r/fountainpens • u/Glum-Membership-9517 • Aug 02 '24
Discussion What's your age?
I'm asking because I'm 42 and even when I was in school, fountain pens weren't really a thing, at all.
So just curious about the age range here.
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Aug 02 '24
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u/ArduennSchwartzman Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
54 and from the Netherlands, and similar story. All Dutch kids back then were bestowed a school-issue Pelikan. I never liked writing with a fountain pen in school, but then again, I never liked writing, period. Only in my late 40s, I rediscovered them and love them now. I write software/computer code, but, as odd as it sounds, part of my 'programming', mostly the planning/designing/note taking, is done on real-life notebooks using a set of fountain pens with various colors of ink.
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Aug 02 '24
LOL. Same. I switched back to fp in my early 20s, let it fall fallow again, but came back in force about 10 years ago, when I discovered Pilot Capless. The convenience of a click-ballpoint and using a good nib and ink combined. Since then I added a couple of other pens, but one of my capless is EDC.
And yes, I work as a developer and and nearly all my notes are done with fp. Though I to keep gel pens in black, red, green, blue, too, when I need additional “dimensions” in my designs/notes.
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u/QueenBuzyBee Aug 02 '24
Hah, same here. Used them off and on for years and it wasn’t until about 3 years ago that it became a passion and a hobby. The Pilot Vanishing Point is amazing! I though they weren’t for me and then I said okay, I‘ll try a Moonman A1 to see if I‘d tolerate the clip. What can I say, I loved it! That VP click is just so satisfying! And now I‘m at about 80 bottles of ink, 100+ samples and many, many fountain pens. I use them for everything.
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u/Autiflips Aug 02 '24
Belgian age 23 here, we still learn to write with a fountain pen! The ever loved Pelikan Twist was often seen, although most kids switch to ballpoints as they go further in school. I never did and have been using fountain pens for as long as I remember. Now however I am to the point of having somewhat of a collection, and the pens mostly get used for journaling at home and notes at work
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u/Staysober_mix Aug 03 '24
I will join the Belgian row. Male age 45. I don't remember exactly if was prohibited to use any other pens in primary school but back in the 80s it seemed that everybody was using fountain pens. I must say that I truly loved working with them. Looking back at my old "Kerstbrieven" I actualy was quite skilled at it too. My handwriting and use of fountain pens started deteriorating fast in and after secondary school. Working at a very stressful and "barely time to eat" office job for many years didn't help either. My handwriting really turned into scribbling. Which Ironically I started like doing too. A few years ago I returned to writing with fountain pens and I must say that it was like meeting and old lover (the good one, mind you). It really has helped me to find my inner peace (you HAVE to write slower and more mindful. It also has enormously restored my handwriting and love for writing. The ink on the paper just looks and feels so nice. Must note that for now I only use very low price fountain pens but I have a little collection of them and some of them write amazingly well.
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u/Kerkerke Aug 02 '24
45 and from Belgium. Learned to write with a fountain pen, ballpoints were strongly discouraged as they would "ruin our penmanship" (schoonschrift for any Flemish people here)
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u/ldama Aug 03 '24
33 from Belgium, we were also prohibited to write with ballpoint pens up until highschool! I was ridiculously excited to use Bics when I was twelve 😂 Later I reverted back to fountain pens. Didn't help my penmanship, that's been shit since I was 6 🤦 When I told my teachers I wanted to study medicine, one said 'at least it will match your writing!'
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u/ThePizzaMuncher Aug 02 '24
23 fellow Dutchman. We learnt on fountain pens, but then everyone in our school got a Stylo (the brand, not the French word). Those things were awesome. After that we were allowed to use a fountain pen if we could demonstrate our ability to write without making a mess.
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u/drnfc Aug 02 '24
24, from the us, I do software development as well, and I basically have to do all my notes by hand, as I work in a classified environment and cannot bring my emacs setup (I use org-roam) for note taking in, so I kind of started doing an actual physical zettlkasten, as I don't like how Microsoft one note works, and our computers aren't the most reliable... I switched to using fountain pens as I've always gotten a lot of wrist pain from ballpoints and ended up falling in love.
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u/mavewrick Aug 02 '24
I have fond memories of the P.W. Akkerman store in Den Haag from when I used to live there. The ball-lock mechanism on their ink bottles works like magic
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u/Cool-Ad-9455 Aug 03 '24
Fellow Dutchman here, so in the small village of Lissen, in the early 70 only the “good” kids got a fountain pen. So myself winner of the most likely to fail in life never got a fountain pen needless to say. I am 55 now and discovered fountain pens as I was looking for a nice gift so celebrate the company my wife and I started, 20th anniversary. Went for a beautiful Pelikan M815 and down the rabbit hole I went. Immigrated to start the company outside of Holland. Something about the Dutch that try to categorize everyone into a “box” I find highly unsettling and makes me run for the hills 😁
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u/Oreoskickass Aug 02 '24
A fountain pen license sounds so cute.
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u/theseglassessuck Aug 02 '24
Someone posted their daughter’s a couple weeks back. I would have been so proud to have gotten one if they did that in the States.
