Why Do You Use A Fountain Pen?

[akustyk]

Writing with a fountain pen is a pleasure. Writing with anything else is a chore.

Yes!

[gmm213]

I became interested when I wanted to learn Spencerian Script (still do) to write the wife letters and such. Never realized there was such a community. Been hooked ever since.

[Mangrove Jack]

Other. I have a light touch when writing and I need the ink to flow immediately upon contact with the paper. I also like a little nib to paper resistance when writing. Fountain pens do all the above for me.

Thus fountain pens it is.

Ballpoints are slow to start.

Rollerball and gel pens start immediately but are too smooth and buttery for me.

Felt tipped pens work fine (the best being Staedtler's Handwriting pen) and I use them often but they do not feel quite as well balanced as FP's.

[virgilio]

I enjoy the smoothness and wetness of a good fountain pen, combined with its incredible precision. Plus of course, it puts a stop to aching, cramped fingers. I write for about 3 hours every day, and it would be madness for me to use anything but a fountain pen.

 

There is room in the world for other choices, but they are not for me. I do use a soft Generals pencil to mark up my books when a fountain pen would feather too much.

 

Mind you, it is not so easy nowadays to get a really good fountain pen, no matter how much you pay for it. I suppose it never was, but least of all now. If you DON'T have a lot of money, you have to develop some pen skills of your own, unless you know somebody or just get lucky.

 

And then again, every fountain pen writes different, even of the same make. They are as individual as people. So you get attached to them in a way you just don't with an industrial product like felt-tips, gel pens or even rollerballs, tho they have a certain personality, I suppose.

 

There is also the snob factor, to which I am not immune. It's neat to watch strangers freak out when you take out your fountain pen. It's like owning a Mac or an unusual make of car.

[virgilio]

I forgot to mention one minor but not unimportant detail: price. A fountain pen costs more, but then all you have to do is buy ink. I go thru a bottle of ink every few months, as I am a writer/translator. Any other writing instrument would be much more expensive in the long run. I remember getting so tired constantly buying more felt-tip pens as a young man. Nor more of that for me! No more trying to find refills, and so on.

 

And then there is one other reason I sue fountain pens, as opposed to a computer. When I am just writing for the moment, a computer is fine. But when I have a difficult writing task that anybody would ever pay money to read, a fountain pen is indispensable. it lets me move words and phrases around at will, something very difficult on a computer. And it leaves a paper trail of corrections and variants, which a computer does not.

[Guardy]

Force of habit, for one. Had to use a fountain pen in grades 2-4 at school, and then didn't really differentiate between BPs and FPs and all those weird kinds of ink rollers and gel pens I wrote with (they're all writing implements, after all) until grade 12.

Then, as I had to write more and more, I figured out that fountain pens are substantially more comfortable to work with if you have to write a lot of things very quickly.

 

There's also another thing... I'm quite fond of period films and books and I'm a massive age-of-sail nerd. I'd have liked to emulate that aesthetic, but let's face it: quill pens at school or university are a wee bit impractical. Fountain pens were simply the next best thing.

 

Writing with fountain pens in Germany isn't nearly as unusual as it is in most other places - if I want some comments on my pens, I either need to bring about a dozen and have all of them on my desk at the same time, or use a very unusual pen.
One one hand, knowing that FPs are alive and well here is neat, on the other hand, I envy you American folks...

 

/EDIT: Another reason is that there's nothing quite as frustrating as finding the perfect ballpoint pen... and then it's empty and you have to exchange the entire writing part and the perfection is gone forever. Where's the point in that?

Edited November 19, 2016 by Guardy

[flipper_gv]

Because I tried one.

[chromantic]

Fountain pens are a wondrous invention and it's nice to carry them around and use them, so that's upholding tradition, I guess.

Then there's the variety of colors, that's probably the best part of using FPs. I used to do watercolor and inks are another way to experience the joy of color. Take Skrip Yellow, totally impractical but what a beautiful color!

[Ada]

The variety of ink colors. That is what first drew me to fountain pens. I was entranced by the idea that I could have a pen that could write in any color (and that was before I discovered that ink also came in bottles and there were pens that could use converters). Although I've developed an appreciation for the way in which my pens write and for the aesthetic qualities of some pens, ink is still the main draw for me. If suddenly all colors of ink aside from basic blue and black disappeared from the face of the earth, I think I'd lose all interest in using fountain pens.

