Best Fountain Pen for Year 7

[mastertoseland]

DD has just found out she is supposed to use an ink/ fountain pen and that a biro won't cut it apparently.

What are kids using these days? I haven't used a fountain pen for the best part of 25 years and I'm guessing times may have moved on from the Sheaffer Non Nonense pen that was on my uniform list in the late 80s. Are Parker still good?

Mine used Lamy pens. They do a left-handed version too, which was useful for one of them. I think they are excellent and bought myself one which I use all the time

Thanks, I've just ordered her a Lamy Safari, which looks just the ticket!

Hope she enjoys it!

Incidentally most people use cartridge refills, which are more useful for school, but you can also buy a little adapter so that you can use them with a bottle of ink.

DH is a stationery enthusiast (to put it mildly). For entry fountain pens, yes, Lamy is an excellent choice.

Also good are the Pelikan range (the “twist” kinds are visually striking and feel good in the hand). Would recommend also a look at the Prefounte Pen from Platinum, especially as the seal is particularly good (shouldn’t leak or dry out too easily), so very practical.
If your kid is the kind who is constantly dropping things and you need to factor in lots of replacements for damage/breakage, then a solid budget choice are the Jinhao pens.

What I really wanted to flag up here is that transitioning from ball points/pencils to fountain pens means that it’s likely that the choice of paper will have to change too. DH’s old private school bulk stocked up on a particularly fountain-pen-friendly paper and sold it at near cost through the school’s own stationery outlet, that school realised how beneficial appropriate paper was for encouraging good ink pen writing habits.
Personally, I find that the best bang for your buck when it comes to writing paper is Rhodia/Clairefontaine (Rhodia generally being easier to source in U.K.). Other papers can allow feathering or bleed through, or just be too “scratchy” and feel unpleasant to use compared to the easy glide of a decent fountain pen paper. Rhodia is smoooooth.

Further on down the line, Choice of ink can also become important. You might find that a cheapish fountain pen is better than you think when a different ink is introduced into the proprietary cartridge. There are kits available which let you refill ink cartridges from a bottle of your choosing. Anyway, Ink is a whole other rabbit hole to get lost down…

it doesn't sound like they have insisted on fountain pens, just not biro.

DD uses Uniball Air which I find easy to write with too.

Green Who knew stationery could be so complicated!

My nephew who is in Year 11 absolutely loves those erasable Pilot Frixion pens. My daughter who is still in primary loves her trusty Parker! DN is left handed; DD is right handed. Not sure if that makes a difference… but the erasing on the Pilot pens is good for a left hander in case of accidental smudges.

I think though the erasable ones can't be used for exams (because the ink fades when scanned in or something??)

I use the "Oxford" branded paper for writing with a fountain pen, and if you keep an eye for offers it can be a economical choice.

Oooh, good point; hadn’t thought of that. That said, it doesn’t seem to have stopped him using them day to day. School seems happy for him to submit homework with them etc.

@Gladioli23

I use the "Oxford" branded paper for writing with a fountain pen, and if you keep an eye for offers it can be a economical choice.

I’d guess it’s because fountain pens are an essential part of the school kit in France but good, affordable paper is almost a given from the French brands (Oxford, despite the name, is French)

The frixxion ink can't be scanned or laminated. It disappears....

@Evvyjb

The frixxion ink can't be scanned or laminated. It disappears....

Oh, that’s annoying! Thanks for flagging.

@Gladioli23

I use the "Oxford" branded paper for writing with a fountain pen, and if you keep an eye for offers it can be a economical choice.

Seconded for Oxford paper (and Rhodia and Clairefontaine)! I use a fountain pen - as a grown up - and it’s just lovely paper to write on. I miss how cheap it is in France though. I used it all the time when I lived there.