what pen do you use and why

[deanE]

have you ever noticed that some days there are pens galore; in your pocket, drawers full of them, on your desk and in the glove pocket of the car. Then the next week you are scratching around to find one. The week after they start to build up again. I call this birorythms.

 

[ushills]

Pelikan M200 (sold my M400) daily use for me as I prefer fountain pens.

Getting a Twsbi Diamond 540 for my birthday from the kids as something to keep.

For some reason I cannot write with a ballpoint as I don't press hard enough. Had to use a FP at school and think it stuck.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Am I alone in using the cheap and cheerful Bic biro? Do the "serious" writers consider it a pen shaped object?

No you are not alone.

Burn him!!!

I just fail to be obsessive about what pen I use, that is all.

I remember seeing an episode of Airport a few years back, and and some eejit had the staff take the cabin of a '747 appart because he'd lost his pen.

Sorry, but a good slap around the head is what he should have got, I mean honestly!

 

[Norm]

For regular writing, I've got a Cross Edge. And, sadly, it is as much fun to play with as it says here. I'm not sure why, whether it's the feel as it slides open and shut, the fact that no-one else can open it so no-one else uses it, or the fact that it balances perfectly on the end of the clip so a small twist will have it spinning for ages. Anyway, whatever it is, I love that pen.

I've also got a small set (ball, pencil, ink) of Cross Century IIs which I carry in a pouch as my daily writers. I quite like the feel and love the diminutive size of the ball and pencil.

For nicest writing, I've an old set of Parkers, they look similar to the modern Sonnets in matt black with gold trim. I've had them so long that, as someone wrote earlier, the ink pen is now perfectly worn to my hand, it doesn't feel like it is touching the page as I write, just fabulous.

Lastly, as a workplace desk ink pen, I love the Pilot V disposable fountain pen. They write well from new, I've never had an issue of leaks or dodgy nibs and, at £4 a time, I think it's great being able to carry black and red ink pens all the time and not worry about losing them. The only downside is that, because Pilot are known for ball and rollerball, people keep picking them up and using them without realising that they are my bloody fountain pens which have taken to my style of writing and if you use them you will ruin them for me for ever!!!

**and breathe**

I love pens, I do.

 

[pepecat]

I have a fairly cheap whsmith fountain pen which writes very nicely thankyou! I use that and Stabilo pens - the long thin orange/white ones with the coloured caps. My writing's quite small so i like them cos they're nice and fine.

 

[biggs682]

i never expected so many replies on this thread but i am not surprised most of us quality rather than cheepo pens

 

[Browser]

Stabilo Easy to try and help improve my attrocious handwriting

 

[Bluenite]

i never expected so many replies on this thread but i am not surprised most of us quality rather than cheepo pens

Have you seen the price of Bic biros.

 

[subaqua]

for writing permits in work , a bic wide blue pen. for all other writing one of 2 parker cartridge pens, the jotter, and a stainless steel one my kids got me for christmas. both have blue ink in them.

thre is a parker biro i sometimes use

 

[GordonB]

people keep picking them up and using them without realising that they are my bloody fountain pens which have taken to my style of writing and if you use them you will ruin them for me for ever!!!

Myth, see http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/troubleshooting.html but as Rick says, a good excuse to stop people damaging your pen by dropping it.

Gordon

 

[Norm]

Myth, see http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/troubleshooting.html but as Rick says, a good excuse to stop people damaging your pen by dropping it.

Gordon

That's not quite the way that I read that article - I presume that you are talking about myth 3.

Firstly, the opening words are "This myth is actually true, but not to the extent that many people like to believe", so not so much a myth.

Secondly, that page is about fine pens and says "If the pen showed signifcant (sic) wear within a couple months of purchase, it would be worn down to nothing within a few years" and I was talking about disposable pens which are usually empty within a "couple months of purchase", so they may well be of different materials to those in the article.

Thirdly, if someone can't spell "significant", then I'm not sure that I put much trust in their knowledge of pens.

Lastly, the point remains that "This myth is often invoked to explain why you shold not loan your pens to others, and for this it is certainly a useful excuse." I find the act of "just borrowing" someone else's pen, whether fountain, ball or rollerball, a bit of an invasion. If it's a cheap-ish biro, then they are office products and can be shared around like pads of paper or post-it notes. However, if someone has gone to the bother of taking their own pen in to work, then that's personal property and I would no more use it than I would use their shoes.

 

[GordonB]

Even cheap pens are often tipped with what is commonly called "Iridium" although it's usually a ruthenium alloy and it takes years to wear it down so a few seconds writing will not change its characteristics. Some cheap ones don't have a tip as such but are of stainless steel and while they will wear more quickly, it's still going to take a long time of intensive writing. Still isn't an excuse to arbitrarily swipe someone's pen, I quite agree there, and my reaction to anyone trying that with my pens is probably more extreme than yours given that mine aren't disposables. As for Rick, he might not be able to spell but having met him at pen shows, he knows more about pens than I do, and I've been collecting, repairing and restoring them for more years than I care to think about.

Point is, I'm fully in agreement with your dislike of folk regarding personal pens as being in the office pool but the notion that writing with one for a few seconds will somehow destroy it is simply wrong, a myth. I regularly lend my pens to anyone who has an interest in fine fountain pens for them to try and I'm hardly likely to do that if I thought for a moment it would cause damage.

Whilst I'm not a great fan of disposable pens as they are somewhat wasteful, Pilot fountain pens are very good quality and I have several in the collection, a couple of Vanishing Points, a sterling silver engraved pen, a plain black one, and I did have a pair of the legendary Murex integrated nib jobs but sold them on. Japanese pens are almost unifomly good quality, sometimes spectacularly so, and many of them by Sailor and Platinum are literally works of art.

Gordon

 

[Arch]

Erm... You can still get them and I still use them. They're really good. I'm useless at sowing buttons on and they just work!

Try sewing them instead. It'll never work if you're just scattering them in fields....

As for pens, I just use whatever biro comes to hand...

 

[Norm]

Point is, I'm fully in agreement with your dislike of folk regarding personal pens as being in the office pool but the notion that writing with one for a few seconds will somehow destroy it is simply wrong, a myth.

I'm not disagreeing, just trying to justify my position.

 

[I like Skol]

A GREEN BIC Biro. This is for work use where only BIC Biros are approved for in the clean room but i smuggle in my own green ones so I can see at a glance where I have written entries in the log books and work cards (any fool can get his hands on a black, blue or red one). You would think that such a blatent breach of the 'rules' would have attracted attention after 18 months but no draconian penalties have been enforced!!!

I have yet to run one out of ink. I have been within millimetres a couple of times but once it got nicked and the other snapped. I do tend to find that they snap the case close to the tip when they get to within about 1/4 of the ink left but perhaps I am just a bit heavy handed with them?