Writing instruments

I just ordered a couple of TWSBI Eco fountain pens from the Goulet Pen Company and I am hoping to have them by early next week. I ordered a white with a 1.1mm stub nib and a black one with an extra fine nib. I also ordered a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Old Man Winter gray ink and another bottle of my standby Sheaffer Skrip Red. For me, it remains the purest red out there. I'll try to post pictures when they arrive.

Freddy, you have beautiful penmanship. Mine never looked that nice and  once I started taking notes in school that did my penmanship in for good. Now at best I print. A nice fountain pen just matches your cursive... It fits.

I remember using fountain pens in school, then the inexpensive BIC stiks came out and things have never been the same. For me a fountain pen would be like putting a tutu on a pig. So I use Pens out of Staples and I absolutely dislike a pen that resists my finger movements. I'm using the BIC Velocity (or Velocity gel) pens now because they roll seemingly without friction and they are wonderfully black. Of course that's when I'm not using the word processor and printer. So for me cursive writing is dead, I'm not better for it, it's just the way it is.

I like to see beautiful cursive.

Brian, yours is a big reason that i decided to go with "Writing Instruments" instead of "Fountain Pens", as I did on TSN.  Although my preferred writing instrument is a fountain pen, learning what others use, why they use it, and how opens up a whole new world to the thread, in my opinion.  

Of course, using a fountain pen is not always practical so learning what others use helps me.  For example, I'm not willing to fly with a fountain pen due to changing cabin pressure.  Some folks do but I'm not willing to risk it.  However, when I do that crossword puzzle on the plane with a ballpoint, I can definitely tell the difference.

Well, I suppose even being a bad example is worth something!

But really, my penmanship is nonexistent and it would be a complete waste for me to use a fountain pen.

I just ordered a couple of TWSBI Eco fountain pens from the Goulet Pen Company and I am hoping to have them by early next week.  I ordered a white with a 1.1mm stub nib and a black one with an extra fine nib.  I also ordered a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Old Man Winter gray ink and another bottle of my standby Sheaffer Skrip Red.  For me, it remains the purest red out there. I'll try to post pictures when they arrive.

Freddy, please share your thoughts on the Ecos. I think I'll be picking up the white one for my wife.

Do you think they are about the same size as the Mini?

I just ordered a couple of TWSBI Eco fountain pens from the Goulet Pen Company and I am hoping to have them by early next week.  I ordered a white with a 1.1mm stub nib and a black one with an extra fine nib.  I also ordered a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Old Man Winter gray ink and another bottle of my standby Sheaffer Skrip Red.  For me, it remains the purest red out there. I'll try to post pictures when they arrive.

Freddy, please share your thoughts on the Ecos. I think I'll be picking up the white one for my wife.

Do you think they are about the same size as the Mini?

No, Brian, based on Brian Goulet's quick introduction to the pen.  (I put in my order before seeing the intro.) Here is the Goulet take on the pen: http://blog.gouletpens.com/2015/07/answe...ns+Blog%29

This is amazing!  (And here I thought one wasn't supposed to eat one's writing instruments. )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4jJ4wzm99U

Freddy, you have beautiful penmanship. Mine never looked that nice and  once I started taking notes in school that did my penmanship in for good. Now at best I print. A nice fountain pen just matches your cursive... It fits.

I remember using fountain pens in school, then the inexpensive BIC stiks came out and things have never been the same. For me a fountain pen would be like putting a tutu on a pig. So I use Pens out of Staples and I absolutely dislike a pen that resists my finger movements. I'm using the BIC Velocity (or Velocity gel) pens now because they roll seemingly without friction and they are wonderfully black. Of course that's when I'm not using the word processor and printer. So for me cursive writing is dead, I'm not better for it, it's just the way it is.

I like to see beautiful cursive.

I don't think cursive is dead.  Many schools still teach it and while some have abandoned it, there is ample research to show that teaching the practice, has other cognitive benefits extending beyond the simple modality of writing letters on paper.  Further, becoming a competent writer with the ability to convey thought and meaning via the written word, begins at a young age on paper; no matter how technologically crazy society becomes.  I never used a fountain pen in school.  I didn't even know what one was until my grandfather passed away a few years ago.  One of the boxes of his items had all his shave gear and pens in it. They looked interesting, so I took the box home and while he taught me numerous things when he was still with us, I think that box was meant for me to find as a way for him to continue teaching me as I grow as a father of three boys.  The practice of wet shaving and writing a letter with a great fountain pen have value, they have merit, and meaning.  Perhaps more now, than they did when they were much more common place.   I delved right into wet shaving, Fountain pens more recently, by getting his restored and running rather than simply sitting on my mantle.  I love writing a letter.  It seems an ancient practice, but in profession where I am "plugged in 8 hours a day every day, I love doing something that doesn't involve a screen.  My handwriting has gone from horrid, to somewhat passible as well.

Patience, attention to detail, thought, pride in a finished product, willingness to learn, all of these attributes I found applicable in wet shaving and now, in fountain pens.  My boys balked recently when I started making them write a monthly letter to Grandma and Grandpa.  "Can't we face-time" "can't we e-mail" were their immediate responses.  Now, it is a practice they not only enjoy, but Grandma and Grandpa have every letter in their home they have ever received from my boys thus far.  It means something to the recipient of a letter to know the sender values them enough to take the time to sit and pontificate on their behalf, for their benefit.  These are things that should never die no matter how many touch screens we may have in our lives.

