What angle do you hold the pen ?

[captnemo]

30 degrees here.

[PAKMAN]

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

[Hélène]

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.

[Stephen-I-am]

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

[fitypoundpdog]

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.

 

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

[Hoarder68]

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

[Paddler]

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

 

[Judybug]

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

 

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

 

[tamburlaine]

I hold my pen rather low; 30 degrees sounds about right. Huffward's thread here https://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.

[artaddict]

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.

[jmkeuning]

235

[Goodwhiskers]

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.

[finalidid]

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.

[Rapt]

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

[nmhall]

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

[rogerb]

'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!

Edited March 19, 2008 by rogerb

[Songwind]

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.

[Ed44]

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

[ethernautrix]

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.)

[Shangas]

I'd say between 30 & 45 degrees.