Pipes and fountain pens

[gordebak]

I'm a writer and I kept a journal for years. A few years ago, I started using fountain pens, and it quickly became a hobby. I started collecting them, but I didn't collect much, because I think I've found the perfect fountain pen for me.
Now that I started smoking a pipe, I see a lot of similarities between the two. First of all, pipes are economical and ecological ancestors of cigarettes, just like fountain pens are of ballpoint pens. They both once used by everyone, but they are now collectible items for nostalgic people like me. They are both mostly handmade, and usually there are a lot of works of art among them. If used properly, they both last a lifetime.
Just like pipe enthusiasts try new tobaccos with different flavors, fountain pen enthusiasts try new inks with different colors. They both have samples to try them out. They can be both bought in big amounts to save money. Most fountain pen users, use different pens for different type of inks, just like pipe smokers use different pipes for different tobaccos. Collectors use them both in rotations. Cleaning of both is important for the care of them. There are forums about them, and people want to learn to use them properly, although they are actually very simple systems.
And actually they both remind us of simpler times. Are there any fountain pen users around here?

 

[warren]

I don't know that fountain pens are simpler than a Bic or other ball point. However, fountain pens I do collect and use. Too messy to carry in the field and they do poorly in the rain. But, I do enjoy signing my correspondence with bold nib fountain pen and blue ink.
edit: I also use a blotter. And, being left handed means I have to watch it so that I do not drag my hand through the wet ink.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Also a fountain pen nut here. I have 13 that I currently use, but my TWSBI gets the most action at my desk. It's the most reliable and flows every time I pick it up. I love that pen.

 

[gordebak]

As I thought... I'm sure there are a lot of other fountain pen users here too.

 

[radio807]

I'm also a fountain pen user, but in recent years I've become frustrated by the crummy paper that's commonly available. I have a Sheaffer White Dot that I use whenever I can, which unfortunately isn't that often any more. I like to use the pen for all writing and notes at work, but I don't know who makes notebooks that will take liquid ink without severe bleed, or that won't take the ink at all and it takes forever to dry (I'm left handed like Warren is, and smearing a real problem). Can any of you fountain pen users recommend a notebook with suitable paper?

 

[iamn8]

I have a couple of fountain pens that I love! Good observation. They are similar in philosophy.

 

[gordebak]

@radio807: I have a Sheaffer White Dot that I love too. Great pen. If you prefer bolder nibs, it's hard to find proper paper. I usually use a Scrikss pen from the 70s which have an F nib. But it's more like an XF. So I don't have much problems. Have you tried Rhodia notebooks? I find that Clairefontaine paper in them the best, but you might find it slow to dry as you mentioned.
@Nate: Thanks. Yeah, I'm new here, but it felt like I'm on a fountain pen forum which I sometimes visit.

 

[papipeguy]

When I was in Catholic school we could only use fountain pens. Lot's of blue shirt pockets in those days. I still use my Namiki for signing documents. There's nothing more elegant in my mind.

 

[gordebak]

@papipeguy: I'm a fan of Japanese pens, especially their F nibs. They make F nibs like in the old times, closer to XF.

 

[jackswilling]

I am down to one MontBlanc Meisterstuck Fountain Pen which is about 30 years old with solid gold nib. Really nice to use, but I write so little by hand now. I used to wear it for document signatures once upon a time.

 

[shutterbugg]

I can understand why someone would collect old fountain pens, as they were very cool looking. Can't understand why someone would actually use one though, except once in a while just for nostalgia's sake. Messy damn things. They were an evolutionary step after inkwells and before someone developed a pen that could write with thickened ink less likely to leak or dry out. I did like fountain pens when I was a kid though, you shook em at someone and splattered them with ink...great fun

 

[gordebak]

@shutterbugg: If you never had a ballpoint pen leak on your shirt, you're lucky. Yeah, they should be treated with care, but if you used one for a while, you'd understand that ballpoint pen is actually a step backwards in the evolution. Writing with a good fountain pen is very soft, like you can barely touch the paper or even the pen. Try writing with a ballpoint pen for three hours, and we'll see. And you can always use pen pouches against leaks.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

Good paper recommendations.
Shutterbugg: I use fountain pens exclusively, and rarely if ever have anything in the way of a mess. Also, they work great. I think people have wrongly credited ballpoints for being "reliable". They just aren't. Take note of how many times you try to use one and have to draw a little swirly somewhere out if the way to get it going. Also, the lines they write are broken and ugly. Fountain pens are better machines, even if they are a tad more "work" to maintain.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

The pipe and fountain pen analogy is a good one.
A ballpoint is like a cigarette: disposable, instant gratification..
A fountain pen is like a pipe: more apparatus, more time consuming perhaps, but ultimately a more satisfying experience.
I like this thread.

 

[shutterbugg]

if you used one for a while, you'd understand that ballpoint pen is actually a step backwards in the evolution.

