What was your first fountain pen?

[The Elevator]

This topic is exactly what it sounds like. Tell us all a little bit about your first fountain pen.

 

Here are a few discussion questions; feel free to answer (or not answer). Define "first pen" any way you want. Perhaps it was a failed experiment from many years before your current entry into the fountain pen world. Or maybe it is the first pen you ever bought for yourself. Or maybe somebody let you borrow their pen, and that led to your first experience.

What type was your first pen?

How did you come to possess it?

Why do you call this pen your "first" pen?

Any funny stories about it? Where has it gone with you, and where has it been for important events in your life?

Do you still have it or has it passed on somehow?

 

I'll start.

 

Technically my "first fountain pen" was a cheap $1.50 cartridge pen from a Daiso store. However, I had constant trouble with it burping ink into the cap, feed clogging, and a whole host of other issues. When I finally ran out of cartridges I threw the whole thing in the trash. I thought maybe fountain pens were more elegant, but the uncivilized writing instruments I used were more reliable.

 

Well, about a year later, I was proven wrong when a friend of mine showed up to a church gathering with a Pilot Varsity. He saw me looking curiously at it, and asked if I wanted to try it. I said sure, put nib to paper...and suddenly discovered that a fountain pen could be perfectly consistent, reliable, and easy to use all at the same time. Having to apply zero pressure to write was also a new feeling. My friend sensed that I liked it, and let me keep the pen. I used it until it ran out of ink, then figured out how to fill it from a bottle of ink, and returned it to my friend. He was impressed. Since then, I have brought Pilot Varsity pens to classrooms, Christmas gift exchanges, and trips with friends, hoping someone would show interest. A few people have, actually, and I am now out of Pilot Varsity pens... I should probably order some more.

 

The first pen I ever bought for myself was a Pilot Metropolitan in red with a CM nib, and it is my usual go-to for carrying around. it goes with me to work, school, and even on random shopping or dinner trips. One day, I knocked the cap off my desk in a classroom, and dented it. Fortunately some needle-nose pliers saved the day, but there is always a slight irregularity in the base of the cap if you look closely. Oh well, at least I will be able to tell *my* red Pilot from a dozen other identical copies (not that I have ever seen anyone else carrying one).

 

The first vintage pen I bought for myself was a calligraphy set of 3 Sheaffer viewpoints (1990 version of the No Nonsense). Finding cartridges for these could become a real problem in the future, so I'm currently hoarding them, with plans to eye-dropper fill the cartridges, and potentially one of the pens. While using, I suddenly noticed that all the nibs and bodies were inscribed "USA."  And... well... only one manufacturer really makes nibs in the USA anymore (Schon DSGN and their Monoc nib) It also got me interested in the history of Sheaffer. I'm on the hunt for a snorkel filler to buy sometime within the next year.

[jchch1950]

  My first fountain pen  at basic education  school was a Wearever made of plastic with a metal cap. The pen was a requirement from the school and there were places were you can refill the pens in case of need. The student desks still  had a place for the ink wells that were used some years before. 

[InesF]

A Pelikano 2 bought new in 1967 which was in daily use from January 1968 until ca. 1982 and again from 1984 till 1990. It is still writing like at the first day.

[AoKiu]

Besides the two school pens, a Pelikano and a Geha the first fountain pen I bought myself was a Pelikan M700 Toledo with a OM nib. That was 1991 ...

[Monophoto]

Parker 45 - and I still have it decades later.  I received it as a graduation gift - my very vague recollection is that it was given to me when I graduated high school, but when I look at the manufacturing dates for Parker 45, that may have been too soon, so it may have been when I graduated college.  But in either case, it was a very long time ago. 

 

The pen still writes although I think the sac needs to be replaced. 

 

I do recall that there was a stationary store in town that sold replacement Parker nibs.  I bought a stub nib that I used in it for a while.  Some time later, My sister gave me a Parker desk pen, and that stub nib is in it to this day.  The desk pen is nice, but it leaks pretty badly so I haven't used it in years.

