I cannot stand ball point pens. They don’t work for me. at all.
I like the four dollar calligraphy pens that you can find around, though. They make my handwriting look alot prettier than it would otherwise.
Felt tip pens are okay too, but they aren’t my first choice.
Aside form those, pencils.
For most note-taking, signing of documents, and general scribbling I use black Pilot Explorer fine points. The black ink and fine point are my selection criteria; the brand and model are what my company purchases. They’re easy to hold, but they don’t last very long.
In suit and tie days of the past I used Cross pens, but they started to seem expensive after trashing a few, and they were never really fine points.
I also use Uniball roller points in red, blue and black for certain diagramatical and emphasis applications. Also, for emphasis and labeling, I use black, blue, red and brown felt tips.
And pencils. The guys I work with favor #2.5 and #3, but I still prefer #2s, and I have some #1.5s. Colorase pencils rule for color; I generally use rose, red, carmine red, brown, terra cotta, green, dark green, blue, light blue, yellow, orange, vermillion and magenta.
When I need to emphasize something that I’d normally use a colored pencil for, I use highlighters, and I keep a good range of colors handy.
Calligraphy pens caught my attention for a bit in college, but I juust didn’t have the time for 'em after a little while.
Some writing instruments have a special place in my heart. Example: I have a lovely PaperMate mechanical pencil with an aluminum body and a rubber grip that got me through the LSAT, countless law school exams, and the multistate part of the bar exam. Of course, over the years it’s gotten a bit worn, so the logo now reads “PaperMail”. Good ol’ soldier.
Once, for note-taking in school, I bought a box of Sanford Uni-ball gel retractables that just sucked. I’d go through a pen about every 2-3 weeks, the ink ran out so fast, and the ink would frequently stop flowing, requiring much drawing of circles on scratch paper to resume normal writing. I have a few left, and they’ll frequently plug up several times in the time it takes to fill out a single check. The next semester, I got a box of PaperMate Gel-Rollers, which performed much much better. I’m never buying Sanford gels again.
For the essay bits of the bar exam, I wanted something reliable yet comfortable, something I could count on yet use without thinking; most “fancy” pens are too smooth for that. I bought a box of blue ink PaperMate Flex-Grip Ultra pens, and I dig them muchly. When I need something for my shirt pocket, they’re now my go-to pen.
Fancy pens: recently Levenger had a closeout sale on their Gotham model. They’re so beautiful, and I always wanted one, so I bought two, one fountain and one rollerball. I haven’t had the chance to use them much, but so far I like them, especially how my signature looks in cobalt blue ink with the fountain pen. For each of my three graduations, I got at least one standard Cross silver and gold pen and pencil set. As a result, I have lots of Cross pens about, and I like them quite a bit; they feel nice and heavy, and they feel nice and slim. My only problem with them is that often they’re too smooth and thus it can hard to get a good grip.
And another pen I got for my most recent graduation is homemade: my uncle carved the barrel and cap from mesquite, then stained and polished them and fitted them with pen hardware. The quality of the pen depends on the refill, but you just can’t beat that for a personal gift, eh?
Anyway, the real workhorses of my collection are PaperMates, so that’s my brand recommendation if you want something cheap and reliable.
You know, it occurs to me that with all the talk about Watermans, Cross (supposedly the creme de la creme of pens), Mont Blanc, etc., all of my fountain pens are Shaeffers. 'Course, refill availability is a big factor in my choice, but my first fountain pen was a Shaeffer, I still have it (I think I’ve had it for almost twelve years now, but didn’t write with it for a few years… I went to get cartridges for it once at Walgreens, couldn’t find them, and it ended up in a box, but since I found cartridges for it, I may start using it again). This is the longest I’ve ever held onto any writing instrument. I have two Shaeffer Reaktors- cartridges are easy to find, because A & W makes a sort of generic cartridge that will fit at least a half-dozen different models of fountain pen, and they’re cheap- $2.29 for a package of twelve (as opposed to $1.89 for five standard Shaeffer cartrigdes, which fit most Shaeffer models, but not the Reaktor.)
I’m partial to black ink, BTW. I usually used blue in high school, then switched to black, and never went back to blue. Can’t bear blue ink these days -gotta be black, unless I’m in a colorful mood, and then I use non-navy blue colors.
I have a Waterman fountain pen, silver with gold accents and an 18k gold nib, that my brother gave me for Christmas several years ago. I don’t know if they still make it, their current line looks much fatter and bulkier than the clean lines of my pen. At work I use a clear pen with a roller ball and a padded rest, with our website name, produced many years ago for promotional use.
