Fess up: How many BALLPOINT pens do you own?

[Wuddus]

I know this is a fountain pen site, but I have only just come back to them after a long absence. For the last 25+ years I have been dependent on ballpoints for various reasons.

Also, despite the recent move to fountain pens, I still use a ballpoint on official forms, and still stick one in my pocket when leaving the house (if someone else wants to borrow a pen, a ballpoint is all I will lend them). So for me, ballpoints still play a role in my writing arsenal, even though most of my dishevelled scribblings are now done with fountain pens.

After going through the house hunting down slinging out the old pens which no longer function, I found 15 refillable ballpoints and another 15 disposables. I stuck three in each of my two pen pots, and slung the rest in a drawer. I don't think I'll be buying any more ballpoints in the near future.

So are you fountain pen only, or do you have a secret stash of ballpoints too? If so, how many?

[penwash]

I have many free ballpoints and some nice rollerball pens in my house that I use, but I don't care about those, not one bit.

I do care about one ballpoint, my trusty Fisher Space Pen that has been serving me for years up until I discovered fountain pens

[Wolfman Zack]

I keep a few rollerballs around, most all of them G2 gel pens.
They are useful on poor quality paper and for copy forms that require more pressure, and I sometimes use the colored ones for art.
Also nice to have if you have to loan out a pen, I’m not going to hand someone my good fountain pen when they most likely don’t know how to use it properly.

[fountainpenkid]

Not one! Unless a single random Marist College pen that materialized one day counts.

[AzJon]

I have a black G2 gel pen around...somewhere... as well as a Papermate Flair felt tip pen for marking packages. Better than a regular permanent marker on cardboard as the writing is finer and easier to read.

Edit: before fountain pens, I used to use they awesome Japanese rollerball pens that had a .2, .3, and .4 mm points. The .2 was a wee bit small, but the .3 was great for my cramped psycho-path handwriting.

[Runnin_Ute]

More than I care to think about. Two Sheaffer flighter style - one brushed stainless, the other gold plated. (Sentinel?) Two Cross ballpoints. The Sheaffer and Cross bp's all were given to me. For years I have been a Parker Flighter style bp user. Just my weapon of choice. I still have Jotter, Insignia, Classic, Latitude and my favorite the 45. I also have mechanical pencils for the 45, Classic and Insignia. The only rollerball I have that I use even semi-regularly is a black & gold Waterman Hemisphere with a Pilot G2 refill in black.

There are a variety of cheap/freebie ballpoints around the house. (my wife is a bp/rb user)

[Kaputnik]

Fewer than I have fountain pens, but then, I have a lot of fountain pens.

It's not exactly "fessing up", as there is no reason to be ashamed of it. I'm not going to count right now, but I'm sure it must come to at least thirty, with perhaps another ten or so rollerballs. There are a bunch of old Parker Jotters, a few Fisher Space Pens, maybe four or five multipens, a couple that are souvenirs of this or that.

Typically when I go to work, I have a bullet style Space Pen in a pants pocket, and one or two of my Jotters in a laptop case, along with a couple of fountain pens in my shirt pocket. The fountain pens get used a lot more, because I like them better, but it's not a matter of principle. Sometimes I need to write on something for which I don't want to use an FP. If I want to hand somebody a pen ("Could you sign this? Thanks!") I'd rather it be a ballpoint.

A few years ago, I did go through my stuff for all the disposable ballpoints and some cheap clickies with advertising on them, and dumped them all at work in this cup we keep with communal ballpoints, pencils, and other markers. If some business gives me another cheap pen, or sends one in the mail, I leave those at work, too.

[Scooby921]

I keep a few at my desk at work should someone stop by my desk and ask to borrow a pen. Many are fascinated by the fountain pens, but I trust very few to write with them without supervision.



Edit: After actually going through the pen cup on my desk I only have 1 true ballpoint. There are 7 rollerball / gel pens. The rest are paint markers, permanent markers, highlighters, or pencils.

[Jerome Tarshis]

Three. A Parker Jotter, which I carried as a backup pen when I owned only one fountain pen, a Parker 51. Seldom ran out of ink. Use the Jotter sometimes for book citations and phone numbers. Two Cross Century BPs, which happened after I bought a gold-filled Cross Century FP for $5 in a thrift shop and then briefly got into those FPs. It seemed symmetrical to own a couple of FP + BP sets.

