Independents

I find writing with any pen seems to be a rarity these days. Sometimes I can go the entire day without lifting a pen!

that being said, I also taught myself how to write with my right hand to better enjoy fountain pens… took several years of practice, but it can be done!

What a great story. Thank you for sharing this with us! I have an acquaintance who was born left handed and his parents forced him to do everything with his right hand. Must have been very difficult. He says he's mostly right handed now and slightly ambidextrous. He's left eye dominant, so apparently he shoots/aims with his left eye and golfs and plays baseball as a left handed person. How complex! That's a great story, thank you J.Jota for sharing!

My late uncle was born left handed and was forced by my grandparents to write with his right hand ("The devil uses the left hand!"). Despite this unfortunate event, when his son (my cousin) was born also left handed (!) he did the same and forced him to write right handed! Nowadays my cousin plays tennis, billiard, uses the hammer and so on with his left hand and only writes with his right hand.

Ugh! Difficult parenting! But hopefully it worked out for your uncle in the long run!

When I broke my left shoulder I needed a surgery and lost the possibility to use my left arm for about two months. I learned to write with my right hand at the time but I lost that ability immediately after resuming writing with my left hand (unfortunately i should say).

Ouch!  

As a very long term collector of Montblanc fountain pens I also admire the craftsmanship that can be applied to a pen. Very similar to high end watches in terms of finishing and use of different materials.

I have to admit, I don't have a single Patron of Arts that I've ever inked nor any of the ultra special limited editions. I don't have thing as limited as 39 pieces. Very special pens you've got and I'm glad to see that you use them! I admire mine, but I've really mainly used my standard LeGrand 146.

All pens are made to be used. My permanent is the Axis Mundi 101, I am sure you have seen it already.

Very skeletonized looking too!  Do you like skeleton watches too?  

but with watches - no )

and that's not a pretty sight! The movement was all rusted. Ironically, I've seen two times they were Nautilus watches.

My weapon of choice was a black and gold Sheaffer Fashion, I consumed several of them going through high school & uni, I loved the matte black slender body and the sharp nib, very much like a good katana and a great match for my writing style.

Time to dig out that Sheaffer and put it back to use! Have you used it recently?

I often see a great similarity between watch and pen collectors

I too used to collect pens I have some but don’t collect anymore

I do use some in my daily routine and love the way they feel and write

Current useage include

MB 149
Parker - x 2 not sure of reference maybe 51 and not sure
Waterman


I also have few old duofolds , MB writers

I have a Parker somewhere. Glad that you're still using them on a regular basis! I've only got two pens inked currently (will go to three, I've never had more than four pens inked simultaneously).

I owned them both somewhere along the decades....

And the intro is perfect.  

Remember to start digging out your fountain pen. It's probably been forgotten in a dark drawer somewhere! Clean it out, put in some ink, and give an old friend some new life!
And if you're already using it, GREAT JOB! Don't stop using your good loyal friend! And if your pen leaks, tell your friend he is misbehaving!

I have a Waterman and a Montblanc that I’d love to use, but am afraid to mess it up.  And you’re part of the post where you comment on inks validated the fact that I can indeed damage it if ink dries in there, or I don’t clean it correctly.  I was thinking to either YouTube research the topic, or stop by the Montblanc store and see if they can give me an overview.  Otherwise, they just sit there, knowing that next generation won’t give a hoot about them when I’m gone.

Montblanc ink has a "Super Cleaner 21" detergent inside that is actually a fairly good ink.  Color saturation isn't the best (the blue isn't the bluest, the black isn't the blackest), but overall use, it's pretty good.  The main thing is not the ink though, the main thing is using the pen often enough so you have to refill it ideally every month or two months.  This way the pen won't be likely to dry out.  Avoid inks with "Permanent" written on the bottle.  These inks have more solids and iron in the ink that can form more deposits if the ink were to dry in your pen.  These inks are also much harder to clean out due to their more permanent and solid chemical nature.  There are different types of inks, it is critical to use fountain pen inks and avoid dip pen inks.  Within fountain pen inks, there are shimmer inks, pigment inks, and more.  On YouTube there are some articles by a video poster called "Goulet" which is a fountain pen retailer that goes in depth about inks.  

It’s also very interesting.  The same applies to your points about paper.  I do miss the days when I would write everything out, including edits, revisions, etc. and then finally type up a final product after the “creative process” was done.  The pen and paper were an extension of my mind.  I can’t say the same about my relationship with a computer and/or dictation platform.

The computer may save overall time, but the thoughts don't flow freely and all the hiccups on the computer really ruins the experience.  In the end, due to all the interruptions and interruption to flow of thoughts, I think I'd probably be best with a pen sometimes.  

I personnally use a Montblanc Meisterstück but I have used many different ones (Schaeffer, Waterman, Parker...), particularly as a pupil, as it was compulsory in the French schools back in the days (at least in mine).
One point though, on your section 2 about NIB width, are you sure the width is in mm and not in tenth of mm: e.g. NIB 9 gives you a 0.9mm width (almost 1mm) rather than 9mm (almost 1 centimeter) ?
Very interesting to read though, thanks !

So the Nib 4mm/6mm/9mm is the diameter of the plastic feed (the finned plastic section underneath the gold nib). Not referring to the tip itself. So a Nib#9 would have a huge 9mm feed, but the tip could be Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Bold, and so on. Generally, the larger the plastic feed section, the larger the nib has to be to cover the feed section. So for instance, in that pen pictured above with the 9mm feed, that's Montblanc's largest fountain pen nib and it's referred to as the "Flagship/Diplomat/149" model. It has a massive nib. Some people like bigger pens with bigger feeds and bigger nibs. The bigger the nib, the nib can feel slightly more flexible and more springy and the inevitable small impacts can be absorbed through more material. The smaller nib, even in a soft material such as gold, can feel stiffer, simply because there's less material to flex.
Here, in America, children have often never seen a fountain pen. Some don't even know they exist. Most adults around my age didn't even grow up with fountain pens in school if they went to school in America.
Which Montblanc Meisterstuck model do you use regularly? I regularly use a 146 model myself!

The writing experience doesn't get any better than this supposedly!