"Wow, such great response in a thread about writing implements. I no longer think I’m a freak for getting all emotional about pens. "
Thea… I’m the king of the pen freaks. I have often thought I should have started an “Ask the Pen Geek” thread. There are quite a few really interesting pen threads if you want to search them out… I think I’ve been in most of them.
Some guys might stay up late looking for porn, I stay up late hunting for, researching, and buying pens. My days off are spent looking for pens in the wild… at flea markets, antique stores, and second hand shops.
I love pens so much I recently started up my own small business here to sell “real pens”, real pens being those that use ink cartridges, converters, or draw ink from a bottle. Fountain pens.
I won’t use anything else and since I have a decent collection I have many pens to choose from when I head out the door. I prefer stub nibs over regular nibs and like the nibs to have a bit of flex to them. Since it is hard to find nibs like this in new pens I often customise my own.
Despite owning many vintage pens, one of my favourites is my Sheaffer No Nonsense calligraphy pen with a custom fine stub… it gives wonderful character to my writing and is as smooth as glass. I usually keep my vintage pens at home as having something happen to my 1935 Waterman, 1934 Esterbrook or my 1940 Wearevers is a truly frightening thought.
A misconception about fountain pens is that expensive ones write better then cheap ones and in my experience, the opposite is actually the case. Most economy pens write well right out of the box with nary a problem while their more expensive brethren often require a trip to the maker (or me) for adjustments.
You don’t require high quality paper to prevent the ink from feathering, you need to use good quality ink. I prefer Pelikan inks as their quality is consistent throughout their colour selection and find the royal blue and brilliant black to perform flawlessly in most of the pens I own.
My favourite colour is still Sheaffer’s Peacock Blue and I just acquired a good stock from an old stationary store, I actually bought every drop they had. I second the “DAMN THEM” for discontinuing it but you can still find it for sale online. I am reluctant to re-sell any of mine because of it’s increasing rarity. On the bright side, there are other ink makers that offer colours that are almost identical.
A solution to not being able to find those sometimes elusive cartridges is to equip your pen with a convertor so that you can draw ink from a bottle. Beside Pelikan (my personal fave) Private Reserve inks are simply fabulous.
I still have the first fountain pen I bought twenty years ago, it’s a stainless Parker Vector and it has never let me down. It goes everywhere with me.
I don’t like the new Sheaffer Reaktor, they use international cartridges which are smaller than the standard Sheaffer cartridge and the quality of the nib is nothing like the cartridge pens that Sheaffer has made in the past. Lola does like using them and has quite a few besides the numerous other pens I have given her.
If anyone really likes fountain pens they should go to "Stylophiles, this online magazine has incredible articles and photos on every kind of pen imaginable.
If I was to suggest a good (new) pen I would lean strongly towards Pelikan, although they were originally a company that manufactured ink they have been making pens of the highest quality for many, many decades. They have something for everyone whether you want to spend $15.00 for a Pelikano (school pen) or $300.00 for the king of pens, the M1000.
But still… I think the best pens are those older or vintage models that can often be had for much less than the cost of a new one and in most cases, write circles around them. They also have a certain charm that age brings to things.
I’m always happy to answer any questions.
[sub]disclaimer - I do not sell Pelikan/Private Reserve products so am not attempting to plug or promote my own business. If you want them I can provide links.[/sub]
Feynn, I love the nibs on my Reaktors- they give me the finest, cleanest line I’ve ever gotten from a fountain. Granted, from an aesthetic point of view, they felch kippered herrings, but I think they’re very nice to write with. I keep a couple in my purse, much for the same reason most folks carry a couple of cheap ballpoints. Nice pens, but if I lose them, it’s no big, 'cause it’s a cheap pen. I am now going to go visit penlovers.com.
BTW, I have found that my new Sheaffer required several pages of “breaking in” before it really wrote clean for me. Maybe it was just getting used to the weight of the pen, but the same is true of my older Shaeffer, which was an el cheapo model. The Reaktors gave me a clean line right out of the package. The more I write with it, the better the writing looks. My new pen came with a converter, I gave the old one to my mom. I may just give her all my cartridges and buy some bottled ink for the new pen.
For years I used just medium quality ballpoints. I had a $5 PaperMate I managed to keep for 7 or 8 years. I had a nice silver Cross pen & pencil set my ex gave me, but it wasn’t really any nicer to write with than the standard PaperMate.