[FredRydr]

Depends which bank I go to this week. Some have one pen for each teller. Others have a cup stuffed with pens next to each teller. My dentist and my independent garage have trays piled with them!

Did you know that free ballpoints go bad just when you need them? You must have two, three or even more back-ups for each attempted use. I have little patience with them, so if there is no ink after a few squiggles on paper, they hit the bin.

Now as to nice ballpoints, I have a sterling Parker Ciselle clicker (I don't much like twist pens) that was given to me "as not worth much" by another vendor at a pen show. I much prefer it to the more valuable twist pens. The black Parker was part of a set given to me by my father-in-law in England four decades ago. Pelikan clickers are nice and reliable, and this is one of three around the house. My wife tends to take those. I also have a handsome vintage pencil-to-ballpoint conversion by Carl Seidl, like this black and pearl Parker, although it is a twist and therefore sees little use. He also made a very cool Waterman's emerald-ray pencil conversion for me, in the photo next to the pen. Some of you have bought Carl's conversions from me.

IMG_0897.JPGIMG_0899.JPG

[Sailor Kenshin]

A bunch, kept around the house: multicolor Papermates and a gamut of multicolor dollar-store ballpoints that work astonishingly well.

Wanna make sumtin of it?

[usk15]

I have ballpoint and gel pens at around 30+. I'm always having a fountain pen and ballpoint/gel pen at work, each for it own purpose.
My only rollerball is a Sheaffer Nononsense adapted for normal rollerball refills.

What is a topic without pictures? A boring one...

[CeeElle]

In my daily carry of 3 pens, I use a Montblanc 1912 capless rollerball and a Parker 75 ciselle cap actuated ballpoint. The Parker is for emergencies and I alternate between the rollerball and whichever fountain pen I have inked up.

[azkid]

My only decent ballpoints were those standard Cross pens, chrome, black tip, twist to deploy. One I bought when the 486 was the latest Intel chip. Another Cross (gift) had a neat 4ESS logo (old telephone switch) on the clip.

Both vanished into the ether long ago.

My search for a usable pen led me to zebra ballpoints of which I have several.

Now that I have discovered how awesome FPs can be, there's just no way I will spend good FP money on a ballpoint.

[Wuddus]

My only decent ballpoints were those standard Cross pens, chrome, black tip, twist to deploy. One I bought when the 486 was the latest Intel chip. Another Cross (gift) had a neat 4ESS logo (old telephone switch) on the clip.

Both vanished into the ether long ago.

My search for a usable pen led me to zebra ballpoints of which I have several.

Now that I have discovered how awesome FPs can be, there's just no way I will spend good FP money on a ballpoint.

I like Zebra too. I have a pile of the Z Grip disposables and a couple of the metal bodied F301. The Expandz is another good pen.

[catbert]

Ballpoints aren't my first choice alternative to fountain pens but I have quite a few:
A classic Bic. Because it's a classic.
A Caran d'Ache 849.*
A couple of Parker Jotters, one older, one new.*
(Eyeing a Tactile Turn Shaker.)

Some were incidental to fountain pen purchases, part of a set:
A Montblanc 18 lever-action pen.
An Omas from a 361 set.*
A couple of Waterman Gentlemans, one 70s, one 80s.*
(Will probably get a vintage Kaweco Sport set at some point.)

The rest were gifts or freebies:
A couple of Cross pens.
A Sheaffer clip-actuated pen.
An unknown number of Zebra, Pilot, generic/souvenir pens.

Only the Jotters and the 849 see regular use.

*

[azkid]

I like Zebra too. I have a pile of the Z Grip disposables and a couple of the metal bodied F301. The Expandz is another good pen.

Yup, mine are all F301's and a pile matching pencils too.

[SaoDavi]

I got a dozen or so. My pocket pen is a Kaweco Al-Sport and I have several custom and higher end ball points. I keep some Fisher Space Pens around too.

They have their place. They're certainly more reliable.

[SaoDavi]

Almost forgot that I collect Retro 51 Tornados. I have 50+ of those.

[SIR]

Two, both Caran D'Ache 849s - i have a spare Goliath refill ready to go too.