@rnv 😸 😸 I don't proselytize, your posts made me literally laugh out loud, and although I do love fountain pens, I concede all your points and love them despite the obvious drawbacks. otoh I've never understood why anyone would voluntarily use a pencil...
@timapple My husband is a pencil guy! The good thing is, I never walk off with his pencils and he never walks off with my pens...
@Annie They're so needy. First, the pencil wants sharpening; or you have to push the little button to get more lead; or you have to change out the lead; the erasers never actually work; the line isn't dependable because, oh, now it wants sharpening again, after two lines. The little shavings make a mess; the pencil lines on paper often also make a mess, and I, at least, always manage to end up with graphite smears on my fingers. You get weird indents on the paper if the lead is too hard, if it's too soft I can't read it, whine, whine, whine...
I got some Blackwing pencils to see what all the fuss was about, and they're ... okay? But still need lots of coddling for little reward, like all pencils.
I don't actually object to all fiddly writing tools. The reason I like fountain pens, which are also annoying and needy in many ways, is because at least sometimes while I write with them, it feels like I'm gliding around, ice-skating on paper. And you can get such wonderful colors. And they don't look dinged up after you use them a few times.
To me, pencils never feel fun to write with. It never feels like a sensory pleasure to me, to write with a pencil. But maybe there is a trick to it that I haven't learned...
@rnv It's like me and cast iron pans. To everyone else, their care and maintenance is easy. To me it never lands like they tell me it'll land.
@annahavron The trick may be to use pencils only for writing in books. There are some wonderful mechanical pencils out there that I use just for that purpose.
Every tool has its use!
@rnv Before I retired, I kept a fountain pen solely for signing letters, legal documents, etc. I still own it, but haven't used it since retiring.
OTOH, I rarely handwrite anything. My penmanship's lousy (and there's a bit of arthritis in the hands).
@annahavron haha, YES TO ALL THIS. The inconsistency as the lead shape changes makes me crazy. And most of all, your last point: pencils never feel fun to write with to me, either.
@miljko @annahavron Oh that is a good point. This is the one reason I keep a few pencils around, for underlining / annotating.
@miljko @ReaderJohn This touches on what I think is a really important point: there is no single tool that's best for every situation. I use pencils a lot, but I also have many different kinds of pen on hand, ballpoints, rollerball, gel. There is simply no niche in my writing day that could be filled by a fountain pen that isn’t already filled by something else.
@rnv For me, there is no pen that can replace the fountain pen, regardless of niche. But then I have hundreds…
@rnv This is great....I do use a fountain pen some. I use pencils too. Working in engineering, pencils are almost a "must"
@rnv I’ve been a mechanical pencil lover since high school math. It’s very hard to draw the charts and graphs I want any other way. Also: I make mistakes and need to erase them. Fountain pen lovers must be perfect! 😈
@JMaxB @annie I am the kind of barbarian who marks up books with pens... but usually ballpoint, in that case.
@rnv I love fountain pens and soft lead pencils on good paper. It feels so good to write with them. Rollerballs are fine, felt tips, too, but most ballpoints hurt my hand. For the last several years I've been favoring a good 0.7 mm mechanical pencil with a B or HB lead for most of my work.
@miljko What are your favorite mechanical pencils for that? (Question is to all the mechanical pencil users here.)
@Rongwrong My top 3:
@rnv I love where this conversation has gone! I haven't been able to participate since yesterday, and I have very little to add.
I will, however, just throw this link out for those of you who may not have been around when I went on my Pencil Tour a few years ago.
(Blackwing fans whose feelings are hurt can get in line behind any Founties who want a piece of me. I will not, as they say, be taking any questions at this time.)
@rnv I had no idea there were that many kinds of pencil! But the main thing I want to know is, what Beatles song does 'Ceres' remind you of?
@rnv Pencils are the best. Always ready for service. Fountain pens are wonderful, but I am always dropping them, causing trouble.
@devilgate At its peak in the 1960s, the US alone had something like 1300 pencil companies, each issuing dozens of different pencils. There are now three: Moon, Musgrave, and General.
Oh, and the Beatles song is One After 909, since the pencil's full name is the 909 Ceres.