A few years ago, I decided to try a higher quality pen. I made the rounds of a few office supply and stationary stores and tried a few. I tried several different ones, including Cross, Mont Blanc, Shaeffer, etc. Of the rollerball types I tried, I liked the Waterman Carene the best, and bought that. It was (and still is) a great pen.
I had also tried some fountain pens while shopping for that pen and had LOVED some of those, but couldn’t quite justify the cost to myself.
Two years ago, my wife went nuts and bought the fountain pen I had wanted for an anniversary present. It’s the Waterman Edson, green barrel, medium nib. This is without doubt, the smoothest and nicest pen I’ve even written with. It is simply a joy to use.
I don’t use it for work much, because I’m afraid of damaging or losing it. But I use it in my home office whenever I can. Ridiculously expense, but an amazing pen to use.
Ugly
It depends on how much writing I’m doing. If it’s only a little a rollerball is fine, but if it’s a lot it gets frustrating and messy. (if you haven’t guessed, I’m a lefty). I typically end up using a pilot or pentell RSVP ballpoint for writing anything over half a page. And no matter which type of pen I use, it must be at least fine point, if not extra fine. My writing has become considerably easier to read in the years since I stopped using medium point pens. Since I lose pens frequently, I try not to buy ones so expensive that it will be heartbreaking never to find them again. I do have one nice pen around here somewhere that needs a new cart- I think it’s a Cross pen, and it has a gold bugs bunny on it. Strange gift years back from my dad who swears by Cross 
I don’t know if it’s a problem with the angle I write (I’m one of those fairly rare lefties who doesn’t hook their hand to write) but I’ve only gotten about 1/3 of my milky and other gel pens to ever work for me. Brand new pens won’t work at all, it’s uncanny.
My parents bought me a wooden fountain pen with all the metal pieces in gold. I assume it’s a fountain pen…it requires that I fill it with ink. The little dohickey that clips onto stuff is shaped like a golf club. I like it a lot, it fits my hand nicely.
I’m not really sure what the name of it is, they got it in Newfoundland from some guy who makes them by hand.
That link again…
(I actually thought the hamsters ate my post last night and couldn’t preview.)
Thea - I bear no responsibility if you now are compelled to go out and buy more pens after visiting Stylophiles. Did you see the articles on Mont Blanc? The 75th Anniversary Skeleton looks amazing (even though one will cost you better than 30K).
RJK - A Waterman Edson would be one of those pens I might pawn a child for to obtain… just kidding… I think. You are fortunate to have such a loving and considerate mate.
On the cost thing… my old Parker cost me 20.00 twenty years ago. A buck a year is pretty cheap. That Edson should be left in your will and handed down to your children and their children, it should last that long.
Looking at the Edson reminded me of another tip… about flying with fountain pens… they generally don’t like it. The air pressure inside the pen’s bladder or cartridge will increase and can cause them to spit up like a cranky baby… unless of course you own an Edson or a new Rotring with an air compensation system. Waterman says the Edson won’t leak even at an altitude of 30,000 feet. When flying one should make sure their pen is completely full or completely empty.
Now I have to go look for pens… This is almost identical to one I received just the other day (and I didn’t pay $40.00). Pretty huh?
All those who want my Mont Blanc Pen, can not have it, I lucked out when I found it when I worked at Kinko’s, luckily I haven’t lost it.
Feynn, I’m the one who posted about the need for high quality paper. I never realized that it might have been a problem with the ink itself, though with a little thought it makes sense.
I have been using blue Quink made by Parker. It was recommended by the pen store where I bought my Waterman Carene (which, now that I see the Waterman Edson, I think I’ve found my next pen). Have you any experience to compare the Quink ink to the Pelikan ink?
Regarding air travel, I only had a problem once with my Waterman Carene. I had filled it right before my flight. It must have something to do with the air in the chamber mitigating the leaking problem, but I’d have thought that the air would expand at high altitudes even more than the ink. I’m surprised I don’t have a problem each and every time I fly.
One more thing. I really like the refill mechnism of my Waterman. There is something aesthetic about filling from an ink bottle rather than popping in a plastic cartridge.
I also like the heavy weight of my pen. It is brass with enamel over it. When I pick up a plastic pen it feels like an insubstantial toy.
Algernon -
I can go on about ink just about as long as I can go on about pens… I usually match ink types to certain pens to maximize performance. I have a few that simply don’t like Pelikan black/blue ink but run great when they are filled with Quink. These are usually pens with with really dry feeds or very fine nibs.
