What was your first? Whats your dream setup?

I've yet to make an investment into a great pen, just a few hobby caligraphy pens here and ther. But the more I use them the more I want to adopt the fountain pen as my everyday writing utensil! With that said I want to hear about what you started with and what the pen of your dreams is...

...I think I might try out a Pilot Metro or a Lamy 2000

First was a Sheaffer Targa. Dream pen probably is an Aurora Optima Mare.

Watch out for the Pilot Metropolitan, it's a gateway pen, it gets you hooked and wanting many many more fountain pens.

I just want to try it, I swear. I'll stay away from the hard pens.....

Andy said:

Watch out for the Pilot Metropolitan, it's a gateway pen, it gets you hooked and wanting many many more fountain pens.

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I just want to try it.... I have self control. I'll stear clear of the "hard" pens, I swear. lol

TreadwayJohnA said:

I just want to try it.... I have self control. I'll stear clear of the "hard" pens, I swear. lol

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I remember saying things like that once, "who needs more than one pen, really..."

I'm already a pen addict - I literally have stashes of pens. Some in the night stand, some in the car, some in my desk, I even have pens in my kitchen.... So at this point i'm just upgrading to "the good stuff"

I started with a Parker IM, which didn't work too well, and which I eventually gave up on. It did give me hints, though, as to what a fountain pen could do, and got me interested in trying others. The first pen that worked well for me was probably my Lamy AL Star. Or maybe it was a Pilot FP 78 G, I can't recall which I bought first.

I'm not sure if the idea of a "dream setup" really applies. I currently have several pens that let me write as well, and as long, as I'm capable of: a Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Montblanc Noblesse, Lamy 2000, an old vintage Waterman 12 PSF. There are others I might like to try, but without necessarily thinking that they would improve my writing experience. What your dream pen is depends on what your dreams are. For me it's about a pen that is comfortable to write with a length, and has a certain feel while I'm writing with it. A lot of it is about the nib, and what the best nib is depends on what you're trying to do with it.

Some people fixate on a luxury brand and save up for some model that's particularly attractive to them. Not me, but it hasn't really saved me any money. Instead of two or three really expensive pens, I've spent a similar total amount on many lesser ones. But I like to write with them, and that's what's important to me. And I've also acquired an interesting collection of vintage pens.

What is a 'dream pen'? Maybe a pen which can take anything you throw on it? Which you always can carry with you without being anxious for loosing it, or breaking it? In this case I use the Lamy Safari/ Lamy Al-Star/Kaweco Sport pens. All of them great users, and cheap as well.

I started with a Parker 88. I don't really have a dream pen. I have a favorite: Pelikan M600 with a M nib turned into a stub at Mike It Work. I'm also fond of the M800 for an unposted pen, but I prefer to post.

My first fountain pen was a Red plastic Parker Vector with a medium nib that I bought at the university bookstore about 10 years ago for something like $4.99. I still use it once in a while. It's really not a bad little pen. Ink flow is great and the nib gives a pleasant amount of feedback, without being scratchy at all.

I don't know what my dream pen is. Maybe a clipless Nakaya Piccolo or Decapod in heki-tamenuri.

-Andy

My first fountain pen was back in the 70's but I can't remember what it was, nor can I figure out where it is. In the modern age, the last few months that is, I have stumbled across The Nib and re-discovered fountain pens. My next first fountain pens were some Pilot Metropolitans and a couple of Platinum Preppy's with the eyedropper conversion.

Didn't take long to set my sights higher so my grail pen became a Pilot Custom Heritage 92. Got that one and love it!
Set grail sights a little higher, Pelikan M400NN from the 50's in tortoise. Just got it in the mail 2 days ago and haven't inked it yet.
My other grail sights were set on a stainless Lamy 2000 and lo and behold, it appeared on that "drop" site! Its now ordered...

As for my next grail pen... well... I have no idea! Hopefully I can slow down the acquisitions and just enjoy the collection I have for a while. I'll let you know how that whole "slow down" idea works out for me...

My first was a Sheaffer student fountain pen, with an clear green-tinted barrel. I bought it off the school store cart in 1968 in the 2nd grade for about a dollar or a little less. In that school we used fountain pens for penmanship class.

Andy said:

Watch out for the Pilot Metropolitan, it's a gateway pen, it gets you hooked and wanting many many more fountain pens.

Click to expand...

TreadwayJohnA said:

I just want to try it, I swear. I'll stay away from the hard pens.....

Click to expand...

Valerius said:

What is a 'dream pen'? Maybe a pen which can take anything you throw on it? Which you always can carry with you without being anxious for loosing it, or breaking it? In this case I use the Lamy Safari/ Lamy Al-Star/Kaweco Sport pens. All of them great users, and cheap as well.

Click to expand...

andrew98 said:

My first fountain pen was a Red plastic Parker Vector with a medium nib that I bought at the university bookstore about 10 years ago for something like $4.99. I still use it once in a while. It's really not a bad little pen. Ink flow is great and the nib gives a pleasant amount of feedback, without being scratchy at all.

I don't know what my dream pen is. Maybe a clipless Nakaya Piccolo or Decapod in heki-tamenuri.

-Andy

Click to expand...

Nice

First FP was Lamy Safari.

I have a Pelikan M800 F nib which is a very, very nice pen.

I like pens with hooded nibs. My Parker 51s fit that bill perfectly. Wouldn't give any of them up. My wife's present to me, a Lamy 2000 with a Pendleton Brown .8mm Butter Line Stub nib, is now my favorite writing instrument by miles. It doesn't have the history that comes along with the 51s but it writes.

My first was a Waterman Phileas Blue in the very early 90's. Medium nib and cartridges. Didn't like the line width, so then I moved to a Parker and that was all she wrote. Currently using vintage Esterbrooks and a modern Mont Blanc. Other than a specific function at work, FPs are the only pens I use now.