What I love about fountain pens is that...

[inkstainedruth]

On 3/12/2025 at 2:51 PM, Nightjar said:

 

@Gaius Maximus @inkstainedruth I soooo hate it when you guys who've been at it for decades talk about your $5 finds 😉, for me "cheap" is £20!

I don't know about Gaius Maximus, but I sure haven't been "at it for decades".  I think I've been on here for I think roughly 13 years at this point at most, after trying to find a (temporary) replacement for a Parker Vector (which replaced a couple of Parker Reflexes) and I accidentally left the Vector and the then current morning pages journal at my in-laws' place in CT one January and didn't get them back for a month.  Back then, I was ONLY using a fountain pen for journaling (mostly just to get myself back in the habit, since I hadn't kept a journal or diary since the mid-1970s when I was in high school).  And in the process of finding a (temporary replacement, I found the Goulet Pens website, and also found my way here.

I dunno.  Maybe I'm just lucky to live in the greater Pittsburgh area, where there was always "money" and where people have lived in the area for generations (a friend of mine bought out her two older sisters when their mom died and now lives in the house she grew up in).  I was talking to a guy at one of the evening things at the Ohio Pen Show last fall, who lives in southern Indiana I think -- and he said that he almost NEVER finds pens in the wild where he lives.

Sometimes I get lucky.  Sometimes I don't.  There's an antiques place a little bit north and east of me and I was there one time a few years ago and found some Waterman pen for a three digit (!) price tag and the nib was just completely mangled.  And when the woman working there told me how much they were asking for asking for it I effectively told her she was on drugs and walked out....  Have no idea if she found some other buyer for it.  Me?  I don't have that sort of discretionary budget most of the time....  If I can find some vintage pen for a low price, though, and it's something I want?  I can then AFFORD to get it repaired.   

But I also tell people that I'm a consummate cheapskate.  The last time I said that on PFN, people were going "Oo, no -- you're just frugal...."  And I said, "Nope!  I'm a cheapskate!"  I suspect part of that was how I was raised (my parents grew up during the Depression and neither came from families with much money; I think I was maybe in high school before they got a credit card -- if they didn't have the money for something, it didn't get bought (they bought the house I grew up in without a mortgage -- just based on savings and what our old house sold for).  I bought my first car (a low end model, but new) and paid the loan off early -- and mostly on a $6/hour job at that -- while also paying my parents room & board & my share of the phone bill.  

Plus, honestly?  It's WAY more fun to get a vintage pen for cheap because then I can AFFORD to get it repaired....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

13 hours ago, torstar said:

when i realize i have misplaced or lost a pen that was "right there" an hour ago, the cheaper the pen the less serious the coniption fit and heart attack and near soiling of myself 

 

never mind, i had hidden it while i got up to get coffee and forgot I had hidden it

 

Oh, I've done that with CHEAP pens.  And still had conniption fits.  Lost a Parker Vector in my house for the better part of a year (I think that pen cost me about $9 US new) then found it in a desk drawer when I was looking for something else.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Nightjar]

14 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

It's WAY more fun to get a vintage pen for cheap because then I can AFFORD to get it repaired....

 

@inkstainedruth Yes, that's fun! I'm discovering that there are various simple repair jobs I can do myself, certainly sac replacement. And I'm finding nib smoothing and regrinding to be surprisingly easy... it's badly bent tines that I can't do, even just removing (and replacing) nib-and-feed is very challenging, aka has gone wrong when I tried. I should practice, because that would certainly open up a whole world of bargain pens!

 

@Penguincollector That Parker IM is pretty, and certainly quite black, I didn't know about it, thanks!

 

Finally, I've been a bit facetious, didn't mean to be rude, I'm sure there are fabulous posh pens out there, and indeed a couple of mine are posh-ish 🙂

 

 

 

 

[Mercian]

16 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  This Parker gets my vote:

Parker IM Monochrome Black

 

Ah, yes; the Sith Lord 'starter' pen... 

