I'm retired but still do all the lathe programming for the company. My note taking can be a pain. Bic pens at Wally World would be considered expensive compared to the ones I'm using. Having your pen skip while writing down part numbers, program numbers, etc. while on the phone is a pain in the butt. Decided to try a fountain pen. Haven't used one since I was a teenager. 78 now.

After some research, I purchased a Faber-Castell Hexo with medium size nib. Discovered right away I need a smaller nib. Note taking is mostly done on a sticky and I often add arrows and dimensions to a print. Finer the point, the better. So another Hexo is arriving today with a Fine nib. Different color pen so I'll know what size nib I'll be using before picking the pen up. Current pen would be fine for letter writing...like I'll ever write another letter.

Once you research something on Google, the next time you visit Google on your phone you get all kinds of advertising and articles on the item you researched. I read one of the articles that came up that was written by Laura Petix about getting her first TWSBI fountain pen. It was an eye opener! I had no idea fountain pens were so popular. Or that ink comes in so many colors. There are even fountain pen forums. Imagine that!!!

I'm already considering ordering a vacuum-fill TWSBI and a few different color bottles of ink. I'll know later today if I want it with an Extra Fine nib. 😄

Curious to know if any of you have a fountain pen hobby. Seems to me that it could be interesting. I searched for the most expensive fountain pens. Turns up the most expensive sold for $8 million, but that was a one of a kind. The Namiki Emperor Dragon Fountain Pen only costs $11,000. This is the sale price. Lists for $12,000. Yupper...the TWSBI Vac 700R is looking better by the minute. 😄

fountain pens are the devils work.

When we lived in the UK they were popular with some people who had one pen and the same nib that they had been using for a dozen years and that had broken them in just right. I've tried using them and I'm a smeary SOB. I can't even use gel pens for the same reason. Give me a medium point bic white barrel (in blue) and that covers every writing occasion I have now (which is few). For the most part, I just grab the free pen at hotels, conferences, or other places that are giving them away (I have a few auto body and funeral home ones now too). My wife has a really nice Mont blanc that she likes and uses (it was a work gift I think) but it's not for me.

I do appreciate the workmanship and beauty of a hand turned barrel. But I can apprecite that on a knife handle or elsewhere just as much.

I’m left handed so I’d smear all my writing. 😁

I rarely write anymore, maybe the occasional note so I don’t forget something at work. Other than that, all my documentation at work is done on the computer.

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

I’m left handed so I’d smear all my writing. 😁

I rarely write anymore, maybe the occasional note so I don’t forget something at work. Other than that, all my documentation at work is done on the computer.

So you write upside down like many lefties seem to?

35 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

So you write upside down like many lefties seem to?

I never did write like that. I don’t know how they do that.

Both my parents are left handed writers and write upside down

I don’t use one but my fishing buddy makes fountain pens, ball point pens and knives from exotic woods.

2 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Both my parents are left handed writers and write upside down

My father and youngest brother were/are left handed. Neither wrote/write upside down, but my wife did. I believe my youngest B-I-L also does. Maybe she taught him how to write like that since she had to babysit him after school since she was the oldest girl and both parents were either working or out partying half the time.

I can see how being left handed could be a problem with a fountain pen.

I’m left handed too. Years ago I used a fountain pen and changed how I write to keep from smearing the ink. I no longer use a fountain pen but I do make pens. I prefer a roller ball.

Me trying to use a fountain pen.

Hillbillies can’t write

Personally I’m learning to knit..😝

11 hours ago, F14A-B said:

Personally I’m learning to knit..😝

Don't laugh. If I remember correctly, knitting is a hobby of my youngest brother. I might be embarrassed to ask him, tho. 😄

I don't want to disappoint anyone, but have to say that I'm enjoying the pen so far. I used to use a #5 mechanical pencil. It was fine enough, but I like the brighter color of ink. I'm waiting to see how long a cartridge lasts so I can look into different color inks for the converter I purchased.