Pen!

pandaponies said:

The ink takes a second to dry though, it will smear if you write something and then put your hand over it.

Probably not good for lefties.

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Ah, yes, the bane of the left-handed. I know it well. Turned the entire side of my hand blue one time back in grade-school after writing a paper in class. My right handed friends were all, "Whoa! How much have you been writing?!" And I was all, "What? This happens every time I write."

Seriously, is there even such thing as a pen that won't get all over your hand if you're a leftie? I've used all sorts of pens over the years and I've just come to accept that if I'm writing by hand for a long time, I'm probably going to have to wash the ink off afterwards.

If you're going to find a good pen, you have to read the reviews. That model appears to be remarkably vertatile, especially for the price.

meowzbark said:

Hate to hijack the thread, but are these pens great for 'lefties' too?

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I see a possible pen review writer here...

E.F.B. said:

Ah, yes, the bane of the left-handed. I know it well. Turned the entire side of my hand blue one time back in grade-school after writing a paper in class. My right handed friends were all, "Whoa! How much have you been writing?!" And I was all, "What? This happens every time I write."

Seriously, is there even such thing as a pen that won't get all over your hand if you're a leftie? I've used all sorts of pens over the years and I've just come to accept that if I'm writing by hand for a long time, I'm probably going to have to wash the ink off afterwards.

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This reminds me that I've seen at least one left-handed writer write upside down. Not sure if they learned that way from the start or if it's because of the ink thing.

I'm right-handed, and I need some good light coming from my left to be able to see well what I write, otherwise I feel like I'm writing blind.

benbradley said:

This reminds me that I've seen at least one left-handed writer write upside down. Not sure if they learned that way from the start or if it's because of the ink thing.

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Upside down? Really? Huh. I've never seen anyone do that before, but I don't know many other lefties either, Lol. IMO, writing upside down wouldn't be worth the trouble just to avoid getting ink on my hand.

I'm not left-handed, but there's plenty of discussion re: methods of writing in fountain pen circles. Most of it concerns not smearing ink, but I think that's just as relevant with other pens to be honest. Nibs.com has a page with photographs of different left-handed styles (underwriters, overwriters, side-writers, etc) here that might be interesting/helpful.

Fountain Pen Network is a good place to ask about left-handed options, even if you're not really that interested in fountain pens. There are several non-FP threads to have a look through and there seem to be a lot of left-handed users.

The best pen I ever held in my hand, alas, is not available online. Of course, neither is it available in any store. It belongs to the owner of an international wood veneer manufacturer which just happens to have offices in my hometown. It is a set actually, a fountain pen, a gel cartridge ballpoint, and a mechanical pencil. They had a beautiful heft and were breathtaking to hold and behold. They are made of petrified wood. Oh, and they are most definitely a one of a kind set but, oh! I would love to have them.

For my personal use, since cannot have the petrified wood set, I have a pen my sister gave me. She is in the medical profession and, of course, sales people are always leaving "gifts" of one kind or another along with drug samples. Once, a salesman left this pen. It has a good weight, includes a electronics stylus on the back end of it and uses a fluid gel ink cartridge. Oh, yeah. And on the side of this lovely silver and blue inkpen is the legend, VIAGRA. HAH! And that's the truth. But, I like the pen so much that, when the Jimmie John's delivery guy walked out the door with it, I had to call them to get it back. Took three days but they returned it. And that, also, is the truth.

I love the standard black Bic. You know the one; it's clear and makes a good line. It has a black pen cap, and always delivers.

E.F.B. said:

Upside down? Really? Huh. I've never seen anyone do that before, but I don't know many other lefties either, Lol. IMO, writing upside down wouldn't be worth the trouble just to avoid getting ink on my hand.

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I do - I think he means upside down like from the top of the paper, with the paper turned completely sideways. If the paper is held straight, from the top, upside down, like an Escher thing. I've had a number of people comment on it, and seen plenty of other lefties do it. In my experience it depends on the level of 'hook' you have.

I've seen lefties who write from underneath, like righties, but some of us don't.

Ben - It's natural. No one taught me, it's just the most comfortable way to write. I actually taught one child, who for whatever reason (though I'd guess school-based), wrote from underneath, like a righty. It was unintelligible and he didn't like to write. I turned his pad sideways, he was amazed, his handwriting improved in .2 seconds and he said it was way more comfortable. As I said, some lefties do write that way naturally and comfortably, but others, with a bigger hook, don't.

Obama has a big hook. You can see when they make him sign legislation, because the book is straight, he has to turn his hand all the way over. When he's not writing for cameras, the paper is turned sideways.

Doing it does smear ink (or 'lead'), though. It doesn't prevent it.

Anything that makes a recognizable mark is fine with me. I have a bigger problem. No matter what instrument I use, I still have to decipher the hieroglyphics my fingers produce.

I possess a really elegant fountain pen desk set, given to me maybe 20 years ago as a Christmas present. Never been used for writing anything, never will be. But it's purty.

caw

blacbird said:

Anything that makes a recognizable mark is fine with me. I have a bigger problem. No matter what instrument I use, I still have to decipher the hieroglyphics my fingers produce.

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Sounds familiar... Back in school, more than one person told me I should be a doctor because of my illegible handwriting. Another teacher insisted I type out every assignment, even the stuff due in class that day.

It's not that I can't write legibly; my brain just gets going faster than my hand, and the poor pen gets caught in the middle. Yet another reason I do my writing on computers - I can type much closer to my thinking speed.

