Curious about what angle people hold their fountain pens when they are writing? I was reading some info on the internet - the following article says to hold the pen forward of the knuckle....Pretty high angle for me!

http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html

Mike

It's not terribly consistent, usually when I'm taking notes and such I'm writing too fast to focus, but when I slow my writing down, it winds up at about 45 degrees.

somewhere in between 30 and 45 degrees.

Because I have a wide hand it ends up somewhere between 30-45 degrees, but closer to 45

As depicted in my avatar.

Higher than 60 degrees for me. I hold the pen properly according to that article. The problem with holding the pen so upright is I have trouble with some custom nibs--they need to be customized to the high angle to work best for me.

I indicated 30 degrees in the poll. When my right thumb absolutely refuses to bend, the angle can be closer to 25.

I have had the sweet spot adjusted in a number of my pens to accomodate my hold. I don't usually have a problem with vintage nibs. Modern pens are often designed for writers with the near vertical holds. I often have the "iridium" on my modern pens reshaped.

When I can't use a fountain pen, I use pencil, felt tip or roller ball. Few ballpoint pens will write at the angle I need to use.

I'd say its somewhere between 40-45 degrees for me. Its hard for me to eyeball it exactly but I don't think its much more than 45 degrees (half way to vertical). I'll have to pay closer attention now just to be sure.

As a southpaw, forward of the knuckle doesn't really mean much to me, however, I usually hold my pens at about a 45 degree angle...

The article Mike refers to isn't really quite clear about how the angle of elevation relates to handwriting -- the high angle it seems to advocate is for calligraphy, which is drawing, not writing. (The article does not make this essential distinction.) All of the classic U.S. handwriting methods (Spencerian, Zanerian, Palmer) instruct the student to use an angle of about 45°; typically these days, it rides a little higher. I was trained in Palmer, and while I voted 45° I actually run closer to 50°.

For flex work, holding your pen higher than about 45° will cause the pen to stub its toe frequently; while I appreciate the retipping and straightening work I get from these sorts of thing I'd really prefer not to see nibs injured.

Somewhere around 35° for me.

Usually around 40, 45 degrees for a nib point but up to 60 degrees for a ball point.

I hold it at about 45 degrees.

I assume you mean the angle should be measured upwards from the horizontal (ground) level. Then, mine would be somewhere between 45 and 60 degrees.

Yes.

;-)

45 degrees for me

Between 30 and 45 degrees

The angle which I think the question refers to varies for me with the pen and the nib from about 30 to 70 degrees.

However, I would like to suggest that there are 3 angles that should be measured rather like describing the attitude of an aircraft in flight: pitch (the one described above), roll (the extent to which you need an oblique nib) and yaw (is your pen in line with your forearm or rotated towards your body?).

The combination of these 3 angles should give a universal measure of how a user holds a fountain pen.

Does anyone think this is a good idea?

Andrew T

I have a more perpendicular angle (pen straighter up), but then again it also is pointing me partly at the same time and being pushed a bit because I'm a lefty over writer.

for me it varies widely depending on the writing surface [large paper on a desk, a large notebook, pocket moleskine, etc], the pen, and mostly just whatever i feel is comfortable at the moment. it could be anywhere from 30 degrees or so to 90 degrees.

30 degrees here.

I would have said 60 degrees until I really looked and it is more like 30.

about 45° or a little less, I had to check, I think the grip on my Pelikano did its job and taught me how to hold a pen.

Here's a PDF of a protractor. Print it out; you might be surprised with the result.

I favor about a 40 degree angle.

Stephen

I have the same 'problem'. I have noticed though that the faster I write, the higher the angle. As with Hobo Bob though, I end up at 45 when I concentrate.
Kevin

I actually hold the pen at about 37%, but that was not a choice.

I hold a pen where its sweet spot is. That is rarely higher than 50 degrees or lower than 30. Each pen has its little ways and you must conform to those or change things with abrasives.

Paddler

This makes sense. All these angles come into play. All this came naturally when I was writing with my right hand so I wasn't even aware of all these angles. Now that health issues have me writing with my left hand, I am very aware of how each of these angles matter.

My pitch is usually about 45 degrees or slightly less. I wasn't aware of "roll," until a recent happy accident. I ordered a broad Cross Townsend from an e-bay seller who sent me a medium oblique nib instead. I love it! It's such a pleasure to write with - somehow makes writing with my left hand easier. I wasn't paying attention to "yaw" at all until I read your post. I started paying attention and realized that I was writing with the pen rotated toward my body. I've practiced lining the pen up with my forearm and consider this quite an improvement.

Thanks, Andrew T

Judybug

I hold my pen rather low; 30 degrees sounds about right. Huffward's thread here http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=43939 is very interesting, where he speaks of the 'proper' way to hold a pen, especially when applied to a vintage flex pen.

