THE (Virginia Beach) VIRGINIAN-PILOT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--Like most of the world, Chuck Swisher abandoned fountain pens for ballpoints decades ago.

Blame it on the girl in sixth grade who turned around and scribbled on his paper. Swisher retaliated with his "skinny little Sheaffer" ink pen, the student model with the see-through barrel.

With a flick of his wrist, a line of ink drops, like tracer rounds, raced up the girl's white shirt, over her head and onto the bulletin board and teacher's desk.

"I got into a lot of trouble with that fountain pen," Swisher, 49, of Virginia Beach, recalled.

Today, fountain pens have recaptured Swisher's imagination, and he has turned his fascination into a profitable business.

When Swisher left West Virginia and joined the Navy, there was a never-ending supply of black, government-issued ballpoints. As a postal clerk, he rose to the rank of chief petty officer before retiring in 1992, without a fountain pen to his name.

He took a full-time job with the U.S. Postal Service and discovered a new wrinkle for a woodworking hobby. The place where he bought his wood sold pen parts. Swisher bought a used lathe and began turning fancy wood and acrylic barrels.

He made a few pens and brought them into the Church Street post office in Norfolk. Co-workers snapped them up.

When he tried selling them on the Internet, however, Swisher learned that fountain pens were the rage. People had returned to the old models for nostalgia and to newer ones for their smooth writing, as collectibles or pocket art.

Swisher bought some fountain pen parts, and his custom-made models took off. Soon, he was coming home from his night shift and spending another 10 hours at the lathe, unable to keep up with the orders.

Swisher started yearning for fountain pens of his own. He began scouring flea markets and yard sales.

His collection began in earnest when he bought half a kitchen table full of pens from a woman.

Most of the pens were Parker 51s, a design that dates to World War II and is still prized for reliability and smooth writing. Swisher took the easy path and made 51s the center of his collection.

Bitten by the bug, he discovered Internet mailing lists and pen shows, conventions where dealers and collectors gather with truckloads of vintage and modern models.