Fountain Pens & writing implements...what do you use?

[Vienna Fahrmann]

   I'm content to admire, but not try, silverpoint.

       Vienna

[Lt.Mycroft]

I make my own fountain pens, you can get kits from woodturning suppliers, which are a brass inner sleeve nib and connectors, intended to have a wooden outer sleeve.

You can instead outer sleeve the pens in brass and copper. The also do solid pen boxes which quite nicely take brass additions.

Have any images of your work sir, I also have turned a few pens (I work for one of said wood turning suppliers in the states)
Most of the ones that I have done lately have an acrylic in place of the wood. I did finish 2 for a display in our store that used corn cobs, when turning it smelled like popcorn.

[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

No pictures directly, never got the hang of it,  but if you look over some of the photo's of the recent London MCM Expo steampunk exhibition you should see the writing case I made, plus another three of my pens in their individual cases.

Try drilling limewood, smells like Gingerbread.

[Burr]

I too like to make pens and pencils. You are rarely short of one if you make them yourself. Good fun.

Some woods smell very nice when you work with them. It can be quite a distinctive scent too.

[dman762000]

I just today purchased some Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens. I have to say that so far they have exceeded expectations. They are smooth writing and fairly comfortable in the hand. I am such a light touch when writing in the first place that ball points make my hand cramp. The pens I got today are great.

[Ben Hudson, Esq.]

Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink comes highly recommended, by the way.

That silverpoint looks interesting. May investigate.

[hobbitt]

I use a Faber.  I recently discovered Lamy amazon.  I have a few others.  I use a micron.8 to write with.  My handwriting is bad, so the fountainpens slow me down.  My students are fascinated with my pens.

Now I am working on getting my writting better with some online help.

If anyone is interested in penmanship you might want to check out IAMPETH. "The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting"
http://www.iampeth.com/
The real treasure on this site, is check out their RARE BOOKS,
http://www.iampeth.com/books.htm
a whole bunch of PDFs of old penmanship manuals.

check out these by one of iampeth's master penman.  At one time, Adults took handwriting lessons to improve their marketable skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85bqT904VWA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvSyQDu49pI

[Drew P]

Got out the 'ole shovel did we? 
No problem, pens can be an awesome thing! Just too bad some are so expensive.

[pakled]

Alas, I only carry 2 Pentel's (I think, logo is beau-coup worn. Premise was, I used to have people sign things, and invariably,they'd take one pen...

[Dr von Zarkov]

I just today purchased some Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens. I have to say that so far they have exceeded expectations. They are smooth writing and fairly comfortable in the hand. I am such a light touch when writing in the first place that ball points make my hand cramp. The pens I got today are great.

We are still enjoying the use of a Pilot Varsity pen. It looks modern; but the point is classic, and the ink flows with minimal pressure.

[Cora Courcelle]

I use a fountain pen, have done for decades, and I particularly enjoy the expression of bemused horror on peoples faces when they ask to borrow my pen. Oh yes, and because I am left-handed any nib I've used for a while has a slight left hand bias making it even harder for 'righties' to use. 
I have bought 'left handed' nibs but unless I am attempting some fancy calligraphy I find my regular one works just as well.

[Prof. Cecily]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I just today purchased some Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens. I have to say that so far they have exceeded expectations. They are smooth writing and fairly comfortable in the hand. I am such a light touch when writing in the first place that ball points make my hand cramp. The pens I got today are great.

We are still enjoying the use of a Pilot Varsity pen. It looks modern; but the point is classic, and the ink flows with minimal pressure.

I use these, too, for writing in public! Or alternatively, pens made from bamboo stems, bought in Tiger shops.
For marking music parts, IKEA pencils. I inevitably leave pencils on music stands, and I've learnt not to use unusual or unique pencils in rehearsals.

I remain yours,
Prof. Cecily

[Crescat Scientia]

I have a simple clutch holder and a good thick piece of silver wire for silverpoint, which I draw on cotton rag watercolor paper primed with white caseine paint.

For dip pens I have a supply of moulted goose quills.  I haven't read the entire thread, but people do know that for quill pens you're supposed to remove the barbs of the vane, right?  A quill pen does not look like a feather; it looks like a slightly curved drinking straw.

[James Harrison]

Rather than start a new thread. 

I've been trying, these last few years, to use dip pens. Not all the time, you understand, just for special occasions, like when writing to friends at Christmas.  The problem I have always found is that the ink runs out right in the middle of a word!- and then having re-dipped it of course it immediately blotches and then.... well, I'm sure you get the picture.  It comes out a bit of a mess.... and makes my already spiderscrawl handwriting just that little bit more challenging to decipher. 

I think hopefully I've cracked this problem though, because I bought a glass dip pen via the usual internet auction site a few weeks ago. Nothing fancy, just one of those mass-produced Chinese things that cost more in postage than for the pen itself and that always seem to look nicer as a sort of desk ornament than as a working writing implement.  Indeed, immediately after buying it was of course when I decided to idly look on a few pen collecting forums and found that the sort I had bought were derided as being rubbish. 

All I can say is, if the cheap Chinese ones are rubbish then the more expensive 'proper' ones must be an absolute dream to write with.  Because personally I found nothing wrong with it, in fact it's so much better than the steel nibs I've used before. It holds more ink, the pen has more heft to it so it's easier to control, it doesn't scratch on the paper, because it is glass obviously you can see how much ink you have left on the pen so you don't get halfway through a word and then find it's empty.... my steel nibs I'm usually lucky to get five or ten words out of before needing to re-fill.  This glass pen, I was getting five or six lines out of it!

So, if you're looking for something a little more unusual in the line of pens, you could certainly do worse than a glass dip pen. 

[Banfili]

I, too, like the glass dip pens, but alas, at the moment don't have any. Calligraphy pens with the ink reservoir are ok.