[Ron Z]

6 hours ago, jchch1950 said:

My first fountain pen  at basic education  school was a Wearever made of plastic with a metal cap.

 

Ditto.  Spring 1966 in 4th grade.  Had two, both leaked like a sieve, generating a life long and intense dislike of Wearevers, which in our house are referred to as "Whatevers."  The next was a blue Sheaffer student pen with peacock blue ink.

[kulnet]

It was a Lamy Safari charcoal bought from Amazon. I believe that it had a fine nib on it. I've since sold it off long ago. Wish I hadn't. 

[SamChevre]

I bought two fountain pens in a box of odds and ends (several pair of buttonhole scissors, a bunch of ballpoint pens, random other stuff)--but they were good pens: a Waterman Crusader, and a Parker 51 Vac.

 

I didn't know anything about fountain pens, but re-saccing a pen following Richard Binder's instructions was enough to get the Waterman working (although it still needs a cap--I think someone used Superchrome or 51 ink in it and it ate holes in the cap.  Also, it has the "little girl who had a little curl" of nibs--it is a great, slightly flexible, smooth nib two-thirds of the time, and maddeningly scratchy and blotty the other third).    After reading a bunch on this site, I replaced the diaphragm in the 51, and it's still my everyday meeting notes pen.  (One of these days I'll get a cap for the Crusader and get someone skilled to look at the nib.)

[Rebbe]

Lamy Safari M in Charcoal Grey. Purchased around 8 years ago.

[Bo Bo Olson]

It might well have been a Sheaffer School pen @ 1958, the first of those yearly stolen from me, because we were to poor to have my name engraved on it. The yearly Jotter was also stolen.

(The family had a black and gold Snorkel, back in the day of One Man, One Pen....and in our case One family, one pen.)

 

I never had any trouble with Wearevrs, outside of everyone knew they were cheap....but the beat the hell out of a Venus....it took ages before someone stole that pen. Boy, was I glad.

 

My Esterbrooks were the ugly metal capped ones that lowered them to Wearever class. & I didn't know they had screw out nibs....they didn't last long enough to worry about it, had I known.

 

Back in the day, I/we didn't know abut cleaning out a pen. A big ignorant WHY? It was empty enough with lever pens to fill up to more or less the color, which was good enough....the next load would be more color true.

For cartridge pens it was if the cartridge was a different color, sooner or alter it would turn the color in the cartridge and the next cartridge would be 'true'. ....if any school kid worried about such stuff.

[Toolattack]

A blue and steel Parker 25. It wrote pretty well and was very recognisable with the tapered end.

[51ISH]

4 hours ago, Toolattack said:

A blue and steel Parker 25. It wrote pretty well and was very recognisable with the tapered end.

 

Me too......  My parents bought it for me around 1970 in a set with the ballpoint. I'd moved to a Secondary Modern School and we wasn't allowed to use a ballpoint, you had to use a fountain pen. I agree it worked pretty well. I was only  allowed to use cartridges, as Mom knew I couldn't be trusted with a bottle of ink....🤣 I could be trusted to 'babysit' my 5 year old sister though....🤔   Not sure if you 'posted' your P25 but  I only recently realized the 'tapered  end' makes it so the cap posts beautifully 'flush' with the barrel.... I had two or three over the years...they did seem to leak a little ink into the cap....but that could have been my rough handling. Pretty much a 'bomb proof' pen.  I recently flushed two that hadn't been used since the '70's with an ear bulb and tap water. It was a  two minute job, just a couple of rinses... both worked just as you would expect.... You can't beat Quink Washable Blue it seems ....🤣 

[inkstainedruth]

First fountain pen I owned?  An unknown (at this point) pen/pencil combo that had been my grandfather's.  Didn't know how it worked (I thought the leads went into the pen where the lever box was.  All I know was that it was blue, and had been my grandfather's, and I found it on my dad's dresser after my grandfather's funeral.  Lost it more than half a century ago....

