How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[PenTieRun]

My current workplace has 3 other fountain pen users. It was a bit disconcerting, really ... I was wakling by and happened to notice bottles of ink on one coworkers desk, who pointed me to 2 other FP users.

 

This coworker shocked me when she pulled out a binder with about 20 pens in it. I started oohing and aahing as I looked at her *traveling* collection, consisting of Omas Paragon, Visconti Opera, Parker Vacumatics and Duofolds, Aurora Fuoco, several vintage and modern Watermans, and so on. When I started identifying pens, their make and model, and various details about several of the pens, she looked at me with a dumfounded expression and asked "How do you know all this?!" To which I replied "Well, I really like them, so I investigate and research and read about them. Don't you?"

 

"No," she said. "I just buy ones that look pretty and feel good." Not that there's anything wrong with that ... just wasn't the answer I was expecting!

 

Fountain pens, I believe, are notably more popular in Europe and Asia than in America. Read somewhere about a boom in pen sales in Japan, S. Korea, and China. Remember a story that a friend told me about being chastised in high school (early 90s) by a German foreign exchange student who--seeing her ballpoint-- told her, "You Americans write with crappy pens." There's also an article from a year or two back on the BBC about a resurgence in Scottish schools where fountain pen use is being linked to better composition. Just my $0.02.

Edited December 8, 2007 by PenTieRun

[goodguy]

Well finding people with FP's is rare but certainplaces have more users then others.

I work in a big office builidng in down town Toronto and actualy I see people use FP's.

Many of the FP's are Mont Blanc pens.

[AlecG]

As a consultant I visit a lot of companies, about a 75 to 100 a year. I nearly always talk with the MD's and almost always with the technical staff. I think aobut 25% uses a FP. Most of the pens are older pens(5 years and older), most of the common brands like sheafer, parker, some waterman, and an occasional Italian brand.

There is one chap that ownes a company with about 35 people (they do complex things with plastics like filtering nitrogen out of air with straws :S ) and he really has a collection.

Every time I meet him (twice a year) he makes sure he has another pen withhim. Sofar it has been 7 or 8 years and he always had one or two new/different pens with him.

 

When you get to the non-staff level, the amount of FP's drops hard, but still I would say something like 1 or 2 in 20 uses a FP when working.

 

But here in Holland we are teached at primary school to write with a FP. Some time around the 90's they stopped with it, but it came back because the attention to writing, and the readability of the writing improves when they use a FP.

 

 

[Ernst Bitterman]

The demographic argument ("With a total population on Earth of 6 Billion,...") reminds me of something I neglected. While I don't see a lot of FPs about, my work requires me to process cheques mailed in from a sub-group of about 120,000 people out of a provinicial population of around one million. I usually get at least one cheque, and sometimes as many as five, in a day while is undeniably FP-written-- evidence of flex-shading, ink colour too goofy for a rollerball, and other such hints.

 

...because I'm loony enough to watch for that sort of thing.

[jonro]

Hey, if you DO happen to run into someone with a FP, what do you think the chance is that the person is a member of FPN??

I was in Levenger's in Boca Raton a couple of weeks ago, trying a couple of their inks, when someone from Canada stopped at the counter to buy one of their pens. I spoke with him for a few moments. He had a very nice collection, but was not familiar with FPN. I gave him the URL, so hopefully he has joined our ranks.

[AndyHayes]

A friend recently told me that they had bought their partner a fountain pen. I mentioned that I used fountain pens and they said in a superior tone, "ah yes, but his was £70 ($140)".

 

I pulled one from my pocket and said, "perhaps you would like to look at my £200 ($400) pen?". There has been no mention of it since!

 

Two people at a place that I have worked had FPs. One was a really quite guy who was a Parker fan whose nib on his Sonnet was stubbed and the other was a guy that always burst into the room loudly and was determined to be noticed and had altogether far too much to say for himself. He had an MB149.

[greencobra]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone use a fountain pen in my life (except me). I do however remember a car salesman using what I thought at the time was a funny looking ball pen. Knowing what I know now, it could have been a "51". So I guess not often.

