How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[fountainpenjunkie]

Last week, for the second time in the few years since I started down this path of accumulation and daily use of fountain pens, I noticed what I suspected was a fountain pen in the pocket of a guest speaker in my electronics class.

 

I've been mistaken before. Folks hand over their pride and joy for my ogling and usually it is a ball point of some sort.

 

So, I started out cautiously, "That looks like a nice pen" and it was immediately handed over with an explanation of why he has some throwback of a pen in his pocket. I took the cap of the beautiful blue pen and saw that it was indeed a fountain pen - a Waterman Phileas.

 

"Oh, you don't have to explain to me..." I said, as I handed over my recently purchased Parker Sonnet. He immediately pulled the cap off and started writing with it. I should have done the same, but he was there to speak and hadn't started yet, I was holding up the class.

 

But that is only the second time I've seen someone with a fountain pen. True, living in Sacramento, (the LA Laker touted 'cow-town'), one may expect a rarity of use, I suppose. The other was at school as well. Discovered an instructor using a Pilot Varsity to initial our lab work.

 

So, I am curious if you folks see a lot of others using or carrying fountain pens?

 

I of course emailed both folks shortly after the incidents and gave them the FPN link. Cause, you know, this is where they belong.

[Ghost Plane]

The guy at the fish counter at my supermarket collects FPs. My financial advisor just got given one by his son. A friend of mine's oldest son just discovered them [teenager] and I was able to give her this site. You'd be amazed.

[petra]

I have never, in real life, seen anyone else using a fountain pen -- except at a pen show! Kind of odd, as SOMEONE is buying all these fountain pens on ebay...

 

Petra

[I am not a number]

Most people where I work (those on the academic staff) are FP users. In most other areas of my life I'm the only one.

[Hoarder68]

They are rare birds in southern Indiana.

[blak000]

Haven't seen a single person yet. Whenever people find out I'm using a fountain pen, their faces tend to scrunch up like I just told them something gross. There's quite a bit of resistance to the FP, from what I've seen, and the fact that they cost more than $6 doesn't seem to help.

 

Not too long ago, I gave my mother a pack of Pilot Varsities to take with her to work (my parents run a high school tutoring center). She came back that same day, and told me a few of the kids swiped them from her desk. There's hope for the future yet!!

[Samovar]

A co-worker brought a nice Waterman for me to fix. Turns out she had not clean the pen for many years! It's actually the second time something like this happens.

 

Apart from that, it's a rarity.

 

 

[caligatia]

This summer I met a cashier at the pharmacy who had just gotten into pens. He's really big on Japanese stationery, and we started talking one day when nobody was in line behind me. We started hanging out a lot, and I'm going to his wedding.

[Ernst Bitterman]

At work, I'm it. I keep watching around town for others, but even if I see something peeking out of a pocket which looks promising, it's a hard subject to broach. "No, I'm not an enormous lunatic in a black duster... well, yes I am, but I'm not actually dangerous. Is that a Sheaffer Intrigue you're carrying?"

 

The enormous lunatic bit tends to put people off.

[RaymondvW]

I was at class last week, the guy in front of me was taking notes with a FP.

 

And there I was, taking notes with a Parker Jotter, because I thought that taking a FP to class was too impractical

[Lloyd]

Does my looking in the mirror count?

[Ghost Plane]

No

[Lloyd]

No

Then, aside from my wife, I only know one other person that uses a FP; A co-worker that uses a modern Waterman (nothing pricey).

[ppenloverr]

Last week, for the second time in the few years since I started down this path of accumulation and daily use of fountain pens, I noticed what I suspected was a fountain pen in the pocket of a guest speaker in my electronics class.

 

I've been mistaken before. Folks hand over their pride and joy for my ogling and usually it is a ball point of some sort.

 

So, I started out cautiously, "That looks like a nice pen" and it was immediately handed over with an explanation of why he has some throwback of a pen in his pocket. I took the cap of the beautiful blue pen and saw that it was indeed a fountain pen - a Waterman Phileas.

 

"Oh, you don't have to explain to me..." I said, as I handed over my recently purchased Parker Sonnet. He immediately pulled the cap off and started writing with it. I should have done the same, but he was there to speak and hadn't started yet, I was holding up the class.

 

But that is only the second time I've seen someone with a fountain pen. True, living in Sacramento, (the LA Laker touted 'cow-town'), one may expect a rarity of use, I suppose. The other was at school as well. Discovered an instructor using a Pilot Varsity to initial our lab work.

 

So, I am curious if you folks see a lot of others using or carrying fountain pens?

 

I of course emailed both folks shortly after the incidents and gave them the FPN link. Cause, you know, this is where they belong.

none from the company i work are fountain pen users and i haven't seen anybody at all using a pen. people tend to use pens instead....

 

[PAKMAN]

I went many years at work and never saw another fountain pen until very recently. A coworker had a Carene looking cap sticking out of his pocket and I asked to see it. Turns out he has been a closet collector for a while. He has a couple of vintage pens also. Now the really weird part is that he also lives two houses down from me!

[PenTieRun]

Of my 200 colleagues, I only know two besides myself who use them. I'm working on converting others to the cult. Have had a few "ah"s and "oh"s recently while letting folks write with FPs they can't damage.

[jk0592]

Once a while I see some colleague, mostly of European origin, using fountain pens. Other colleagues of my age group, thus having used FP in primary school, are surprised to see me using a "real pen".

[captnemo]

In the past I don't know how many years, I have seen just one, medical doctor using an LE Parker Duofold.

[wdyasq]

I am in my late 50's and am back in college. I have introduced a few students to fountain pens. Occasionally a professor will remark, "I haven't seen a real ...". I have one professor who will borrow my green inked Parker "51" for grading, while the students are busy with a lab or tests.

 

The various types of vertically held marking tools have changed the hand-hold on many of the younger folks I see. There is no way many of them could use any true ink dispensing device except for the Rapid-o-graph.

 

Some of the math students carry larger erasers than they do pencils and only a handful of math folks actually use an indelible device as I do.

 

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Ron

[Tournevis]

I have one colleague in my department. Other than that, I have not seen anyone use a FP in years.