First pen I actually used?  Parker Reflex.  After a while the rubberized grip disintegrated on it, so I bought another one, and the same thing happened to the second one....  Ended up buying a Parker Vector, when I could not get a third Reflex at the local Staples.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[GlenV]

Sheaffer snorkel, my grandather gave me a burgandy set with case he must have been saving it for 25 years 

I used it for a year in college and then  sadly lost the pen.... I have now an identical one though to remember 

[51ISH]

14 minutes ago, GlenV said:

Sheaffer snorkel, my grandather gave me a burgandy set with case he must have been saving it for 25 years 

I used it for a year in college and then  sadly lost the pen.... I have now an identical one though to remember 

 

Try not to 'beat yourself up' for losing the pen....things usually happen for a reason.  The fact you replaced the pen, and you  are talking about him here proves he is still remembered fondly. That is all any of us can ask for.

[Toolattack]

1 hour ago, 51ISH said:

 

Me too......  My parents bought it for me around 1970 in a set with the ballpoint. I'd moved to a Secondary Modern School and we wasn't allowed to use a ballpoint, you had to use a fountain pen. I agree it worked pretty well. I was only  allowed to use cartridges, as Mom knew I couldn't be trusted with a bottle of ink....🤣 I could be trusted to 'babysit' my 5 year old sister though....🤔   Not sure if you 'posted' your P25 but  I only recently realized the 'tapered  end' makes it so the cap posts beautifully 'flush' with the barrel.... I had two or three over the years...they did seem to leak a little ink into the cap....but that could have been my rough handling. Pretty much a 'bomb proof' pen.  I recently flushed two that hadn't been used since the '70's with an ear bulb and tap water. It was a  two minute job, just a couple of rinses... both worked just as you would expect.... You can't beat Quink Washable Blue it seems ....🤣 

I agree, it posted very elegantly 👍👍

[51ISH]

1 minute ago, Toolattack said:

I agree, it posted very elegantly 👍👍

 

I don't think I ever posted mine back in the day....50+ years on, only now do I realize what a clever design it was. I don't know of any other cap that posts 'flush' with the barrel in that way.  (not saying there aren't any...)

[ruby.monkey]

The Parker 25 in this photo:

 

It went to boarding school with me in 1981 and it's still in use today.

[ajcoleman]

The first time I used a fountain pen was a Sheaffer blue cartridge pen that Mom let me get when I was in Jr. High probably, say in the mid 70's. I was fascinated, though I thought it wrote too broad for my taste at the time. I used up the cartridge that came with it, in what seemed to me as a kid who only had used pencils and ballpoints, in a unreasonably short amount of time. I never refilled it.

 

Fast forward to about 12 years ago or so. My kids gave me a Levenger gift card for Christmas and I used it to by a black True Writer fountain pen to see what it was like. I have never looked back. I have used fountain pens ever since. I still have the True Writer, though it does not see much use these days.

[kestrel]

A low end Elysee in 1985.  I was a department head in a Navy squadron and the executive officer (2nd in command) insisted we all invest in a time management system.  I bought the DayTimer planners and the set came with a pen that fit into the little leather loop in the book.  Ballpoint or fountain pen were the choices so I chose the fountain pen.  The pen was wonderful.  14K gold nib, smooth as silk, always started.  I was hooked.  That pen was my EDC for nine years through two extended deployments on aircraft carriers.  When I was piloting my trusty Sea King helicopter (20,000 rivets flying in close formation) that pen was in my pocket.  I wrote hundreds of letters home to my wife with it.  It even survived two trips through the ship's laundry without leaking.  I finally had to retire it when the cap would no longer stay in place.  I still have it and, someday, it might find itself going to a certain repair person in Rochester to get that cap fixed.