Do you let others use your FP's?

[Mudge]

QUOTE (Freeloader @ Mar 22 2007, 02:29 PM)

This is how I handle it now too. When asked to borrow "my pen," I just cough up a Pilot G2 or something similar... However, for family, etc., I'll let them borrow it...

This seems the most sensible approach, and it is pretty much what I do. I just insist that anybody who uses my pen has to be VERY gentle.

 

Of course, there are some people who, despite the fact that they are close friends, will not be allowed to use my pens. They are those who I know insist on grasping their ballpoint in a death grip with thumb and all four fingers on top of the barrel...

[Guest PeteWK]

QUOTE (danielnotnow @ Mar 22 2007, 01:16 AM)

My girlfriend has been eying my pen collection with increasing ardor has it continues to grow. But I have been loath to share because I have always heard that a pen's nib shapes itself to the user's style and shouldn't be used by different writers. Lately she has been asking for corroborating documentation for this position. And I am beginning to wonder if this is a real issue or not. I would really like to share my collection and hobby with her. Any opinions? d.

My personal opinion is that its an old wive's tale. There may be exceptions because of an extremely delicate of flexible nib but generally the nibs won't change over one use.

 

Consider all the vintage pens you're purchased (if that's your thing) that have written flawlessly. Those suckers are 30-80 years old and you could say that you've been loaning them out for those many decades. So how is it that they write so nice?

 

PeteWK

[Kelly G]

Of course I let others use my pens - with the following caveats:

 

1. My wife and children always wait for me to tell them "pulls off" or "screws off" before removing the cap - years of training.

2. If it's not my wife or children; I remove the cap myself and hang on to it and while doing so, remind them that fp's require very little pressure, "just let it glide on the paper"

3. I watch them like a hawk for the first few seconds and if they show signs of un-fp-friendly behavior, I'll gently set them straight.

4. I don't usually carry my highly valuable or fragile pens, thus that's not generally a problem.

 

I also find that when I remove the cap and pause for just a second, 50% or so of the borrowers will decline the offer with something like "I can't use that kind of pen" or "you use 'THAT' old fashioned pen?"

 

I've only had one case of 'heart in my throat' when I loaned a pen and that's what caused me to go to the cap removal policy. Another instance occurred when a colleague grabbed a pen from my pocket - but my immediate gut reaction scared her so much she sheepishly handed it back - nothing violent, just a little loud

 

I certainly don't worry about anyone 'wearing down' the nibs. If they use the pen that long, it's because I gave it to them. I would guess that you would have to write with one pen exclusively for many years, every day to seriously impact the tipping material on the nib - at least under normal writing conditions.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Kelly G

[pigpogm]

I'm starting to feel a bit, er, unusual here. I like letting people use my pens.

 

I did a college teacher training course a while ago, and for my 'microteaching' session, I taught people to use fountain pens. I took a selection of pens in, including a Pilot Capless (Vanishing Point), Pelikan Go!, a couple of Parker 51s, a Sheaffer Snorkel and a Sheaffer Tip-dip Touchdown, and got people to take a pen, fill it with ink, try writing with it, then pass it around. Everyone in the class got to try every pen.

 

It went down surprisingly well with people, and I gave away a few of the cheaper pens to people who seemed to like them. No damage was done, and we only managed to lose one pen. The Tip-dip vanished, only to be seen again a couple of days ago (months after the course) when I found it under the passenger seat in our car. It must have fallen out of the bag on the way home.

[Montrose]

I had someone in my office pick up my "51" while I wasn't watching and started writing with it. The person had no idea how to use a fountain pen. Thankfully, I quickly traded him for a cheap ballpoint. I really don't think 90% of the population has ever written with a FP and have no idea how delicate the nib is. They're used to writing with an indestructible ballpoint.

[lak611]

I will only let other people besides my mother or my aunt use my fountain pens if they agree to buy new ones if they break them. When they hear $350 for a pen, they ask somebody else! My mother and aunt grew up using fountain pens, so they know how to use them.

[Con]

I've smiled, grinned, and grimaced my way through this thread.

 

Yes, I'll loan out my pens but not my "good" ones.

 

Left my Phileas at my control desk one day and came

back to one of my co-workers using it - the look

on my face must have been enough to scare him,

poor thing. "I just wanted to see how it writes!"

 

Told him that was fine, but next time, ask.

 

Was forced to hand it over to a client the other

day (needed their signature and there I am,

standing with a pen in my hand - what am

I going to do?) and they remarked it was

one of those pens as they were signing.

 

If I lived in a larger city and pens weren't so

hard to come by I'd be less nervous about it.

 

(although I am not handing my Carene over to anyone)

[Pen Nut]

Do you let others use your FP's?

 

NO

 

Not letting some jug pull and push the cap then use whatever pressure they seem fit till it writes......

 

Sorry. All are too special to me.

 

I do have a friend who has a good collection of pens so understands the 'needs' etc so he has got exemption fron the ban.

[Shangas]

I will not let anybody but a trained professional and/or veteran user, touch my fountain pens. I just can't. Too many bad experiences. Either I write it myself, or I hand them a ballpoint (which I almost never have) or I just tell them I don't have a pen.

 

My main fear in this situation is the nib being damaged. Everyone these days uses ballpoint pens. If they jam the fountain pen nib into the paper like the way they do with a ballpoint, it'll break it. So no.

[limesally]

Nobody I know is willing to use an FP for an extended amount of time (ie, the duration of a lecture), so that isn't an issue. Once in a while a friend will need to jot down a phone number, draw a picture, or whatever - I have no hesitation in handing over a Pelikan M150, Pelikano, GO, Prera, Safari, etc. I don't really fuss about medium nibs, either - I'm OK handing over my Sailor 1911M. I don't really hand out anything gold-nibbed or with a finer point, though.

