A few bottles from my collection…
I have a fascination with technology. “Yes”, you are nodding and rolling your eyes, “I know, Apple, Apple, Apple.” That is true. At work I was once voted “Most likely to run into a burning building to save his iPhone.” But today, I want to write about another kind of technology that I love: vintage technology, specifically, fountain pens.
Although fountain pens had existed for more than a hundred years before, the modern fountain pen was created by Lewis Waterman around 1884. Prior to that, writing involved dipping a nib into a bottle of ink and then re-dipping every few lines as it ran out. Mr. Waterman’s pen allowed the pen to carry around its own supply of ink. This innovation meant that you could carry your pen around without having to bring a bottle of ink with you wherever you went. Also, you could write without pausing to dip. A fountain pen might only need to be filled every few days depending on how much writing you did.
Fountain pens were expensive though, so for many, including school kids, it was still dip pens for a long time. Once fountain pens really took hold, they ruled the writing scene through the 1930s, 40s, and 50s until the cheap disposable ballpoint pen appeared in the 1960s and the fountain pen went the way of Blackberry in the wake of iPhone.
My own fountain pen story began when I was about 12 years old and in 7th grade. My friend Schuyler had a translucent blue plastic Scheaffer fountain pen. The ink supply was a disposable cartridge that you threw away when empty. The pens were cheap – about $1.75 as I recall. Likely, they made their money on the refills. It was so cool! I knew I had to have one of these pens. Fortunately, such an item could be had at the local department store, Korvette’s and was well within the range of my humble allowance savings. (The following year I started delivering newspapers, and started earning the fortune needed to keep me in ink cartridges.)
Throughout college and into early working life, I used a cheap Sheaffer fountain pen for my everyday writing. I loved the way the nib felt on the paper laying down a wet line of lovely blue-black ink and the sturdy steel nibs lasted for years. The way the writing looked reminded me of old postcards or letters or the high school autograph books that zipped closed that my mom kept in a box in her closet. The pages of those books were filled with the very innocent limericks and sayings of public-school kids of the 1950s.
My first major advance came in college when a political science professor, Dr. Schmickle showed me how he refilled his own pen’s cartridges from a bottle of ink with a hypodermic syringe saving money. A pack of five cartridges might cost a dollar for five weeks of writing but a $3 bottle of ink would easily last a year. Dr. S got me my own needle from his wife who was a nurse and I was on my way to injecting a modest ink habit of a few dollars a year (isn’t this how it always starts?)
Then as a wedding gift, my wife bought me my first ‘nice’ pen. A slim matte black Sheaffer Targa with a 14k gold nib. Gold nibs are prized by fountain pen lovers because the way they glide over the paper and because they are more flexible and, let’s face it, they are pretty and shiny. In 1991 as fountain pens were becoming the rage (and a status symbol) I fell in love with a modern recreation of the classic Parker Duofold and when I became the executive director of the organization I had worked for since 1987, I bought one as a gift to myself. It used a converter, a little cartridge like device with a piston inside allowing it to be used to fill the pen from a bottle over and over with no need for a syringe. I kept this pen filled with Waterman Blue-Black ink which had a chemical smell that reminded me of the white paste we used in Kindergarten. Sadly, they reformulated the ink around 10 years ago and now it has no smell at all. The Duofold somehow retains a lingering scent of this ink it held for so many years.
Over the years, I have acquired other pens, given some away, bought more, given more away. And a few years ago I went on an insane ink buying spree accumulating inks in every hue and in a variety of beautiful glass bottles. I keep a small journal to record which ink is in which pen so that I can remember what is in which.
If you have read this far, perhaps you are thinking you might like to try a fountain pen? Or try one again? Here are the reasons you might be thinking you should not and why those reasons are (mostly) bogus.
Fountain Pens Leak!
Modern fountain pens rarely leak. It is not impossible but if handled right they won’t. Don’t bang them around. Carry them in a pocket or bag with the nib facing up. If you bring them on an airplane fill them completely or carry them empty (the change in cabin pressure can cause half empty pens to leak, though I have never had this happen in decades of flying). Having said this if you fill your pen from a bottle you WILL sometimes get ink stains on your fingers. So what? Almost all pen ink is water soluble and washes out of cloth and skin very easily. Many people intentionally choose to mark their skins permanently with ink. What’s a few drops on your fingers that will wash out?
