Greetings from North Texas

[Wade H.]

Warm greetings from the north Dallas area! I’ve lost track of the number of my visits to FPN. I finally decided forums are a silly place to lurk,so it’s nice to be seen here.  
I’ve been regularly using fountain pens for more than 20 years, and recently started servicing my vintage pens. I’m a big fan of Sheaffer Triumphs, especially Touchdown fillers. 

[OCArt]

[inkstainedruth]

@Wade H. Greetings from Pittsburgh!  

I found my way here in the process of trying to find a (temporary) replacement for a Parker Vector (which had replaced a couple of Parker Reflexes).  At first I was only using those pens for journaling, while trying to go through the chapters and exercises in The Artist's Way, which is a creativity course.  One of the things you do is keep a "morning pages" journal -- you get up in the morning and write three pages, about whatever comes into your mind (I started referring to it as the "daily core dump").  And in order to get into the habit (since I hadn't kept a diary since high school) I decided to get a "nice" pen and a "nice" journal -- in retrospect, the Reflexes, while okay writers, had the problem of the rubber on the section disintegrating; and the original journal had really lousy paper.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to get used to the Vector's F nib at first -- until I discovered how much longer an ink cartridge lasted, vs. the M nibs on the Reflexes....

When I accidentally left that Vector and the then current morning pages journal at my in-laws' house one January (I was ONLY using a fountain pen for the journalling at that point), I went online to try and find a replacement for both -- and found, in the process, the Goulet Pens website AND FPN.  And basically "found my peeps".  I've even got my husband SLIGHTLY hooked, in that I gave him a Pilot Vanishing Point I'd bought used at an antiques & collectibles store that used to be in Mercer, PA (about an hour and a half north of here).  Cost me about a 1/3 of the price of a new one, but was a bit too heavy and awkward for me.  He didn't like the F nib on it, but that gave me the excuse to get a Decimo and swap the nib assembly from the VP for the EF nib assembly in the Decimo.  And I've gotten him to come with me to a couple of pen shows over the years as well....

I usually suggest that new folks click on the "New Content" button, to get a good overview of a range of topics (you can adjust how much/often it refreshes).  And to check out the pinned Index to the Ink Reviews Forum -- I'm convinced we live in the Golden Age of Ink, with new companies popping up all over the globe.  But I also warn them they've found themselves amidst evil enablers, who will be more than happy to help them spend their discretionary budgets on pens, inks, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, pen shows and ephemera.

Have fun here.  And remember -- the only stupid questions are the ones which don't get asked....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! So glad to have you as a member!! Are you coming to the Dallas pen show next weekend? It's going to be a lot of fun!
 

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[jmccarty3]

Welcome to FPN! Hope to see you at the Dallas show.

[RedPie]

Welcome to this great place!

[Bisquitlips]

Welcome from Missouri! 

 

[Wil D]

Welcome!