Lefties are all ... Left?

[DaveM]

I have sold several fountain pens this year, but I am still a reluctant user. I am a left hander, so I am always fighting the nib a bit. I also have to overwrite at a really weird angle to avoid smearing the ink. Several customers have had the same problems. They see me writing receipts left handed with demo pens, and when I write with a Fountain, they say "I'd like to use a Fountain pen, but I can't because I'm left handed." Are there any other left handers out there with these issues?

I tend to write with a low angle and very light pressure on the nib, and I am trying a couple of different inks. How are Noodlers and Private Reserve inks for lefties? What paper should I be using to demo my Fountain pens? A slightly softer paper reduces the smudging effect, but harder paper is smoother under the tip.

I have ended up writing with a Baron with the stock (Medium) nib. Should I look at other nib sizes? THe large nib seemed a bit smoother, but the line was wide like a magic marker!

THanks in advance,
Dave

 

[PenWorks]

Tough question to start out on. I have seen lefties in the store write with a FP and wonder how they write at all I would recomend trying a left hand oblique nib. This is a nib ground with a left slant, that may help. I have several right hand oblique nibs I use in my rotation. You may just have to alter your writing style to make it work for you.

 

[leehljp]

LOML is left handed. We were talking this morning about "old times." She is from New Orleans. I am from small farming town in NW Mississippi. But we had something in common from Jr. Hi and High School - the change from pencils to pens came in Jr. High (7th grade) for us as teachers required. In the late '50s and early 60's the transition for both of us were to fountain pens. Ball point pens were not that popular or used until mid '60s.

The point behind that is that I remember several classmates writing with fountain pens and doing a great job of beautiful penmanship, boys as well as girls. They did write funny with their hands above the lines (as in towards the top side of the page) where as right handers keep the most part of their hands below the line on the bottom side of the page.

 

[Texatdurango]

Oh yeah, the good ole days... that's something I forgot all about! I'm also a lefty who toated around a fountain pen in the 60's and remember thosee days of writing two pages only to have ink smeared all over the side of my hand. Luckily though, I am not one of those lefties who write upside down or sideways... just backwards!

 

[arioux]

Hi,

Here are some interesting links for lefties. There is some FP nibs specially made or grind for left handed. One site even explain you how to grind your hown.

http://www.nibs.com/Left-hand writers.htm

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/acatalog/italic_pen_manuscript.html

http://andersonlefthandside.com.au/writing/fountain-pens.htm

http://www.pendemonium.com/pens_italic.htm

http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/nibs.html

Hope this help

Alfred

 

[RussFairfield]

You could always write backwards from right to left, and make the rest of the world use a mirroe to read it.
Many famous people have done that, so you would be in good company.

The early ballpoint pens leaked, smeared, and left gobs of ink on the paper. The ink was greasy and dried slowly, and would soak throught 6 sheets of stacked paper overnight. Teachers hated them because their hands were always stained with the ink.

If you think a fountain pen is bad, the early ballpoint pens were worse. I had my 1st one in 1947, and they were the rage at the local Woolworth store before that school year. They were so messy that the school banned their use within a month after the school year started. Their general use was reserved for signatures through 6 carbon copies in those days before the Xerox Machine. It wasn't until the early 60's that they were an acceptable writing tool. I remember the Parker T-Ball Jotter as being the first ballpoint that had control of the flow of an ink that didn't smear. However it had a different problem - it skipped a lot.

 

[DCBluesman]

Beyond using an oblique grind to your nib, fast drying ink helps lefties immensely. Private Reserve makes several colors of fast-drying ink. My customers love it.

 

[LostintheWoods]

I'm Shannon, and I'm a left-hander. ["Hi, Shannon"]
Through the entirety of Jr. High and High School, I used a Schaeffer cartridge pen almost exclusively, mostly to assert my "individuality" from the other kids, most of whom used ballpoints.(This is from 1960-1965) The pens I was using were the super-high-quality Shaeffer pen w/transparent barrel that sold for $1, complete with 2 cartridges--and sometimes included a pack of 5 extra cartridges, still just $1. To avoid smearing, I learned to write "uphill"--with paper turned at 90degrees, and with my hand to the left (above) the line. The only issue was then not to use too much pressure--thus avoiding splatters when the nib dug into the paper. This may have permanently scarred me, because I still get comments about "writing upside-down". It also gives a whole new meaning to "writer's cramp"! But it work(s)/(ed) for me!

 

[mick]

I graduated High School in 1977 and used a fountain pens as Shannon did....to be different. Being left-handed I also developed a similar style. Turning my paper to a near 90 degree angle, sure looked funny but it worked and I ended up with very little ink on the edge of my hand or smeared on the paper. After high school the FP use fell by the wayside. I recently made myself one to get reaquainted with the beast. If I'm going to sell them I need to be able to use them! I've sold several FP but I've yet to have a lefty for a customer but I want to be ready when that first one comes along!

 

[DaveM]

THanks! A lot of great information to digest here. I was in High School when Eraser Mates came out, and I could not use one of them for anything. If I had to use a pen, I wrote with the paper tipped to the right, and went from top to bottom, so that my hand went below the line I was writing. Now, I have noticed that I write with my hand over the top of the page. Funny thing is, I don't ever remember making the switch. I tried writing to the bottom again, and I think it might work better.

I mainly use pencils for work (Technical fields where you need to erase a lot) or a computer (Autocad) I used to use a rollerball for my writing, but the Fountain pen just seems a bit more fun.

Thanks again everybody,
Dave

 

[woodmarc]

I'm a lefty who has been using a FP for about a year now.
My writing style is a litle different than most lefties. I actually rotate the paper so that it is roughly 90 degrees clockwise to the way a righty would turn. My first grade teacher was a lefty. By doing this, my letters tilt the same as a righty.
Consequently, no problems, the writing angle is very close to a right handed persons. My issue with FP is that I am always refilling the %^&*$$ things!

 

[bjackman]

Dave,
http://www.pendemonium.com/ink_facts.htm
Here is a nice long page with good information on LOTS of different brands and inks. Do a search for "fast" on the page or zip down to look at the "ultra black" under the private reserve brand Lou mentioned.
I know I have a link somewhere to some other quick drying inks for lefties, but can't find it right now.
One thing I have done to speed up the drying time is buy an ink color that is darker than what I really want. I then water down or dilute the ink with distilled water until I get the color I want. I started this process in an attempt to lighten up an ink I thought would be much lighter than it was writing in my pens, but found a side benefit of quicker drying times as well.
Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue is a perfect example of this. My favorite color of blue ink is DC blue diluted at 50/50 to about 25(ink) 75(water).

 

[bjackman]

Just found another link I was looking for.

http://inksampler.com/sampler/swishers.html

google "fast drying fountain pen ink"

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by arioux

Hi, Here are some interesting links for lefties. There is some FP nibs specially made or grind for left handed. One site even explain you how to grind your hown.....

I found the article on grinding your nibs to be extremely interesting. Thanks, Alfred, for that link.

The grinding process does not appear to be all that complicated; but I am sure it requires some practice and skill. I wonder if anyone, here, has ever tried to grind a nib and if so, what sort of result did you achieve? From the written description, it seems like a relatively short process.....maybe 1/2 hour ±. Is that an accurate time estimate??

Thanks.

 

[DCBluesman]

I've watched a few nibmeisters (Deb McKinney, Richard Binder, John Mottishaw, Nagahara and others) work over the years and for the most part they seem to be able to customize a nib in about 20-30 minutes. I haven't done it because I barely have time to make the pen, much less customize a nib. By the way, there are also nib artists who actually make art-form nibs like this one