5/9/2014 Advantage/Disadvantage Fountain or Ballpoint Pen?

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Thread: Advantage/Disadvantage Fountain or Ballpoint Pen?
12-30-2004, 08:30 AM #1
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Advantage/Disadvantage Fountain, Rollerball or Ballpoint Pen?
Having been caught up in this forum, I am shopping for a smmooooth, quality, good-looking pen. I am first going to determine if I want a fountain,
rollerball or ballpoint. Any selection considerations, (smoothness, quality, temperature, leakage, tip size, maintenance, etc...)?
Last edited by razcob; 12-30-2004 at 09:38 AM.
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razcob
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5/9/2014 Advantage/Disadvantage Fountain or Ballpoint Pen?
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12-30-2004, 10:51 AM #2
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Fountain pens SMOOTH, but you still need a ballpoint to make carbon copies. www.pentrace.com + their message board. Great place
12-30-2004, 11:25 AM #3
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Advantages of fountain pens:
- smoother writers
GarageBoy
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5/9/2014 Advantage/Disadvantage Fountain or Ballpoint Pen?
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- availability of different nibs provide line variation. You can get different nib sizes (xf, f, med, broad) and nib cuts (italic, stub, oblique, etc.)
- wide variety of ink colors available (can even mix to get the shade you want)
- wide variety of pen styles: vintage, modern retro, modern high-tech, custom . . .
- obligatory knife content: did you know that knifemaker David Broadwell makes custom fountain pens? Did you know that Grayson Tighe makes custom
fountain pens?
http://www.david.broadwell.com/pens.html
http://www.tighepen.com/
- actually, you CAN get a nib that will write on carbon copies--in vintage pens, this is called a "manifold nib." For a modern pen with a stiff nib, most
Watermans would fit the bill.
By using a fountain pen, you are preserving a bit of history that would otherwise be lost. They are not that much more expensive than other fine pens,
unless you are buying a limited edition. In fact, is often said that $20-$100 fountain pens are better writers than $200-$400 fountain pens! Leakage is
not an issue with modern fountain pens, and as for maintenance--just flush with cool water between refills!
Excellent sub-$100 FP's include the Lamy Safari, the Pelikan 200, and the Waterman Phileas or Laureat.
I heartily second GarageBoy's recommendation of the Pentrace forum. This is to fountain pen lovers what Bladeforums is to knife users.
C'mon . . . join the fountain pen revolution!
12-30-2004, 12:02 PM #4
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For writing checks, a fountain pen or a rollerball is preferable to a ballpoint.
Fountain & rollerball ink is water based. Ballpoint is oil based. If you write a check with a ballpoint pen, there is a risk the check could be altered with
solvents (i.e. the oil based ink could be washed away with solvents) where this is more difficult with water based inks like those found in fountain pens
and rollerballs. Personally, I don't see the point of a fountain pen. Even with a cartridge, a fountain pen is less convenient than a rollerball. And a
ballpoint writes less smoothly (otoh, ball points won't dry out like a rollerball and write over a wider variety of surfaces, my advice, keep a Fisher
Spacepen to cover difficult writing conditions, and a good roller ball for every day).
Kref
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