Add me to the list of happy fountain pen users. I'm even happy with the under $5 drug store "Shaeffer" pen I've had since junior high school.

Staffist: ...and so long as you're not writing left-handed, a fountain pen can even make the shiattiest handwriting look slightly better.

As a left-handed fountain pen fan with the shiattiest handwriting, I have to disagree: even if you are writing left-handed, a fountain pen can improve things. The catch is that you have to slow down a little, so the ink dries enough to not smudge all over the place.

some.old.lady.: I dearly love writing with fountain pens. Good pen, good ink, good paper... it just makes me want to create something that has merit in meaning and is visually pleasing.

Your posts are visually pleasing:) Always positive! Cheers old lady

my Mont Blanc asks "What's a fountain pen"

Man... I don't handwrite anything more than a quick sentence or two on a post-it note or a piece of scrap paper maybe once a week depending on what I'm working on. My handwriting has degraded to about Kindergarten level thanks to computers.

I'll bet two generations from now people will be asking what a pen is.

Fountain pens are so smooth

Came here to say fountain pens just aren't meant for leftys like me. I see it's been covered. Always wanted one too.

MaxxLarge: Staffist: So long as you're not writing left-handed, a fountain pen can even make the shiattiest handwriting look slightly better.

And that's precisely the reason why I could never use one. Fountain pens aside...Given the legendary smudgability of soft-leaded #2 pencils and those smeary-as-hell "erasable pens" that were all the rage when I was in grade school, I don't think I've EVER produced a piece of longhand writing that didn't look like someone wiped their ass on it.

Dear god this. The side of my hand always looked like I rubbed it in charcoal.

Love my Pilot Varsity disposables. Not so much on newsprint or other low-quality paper. It's cool seeing the letters shine for five or ten seconds before the paper absorbs the ink. Makes a cool scratching noise too, and it takes absolutely no pressure for the pen to write.

yabbut,yer still not funny.//i keed
BigLuca: I care about how my words look as much as what I say, that is why I type in comic sans.

Fountain pens are, in a word, awesome.

Acme makes some nice pens that you can use as a fountain pen.

/left handed
//Typed from my iPad. Which will never be as cool as a good fountain pen.

I just finished calligraphy & illumination on a scroll for the SCA, so I'm getting a kick...

Seriously, I love the feel of penmanship - the personal, almost intimate act of writing, by hand, something important enough to do by hand on paper. If I had a nickel every time I'd provided a scroll, or a sign, or a letter, or a note, in which I had thought about font, kerning, color, design, flow, I still couldn't afford to pay for the supplies but it'd be worth it.

One of my best friends took the time & effort to write and illuminate Christmas cards by hand, because she, too, loves the art. Those who lay ink to paper with a nib or steel brush are a tiny, dying breed, but we're still out there, keeping Speedball in business.

I wish I could write well, but it's a perishable skill that I don't have time to maintain.

These days I'm struggling to keep my signature from getting worse. It's degrading to the point where it's deviating from the copies my bank has on file, and that worries me.

some.old.lady.: I dearly love writing with fountain pens. Good pen, good ink, good paper... it just makes me want to create something that has merit in meaning and is visually pleasing.

Oh yes. My grandparents swore by fountain pens when I was growing up, and I largely ignored them because, well, pens are boring and dinosaurs are cool. But, when I entered high school they bought me my first fountain pen, a really nice, solid, beautiful thing. I love to write, and I'll cut off a man's finger for ink if I'm desperate enough, but I loved that pen.

I really need to get myself another one. Although those waterproof, fadeproof, .5mm gel pens are magnificent things. Not anywhere as thin as I like them, but oh they make writing a thing of pleasure.

/yes, I actually enjoy hand written notes during the holidays

Never could afford the high end ones, but I love writing with my Waterman.

jimpoz: Love my Pilot Varsity disposables. Not so much on newsprint or other low-quality paper. It's cool seeing the letters shine for five or ten seconds before the paper absorbs the ink. Makes a cool scratching noise too, and it takes absolutely no pressure for the pen to write.

Came here to say this. I use them religiously. But then again, I am one of the few people who still hand-writes letters to people.

/replace them about every 6 months
//would dearly love a fancy high-end one just to use for the calligraphy

I have a number of fountain pens. This one is was cool because it had retractable PDA nib on one end. Sadly, I can't think of a way to make it work with capacitive screens:



I also like my Rotring 700, a slender Waterman with a lacquer finish, a capless Japanese model with a retractable nib, and a few others including one with an oblique nib for signatures. I use blue Parker Quink and I have cigar-sized portable inkwell. If ballpoints produced a better line on paper, I'd use them.

