At What Age

[Trebster]

I was 16 or 17, about the same age as when all kids learn new bad habits

Edited March 6, 2013 by Trebster

[liapuyat]

I was 17, and the pen was cute and Japanese.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I seem to remember having some sort of cartridge pen briefly when I was a kid. So probably somewhere around 8 or 10, maybe a little older (but by middle school I had switched over to primarily using Flair pens for writing; Rapidographs in college for drawing). Got back into FPs in my late 40s, with a pen to do journaling with. Then, in the past year, I've just gone (in my husband's opinion) completely wacko (I now have to sit down and actually count in my head as to how many pens I have when people ask me... :embarrassed_smile:).

Ruth Morrisson

 

I couldn't even begin to count... but I kept records of giveaways and/or fountain pen sales, and it's nearing 150.

 

I tend to get multiples of inexpensive pens I like: Hero 616, Preppy, No Nonsense, Pilot Petits, Safaris.... I think I was in 5th or 6th grade when I bought a Skrip cartridge pen with silvertone cap, translucent yellow body and black ink carts.

 

All I remember is the color, not whether I liked it.

[honza]

6. We were required to use FP exclusively in the elementary school (age 6-10), and that's what you learned to write with in the penmanship class. However times are changing. Nowadays, at least in the first grade, they are allowed to use gel pens as well. However my daughter, unlike most of her classmates, uses FP only (Herlitz Tornado) and seems to do just fine and is very proud about it

[Pentulant]

I was 22.

 

In fact, here's a look at my first FP (a Waterman) on my blog.

 

http://pentulant.blogspot.com/2012/08/visiting-with-old-friend-waterman.html

[bernardo]

12. It was a Sheaffer Imperial 777 my father gave me.

[faintlymacabre]

A month ago... I'm 30. Very late bloomer, I suppose.

[iamchum]

23!

[Synthy Pelikan]

Nine - or ten... A navy Parker Jotter with Washable Blue cartridges. You had a choice of a Berol Handwriting Pen or a fountain pen, the former were supplied by school. Might have been earlier, actually: I remember using a Pilot V7 for a little while... Hm. Ink had to be blue, and ballpoints were not allowed. Teachers used to always use those orange Pentel fineliners, I remember - red and green inks.

 

I remember one teacher, a visitor of some kind, noting my Jotter and her taking a liking to it - she introduced me to the word 'zucchini', and I, being a smart-arse, kinda annoyed her by insisting on using 'zee', instead of 'zed', for 'Z' (I had come across 'zee' on TV and went through a phase of using it - I was an odd kid...).

 

(I'm of the Staedtler Noris and Berol Handwriting Pen generation - taught joined-up, rather than cursive. Spywatch, New Nelson, Roger Red Cap, Sky Hunter, BBC Micro, Acorn, The Magic Key, &c...)

[rockydoggy]

Probably around third or fourth grade, though I'd been fascinated by my mother's Sheaffer Snorkel pen for some time before then.

I'm pretty sure that my first fp was a Sheaffer school pen with silver cap and a blue (?) translucent body.

[coleam]

The first I can say for sure was when I a Varsity when I was about 11 or 12. My mom had a few fountain pens in her art supplies that I played around with from time to time as well. After the Varsity died though, it took me until last year to get another one.

Edited March 6, 2013 by coleam

[Wahl]

I was given my first FP at age 11, a black Parker 21.

 

Before that I used dip pens at school ( yes, I am that old )

[ravantra]

It was during college. I was probably 19 or 20. I used it to sketch and it was a Waterman.

[Joker4Eva]

It was after I found this site that I started actively using FPs in my everyday writing, so I guess it was around 19-20. Was stuck with ballpoints and gel pens before this, and always believed that there was surely a writing instrument that "would write smoothly without need for pressure". I guess I've found my answer!

Edited March 6, 2013 by Joker4Eva

[Aramchek]

It would have been when I was probably around 9-11 or so, if I hadn't made made the mistake of telling my father I was planning to buy one (a Parker 25) at which point he forbad me to get one.

 

A eventually ended up getting one in my late teens but didn't really use it since the lines where far too wide.

 

In my mid thirties I finally found out there there is such a thing as different nib widths and really got into it.

[Penne Stilografiche]

12

[dspeers58]

8-9, Sheaffer cartridge pen, lovely little pen to get the girls all inky and me in trouble.

[Lszuk]

I was 12. I was on vacation with my parents and purchased a Parker 51 with a burgundy barrel. That was 45 years ago, and I still have that pen and the desire to continue to collect new and different pens.

[StephY]

Somewhere between 10 and 13? It's all a bit hazy now.

[Gilberto Castaneda]

You have brought some mixed memories.

I was about 8 or 9, I had a Wearever. My mother had an Esterbrook and my father Parker and Sheaffer.

Well, I ran out of ink and got my hands on a ink for stamping flask, which was the same to me. The cartridge was empty, I got a syringe with needle and rapidly reloaded it only to end up all sprayed with ink, along with a freshly painted wall next to me, the paint was so fresh that it faded when I tried to clean the mess, showing the previous underlying color.

I will spare my encounter with my parents a few minutes later.

 

Then at 14 years old I bought my first set a Parket 45 FP, BP, and pencil, still in use, my 24 years has the pencil and I have he FP and BP.

 

Thank you for bringing back those memories from more than 40 years ago.

 

Cheers,

 

Gilberto