Parker black is a safe bet to use in just about any pen as it has a moderate flow, good water resistance/permanence, and decent colour saturation. Although I have some Parker blue I rarely use it since the lighter colour doesn’t turn my crank, quality wise it seems just fine. I like the Pelikan brilliant black as it has a better colour saturation and is a little thicker, it actually makes smooth pens feel smoother. Pelikan’s brilliant blue also shares the same qualities as the black ink and you should really try the Pelikan violet… wow.
One thing I have found with many inks that are purple or violet… they tend to stain pens when used for prolonged periods. Because of this I won’t use these colours in vintage pens and usually stick to using Parker black or Sheaffer inks which seem to have the least tendency to stain with the exception of colours in the purple spectrum.
Sheaffer inks tend to run faster due to their having a lighter consistency and can be more prone to feathering, their black has an almost greyish undertone to it. My favourite Peacock blue is very light and freeflowing and will tend to feather on some grades of paper.
Glenn Mrcus has a website with a wealth of information on ink…
Feynn, thanks for your response.
My pen does have a fine nib, so the Pelikan ink may not work as you suggest, but based on your comments I think I’ll try it. I’d actually prefer a little deeper color saturated blue than the Parker Quink provides.
You mention a Pelikan Brilliant Blue, but the web site you linked to doesn’t list that as a Pelikan color, and is lukewarm about their color Blue.
Any thoughts on that?
Algernon -
I can go on about ink just about as long as I can go on about pens… I usually match ink types to certain pens to maximize performance. I have a few that simply don’t like Pelikan black/blue ink but run great when they are filled with Quink. These are usually pens with with really dry feeds or very fine nibs.
Parker black is a safe bet to use in just about any pen as it has a moderate flow, good water resistance/permanence, and decent colour saturation. Although I have some Parker blue I rarely use it since the lighter colour doesn’t turn my crank, quality wise it seems just fine. I like the Pelikan brilliant black as it has a better colour saturation and is a little thicker, it actually makes smooth pens feel smoother. Pelikan’s brilliant blue also shares the same qualities as the black ink and you should really try the Pelikan violet… wow.
One thing I have found with many inks that are purple or violet… they tend to stain pens when used for prolonged periods. Because of this I won’t use these colours in vintage pens and usually stick to using Parker black or Sheaffer inks which seem to have the least tendency to stain with the exception of colours in the purple spectrum.
Sheaffer inks tend to run faster due to their having a lighter consistency and can be more prone to feathering, their black has an almost greyish undertone to it. My favourite Peacock blue is very light and freeflowing and will tend to feather on some grades of paper.
Glenn Mrcus has a website with a wealth of information on ink…
Okay, PenNerd checking in. I love pens. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.
Thea Logica, I do hope those Schaeffers work out for you. I do. Personally, I don’t care for Schaeffer - I find that they don’t deliver ink well and are scratchy. But best of luck anyway. I used to have some other Schaeffers - if I can find them (we just moved), would you like to know about them?
chique, check the tips of your glass pens. They need to have a tiny glass ball at the end for them to write well. Sadly, glass pens are fragile and this little bead breaks easily. If the bead isn’t there, your pen won’t write as well. Also, all the glass pens I’ve seen have grooves all around the nib - this helps ink flow to the little glass bead. If yours don’t have these grooves, they might not be delivering ink to the nib well.
As for me, my favorite fountain pen is a Pelikan. I’ve never had a fountain pen write so smoothly. For roller balls, I prefer my Mont Blanc. Sadly, at work, I use the trusty PaperMate blue ball point. I really need to get my pens in here.
For you fountain pen lovers, get the ones that take ink from a bottle, if you can. It’s messy, yes, but it’s also a pleasure. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.
Snicks
For everyday use, common ballpoints (oily ink) and fine-point metal rollerbals such as the uniball (watery ink). I find myself forced to write on less-than-good-grade paper or use triplicate forms, quite often, and the conventional ballpoints are kinder in that sense. Besides, a Write Bros/Bic Stik/Sanford Uniball does not hurt much when inevitably someone walks with it. My “nice” pens are fancy ballpoints with Parker or Schaeffer refills.
For drawing I use Sakura Micron pigment markers. Love them to death.
Now for the scandal of the week: one of the people I contract for has an unatural attachment to her Sharpie permanent marker (that’s right, the thing you use to mark laundry and lab glassware); besides constantly ruining 2-sided documents by initializing/signing them with that cursed thing, she makes annotations on drafts with it. As should be expected, the ink quickly wicks into and through the paper, rendering every single annotation she makes into a peculiar sort-of-wavy-blob and leaving people wondering what she wanted underlined vs. what she meant to strike.
