black work well),

 

but I also have been really impressed with the Uni SXR-600-07 refill, especially since I don't like how light Jetstream pens are. It works great on 52 gsm TRP as well as cheap absorbant paper, both of which it has a little pleasant amount of feedback that feels just right.

If one hasn't tried a Hybrid Ballpoint it's worth trying. It's what I always wished a regular Ballpoint could be lol.

I do make sure I have a couple regular Ballpoint refills (Schmidt P900's) in my collection for those "hard Job" moments they are needed for, but I haven't had that come up in a while.

Edited September 16, 2019 by Mongoosey

[jvr]

My Pilot Ageless ballpoint is the Pen I take with me when my consulting work takes me into an open plan office. I’d be too afraid to lose my fountain pens. Plus, the Ageless is an amazing pen.

[chromantic]

No. And I have a Stola III, the Darth Vader of BPs. Mainly because of the limited selection of ink colors; even including gel refills, there's not a lot to choose from.

 

Still, there's need for a hard point on occasion (NCRs) and there are cartridge-fill rollerballs you can use with any color you like. Not a lot to choose from, though (nothing fancy like a MB), the little Herbin, Lyra Calypso (if you can find them) and someone is selling some Rotrings in Classifieds. I'm currently using a beautiful dark blue Lyra inked, ironically given my previous remark, with MV Sapphire.

[Michael F]

I use a Pentel Energel or Uniball Signo for certain things at work. Fountain pens just cannot compete with the performance on cheap paper. I do all my editing with a needlepoint Energel. I get no feathering, clean precise lines, and vibrant ink and color perfect for the situation. Ballpoints also tend to work better on Post-it notes, which I use a lot. While I still primarily take notes in client meeting with my fountain pens, there are certainly days where I wonder if I should just keep my fountain pens for journaling and other leisurely writing situations where they really excel.

Edited September 17, 2019 by MichaelF

[bemon]

Not as a general rule, but I carry a Cross Century Classic as part of my EDC and thoroughly enjoy it for it's weight and balance. I generally use it for ticking off list items, signing something on the go, or for when I'm browsing a report and making notes in the margin since I don't have to deal with the hassle of ink drying on a nib or feathering on printer paper. But sometimes I just LIKE the feel of it and I'll go a day where I use it for everything so I understand.

 

I've have the larger Cross Century II, Something from the MB Meisterstuck line, a L2K ballpoint, Peliken K400, among other ballpoints I'm sure I've forgotten about. The Century Classic is like an old friend who I can always come back to when my higher maintenance fountain pens make me roll my eyes.

Edited September 17, 2019 by bemon

[JakobS]

It's rather hard to do when I don't own any ballpoint pens......

 

[sansenri]

a ballpoint? I keep those things as far away from me as possible!

when forced to use one (in the very rare occasion that I don't have a fountain pen on me, and I need to write something) I feel discomfort... (not kidding)

I can accept to use a Rolleball, I own one, vs many fountain pens; it looks like a fountain pen when closed (Pelikan R200) and I keep it in my office back pack just for rare emergencies (sees very very rare use).

[milkb0at]

I will always stand up for ballpoints of all kinds (oil, hybrid, gel, roller and probably a few more I've missed). They won't replace my fountain pens for journaling or drawing, but I use them in parallel. Of course they work better in some scenarios.

 

I think people who are too sniffy about ballpoints are missing out on some interesting writing and drawing experiences. But that's ok - it's their prerogative.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Replace? no.

 

Supplement? absolutely. My Fisher AG-7 space pen is always on me.

 

Me too, more or less. I always carry a Fisher bullet style Space Pen in a pants pocket. The fountain pens go in a shirt pocket, or perhaps a laptop case. I have another Space Pen of the same type in my car, and if I pick it up after several unused months of baking in the summer sun and freezing in the winter, it will still work. If I want another backup, I might add one of my old Jotters with a Schmidt EasyFlow refill. These are about as smooth writing as a ballpoint gets.

