How often do you see people using fountain pens?

[fountainpenjunkie]

The guy at the fish counter at my supermarket collects FPs. You'd be amazed.

How did you discover that?

[Martius]

I left a Sheaffer Balance at a local pharmacy (CVS) last week and when I went back to get it they told me to talk to the assistant manager of the store. It turns out that the manager, who had the look of a Hell's Angel and the colorful name of Deuce (this was what was actually written on his nametag), told me he loved FP's and had quite a few himself, upon which he showed me his daily writer Cross Townsend. He assured me that he knew what it was like to lose a pen and told me he would do everything he could to make sure I got it back.

 

Needless to say, I found my Balance without any trouble.

[fountainpenjunkie]

So we are passing around a sympathy card for signatures in my department and as I sign I notice that our admin has a cool color of ink and some mild line variation and take a closer look. She has given me grief about my fp obsession, so I know she doesn't use one. I figure it is a gel pen. Then the next guy to sign says, "I don't know Dave, looks like our admin is giving you some competition."

I told him she has to be using a gel pen.

But I go up front to discuss it with her anyway.

Someone else was at her door but since they both looked at me and waited for me to discuss what I came to discuss, I went ahead and brought it up. She laughed but her visitor said, I love my fountain pens, I have a glass and wood case that is lined with velvet to display them..."

 

Yeah. I've seen this guy in the department maybe 10 times in the two years I've been here. He has about 30 pens. All new. His pride and joy? A Visconti he picked up in Italy. A bit out of my league!

 

I sent him the address here, plus a link to David Nishimura's PFM profile.

 

BTW - our admin confirmed she does use a gel pen.

[jeffersonian]

I graduated college in 2001 and I had one professor who used FPs.

 

Other than that, I have NEVER seen another human being using a fountain pen.

 

I'm picking up a Lamy Safari to take to work so that I can start a trend there. Any bets on my success? :ltcapd:

 

[Pengrump]

I'm in Boston. I see university students with fountain pens riding the Green Line Trolley every time I'm out that way. Last week I saw a guy with a gorgeous vintage striped Duofold making notes in a math text as he stood in the crowded trolley. Earlier this week I saw a woman doing a crossword puzzle with a Pelikan 200 or 250 on the bus that goes from my neighborhood into the Back Bay area. I asked her if the pen was a 200 or a 250, but she just looked at me as if I were nuts and went back to her puzzle.

 

I tend to hang out at either the pen store downtown or one of the stationery stores in Cambridge when I have free time. So of course, I do see people trying/buying fountain pens, bottled ink, cartridges. I try not to comment unless the person seems interested in talking about pens. Some people are interested, but I have yet to meet anyone as obsessively interested as I am--except for one guy who works at one of stationery stores. But he's mainly interested in selling vintage pens on eBay.

 

Every now and then someone, usually an older person (my age or older, that is. I keep forgetting I'm "older" now) sees me using a fountain pen to do a puzzle or make some notes while waiting for the bus or subway and says something about how rare it is to see someone using a fountain pen. Actually if you spend time near the universities and keep your eyes open in Boston, it's not all that rare.

[I am not a number]

As of yesterday there are three PhD students in my department with fountain pens. The young woman from Asia was delighted with hers (she told me that her father had taught her to use one but she hadn't really progressed from there). Our friendly Cuban guy seemed very pleased with his and the token Brit admitted that he used to use them all the time but had lost touch with the practice.

 

Slowly I will bring them around.

 

Mwahahaha

[Newbie]

Never.

 

I've recently got into the fountain pen thing, after I did some pen and ink in art class. I'm pretty rare I guess, because I'm the only one I know in my High school that uses them.

I do get a lot of "Hey, thats one of those old pens," and people always want to write with them. I always laugh when they try them and hold them upside-down, or on the side.

[Shangas]

Hahaha! That's one reaction that ALWAYS makes me laugh!

 

"Hey! You write with one of those old-timey pens...THAT IS SO COOL!!"

[Hélène]

I was at my university bookstore the other day and bought some gel pens, the older man who was working the cash register asked me if I was a pen collector. I showed him my SJ and a Reynolds cartridge filler because they were the most convenent to show him. He remembered using a lever filler in high school and remembered that the bookstore used to sell cartridge fillers. He went on to say that he wanted to get a fountain pen, I proceded to write two web addresses on a notepad he had at the counter, fountainpennetwork.com and pendemonium.com. I also gave some of my classmates Varsities (V Pens) for Christmas.

