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Thread: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    I’m an IT geek, attend loads of meetings and attend regular training and education. All of my notes are handwritten with whatever pen I, using at that time - usually I have between three and five Pena inked at any one time - one in my work bag, another case with two pens (I always use two ink colours for notes so I can see the actions needed without needing to read all the rest of the dross) and at least one which I leave in my study for working-at-home days.

    I’m also a published author and never travel anywhere without a notebook which has a cased Kaweco Sport permanently attached to it.

    So, yup, loads of opportunity for pen-use in my life.

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    Senior Member azkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    IT guy here too and lots of meetings. All notes in fountain pens in my bullet journals. I don't have to but it works well for me. The only other thing I use them for is my "idea journals" for various hobbies, projects, and tinkering.

    I always have at least four or five pens inked in some kind of black and a few in other colors. I try to check pens ever week or two and the only time they seem to dry up is when they're almost empty.

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    I don't mind the lesser capacity of the cartridge converters. I have several pens and a ton of ink samples. I like rotating in the pens and trying new inks with some frequency.

    If I have 4 pens in use, I can get 3 to 4 weeks out of a C/C.

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    Librarian here. I use a paper planner and do much of my writing in it, plus a fair amount of my other note-taking and most of my literary first drafts, using a fountain pen. (I only have a few and normally have only one inked at a time.)
    “We go to the garrick now and become warbs.”--James Thurber

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    I am a programmer, I use a fountain pen to take most of my work notes. My EDC pens either use a Lamy/Parker/Pilot cartridge (so, between 1 and 1.5 mL of ink), or piston (Lamy 2000). I have one "work pen" inked at a time, and very rarely run out of ink in the middle of the week (granted, they are all F/EF width). Even then, no biggie -- I have a spare rollerball at the office.

    At home, I write todo lists, whatever other random stuff comes to my head, and try to practice calligraphy/penmanship.

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    Senior Member Kulprit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    I’m an attorney. I used to be diligent about handwriting all my notes, but a few years ago I decided that I was wasting effort since I would then type my handwritten notes into my Outlook calendar, so I decided to go all-digital. Besides, my hands would be very sore after long sessions. I still had to update all my files manually.

    Then, last year, I came down with pneumonia and found myself laying around the house with too much time on my hands. I decided to use that down time to re-teach myself cursive (hadn’t used it in over 30 years). Returning to writing out my notes by hand seemed like a logical way to practice, and I haven’t looked back. My note taking is slower in cursive, but there’s no more soreness in my hands after prepping or updating stacks of files.

    So yeah, I do several pages worth of writing everyday.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kulprit View Post
    I’m an attorney. I used to be diligent about handwriting all my notes, but a few years ago I decided that I was wasting effort since I would then type my handwritten notes into my Outlook calendar, so I decided to go all-digital. Besides, my hands would be very sore after long sessions. I still had to update all my files manually.

    Then, last year, I came down with pneumonia and found myself laying around the house with too much time on my hands. I decided to use that down time to re-teach myself cursive (hadn’t used it in over 30 years). Returning to writing out my notes by hand seemed like a logical way to practice, and I haven’t looked back. My note taking is slower in cursive, but there’s no more soreness in my hands after prepping or updating stacks of files.

    So yeah, I do several pages worth of writing everyday.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Out of curiosity did you change up the kind of pen you use too?

    For example I originally got in to fountain pens because a ballpoint or even a rollerball would cramp the hell out of my hands even after 5 to 10 minutes of essay writing. Noticed the heavy brass pens you typically find with Chinese makers didn't do much better, and over a couple years found myself going lighter and lighter on the pen which helped develop a lighter hand which also helped the hand cramps and fatigues greatly.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    Quote Originally Posted by KBeezie View Post
    ...over a couple years found myself going lighter and lighter on the pen which helped develop a lighter hand which also helped the hand cramps and fatigues greatly.
    Yep!

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    Senior Member Kulprit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    Quote Originally Posted by KBeezie View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Kulprit View Post
    I’m an attorney. I used to be diligent about handwriting all my notes, but a few years ago I decided that I was wasting effort since I would then type my handwritten notes into my Outlook calendar, so I decided to go all-digital. Besides, my hands would be very sore after long sessions. I still had to update all my files manually.