 

But they hardly ever actually get used. They are emergency backups, pens to use outside during bad weather, pens for writing on inferior paper. They're the pens I hand over if I decide to lend a pen to someone. After writing with a fountain pen, using one of them is always a bit of a letdown.

 

I do use mechanical pencils quite often, much more frequently than ballpoints, but still less than my fountain pens.

[tubular]

I too like the Fisher Space Pen and will use it when I have only a few words I need to write, when I am confronted with confronted with nib-unfriendly paper, or when there is any possibility that a good pen might not be safe. But I don't see it as taking the place of a fountain pen in normal circumstances.

[Arkanabar]

I have ballpoints. I use them for writing on triplicate forms. And I use the stylus tip sometimes for the touchscreens at work. I have a black finish brass Fisher Cap-O-Matic in my car, just in case. It wears a pencil pillow. I also have Pentel Twist Erase III mechanical pencils in 0.5 and 0.7mm, that only get used for scan-trons and carpentry, now that I'm out of gaming and don't have character sheets that need editing and maps to draw. I also have a Sharpie that I carry at work, and it gets more use than anything but my fountain pens. I have a Hero 616 filled with "I Can't Believe It's Waterman Florida Blue" that gets used when I have paper that just feathers too much for anything else.

 

Fountain pens aren't for everyone, or every situation. I can recognize when somebody isn't going to want to use one, most of the time. My Estie has a manifold medium nib that I really like (it's a bit stubby), but it doesn't go to work, the only place where I have to fill out triplicate.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Arkanabar

[wspohn]

Isn't this like going onto an enthusiast sports car page and asking if anyone has replaced their sports car with a bicycle.....

 

BP or RB have their places, but none give the pleasure of writing with a nib. If you gave up FPs for BPs you were never a real aficionado in the first place.

[essayfaire]

No.

 

Felt tips can write on coffee cups. So can brush pens.

[jar]

Of course not.

[bemon]

 

Me too, more or less. I always carry a Fisher bullet style Space Pen in a pants pocket. The fountain pens go in a shirt pocket, or perhaps a laptop case. I have another Space Pen of the same type in my car, and if I pick it up after several unused months of baking in the summer sun and freezing in the winter, it will still work. If I want another backup, I might add one of my old Jotters with a Schmidt EasyFlow refill. These are about as smooth writing as a ballpoint gets.

 

But they hardly ever actually get used. They are emergency backups, pens to use outside during bad weather, pens for writing on inferior paper. They're the pens I hand over if I decide to lend a pen to someone. After writing with a fountain pen, using one of them is always a bit of a letdown.

 

I do use mechanical pencils quite often, much more frequently than ballpoints, but still less than my fountain pens.

I carry a Fisher Bullet on evenings and weekends too. I keep a broad blue refill in it and it's a great accessory for casual dress. For work I keep a Cross Century Classic with a broad blue in it as well in my pocket for fountain pen support. Like I said somewhere else on the thread it's great for instances where I need a lot of cap off time and I can't be bothered to even keep on clicking the vanishing point.

 

It also fits nicely in my pocket. I found a leather sleeve for it from Fendrihan which is more to protect my pants from ink-splosions than to protect the pen. Aside from those days where I just feel like using it, it doesn't see a lot of mileage. Probably gets used once or twice a week as a rule.

 

It's compact enough that it doesn't really take a noticeable amount of space. Car keys beside it for reference. Of course my regular EDC fountains are preferred!

[dojocho]

Ballpoint.....hmmmmmm….interesting word....please explain this word....know it, I do not…..

[Charles Rice]

What's a ballpoint?

[pajaro]

I believe it is fair to say that some nice ballpoints I have have been able to take their place beside my fountain pen. I am even selling some fountain pens I do not use to buy a ballpoint I want and some other stuff.

Edited September 27, 2019 by pajaro