The particular pens that I think @Son_of_a_Rich is referring to were fountain pens. They replaced, gradually, a version that had a refillable compartment that was refilled from a bottle of ink. I’m just old enough to remember both versions being fairly common, and to have used school desks that had a receptacle in them which was designed to hold the ink bottle. I think I may have had an ink bottle type at some point in my childhood, but it’s a fuzzier memory than the memory of the cartridges, which is quite clear.
One myth is that if you take a pen onto an airplane— could be a fountain pen, but I suppose any kind of pen, and not necessarily only those that take cartridge refills— it will be prone to leak, but I am not sure how much of a problem this is in reality.
I always figured those were for dip pens. (Which do not leak, but the kids will use them as darts.)
Huh. I was about to reply that I don’t think the school desks I used in the 50’s and 60’s were that old, but when I checked Wikipedia it says that dip pens were still used in schools up until . . . the 1950’s and 60’s.
I never saw a dip pen in use in school, though. We used pencils through the first few grades and then fountain pens.
I’m not sure if ballpoint pens have gotten any worse over the years. I always used erasable papermate brand in high school, erasable ink being a requirement in some classes.
After high school, i mostly scrounged, or used what work provided.
Now i’m all growed up, and i can afford my own pens.
My preference is Bic Cristal, blue ink. I hardly ever get them. Stores near me always seem to be out of stock. This thread is a reminder to me to add a couple packs to my next amazon/walmart order.
My work provides “Black” ink bic roundstick. I hate the roundstick. It hurts my fingers if i have to vigorously fill out papers. I hate the “Black” ink. It’s really more gray. I do my crosswords on good ol fashioned newspaper. Gray newspaper. I hate gray on gray. The blue ink is objectively better. Fight me.
Right now, i have 2 packs of jott brand. I get them at Dollar Tree. Only about half of them work. I got the last pack of 12 last week, now they are in packs of 10. Looks like bic went to 10 packs too.
The jott crystal pen is identical to the bic cristal, aside the bic logo.
Jott is manufactured in India, Bic in France.
I imagine bic must sell their old molds to jott, or they’re stolen.
And don’t get me started on promo pens. Like the clicky ones with the name of your company on them. All garbage. I wouldn’t want my name on one of those.
Gel pens almost never fail in my experience, but i get ink all over myself doing my puzzles.
I have to wear button up workshirts with a pocket, because i can’t carry a pen in my pants pocket one day without a leak. My coworkers dont seem to have this problem.
If you can keep a pen in your pants pocket at my job, your not working hard enough for my taste.
That reminds me, for the ink eraser a lot of people, especially schoolkids, used, you were supposed to get blue ink. Wikipedia says
I retract my recommendation. I bought these Paper Mates a year ago and several failed consecutively in January. I maintain my support for cheap pens though. Even with a high failure rate (and high loss rate, which is why I buy them), the box will last years.
Pens won’t sit for a year. Buy one, use one, buy another.
I suspect what most of us are forgetting is just how many pens we (and our cow-orkers) went through in a month or three thirty plus years ago. In my old office a box of a dozen would be gone in a week. They weren’t long lasting, nor did they have a long shelf life, because they didn’t have to. Routine use would empty them promptly.
Quite a lot of them will.
Some won’t, of course.
I’ve had cheap pens last for many years. I anticipate that I won’t be buying another pen box this year or the next, but we’ll see. (Amazon tell me that I purchased the current batch in Jan 2024.)
I’ve used them before and had good results.
I ordered a box. They’re inexpensive and it’s not a problem if they dry out and get tossed.
I prefer fine point. That may be part of my problem. The smaller tip might dry out faster.
Medium tip Bic Crystals always bled on me, probably because I don’t write with a light hand. For years the Paper Mates, which were slightly more expensive, fell into my sweet spot. The Bic sticks wrote a little light and dry for my taste.