Pens Continued…

If you're going to purchase a specialty pen, you should plan on spending some money. You'll be paying as much for the craftsmanship as much as you'll be paying for the actual ink that fills the pen. It's important that before you purchase a pen that you actually write with the pen to make sure that it is a good fit for your hand.

Specialty pens can be purchased in stores throughout the country, and from online retailers and collectors. These pens often come in fancy cases that protect the pen from damage. Retailers will even personalize your pen if you would like them to. The service is often fairly expensive and can include personalized engraving or color combinations of your choice.

Fountain Pens

Fountain pens are once again gaining popularity. Fountain pens have been used for hundreds of years and can be excellent writing tools. The old-style pens not only look sharp, but can last for years. Because the pens have become collector's items, they can be expensive to purchase. While early fountain pens were notorious for leaking, changes to the composition of the ink have largely made this a thing of the past.

Fountain pens may not be great for everyday writing, but if you enjoy writing in journals or writing letters to friends, a fountain pen can be a lot of fun. There are nine standard nib-sizes, or tips, with three different nib-tip cuts: straight, oblique and italic. Each tip will add a different element to your writing.

Ballpoint Pens

Ballpoint pens are the most common type of pen used today. They are durable, cheap and easy to find. There are two basic types of ballpoint pen on the market: disposable and refillable.

• Disposable pens are made of plastic and you simply discard when you're finished using. The pens are very inexpensive and can often be purchased by the dozen for little to nothing at office supply stores.
• Refillable pens are typically made out of metal, but once in a while you'll find one that is made of plastic. Instead of tossing the pens away when you're finished using them, you can refill the ink or replace the ink cartridge. The pens typically cost 2-3 times more than disposable pens.

Pens typically come standard filled with blue and black ink, but today you can find pens with just about any colored ink imaginable. Disposable pens come in an array or colors, and refillable pens allow the user to fill the pen with the ink of their choice. If you need to have several colors available for one project, multi-color pens are a great choice as they have several ink cartridges inside one pen.

By Chris Saunders