They cost a lot!
Not so! A very serviceable fountain pen can be purchased for as little as $2.75! That’s less in real terms than my Sheaffer pen was in 1974! If you want to go up to around $30 you can get a great writer with changeable nibs that is sturdy enough to last a lifetime and for under $40 you can get a similar pen with an all metal body. A bottle of ink can be had for under $10 and will last for probably 2-3 years or longer depending on how much you write. Back when I wrote with mostly one color of ink, I’d walk over to Fahrney’s Pens on G Street (later F Street) once a year to buy my bottle of Waterman Blue-Black. It was a nice little ritual and sometimes, I’d come back with more than a bottle of ink.
I always lose pens. I can’t have nice things.
I lose stuff all the time but I have never lost a fountain pen. Unlike disposable pens which seems to behave like common property and move ownerless from person to person, a fountain pen will get noticed and if you put it down, people will try to get it back to you. You will also be more likely to keep track of it. When was the last time you lost your phone or your wallet? It happens but it is rare.
I am left handed. Lefties can’t use fountain pens.
It is true that left handed people face an additional challenge when using a fountain pen because their hand moves right over the just laid down (and therefore wet) ink potentially smearing it. However, left handed people WERE able to write before the invention of the ballpoint and there are many who use fountain pens successfully and with joy.
They are too hard to use.
Well, they are not hard to use like say an electron microscope is hard to use but using a fountain pen requires more thought and a little more skill than using a Bic. They need to be filled from time to time, they need to be cleaned once in a while (not often) and they require a bit of care. They may appeal to the kind of person who likes sharpening their own knives (me), shaving with a brush and razor (me), or maintaining their own car (not me!) but it requires much less skill or time than any of these.
But what are the positive reasons to try a fountain pen?
It’s a nice writing experience. I find ballpoint pens and roller balls scratchy and unpleasant to write with. A fountain pen lays down a line of shimmering wet ink.
It is a thing that is made to last in a world of disposable stuff. A pen can be something that helps you express yourself through your writing but also as a kind of piece of personal jewelry.
There are thousands of ink types and colors. Pick one color as your personal brand or change colors each time you fill your pen.
A fountain pen immediately signals you are a person of letters who demands to be taken seriously.
You’ll start finding reasons to write. Daily journal? Sure! Old fashioned correspondence? Why not? Imagine their delight when they receive your handwritten letter or card in beautiful emerald ink hand delivered by the postal service. Mark Zuckerberg is getting nervous!
The periodic reinking can be a chance to pause in your labors and reflect how the human mind and hand can turn pigmented water into coded thoughts and ideas that can change the course of history… or can at least serve to remind you what you need to buy at the grocery store.
I know that most of you reading this will dismiss the idea of using a fountain pen quicker than the idea of abandoning your computer for a typewriter but for any of you who are intrigued and might want to give it a try, I’d love to help. Feel free to reach out for some advice on getting started or if you want to explore on you own, I highly recommend the online retailer The Goulet Pen Co. Brian and Rachel Goulet started this fountain pen focused business back around 2009 and I have been a customer almost since the beginning. In addition to pens they also sell nice paper and accessories and ink in tiny sample vials so that you can try a color without having to commit to a whole bottle.
They have incredible customer service and great how-to videos on YouTube for anyone getting started. They are very knowledgeable about everything they sell and it just feels good to patronize them. Yes, you can find most of what they sell on Amazon for less money but just this once ignore your Prime membership and bestow your custom on a small, family run business even if it means waiting a day or two to get your goods and spending a dollar or two more.
Also, they send you a little Tootsie-pop with each order.
If you would just like to see what it feels like to write with a fountain pen, the Pilot Varsity provides that experience in a ‘disposable’ pen. But these pens are actually refillable so if you do buy one, don’t throw it away when it is empty. Send it to me and I will refill it for you or send it on to another newbie to try.
If you currently write with a fountain pen, would like to try it, or need some advice on what to buy, let me know. I’d love to hear from you and as the good folks at Goulet say, “Write on!”