 

I like lending out my pens, actually - some will reminisce, some will be envious, some will want one of their own.

[dumdummuoi]

Yes. I don't mind too much. So far, I've only had one person who was a stranger who asked to use my pen. She was a banker and seemed to realize that it wasn't an ordinary pen, because she asked very politely and tentatively if she could use my pen (she sounded like she was prepared for a refusal). She was probably in her 50s, too, so I figured she's old enough to know what a fountain pen is and how it should be used. The pen I had on me at the time had a snap-on cap, so I wasn't worried about her trying to pull off a screw cap, either. Anyway, that worked out fine.

 

Other than that, I'm in a college campus environment so the only people who ask to try my pens are my friends, who know how much I adore my pens and how upset I'd be if anything happened. I'm always careful to watch as they remove the cap, and if it's a screw cap, I'd say, "twist," and they'd understand. The ones who've never used a fountain pens are mostly rollerball users, so they don't push the nib down real hard by instinct.

[southpaw]

Yes, but as I uncap it myself and, as I'm handing the pen to the person, inform them that it's a fountain pen and tell them no pressure. I've had some people decline, some accept, and some to get quite excited. All in all, I try to keep it in perspective: it's just a pen!

[CharlieB]

Yes. Those who want to use my pen fall into two categories: fountain pen users and non-fountain pen users.

 

The fountain pen users know that they shouldn't write a lot with somebody else's pen -- so they don't.

 

The non-fountain pen users are usually totally intimidated by the fountain pen and are only too happy to give it back after writing a few words.

 

In either case, the pen is not harmed in that others don't write enough to alter the performance of the nib for me, the primary user.

Edited May 24, 2008 by CharlieB

[RLTodd]

No. I always carry a ball point pen and they can borrow that.

 

[piembi]

......

So to answer the original question. YES, I will lend a pen to someone if asked. HOWEVER, unless I know the person to be a FP user, it will generally be a less expensive pen that I carry specifically for that purpose.

 

YES is my answer, too.

 

Any fountainpen in my everyday pencase and any fountainpen laying around at home can be used by whoever may want to use them. But I try to lend out troublefree pens like a M 400 with medium or broad nib if I am asked for "a" fountainpen and not for a specific pen.

 

The pens I will not lend out (pens with sentimental value) are in my drawer and noone will aks for them.

[Silas]

Yes, but as I uncap it myself and, as I'm handing the pen to the person, inform them that it's a fountain pen and tell them no pressure. I've had some people decline, some accept, and some to get quite excited. All in all, I try to keep it in perspective: it's just a pen!

 

 

Great advice on uncapping it yourself. One of my good friends, a high school librarian, said she would give me her email address, and before I knew it, reached into my shirt pocket where i had a Namiki VP and a Sailor Sapporo.

She grabbed the Sapporo, PULLED on it....I said, "IT UNSCREWS" Unabashed, she unscrewed it, wrote with it and screwed the top back on before I could reach for it.

 

When I mean screwed the top back on, I mean SCREWED, SCREWED, SCREWED!!! When I tried to unscrew it, I was afraid I was going to break it.

I've come to the point of carrying a matching ballpoint pen with my Pelikan 400NN....at least they know how to flick the button!

[Shangas]

it's just a pen!

 

Yes, true. But it's also one of my possessions, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone handle one of my toys if they don't know how to use it properly. Of course, I'll let someone use it if they REALLY want to, but first they must understand how to. I don't just blindly hand them a pen to use.

[wacomme]

it's just a pen!

 

Yes, true. But it's also one of my possessions, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone handle one of my toys if they don't know how to use it properly. Of course, I'll let someone use it if they REALLY want to, but first they must understand how to. I don't just blindly hand them a pen to use.

 

Was forced to hand it over to a client the other

day (needed their signature and there I am,

standing with a pen in my hand - what am

I going to do?) and they remarked it was

one of those pens as they were signing.

 

 

I'm in the, "It's just a pen!" category. I cringe a little when caught with a pen in hand and asked to borrow it, but I respond, "Please use light pressure. It's a fountain pen." To me, the relationship I have with the person who asks to borrow the pen is more important than being possessive and saying, "No." Most people who borrow my fountain pens could care less that the pen is a fountain pen. They need to write something and that's it. If I told the person, "No. You cannot borrow my pen." they would think that I'm some crazy weirdo. It would be a social faux pas to not let someone borrow my pen. Borrowing pens is just something people do. And a fountain pen explanation doesn't change anything. Generally, people don't understand fountain pens and don't care.

[Siv]

I had a friend at school (bear in mind this was before computers so we had to hand write everything) who held his FP at a very strange angle. This ended with the nib being worn in a certain way such that you could only write with it if you held it at the angle that he held it. If not, you would run the risk of tearing a hole in the paper trying to get it to write. Bear in mind that we were school kids so these were cheap pens and paper we were using but it tells me that nibs can wear to fit the user. I don't think I ever had a pen long enough for the nib to wear in a certain way and especially now were everything is written on computer, the chances are even less so probably not something to worry about these days.

 

Anyway, the pens I carry every day are Pilot VPs and as a new nib is only $20-30 and there isn't a cap to break, I wouldn't be bothered to let someone use it if they asked. I have had someone ask to borrow a pen, me hand them a VP and they refuse it when they see it's a FP and go on the hunt for a biro!

[gyasko]

Sometimes it's hard to say no. I only carry fps, but after having had one stolen, i don't take any of the good ones out. Generally. I let people use a Pilot Varsity or one of my many Cores.

 

I have noticed that after letting kids use my Core that i need to adjust the nib.