Fountain pen song

[catbert]

Sadly the fountain pen is not the hero of its own song, though the mechanical pencil comes off worse. If anything, an argument for ink windows and dry inks.

[INeedAFinancialAdvisor]

I consider the bic crystal to be one of the best, and worst things to every happen to writing implements

best for reliability (as far as ballpoints go...) and price
worst for writing experience, cramping, and destroying handwriting by forcing so much pressure. oh, and the ink looks terrible on paper too.
and, incidentally, the ubiquitous nature of the ballpoint has allowed paper quality to plummet >

[catbert]

I must have missed the end of good ordinary paper without realizing. Everything I wrote on as a student worked fine with a fountain pen — except the stuff specifically intended for rough work, which was like recycled toilet paper. Even when I picked up fountain pens again later, any deterioration in paper quality wasn't immediately obvious because I preferred fine nibs and had a hoard of old paper.

Say what you like about the Bic crystal, it’s a classic.