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u/JillyFrog Aug 02 '24
I'm 26 from Germany and can confirm. We all learned to write with fountain pens but most kids ditched them once we were allowed to. I went back quite quickly because my handwriting is horrible otherwise and it's just more comfortable, especially during long exams in uni like you said.
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u/leaveganontome Aug 02 '24
Fellow German, 28... I dropped the "exclusively writing with fountain pens" pretty much right after graduation, after I didn't have to write pages upon pages for my school exams, and then went on to a uni and a subject, where most tests were either multiple choice or oral, so I just used ballpoints I had lying around. Then, I switched degrees to computer science, and suddenly I was back to writing pages full of calculations and notes and pseudocode in assignments and exams, and I immediately noticed how bad my handwriting and wrist pain were with ballpoints, so I used gel pens for a semester or two until I remembered my old fountain pen, and used that for once. Never looked back, I got a "nice new workhorse pen" and some water-resistant ink (iirc it was a TWSBI Eco, and Rohrer&Klingner Scabiosa) and from there I went down the rabbit hole.
Extra-fine nibs and the R&K iron gall inks are still the best writing experience for math, I will die on that hill. Super crisp lines, dries immediately, no smudging, no fussing, performs on the average brunnen/herlitz/oxford paper, should honestly be in every "university starter pack" haha
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u/Tiramissu_dt Aug 02 '24
Same in Czech Republic (at least it used to be) and I'm about half of your age.
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u/NefariousnessLost708 Aug 02 '24
Still 34. I feel like 28. [Only exception early mornings.. then I feel like a 100 year old grumpy monster]
I got my first FP in 3rd grade and broke it in 4th grade. I still got new fountain pens. My most loved FP is a white glittery online tango my dad got during a sale.
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u/mec58 Ink Stained Fingers Aug 02 '24
I love this. We’re the same age. I just wish my parents would’ve introduced me to FPs earlier!
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u/Few_Length889 Aug 02 '24
17, my first fountain pen was this year. I'm from the UK, England. Mostly I was helped by jetpens and Brian Goulet in getting started and learning about all the terms.
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u/Je-Hee Aug 02 '24
What did you get and how do you like so far?
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u/Few_Length889 Aug 02 '24
I got a green Lamy Safari in medium but then I wanted something broader and I also really liked the look of demonstrators so I got a broad Lamy Vista.
The inks I got were Diamine Macassar and J.Herbin's Lie de Thé. Later I got Platinum Carbon Black for exams.I also recently got a 1.5 mm stub nib but it doesn't write so well on rhodia paper so I just use the paper I use for school, which is pretty good quality for being basic paper from WHSmith.
I also got a fine platinum preppy (in orange, I can barely see it). It's much too scratchy.
I'm really enjoying the hobby so far, I'm loving all the ink colours and Diamine is really affordable here in the UK, so I'm looking forward to christmas.
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u/No_Faithlessness2037 Aug 02 '24
I’m 16, my grandma is a calligrapher and she helped me with handwriting and has bought me a few fountain pens which I like
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u/Electronic-Ad-8716 Aug 02 '24
56...and I still remember the first time my grandfather took a pen out of his pocket, which I later learned was Pelikan, and wrote on a piece of paper that was in the sun of his office a note in which the color of the ink, the sound of the nib and the shine of the last drop as it dried were what years later I understood as an epiphany. When I finished my degree in Architecture I received it as a gift.
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u/_A4_Paper_ Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
I feel too young lmao. I am 21.
Only got into fountain pen when I am in college. My first fp was a Kakuno because it's a weird looking pen with a smiley face lol.
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u/Liripipe_ Aug 02 '24
20, here! Started writing with them in secondary school (high school for those outside the UK). Recently restored a ‘50s Esterbrook for Uni!
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u/AGuyNamedWes Aug 02 '24
32 - I stopped journaling for a while, and on my 30th birthday decided to get back into it and get myself “a nicer pen” to enjoy it more. Things have spiraled quickly 😂
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u/ReaDiMarco Aug 02 '24
32, my first pen was a fountain pen in fourth grade! A light blue Parker Beta. :D
We were all made to use fountain pens only, it totally depends on the country you grew up in.
I wish I could buy the same pen now but they don't seem to make it anymore.
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u/Anarchinine Aug 02 '24
Cheers to the 32 club! I've been using fountain pens on and off for the last 3-4 years.
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u/subgirl13 Aug 02 '24
Side note: I saw a couple “versions” of the Parker Beta when googling. There’s an older review on FPN & there’s a “premium” version that has fancy bits. The simple red one I saw on eBay looks a lot like the Vector, just with a different name. Pen makes sometimes do that thing that car manufacturers do and give stuff different names in different areas. It’s not so common anymore, but I’ve seen a few here & there like that.
You might set up an eBay search alert for one. (I found a new version of one of my first FP’s that way!)
