To people who still love to write with pens.

[Baitball Blogger]

What inexpensive brand (blue or black ink) do you use that also allows for easy replacement?

I'm ready to dump quite a few pens because I'm having trouble finding ink cartridges. Makes more sense to buy a pen that has been around a while, which I can also find cartridges.

[angstlessk]

1. When I first used pens, they had bladders

and a lever to refill the bladder...then cartridges came along.

Why not look for a pen with a bladder, then all you need is ink?

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I remember them, from the time I was a kid.

Very messy. I was also at a cut off age. Between me and my next, older sibling they stopped teaching how to use a slide rule, and they stopped requiring pens with ink fillers.

[angstlessk]

3. They may have been messy cause you were a kid...

...it might work better with control as an adult?

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I'll check a how to on Youtube.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I remember my first cartridge pen. It had a clear plastic barrel in a pretty aqua color.

[csziggy]

9. To save money Mom refilled the cartridges

She was a RN and could bring home syringes. She'd draw the ink up in a syringe and refill the cartridges. We'd have to carry a new cartridge with us to school in case we ran out, but always saved the old ones to refill and put into a pen right away.

Dad had bottles of ink to use for his engineering drawings and he used a pen with a bladder - I think it had been a gift when he graduated from high school or college. Since the ink bottle was there, it was simple to use it - and we could select whether to use black or blue ink.

[dpibel]

6. Cheap Chinese Fountain pens

If you want to experiment, there are some pretty good Chinese fountain pens out there for not much money. Of the dozen or so I've tried, my favorite is the Hero 285, which can be had for under $15.

It has a screw-actuated piston refill system that is, for me anyway, easier to ease than the bladder types.

Just my opinion; I have no stock in Hero or any other pen manufacturer.

[csziggy]

11. I had not heard of piston refill pens so I looked up "how to refill HERO 007 329 616 Fountain Pen"

On the way I also found this wonderful tutorial on fountain pen refilling systems:

[TomSlick]

7. If you want to get really cheap, you can re-fill cartridges with a syringe.

I've gotten over it and accepted that cartridges ain't really that expensive. I buy from Levenger.

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. Inexpensive? I don't know, but if you believe you get what you pay for...

Then buy a Cross

https://www.cross.com/en/departments/writing-instruments/collections?gclid=CjwKCAiAu_LgBRBdEiwAkovNsAkLIPIOMbSjKEL7Jfj_hKQ99An6T0Q5CCdL1lo-mrdWwgI9zTf6UxoCueAQAvD_BwE

[Nac Mac Feegle]

10. You might want to check out a craft fair

One of the skill building exercises of wood turning (lathe work) is to turn pens. They come in many styles, including fountain types.

Just a suggestion.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. I've had a particular model of Parker Pen for years.

Last edited Sat Dec 22, 2018, 09:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Used it until wear and tear and corrosion were loosening the pocket clip, and part of the barrel was worn down to bare brass. Then bought another. I think I've only ever owned two of them -- possibly three, if I lost one, can't remember at this point -- and I'll likely die of old age before I need another. Mine was more or less the cheapest model available, and I picked it because it fit my hand more comfortably than other models.

I generally DON'T lend that pen to anyone, unless they're where I can watch them like a hawk. It would be cheap to replace, but it's worn to my grip now.

I got myself a good ballpoint pen either in high school or my first year of college, and I've never had trouble finding the standard refills. Tried fine, medium, blue, and black. Mostly use medium black now. That's four decades of reliable use and ready refills.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. I go through a disposable pen at the rate of about one a month.

Of course, many of them are the kind that you pick up at the dentist and they don't give you much ink.

[First Speaker]

14. Believe it or not, I used to write with a quill pen...

...just for pleasure. I also had been taught the old-fashioned Secretary Script. Writing that with a quill pen is an amazing experience. The damned pen writes by itself, there's so little effort. It's like when a Ouija Board just takes possession of you, and you have to hold on or it runs away from you. I'd write a few thousand words with it, and hardly feel I had started yet...

[nuxvomica]

15. I use disposable pens. My favorite is black Pentel RSVP medium

They have the smoothest stroke and the most solid line of any disposable I've ever used.