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The cheap pen that changed writing forever

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Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#131

Post by Symbiote »

Polylactic_acid wrote: post #102
enriquto wrote: post #16

The wording of this article is very strange. All references to fountain pens happen in the past tense, as if they did not exist anymore. Millions of people still use fountain pens every day. The author lives in a bubble of ballpoint users or what?

I'm not exactly deep in the fountain pen community but it looks like to me that fountain pens are the pen version of mechanical keyboards or mechanical watches. The ordinary person doesn't own one and would likely see no benefit from one but a bunch of enthusiasts continue to keep them going.

Not quite, as in some countries they are used almost universally by school children, although usually much less often by adults.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#132

Post by AhtiK »

m463 wrote: post #26
kaonwarb wrote: post #2

One side effect not discussed here: how the shift to ballpoint pens increased hand strain [0]. Writing with a fountain pen is relatively effortless - not to deny it has several other drawbacks. I imagine this is part of why, as an elementary school student in France, I was required to write with only fountain pens. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballp...

My favorite pen is the pentel energel 0.7mm. It will write smooth dark lines just the right thicknes without blobbing or cutting out, and is the most effortless pen to write with. But yes, it does write at a higher angle than a fountain pen. I had a fountain pen years and years ago, and it was something you had to want to use. I can't help but think of it like vinyl records, straight razors and film cameras.

I did like the Pentel Energel 0.7mm a lot, until tried to cut waste and use the refills. Turns out the rubber and plastic becomes loose over time, for about the time you want to use the 3rd refill.

So I dropped the idea, bought 2 Lamy Safari fountain pens to rotate when one goes empty, 1 pot of Diamine ink, 1 blunt-tipped syringe to refill and never had to think about this topic again :)

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#133

Post by enriquto »

Symbiote wrote: post #131
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not exactly deep in the fountain pen community but it looks like to me that fountain pens are the pen version of mechanical keyboards or mechanical watches. The ordinary person doesn't own one and would likely see no benefit from one but a bunch of enthusiasts continue to keep them going.

Not quite, as in some countries they are used almost universally by school children, although usually much less often by adults.

Yep, I was surprised to learn in this thread that fountain pens are a rarity in countries such as the USA or Australia.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#134

Post by orthoxerox »

ascar wrote: post #60
kaonwarb wrote: post #2

One side effect not discussed here: how the shift to ballpoint pens increased hand strain [0]. Writing with a fountain pen is relatively effortless - not to deny it has several other drawbacks. I imagine this is part of why, as an elementary school student in France, I was required to write with only fountain pens. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballp...

On the other hand, using a fountain pen is incredibly frustrating and exhausting for left-handed people (in a left to right writing system). I had to unnaturally bend my hand above the line I wanted to write so I don't immediately smear the ink. Basically mimiking a right-hand draw position with the left hand while having your hand above the line instead of on the same level. It hurts. We were also forced to use it i…

I wonder how Arabs managed writing with a fountain pen.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#135

Post by alexanderchr »

AhtiK wrote: post #132
m463 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite pen is the pentel energel 0.7mm. It will write smooth dark lines just the right thicknes without blobbing or cutting out, and is the most effortless pen to write with. But yes, it does write at a higher angle than a fountain pen. I had a fountain pen years and years ago, and it was something you had to want to use. I can't help but think of it like vinyl records, straight razors and film cameras.

I did like the Pentel Energel 0.7mm a lot, until tried to cut waste and use the refills. Turns out the rubber and plastic becomes loose over time, for about the time you want to use the 3rd refill. So I dropped the idea, bought 2 Lamy Safari fountain pens to rotate when one goes empty, 1 pot of Diamine ink, 1 blunt-tipped syringe to refill and never had to think about this topic again :)

I had this problem too but Pentel recently (or at least I didn’t see until recently) released an alloy version using the same refills that should last for a long time. It’s a bit expensive for a pen but can really recommend if you liked the plastic version.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#136

Post by Saint_Genet »

ascar wrote: post #60
kaonwarb wrote: post #2

One side effect not discussed here: how the shift to ballpoint pens increased hand strain [0]. Writing with a fountain pen is relatively effortless - not to deny it has several other drawbacks. I imagine this is part of why, as an elementary school student in France, I was required to write with only fountain pens. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballp...