[tulipa]

We always used fountain pens when I was still in middle school in Hong Kong. But here in San Francisco Bay Area, I don't remember seeing more than 5 person holding a fountain pen in the last 2 decades. Almost everyone at my workplace uses disposable Uniball because they are freely available in the supply room.

[xena]

Hmm....As a grad student, I know 2 professors (both European) who use them. I have a buddy who uses them, and another student I see who uses them regularly. I also have one friend, who when she saw me yoink out my pelikan Pharo to jot down notes, said "I always feel bad when I see someone use one, we used em all the time in Europe, and its hard to find cartridges in the States!" Lots of support for the atlantic divide.

[Lozzic]

I saw two fountain pens this last week, a Parker Vector and what looked like a cheap black plastic fountain pen (I don't know what it actually was). I know they are not very special but I kind of get excited when I see them considering they seem so far and few between.

[jthole]

I don't count them

 

In most business meetings there are one or two people using a fountain pen. But they usually see it as a writing instrument, and not as an obsession

 

Waterman pens seem to be popular, just as Parkers and Lamy pens. Pelikans only for those who are really interested in good pens, and Montblancs are mostly seen as status symbols. It's been ages since I saw someone using Italian or Japanese pens.

[jthole]

Hello,

 

very interesting experiences! In Germany everybody has fountainpens from his time in school. It's also a very common present by parents and grandparents when you grow up (similar to watches). It's a sign that you become an adult when you get a worthy fountainpen. The kids start with Lamy, in my age with Pelikano or Geha C/C. The stories of "my first (fountain)-pen" sound like veterans stories. Mostly about horrible INK experiences...

 

Here most kids seem to start with Lamy ABC pens. They are cartridge fillers, so no scary ink experiences. Besides, they leave their pen at school, so no leaking in their bag too

 

My grandparents gave me a stainless Parker Vector when I was in secondary school. Primary school pens were Pelikan Pelikano's then (70's). I remember that I had a Lamy Safari as well, but I have no idea where it went

 

Anyway, there are still enough people using fountain pens, but nowadays they have strong competition from gel pens.

 

[Ernst Bitterman]

They are cartridge fillers, so no scary ink experiences.

 

Good heavens, what boring wee imps they must be! I made PLENTY of inky messes with my old Sheaffer Indistinguished during my school days.

[scholiast]

Greetings,

 

I rarely saw people using fountain pens (even in graduate school) until I began teaching at the college level. In that environment there are about 5 of us on the faculty who are fp afficionados (out of about 70 faculty) BUT there are many more admirers who evince more than the usual interest when they see a fp being used.

[jthole]

They are cartridge fillers, so no scary ink experiences.

 

Good heavens, what boring wee imps they must be! I made PLENTY of inky messes with my old Sheaffer Indistinguished during my school days.

 

Really? I never see the kids coming home with ink stains. And also at home they know exactly how to change a cartridge without making a mess

 

[sbullock]

Hahaha! That's one reaction that ALWAYS makes me laugh!

 

"Hey! You write with one of those old-timey pens...THAT IS SO COOL!!"

at my school, its always "hey, bruh, dats one o dem ol' schoo' pens aint it?

one of my friends tried a rather vicious stroke holding one of my old flex nib pens sideways and was rewarded with a leopard-style left hand.

as for how often, never, till i turned two for two of my friends, altough one keeps hers at home, and the german girl i gave one to thinks it "looks too expensive" to fill

actually, i just remembered my math teacher uses a black phileas. but, i cant say ive seen anyone else using a vintage.

[tspin46]

I seem to run into more fountain pen users than most Americans. I live in the Northeast and practice law.

 

Many lawyers in the area use fountain pens, usually larger MBs.

 

Many of the judges still use fountain pens but they run to older Parker 51's (interesting comment could be inserted here). I also teach commercial law in a local community college and I have noticed that several students use fountain pens to take notes. I see a lot of Vpens and a few vanishing points in class.

 

 

[Seven Thousand]

Very rarely, because everybody (almost) has decided that a one-use Papermate is a fashion statement.

Mind me, i'm better off with something good.

Edited January 27, 2008 by Seven Thousand