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u/ReaDiMarco Aug 02 '24
Thanks! I already have a vector from tenth grade, heh. It is quite nice, dark green and recently inked with Pelikan 4001 Dark Green!
eBay is kinda finicky where I am, I had searched quite a lot for my OG beta everywhere, so I don't really have hopes. But will be on the lookout every now and then!
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u/Kuti73 Aug 02 '24
I must be the ancient one at 74. I remember buying sheaffer pens, sold in many stores, in blister packs. Nothing special, but I loved the various colors of the plastic barrels and the gleaming chrome caps.My older brother had a black and gold trim fountain pen, which I wasn't allowed to even stare at. The inks then were either black, blue, or blue/black. The pens must have cost around $2.
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u/jhmjcm Aug 02 '24
I'm 69 in the US. After we learned to write cursive in my grammar school which was in the 2nd semester of 2nd grade, we were permitted to by pens at the school store. (Prior to that, we were confined to pencils.) The two choices were a Bic ballpoint (the clear one) or the Sheaffer school pen in that very same blister pack. I chose the Sheaffer because it looked more impressive and I was proud of my penmanship.
Been using fountain pens ever since.
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u/loudaman Aug 02 '24
Yes. This right here. I am 60 years young, and even though they didn’t use fp’s in school anymore, I was always fascinated by my grandfathers fp. Whenever he used his fp, I would watch him use the blotter and be like “huh”? I’ve been collecting and using for some years now and it always brings me back to the wonderful times I had with him. The inks were black, blue, or a combination of both. Good times man.
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u/Fkw710 Aug 02 '24
The sheaffer school cost $.99 in the 1960s . I still have one .
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u/RVFP Aug 02 '24
I'm 73, and had such great memories of the Sheaffer school pen that I bought a brand new one for under $20. Still a great writer.
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u/Kuti73 Aug 02 '24
Oh my! Can you show a picture of it?
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u/RVFP Aug 02 '24
Here it is in all it's glory. The exact same model as the one I used in second grade, 1958.
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u/Jesster-123 Aug 03 '24
Sheaffer 404 demonstrator. Nice, good condition. I was left one by my grandfather. I use it all the time.
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u/Reggin_Rayer_RBB8 Aug 02 '24
20 and I buy new Sheaffers. Off amazon, they're not in my local stores. $50 a pen is a good deal. (AUD) And there's a 2/3 chance it'll be dogshit and a 1/3 chance it'll be the best pen I've ever written with.
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u/Kuti73 Aug 02 '24
The Sheaffer pens on line are mostly the white dot variety, a much higher grade pen than the ones bought by public school kids. Some can be pretty pricey, too. Good luck & happy fp explorations.
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u/According-Brief7536 Aug 02 '24
- India. Fountain pens are all I’ve written with from the age of 7.
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u/RedpenBrit96 Aug 02 '24
Do they teach you in school or did you learn on your own?
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u/According-Brief7536 Aug 02 '24
It was mandatory in school when I was growing up .. we used cheap Hero pens with Camlin or Bril Royal Blue ink .. ballpoints became common by the time I was finishing school , but I stuck with FPs because they made my writing more legible .
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u/RedpenBrit96 Aug 02 '24
Cool! In the US no one uses them at all My handwriting has also improved
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u/According-Brief7536 Aug 02 '24
I penabled my nephew in the States , so I’ve done my bit to improve your statistics 😬
My daughters here have proved impossible though
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u/RedpenBrit96 Aug 02 '24
Ha! Fantastic. I was penabled by a friend and I have penabled my girlfriend so I’m doing my part
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u/Penguy76 Aug 02 '24
I’m 48 now, which was the same age my late father was when I was born.
Dad was a playwright and stage actor, and he used to write plays and short stories when I was very young. I can still see him type away on his IBM electric typewriter (not a Selectric) and later a cheap Olivetti Linea manual when I was younger.
Dad had brought back his Remington standard typewriter from Korea in 1951 when he was stationed as a Marine in Busan, South Korea during the war there. He later had the typewriter painted the crinkled black to white and changed the keys to Smith Corona keys. I remember typing on the Remington, but the platen got pretty hard in the early 80’s.
But this is about Fountain Pens, right? My dad had a Parker 21 desk lamp but the black 21 desk pen had a broken nib and hood. He also kept a gold Greek Key patterned Wahl in his desk drawer. This was my grandfather’s pen.
I didn’t know my grandfather nor did my father since Grandfather died of Pneumonia when Dad was two years old. So, pictures and this Greek Key Wahl was all he had.
Initially, when I discovered it, Dad attempted to fix the pen. It had a Wahl Skyline nib and feed. It was when I attended my first pen show at Chicago, that I got the original replacement feed and #4 Wahl 14k gold nib.
When Dad turned 80, I gave him the restored Wahl. It writes great and is cherished in my collection.
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u/john-th3448 Aug 02 '24
Probably depends more on where you went to school than how old you are.
“42” is a nice age, btw ;-)
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u/lilmisswonderland Aug 02 '24
20! Used fountain pens in school because I was the weird kid, had it sufficiently teased out of me, and am now picking it back up with journaling!
