How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[Amberviv]

I work in a company with over a thousand employees and as far as I know, I am the only one who uses fountain pens. The sad thing is we are a distributor of quality pens (Faber-Castell, Montblanc, Dunhill, Cartier, Porsche Design.....) and staff will recive a huge discount when they buy. Yet they only ever use that discount to get a ballpoint...

 

My fountain pens and other writing accessories serve as a talking point and I think people here see them as yet another evidence of my eccentricity... Vietnam is a fast moving place and sadly that means that not many people have time for things like fountain pens any more...

[Arobow]

During one of the first club meetings at college, I remember taking notes with a fountain pen and one of the seniors came over, picked it up (all the while I was cringing inside. He *TOUCHED* my pen!) and said, "Woah. You're using a REAL pen."

 

Heh. That was pretty awesome. But, sadly, he didn't share the obsession--just possessed a healthy respect for it. Almost as good.

[I am not a number]

...we are a distributor of quality pens (Faber-Castell, Montblanc, Dunhill, Cartier, Porsche Design.....) and staff will recive a huge discount when they buy...

Have I ever mentioned how much I admire you?

[WhosYerBob]

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

Two of my coworkers do; one has a Diplomat and an Esterbrook, the other has a Rotring.

[Ellie_IV]

Outside of pen shows and pen club meetings and with the exception, years ago, of an accounting employee who used a Namiki Vanishing Point pen, I have not observed anyone writing with a fountain pen for at least 40 years.

 

I see people in pen stores buying pens, and I wonder who they are and what they do with them. Are there certain professions that are associated with fountain pen use?

 

[Zed]

Moving mainly in academic circles I actually get amazed how many people use FP's. As it is mainly students (they constitute the majority of people at universities so the fact is not all that surprising) who use these I notice mainly cheap Parker's, Lamy's, and to me unknown demonstrators. But I have seen even some pretty nice contemporary and vintage pens around. In one seminar (there were some 14 people present) not long ago I felt like on some amaterish FP's fans meeting: beside my Pelikan M605 and some cheap unidentifiable FP's, there was somebody writing with Montblanc, Lamy 2000 and what I believe was a red 51's. Not bad...

 

Regards and Happy New Year FPN (if it is not too late to wish it now...)!

[finalidid]

In college the challenge was to do the NYT Sunday crossword with FP.

 

Had to use fine point with a dry writer, not dilly-dally with the nib on the page (bleeding!), and ... obviously ...

 

... MAKE NO MISTAKES.

 

[Clancy]

The last time I saw another person using an FP was about six months ago during a visit from my zen teacher. She used one to write down an address for me. It was not a surprise though as she's been using one as long as i've known her (12 years).

Other than that I don't believe I've seen an FP in use since...oh...sheesh..my memory fails me once again. It's uncommon though, isn't it? (or maybe I just need to get out more)

 

C.

Edited January 6, 2008 by Clancy

[NightWriter]

One of the Directors at my job carries like 3 or 4 Waterman Edsons in his shirt pocket. They're really heavy and his shirt pocket always looks weighed down and saggy.

 

Apart from him I don't know anyone else.

[tetuyng]

My grandmother had lots of the things when I was a kid. Was always fascinated by them, she would never let me mess with them always giving me a pencil the few times I didn't have my nose stuck in her books. What finally drove me to try one last year was going to the docs office and seeing another patient with one. I must thank the FPN forums for the info I recieved in getting the 4 I did.

 

[agill1970]

As an adult I've only seen it once. Several years back a gentleman in a suit that cost more than most of the peoples here entire pen collections penned off a check after winning the high bid at an antique auction. Between his garb and jewelry he was wearing at least 20k (easily) and I had no knowledge of pens then so I couldn't begin to tell you what it was. A more pretentious or aloof man I have not seen, but I will give him his due as far as tastes go. Thankfully the experience didn't sour me as far as FP's go.

[tfwall]

Out of a staff of about fifty officers, there is one other FP user among the bunch. He's got a black Waterman Phileas that he uses regularly.

