Fountain Pens

Warning: Once You Start, It's an Addictive Hobby!

11/23/22: Why?!?!

It makes no sense. With the invention of ballpoints, felt tips, gel pens and rollerballs, why would you choose a fountain pen? In no situation does it make sense to pick up a fountain pen vs one of the aforementioned pen types.

However, they bring me joy. I've always liked a nice pen. My fountain pen journey technically started with buying a few cheap ones as a youth including a student pen I purchased when studying abroad at the University of Central London in 2000. 

When I started getting more into art, I decided to buy a Lamy Safari. The pen treated me well until I lost it going through security at the airport. So of course, I bought another Lamy, Sailor fudes, and my first TWSBI Eco. I was totally fine with these pens for a long time until both my Dad started buying more pens and my friend Malachi showed me his Visconti Homo Sapien. 

So I started experimenting with a few pens. Narwhals, PenBBS, Platinum Prefonte, and Jinhoas for a while. 

Then I started making the jump to Opus 88's, Conklins, and some maker pens. Once I discovered the used-pen markets, and once I learned that my office is owned by a former pen maker/distributor, I got deeper into the hobby. 

I went to my first pen meetup with the Denver Pen Posse a couple of years ago. I told my wife that once I do this, there's no going back and I'll officially enter a new level of nerd-dom. Since then, I've attended many a meetup, a Pelikan Hub and two pen shows (San Francisco and Colorado).

I have a spreadsheet of my pens. I have a log of my inks. I have a toolbox dedicated to my pen tools (yes I have pen tools).

So why do I love them so much. Part of it is definitely when people see them they are wowed. But more importantly, I believe a pen is a direct conduit from my brain to the world - much like my eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It's a way of transferring information out of my head and making it transform from a fleeting thought to a permanent thing.