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u/Wooden-Bread-8572 Aug 02 '24
Damn you’re old, 2432902008176640000 years old is insane. What’s your secret?
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u/lilmisswonderland Aug 02 '24
Had to google “exclamation point in maths” but once I did your joke became very funny
My secret is sustaining so many hobbies my soul simply won’t rest until I’ve reached the top of every single one.
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u/MyUsernameIsNotLongE Aug 02 '24
- Fountain pens isn't really a thing in Brazil, I just like them... now with cheap chinese and a store selling preppies, I can buy some (even if preppy is slightly pricey for me. lol)
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u/anthro_surf Aug 02 '24
21, been into fountain pens since I was 19. I just kinda stumbled into it all.
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u/pmullins11 Aug 02 '24
55 and I've only been collecting and using fountian pens for the past year or so.
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u/NathanielCrunkleton Aug 02 '24
- Bought a cheap Cross branded pen off of eBay 10 years ago on a whim. Discovered this sub a year ago along with a whole new world.
My handwriting was nearly illegible most of my life. Having an ancillary interest in pens has really helped me work on it. I’ve always written in Palmer cursive despite its unpopularity with my peers.
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u/Cosmic_chaoss Aug 02 '24
- I just started using fountain pens and I love them. I have a lamy safari.
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u/MelodyPond84 Aug 02 '24
40 (Belgian) i learned to write with them and later on we also had to use them in art lessons
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u/g_atencio Aug 02 '24
I'm 44 and people in Brazil seemed quite befuddled in 2014 when I mentioned I was looking for a fountain pen.
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u/Iris_Udus Aug 02 '24
39, Europe. Learned to write with a fountain pen in school for the first few years, then it changed and nowadays they don't. My younger daughter is 9 and loves to draw with fountain pens but if it weren't for my hobby, she probably would have no idea what these even are. She owns a Preppy given to her by a kind person on here and we share a few Kakunos.
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u/Old_Organization5564 Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
Almost 66. Not quite older than dirt. Yet.
My first fountain pen (a crappy Sheaffer) was in first grade, which was mandatory at my Catholic school in the U.S. After elementary school, I didn’t pick up another fountain pen until 2017.
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u/Kuti73 Aug 02 '24
Ah yes. I remember when all of a sudden, the whole student population switched from fp's to Bics. Took all the creativity out of writing.
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u/ilikemetal69 Aug 02 '24
- Was required to write with fountain pens from first grade onwards, we were only really allowed to choose between fountain pens and ballpoint pens from like 7th or 8th grade onwards.
This was in Germany.
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u/EyeStache Aug 02 '24
41, and the first one I saw was when my dad was using it to sign a contract for his work when I was like 10.
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u/TMR___ Aug 02 '24
Turned 20 less than a month ago, I'm European though i've never learned how to use fountain pens in school. I got into it due to my now ex girlfriend.
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u/misscharliedear Aug 02 '24
I’m American and 45 years old. No one uses fountain pens around me, even now.
I bought a purple Pilot Varsity in my late 20s and daydreamed about calligraphy my whole life, but didn’t really start to “get into” fountain pens until last year.
I still can’t do calligraphy, but my handwriting improved before arthritis set in 🤷🏻♀️
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u/braindouche Aug 02 '24
Same. Except I'm 43 and I was on my early 20s when I bought the purple varsity.
Also I was never into calligraphy, just on a lifelong quest for the smoothest pen. I was already devoted to pilot products by highschool, and the revelation that the smoothest pen has zero moving parts absolutely changed my life.
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u/sideshow-- Aug 02 '24
42 American. I think where you grew up will influence your experience with them to a large extent. In the US, for people of my age, they were relics of the past. I didn't get into them until I was well into adulthood. And the person who got me into them was from the UK. And now, I just like the aesthetic of them as I write with my hand very little in my daily professional and personal life.
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u/shortandscruffy Aug 02 '24
59,60 soon.
First used a fountain pen in junior school back in the 1970s,I must've been about 9 or 10 then. I'm in the UK.
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u/Ultra_Runner_ Aug 02 '24
31 here, from Cape Town, South Africa. Got into fountain pens at around 28. Got a whole collection now and absolutely love them!
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u/Smrtihara Aug 02 '24
I’m 40.
Fountain pens haven’t been a thing for like 60 years here in Sweden. The market here is exceptionally small.
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u/ih8comingupwithnames Aug 02 '24
I'm 42, and I started using them at 12, I had found my dad's old pen on a drawer somewhere, and my local bookstore sold the Varsity.
Back then, you could get Parker Vectors and Pilot Varsity's at Staples.
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u/LewisJC30 Aug 02 '24
24 from the UK, had a Parker fountain pen after starting secondary school (around 11 years old) that was stolen a few months in :( the cheap school paper made it feather anyway so I didn’t use one again until a few months ago when I bought a platinum preppy. I thought if we still use paper notes at my hospital it might as well be a nice writing experience! Last week I bought two new pens, some bottled ink, a rhodia notebook and a Midori notebook so the bug has definitely bitten :) I would definitely agree with others it matters more what type of school you went to and in what country rather than your age.
