What advantages do fountain pens still have over modern gel ballpoints? I like the whole experience of fountain pens, how nice they look and the 'old-school' aspect, but sadly I don't feel they are practical any more.
The advantages are all minor—mostly it's an aesthetic preference rather than a practical one. But there are a few small things:
- The mechanism of a fountain pen relies on capillary action and gravity rather than the mechanical rolling action of a ballpoint. This means you don't have to press the point down into the paper almost at all in order to write. This reduces writing fatigue, and can even make writing possible for folks with carpal tunnel or other sources of wrist pain (like healing wrist fractures or other issues).
- Cursive was developed before ballpoints were common. This means that there's a bunch of subtle ways that most western cursive systems are optimized for the low-friction, gliding style of writing with a fixed tip and liquid ink rather than the constant pressure style of writing needed for ballpoints. It's actually less work and strain with a ballpoint NOT to join all your letters together. With a pen that uses liquid ink, it suddenly makes sense why not picking the point up from the page saves effort.
- Fountain pens (can) use less disposable plastic than ballpoints, especially if you're a heavy journaler. A glass bottle of liquid ink will last months or years and there's no plastic inserts or disposable tips to be thrown away. So if you care about that sort of thing, a little bit less waste is an objective advantage.
- Bottles of ink are cheaper per page written than most ballpoint refills. But, this is an invisible benefit to most because depending on how far you get into the hobby you'll inevitably end up spending much more on pens and paper than you would've ever spent on ballpoint refills.
- The ink choices are way more diverse and interesting with fountain pens than with ballpoints. There's many color options available, and some inks have special properties, like drying with fun reflective spots wherever the ink pools or containing microscopic glitter particles to make your writing sparkly.
- Fountain pens, depending on the specific design, are better suited for certain styles of calligraphy than most ballpoint pens are.
But most people who get into fountain pens and ink do so because of aesthetics, not anything objectively superior.
Generally agreed on all points, they're pens that feel good to write with and have little aesthetic joys to them that make writing more enjoyable. I like unscrewing the top of a pen. It's a little spark of joy. But it's mostly aesthetic and is likely fairly subjective.
> It's actually less work and strain with a ballpoint NOT to join all your letters together.
This to me is the biggest observable, practical difference that comes out of the capillary system of the pen. Anecdotally, my handwriting improved quite a bit when I started using a fountain pen.
Traditionally, you are supposed to write with less pressure and even hold the pen with less pressure. Once you teach yourself to do this, it is much less tiring than writing with a ball point pen. I write a lot. It's how I think. I'm orders of magnitude better at thinking when I use a pen and paper to jot and doodle than when I do not.
I also find that writing to take notes is much better than notes taken electronically. You can't write fast enough to transcribe. So you are forced to pay attention, process the information, compress it into nuggets (that may only make sense to you) and write those down. The notes aren't the point. The process means you retain more and understand better. If I wanted a transcription (which is certainly easier with electronic methods), I'd simply record.
I injured my wrist and hand a few years ago and simply would not be able to write as much as I do if I had to use a ball point pen.
Give fountain pens another try. A lot of the things that make them "impractical" is only an issue with bottom of the barrel, cheap pens.
IMO the biggest advantage isn't really anything objectively measurable. Yes, You can come up with things like smoothness, lack of resistance (my personal first reason to switch), sustainability, but ultimately IMO You end up with "it just feels nice".
To me, the main motivation to use them these days is that it simply feels good to use them. After spending some time tinkering / cleaning / nib polishing, fountain pens give me the same sort of pleasure that one gets from any other good tool - a well sharpened knife that just fits into Your hand, a good screw driver, a nicely worn in shoe, a well maintained / fitted bike... The list goes on. It becomes a sort of a self-sustaining feedback loop. The more You use one, the more You "want" to use one.
The biggest advantage fountain pens have is physics.
Ink flow in a fountain pen is via capillary action (touch nib to paper, ink flows), as opposed to a ballpoint pen where you have to apply a small constant amount of downward force for the ball to have enough friction against the paper for the ball to roll. This might not seem like a big deal, but if you're writing a lot, it means that your wrist & hand will get much more fatigued with a ballpoint over time.
Put another way, ballpoints have absolute advantage over fountain pens, except for "sitting down and writing a lot."
If you're not a writer or artist, you might not find much practical advantage of a fountain pen over a gel pen; I might even advise against them. However if you do frequently write and/or draw, you'll find the customization to be unmatched: you can experiment until you find the exact writing feel you prefer, adjusted by ink, nibs, paper types, etc.
Since I found my match in fountain pens, I've found it impossible to go back to anything else. The small amount of maintenance (refilling and occasionally cleaning) is thoroughly outweighed by the tactile sensation of a writing/drawing instrument perfectly tuned to my preference. But I'm an amateur artist, so finding a well-matched tool is very important to me.
There is much more variety to the physical shape of fountain pens, in just about every measurable dimension. Then, part of the process is to develop a sense of how each pen feels and to discover the one that feels best to _YOU_. It's very personal. It sort of behaves as a tailored suit.
I should mention that the ink can also influence the feel of the pen. There is also that to discover.
>What advantages do fountain pens still have over modern gel ballpoints?
Bragging points, perhaps: Aside from the hipster cred (see also: straight razors and pricey shaving products) there is the fact that you have the disposable income to drop hundreds of dollars on this tech. Otherwise there are modern ways to write that I think are superior, and the wide use of other tech suggests that the vast majority have moved on.
Hard to say if this is objective or not, but here goes…
I find that I write faster with a good, reliable fountain pen (like a Sailor) than I do with a ballpoint, gel, rollerball, or anything else I’ve tried. It’s my go-to for fast note taking.
On the other hand, there are a lot of cool and fancy fountain pens that are net slower to write with due to unreliability.
