Fountain pens: swampy ground for newbies

[adhoc]

I see the myth that only “ballpoint barbarians” prefer stiff nibs over flex ones has transferred over from FPN, which is a laughable one to put it politely.

Not all of us use fountain pens for doodles and correspondence letters.

Couldn't agree more! I like flex nibs and have a few but the pens that fall to my hand on an everyday basis are mostly firm fines.

I have a bunch of super flex nibs, a few dozen nibs of various softness, but the stiff M80x nibs are the ones I pick up for work. I don’t want line variation when writing down formulae and numbers.

[Wuddus]

Flex doesn't interest me, though I may well fall in the category of ballpoint barbarian. A fountain pen with flex misses the point of what I want the pen for. I have no desire to learn a new form of writing, nor to write that slowly and deliberately. I just want to be able to reliably commit my semi-legible scrawl to paper. If I want line variation, I will pick up an italic nib. Even if I did want to go to the extent of writing fancy script and flourishes, I would go the whole hog and get a dip pen.

[calamum]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

[penwash]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

[ethernautrix]

I see the myth that only “ballpoint barbarians” prefer stiff nibs over flex ones has transferred over from FPN, which is a laughable one to put it politely.

Not all of us use fountain pens for doodles and correspondence letters.

Spot on.

[Paddler]

Flex doesn't interest me, though I may well fall in the category of ballpoint barbarian. A fountain pen with flex misses the point of what I want the pen for. I have no desire to learn a new form of writing, nor to write that slowly and deliberately. I just want to be able to reliably commit my semi-legible scrawl to paper. If I want line variation, I will pick up an italic nib. Even if I did want to go to the extent of writing fancy script and flourishes, I would go the whole hog and get a dip pen.

Just for information purposes: you don't have to practice much to use a flexible nib to get line variation. Practice helps and to do a professional job of it, it takes a lot of practice. But if you cop the right attitude, you can write quickly and get enough line variation in the right places to really punch up your hand. I can do this but I don't do it very often because it takes too much effort to get my head on right.

[Jon Szanto]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

I have a pretty good feeling that the post you quoted was done with a pretty strong sense of irony. Or sarcasm. Certainly not serious.

[Farmboy]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

I have a pretty good feeling that the post you quoted was done with a pretty strong sense of irony. Or sarcasm. Certainly not serious.

How many times have I told you clip-ons are the way to go?

To the casual reader, this would be an inside joke.

[penwash]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

I have a pretty good feeling that the post you quoted was done with a pretty strong sense of irony. Or sarcasm. Certainly not serious.

Jon, I got a sense that he/she is being serious.

But if you're right, and I'm wrong, then I am glad

[AzJon]

Real fountain pen myths:

• You can by only one: a month? a week?

• Your demonstrator totally doesn't look like a vape: Totally.

• Carrying your pen in your pocket is a great idea.

• To that end, BSB makes a great ink for pens stored in pockets

• If you are unsure, you can wait a day or two deciding whether or not to get whatever limited production pen Franklin-Christoph is putting out

• Vintage pens are 100% the worst. So bad that, as a public service, you can send me all of your vintage pens, especially those nasty flexible ones, for proper disposal. Free of charge!

• Amazon vendors are definitely not grey market sellers that may or may not get you a genuine product.

• Buying ink from Amazon is the only way to go

• Did I mention that vintage pens are the worst? So fussy. So much trouble to deal with. Again, I'm setting up a lovely vintage pen shelter for old pens if yours is a hassle.

[calamum]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

I have a pretty good feeling that the post you quoted was done with a pretty strong sense of irony. Or sarcasm. Certainly not serious.

Jon, I got a sense that he/she is being serious.

But if you're right, and I'm wrong, then I am glad

In fact, the post was written with tongue firmly in cheek. I had thought my comments were sufficiently over the top that it would be apparent, but given some of the responses on this thread, I can see why someone may have thought I was being serious. Perhaps I should have included words to the effect of "A Jinhao or FPR pen is every bit as good as a Montblanc."

[Wuddus]

Real fountain pen myths:

I know these were meant in jest, but...

• You can by only one: a month? a week?

I've more or less stuck to that frequency as an inquisative noob who is learning as they go, but thereafter if I buy one more a year, that's probably way too much - unless I'm breaking or losing at least one pen a year of course.

• Your demonstrator totally doesn't look like a vape: Totally.

I vape. I have two demonstrators. I've never got them confused. Either way.

• Carrying your pen in your pocket is a great idea.

Excellent! I've just ordered a pen specifically for carrying in my pocket. If it turns out to be a bad idea, i'll let you all know.

• To that end, BSB makes a great ink for pens stored in pockets

I have no idea what BSB is, but unless it's made by Diamine or Quink, it's unlikely to get in my pens, and is therefore a moot point.

• If you are unsure, you can wait a day or two deciding whether or not to get whatever limited production pen Franklin-Christoph is putting out

A day? I waited over two weeks before buying a £15 pen, and only went ahead when I saw it listed at £7.50. Anything over £30 gets an instant decision. No!

• Vintage pens are 100% the worst. So bad that, as a public service, you can send me all of your vintage pens, especially those nasty flexible ones, for proper disposal. Free of charge!