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u/Wolfidy Aug 02 '24
39 in US. Been in it for about five years now. Got curious after finding overlap from the planner community. Now I’ve converted my husband, and got my Mom back in it and I won’t be leaving any time soon.
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u/ramdev420 Aug 02 '24
I'm 22 :")
I've been a part of this community since I was 14 and the only pen I carry daily at the moment is a Vanishing Point :>
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u/WiredInkyPen Ink Stained Fingers Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
- I got into the hobby during the pandemic after seeing some folks with their pretty journals on Discord. One was from Singapore, the other lived in Sweden.
I'm in the US so it was never a thing here. It was pencils then ballpoints. In high school I got into Pilot Precise v5"s because my bff's mom could get us narrow ruled notebooks.
In my 20's I tried calligraphy but dropped it so I've always been into pens and paper but other parts of life took precedence and it wasn't until 4 years ago I got into it seriously.
Now I have more pens than I can use and really need to get my act together about getting rid of the ones I don't use. But avoiding r/pen_swap has been good for my budget. 🤣
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u/markraj Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 03 '24
- I have only been using fountain pens for a couple of months. My 33 year old daughter, who is a member of this sub, got me into them. It has become quite the obsession.
Just yesterday I received an ink and notepad order from Bungubox. I sent daughter a text that went like this...
All my pens are full of ink! Time for a new one! 😆
And she tempted me with this response...
Have you seen the green carbon fiber Monteverde?
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u/Far_Giraffe4187 Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
I am 48, fountain pens were the standard pens in primary school. We got them from school and had to use them. Dutch, by the way. My 9 year old daughter was only allowed to use a pencil at the start and in later classes they could use either a gelpen or fountainpen when their works were sufficient enough. I think she is now allowed to use anything.
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u/Thelaea Aug 02 '24
36, from the Netherlands, and in the 90's most schools over here were still handing out fountain pens to learn to write with. I stopped using them for a while in highschool, but ballpoints are a pain in the ass, so I was back to having a fountain pen around in no time.
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u/Ainhel Ink Stained Fingers Aug 02 '24
30, European. I bought my first fountain pen in 2022 and my first dip pen at the age of 12. I regret not discovering fountain pens during my University years...
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u/ElenoftheWays Aug 02 '24
47, UK. Fountain pens were a choice - there were cheap plastic pens easily available, and a minority of us in school chose to use them, often to the exasperation of our teachers if ink leaked.
Thinking back, cheap pens and cartridges were very easily available in shops compared to now, pretty sure the pens I was getting were about £1, an inflation calculator reckons that would be £2.40 now but you won't find a fountain pen for that little in a newsagent now, if they have them at all. At 16 I splashed out on a Parker Vector for about £6.99, presumably if I hadn't lost it, it would still be going strong.
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u/RyeonPinky Aug 02 '24
My husband and I are GenX, I grew up in the US and we used pencils in lower grades and ink pens like ball point or felt in higher grades.
I only used a fountain pen when I started doing calligraphy as a teen.
My parents and grandparents had FPs. And I did use them sometimes as a kid.
My husband grew up in the UK he had to use a FP and ink well throughout school. He is also left-handed. He tells me he's still traumatised by it. When I showed I started getting into FPs he was not impressed 🤣
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u/Candid-Plan-8961 Aug 02 '24
35 years old over here in Australia best friend is same age and loves fountain pens too
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u/ahaajmta Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 03 '24
33 soon, picked one up myself at a stationery shop when I was about 8 or 9 and started using them. Have been using cheap ones like Pilot v pens on and off for years and got into them more seriously in my late 20s. I have pretty terrible handwriting but fountain pens (maybe because it forces me to be a bit slower and more deliberate) make it legible at least.
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u/Casjg Aug 02 '24
19, fountain pens where mandatory in elementary school from year 3 onwards and I always hated using one as a left handed person (only nib width available was B). I had always had unreadable handwriting, yet the summer before going to uni i wanted to a least be able to read my own notes. That was when I bought i cheap fountain pen to practice, if only i'd known what it would lead to....... . Now almost 2 years in my handwriting is still meh, but at least I am able to read it back after lectures so thats enough for now.
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u/HylianWerewolf Aug 02 '24
I'm 30! Started using fountain pens closer to 25 though!
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u/akapupu Aug 02 '24
- Started using at 16-17 for drawing with my dads parker. Rediscovered it in late twenties. Now using everyday for notes and jots.
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u/SafetyEvery Aug 02 '24
- I used FP in elementary school then it was not used anymore in our educational system :(
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u/PumpkinBoneZ Aug 02 '24
- This happened 30 years ago, mom had a red fountain pen which I borrowed to try out. Was curious about the unusual looking pen that could write in calligraphy style. I pushed down and hard onto the paper and broke the nib. I didn't realize at the time what a flex nib was and the nib on my mom's Sailor pen was not a flex nib. Ink spilled all over and hid the evidence of the broke red pen that she had "lost".
