Do you let others use your FP's?

[Ondina]

I do lend my pens, even to very small kids, that listen very carefully how to use it and adjust in 2 seconds to it. For non user adults, thicker nibs, steel broad or BB ones may be better, specially if you fear risk of pressure that may damage them. I would be more weary of thinner nibs, as they need very little pressure to get misaligned.

 

There is no reason why after seeing you use it and giving some basic directions your girlfriend should not be allowed to use the FPn's. I guess she does make use of other personal items of yours without damages or problems, right? Those are just pens, and will be a nice hobby in common if she likes them. On the other hand, a FP is always a nice present.... White Tourtoise seems to be a winner's choice, for example. Lamy Safary in White or Black seems to be very popular too, and the cost of nibs is very reasonable. She can even try them all before deciding which one she likes best.

[I am not a number]

I lend my pens out a lot. In my workplace it's fairly safe to do so.

[lak611]

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.

Most people who ask me to borrow my pen decide to ask someone else when I tell them how expensive it is.

 

I have lent my pens to older people who belong to the local historical society that I am a member of. People in their seventies remember how to write with them. I will not lend my pens to people my age or younger, though. Most people under 40 give me a puzzled look when they see I have a fountain pen.

[Robert Hughes]

I've kept some inexpensive FP's in my desk pen cup for daily use at work, and have encouraged others to try them out. In the past few weeks, I've noticed a couple pens have been "messed with" - a Platinum Preppy ED developed a crack in the case, and an Esterbrook J's cap had been screwed on so tight I had to soak it in hot water to loosen it up. Whether this has been deliberate, intentional vandalism or just a newbie's clumsy first attempts at FP usage, I can't tell. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now, as nothing has been seriously broken. They're just pens, and cheap ones at that.

 

But I don't leave my better pens laying around for casual misuse.

Edited May 27, 2008 by Robert Hughes

[DrPJM1]

I do not lend my fountain pens. If asked, I just say that it is an old fountain pen with sentimental value and offer a ballpoint.

[callida]

Hmmm. Thanks for this thread. I'm new to fountain pens and only own two. I really hadn't thought about what I'd do if someone asked to borrow them, but I've had two recent incidents which make me think I need a strategy.

 

The first was a colleague who snatched up my Pelikan White Tortoise and tugged hard at the cap before I knew what was happening. I said "twist" so she then got the cap off, saw the nib, looked puzzled and asked for a "normal" pen. Phew! It's lucky the cap wasn't damaged though.

 

Second time was today, two people were talking to me at once and one asked for my pen (fine nibbed Sailor Sapporo) to write down her email address for me. I had it in my hand and handed it over distractedly, then started to worry as I realised what was happening. She looked like she was having trouble using it and I think she might have been holding it 90 degrees to the paper, but the pen seems to be okay (I thought the line might have been thicker than it was before, but I'm looking at it so closely to work out whether that's the case that it can't be that bad!).

 

Not that I'm a seasoned user myself, but I did at least know not to use pressure before writing with them. I'd hate to ruin my new toys!

Edited May 29, 2008 by callida

[Sketchy]

The few times that people have picked up my fountain pen I have found to be uncomfortible and it distracted from our conversation as I worried about how they were using my pen. I really enjoy writing with my pens and replacing or repairing them would be financially difficult at this time. So I put a pen holder on my desk with the office standard rollerballs in it, when I go into a meeting I place a couple of those same rollerballs on the conference table for general use, when someone asks to use a pen I take a non-fountain pen from the sketching kit I generally carry, and when someone specifically wants to try a fountain pen I gift them a pilot varsity. I think that being able to say that "it's just a pen" is directly related to one's ability to afford to replace or repair it.

 

 

[woofer]

I keep a pen holder on my desk with ballpoints and roller-balls, because most people say "Can I borrow A pen?", not "Can I borrow THAT pen?".

 

I have had people comment on my pens, some have asked to try them, and I let them. That said, I don't carry my good pens around, I use those at home. Nobody asks to borrow them, so there is no problem. The pens I've lent out, if one gets broken, I can replace it (maybe with two pens, one to replace the broken one, and new one to make me feel better). To date, I have never had to replace a single one.

 

One day at work, I left my Conway Stewart on my desk while I went to get a refill on coffee. When I was walking back I saw my boss sitting at my desk, so I hurried up and got there quickly. Yes, it was as I feared, she went to leave me a note and picked up the FP. Oh, was my heart pounding! Fortunately, no harm done. Pen is just fine.

 

woofer

[MinasTirithScribe]

Once when I asked for someone's address at a retreat venue, the only writing tool either of us had was my FP. I travel with a set of Pilot Varsitys, so I wasn't too concerned about damage, but it was flinchworthy to see my new friend peering at the nib in puzzlement and then writing with it upside down, crunching into the paper.

 

I seem never to remember to carry a BP to avoid intimidating/inconveniencing someone in case lending is needed.

[duna]

I lent three times a FP to the wrong people. Once I gave my Parker 25 to a prof at the university, and he left it on a table in few minutes, to never be seen again (my mistake of course, trusting too much someone who cared nothing about the pen). Years after that, I gave a new, big, heavy italian FP (made by a local almost unknown manifacturer) to a friend's wife, teacher by profession, who let the cap fell on the floor, damaging the nice glossy black coating forever. Some months ago, I forced a friend to write with my Pilot Prera, and he almost managed to bend the nib (the pen wrote shading for some days but recovered). So be very cautious. What is perfectly logic and natural to FP users (to place the cap firmly on th top, to write without pressure, and.. never forget about the pen's whereabout) can be totally unheard for ballpoint disposable users. But I'm pleased, anyway. A friend who tried my Pelikan 140 is now an avid FP user, with a dozen pens in his rotation.

