Fountain Pens!!! The Good, Bad and the Beautiful

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Status
Not open for further replies.
Johnathan

Johnathan

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
1,512
Location
Vacaville, California, USA.
I would like to get some honest help with a project I'm working on. Why are fountain pens not being used? Do you not like them?, not know enough about them? Kits too expensive?

Most of the pens I make are fountain pens, I just love them! I sell them, and I use them everyday. So, for me I really don't understand why more of us are not making them. Please fill me in!

This could be a hint of an article coming in the near future to the IAP. Thanks for your help and comments, I REALLY need them!:D
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
MOst folks wana PRESS thru carbon copy stuff signing ! I from yrs ago think there PITA to use and messy and I duno IF I would sell many as MOST folks I speak to think like me . Maybe they had bad experiances with them in the past like i did duno !!! I do have a few kits on hand and DO plan on making a few but I doubt many ! This was just 1 man's IMO ONLY now....





http://affordablepipes.com/
 
For me it boils down to demand. More buyers want ballpoints, gels and rollerballs. I think that comes down to the fact that most Americans scrawl rather than write. Fountain pens are fairly unforgiving to scrawlers. That being said, my largest orders, by far, have been for fountain pens.
 
Johnathan,

Fountain pens are great to use...the part that turns most people off (that I know) from them is it being prone to spill accident. Maintenance is another issue, with todays disposable attitude of people, it is not convenient enough.

Quality, beauty and ellegance of FP written words are unmatchable.

I do hope that more people go back and use FP though. My wife started using one again and I too am enjoying it. I will most likely turn a Jr Gent II FP for myself soon [;)]. Maybe after my penmanship improved a little again [:D].

Looking forward reading your article.
 
I started making fountain pens several months ago just to try them out. I have done several rod building and sporting shows and usually display about 60-80 pens and only about half a dozen fountain pens. Almost everyone that stops by and starts a conversation will ask if I sell fountain pens. It seems that most people in the medical profession or law profession and teachers are the ones most interested in them. Needless to say I now bring at least twelve or more to shows.

I use one ocassionally especially for letter writing and addressing enelopes, but I fill out a lot of forms and receipts in my business and tend to use a rollerball pen because of the carbon copy.
 
I've made a couple of, well, inexpensive FP's, and i kind of liked writing with them.

Unfortunately, they wer pretty ugly, and in fact they kind of broke from the plastic pieces.

I'd be interested in learning what kit/nib most people would recommend?

I'm starting to get a little better at the ole pen turning, and once I get to a point where I think I can put one together 100% without screwing it up, i'm going to do a really nice FP for my self and start up a daily journal....
 
I'm left-handed (though I don't curl my wrist when writing) and used to have a lot of problems with trailing ink. Bought a cheap FP from Target and found I no longer have that problem but the plastic snap insert in the top broke so the pen can't be shut and I stopped using it.

I have some kits for FP which I will try (when it floats to the top of my TO DO list) but am not in a hurry as FPs are still a little finicky about being left with the cap off, keeping the nib clean, and don't write well on some surfaces (notably coated papers). That means I would need to carry two pens with me (a FP and a non-FP) at work and that's a bit of a nuisance.

I'm not sure if there's an opinion in there or not.
 
Johnathan, there are FP fans out there. I don't sell many, but I do sell them. I also personally love them and would rather use nothing else. However, I don't tend to write enough on a daily basis to keep one "primed". I have noticed that this was less of a problem with the stock cartirdges we get than when I switched to Private Reserve. This surprised me. When I retire, or get a diffrent job that requires me to write more regularly, I'll go back to using my FPs. For now, it just isn't feasible.
 
I use my Baron FP every day and I also carry a rollerball for that crappy coated paper that you have to sign sometimes. I refuse to sign anything with the ugly pens they always give you. I've had lots of people ask about FPs but so far have only sold one. Hopefully with two very good art shows coming up, that will change.
 