I take that as my cue to just put whatever I find necessary and convenient to the revised version…
OK, Feynn, I just ordered a couple bottles of Pelikan ink, on your recommendation, and all my pens have fine nibs. I’m only actually planning on using the bottled ink in the expensive Shaeffer, which I do have a converter for. The nib isn’t ultra-fine, the tip is about as fine as my cheap drugstore Shaeffer that I bought ten years ago, so I’m hoping that the ink will work out. The Shaeffer ink does flow a bit more freely than I’m comfortable with. When you mentioned the fine nib problem, did you mean just your basic fine nib, or is there a fine beyond fine? And, oh, yes, I saw the Skeleton (both the 75th anniversary and the platinum editions). It’s almost as sexy as James Marsters. drool
**Snicker- I love my Shaeffer pens. The expensive one (sorry, don’t know the model) feels great in my hand, it’s a joy to write with. It has a beautiful, slender nib, I’m not sure if it’s 14 karat gold or just gold plated. I didn’t get any real info about the pen, all I know is that it’s very, very pretty, I got is for 1/4 of the manufacturer’s suggested retial price, and it’s very, very pretty. Yes, all my Shaeffers are a bit scratchy, especially the Reaktors, but not annoyingly so, and the scratchiness lessens with use . I’ve been doing a lot of “recreational writing” (read, post Buffy fanfic) as well as journalling, actually emptied a cartridge, with my new Shaeffer (did I mention that it’s very, very pretty?) and it has become noticeably less scratchy with use. Ditto for the Reaktors, although I had to really work with one of them for a while before I could get a consistent ink flow. I never thought of a pen nib as something that would require “breaking in”, but they all seem to work better the more I use them. I’ve bonded with my fountain pens.
I saw some Parker pens as Wal-Mart that looked very tempting for use as a “go pen”- rubber grips and all, but I could only find them with a medium nib, and I have a definite preference for a fine nib.
Now, for those who prefer bottled ink to cartridges, I would say I would tend to use bottled ink for an expensive pen that I would reserve for home use, not wanting to risk losing it out in the big mean universe, but for an inexpensive “go pen”, I would want a cartridge pen because if I happened to run out of ink while out in the big mean universe, (and, being a ditz, I would often find myself in that situation) I would want to be able to just carry a coupla spare cartridges in my purse so I could just pop a new one into the pen if I needed to.
Algernon, Thea - The only time I have had problems with Pelikan black/blue ink is when I tried to run it through some pens with x-fine nibs or dry feeds. When I say x-fine I mean as fine as a human hair kind of fine and dry refers to pens that just don’t deliver high volumes of ink. There aren’t many people who like a pen this fine and I only have them as they were acquired for customers… I test everything before it gets delivered so that’s how I discovered that a medium density ink like Pelikan could cause some problems in a small percentage of pens.
Your choice of ink colour is as personal as the pen you write with, a good pen store should let you sample inks (by dipping) to see how the colour appears on paper. I’m a Pelikan fan but there are countless varieties of ink in a countless variety of colours out there.
Thea - That cheap Parker at Walmart was probably a Reflex… about 5.5 inches long with a silver clip and a rubberized grip? If it was I have found them to be a reliable and comfortable pen and despite his best effort my 9 year old hasn’t been able to wreck the one he carries to school every day. At first glance I thought it might not hold up to hard use but I have been proven wrong. for around $5 you might want to try one and if you don’t like it… give it away to someone who will. A Parker converter for this pen is around $4.00 if I recall correctly. If you lived here I could regrind and polish the point into a fine for you in a few minutes…
I’m a big fan of so called “economy pens” and one of the best ones out there is probably the new Sheaffer Javelin; for the money you get a lot of pen and we have two that Lola counts among her favourites. The all metal version looks almost as nice as my vintage Sheaffer Imperial and writes nearly as well. the only fault I found is that it doesn’t come with a convertor but those can be easily acquired.
I refill my ink cartridges by using an insulin needle… bottled ink is so much cheaper and it’s environmentally friendly to re-use the plastic cartridges. There are also several mini inkwells in my desk (and a syringe for refilling) with black, blue, red, and green ink so I am never in a position to be without a favourite pen because I forgot to check the ink.
Didja know that the first fountain pens were filled by unscrewing the section (the part behind the nib) and filling the body of the pen with an eyedropper?
I’m off… I just got some new old pens and I have to check them out.
If anyone needs any more info my e-mail is feynn@shaw.ca