On the other hand, using a fountain pen is incredibly frustrating and exhausting for left-handed people (in a left to right writing system). I had to unnaturally bend my hand above the line I wanted to write so I don't immediately smear the ink. Basically mimiking a right-hand draw position with the left hand while having your hand above the line instead of on the same level. It hurts. We were also forced to use it i…

Ball-point pens are fairly useless too, When you're a lefty uou push the pen rather than dragging it so it clogs up. Gel-ink pens has made my life so much better.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#137

Post by mih »

karlding wrote: post #32
NewOrderNow wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, once I used one, there is no no going back. You can certainly go deep with ink and pens and whatnot, but you can buy a Lamy for cheap on Amazon and just stick with cartridges and still get a far superior result. If anyone feel like their writing is sloppy and avoid writing because of it, try a fountain pen.

For what it's worth, the consensus on /r/fountainpens and other fountain pen enthusiast sites is that you risk receiving counterfeit Lamy Safari pens when purchasing from Amazon. These fakes often have poor quality nibs and ruin people's first experience with fountain pens. The recommendation is to purchase a pen through a reputable dealer so you know that you are getting the real thing. There's a post here on Imgur…

Thanks for this post. Bought a Lamy several years ago and never crossed my mind it could be counterfeit. It felt so scratchy when writing that eventually I just gave up on it. Now when I compare it to the fake one from the images in the post above, it has all the telltale signs.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#138

Post by OJFord »

ascar wrote: post #60
kaonwarb wrote: post #2

One side effect not discussed here: how the shift to ballpoint pens increased hand strain [0]. Writing with a fountain pen is relatively effortless - not to deny it has several other drawbacks. I imagine this is part of why, as an elementary school student in France, I was required to write with only fountain pens. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballp...

On the other hand, using a fountain pen is incredibly frustrating and exhausting for left-handed people (in a left to right writing system). I had to unnaturally bend my hand above the line I wanted to write so I don't immediately smear the ink. Basically mimiking a right-hand draw position with the left hand while having your hand above the line instead of on the same level. It hurts. We were also forced to use it i…

I remember a left-handed teaching assistant with extremely consistent/neat handwriting; she solved this problem by rotating the page 90deg counter-clockwise, writing 'bottom-to-top' rather than left-to-right, and 'down' the page to the right.

I've never seen anyone else do that, but it certainly worked. Though I remember wondering why not rotate it the other way, so 'down' becomes left and hand wouldn't pass over the previous line either.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#139

Post by Sharlin »

enriquto wrote: post #20
ta8645 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't most of us live in a bubble of ballpoint users? It is the most pervasive pen by a pretty wide margin.

I don't think so. I have lived, studied, and taught in three different European countries and everywhere, a sizeable proportion of students used fountain pens (a large majority in the case of France). For my part, I use mostly rollers and fountain pens, and I hate the high pressure needed to use ballpoints. EDIT: In any case, even if most people use only ballpoint pens, it seems very hard to live without ever crossin…

In Finland at least I have never seen anybody use a fountain pen in real life. I’m pretty sure almost nobody even knows how to use one. Not that schools make pupils use ballpoints either—it’s 100% pencils here.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#140

Post by PlainDishonesty »

mih wrote: post #137
karlding wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, the consensus on /r/fountainpens and other fountain pen enthusiast sites is that you risk receiving counterfeit Lamy Safari pens when purchasing from Amazon. These fakes often have poor quality nibs and ruin people's first experience with fountain pens. The recommendation is to purchase a pen through a reputable dealer so you know that you are getting the real thing. There's a post here on Imgur…

Thanks for this post. Bought a Lamy several years ago and never crossed my mind it could be counterfeit. It felt so scratchy when writing that eventually I just gave up on it. Now when I compare it to the fake one from the images in the post above, it has all the telltale signs.

You know, mine felt scratchy too. Always just figured I was doing something wrong or that's what you get for getting a cheaper fountain pen.

Fairly sure mine was from an official reseller but I'll have to double check

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