Johnathan
Most of my customers want either a Ball point for Roller Ball. I perfer a fountain pen myself. In the world we are living today the average person(young..under forty) does not know how to work a fp, they tend to back away from this. Want a shame. Schools today do not teach penmanship. So the common tool of that trade is not being used. I have two fountain pen that I carry with two different color inks. I will explain to a customer how easy it writes. It is up to us ( fountian pen community to get people interested in fountain pens again.).
 
About a week ago I made my first Emperor as a fountain pen. Since then I've been using it at work every day. I love how it writes. I just wish my penmanship was a nice as the pen I'm using. I made it to sell, but I think I'm going to keep this one.
 
I think there is alot of ignorance about fountain pens and that most of the turners that turn to sell are going for the most popular stuff. I love my fountain pen. A fountain pen is more relaxing. You take your time with it. My wife is was the fast disposable pen type ....... but last night she had a fell of my El Grande fountain pen and now she want one of her own. I'm making her a Capri for mothers day.
 
I haven't used a fountain pen in half a century. Like others the main reason is we usually have to go through carbons or whatever. Plus, not many people do much writing of any kind anymore. We don't even use checks as much as in the past, it's all credit or debit cards. When I write, as in writing book or articles, it is with the computer. I have made one fountain pen as a gift for my Pastor who uses one daily. Another, a Little Havana, is in the offing next week for a possible customer. That said, I am a firm believer in remembering history and where we came from. Ballpoints, computers, whatever, nothing is created without the gifts given to the mind of man. Much was done before ballpoints, rollerballs or computers. On the top of my monitor sets a old style ink pot and quill pen. Martin Luther wrote more than 500 books with nothing more.



2006515132814_quill%20pen.jpg
<br />
 
Connie here, not Mike :o) At each show we do, we have more and more people inquiring about fountain pens. Mike now keeps one filled with a cartridge for them to test- and as others have mentioned, many of the younger generation have never used one--so its fun to see them handle & check out a FP for the first time. Mike is great at encouraging them to use one & shows them how to properly hold it (can be hard for aleft hander lol) One of the selling points for a FP IS that its unique--is almost impossible to duplicate so its THE perfect writing instrument for any legal or important documents. We keep a supply of both blue and black ink cartridges to either sell or give along with the FP. Mike is looking at doing some of the Am Flattop fountain pens to have a slightly less expensive FP to offer as the Generation Xers seem to want a throw back to the old days. Its one of my favorite kits anyway as I love the old look & with the right material-- they truly mimic a vintage fountain pen. Which makes them a guaranteed seller! He hopes to keep a least 2 FP's in various styles/price brackets as we have had that much interest in them.

i do think our mainstays will be the ballpoints and roller balls---but FP's just have a mystic AND romanticism about them--if you can think of a FP as romantic--- or perhaps the better word is nostalgia-- but I even think romanticism holds-- think of old movies AFTER Rifleman's aforementioned quill pen! :o) I betcha Rick Blaine used a celluloid fountain pen! :o)
 
Hi Johnathan!

I Love Fountain Pens! I keep a couple of them on my desk all the time. And I use them, switching between them, with different inks and such. Some I have made myself, but many I have bought. If I'm making a nice pen from an expensive kit, it is generally a fountain pen.

I firmly believe that to sell pens in the over $100 price range you need to make some fountain pens. That is primarily because the people with an interest in pens, and the money to spend that much on a pen, are usually the ones who collect and use fountain pens. I also believe that if you want to sell fountain pens to fountain pen fanatics, you need to be a fountain pen fanatic yourself! So I'll pass along a piece of advice I received from a wise man (wise guy?), Russ Fairfield - "If you want to sell fountain pens, use a fountain pen, and learn the language that surrounds the use of fountain pens." Buy yourself a fountain pen with a good nib on it, and use it all the time. Real fountain pen fanatics recognize these qualities in others, and will deal with them, but won't even talk to somebody who "just makes pens"!

I hope this helps! My current favorite fountain pen is my Parker 100 (but that may change tomorrow!).

Scott.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom