What a great opportunity you're offering to the students. WIsh I were one of them! Thanks for the vid.

Thank you for this! I've been using fountain pens since I was 10. Now, one of the things I do with fountain pens is to restore old fountain pens so that they are able to write again. I write with almost nothing else, and usually have a Lamy 2000 inked up and ready for writing.

I'm just now seeing this video. What a wonderful kindness you extended to your students! I hope that several of them took you up on your offer. Be well. Ubuntu!

Excellent video, and a kind offer to your students. Here are a few more reasons to love fountain pens. 1) Writing with a fountain pen turns the mundane task of writing into a pleasurable sensory experience. 2) You can customise your writing experience in so many ways: selecting a pen that feels just right in your hand, choosing just the right shade of ink to write with, tuning the nib/ink flow. 3) It becomes part of your thinking process. As a researcher, I often have to think about very complex and abstract problems. Lots of ideas swirl around in my brain, competing for my attention. As I form tentative conclusions, I write them down -- not so much as way to remember them, but as a way to mentally mark them as useful. It's like having a highlighter for my brain!

Professor my salutations to you and the very valid point you raised about the environment . Need more conscious individuals like you especially in my country India .

Dr. McCutcheon, I am gratified to find a kindred spirit. I am a hospital chaplain, and, when I find someone intrigued with my pen of choice, start them with a fountain pen and ink, if they think they'd enjoy trying. ... Also, a moment of gratitude to Herr Lehrer Heinz Feldmann, who got me started in 1969.

Great video Dr. McCutcheon. I enjoy fountain pens not only for the sustainability, but the craftsmanship as well. Fountain pens have so much more character than mass-produced disposable ones,

I wish my teachers were like you :) Thank you for sharing your views and spreading your wisdom and good wishes.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It’s interesting to know your story and your long association with fountain pens. Appreciate your style of presentation and gentle and elegant demeanor.

I loved your video. I have fountain pens and journals. I would love for my grandchildren to love my journals that I wrote with my favorite pens and that someday will appreciate my gift to them.

Thank you for a very thoughtful talk. I have used fountain pens since age 7, and am now nearly 72. I agree with your comments. I was waiting for the Pelikan to be discussed!

I was introduced to FPs in 2004 by a friend at work. Recently I've been using my FP more often & I love it. Great video & thank you.

I could listen to this man forever

Thanks for this wonderful video. I've been using fountain pens for over 40 years. I started using them in junior high school, when note-taking became necessary. Prior to this, I had calluses on my fingers and got writer's cramp in class. I love my fountain pens and never stopped using them. I also use a double edge razor, which is sustainable and provides a better shave than cartridge razors.

Such a beautiful message. Thank you.

Wonderful reflection on bringing mindfulness to actions as ‘mundane’ as writing. Thank you.

Writing with a fountain pen does engender mindfulness. Over the last three decades since computers became a household appliance I've certainly typed many hundreds of thousands of words. Being able to touch type means that this is a very fluid method of communication for me, however it lacks the degree of mindfulness that is required to write by hand. Just the act of sitting down to hand write beautifully and without error requires the writer to be completely present. The keyboard puts you into either the past of the future, but very rarely holds you in the present. One thing that I have noticed is that very few people write by hand any more or if they do it is not done with pride, so when someone sees a page I have written by hand it makes much more of an impact than it did when I was young. There are so many exciting inks available now, and everyone can learn to write beautifully... if they can embrace the present.

Thank you for this awesome video! I have been writing with fountain pens for years now and I also collect them. I sometimes give one a way to one of my pupils.

My very first fountain pen was an Esterbrook. There is a sense of joy when one undertakes the ritual of filling a fountain pen with ink. You have to set a space aside for the pen and the bottle of ink. Then, disassemble the pen to reach the ink reservoir, then opening the bottle of ink and inserting the fountain pen tip just deep enough to be able to draw the ink into the reservoir by either turning or pulling on a plunger mechanism. Some pens have a bladder type of reservoir in which no disassembly is required. You merely dip the end of the fountain pen into the ink bottle and then using your fingernail lift a little lever-like plunger on the side of the pen barrel to compress a little rubber bladder that is built into the pen's barrel so that when the spring-action lever is released the ink will be sucked up into the pen's ink reservoir. All of this gives one a feeling of conducting your own type of ceremony like (say) a Japanese tea ceremony. Yes, companies like Bic make billions of pens a year but I see it as a means for millions of people to be able to have something to write with rather than a waste of resources. In the old days (say, of the Roman empire) writing was limited to etching the words into a clay tablet. Now, millions can posses a reliable writing instrument sometimes acquired free of charge. I think that the professor's offer of a free "beginner" fountain pen for his students is a very nice and noble thing to do and I applaud him for it. Finally, I disagree with the professor elitist/academia/woke view regarding the issue of the "climate crisis." There is no climate crisis, professor. It's called "The Weather" your UKposts video would have been just fine without having mentioned the Left's climate crisis propaganda. Have a nice day.

Small things add up. Wonderful video and message. Thank you.

You have given a great message and it's a great initiative

Thanks for sharing! I always use fountain pen all my life, from school days to board exams, college, university (even on the oil rigs, when I stay sometimes for weeks). I love how they write and how they feel in my hand. I am not a collector, do not possess many pens or ink bottles, I have my fair share, and continue to use and love them.

This, a very refreshing perspective on the (perpetual) utilitarian fountain pen - greener than any plastic one-use writing instrument. Of course, when I was a child, virtually everyone used such writing implements - & without knowing it, helped to maintain 'sustainability' in a time when such global concerns sat upon a limited platform. I've been using fountain pens since I was eight - as well as being a 'lefty' - tho' in truth, that companies manufacture specialised inks is somewhat astounding; as you assert, there is an entirely different experience in writing with a blade - the contact itself is more tactile, & I would concur, 'control' is far more exacting. Considering that the number of those within the fountain pen community expanding exponentially by (at least 40%) in the last five years, it is an encouraging signal that many in the younger generations are similarly adopting what was once considered, 'an older person's writing implement'. Of course, there are certain national concerns in regard to the use of writing instruments - in many States of America for example, children are no longer taught cursive handwriting, but instead instructed to employ block capitals; to me, this is counter-intuitive, & negates (& perhaps limits) a young individual’s form of written expression - the preference (as we are all too aware) is to type on a QWERTY keyboard or mobile phone - & whilst I see no inherent issue with same per se, there is a certain ‘debriding’ of the soul to readily communicate effectively - & my own personal pet dislike, that texts & e-mails are ‘sterile’ malappropriations of the written (& spoken) word - often bringing about misinterpretation of a message. In regard to your use of a ballpoint to fill out documentation in, say, triplicate; back in the 1930’s, there were nibs designed to combat such - I own several vintage examples of Pelikan pens, outfitted with ‘D-F’ (Durchschreiber-Feder) nibs - reinforced, tensile metals, e.g. Gold, Steel that ordinarily wrote ‘as nails’ but with the sole purpose of pressure applied to penetrate carbon copy paper; the ballpoint/rollerball was a much later example (tho’ ballpoints have been around since the 1860’s in their crudest form). I have only just viewed your presentation (some two years late), but I do hope that three of your student body availed themselves of your generosity, & are now experiencing an alternative form of the written word, Kind regards, Andrew

I wish you were my professor

Add in a converter or buy a piston-filler, and you won’t even have to throw away cartridges! :)

I've been using fountain pens since junior year of high school I love them

That was excellent. Thank you for this video and those thoughts.

Great video. I’ve used fountain pens all my life. My first one was a Shaeffer as well and I still have it. I agree with you about how many cheap pens are lost or discarded exactly because their cheap. I’m a lawyer and I was aware that I would be writing a great deal throughout my life and I wanted my writing to be more than a ugly scribble. Hence the fountain pen, I recommend them to people but sadly not many try them.

Thank you for this video. ❤🙌

Very good video, and also very true. I love writing with a fountain pen myself. I enjoy restoring vintage pens as well. One thing I would also add, is that you can use your own color ink, exclusively yours by either mixing colors, or as I like to do make my own fountain ink, then I can even more easily and safely make my own ink color to use. Enjoy

Thank you for this words

my favourite fountin pen is the parker one

Bless you! Not small,oh no small thing (from such a small thing).

I got the same Sheaffer 144 but in medium nib. So fun to use...

I still use a 1980s Schaeffer fountain pen with a squeeze converter. And a new Chinese Jinhao 80 fountain pen with a Lamy 1.1 nib. Thank you for this on point video.

I love your Pelikan pen! What a nice offer.

I have 5 fountain pens but my goal is only have 7 fountain pens and I also only use them for writing. I am writing my first book to try to publish and I write in handwriting first the ideas before transfer into digital format. I love fountain pens and I write every day with them, one different every day, you know what I mean.

Wise words.

This was an Awesome Vid ! As I strive for my life of Minimalism. The fountain pen is my choice. Thank you.

Well said

Enjoyed that, and if Socrates was alive, he'd almost certanly be a fountain pen user, and he'd probably use one of those bright highlighter inks folk have to strain to read, just to be annoying. Out of interest, what type of pen was the metal one? It looks like a Parker 51 or maybe a Celine?

Lovely lecture

You should offer a class that is centered around fountain pens, writing and the creative process. It really is a life long journey.

Great video, thanks 🙌 i'm curious about the people who picked the pens😂

You can use rollerball fitments that use fountain pen ink and forget your Bics/Papermates/etc.

An unexamined life is a poor life. - A Wise Man

Hello, thank-you for such a nice video. Indian use more fountain pens than anyone. But, some MNC pen companies, for profit, are badmouthing fountain pens and promoting their gel and roller pens. I am using Airmail, Beena and Click pens with Bril ink and its a fantastic combination. Also, fountain pens are environmentally friendly as u don't need plastic refills frequently and the worst, you don't throw them after use. Indians, i have seen, use their pens for years !

Very cool

Omg. Really not identifying the pens. Umm, imma say Sheaffer Targa and what, like m600?

While I'm not one to subscribe to the climate change scam I do believe in reducing waste as much as possible. And if I went to this professors school I'd be the first person in line for the fountain pen offer and I'd love to talk with him about fountain pens.

Thank you for such a reflective message worth consideration.