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Anybody into Fountain Pens?

I still have the Sheaffer's for childhood. Along with some Waterman's in the desk.

Wife when she retired wanted to takeover the bills and quickly commandeered them as hers. She likes how they flow across the paper. A big jell pen user so they were a natural progression. Found one in her car with a few extra cartridges when cleaning it. Asked about it and to be careful with the ink. Seems she was going after more black ink.

Guess I lost the Sheaffer's she dislikes the Waterman's.
Even that they are refillable, matters little.
Just likes how the Sheaffer write.
 
sanford12 said:
Mister Silverthorn 6th grade social studies teacher arranged his class with 2 rows facing each other and a big aisle in the middle that he would walk up and down pontificating. His classroom was his little fiefdom. He was at his desk doing some work while the class was studying. I looked up and was gazing around. Out of my peripheral vision I saw him reach into a drawer and pull out one of his film canisters which he would throw at people's heads for committing a transgression. As soon as he let it go I leaned back and it pegged the girl that sat next to me right in the side of the head. She instantly started crying. I thought it was quite unfair that I got a paddling because he missed.
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LOL. Had one Nun who was obsessed about using minimum grip on a pencil/pen when writing. She would walk up and down the aisles during tests and try to grab the pencil out our grip. If she did you had the correct amount on grip. I saw her and decide to sqeeze the pencil as hard as I could. She went for it, pulled on it and lifted my whole hand up into the air, then it came smashing down and shattered the end of the pencil. She drew out her ruler faster than a gunslinger in the old west to beat me for being a smart ass.
 
Danddd said:
I had a couple of Sheaffer Targa fountain pens from the early 90s. I decided to clean and ink them up during the pandemic and see how they write. But like my audio, cycling and photography hobby, I started doing more of a deep dive. I didn't realize how hot fountain pens were today. I even bought better notebook, Rhodia, for writing. Of course then I started to learning more and more.

Anyone else here into fountain pens?
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Targas are beautiful!
Congratulations!
I have one and love it.
Vito
 
peterp1 said:
Not any more, but fountain pens were all I would use in grade school and I would only use Shaeffer "Peacock Blue" ink (which apparently is NLA)
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All we had was Big Chief tablets and those huge #2 pencils that we could barely wrap our hand around.
Then there was the short bus -
Wait - what?!
 
JoeShimandle said:
Kindergarten to 8th. Had wood map pointers broken over my back, knuckles smack with a solid brass ruler, kneel on the concrete floor with a No. 2 pencil under each knee cap, Side burns (for back then) pulled....etc. Nuns trained the Nazi SS.
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+2
I had nuns through grade and high school, the majority of which were mentally sick and a few as warped as Hannibal Lecter.
I tried to find a vicious one in particular, a Sr. Clarentine, to confront her - far later. She died and she's probably and hopefully fried.
 
I have a Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point that I use every day at work, and my wife bought me a new Lamy. I love them! And Noodler’s Nightshade ink.
 
Been using fountain pens since I was big enough to be allowed, probably 3rd grade. Used Sheaffer school pens all the way through college, took a turn to the dark side after my brother bought me a Cross ball point.

Came back a few years ago, and now have an ample supply of Sheaffer Snorkels (always wanted one, but they were out of production by the time I started writing), a pile of Chinese knock-offs, some of which are pretty good (Hero 100s). Somehow I also got a stack of Esterbrooks and Parkers, lots of Parker "51"s. One from 1945 that works like new as long as I only use Scrip ink, Noodler's seems to melt the diaphragms something terrible. Not in contact with the ink though.

Have been putting PVC or silicone sacs in the Snorkels, I'm done with melting rubber ones. Had two batches of ten melt in the pens without ever touching ink, ditto for some "51"s, that big batch of bad rubber never seemed to end. Pretty sad when they get crispy on the outside and gummy in the middle in the original plastic bag!

