Many people view fountain pens as an antiquated, difficult, messy way of writing, however this couldn't be further from the truth. This article will explore some of the misconceptions and benefits of using a fountain pen as your main writing tool.

There are plenty of benefits to writing with a fountain pen, some of these benefits include, but are not limited to the following:

• They are very environmentally friendly
• They are highly cost effective
• Using them gives character and style to your writing
• They can provide a much better writing experience than a regular pen
• Many of them are or may become collectible

After reviewing the above bulleted reasons for using a fountain pen, some might not be as obvious as others, so lets take a closer look at each of these benefits.

Environment:

I'm sure that just about everyone reading this article has at some point used and thrown out 10s if not 100s of cheap plastic disposable pens in their lifetime, and by now it should be well known that this is terrible for the environment. Because most fountain pens are made of either metal, strong resin, or sometimes wood, you dint have to worry about them cracking or wearing down to a point where you need to toss them. The most important environmentally friendly factor of a fountain pen though is that you can refill the ink either directly into the body of the pen or using a cartridge. Either method drastically cuts down on the amount of plastic waste created by normal pens.

Cost Effectiveness:

For many of the environmental reasons listed above, you can also save yourself a good deal of money writing with a fountain pen. Although the initial upfront cost can be a little bit more (anywhere from $20 to $100s) the ongoing costs are quite minimal since a good bottle of ink will only cost you about $10 to $15 and it will yield you many dozens of refills before you need to buy more ink. You can also use cartridges instead of filling directly from a bottle of ink, but they are not as cost effective as bottled ink, but still more cost effective than a ballpoint pen.

Character and Style:

Because most fountain pen nibs (a nib is the tip that you write with) come in various sizes and styles, you can customize your writing style very easily. There are nibs that are and italic, and there are also nibs that come in sizes ranging from extra fine to bold. There are even people who can customize the nib for you to make it even more fine than the originally manufactured one, or put other customized touches on it to cater to your writing preference.

In addition to the nib size and style, you can also choose from literally hundreds if not thousands of different ink colors and types. Everything from dozens of different shades of black, red, and blue are and available, but you can also find yourself some very nice shades of orange, purple, green, brown or gray inks to name just a few. If you want something a little different you can find yourself some nice mixed colors like my favorite, blue black. If all of those options dint do it for you, there are even some UV inks that glow under black light and some scented inks too.

Beyond the ink and the writing style, you also have the endless options as to what your pen can look like. There are fountain pens of every color, size, and style that you can either match to your wardrobe, accessories, and/or other office supplies.

The Writing Experience:

Those of you who are used to using a regular ballpoint pen might have just become numb to the fact that they tend to skip, and leave clumps of ink behind that will smudge, not to mention the fact that they require a certain amount of force or pressure to write with. With a fountain pen (and yes, even the less expensive ones) you do not have to press at all, simply dragging the pen across the page will leave a solid and consistent line of ink behind. For the most part, you wont ever find a fountain pen and ink combination that results in the skipping and clumping that can be found with most ballpoint pens, and even some gel pens. Based on your choice of ink color, and nib style, you can really find yourself with one of the smoothest and effortless writing experiences while writing with a fountain pen.

An Investment:

Now you most likely wont become rich by investing in a good fountain pen, but there are certain vintage pens out there that have value to them, and even limited edition collectors editions of others that can be quite valuable to collectors. Even if you dint have one of these vintage or special edition pens, your own purchased pen can quickly become a family heirloom that you can hand down to your children or grandchildren.

So those are in my mind some of the best reasons to own and use a fountain pen, so I just wanted to touch quickly on some of the common misconceptions about using them as well. Like I said before, people like to say that fountain pens are too messy and annoying to write with, but I couldn't disagree more.

The mess factor can be there, but that goes for anything that you do in day to day life if you are not careful and know what you are doing. Its pretty easy to load a fountain pen with ink, and you might make a little bit of a mess the first 2-3 times you load it up, but after you get the hang of it, its a pretty simple thing to do. Also, I always hear people talk about how they are afraid that fountain pens will leak all over them...there really is nothing to say about this other than its simply not true. The only problem you MIGHT have is if you take a fountain pen on a plane, or if you dint close it back up right. In all the time I have been using a fountain pen, Ive never had one leak on me. you will get some nib creep, but this is very minor. Nib creep is when tiny beads of ink collect on the nib, but I've never seen it become a major issue that got messy.

Now that you have seen some of the benefits of using a fountain pen, and the various inks that are availabel to use with them, why not check out some fountain pen reviews to see if you can find one that suits your style, needs, and personality. Once you get started using one, you will find it to be a truly enjoyable experience.