Why Do You Use A Fountain Pen?

[GabrielleDuVent]

In the previous poll topic I posted, I asked what people say to you when you use your fountain pen in the public. The reasoning for asking this was because I wanted to see the public's reaction to fountain pens and their users. The common perception is "posh", but what do people think of them, personally? Do they even care?

 

A responder to the forum, jetsam, wrote as a response that this made him ask himself why he uses fountain pens, since we are bombarded with alternative choices, and then suggested I put this pseudo-existential question as a poll as well. I'm sure there are about as many reasons as there are users, but I figured it's worth thinking about it. Fountain pens are high maintenance (compared to alternatives anyway) and are often luxury items, since it's not really necessary to carry out your day-to-day tasks. It's not just for older generations either, since we have teenagers on here.

 

My main reason is because I have very weak writing pressure, and I need ink to flow upon contact, not upon pressure. Not only that, I appreciate the variety of nibs and the colours a fountain pen can bring as options.

 

What are your reasons?

 

 

[torstar]

I enjoy the hobby of collecting, mixing, filling, thinking about when I run out in this pen and what ink I will fill the pen with.

 

Just different enough to be noticed, with no fear of being locked up.

[inferno2086]

For me its about customization both with ink colors and nib widths. I love the tradition also it makes it kinda have a vintage feel when writing with a fountain pen.

[Lyander0012]

I selected three: First was because I wanted very badly to improve my penmanship. There was nothing wrong with it, initially, but I just felt that it lacked... character? Something to make it stand out. I guess I have something of an attention-seeking streak, haha XD

Another reason was because I was enamoured by the fact that one could practically create ink of any colour they wanted, and use that colour in their writing. It's a bit similar in reason to the first option I'd chosen in that it has something to do with my wanting to stand out a bit. And because I've long since tired of conventional pen ink colours, of course— I almost always used brown-inked gel pens prior to my adopting fountain pens.

 

Lastly... I just recently updated my profile, and it recounts my first experience with fountain pens. My grandfather had three Sheaffer Imperial desk pens laying around, one of which I ruined (I hate recalling that memory >.<;. I'm fairly close to my grandpa, but I rarely get to see him anymore. I'd seen those selfsame three pens just days before I took the plunge and bought my first fountain pen. Naturally, it was a Sheaffer

[orinix]

I don't use FP to seem "cool" or appear a certain way to others, and it looks like I don't really fit into any of the categories (though I do like the wide range of colors). I use FPs simply because they give me a weird sort of satisfaction - I can appreciate the tradition behind the pen and the engineering that goes into the design. I can geek out.

 

.

[BrandonA]

I used them because I like them.

[alvarado]

I do not think it is cool to use a fountain pen. There are certain drawbacks of using actually. However, the line variation and the way to write is something a modern pen can not provide.

[Namru]

I just prefer it to any other writing instrument; when you're taught to write with one as a youngstar, suddenly having to apply pressure to write mucks up my handwriting. Anything from my silent glass like Pelikan, my singing Cross Spire or my humble beat up Kaweco. It's all good. (Plus, they don't make a stub ballpoint.)

 

Also the huge array of inks to choose from. Never have I been so protective of something as trivial as my two bottles of Penman Emerald.

[PAKMAN]

I enjoy seeing the ink dry as I form new letters, love the varieties of color and line variation possible, and like the tie back to simpler times. They just make writing a pleasure rather than a chore.

[jar]

The common perception is "posh", but what do people think of them, personally?

 

 

 

Did someone actually say that? Were they old enough to know what POSH stands for?

[rochester21]

Because i can`t find a better tool for writing ??

[TMWeddle]

They work better than most ballpoints or rollerballs, the finished product of writing looks better, you can get varieties of line, a fountain pen does look better IMO and I have different pens for different reasons and moods.

[ethernautrix]

I like writing with fountain pens.

 

I have always noticed pens and how I liked writing with them. When I was eight years old, I could tell which of three ostensibly identical Bic medium blue ballpoints was my favorite.

 

What can explain that? That's my answer.