    Then, last year, I came down with pneumonia and found myself laying around the house with too much time on my hands. I decided to use that down time to re-teach myself cursive (hadn’t used it in over 30 years). Returning to writing out my notes by hand seemed like a logical way to practice, and I haven’t looked back. My note taking is slower in cursive, but there’s no more soreness in my hands after prepping or updating stacks of files.

    So yeah, I do several pages worth of writing everyday.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Out of curiosity did you change up the kind of pen you use too?

    For example I originally got in to fountain pens because a ballpoint or even a rollerball would cramp the hell out of my hands even after 5 to 10 minutes of essay writing. Noticed the heavy brass pens you typically find with Chinese makers didn't do much better, and over a couple years found myself going lighter and lighter on the pen which helped develop a lighter hand which also helped the hand cramps and fatigues greatly.
    Sort of. My switch to cursive and my wholesale switch to fountain pens both happened pretty close in time. Indeed, it was my switch to FPs that provided the impetus to re-learn cursive, as it seemed a waste of the FP’s potential to keep writing in block caps.

    That said, it wasn’t the switch in pen type that alleviated the pain, it was the switch to cursive. Even before I rediscovered FPs I never used ballpoints or gel-rollers, only liquid-ink rollerballs, so I already had a light touch. But when printing I found/find myself using my hand and fingers to do all the work. The switch to cursive (eventually) forced me to shift some of the burden to my forearm/arm/shoulder. That is what has made all the difference.

    There are still situations in which printing is called for, and in them fatigue sets in quickly.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Senior Member KBeezie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kulprit View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by KBeezie View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Kulprit View Post
    I’m an attorney. I used to be diligent about handwriting all my notes, but a few years ago I decided that I was wasting effort since I would then type my handwritten notes into my Outlook calendar, so I decided to go all-digital. Besides, my hands would be very sore after long sessions. I still had to update all my files manually.

    Then, last year, I came down with pneumonia and found myself laying around the house with too much time on my hands. I decided to use that down time to re-teach myself cursive (hadn’t used it in over 30 years). Returning to writing out my notes by hand seemed like a logical way to practice, and I haven’t looked back. My note taking is slower in cursive, but there’s no more soreness in my hands after prepping or updating stacks of files.

    So yeah, I do several pages worth of writing everyday.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Out of curiosity did you change up the kind of pen you use too?

    For example I originally got in to fountain pens because a ballpoint or even a rollerball would cramp the hell out of my hands even after 5 to 10 minutes of essay writing. Noticed the heavy brass pens you typically find with Chinese makers didn't do much better, and over a couple years found myself going lighter and lighter on the pen which helped develop a lighter hand which also helped the hand cramps and fatigues greatly.
    Sort of. My switch to cursive and my wholesale switch to fountain pens both happened pretty close in time. Indeed, it was my switch to FPs that provided the impetus to re-learn cursive, as it seemed a waste of the FP’s potential to keep writing in block caps.

    That said, it wasn’t the switch in pen type that alleviated the pain, it was the switch to cursive. Even before I rediscovered FPs I never used ballpoints or gel-rollers, only liquid-ink rollerballs, so I already had a light touch. But when printing I found/find myself using my hand and fingers to do all the work. The switch to cursive (eventually) forced me to shift some of the burden to my forearm/arm/shoulder. That is what has made all the difference.

    There are still situations in which printing is called for, and in them fatigue sets in quickly.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    I mostly do printing (the light hand definitely helped with that since you glide and avoid raising almost as much as cursive), but I do want to get more proficient back into cursive and use it every so often.

    It's one of the reasons I'm surprised the state of michigan got rid of cursive in public schools about 20 to 25 years. And when it comes to college note taking and essay writing for an hour or more at a time, cursive with usual writing tools would have saved all these poor kids hands... (especially in a lot of the classes that don't allow laptops).

    If the printing is still causing quick fatigue even with a fountain pen tuned to write with only the weight of itself on the paper, you may want to go lighter and/or longer. But glad to hear that just the act of cursive alone helped save you some suffering.

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    Default Re: Jobs / Life Styles conducive to fountain pen use?

    I'm a writer (mainly corporate stuff, finance, real estate articles, and tax). I use my FPs whenever I'm taking notes; for phone interviews I find the lighter pressure needed really helps compared to taking notes in ballpoint. I also plan articles in FP. However, once I start writing, it's all on the computer I'm afraid.

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