Anyone actually buy nice pens?

Good try, but I'm not joining your pen 15 club.

Same here. But I tend to loose them at a astonishing rate.

I had a Mont Blanc Rollerball once. I loved it. Losing it felt like a divorce. Never again. It's a pen. Pilot fine point from Wallgreens is less commitment.

I used to buy nice pens but they would never work for me. I kid you not, only the cheap pens work. I have no idea why.

My son and I turn nice wood blanks on a lathe and build nice pens. Never bought one someone else made though.

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pen island

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penis land

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No I just dig through the damn drawers until I find one like a normal person.

I consider myself a fountain pen aficionado of sorts. My collection of fountain pens is fairly small compared to others (8 or 9 pens), but I really enjoy writing with a well-tuned fountain pen. I started writing with fountain pens while in law school after finding out that a good, well-tuned fountain pen will do wonders for hand fatigue. If you have messy handwriting, fountain pens are a great option. Another benefit is the ink selection available for fountain pens. If you regularly sign documents, an ink that is unique to you can be good protection against forgery.

Another note, I live in D.C. and there are a few good pen shops in the area. We also have a fantastic nibsmith that can analyze your writing style and grind the nib to fit your hand pressure and motion. Until you have written with a pen that has been tuned to your particular writing style, you aren't likely to fully enjoy the benefits of writing with a fountain pen.

Now a few notes of some pens that are in my collection:

I have a Visconti Homo Sapiens. This is a great pen that is made from basaltic lava. My hands tend to sweat when I write, so this basaltic lava body of the pen is great for allowing me to keep my fingers secure on the pen while writing. While it is a fantastic pen, it is on the pricey side. It will run you around $800.



Another pen that I have and love is the Visconti Michelangelo. It is less expensive than the Homo Sapiens, but is still a good entry into the world of fountain pens. I'm not sure if they still make this particular pen, but they surely have a pen model that is similar.



If you don't want a pen with a cap, Pilot makes a great fountain pen called the Vanishing Point. It runs about $125 and is a great everyday writer.



My most recent purchase was a Faber-Castell e-Motion. It runs around $175, but I have been disappointed with this pen. The body is well made and it is nicely weighted, but I have had issues with the nib and ink feed. It seems to allow too much air into the feed and causes the pen to dry out. The nib is a little scratchy, but this can be alleviated by sending it off to a nibsmith to have the pen tuned and make sure that the tines are aligned.