What’s with the whole pen thing?

While I was given my first fountain pen as a kid, and I’ve owned a Parker Frontier for more than a decade, I never really used them. At the start of 2018, I realised my handwriting had degraded to a point of illegibility from lack-of-use, and my six-year-old daughter was quickly catching up with me. So, I decided to do something about it, and at about the same time I discovered Brian Goulet’s YouTube channel.

In April 2018, I bought my first fountain pens since about 2002 – a Lamy Safari All-Black and a “Dryden” rebranded rosewood pen from Amazon. While these were uninspiring and have gone unused since, I went on to buy a few others, including a Noodler’s Ahab that really got me going. While it’s by no means perfect, it opened up the possibility of flex to me, and I knew that was the key for me.

I acquired a few flex vintages, some nice mid-range modern pens such as a Pilot 912 FA and a Pilot 743 FA, a range of relatively cheap pens like Noodler’s Ahab, Konrad; Platinum 3776 Bourgogne and Chartres Blue (which I love) and a huge number of cheap kitsch pens from China (AliExpress), mostly Jinhao. I loved the silly kitschness of it, and compared to other niches (Montblanc, or even Lamy and TWSBI!) it’s a cheap thing to collect.

I also took to modifying nibs, specifically to smooth or slightly regrind, and make them more flexible with the common Ease My Flex modification, but then, just buying the excellent FPR Ultra-Flex nib and ebonite feed instead.

Anyway, I’ve kept track of a rough list of my collection here, with links to any reviews or notes I write.

In recent years, I’ve had other things on my mind, and the pen hobby has taken a back seat. I’m no longer acquiring pens or inks, but I’m glad I took up the hobby and improved my handwriting in the process. I’ve kept the posts I wrote back then as I still get the odd email asking about them.