[Thor]

I'm in Austria for a semester, studying German, and in our DaF course (deutsch als Fremdsprache...german as a foreign language) normally I would sit near the back, but one day I was a little late and had to sit up front. After a quick comment to me about how nice it is to sit up front, he started writing something on the overhead - with a fountain pen. I have no idea what it is...actually I can't even remember if it was blue or black or some other combo. He has seen me writing with mine several times and always gives me an eye when he hands out papers, so he knows that we both know that the other uses a fountain pen.

 

Another prof in our program handed out a test and said "You may use a pen or a pencil, doesn't matter, or a fountain pen of course." Seems it hasn't gone unnoticed here in Austria, where you can also buy a Pelikano at a grocery store.

 

Other than that, I've never heard of or seen anyone use them, exception being that my dad said he used to use them in school and knew how to write with mine (it's funny, he still has that touch even though he has a heavy hand and writes in all caps, but can switch to a nice hand as he pleases).

[dmmcf]

About a year ago, I noticed while grading students' papers that one student always wrote his name and course information with what had to be a fountain pen, then went on to do his work (engineering calculations) in pencil. At the end of the semester, he happened to stop by my office, and I worked around to asking him about the practice. His eyes lit up, and he dug into his backpack to produce a green-striped Pelikan. It had been his grandfather's, and the young man had brought it with him when his family had immigrated to the US from one of the recently reconfigured eastern-European countries. His pride in the pen, and his grandfather, was plain to see.

 

[Velma]

Another one of my coworkers just came up to me. She'd been given a charcoal Lamy Safari by her mother, and wanted me to show her how to insert the cartridge. I demonstrated (it writes smoothly!), and told her that the Fountain Pen Hospital has multiple colors of Lamy cartridges, as well as converters, should she *ahem* want to wander down there one day with me during lunch.

 

Not that I'm trying to corrupt her or anything, but it is a new year....

[fountainpenjunkie]

Not that I'm trying to corrupt her or anything, but it is a new year....

Corrupt? It seems as though you are a one-person fp recruiting committee!

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Montblanc has a very good marketing: "young urban professionals" are using their products in terms of prestige, success and luxuary

Arrrrggghh! YUPPIES!

 

However he said something that sparked my interest. He said that when he writes with fountain pens, his hands hurt less especially in long notetaking sessions. Do you guys find this true?

Absolutely! Part of the attraction for me is that I can write for hours with a fountain pen whereas a ballpoint will cause problems in a pretty short time. And as I develop arthritis in my hands the fountain pen becomes the only thing I can conmfortably write with for more than a couple of minutes.

 

I've tried writing with a low-value FP on the bus to my office, but my route is a short and bumpy ride, so I'm limited to rollerball/ballpoint/pencil.

I write on the subway with fountain pens, but I know what you mean. I think that the best writing instrument for a bumpy ride is probably a pencil. It grips the page better because you're rubbing parts of the graphite off to write, so that particular type of friction damps down most of the lesser vibrations and can hold the pencil's position during the bigger bumps. Still, I risk it all these days and scribble away with my Parker Vector.

[Shangas]

I endure a 1/2 hour tram-ride to uni and a 1/2 hour tram ride home on-average 3-4 days a week during term-time. I have successfully written entire diary-entries and full pages of notes with a fountain pen while sitting jammed securely in a corner of the tram where I won't be rocked around. I've never had any problems writing like that. Perhaps it's just me? And I've used all my pens in that situation - My '51', my Montblanc, my...everything.

[french22]

In my company near Paris, I have noticed 15 to 20 regular FP users (out of 1000+ people in our offices - but I don't cross everybody path). Out out those, I now 3 of them who have more than 2 FP's (they qualify for the "collector" term isn't it ?)

 

Many are using MB or Waterman. Some Pilot Varsity (or Vpen as called here) can be seen around as some were ordered in the past by secretaries for the stationary stock.

 

Some colleagues decided to start re-use their old FP becoming tired of crappy quality of bp's.

 

On the family side, all kids are writing at school with FP. Wife doesn't like them anymore (the FP's, not the kids) : she uses RP with "real" ink cart and I could assimilate in my collection the great Grand Connaisseur she offered herself some years ago.

[fountainpenjunkie]

On the family side, all kids are writing at school with FP.

What pens do the kids use in school?