Pen help.

Now im not into fountain pens or ones that cost hundreds of dollars. Im just a fat, lazy truck driver that likes a great shave. I use a pen 10 to 20 times a day and it sits in my front shirt pocket. I find that i do like black ink, fine point (as a lot of the forms i write on need small printing) ball point not gel or roller ball or..., and a click type pen so its easy to use. Ive always used cheep Zebra pens from Walmart but they seem to skip sometimes. Not a solid line. Im left handed so im in my right mind, ha, but my hand gets drug thru the ink.

Id like to find a nice pen to use and fill all the above things. Not be thin as a toothpick or so fat it wont fit in the pen hole in my work shirts. Id spend up to 50 bucks or so if its a good one. And something that stands out in looks as being a fine writing tool.

So any of you pen gurus got an idea for me about what i should look for? Maybe have what i need in a drawer not in use you would be willing to sell? Or am i just over my head in this dream? Any help with this would be great.

Great shaves to all!

Welcome to The Nib!

The simple answer would be for you to get a Pilot Metropolitan with a fine or medium nib, a Pilot Con-50 converter (easier to deal with than the squeeze-sac converter that it comes with), and a bottle of DE Atramentis Document Black for about $40 + shipping.. The only click-type pen that I'm aware of is the Pilot Vanishing Point, and that'll run you at least $100. As far as you being a lefty, it's not much different than being a righty. When I started using fountain pens, I had to train myself to write with my hand below the writing line. I'm right handed, but I had to adapt in order to use some of my flex-nib pens properly.

Both of these places will have a bit higher prices than if you were to shop online, but you should check out either Colorado Pen, Paradise Pens, or both. If anything, you could go and see what some of the different fountain pens feel like.

Actually, the simple answer for someone looking for a clicky ball point would be a stainless Parker Jotter, imo. I'm not sure if they'd be too thin for your taste, but they take a Parker G2 compatible refill, so you have some nice options if Parker's don't do it for you.

Thanks for the names. Ill look them up. The clicky pen just works quick and easy and keeps me from marking my shirt.

NinthSphere said:

Actually, the simple answer for someone looking for a clicky ball point would be a stainless Parker Jotter, imo. I'm not sure if they'd be too thin for your taste, but they take a Parker G2 compatible refill, so you have some nice options if Parker's don't do it for you.

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Good call. Looks like I misunderstood what the OP was asking.

On the upper end of your budget (actually $55), there are also configurations of the Karas Kustoms Retrakt & EDK pens. Those I don't have any first hand experience with, but KK has a rep for quality.

my vote is either the karas kustoms or the parker jotter, good luck

Retro 51 make a lot of interesting "themed" pens. They take both a rollerball refill or a Parker type ballpoint (Parker's gel refills are great). As an example, here is there tribute pen to the WWII Flying Fortress bomber:

I can't say I would recommend a fountain pen at all for your needs, because of the type of paper and forms you are probably experiencing on the job.

A nice rollerball or gel type pen is probably preferred as I am betting a lot of the forms you are using is thin, "cheap" paper and probably also Triplicate "carbon" type copy paper (without the carbon) in the White, Pink, Yellow stacks? I remember using this paper I can't say I would have used a fountain pen on them.

Monteverde makes some nice rollerball versions of their pens. The Invincia and the Impressa are nice pens that I keep in my collection.
The Invincia is hefty and feels great when you are holding it, but it is a twist to extend nib in the rollerball version. I am not sure what the Impressa looks like in its roller ball form.

Dog Whiskerer said:

Retro 51 make a lot of interesting "themed" pens. They take both a rollerball refill or a Parker type ballpoint (Parker's gel refills are great). As an example, here is there tribute pen to the WWII Flying Fortress bomber:

...

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Good suggestion. They also make ones with simpler but classy designs, like this one. They aren't as skinny as the Parker Jotter (which is also an excellent pen) but they aren't terribly heavy. You can get refills that will work in almost any office store as well as on line.

One thing, though, they use a twist mechanism, not a click type. You can quickly learn to operate this one handed, but it's not quite the same.

