Any pen fans / collector - not necessarily about the expensive just the pens that work for you?

[Time Waster]

I was wondering about pens. Does anyone collect with a view to finding that one pen you want to use forever?

I have been looking into pens for a few years but on not so much money level I am getting scratchy fountain pens. Kaweco sport is ok and a couple of cheapo chinese have worked out, but I have finally come to the POV that perhaps there is better from non fountain pen side. So I bought a few almost £5 clickies and capped pens. Schneider are nice pens and Jetstreams from Uni-ball (a Mitsubishi company).

Right now I am looking at my past with Parker and Scheaffer. The former is still going well but the latter former US great is now Indian owned by a luxury pen and luxury goods store and online retailer (a guy who has made a lot selling pens and leather and top brands in India). So I have seen the old school favourite and promo pen merchandisers second favourite (after Parker Jotter) is the Parker Vector. The brand is kind of downgrading them to plastic. I am seeing the last of the old metal ended and plastic parallel barrel versions selling on amazon and other sites until they have gone. I am thinking of getting one or two as they were cracking pens. The cap posted nicely on the metal top of the pen rather than going over the whole of the end. I thought that was good. The rollerballs also wrote nice and quick IME.

So anyone else out there looking for the right pen? What do you have, recommend or are looking for? Perhaps ideas from others might help you.

 

[annedonnelly]

I don't like holding a chunky pen so I have a couple of Cross pens in this style. I've a matching pencil too.

 

[Time Waster]

I am the opposite. I have a few workhorse jotters and the 8mm diameter (less in the pencil version it seems) just means I slip down the barrel when writing. So I have worked out that my hand size and writing style / grip needs about 12mm diameter as the sweet spot in pens.

On the cheap end (sub £5) l like Schneider pens and Uni-ball Jetstreams (cheap clickies). I am not a fan of erasable pens after the poor frixions I got when they first came out but I have a uniiball erasable gel that seems to be a decent stab of a pen that also erases.

As to more pricey well I avoid Lamy fountain pens with a passion. I have not had one that didn't clog and resist all cleaning attempts as recommended on fountain pen reddits and other places too. No idea why I have had bad luck like that but they clogged on LAmy ink cartridges and diamine ink in refills.

Kaweco sport I like.

 

[tyred]

I like my basic stainless steel Parker 51. I have a few other fountain pens but it's the Parker I prefer. I write poetry and things and use it regularly.

 

[biggs682]

I found a Parker ball point lying in the gutter 20+ years ago and have used it ever since as my work pen.

 

[figbat]

I’m not a connoisseur or collector, but I have ended up with a couple of half-decent pens over the years, as gifts or prizes.

Mont Blanc Starwalker ballpoint.
Mont Blanc Meisterstück roller ball.
Cross Chrome Mini ballpoint.
Cross Chrome ballpoint - unidentified, telescopic action
A set of Shaeffers: propeller pencil, ballpoint and fountain pen.

The Starwalker is a lovely pen - weighty with a beautifully engineered action. The Shaeffer fountain pen was my daily driver when I was working, along with a bottle of Shaeffer Skrip ink. I’ll use most of them now and then.

 

[Time Waster]

Skrip ink is supposed to be decent, better than quink from Parker I read somewhere.

Parker 51s are good, honest pens. A classic style.

Schaeffer brand is a sad case of a good brand gone downhill. With another us brand buying them to downgrade the competition on Cross was terrible imo. I used to prefer Schaeffer to Parker pens. It is to be seen whether the new Indian luxury goods retailer who now owns the brand will recover it. We do need food Schaeffer pens again. Better than the often too slim Cross pens IMHO.

I have a Kaweco sport and TBH a pen like that but longer would suit me perfectly. A nice EDC writer I reckon if a little short even with cap posted.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I have a few Cross, a Mont Blanc, a braided Porsche Design but everything I write is written with these:

https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/...EzNVxjQk1QYDSgVthsPbhchIlwvNqciRoC8JAQAvD_BwE

Fantastic piece of design and engineering, and ludicrously cheap.

 

[Time Waster]

Uni-ball, a Mitsubishi company, makes great pens. I use a Jetstream clickie, erasable 0.7 and a multi version of the Jetstream. The Jetstreams have a deep colour / black to them on the page.
The erasable was a shot in the dark as I was so unimpressed by the early frixion pens. At first, after knocking off the wax on the tip they ship with the ink kind of didn't lay out on the page like other uni-ball pens. The ink was light in the centre of the line with a darker edge. Overall I nearly wrote it off but then it sorted itself out and the line was decent, not as good as the Jetstreams but pretty decent for any pen. It now gets used a lot at work with the Jetstreams.
I'm thinking about my next pen though. I'd like a jotter but 12mm or so diameter. The jotter XL is too thin but the whole jotter style is a classic that simply works. Plus I'd experiment with different refills as the Parker G2 refill style is so common even with other brands. Even fisher supplies their pressurised space pen refills with a Parker G2 style plastic cap you can add to use in Parker jotters and other Parker ball pens.

 

[Gillstay]

A Mont banc for me, which had been run over, but was surprisingly cheap to get spares for and get working again.