Between 45 and 60 degrees - angle gradually decreases as my hand moves towards the bottom of the page...
I noticed that some pens write scratchier near the bottom.

235

30 degrees, I guess.

I'm right-handed. I have ended up holding fountain pens against the pad of flesh between the base knuckle of the index finger and the thumb webbing. This helps me mostly avoid moving fingers while writing, making the process much more comfortable!.

I have usually held ball-type pens against the first bone of the index (between the base knuckle and the next one) out of necessity.

I'm more like 20 degrees, but I answered 30 because that's the lowest option. I angle so steeply that sometimes the feed touches the paper (oops). I'm left-handed, and I find that this amount of slope aids in letter-forming. It's a bit extreme -- I might work on that, come to think of it -- but until I discovered the slope (and other advantages of that sort of position), I had the most awful cramped writing.

Both visually, and muscularly, I was miserable about it. And it was slow and belabored. It hindered thinking. I had one of those psychological things going on, that they try to correct when the kid is in grade school. Body posture led to thinking posture, all that sort of thing. Then in my thirties I finally found out that the idiots who had been teaching me had gotten it all wrong. Well, at least they didn't keep up with the slapping the left hand thing, like they started to do to me when I was in third grade, trying to force me to write with the right.

Geez. Teachers. How do we GET these people these days? Most important job, least respect.

I voted 45 as its there or a bit lower most of the time.

I hold the pen directly on the knuckle of the second finger. I have a pronounced "lump" there from years and years and years of doing this.

Waaaaay too much schooling... And no writing instruction after the second or third grade

I voted 45 but mine sits somewhere close to 60 actually...

'Pitch , Yaw and Roll' are good terms, especially for an ex aviator!

Pitch is about 40-50 degrees, nearer 40 for a FP, yaw, about 40 also (with the cap pointing outside my right shoulder) and very little left roll...I can use a left foot oblique quite comfortably, but use straight italic tips/stubs mostly.
(A very small amount of left-foot oblique would probably be ideal)

My hold is fairly conventional, I think, with a bit of pressure from thumb tip, against the pad of the forefinger and resting on the middle of the top bone (phalange?) of the second finger....that's the spot which used to get inky with cheap pens!

I rest my pen on or forward of my first knuckle, and I find that I get a 30-45 degree angle. I keep my fingers pretty loose and extended.

To my best ability to measure, it's around 55 degrees

I don't know about precise degree, but it's close to 90. Apparently, I rest the nib at weird angles on the paper. (Different nibs require different angles.)

I'd say between 30 & 45 degrees.

Ok - this is very interesting. I just had a friend check me with the protractor. I'm about 30 - BUT that's when the paper is flat in a desk. Writing on my leg, or hand holding the tablet as I often do, the angle of the pen gets even lower than 30 degrees and I think THAT"S why some of my nibs end up writing thicker than they should - especially the L2K.

30-35º here. Funny, never thought it was such a low angle. Just measured with the protractor.

put me in the 45 degree club...

Isn't that interesting... I'm apparently a "very disciplined" writer (I never really took to cursive though, always my own mix, sometimes within the same word) my hold is just like the photo from that website. I have no idea what kind of "style" I was taught or anything, but I draw the same way for the most part. Must have had something to do with all that strict teaching, uniforms, rulers on knuckles, that sort of thing... (j/k)

depends how I am holding the pen - in a normal grip I am 40-45 degrees

I have also started to use the other grip they show of the pen between the two fingers and with this is gets as low as 30 and yes, the 'yaw' changes by almost 90 degrees into the body - really helps prevent writers cramp for me as there is no real 'grip/hold' of the pen it is just naturally supported there.

My pen angle varies from 45 to 0 degrees, depending. And pen position changes from over the knuckle to into the flesh between thumb and forefinger. Since 90 % of my handwriting is Italic. most of the time the pen rides over the knuckle. The other 10 %, I am writing Roman capitals, Uncial, or Half-Uncial. That causes the pen angle to flatten and the pen to move back towards the thumb-forefinger fold. On occasion, I demonstrate German cursive -- that requires the pen over the knuckle. And, when doing Spanish Rotunda, the pen is constantly moving from knuckle to fold as I twist the pen to form each lettershape.

The more one practices various styles of writing, the more the pen angle changes.

Have fun,

Randal

I hold the pen at 45 degrees, as shown in Fig. 1.

When I use a fountain pen, I work the pen at about 30 to 45 degrees off the paper. interestingly, when I use a rollerball like th Uniball Vision Elite, the rollerball almost commands that I hold it at 90 degrees, otherwise the line is smudged and smeary. My handwriting looks quite different using a rollerball.

My angle depends on the nib.

I like holding the pen at close to a 90-degree angle, though.

I use a degree of anywhere between 30 to 45 degrees. I tend to lean toward using it at around 30 though, because it's a good angle which helps me better my penmanship (which is in sore need of improvement).