You could also probably track down a Parker 45 Flighter ballpoint. The whole cap acts as the "click" mechanism. Classy looking and nice. While the 45 is no longer made it would still meet your needs including costs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PARKER-45-F...744123?hash=item20ce65fdfb:g:7VQAAOxyMxpRp2mF

Here is an example of a completed ebay listing.

Whiskey Badger said:

I can't say I would recommend a fountain pen at all for your needs, because of the type of paper and forms you are probably experiencing on the job.

A nice rollerball or gel type pen is probably preferred as I am betting a lot of the forms you are using is thin, "cheap" paper and probably also Triplicate "carbon" type copy paper (without the carbon) in the White, Pink, Yellow stacks? I remember using this paper I can't say I would have used a fountain pen on them.

Monteverde makes some nice rollerball versions of their pens. The Invincia and the Impressa are nice pens that I keep in my collection.
The Invincia is hefty and feels great when you are holding it, but it is a twist to extend nib in the rollerball version. I am not sure what the Impressa looks like in its roller ball form.

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Yep. Your right on the papers i fill out. Im still lookingcfor the right pen and thanks for the sujestions. I just havent had the time as i work too much but in the mext week ill make a choice.

Hi Jerry,
Saw your thread last week and figured by now you would have found a new pen. I have used Uniball and precise V7s for many years on work order forms so I get the dilemma, but they are capped and not "clicky" pens. Since you need a pen and I need to do some pif's having been a member for a year now. I have a nice vintage Parker Jotter that I would love to pass along. PM a shipping address and it will be on its way.


As many pif's seem to have an additional requirement for this one all you have to do is look up at Pikes Peak one morning to see if there is any fresh snow. I miss being able to do that every morning myself, even though I don't miss the snow.

I use the exact same Parker Jotter as offered above as the PIF. Excellent Pen! You can replace the cartridge with a rite in the rain/ fisher space pen refill and then it is indestructible. Not affected by cold or any grease on paper. A big help if you need to fill out any card stock forms like hazard assessments on a job site. Very reasonable price. It is like a willeys jeep with a nice paint job!

Very nice of you. Spending so much time on the road its hard to sit and stare at a computer screen. The next time it snows ill be sure to send you a pic or two. Might be able to dig one up on my phone taken last year. Anyways, pm comming your way. And thanks again.

Podog said:

Hi Jerry,
Saw your thread last week and figured by now you would have found a new pen. I have used Uniball and precise V7s for many years on work order forms so I get the dilemma, but they are capped and not "clicky" pens. Since you need a pen and I need to do some pif's having been a member for a year now. I have a nice vintage Parker Jotter that I would love to pass along. PM a shipping address and it will be on its way.
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As many pif's seem to have an additional requirement for this one all you have to do is look up at Pikes Peak one morning to see if there is any fresh snow. I miss being able to do that every morning myself, even though I don't miss the snow.

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Awesome gesture, Podog. That's the spirit of B&B in action.

Got my new Pen from Podog in the mail yesterday. Thank you my friend. It sure seems to write better than the throw away pens I've been using. The wife's says I need to go and buy a nice refill for it. If this works out well I might need to buy a couple more pens. I checked out the Retro 51's. Very nice looking. Thanks for getting me away from the cheep junk I've been using and maybe pushing me into the world of pens. Just what I needed. Another hobby!

Got the prn and found it was nice to write with something that dont skip or blob. So i bought one finally. Well two. Got the retro 1951 pens. The Calico for the wife. Beautiful pen and she loves it. And this one for myself.

I was a bit put-off by the quality of the ink part in the pen. At first try it was great. Then about 30 min later it started blobing and got fatter as i went. A thin sharpie wrote thinner and better. I replaced it with a parker replacement and now its great. Will need to order those replacments on line as at the store it was 7 bucks.
Glad to have a nicecworking pen or two in my pocket and truck.

Wow, that thing looks great -- and hopefully very sturdy for your heavy duty pen chores. Congrats.

Congrats on a great looking pen! Those Parker refills are the way to go too.