How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[fullfederhalter]

Other than one co-worker and my sister-in-law (who began using fountain pens while living in Europe), I have not seen anyone else using a fountain pen.

[2brothers]

I once saw a student in a Starbucks jotting down some notes with an Omas Paragon. That's the only time I can ever recall seeing one in the wild.

[Kataphract]

I saw them every now and then when I worked at JPL, but then, you could actually buy fountain pens in Pasadena (Vroman's Bookstore).

[Mercian]

The last (other) person I saw using one was a District Judge, back in 2013.

He had to stop to refill his Sonnet half way through a hearing. When I saw that he was refilling it with Quink Black, I wanted to tell him to try either ESSRI or Noodler's Black instead.

In the circumstances I thought that it would be ‘slightly’ inappropriate for me to do so, so I held my tongue

I do occasionally get remarks when people see that I am using a fountain pen.

Some people are curious, some are complimentary. One woman (who was younger than me) even said "Wow. It's years since I've seen anyone using a proper pen".

 

In a local cooks' shop a couple of years ago the proprietor saw that I was using one, and said that she uses them too. We then chatted about local sources of ink, pens, etc. That part of the conversation did not, sadly, take very long

[Qfwfq]

Fountain pens are not that uncommon where I work. I frequently see older physics professors use them. It’s also much more common among Europeans (the French in particular.)

 

I wonder if this is quirk of the sub-culture, or if there is something about fountain pens that’s conducive to that sort of abstract thought.

 

Personally, I love to do my “thinking” with a fountain pen. It feels more natural and effortless to get my ideas on paper.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

[domnortheast]

I know of only two people at work who use fountain pens but neither of them bring their pens in with them.

 

Fountain pens are not that uncommon where I work. I frequently see older physics professors use them. It’s also much more common among Europeans (the French in particular.)

 

I wonder if this is quirk of the sub-culture, or if there is something about fountain pens that’s conducive to that sort of abstract thought.

 

Personally, I love to do my “thinking” with a fountain pen. It feels more natural and effortless to get my ideas on paper.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Perhaps the ballpoint is more symbolic of ruthless business efficiency, a tool to be used and discarded on the path to greater profits while the faff and fuss of using and looking after an fp is more a thing of personal passion and creativity much like running vintage vehicles.

 

Dom

[FayeV]

These days, other than my 9yr old, I have not seen any other fountain pen users.

 

There have been times when I'd try to whip out my Esterbrook LJ while out in public when I'm nearish an "older" person. I have been unsuccessful at eliciting some sort of "oh, I used to use one of those pens" response from any of them.

[StevenSur]

finding some one using a fountain pen is like finding someone shaving with a straight edge razor !

Fortunately, some of us do both!

[mfbower]

Wow, I must be extremely blessed. There are 4-5 people on my office floor that fountain pens. There are about 60 people on my floor.

[pokermind]

I saw them every now and then when I worked at JPL, but then, you could actually buy fountain pens in Pasadena (Vroman's Bookstore).

hey! I work at JPL, maybe you saw me? Not knocking Vroman's, but check out Fred Kinke's fountain pen shop in nearby Monrovia:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fountain-pen-shop-monrovia

[Thier.]

I have two or three clients using Fountain pens and we use to discuss about it each time we meet .....

[LionRoar]

I haven't seen anyone use a fountain pen (corporate New York City environment) in a really long time.

 

I heard that hipsters were using fountain pens, but maybe that story was bogus.

[Newjelan]

Everyone in my small company uses them (5 people), as does my husband, daughter and 3 friends. In addition, it would be a rare week that I don't see at least 1 person using a fountain pen in a meeting. Given that most would never have used a fountain pen at school, I think it's great how many use them at work.

[fountainpenjunkie]

I would just like to thank all members who have posted on this topic. I can't believe it has been going for seven years. I receive an email with each post and make sure I read them all. Thank you very much!

[rezwrrd]

The first day of the semester, I found out one of my classmates (who's been in the same German courses for a few years now) writes with a Kaweco. Since then we've chatted briefly about pens on occasion. In nearly five years at the Uni, i have now seen two other FP-users.

 

Not sure if this counts, but my grandma has a Parker Vector that she bought in the late 80s or early 90s. She uses it to write letters sometimes. Maybe that's where I get my Parker fixation and love of blue inks.

[Octo]

I stopped in the bookstore at the nearby university today and happened to ask whether they stocked fountain pen ink. The clerk led me to a case filled with pens and said students were required to use them for a course. The only ink stocked was Pelikan Black.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Octo

[Lovely_Pen]

I stopped in the bookstore at the nearby university today and happened to ask whether they stocked fountain pen ink. The clerk led me to a case filled with pens and said students were required to use them for a course. The only ink stocked was Pelikan Black.

 

Wonder what course that was...

 

My college bookstore stocks some Pilot Metros and Pilot cartridges, but that's all. They do have a nice selection of notebooks though, including various Clairfontaine ones

 

I'm one of but a small handful of students who use FPs. In the office where I work though, three out of four people (myself included obviously) use FPs.

[rezwrrd]

My uni's bookstore only has some V-Pens and Higgins ink (black and India black). There's a small selection of dip nibs and holders for the art students, and a Manuscript calligraphy set or two. I stopped going there for pen and ink a while ago.

 

My sister went to UW-Madison for a while, and they had a decent selection of Lamy and Private Reserve inks at their bookstore. I don't remember seeing any pens though.

[moylek]

I sat down at the coffee bar in the Math building here on campus last week and noticed the undergrad at the next stool vigorously shaking his pen. I looked over to see him frowning at his open Safari, the cartridge clearly all but empty. A few more shakes and he gave up.

 

That was the first time I've ever seen an undergraduate with a fountain pen.

 

Though, as I've noted before, a good quarter of the mathematicians (but none of the statisticians, now that I think about it) have a bottle of ink on their desks and a fountain pen or two out for use.

[jkingrph]

Not often, In the last 4 years I have seen exactly three, One an older man, about my age, who had a Levenger pen in his pocket. Not only was he into fountain pens in a minor way, he told me he shaved with a straight razor.

 

The other two were hospital administrators, one had a gold Cross pen that was a gift from his wife, the other over in N Louisiana, recognized the Pelikan in my pocket, and when we got to talking he was not only into fountain pens, but wet shaving as well as I, with vintage double and single edge safety razors.