Calling all lefties

[gerryr]

I got a call from a good customer tonight. He has a friend who is left-handed and has trouble with a pen because, like most left-handed people I've observed, she writes upside down and the ink, even from a ballpoint gets on her hand. He asked me for a recommendation about what she can use. Being right-handed, I have no idea, but I told him I would check and see what I could find out from those with direct experience. So, anybody got any recommendations? I know a fountain pen is out.

 

[JimGo]

I use both fountain and rollerball pens regularly without any problems. I use Montblanc refills in my RB's, and both Lamy ink (in my Lamy pen) and the standard ink that comes with the FP's (I think mine is from a Jr. Gent v. 1, but I'm not sure any more, and it's on a "mod-ed" out pen that didn't quite mod out the way I had hoped). Hope this helps!

 

[gerryr]

Do you write upside down? Does MB ink dry faster than Schmidt?

 

[tipusnr]

My younger brother and I are both left handed. I right with my wrist uncocked but he has the classic leftie grip. He uses a fountain regularly and has trained himself not to rest his hand on the writing surface. He is a police officer and writes a lot so I don't understand why it is not tiring him out.

I also have found ways to suspend my hand when the paper won't absorb the ink fast enough.

 

[bjackman]

Gerry,
A FP may actually be one of her best options. I can't find it right now, but I remember someone mentioning Nathan of Noodlers making up some special batches of REALLY fast drying ink for lefties. I also remember seeing a brand that had fast drying ink also. I'll try to pull up some of the info/sources and let you know.

 

[keithz]

I'm not left-handed, but I have a sister that is and I want to make her a pen. I remember from growing up that she always seemed to have ink or graphite on her hand from rubbing across the paper as she wrote.

I am really looking forward to reading other's answers to this question.

keithz

 

[LEAP]

I'm not a lefty but a good friend who is always tears the clip off any pen he gets. He says it gets in the way for lefties. Don't ask me what the difference is? I made him a couple pens sans clip and he's happy.
Phil

 

[beamer]

never heard about that clip thing ... that's odd to me

As a lefty, no inkpen have I found is immune to smudging. The rollerballs are especially frustrating for me. My best luck so far has been retraining my hand to at least skip over the previous line so that it has time to dry before my hand reaches it.

Oh.... the best tool for lefties? Keyboards!

 

[Jerryconn]

I'm what they call, around here anyway, an "over the top leftie" (turn the paper like a right hander and bend my wrist in a weird position, all that came from my first grade teacher who tried to make me write right handed, but that is another story) everything will smear eventually. I have learned to hold my pens much further up the barrel, away from the nib and it actually keeps my hand off lines above longer so they have more time to dry. I use a roller ball or gel ink parker refill all the time.

 

[jckossoy]

I'm also a lefty and I don't usually have any problems with a ballpoint, rollerball, or FP, and I use them all.

Don't forget to hire the left handed, it fun to watch them write[].

Kol Tov,