[wvbeetlebug]

Glad this thread came back around.

 

I have learned to be less anal. Ever since I jerked my newly acquired burgundy 51 Special out of someone's hand when they grabbed it up to write with it (said pen went hurdling through the air landing nib down, of course, on my desk. Less damage would have happened if I would have just let the guy use it.

 

Anyway, I have a cup of "ordinary" pens for folks to use. If they want to use one of my fountain pens I uncap it hand it to them so they don't write with it with the nib going the wrong way. Of course it depends on who the person is, too. There are some folks I trust to lend a pen to and there are some who get to choose from The Pen Cup.

[rhk745]

I does not like share fountain pen to friend. It is because they don't know how to use fountain pen. I have a lot of friend see my fountain pen and take it try to writing. But they always treat fountain pen as ball pen.

 

Actually I does not like share my fountain pens to friend. But your case is girlfriend, I will suggest you buy lady fountain pen to you.

 

A lot of lady fountain is very nice such as Waterman. Once she has own fountain pen, you will know why you don't want share pen to her.

 

 

Jojo

[Pravda]

I personally would hate anyone using my fountain pen to the extent that I think ahead I mean, I keep it well concealed only handy for my own purposes, but if i know ahead that someone is about to want to write something down i either make another pen handy or hide mine..

 

I have never been in a situation from my day to day life where I was asked for my pen and had to say no thankfully.. but at the same time, so far I have a small collection of MBs that have taken so much out of me to acquire/collect and i wouldnt want someone who is not experienced with fountain pens to ruin the nib in any way just to scribble something down maybe if i had less expensive fountain pens i wouldn't care so much i dunno..

 

But here's a thing.. I have this boss at work who also uses fountain pens everyday, owns a very nice MB 146.. when he in particular asks to use my pen I give it to him only because i know he knows how to use them and wouldn't harm the nib while writing etc

 

 

 

[JDlugosz]

P.S. I'm also the kind of guy that won't let anyone drive my car either.

 

My wife (then girlfriend) can't drive my car. She was enamored by by Trans Am, having always liked that car on TV and movies. Driving back from a weekend at the beach, the third time she offered to releive me driving I figured I really could use some shut-eye. She could not handle the rack&pinion steering, and would over correct back and forth while getting faster and faster...the good news is that I was wide awake now and good for another 50 miles.

 

--John

[mayeeta]

I let someone use my FP not too long ago. I was searching for a roller-ball pen, but I didn't have any, so I lend her my FP. She opened the cap with her mouth , so I just gave her the pen.

 

I don't mind giving pens to people, but no sharing.

[feiye]

I don't mind letting others try my daily workhorses, I have a L2K in an EF which I try not to lend out but also a Studio medium, the stainless steel nib on which takes a fair bit of beating so it's alright.

 

I try to lend out a ballpoint if need be and all my nicer pens I hold onto possessively. Only to those who know about my um "little obsession" do I let try some of my more expensive pens. As a rule I only let others try my non-temperamental pens, so despite their price my Duponts have usually been handled by a few people whereas my Montegrappas stay far far away from foreign hands.

[wykpenguin]

I don't have enough friends who write with fountain pens. The ones who do don't ask very often because, like me, they carry their pen(s) everywhere.

 

Those who don't use fountain pens typically find it very hard to write with one. It's OK to let them try but I watch out such that they don't use the thing sideways (upside down is OK for me, I do that when I want a finer line).

[Splicer]

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

 

I'm with PigPogM... if someone, especially someone I don't know, just wants to borrow a pen, I don't have any to lend. But anyone that has an interest in fountain pens? They can use any of my pens. I'll tell 'em to be gentle and give them special instructions for specialty pens, but sure, I love to turn people on to fountain pens.

 

I guess in part we have the distinction between "borrow" and "let use." I won't let my pens out of my sight unless it's someone I trust completely. I can only think of one pen I've actually loaned out, and it's to replace a Sonnet I gave to her for Christmas that never wrote well, even after being sent back for service. Now it's with Richard Binder and the recipient of the gift gets to use one of my pens until the Sonnet comes back. As you can see, that's sort of a special circumstance.

[calliej]

Up to this point I have only carried cheap and cheerfuls so it hasn't been an issue

 

Now I am considering uping the anti I might have to have a strategy

 

Again, I am all for introducing people to FP and if they are wanting to specifially borrow 'THAT' pen then I am sure I will oblige.....for people wanting 'A' pen I wouldnt want to intimidate by handing something they cant use.

 

I had this happen recently at uni - a tutor asked for a pen and I handed her the one in my hand (only a disposile Pilot V4) she took one look at it and handed it straight back with a bemused 'Oh good Lord!' and stating 'now give me something to write with'...... !!

 

In uni if someone needs a pen I hand over my pencil case and they chose their own - nothing of any value kicks around in the pencil case so that's easy!

 

The only other people around are the kids - both of which know how to use Fp's even if they are not yet fans (one day!).... but they also understand me and my random obsessions so would always be respectful.

 

I have to say I do love the way you guys dont let anyone use your pens - except the wife! Made me smile - so sweet

 

as to the original post - let her try out on of the less expensive ones and if she likes it - present her with a gift of her own (preferably actually taking her shopping so she can chose it and helping her find one to suit)

 

 

[pauw13]

Sure, why not? But the difference is that here in the Netherlands everyone has learned to write with a fountain pen, and had to use only fountain pens from age six to twelve. So everyone knows how to use them, not only older people. And i know quite a lot of people who use them, even a few who use them exclusively. Some are about my age too (25). So never any problem loaning them, as long as I trust the person to give it back.