The fountain pens containing the little plastic cylinders filled with ink suited me just fine ... junior high, I think it was - right around 1973. Yes, because I remember the dark blue stain on my light blue shirt pocket.

I have a Waterman that I absolutely love.

Pen pron thread? Excellent!

You young uns and your fancy-shmancy technology. Fountain pens? Pah, the only real way to write is to use actual goosequills.

LesserEvil: Bah. Everybody who knows anything about technology should be using the Fisher Space Pen

[www.spacepenlebanon.com image 431x363]

I've always wondered about why someone would go through the trouble to design a pen that would write in space. The Russians had it right on that: just use a farking pencil.

I'm 22 and I love fountain pens. I have 3. Two Lamys and a Twsbi. If you're looking for a piston filler pen you can't go wrong with the Twsbi.

And for the people that just want a cheap disposable fountain pen, I really like the Platinum Preppy. I have a purple one that I use to supplement my midnight blue ink in my Twsbi.

buckler: Funny. When American engineers were trying to work out a pressurized pen to use in the Apollo program, the Soviets opted for pencils.

...which was debunked by Snopes.

I remember carrying fountain pens and bottles of ink to school when I was in elementary school. I hated the ink stains you'd get on your fingers and left handed students had a biatch of a time keeping their writing free of smudges. We also wore uniforms. I'm 32 and grew up in Eastern Europe.

/CSB

Swoop1809: I'm 22 and I love fountain pens. I have 3. Two Lamys and a Twsbi. If you're looking for a piston filler pen you can't go wrong with the Twsbi.

I also have two Lamys. Nice pens. Also had a Pelikano. It was ok. It got stolen at work, which annoyed me. I paid decent money for that pen (all of $16).

They also make left-handed fountain pens, for those who want to test them out.

I'll just stick with this:

/hot like the writing of a lover with good penmanship

Another left-handed fountain pen lover. I have quite a handful, about the maximum I could have and keep a decent rotation going. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone slightly interested in them to try them out - it makes the process of writing very, very...pleasurable? is perhaps the best way to put it.

There are a couple of sources of information on the web about them for beginners:
Richard Binder (new window) is a vendor/repair guru who has a bunch of good information about the language and mechanics, and
The Fountain Pen Network (new window) is a forum centered around fountain pens, and they are very willing to help out new converts to the hobby.

Not affiliated with either of the above, aside from being a FPN member (with the same handle)

FormlessOne: I just finished calligraphy & illumination on a scroll for the SCA, so I'm getting a kick...

Seriously, I love the feel of penmanship - the personal, almost intimate act of writing, by hand, something important enough to do by hand on paper. If I had a nickel every time I'd provided a scroll, or a sign, or a letter, or a note, in which I had thought about font, kerning, color, design, flow, I still couldn't afford to pay for the supplies but it'd be worth it.

One of my best friends took the time & effort to write and illuminate Christmas cards by hand, because she, too, loves the art. Those who lay ink to paper with a nib or steel brush are a tiny, dying breed, but we're still out there, keeping Speedball in business.

*fistbump*

I love doing calligraphy and illumination, been doing it for years. Not only is it good for the occasional gift or freelance project (wedding invitations, etc), I think it just makes people feel special when you take the time to compose and write out a letter on beautiful paper, then close it with wax and a seal.

If you like using sealing wax, btw, check out www.nostalgicimpressions.com. They have all kinds of lovely stuff for really reasonable prices.

Vermicious Knids: I love doing calligraphy and illumination, been doing it for years. Not only is it good for the occasional gift or freelance project (wedding invitations, etc), I think it just makes people feel special when you take the time to compose and write out a letter on beautiful paper, then close it with wax and a seal.

Time and attention are far better currencies than anything in my wallet, and I like spending both on my friends.

If you like using sealing wax, btw, check out www.nostalgicimpressions.com. They have all kinds of lovely stuff for really reasonable prices.

The benefit of living in the Puget Sound area is that I have a couple of huge art supply warehouses to which I make regular pilgrimages. I'm a big fan of Daniel Smith, because although their prices can be steep for some things, their selection almost justifies them. My scribe's kit includes sealing gear.