 

More-senior Sith Lords can move-on to the all-black/'achromatic' Parker 'Ingenuity' FP (check out its nib decoration if you don't believe me)

[Penguincollector]

34 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

Ah, yes; the Sith Lord 'starter' pen... 

 

More-senior Sith Lords can move-on to the all-black/'achromatic' Parker 'Ingenuity' FP (check out its nib decoration if you don't believe me)

  I just took a look and wow, that’s an interesting nib.  I never look at those because the price is ridiculous for a steel Parker nib (but I’m stuck in the ‘90s when their flagship was $299).

[davisgt]

Speaking of, I'm particularly enamored with the Sailor Imperial Black. That nib is ominous and sexy at the same time.  😊

[Penguincollector]

16 hours ago, davisgt said:

Speaking of, I'm particularly enamored with the Sailor Imperial Black. That nib is ominous and sexy at the same time.  😊

 That’s a gorgeous pen! 

[Pen Ffynnon]

On 3/12/2025 at 1:15 PM, Nightjar said:

 

@Pen Ffynnon I think you mean pens that (I scarcely dare say it)... aren't black?! And here's me thinking this was a respectable forum!

 

 

I lied--I have two black pens--a Conklin "Mark Twain" (I was young! I was foolish!) and a Pineider The Alchemist (probably also foolish, but it writes nicely). Even my two old Parkers are blue and the Parker 75 (vintage 1993) en route is Thuya brown lacquer.

[Nightjar]

23 hours ago, Pen Ffynnon said:

 

I lied--I have two black pens--a Conklin "Mark Twain" (I was young! I was 

 

Those must be nice pens, even if the colour not your favourite! I'm intrigued by the old Conklin Crescent Fillers, but they seem to be very sought-after and costly, so that will probably remain just window-shopping 🙂

 

[Pen Ffynnon]

7 minutes ago, Nightjar said:

 

Those must be nice pens, even if the colour not your favourite! I'm intrigued by the old Conklin Crescent Fillers, but they seem to be very sought-after and costly, so that will probably remain just window-shopping 🙂

 

No, this is a modern remake--well, not really, more of a replica. I wish my budget could stretch to one of the old originals, though!

[chromantic]

What I love is that the longer you play, the more expensive they become.

[davisgt]

Wow. True words.  

[psimpson130]

Being left handed, I have fun messing with people - a leftie with a fountain pen and he doesn't smear? I write from below the line, so I don't hook. 

 

Had a church council meeting (I'm the secretary) and the chair looked at me when I was writing with a fountain pen. Good times.

[Mercian]

7 hours ago, psimpson130 said:

...a leftie with a fountain pen and he doesn't smear?

 

 

7 hours ago, psimpson130 said:

Had a church council meeting (I'm the secretary) and the chair looked at me when I was writing with a fountain pen.

 

Now, I don't know what Church you are a member of, but are you certain that the chair who was watching you write left-handed with a fountain pen without smearing was not thinking that you must therefore be a Witch...? 😱

Do you live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in a small town by the name of Salem...? 

[psimpson130]

On 3/28/2025 at 5:18 AM, Mercian said:

 

Mercian,

Actually I am from Brockton, Mass and have been to Salem many times. I have also been to Lizzie Borden's house as well. Currently living in Tucson, AZ. Ended up in Tucson as a result of the USAF, I was a navigator and when I retired I was the last celestial qualified nav in the unit which by the old days some would think I was a practioner in the dark arts. With the advent of GPS and such, celestial navigation has gone by the wayside. I have flown over the North Pole and across the North Atlantic and the Pacific using celestial before the days of inertial and GPS navigation systems. But still, love the feel of writing with a fountain pen. Trying to decide which pen I will use tomorrow night at our monthly business at my masonic lodge where I am also the secretary. BTW, my church is St Mark's UMC in Tucson and our council chair also likes fountain pens.

On 3/28/2025 at 5:18 AM, Mercian said:

 

Now, I don't know what Church you are a member of, but are you certain that the chair who was watching you write left-handed with a fountain pen without smearing was not thinking that you must therefore be a Witch...? 😱

Do you live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in a small town by the name of Salem...?