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What's a good fat ballpoint pen?

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
My good ballpoint broke and I need another. Utilitarian but nice. Not over $50 - $100. Sturdy.

I like fat (in diameter) pens. I use my pen a lot at work and want one which will hold a Parker-style refill. I usually use a Schmidt P 900 refill.

Skinny pens don't work at all for me. Used to be easy to find a good, fat pen but not so much now.

I figured this might be a great place to get great information.

Thanks for any help.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I'm a fan of the Tombow Airpress. It's quite a chunky pen, that's pressurised by the clicky deployment. It's not a stylish affair, and I wouldn't carry one if wearing a suit, but it's a very practical pen. And its fat :D

The fat and smart pens in my array are actually promotional pens that I've acquired over the years. Several of which have been good enough to keep, use, and refill as necessary, rather than just say thanks and chuck it in a drawer :)

The other larger girth pens that I like are hand turned ones. They use generic parts (freely available to hobby pen turners), and take generic refills, but they're often very nice pens to use.

Personally, I don't mind slimmer pens at all. I'm perfectly happy with a Zebra... whatever the stainless bodied one is.... and my favourite fountain pen is quite slim too.
 
Nothing off the top of my head, but a question. Regular Sharpie fat? Fatter or slimmer? My most used ballpoint is a Parker 45 Flighter which is slimmer than a Sharpie.

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What you really want is a slim to medium diameter fountain pen.

Oh wait, no you don't, that's me.

To answer your question, depends on where you think "fat" starts. Multi-pens tend to be among the thickest. There's a Uniball Jetstream four color pen that's quite chunky. But of course, it won't take the Parker style refill. A Zebra SK Sharbo gives you two colors and a mechanical pencil. But again, no Parker type refills. There are refills for these, mind you, just a different style.

If you'd settle for a slimmer pen that still seems chunky to me, there is a very nice range of Retro 1951 pens (single color), that do take Parker style refills. Twist openers, many styles.

Karas Kustoms has some nice looking all metal pens that will be toward the top of your price range.

And seriously, since you dropped in, think about fountain pens. And not necessarily chunky ones. :001_cool:
 
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Waterman Carene is on the chubby side. Available in ball, roller ball, and fountain.

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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not yet sure any of them will work for me, but maybe.

I write a lot, and absolutely have to have a ball point. Even though a fountain pen is great, it won't work for me. At work, it's gotta be a ball point. Skinny pens make my hand much too tired too fast, and sometimes led to cramping.

Used to be all good office supply stores had some nice fat ball points. Now it seems like the fashion is skinny.

Check out the Retro 51 Tornado line - I think they have BPs and RBs :001_smile:thumbup1:

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Not even close. This is a skinny pen at the business end. Near the tip, where my fingers go, is where I need the pen to have a large diameter.

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More like this, but maybe not so fat. Maybe a lot nicer. I ordered a package of these cheapo pens (above) to see what they're like but I'm not too very hopeful.


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Too expensive, the Waterman pens, at least some of them are, but not all. Maybe not fat enough. I'll see if any local stores have them, but these don't look fat to me. They're fatter than the really skinny pens of course.

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I want and need something like this, the Dr Grip, but in a better quality. Used to be easily found. Not now.

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I had one of these one time, this Pencil Grip, above. The large grip is too far back from the tip + the pen is junk.

I've found a bunch of really cool pens today, looking around at the pens everyone's suggested. There's some nice stuff out there. I particularly enjoyed seeing the various brass and copper pens.

Thanks, and I'm not giving up yet.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Try something. The cramping is likely caused by a "death grip". Holding the pen too tightly. Try loosening your grip and see if that helps the cramping some.

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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Try something. The cramping is likely caused by a "death grip". Holding the pen too tightly. Try loosening your grip and see if that helps the cramping some.

The problem is too much writing. I've tried everything, but a fat diameter pen is the solution. Believe me.

This isn't a new problem or unique to me. Writing a lot is a pain.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Not saying that the ultimate solution isn't a different pen, only that gripping the pen more lightly may help regardless of the pen you use.

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When I am stuck doing interviews for a position that opens up at work it's pretty much 8 hours of writing down responses all day. Besides the DR Grip ballpoint pen my Retro 51 tornado is actually just as comfortable for me. I hold it a little further back, not too far but where it gets thicker and it's very comfortable. Maybe something like this might work for you
View Stock BP Pens
 
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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
When I am stuck doing interviews for a position that opens up at work it's pretty much 8 hours of writing down responses all day. Besides the DR Grip ballpoint pen my Retro 51 tornado is actually just as comfortable for me. I hold it a little further back, not too far but where it gets thicker and it's very comfortable. Maybe something like this might work for you
View Stock BP Pens

Ah, very interesting. Thank you.
 
Tactile Turn, makes some great pens in their Mover & Shaker line. I have the Brass Mover and it is a solid performer! I use it at work as a lot of the paper that we use is not FP friendly!

Tom
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Tactile Turn, makes some great pens in their Mover & Shaker line. I have the Brass Mover and it is a solid performer! I use it at work as a lot of the paper that we use is not FP friendly!

Tom

These look very good, but skinny. I want a fat pen.
 
2 that I like are the Rosetta Coronado (from ipenstore) and the jinhao 159...this is actually a rollerball with an odd, not-so- great refill, but they're available cheaply enough that they can be easily modified to take virtually anything if you're handy at that sort of thing (I have several I've configured for different refills)

Other possibilities are the Monteverde Giant Sequoia and the Laban Mento

E+M makes a couple of odd, very fat, little pens that are surprisingly comfortable to use and take standard parker-type refills
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
2 that I like are the Rosetta Coronado (from ipenstore) and the jinhao 159...this is actually a rollerball with an odd, not-so- great refill, but they're available cheaply enough that they can be easily modified to take virtually anything if you're handy at that sort of thing (I have several I've configured for different refills)

Other possibilities are the Monteverde Giant Sequoia and the Laban Mento

E+M makes a couple of odd, very fat, little pens that are surprisingly comfortable to use and take standard parker-type refills

What a great store. I've not found exactly what I want yet, but it is a resource. Thanks.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
2 that I like are the Rosetta Coronado (from ipenstore) and the jinhao 159...this is actually a rollerball with an odd, not-so- great refill, but they're available cheaply enough that they can be easily modified to take virtually anything if you're handy at that sort of thing (I have several I've configured for different refills)

Other possibilities are the Monteverde Giant Sequoia and the Laban Mento

E+M makes a couple of odd, very fat, little pens that are surprisingly comfortable to use and take standard parker-type refills

Some real options! Thanks.
 
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