I like the way Sheaffer's write more than Parkers -- Parker nibs always seem to be wider vertically than horizontally and it bugs me. But I use them all, even a bad fountain pen that clogs all the time is better than a ball point!
 
HPMguy said:
Been using fountain pens since I was big enough to be allowed, probably 3rd grade. Used Sheaffer school pens all the way through college, took a turn to the dark side after my brother bought me a Cross ball point.

Came back a few years ago, and now have an ample supply of Sheaffer Snorkels (always wanted one, but they were out of production by the time I started writing), a pile of Chinese knock-offs, some of which are pretty good (Hero 100s). Somehow I also got a stack of Esterbrooks and Parkers, lots of Parker "51"s. One from 1945 that works like new as long as I only use Scrip ink, Noodler's seems to melt the diaphragms something terrible. Not in contact with the ink though.

Have been putting PVC or silicone sacs in the Snorkels, I'm done with melting rubber ones. Had two batches of ten melt in the pens without ever touching ink, ditto for some "51"s, that big batch of bad rubber never seemed to end. Pretty sad when they get crispy on the outside and gummy in the middle in the original plastic bag!

I like the way Sheaffer's write more than Parkers -- Parker nibs always seem to be wider vertically than horizontally and it bugs me. But I use them all, even a bad fountain pen that clogs all the time is better than a ball point!
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I like the Sheaffers a lot. The Targas write very smooth and the less expensive Preludes are good too. I've read that the Parker to have is the Sonnet with the 18K nib. I treated myself to a Lamy 2000 for my birthday this year and it is a great smooth writer too. I'm originally from Iowa so I stay with the Made in USA Sheaffers. The Sheaffer Connaisseur is a pen I am on the lookout for as a holy grail Sheaffer. I use Skrip ink for all my pens so far. My penmanship seems improved with a FP.
 
Danddd said:
My penmanship seems improved with a FP.
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Indeed, I think people <use> fountain pens because they enjoy writing with one. So when using one the writer is probably concentrating more on their penmanship. And the other thing is that IME sloppy writing with a fountain pen is far more messy than sloppy writing with a ball pen; in effect the fountain pen may force you to concentrate on your penmanship. I think that might be why Catholic schools were keen on them.
 
Tom Brennan said:
Well see, you learned a couple of valuable lessons at a young age---that life isn't fair and that people abuse power. The sooner you're disillusioned the better.
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One of many lessons learned early. From then on I never respected Authority they had to earn respect.
 
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Tom Brennan said:
Indeed, I think people <use> fountain pens because they enjoy writing with one. So when using one the writer is probably concentrating more on their penmanship. And the other thing is that IME sloppy writing with a fountain pen is far more messy than sloppy writing with a ball pen; in effect the fountain pen may force you to concentrate on your penmanship. I think that might be why Catholic schools were keen on them.
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Agreed. The resistance with ball points across the paper is so little that it's more difficult to control. I think penmanship is always improved a notch with a fountain pen for the same writer using a ball point.
 
Funny, I find ball points to drag horribly compared to a FP, and the pressure needed makes my hands hurt. FPs just whisper along with zero pressure needed.
 
HPMguy said:
Funny, I find ball points to drag horribly compared to a FP, and the pressure needed makes my hands hurt. FPs just whisper along with zero pressure needed.
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I am in this camp, as a good FP glides pretty well. In searching out a good BP, I did find that Cross refills glide pretty well on paper, so I invested about $20.00 on a Cross Calais for my everyday BP.
 
Danddd said:
Anyone else here into fountain pens?
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The more fundamental question might be: Does anyone here still write? :)

I say that only half-jokingly. I don't write with a pen almost ever these days. Maybe to sign a check, or to write on a post-it, but that's about it. Everything else is typed or touched on a keyboard or phone. I completely forgot about fountain pens even though I loved them when I was young. If I wrote with a pen frequently, this thread would probably inspire me to get another -- but the reality is that I don't write almost ever.
 
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