Any fountain pen enthusiasts here?

[Darrell KSR]

I don't mean collectors, although chime in if you're a collector, too.

I LOVE fountain pens. I rarely write with them anymore; just a product of I'm too scattered to keep up with them, have lost a couple, and I am far too cheap to spend the money to replace them as often as I might lose them.

Lots of folks hate them. Lot of negatives.

You can't use them for "copies" where you have to press through something.
The nib adjusts to a person's own handwriting, and if somebody else uses it, it kinda messes it up (I hate having somebody borrow my fountain pen).
Half the time somebody borrows one, they turn it upside down and the nib doesn't write well upside down.
The pens often leak if the least little thing disrupts them. They "say" you *can* take them on airplanes, but I've struggled with them when I've done that.
They're expensive for what you get.
They're messy. The ink has to "dry" before you can move on. If you are left-handed, you probably never use one because of that factor alone.

So with all of that....I love them.

They flow so freely with cursive writing (not so much with printing--another negative), it is an art form. You guide them, not really write with them. I enjoy dipping the nib into a bottle of ink (perish the thought of using cartridges!) and filling it up before you leave for the day, filled with a penful of ink.

They have wonderful color inks, although the blues are really my favorites, by far. (I have a Namiki vanishing point fountain pen that, for some reason, I enjoy black ink in, but no others).

If anybody is looking for a gift to give me, I'd love a Mont Blanc Meisterstruck type one. I have a moderate Waterman, and a very nice expensive Waterman that is my "prize" pen, the Namiki vanishing point, and occasionally will pick up a relatively inexpensive brand here or there, but usually come back to the moderate Waterman as my workhorse fountain pen, and the other as my signature pen.

Oh--and personally, I have to get the broad tip fountain pens. If you're going to go with the flow, the flow might as well be immense, right?

Anybody else enjoy fountain pens?

[dan_bgblue]

When I was in middle school, I had an English teacher that required us to write our papers with a "fountain" pen. The one I had used the little ink cartridges that you put in the pen and punctured one end of the cartridge when you screwed the business end on. I never used one that took advantage of the bulk inks.

I could use one OK and actually came to like writing with mine, but if I did not seat the business end perfectly when replacing a cartridge it was a messy undertaking to use it. When I left her class, I put the pen up and have never used one since.

[blueboss]

Left handed so my hand drags through what I've written.

[elicat]

Used to have a huge collection. I restored and resold them, kept some. Now I just have a great many. Good (old) ones got too hard to find and it took more and more time. As life has gotten busier I've even gotten out of the habit of using them all the time, but I still love them.