Freddy, you have beautiful penmanship. Mine never looked that nice and  once I started taking notes in school that did my penmanship in for good. Now at best I print. A nice fountain pen just matches your cursive... It fits.

I remember using fountain pens in school, then the inexpensive BIC stiks came out and things have never been the same. For me a fountain pen would be like putting a tutu on a pig. So I use Pens out of Staples and I absolutely dislike a pen that resists my finger movements. I'm using the BIC Velocity (or Velocity gel) pens now because they roll seemingly without friction and they are wonderfully black. Of course that's when I'm not using the word processor and printer. So for me cursive writing is dead, I'm not better for it, it's just the way it is.

I like to see beautiful cursive.

I don't think cursive is dead.  Many schools still teach it and while some have abandoned it, there is ample research to show that teaching the practice, has other cognitive benefits extending beyond the simple modality of writing letters on paper.  Further, becoming a competent writer with the ability to convey thought and meaning via the written word, begins at a young age on paper; no matter how technologically crazy society becomes.  I never used a fountain pen in school.  I didn't even know what one was until my grandfather passed away a few years ago.  One of the boxes of his items had all his shave gear and pens in it. They looked interesting, so I took the box home and while he taught me numerous things when he was still with us, I think that box was meant for me to find as a way for him to continue teaching me as I grow as a father of three boys.  The practice of wet shaving and writing a letter with a great fountain pen have value, they have merit, and meaning.  Perhaps more now, than they did when they were much more common place.   I delved right into wet shaving, Fountain pens more recently, by getting his restored and running rather than simply sitting on my mantle.  I love writing a letter.  It seems an ancient practice, but in profession where I am "plugged in 8 hours a day every day, I love doing something that doesn't involve a screen.  My handwriting has gone from horrid, to somewhat passible as well.

Patience, attention to detail, thought, pride in a finished product, willingness to learn, all of these attributes I found applicable in wet shaving and now, in fountain pens.  My boys balked recently when I started making them write a monthly letter to Grandma and Grandpa.  "Can't we face-time" "can't we e-mail" were their immediate responses.  Now, it is a practice they not only enjoy, but Grandma and Grandpa have every letter in their home they have ever received from my boys thus far.  It means something to the recipient of a letter to know the sender values them enough to take the time to sit and pontificate on their behalf, for their benefit.  These are things that should never die no matter how many touch screens we may have in our lives.

Steelshaves, thank you for this thoughtful response.  Before I retired, I was an elementary school teacher (primary school teacher, for those of you in the U.K.) and penmanship was something I always did with my students.  Towards the end of my career I was quite literally not permitted to do it.  I was told my students would pick it up as they went along or that computers made writing not as important as it once was.  When I tried to explain that it was important for eye/hand co-ordination, for critical thinking skills, and for social skills I was shot down.  Frankly, by the time I retired, the way education is looked at now is not what I had signed up for back in the late 1960s, when I started.  It was time for me to go.  

Now, when it comes to penmanship, all the reasons I gave for keeping it as an integral part of the curriculum I see in statements like yours and in articles written by others.  Computers have certainly changed the world tremendously in the last thirty years.  However, deciding to get rid of something as basic as penmanship is throwing out the baby with the bathwater, in my opinion.

Freddy from a son of teachers my mom 27 years total and my dad 31 and myself 11... In teaching the reward is high, the Bureacracy is high and the pay is low.  Four years ago, when our youngest was on the way. I could ill afford teaching anymore, economics dictated I do something else.  To this day I get asked " don't you miss summers off" these people must have missed me tearing shingles off of roofs during the summer and taking my teams to summer camps.    Summers off?... What's that.?

Freddy from a son of teachers my mom 27 years total and my dad 31 and myself 11... In teaching the reward is high, the Bureacracy is high and the pay is low.  Four years ago, when our youngest was on the way. I could ill afford teaching anymore, economics dictated I do something else.  To this day I get asked " don't you miss summers off" these people must have missed me tearing shingles off of roofs during the summer and taking my teams to summer camps.    Summers off?... What's that.?

Oh trust me, you're preaching to the choir.

My Goulet order arrived today. Here are some (very bad) photos with comments afterwards:


My order of two TWSBI Ecos and two bottles of ink


Front and back of the TWSBI boxes


Unboxing the TWSBIs


TWSBI Ecos, capped


TWSBI Ecos, posted


TWSBI Eco (1.1mm nib) writing sample

The pen is quite long so this is in no way the size of the TWSBI Mini.  Surprisingly, when posted, the pen does not feel top heavy, even though it goes from 5½ inches (139mm) capped to a whopping 6-5/8 inches (167mm) posted.  I have only used the white Eco with the stub nib.  I'll wait to use the black one with the EF nib as I have several pens inked up at the moment.  

The box it comes in is much more utilitarian than the Apple inspired boxes for their other pens.  Having said that, these are still boxed much nicer than most other pens in their price range.  Just like the others, each pen comes with instructions, a tiny bottle of silicone grease, and a wrench designed for use with the pen.  The wrench is plastic, instead of metal, so I assume this is another cost cutting measure on TWSBI's part.  According to Brian Goulet on his introduction to the pen, he seems to like this wrench better and both the plastic and metal wrenches seem to be interchangeable.