[KClaw]

Back in 1973 at King Alfred's School in Wantage, eveyone in the 6th form used them. It was a bit of a status symbol like expensive sneakers or leather Team Jackets are today. I started then with a new Parker 51 my parents bought me. My Mom has always been a FP user. She is not collector though. She has one, a 50's Vintage sheaffer that she uses exclusively.

In my time in the fire service, I was the odd duck and people were always checking it out, wanting to know if it would squirt ink a la "Three Stooges". Firemen are such practical jokers. LOL.

As a practicing attorney, I see a fairly significant population of FP users, but we are a distinct minority. I know several Judges who use them. In fact one Judge was complaining about his Waterman CF, which leaked ink whenever he tried to use the converter. The first time he showed it to me, he removed the cap and covered his fingers in blue black. I gave him some filling tips. I let him try one of my Parker 51s, and he is now going to buy one. I gave him some web sites and explained the price ranges based on caps and filling systems, colors, etc. Another Parker 51 convert.

[KCat]

never

[Goodwhiskers]

A few of my students every year are from Europe, and some of these have used FPs in class.

 

Most of my students are from east and southeast Asia, and they think I'm an individualistic (still usually not a good label in those cultures), stubborn anacrhonist with my FPs. They've seen or maybe even used FPs in their childhoods, scratchy fine points that dripped, leaked and required too much attention during handling and filling, and want nothing to do with them now. One non-FP-er said her mother is a calligrapher who still uses good FPs as well as traditional brushes. Another told me she has a Waterman FP she likes, but at home in her country.

 

A few students headed for design school used Rhodia paper in class (ahhhhhhh), but they were east Asians who didn't like FPs.

 

(edited for grammar)

Edited December 8, 2007 by Goodwhiskers

[ribbit]

Well, I've bugged my hubby into trying one of mine. Got a "<sigh>Yes, dear, it really is great." and back to a promotional bp. Does that count?

 

Oh, and I knew a gal whose dad collected MBs.

[Tojusi]

I know a number of people who received a very nice Cross FP as a corporate present - but I think I am the only user. What a waste! They say that it is difficult to use and then it dries up and then it is really difficult to use. I have explained more than once how to use the pen, how to clean it, and that you really need to use it more than once every two weeks. When all else failed, I even tried to motivate them by telling them what is the retail cost of the pen. Didn't work.

 

I work in law. At my current firm, we used to have Waterman Hemisphere FPs with the firm name on it as signing pens. I think that two partners are more or less actively using Hemispheres they have taken into custody.

 

One partner is a very active Montblanc user - I think he keeps his two pens inked up.

 

A colleague at another firm writes with a vintage Montblanc (60s maybe?) he was given as a gift by his wife. I really do not know where she could have acquired it, though!

 

Of course, I am a user....

 

But what really gets me is that in negotiations where people managing serious amounts of money pay attention to their grooming, suits, shoes, watches etc... And they write with throwaway pens they pick up as corporate advertisements.

 

Of course, investment bankers (especially City boys (i.e. from London)) are big on brandishing their Montblancs - but usually they are rollers / ballpoints and not FPs!

 

/Tojusi

[Nellie]

Having read this forum for over a year I have realised that not many people in the US use fountain pens. I also know it because when I lost my favourite pen at university ten years ago (a Sheaffer NoNonsense/Vintage, which at the time seemed irreplacable to me as I didn't know eBay yet) the American exchange students couldn't understand why on earth I was so extremely upset about loosing a pen. When I tried to explain I realized that they didn't even know what a FP was.

However, despite all this I'm still shocked that some of you have never seen anybody apart from themselves use a fountain pen . It's really hard to imagine for me as I see people using them every day when I'm at work.

Nellie

[macaddicted]

nobody.

 

For those who know me it is seen as another quirk.

[penburg]

About 5 others in my circle of acquaintances, mostly modern users (MB, Faber, Lamy, Tombow, Chinese), and one other collector/user of vintage FPs. College town.