Not got any. Not getting any. Thanks for the offer, but I'll be saving the postal costs here.

• Amazon vendors are definitely not grey market sellers that may or may not get you a genuine product.

I don't use them for pen stuff. Minimum order value is too high for what I buy. Talking of which...

• Buying ink from Amazon is the only way to go

Cult pens is cheaper, and offers free shipping at a lower threshold. Why would I use Amazon?

• Did I mention that vintage pens are the worst? So fussy. So much trouble to deal with. Again, I'm setting up a lovely vintage pen shelter for old pens if yours is a hassle.

Still not got any. If any of my cheap stuff lasts long enough to become vintage, I'll bear that in mind.

[penwash]

This has been fascinating. I've learned to advise newcomers to fountain pens to buy a Metropolitan or a Safari and stop there. And never to waste their money on a pen with a gold nib or on any vintage pen. As for IG ink, however, I'm afraid they're on their own there.

How do you know that it will be a waste for them?
What if they like gold nib and/or vintage pens?

I have a pretty good feeling that the post you quoted was done with a pretty strong sense of irony. Or sarcasm. Certainly not serious.

Jon, I got a sense that he/she is being serious.

But if you're right, and I'm wrong, then I am glad

In fact, the post was written with tongue firmly in cheek. I had thought my comments were sufficiently over the top that it would be apparent, but given some of the responses on this thread, I can see why someone may have thought I was being serious. Perhaps I should have included words to the effect of "A Jinhao or FPR pen is every bit as good as a Montblanc."

This is one case that I'm glad to be proven wrong. Thanks for clarifying!

You could also add this emoji:

And yes, unfortunately some of the responses in this thread are a bit face-palm-inducing for me. BUT... maybe they aren't serious either... I hope

[gbryal]

In this thread it seems there is disagreement on what a "myth" is. Excluding any meanings involving fairy princesses and dragons or Theseus:

1. A myth is a falsehood: It is a myth that donkeys can fly.
or
2. A myth is a falsehood that is widely believed: It is not a myth that donkeys can fly, whether they can or not, because no one really believes that they can.

I don't really have a point, but this topic has sure turned into a charlie foxtrot.

[Wuddus]

I don't really have a point, but this topic has sure turned into a charlie foxtrot.

I think it's been a very interesting thread.

[gbryal]

I don't really have a point, but this topic has sure turned into a charlie foxtrot.

I think it's been a very interesting thread.

I didn't say it wasn't ​interesting.

[Lady Onogaro]

In this thread it seems there is disagreement on what a "myth" is. Excluding any meanings involving fairy princesses and dragons or Theseus:

1. A myth is a falsehood: It is a myth that donkeys can fly.
or
2. A myth is a falsehood that is widely believed: It is not a myth that donkeys can fly, whether they can or not, because no one really believes that they can.

I don't really have a point, but this topic has sure turned into a charlie foxtrot.

Myth just means "story" (a tale). It's generally a story of how things came to be, like the various creation stories or how rabbits got long ears, etc. It isn't necessarily a falsehood, though most people subscribe to that definition of it (it's usually the secondary definition of that word in the dictionary). I know that folks do consider "stories" to be a kind of falsehood or lie, but they often distill experience into truth. And you almost have to be careful as to what you call a myth--for example, most people don't mind calling the Greek or Roman creation stories myths, but call the creation stories in Genesis myths, then you are in for some trouble, even though "myth" just means "story," no matter who uses it or to what kind of cultural story it is applied to.

There certainly are lots of stories about pens, pen use, pen practices, etc. Maybe it would be helpful to look at these various statements as "stories" rather than "truths" or "falsehoods" or "claims."

[calamum]

[QUOTE=Lady Onogaro;237349]

In this thread it seems there is disagreement on what a "myth" is. Excluding any meanings involving fairy princesses and dragons or Theseus:

1. A myth is a falsehood: It is a myth that donkeys can fly.
or
2. A myth is a falsehood that is widely believed: It is not a myth that donkeys can fly, whether they can or not, because no one really believes that they can.

I don't really have a point, but this topic has sure turned into a charlie foxtrot.

Myth just means "story" (a tale). It's generally a story of how things came to be, like the various creation stories or how rabbits got long ears, etc. It isn't necessarily a falsehood, though most people subscribe to that definition of it (it's usually the secondary definition of that word in the dictionary). I know that folks do consider "stories" to be a kind of falsehood or lie, but they often distill experience into truth. And you almost have to be careful as to what you call a myth--for example, most people don't mind calling the Greek or Roman creation stories myths, but call the creation stories in Genesis myths, then you are in for some trouble, even though "myth" just means "story," no matter who uses it or to what kind of cultural story it is applied to.

There certainly are lots of stories about pens, pen use, pen practices, etc. Maybe it would be helpful to look at these various statements as "stories" rather than "truths" or "falsehoods" or "claims."

I think there is a practical value to determining whether or not certain "stories" about pens (or anything else that one cares about) are true.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I think there is a practical value to determining whether or not certain "stories" about pens (or anything else that one cares about) are true.

That's precisely why I started the thread!

[carlos.q]

I think there is a practical value to determining whether or not certain "stories" about pens (or anything else that one cares about) are true.

That's precisely why I started the thread!

Ok. Back to square one...