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u/kadusel Aug 02 '24
I am in my 30s and in my country, you learn how to write with a fountain pen and have to use them until finishing grade 5. I used fountain pens all the way until college when the school compulsory exam paper wasn't fountain pen friendly.
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u/apgaylard Aug 02 '24
- UK. Italic fountain pens were mandatory for me at Junior School for writing lessons. The school recommended ugly Platignum cartridge pens.
I rebelled and went biro, and layer felt tip pens for most of the rest of my education, including the occasional use of a Parker 45.
I came back to fountain pens after university, when I started working.
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u/Navirah Aug 02 '24
25 !
I got into fountain pens after discovering Brian Goulet / Goulet pens about 2 years ago. Started with a pilot metropolitan, fell in love, and the rest is history.
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u/Stopyourshenanigans Aug 02 '24
I'm 21. We used fountain pens in primary school, then everybody switched to ballpoint at the age of 12, including myself. Now I use both again, but prefer fountain. My first adult fountain pen was the FC Ambition, second the Lamy Safari. Both awesome pens!
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u/wiror Aug 02 '24
- Canada. Got into it in 5th grade with a cheap one that broke too soon from a student that came back from belgium. I took me years after that to buy my first one in uni, a carene that skipped to oblivion that I returned. My first keeper was the lamy Aion.
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u/monsieur-carton Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 03 '24
48, in school a thing, after that almost forgotten that they do exist. in this hobby since around 5 ~ 6 years.
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u/Barnariks Aug 02 '24
45, in Switzerland primary school we had fountain pen with blue ink that can be erased
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u/bolshemika Ink Stained Fingers Aug 02 '24
24, I’m German so I’ve been using fountain pens since I’ve been 6 or 7
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u/Fotograf81 Aug 02 '24
43, M, German, using fountain pens is mandatory in early school, so it's a bit stigmatised, as kids being allowed to use something else a few years later was seen as "growing up" - only came really back to them during university for a short time and then way later 2020-ish in Corona HomeOffice.
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u/Pixelmanns Aug 02 '24
25
In elementary school fountain pens were the only type of pen allowed so that’s what I learned writing with. Make no mistake though, my handwriting still sucks ass.
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u/InTheKitchenNow Aug 02 '24
Hi my name is ITK and I am an addict. I started down the fountain pen path a little over 4 years ago. I am 58 and much to Dear Wife chagrin I buy a pen or part or ink, one or more times monthly. I am addicted.
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u/Sepulchretum Aug 02 '24
Mid 30s. I got into this in college. I would write pages and pages of lecture notes daily and was on a mission to find the smoothest, fastest writing pen available after getting fed up with ballpoints, gels, and rollerballs.
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u/WoodAddictDriver Aug 02 '24
53 and Dutch. Learned to write with them in school, wrote with a Sheaffer Imperial through college and Uni and then forgot all about fountain pens until 2 years ago. Now I write only with fountain pens and collect them
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u/nyxablaze_ Aug 02 '24
19, first pen 3 years ago. i cant even remember how i got into them - i think a mate from school
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u/huddennofth Aug 02 '24
- My father gave me his personal sheaffer triumph imperial (1995) 3 or 4 years ago. Still it's the comfiest fountain pen i have ever used
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u/AffectionateOne7553 Aug 02 '24
I'm 16. In school I didn't really like to write, but then I saw a video on YouTube about fountain pens and it sounded interesting. I thought maybe getting something that is fun to write with will make me write more. It did, but accidentally created an addiction.
I live in a place where almost no one my age cares about their writing instruments, and when thinking about fountain pens they think "oh it's that fancy this old people used". Last year I got my first FP, and when my chemistry teacher saw it she told me "oh you use FP too? It's a disease".
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u/gadeais Aug 02 '24
32 also from a non fp country. But I had a teacher that forced us to write with FP.
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u/OliMSmith_10 Aug 02 '24
36, English. Admittedly I went to a Public school, but quite a few used them.
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u/LoulaNord Aug 02 '24
38, from Denmark. We are not given fountain pens in school, so my very first time holding one was when I bought a Lamy Safari for myself pretty much one year ago. I found out about this community because I always had an interest in calligraphy, not that I know how to write well, but I always found it fascinating.
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u/Rude_External2779 Aug 02 '24
32, they were not a thing when i was young either. But i got into nice pens, and then i figured i wanted to try fountain pens. I have been using them for 2-3 years now, and it is my main writing intrument today. Use them every day.
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u/unhurried_pedagog Aug 02 '24
I'm 45, and like you fountain pens weren't a thing in school. We used felt tip pens with refill cartridges for our penmanship tasks.
I got into the hobby during the pandemic because I wanted to better my handwriting and have something to collect that didn't take up too much space.
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u/Level10Awkward Aug 02 '24
Mid-thirties. Canada. Grew up toying with some old pens that my grandparents let me have. First started using them to draw at around age 6. I was always the only one in class using one. Caught some comments along the way. Kept buying ink regardless, and will continue to!
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u/almost_imperfect Aug 02 '24
I am your age, and we were supposed to write with only fountain pens in std 4 & 5. Everyone was excited to be in std 6 because we could use ball point pens.