[queenofpens]

^{First, I'm old enough to have attended elementary school in one of the last US school systems that required students to learn to use a fountain pen (it was a particularly conservative part of the country). And even they dropped the requirement between me and my younger sister, 3 years behind me in school.}

 

^{Second, having learned it, I never managed to make a successful transition to ball points, rollerballs, or gel pens.}

 

^{Third, even when I was a lot younger, for too many reasons to go into, I had intermittent problems with stiffness and pain or cramping in my hands and a well-adjusted fountain pen minimized hand problems - which was part of why I could never quite transition to other types of pens.}

 

^{Fourth, I learned early that the easy writing of good fountain pens, with lots of different colors of ink, and different colors and feel of pens, stimulated both retention of info and creative thought - which have been important processes both for my career and my avocations. Sometime, just switching which pen I'm holding gives better results on a problem I'm pondering.}

 

^{Fifth, I like the pretty colors of ink.}

 

^{Sixth, I like pretty pens.}

 

^{Seventh, I don't like the waste of throwaway things.}

 

^{I may come up with more after a while, but that's a good start.}

Edited June 4, 2013 by queenofpens

[DrCodfish]

Two reasons:

 

1. It takes me back to an earlier time in my life. Maybe a better time, but certainly a time I remember with great pleasure.

 

2. it is very satisfying to do sometthing (writing) in a way that make the task so much more pleasant, both the physical act, and the results on the paper, and

 

3. (ok, arithmatic is not my strong suit) Writing with a FP is just one of many ways I communicate. But I enjoy the idea that I am using a technology which is certainly out dated yet works perfectly well now, and likely will for the forseeable future.

[RMN]

I had to choose other.

 

Ok, a nice italic does wonders for your penmanship, but my handwriting was quite okay with a BP, fineliner or pencil (hate rollerballs). And I don't do calligraphy as such, although I give an effort to write with a good hand...

Ok, there are thousands of inks to choose, but in the end I come back to the major blue-blacks.

I can write with pressure no problem, but I like the pen gliding over the paper on it's own weight.

Tradition? phah, I love my computers. And I have an E-reader.

Posh? I give a hoot how I look.

Tired of donating? but Bic is owning some of the FP companies.....

I DID start out, as a teen with granddad's pen, but that is not the reason.

 

I miss the option that they are just plain fun.

 

D.ick

[GabrielleDuVent]

 

 

Did someone actually say that? Were they old enough to know what POSH stands for?

 

Posh is still used often in England.

 

My partner said today: "the wine was quite posh, but the cheese wasn't".

I had to choose other.

 

Ok, a nice italic does wonders for your penmanship, but my handwriting was quite okay with a BP, fineliner or pencil (hate rollerballs). And I don't do calligraphy as such, although I give an effort to write with a good hand...

Ok, there are thousands of inks to choose, but in the end I come back to the major blue-blacks.

I can write with pressure no problem, but I like the pen gliding over the paper on it's own weight.

Tradition? phah, I love my computers. And I have an E-reader.

Posh? I give a hoot how I look.

Tired of donating? but Bic is owning some of the FP companies.....

I DID start out, as a teen with granddad's pen, but that is not the reason.

 

I miss the option that they are just plain fun.

 

D.ick

 

I didn't include the "fun" option because I found those kind of classifications overall too vague. There are many reasons something can be fun, and I wanted to know those reasons.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded, and keep those responses coming!

[doggonecarl]

I'm a bit of a retrophiliac. There is just something cool about things from the past. I use a stove top percolator, shave with a double-edged safety razor. Even writing seems to belong in an earlier era.

 

Certainly today's fountain pens could be considered "modern" especially with the use of materials and manufacturing processes. But fountain pens are suggestive of the past, and I like that.

Edited June 4, 2013 by doggonecarl

[CharlieTurtle]

1. Because it's the most comfortable to write with

 

2. It stops people pinching my pens - they wouldn't know how to hold a FP.

[mbankirer]

For all the reasons given and a sense of history and/or future. Sustainability. Variability. Whimsy.