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Let the Fountain Pens Flow

nytimes.com

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Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#71

Post by daxat_staglatz »

jypepin wrote: post #55

I grew up in France, where schools don't allow you to use anything else but fountain pens. They don't teach you how to use one - to me, it's always been the same thing as using a ball pen, except you trade the convenience (you have to change the ink cartridge) for practicality (you can erase the ink with special eraser) while keeping some style (it's still ink, not pencil, kept for drawing). Getting a new pen felt we…

This also explains why Americans tend to doubt the usefulness of learning cursive writing: it is feels terrible and is quite slow when using ball point pens, but smooth and fast with a fountain pen.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#72

Post by mongol »

My terrible handwriting is my largest regret. I don't know why it turned out terrible. Maybe I did not pay enough attention how to hold the pen properly in school. I have a feeling I am too tense. Really hard to break that habit.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#73

Post by rwmj »

sandGorgon wrote: post #46

If you are like me - and yearn for the feel of ink, yet the convenience of a ballpoint..then do try using a rollerball. The hack here is to use some very specific refills and use it inside your cool Rollerball. For example I use a Signo 307 refill (which is smear, water and tamper proof and specially designed for anti-document signing fraud) inside my special edition Waterman. The other super cool Rollerball refill i…

I have a TWSBI and several Lamys, which are great, but the pen I buy and use in bulk is the Uniball UM-153S rollerball. All the fun of a fountain pen without the hassle of dealing with ink. It's the pen for notes and shopping lists. From my Amazon orders, I seem to buy a 12 box of them at least once a year.

To Mitsubishi Pencil Co (makers of the Uniball): please make a green ink version!

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#74

Post by komali2 »

mfringel wrote: post #24

I started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and still do for my daily writing. I write rather a lot; I don't bring my laptop into meetings unless I need to. Combine that with my handwriting being relatively neat, small, and stylized, and I needed something with a sufficiently fine nib, and ink that would flow well through it. It turned into a fascinating optimization problem, during which I ended up down the…

The airplane bit is a big blocker for me. I've yet to do a successful dropper converter that didn't explode on a plane for me.

Forum responses are usually vague and along the lines of "try different viscosity ink," which, yeah, but there's tens of brands and thousands of flavors.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#75

Post by jgtrosh »

JohnBooty wrote: post #62
mfringel wrote: post #24

I started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and still do for my daily writing. I write rather a lot; I don't bring my laptop into meetings unless I need to. Combine that with my handwriting being relatively neat, small, and stylized, and I needed something with a sufficiently fine nib, and ink that would flow well through it. It turned into a fascinating optimization problem, during which I ended up down the…

This is why I won't let myself get started on fountain pens. I tend to go down the rabbit hole hard when I pick up a new hobby, and fountain pens have always seemed like such an enticing rabbit hole to dive into! Three months into the hobby I'd probably have two desk drawers full of pen paraphernalia and a credit card bill full of shame! Not that other pen freaks do this. I just know I would. (and I'm left-handed....…

Sounds like you'd fit in just right with the others at r/fountainpens

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#76

Post by lb1lf »

komali2 wrote: post #74
mfringel wrote: post #24

I started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and still do for my daily writing. I write rather a lot; I don't bring my laptop into meetings unless I need to. Combine that with my handwriting being relatively neat, small, and stylized, and I needed something with a sufficiently fine nib, and ink that would flow well through it. It turned into a fascinating optimization problem, during which I ended up down the…

The airplane bit is a big blocker for me. I've yet to do a successful dropper converter that didn't explode on a plane for me. Forum responses are usually vague and along the lines of "try different viscosity ink," which, yeah, but there's tens of brands and thousands of flavors.

-I've flown with fountain pens several times without incident (though I will admit to being slightly nervous!)

I put the success (thus far) down to always filling the pen all the way before flying, and also making sure the nib is pointing upwards at all times.

That being said, there's no denying just about any pen is better suited than a fountain pen for flying.

Edit: pens I've flown with - Lamy Logo and Dialog 3, various Pelikan Souveräns, the occasional Metropolitan.

Edit: Presumably obvious, but still - the reason for filling the pen all up prior to flying is that ink does not expand as air pressure decreases - unlike, well, air. If there is no air in the ink reservoir, outside pressure is more or less irrelevant.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#77

Post by jgtrosh »

JohnBooty wrote: post #61
jypepin wrote: post #55

I grew up in France, where schools don't allow you to use anything else but fountain pens. They don't teach you how to use one - to me, it's always been the same thing as using a ball pen, except you trade the convenience (you have to change the ink cartridge) for practicality (you can erase the ink with special eraser) while keeping some style (it's still ink, not pencil, kept for drawing). Getting a new pen felt we…

Thanks for posting that. I'd no idea fountain pens were the standard in some countries.

I had the opposite discovery when I went to work in Spain and colleagues ogled my basic Parker pen like I was a prince or something.

It's not a panacea in France though, since people usually buy their kids cheap ones which leave a lasting bad impression. Many people get very defensive about handwriting and that is partly accountable to the terrible fountain pens they had to learn with.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#78

Post by lb1lf »

JohnBooty wrote: post #62
mfringel wrote: post #24

I started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and still do for my daily writing. I write rather a lot; I don't bring my laptop into meetings unless I need to. Combine that with my handwriting being relatively neat, small, and stylized, and I needed something with a sufficiently fine nib, and ink that would flow well through it. It turned into a fascinating optimization problem, during which I ended up down the…

This is why I won't let myself get started on fountain pens. I tend to go down the rabbit hole hard when I pick up a new hobby, and fountain pens have always seemed like such an enticing rabbit hole to dive into! Three months into the hobby I'd probably have two desk drawers full of pen paraphernalia and a credit card bill full of shame! Not that other pen freaks do this. I just know I would. (and I'm left-handed....…

As for being left-handed, so am I - and I have found it to be not much of an issue, as (some!) modern inks dry almost instantly. (de Atramentis Fog Grey being a favourite - dries instantly and is highly water resistant to boot.)

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#79

Post by lb1lf »

sandGorgon wrote: post #46

If you are like me - and yearn for the feel of ink, yet the convenience of a ballpoint..then do try using a rollerball. The hack here is to use some very specific refills and use it inside your cool Rollerball. For example I use a Signo 307 refill (which is smear, water and tamper proof and specially designed for anti-document signing fraud) inside my special edition Waterman. The other super cool Rollerball refill i…

+1 on the Pentel Energels. They are incredibly smooth to write with, cheap and available in just about any conceivable colour.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#80

Post by pseudolus »

dorchadas wrote: post #47
phaus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm left-handed and there are several techniques for writing left-handed with a fountain pen. They don't all involve twisting your writing hand into "some bizarre contortion". I collect vintage fountain pens, mostly about a hundred years old with flexible nibs that allow for fancy copperplate calligraphy. These kinds of pens are very delicate and some of them are so sensitive that if you don't know what you're doing…

> I'm left-handed and there are several techniques for writing left-handed with a fountain pen. They don't all involve twisting your writing hand into "some bizarre contortion". I'm just curious if you've ever tried the mirror script technique? I remember reading in Isaacson's biography that Da Vinci wrote everything in the mirror script not to code it but because that's how left-handed people were taught to write. I…

I tend to scrawl directly over the path of the text I'm writing. I'm aware of several writing techniques that I could adopt although I have to say that I've never even considered the mirror technique. I'm very surprised that they even bothered teaching an alternative method to left-handers to write during Da Vinci's era as I was always under the impression that, up until fairly recently, the strategy simply was to force people to write with their right hand regardless of their natural inclination.
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