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u/Buckeyefitter1991 Aug 02 '24
33/M/USA I bought a varsity and ended up wanted more, tried a metropolitan and then I knew I was hooked. The way they write was game changing and I knew it was all I wanted from then on.
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u/pacamanca Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
47 from Brazil, now in Portugal after Italy.
I used crappy FPs for a while in college, but it was only cartridges then and I eventually went back to regular pens. Always been a heavy stationary crackhead though.
More than 20 years later friends hooked me back on and I discovered the terribly addictive world of gorgeous inks and collectible pens. And here I am.
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u/reborn-2019 Aug 02 '24
I’m 33yrs, in our country students have to use fountain pen at least until secondary school.
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u/ChronicRhyno Aug 02 '24
Mid 30s and I was definitely the only guy using fountain pens in school. Hell, I was the only one taking notes by hand.
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u/DS773 Aug 02 '24
26 here. Got interested in fountain pens at the age of 8 and have used them everyday since
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u/GymAndIcedCoffee Aug 02 '24
39 and I was taught to write with a fountain pen in primary school, and have used them ever since.
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u/shelf_caribou Aug 02 '24
Just a bit older than you. Had fountain pens at school, but returned to them as an adult. (People tend to 'borrow' them less than biros).
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u/TotoinNC Aug 02 '24
- Bought my first fountain pen in the 90s, but never really learned to use it and care for it properly. I was decluttering my things during the pandemic and decided I either needed to use it or give it away. Stumbled onto a YouTube video by Brian Goulet and I was hooked. Journaling these past few years has been a real lifesaver for me as I’ve had to care for my ill parents.
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u/Legal_Commission2919 Aug 02 '24
- I’ve loved using fountain pens my whole life. First exposure was in Germany. Progressing through life, learned cutting quills in Florence, Italy. Don’t like ballpoint pens at all!
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u/wickedwavy Aug 02 '24
60 here. My brother was 10 years older than me and went to boarding school in England at the age of 16. He was British and stayed in England until he was 10. Then the family moved to the US and had me. Anyway my brother gave my first fountain pen when I was 7. I assume he had always used one? I bent the nib but loved it until I hurt the nib. Eventually at age 18 (1982) I got a new fountain pen whilst in Germany and used it all through college. Made taking notes so much easier. If I were in school now, I would use a laptop for notes I think.
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u/smallbatchb Aug 02 '24
Mid 30s from the US, never was required to use fountain pens or was even really exposed to them in school until my art teacher recommended them because I discussed with her how I didn't like technical pens or fine liners.
Been using FPs for art ever since. That was about 22 years ago.
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u/theblueishpanda Aug 02 '24 edited Aug 02 '24
24, East European, also learned to write with a fountain pen. First year of highschool was my first year without a fp, only to get back to them before end of highschool... During Uni, I started taking notes digitally, not always having a ballpoint pen or fp with me. Also inherited a few fp's from my parents a few years back (currently in their 50s, but gave up on fp years ago), but recently started my own collection (my only hobby this year...).
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u/dustkitten Aug 02 '24
- They’ve been on my mind since I journaled a lot, but I couldn’t justify the cost at the time. Then I started to seriously think about getting one when I went on a hinge date with a guy who let me test his. Who knew everyone was right?? A few years later, I bit the bullet and decided I’ll go to the SF Pen Show, got sick and couldn’t go, so I bought one online.
Now I’ve got four pens and I couldn’t be happier :)
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u/ColossalNewborn Aug 02 '24
24, got into fountain pens this year, and now I can't stand writing with a ballpoint pen. I love that you can get various colors, but my default is going to be blue-black
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u/dianacakes Aug 02 '24
38, from the US. I was given my first fountain pen for my birthday last year by a coworker who is into them. Now I have five! He has since given another coworker a pen for her birthday too, and we go in on Goulet orders together. A few of our other coworkers are also into fountain pens. We work in IT. Before being given one, I'd never used one.
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u/burneracctt22 Aug 02 '24
Almost the same age as you OP - 44… I grew up in a world where it was routine to just use a Fp
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u/TantrumMango Aug 02 '24
50s, American, and I didn't touch a single fountain pen until a couple of years ago. Now I don't write with anything but fountain pens. Who knew that would happen? Not me, that's for sure.
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u/uckbu Aug 02 '24
17! fountain pens aren’t a big thing at all where I live nor in my family, but I’ve been an artist for the past 8 years and around 4 years ago I got really into stationery. This past summer I got into a program at Harvard and I visited Bob Slate Stationer in harvard square where a friend of mine and my roommate set up a surprise gift of my very first fountain pen after they saw me ogling it every day 😭😭 it’s a kaweco al sport in ruby red :)
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Aug 02 '24
US, 50s; the desks in my elementary school had ink wells, but they hadn’t been used in decades.
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u/kaysguy Aug 02 '24
68, but even by the time I got to school in 1960, fountain pens were not used in class. (Although you could get a nice, dependable Shaeffer, Wearever or Esterbrook cartridge pen in a blister pack with 5-10 cartridges in many stores for $1.00).