E.F.B. said:

Upside down? Really? Huh. I've never seen anyone do that before, but I don't know many other lefties either, Lol. IMO, writing upside down wouldn't be worth the trouble just to avoid getting ink on my hand.

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I write in cursive upside down and more than once, I've had to stop and scribble on the side of the paper to get the pen to work again. Some pens ONLY work for righties. I used pencils instead of ink when note-taking, since I've never had a pencil fail on me, and there's no noticeable ink smear on my hand.

For fountain pens, I have a Pilot Metropolitan. If I'm at a proper desk and want to feel awesome, I pull out a feather quill set, aka my epic pen.

But for everyday pens, I use Pilot Precise V5 RT for the smooth and heavy ink. Others have pointed this one out already and I agree with them. Great pen if you like a liberal ink flow. Because I don't/can't use the V5 on some thinner paper I also have a Pilot Acroball. These are also plastic pens. They write well and I use them often, probably a new favorite. Zebra pens are also good and have solid steel barrels. Join the dark side of collecting pens and buy them all.

I tried the Dr. Grip pen after reading all the good reviews on Amazon. It's a nice enough pen, but ironically, I don't care for the grip. It's too thick and ends up being uncomfortable after a few minutes.

So, I bought the Bic For Her ballpoint pens, and I LOVE them! They fit my fingers comfortably, they write smoothly, no smearing or blobs of ink. I was able to take notes at a two-day writer's workshop with no discomfort or problems. And when I forgot my notebook and had to take notes on the back of a business card, this pen allowed me to write impossibly small words. I was quite impressed! Bonus: It comes in purple! (Black or blue ink, purple casing.) It's my new favorite pen and I intend to buy more of them.

cornflake said:

I do - I think he means upside down like from the top of the paper, with the paper turned completely sideways. If the paper is held straight, from the top, upside down, like an Escher thing. I've had a number of people comment on it, and seen plenty of other lefties do it. In my experience it depends on the level of 'hook' you have.

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I'm a righty, but I write with the page turned sideways so i'm technically writing from bottom to top. The weird thing is that my writing also slopes backwards (to the left) which makes me seriously wonder about the anatomy of my hand sometimes.

Orianna2000 said:

I tried the Dr. Grip pen after reading all the good reviews on Amazon. It's a nice enough pen, but ironically, I don't care for the grip. It's too thick and ends up being uncomfortable after a few minutes.

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Guess that's a size of your hand thing. I have custom grips on my Dr. Grips that are about twice as thick as the ones that come on it. I simply can hold and write with a skinny pen.

Writing with the paper turned at a sharp angle, with the head also held tipped to one side, is a pretty good diagnostic in younger kids -- for myopia in the eye that's now closer to the paper.

When I write, I almost always rotate the paper to the left. It's much easier for me to write that way. If I have to write with the paper straight instead of turned sideways, my handwriting will lean backwards (left).

The thing is, I write with my right hand, but I do a lot of other things left-handed. Bowling, golf, softball, all left-handed. Ironing, too. I have no idea if this has any bearing on why I turn the paper sideways and tilt my handwriting to the left, but it seems like it might be connected.

Orianna2000 said:

When I write, I almost always rotate the paper to the left.

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Me, too, although I never thought about it until I read this thread. I just tried writing with the paper totally straight up and it's horribly uncomfortable.

The thing is, I write with my right hand, but I do a lot of other things left-handed. Bowling, golf, softball, all left-handed. Ironing, too.

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Ooh, another right-hander ironing with the left! I do that, too. Don't know why. It's just easier. Another thing that I didn't give a thought to until the day my mom asked why.

And back in the days when I worked a cash register, I would ring up with my left hand and bag the items with my right. I also cross stitch two-handed, using my left to put the needle down into the fabric and my right to bring it up again.

To get back to pens, for ballpoints I like the Pilot B2P. Fits my hand well and writes smoothly. Plus it's made from recycled water bottles.

We all have a different grip. I can't stand holding a stick pen because they are so thin my fingers crap up in no time.

Carrie in PA said:

I *love* the Pilot G2 gel pens. I buy them in a multitude of colors so I can organize my notes at a glance. (Mostly I use the purple. I love purple...)

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These are what I use at work. Skilcraft makes a Vista that is very similar. I like how the pen has a soft plastic surround that flares out just perfectly for my fingers.

I've seen the Dr. Grip, but they're too expensive to justify buying at work, since I order office supplies. For 1 Dr. Grip I can get a dozen G-2s.

For my personal use, I prefer a fountain pen. And I've converted both my sons to fountain pens, even the one who would only write with Uniball gel pens.

I find this fascinating. I also write right handed with the paper sideways. I have a astigmatism so that might be a contributing factor. For pens - I prefer a sharpie fine point which is like the pilot v5 fine point. They are the best pens - black is true black and the ink dries very quickly with no smudges.

I've made a list - thanks everyone!

Can't wait to throw out my stack of pens and go shopping.

Gringa said:

I've made a list - thanks everyone!

Can't wait to throw out my stack of pens and go shopping.

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Yeah. I've developed a yen for a new pen myself.

Walmart was running their back to school sales and every time I was in there, I picked up a pack of these for $1.50. I love the thick lines and the smooth writing.

And the colors. Love the colors.

I went to Staples, returned half of what I bought. I think I prefer a smooth pen.