[Dylan]

Very, very few.

 

The CEO of a partner company loves FP's, he uses a Mozart Mont Blanc everyday with a moleskine notebook.

 

The Manager of our largest client also loves FP's, he uses a Parker Sonnet FP M nib.

 

On thursday I saw one of my staff with a cheap Pilot in his pocket....I hope that I am influencing him in that direction.

 

Other than them, I never see anyone with a fountain pen....really sad actually, for them that is.

 

Then of course I see myself using a FP every single day.......and night.

 

 

[wdyasq]

Two people at a place that I have worked had FPs. One was a really quite guy who was a Parker fan whose nib on his Sonnet was stubbed and the other was a guy that always burst into the room loudly and was determined to be noticed and had altogether far too much to say for himself. He had an MB149.

 

I had stopped at the local adult beverage serving place for refreshments one evening a few years back. An engineer at the power plant mentioned I was the only one he knew who actually used a fountain pen besides a particular fellow. This overly-loud contract engineer started bragging on his MB149 and what a smooth writer it was. It seems large construction projects get invaded by 'contract engineers' if it is a cost plus project.

 

He asked me what I thought of MontBlanc. I stated I thought they were more hype than pen and the real test was where the nib hit paper. This was after I explained I didn't have a REAL fountain pen, just a cheap $20 cartridge pen. After sufficient baiting it was proposed we get a sheet of paper and see, among the folks at the table, which pen had a smoother nib. The owner of the loosing pen would purchase a round of drinks. The challenge was accepted.

 

The MontBlanc had a fine nib. My OTHO Tache, I pulled from my checkbook, has a medium nib .... that had visited the Micro-Mesh .... Even the owner of the MontBlanc admitted the OTHO Tache, at $20 (and undisclosed work) was smoother than his pen.

 

I failed to disclose the fact my nib had been polished. Or, that a medium nib is markedly smoother than a fine. I accepted the free beverage.

 

Ron

 

[pilgrim]

among app. 50 students writing the exam (university level), one (or here and there two) use the fountain pen.

[reginaldgolding]

I've lived in several places in the U.S., am in PA now, and I'm another who's never seen others use FPs.

 

My first one (I was in the sixth grade at the time) was a very low-end drugstore Shaeffer (silverish cap, black body) that was sold as a "calligraphy" pen, but other nibs were cheap and easy to switch, no converter, but came with cartidges. I used it for years until it cracked in such a way that the barrel would no longer keep a nib snug. I got another, but lost it, got two more, one clear barrel, one clear/red barrel, and still have those today. It's been only in the last couple of years that I've started to look back into FPs and buy others. I now have five others (Pilot MYU 701, Rotring Core, Parker 51 Special, Monteverde Black Tie, Waterman Phileas) with three more on the way for the holidays (Lamy Safari Aluminum, Namiki Pilot Knight burgandy, Namiki Pilot VP Carbonesque). [Can't wait to get them all side by side and photographed for sharing!]

 

I also work at an art school, and while I know that some classes must be using various tools for drawing, I see no one using an FP on a daily basis. I'm still the oddball in that respect.

 

As an aside, I stopped one of the older instructors just yesterday and showed him my 51 without introducing it. His face lit up just seeing it in my hand, didn't need an introduction "......... A Parker 51." He was THRILLED to see a 51, knew it by sight right away; told me he used to dream about owning a 51 back when he was a kid in the 40s. Neat moment!

 

Part of me is glad there are so few others using an FP, since in some way it adds to the uniqueness of it, but OTOH, I'd like to see everyone appreciate something so simple and careful as a FP.

[Dylan]

Just remembered another chap....top Info Tech consultant...written books on Business Process Management. If my memory serves me correctly he has a masters in literature...anyway....he loves his Rotring fountain pen.

 

It looks terrible now. It has been around the world with him several times, but still writes well.

 

I remember that he told me some months back that he had bought his son a Waterman Expert Fountain pen...wants to get his son into the art form.