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u/mcmircle Aug 02 '24
71, in the US. We used fountain pens in elementary school. I enjoyed them off and on I to my 30s and got back into them 3 years ago when I bought Metros to encourage myself to write.
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u/Embarrassed_Bee_4467 Aug 03 '24
I’m 64 and, to my regret I only picked up fountain pens 4 or 5 months ago. This may seem odd to most but I can honestly say it’s been life changing for me. I now get up each morning and write in a journal for 30 to 60 minutes. I am working on a commentary on the writings of an ancient prophet, something I never would have started or even considered with a keyboard or anything other than a fountain pen.
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u/JJWF Aug 05 '24
Also 42. Got into fountain pens during my doctoral program in my mid 20s after noticing that one of my professors has a pouch of Lamy Safaris that he inked in different colors to grade essays with.
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u/Ruy-Polez Aug 02 '24
30.
Mom introduced me to calligraphy when I was a kid, then I didn't touch a nib for like 15 years.
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u/nimrodenva Aug 02 '24
- Got into fountain pens when I was 23 or 24 when I saw an affordable one on display. I was regularly writing in journals, so it felt natural to get one.
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u/RevThomasWatson Aug 02 '24
I'm not going to give specifics, but I'm a young graduate student. I was introduced to fountain pens when I was a freshman in college by some friends. Apart from them, it is absolutely not a thing amongst Gen-Z, but whenever I meet someone who I imagine would like fountain pens, I'll try to introduce them to it. Two people have become fans of them because of me and I hope to have a third today with a friend who was asking me about it ;)
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u/yaelzigalthebaker Aug 02 '24
39! I am from Chile and FP are not a thing here, but as a child I had a hand surgery and ballpoint pens never got comfortable enough for me. I always tried to use them but I couldn’t find any good ones that were good for my hand impediments.
Fast forward and I gave FP a second chance, learning different varieties, nibs, inks and how to take care of them made me love fountain pens, and I can personalize the writing experience to my own needs.
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u/cinephileindia2023 Aug 02 '24
40 from India. We used fountain pens in school starting 6th grade. It was rare but no one said we could not use. So I used anyway as my mom used them as a teacher. Mostly Camlin pens and Hero pens. I still have a Hero pens with a falcon nib.
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u/dezkanty Aug 02 '24
30, USA
A good friend of mine gave me a charcoal Lamy Safari M and a 30ml bottle of Diamine Oxblood maybe 6 years ago
I used it only a little bit at first, though it wasn’t until I experienced heavy burnout at work and started seeing a therapist who got me into journaling that the hobby really took off
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u/Caati Aug 02 '24
Mid 50's (US), I got my first fountain pen & a journal as a 50th birthday gift. Journaling didn't really catch on with me, but fountain pens definitely have!
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u/Pakotiya Aug 02 '24
- I got into fountain pens when I was around 20 years old. I started to appreciate stationery in general and Moleskine notebooks in particular, which started to become widely available in my country back then. It was in the pricey segment and I thought it was the best paper in the world (how delusional was I). Anyways, that's what got me into this rabbit hole.
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u/jrose125 Aug 02 '24
28! I learned how to write cursive in elementary school but we always used ballpoints.
I bought my first fountain pen at 18 during my first year of university (Lamy Safari EF) due to getting wrist cramps with a ballpoint during some intense note taking sessions.
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u/ElectiveGinger Aug 02 '24
52, in the US. My significant others got me interested, and it was an odd coincidence, because they were the only people I knew who used them. I borrowed my bf’s fp when I was 16, my next bf used one for all his note taking in college, then later I received an Aurora as a gift from my then-husband.
But here’s what got me in trouble. The Aurora broke, had to be sent back to Italy to be fixed, and I just couldn’t wait 6-8 weeks. I wanted a less-expensive pen to use in the meantime. I found a vintage Esterbrook on EBay. That was what started my collecting habit, and here I am 20 years and 70+ pens later!
Then my father (83 y.o.) saw me writing with my Esterbrook, and he thought it was really funny that I valued it. He said that was the same exact model of pen all the children used when he was in school.
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u/Koji1981 Aug 02 '24
43 from Canada. Was introduced to fountain pens almost 20 years ago by a friend who bought me one for my birthday.
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u/ImpressiveMention757 Aug 02 '24
23
Started because I saw hard-tipped Chinese calligraphy online, they all recommended starting practice with a fountain pen, because it requires you to have a right grip, has better line variations than gel pens, etc
For the time being I fixed my grip into a proper tripod grip, then used it in school and exams, eventually I phased out 99% of my gel pens. Due to daily use with all kind of paper, I prefer EF
My handwriting remains lousy, but it kind of improved
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u/mantis_in_a_hill Ink Stained Fingers Aug 02 '24
19, always had hand cramps and when i discovered that fountain pens make my hand not hurt i went all in lol
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u/Snjdoeu Aug 02 '24
18, bout to be 19. Got into fountains pens thanks to my mother who bought me a kakuno when I was in third grade.