 

Edited to correct typo.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Ada

[Kolyd]

Been using them since Primary school, however they became an escape route from gaming, spent far too much time doing that..

Would rather spend time writing out notes for school or just practicing handwriting!

[Nyanzilla]

I've been using fountain pens during most of my school time. I enjoyed the varíous ink colours. Later in college I switched to rollers and ballpoint pens. But this was not really satisfying to me. At that time I started writing my fist novel, which I wrote with a dip pen. That wasn't very pleasant. So I decided to buy a good (but not too expensive) fountain pen and got a Pelikan M200 and a Level L5 on ebay. From that moment on I got into collecting fountain pens. To-day I own about 50 pens. ^^" I'm still using ballpoint pens from time to time for quick notes. But all serious writing I only do with a fountain pen.

[BlueSquiggle]

I'm a late arrival to the world of fountain pens, they had been replaced with ballpoints in my school so originally the only one I had seen or used in the flesh was my grandfather's Conway Stewart, and that was only twice (I sadly haven't seen it in 20 years and it has most likely been lost to the mists of time/ gone in the trash).

 

For me there is something more visceral about using a fountain or dip pen than a ballpoint or the like, a connection to the past I don't get with a ballpoint or pencil. Fountain pens are also so much more comfortable for me to use, allowing me to write for longer, and as I do enjoy writing so that's a major plus!

[eharriett]

I was getting tired of my hand cramping up when I journal. Plus, ink fun! And it is a little eccentric. And I tend to skew towards eccentric.

 

And this community is really welcoming and helpful.

[jbelian]

I use it because my grandma had an Esterbrook in her locked secretary and I fell in love.

 

I use it because my Aunt Sarah noticed and gave me my own fountain pen for Christmas in 1969 or so.

 

I use it because liquid ink does things I don't expect.

 

I use it because it's physical and tactile and messy.

[D.C. in PA]

It has been said here before - there have several reasons in the fore over time.

 

It began with a Sheaffer's school pen sold on a card in a local pharmacy when I was in high school (secondary school - probably year 10 of the full 12). I thought the pen was 'different' and adolescents are always looking for ways to distinguish themselves, so I bought it. I liked it. I wrote with it through the rest of high school. By the way, it accomplished its original purpose; everyone noticed it, but that had become secondary to my appreciation of writing with the pen.

 

College intruded, injecting ball points for speed and reduced mess. There had been a ebb and flow for years after until, following some discussion that began I know not where, my wife got me a Waterman for Christmas some years ago. It didn't take long for me to remember that writing experience.

 

Now, I love the look of pens, the feel in the hand, the appreciation for vintage quality instruments, the flexibility and beauty of inks, the tinkering (I'm cleaning three vintage pens as I write this).

 

But in the end - I like the way it feels to write with a fountain pen.

 

D.C.

[PensandPencilsDotNet]

Writing with a fountain pen makes me think better, it somehow boosts my confidence as well. In addition it is a great conversation starter.

 

 

[pajaro]

I first used fountain pens because the nuns in school made me do it. Later I was just used to it. Now I use them sometimes, because they are quaint, and you distinguish yourself as quirky and a pen snob with them. More and more I am getting tired of handling the ink, though. I am moving more to ballpoint use. MB, Pelikan and now the Sheaffer 1996 Holly ballpoint.

Edited November 24, 2016 by pajaro

[virgilio]

I forgot to mention one important reason I like fountain pens so much. There is the fascination of the hunt, and of tinkering with an inferior pen until it resembles one of the famous vintage pens, which are so wet and smooth and pleasant to write with, and which even most fountain pens users today hardly know exists.

[Bohemee]

Early on in school (non-US) we were taught to use fountain pens only (no ballpoint or pencils) it wasn't until later in HS and then in University (US) that I started using ballpoints. Moving forward in my professional career it was mainly the keyboard.

 

The fountain pen has become a hobby and a stress reliever. I also enjoy collecting intricate pieces that only a fountain pen can provide.

[Erik Dalton]

I started using fountain pens before they were cool. I had a P-21 that constantly leaked ink into the cap. Went around with peacock blue fingers. Then I got sent to a proper English boarding school where fp's were required and switched to a pelikan. I've always liked writing with fountain pens. Now I accumulate them.

They tend to slow down my hand, and make my writing somewhat legible.