Used one for close to 50 years and it's definitely a step forward. There's a reason they relegated fountain pens to a fringe group of luddites and technophobes the same way digital photography did to film. I say fine, to each his own. Use the camera you like, the pen you like, smoke the turd at the bottom of the bowl of a pipe if you like, hell smoke a Lakeland if you like. Just proudly say "I don't care if it's archaic or nasty, I happen to like it". Positing arguments to "support" bucking the tide of progress sonnds either a)insane, b)condescending or c)defensive.
And I do recall on many occasions having to get a ballpoint going, either by making squiggles, or worse, touch a match flame to it. Cheap ballpoints. Never had to do that with a Cross or any other from a high-end manufacturer, even Parker. Those also tend to write with a much lighter touch. Sure, writing for 3 hours with a BIC is an exercise in masochism. And I also recall reaching for fountain pens only to find them unusable due to being empty...usually sitting in a pool of dried ink, sometimes in a desk drawer, and sometimes in my pocket And unlike a dried-out ballpoint where you need only change the refill, even a dried-out cartridge fountain requires cleaning to get it unclogged.
Nowadays I use a rollerball, which is the latest step in the evolution. It has the light touch of a fountain pen but the ink dries immediately (I am also lefty so that's an important factor) and I've never had one leak or had to coax it to life.

 

[tmb152]

The allure of the fountain pen is more still. It is an expression of the writer, much like a pipe. The most expressive writing instrument is the dip pen (the quill), but the fountain pen follows close behind. It was basically an attempt at a self-contained quill pen carrying its own ink supply. What do I mean by expression? Both of these conveyed the most information about the writer. They responded greatly to the pressure of the writer and if you look any any old document, you will see the great calligraphic flourishes and styles of the writer. This was information expressed by the writer of him/herself through the instrument that could be used both in document identification (authenticity, etc.) and character/personality assessment. To the user, it was a graphic tool of expressing individuality.
The fountain pen had a weight, heft and feel not matched by other instruments. If felt good in the hand and was a stabilizing force as one wrote. There is a closer connection between the clear writing of the individual and his mental focus and clarity of thought.
Exit the fountain, enter the ball point: The #2 leaded pencil is the next most expressive, but they smudge and smear and few people use them in documents because they are easily erased. The ball pen was another step back, created mainly for lower cost, disposable, and lower skill level. Welcome to the dumbing down of the writer.
Today, writing is often not even taught anymore. The unskilled writer. I work with a high school graduate who cannot even spell simple common words. Their writing is jumbled, illegible. Do not underestimate that this is part and parcel of many of the problems we face in the world today--- we are creating a generation of stupid relatively unskilled or mono-skilled people whose main pastime now is walking around in traffic with a smartphone trying to find Pokemen on their screens. We are more ripe for invasion than ever before as a largely defenseless people. And some would say we are already being invaded.
The electronic signature. Out goes the fountain pen, the ball pen fades with the bulky paper document. Nothing is more insecure than the electronic document. In this age of security concerns, we have replaced all of the above with electronic signatures, often done remotely, and they are seldom more than a scribble bearing little resemblance to the writer's real writing. In this age of sophistication, security and technology, we are left with a signature with less information about the writer than ever before, and all done for the sake of lowered cost and convenience.
Handwriting, especially through an expressive instrument like the fountain pen, like the pipe, is an art-form, quickly being lost upon the world and we may be the last or next to last to use and appreciate them.
And the paper? Of course--- modern paper is sized (treated) for the inks used in modern pens (many of which are felt-tip markers), not for the inks of yesteryear's fountain pens, so they will often bleed and write poorly.
Enjoy them while they last.

 

[framitz]

Fountain pens are only way for my writing to be legible

From Schaefer snorkels to mont blanks my desk has a dozen pens. Need ball point for carbon sets. Leave get has paper and notebooks for fountain pen ink. Shel

 

[gordebak]

@shutterbugg: Don't take it offensively, so why are you smoking pipes still, after easier and cleaner cigarettes were invented? Isn't it a next step in evolution? In your mindset, you should even be smoking electronic cigarettes. Bah!

 

[warren]

Cartridge fountain pen? Surely you jest?

 

[pipesmokingtom]

I can list a dozen reasons I find fountain pens superior, but ultimately its a matter of preference.

Just proudly say "I don't care if it's archaic or nasty, I happen to like it". Positing arguments to "support" bucking the tide of progress sonnds either a)insane, b)condescending or c)defensive.

I don't find it archaic or nasty and disagreeing with you doesn't make me either of the three options you listed. I'm finding more and more that you seem to take visceral offense to people who have a different opionion than you and really feel the need to let them know, Shutterbugg. The gentleman began a thoughtful thread about something he enjoys and you can't bypass the chance to defecate on it with negativity.
We like something you don't. Happens. It's ok.