I remember at school, where we were required to write in fountain pen, there were teachers who insisted that we always do any underlining in pencil.

This memory came back to me as I was about to underline something the other day, and it occurred to me that running my lovely nib along the edge of a ruler was probably not a good idea.

Do other people have any thoughts on this? Do you keep non-fountain pens for this task?

For years in the Public Service round rulers (rather like 12" lengths of broom handle were stocked for ruling with pens - kept well clear of the nib, but took getting used to !

regards,
Ruaidhrí

I have a proper draftmans plastic ruler that I have used with a Parker "51" for about 40 years to underline with no detrimental effects I can see

I would not use a metal or metal edge ruler however.

Jim

I wonder if anyone still stocks such a thing.

3 mins on a lathe or just cut off a piece of broom handle.
The only real difference is they were painted black

Regards,
R

I have a lovely example of just such a thing in ebony (African blackwood - not painted). Hard as iron and absolutely parallel, I believe it was designed for use on nautical charts - but although made of wood, it sinks

So, it would not be a good idea to drop it over the side.

Chris

I think the point is to prevent the ink from running under your ruler, or to prevent you from smearing the ink when pulling the ruler away after underlining. Your nib shouldn't take any damage if you're not too rough.

to stop smudging, we were told in primary school to turn our rulers over. Simple, but it worked!!

Draughtsmen (when such people still existed, having now been replaced by CAD operators) sometimes used draughting instruments with a small notch set into the edge for use with pens. The notch prevented the instrument edge, pen, and paper from meeting in the same line, stopping the ink getting sucked out the pen by capillary action.

I managed to buy a triangular ruler... its main aim is to show three different scales on the same ruler, but in actual fact I use it so I have something to hold and lift the ruler away from the page vertically without smudging.

I would recommend you not use a metal or metal-edged ruler, especially if your fountain pen has a gold nib. Find a plastic or wooden ruler with an "ink edge" -- a rounded ridge along the length of the ruler, or an edge that has been undercut so that the plastic right at the edge does not touch the paper.

Wooden rulers with a metal edge often have the other long edge rounded for use as an ink edge. Does the same thing as Ruaidhri's broomstick, just a little easier to get used to and perhaps a bit easier to hang onto while using. But I've used a broomstick lots of times out in my workshop when I had a long line to mark -- works fine.

If you already have a plastic ruler that only has two bevel edges, just turn it over, as someone else has suggested.

You can also just use a ballpoint for ruling your lines. I would recommend any of the newer Uniball pens, which seem to use a faster-drying ink than the paste in regular ball pens -- it doesn't smear. These are cheap, so if you rule a lot of lines against a metal edge and the metal edge eventually chews its way through the ballpoint tip, so what?

Staedtler's inexpensive plastic rulers have this feature.