Hello from a new fan

[Vcasa]

Hello everyone!  I am new to the world of fountain pens. I hope to learn a lot from all of you.  I have yet to purchase my first real pen.  Any advice about vintage as well as new pens is greatly appreciated.  

[A Smug Dill]

Welcome to FPN!

 

2 minutes ago, Vcasa said:

Any advice about vintage as well as new pens is greatly appreciated.

 

We should start with finding out what you hope to get out of a fountain pen. The nib type and width grade, the filling system, and the shape and construction of the pen to recommend all depend on what you're after. What do you like to write with, and on what type(s) of journal, planner, notebook, and/or notepad do you intended to write in with a fountain pen?

[OCArt]

[AkitaMom]

Aloha and welcome Vcasa to our very happy fountain pen place! A Smug Dill has it right, and very well said.

[PAKMAN]

Hello and welcome to FPN! So glad to have you join us!

[Russprechtl]

Welcome from Indiana!

[Wahl]

[Vcasa]

This all started because of my daughter.  My wife and I purchased an inexpensive pilot pen last Christmas for her and I also purchased disposable fountain pens as well.  My wife and I discovered we really enjoy using the fountains!  That started me looking in the pen world rabbit hole with looking at pens, paper, journals and don’t get us started on inks.

I am looking for a sturdy everyday writer making lists, journals and just stuff I guess.  I would like to use a converter so we can explore all the types of ink.  I picture a classic looking pen sturdy construction (?metal).  I have used a medium nib but think I would prefer a fine.  If I could exchange nibs on the pen it would be good but not a must have. I would be open to a vintage pen if it would get me bang for the buck.  My budget is around $125 dollars. I am in Michigan and see there will be a pen show in Detroit in October. 

 

Thank you to everyone for being so nice here and letting me pick your brain.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

from Yorkshire UK

[Wahl]

[inkstainedruth]

@Vcasa Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA! 

I got interested a number of years ago when I started reading The Artist's Way, which is a creativity course (some day I'm going to start over and actually FINISH it...).  And every week you read the next chapter and do the "think outside the box" exercises; but you also do something just for YOU (the author calls it "artist's day out") and I often go antiquing or to estate sales, or go to matinees of movies my husband doesn't want to see on the big screen.  But you ALSO keep what's called a "morning pages journal", where the first thing you do in the morning is to write three pages (whatever comes into your head goes onto the page).  Then you close it and go about the rest of your day.  I hadn't kept a diary or journal since I was maybe in high school -- and that had devolved into basically a spreadsheet of songs I'd heard on the radio, and said to myself, "This is STUPID!"  So, in order to get myself back in the habit, I decided I was going to get a "good" pen and a "nice journal".  In retrospect neither was.  The journal had lousy paper, and the pen, A Parker Reflex cartridge pen, had a rubberized section grip where the rubber eventually disintegrated.  Same thing happened with the replacement Reflex.  So went back to the local Staples to get a third one and they didn't carry them anymore.  So went online to Parker's website and found that there was an old-time stationers' shop the next street over Downtown from my doctor's office.  And I ended up buying a Parker Vector (I still had cartridges -- didn't know about converters or other fill systems back then.  

Then one January, accidentally left the then-current journal and the pen and the bag they were in at my brother-in-law's house in Connecticut, and didn't get them back for a month.  By then?  Doing the journal entries with a "regular" pen just didn't have the same "feel" to it.  So went back to the place I'd gotten the Vector, but my choices were a Pilot Varsity or a pen that cost something like four times what the Vector had (and I'd felt so extravagant buying *it* -- I mean, I'd paid NINE DOLLARS just for a pen (yeah, who knew... ).  But the Varsity ran out in something like 3 days.  So I went online and in the process found the Goulet Pens website, and also found my way here.   And well, ended up diving head first down the vintage pen rabbit hole (although my two most expensive pens are a couple of Pelikan M405s -- one a special edition).  Although my husband tells people that the pens were just the gateway to the REAL collection (the inks).

I'd always been sort of interested, even as a kid, after finding what had been my grandfather's pen/pencil combo (no idea of the brand -- it got lost roughly half a century ago) on my dad's dresser after coming home from my grandfather's funeral.  My mother could NOT figure out my fascination with it, and just chalked it up to my being "artsy".  I was little that I thought the leads for the pencil end went into what was -- in retrospect -- the lever box for filling the pen end.  (Well, it was blue -- my favorite color -- and had been my grandfather's.... 

I generally suggest that new folks click on the "new content" button when they log in, 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 (even though some old images were lost in the Great Photobucket Hijack a few years ago).  But I also warn them that they've found their way into a den of enablers, who will happily help them spend their discretionary budgets on pens, ink, paper, desk accessories, repair tools, ephemera and pen shows....   (Speaking of which, while I don't know offhand about any shows in Michigan, the Ohio Pen Show is in the fall down in Columbus, OH -- and I always have a good time at it (I just checked Google Maps and I think it's maybe 1-1/2-2 hours from Detroit).

Have fun here, and remember that the only dumb questions are the ones which don't get asked (and sometimes the search engine is a little flaky).  I'm constantly amazed at the amount of knowledge to be found here -- and not just pen-related!  And the the generosity of the people in this community in the sharing of that knowledge as well.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Penguincollector]

@Vcasa, welcome to you and your FP using family! I will PM you.

[Vcasa]

I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome.  I look forward to spending too much time and money on pens. Cheers

[inkstainedruth]

Oh, you've definitely come to the right place for that.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[1nkulus]

You have successfully entered a rabbit hole/warren, who knows what it'll yield and where it'll lead.

Enjoy the fascinating journey and feel free to ask/share.