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Lefty Problems


intentionalist

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Hello, all! This is my first post; please direct me to a relevant thread if this topic has been covered already.

 

So, I'm a lefty. I'm coming back to my fountain pen (Waterman Expert 2, fine nib) after two years of absence. I have two issues: first, the Waterman "intense black" is anything but--more of a light grey. Second, I'm left handed, which, apparently, is something of a disadvantage, especially when using a fine nib (or at least that's my experience).

 

So I'm wondering if anyone can recommend some good tips for lefties, or at least a true-black ink that's known to be friendly with the Waterman Expert 2.

 

Thanks in advance--I look forward to learning a lot from all of you here in the FPN.

 

 

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Hi, and welcome to FPN.

 

About the ink, I would advise you to look in Inky thoughts. There must be several topics on blackest black, or intense black or whatever.

And in the inkreviews you can see tests of various inks.

 

I know that left handers have a problem writing with wet ink, because you move your hand through the inked area when writing. The righties stay ahead of the writing, the lefties fall behind the writing.

 

Therefore lefthanders use various grips to make sure they don't smear. But which and how I do, as a rightie, not know.

 

But ask your question in the First Stop forum and see where it gets you.

 

The Waterman Expert is a good pen, and Waterman has many good pens.

 

Enjoy the forum.

 

 

D.ick

~

KEEP SAFE, WEAR A MASK, KEEP A DISTANCE.

Freedom exists by virtue of self limitation.

~

 

 

 

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Welcome aboard! My first bottle of blank ink was Waterman's and I also found it to not be rich enough. I prefer using Aurora black, which provides a nice solid color. As a fellow leftie my best advice would be to find an ink or pen that writes dry and dries quickly. That way you can hold the pen however is most comfortable. If you get into the world of vintage flex, lefties are actually at an advantage due to the natural angle at which they hold the pen!

"We are in a sense the Universe trying to understand itself. By Observing it we are observing what we are." - Phillip Plait

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Greetings from Seattle. I am a professional left hander and have studied left handedness since birth. I have found that japanese pens are far superior to any other pens as far as smooth writing fine nibs are concerned. Paper and ink will have a direct bearing on how smooth your writing will be. Be wary of those who recommend Lamy pens since they have finger positioning cutouts on the section that will interfere with a left handers natural nib positioning. These people will recommend Lamy pens even though you specifically say "pens other than Lamys". They will persist. Beware. :)

What Would The Flying Spaghetti Monster Do?

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Welcome aboard! My first bottle of blank ink was Waterman's and I also found it to not be rich enough. I prefer using Aurora black, which provides a nice solid color. As a fellow leftie my best advice would be to find an ink or pen that writes dry and dries quickly. That way you can hold the pen however is most comfortable. If you get into the world of vintage flex, lefties are actually at an advantage due to the natural angle at which they hold the pen!

 

Thanks DavyJones! After poking around I saw great reviews of Noodlers Black, so I purchased a bottle. People _do_ report that it is something of a slow dryer, so I shall have to see how it goes. I am hoping that the fine nib of my pen (Waterman Expert II) will compensate somewhat. At any rate, I'll keep Aurora on my list in case I start smearing all over the page. :) Thanks again for your insight! People are so nice on this forum.

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Greetings from Seattle. I am a professional left hander and have studied left handedness since birth. I have found that japanese pens are far superior to any other pens as far as smooth writing fine nibs are concerned. Paper and ink will have a direct bearing on how smooth your writing will be. Be wary of those who recommend Lamy pens since they have finger positioning cutouts on the section that will interfere with a left handers natural nib positioning. These people will recommend Lamy pens even though you specifically say "pens other than Lamys". They will persist. Beware. :)

Haha, got it, thanks! Good to hear from a fellow lefty. I shall look into Japanese pens--is there a particular brand you'd recommend?

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Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

PAKMAN

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Welcome !

 

Some of our members have absolutely gorgeous penmanship. Some of them are left-handed.

So, it must work for some. Good luck..

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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Welcome! I write left side push. Some awful nibs for me are needlepoints if not properly aligned and smoothed. Most others are quite good. My hand writing does not support the use of much above fine or extra fine however.

Edited by FountainPages

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png

 

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

 

Mark Twain

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Fellow lefty: I would recommend Noodler's Bernanke Black. I have had some very good luck with it, even on ink resistant papers such as rhodia. Personally though, I'm thinking of just moving away from using rhodia just because it is so painful as a lefty. Other inks that I have had good luck with are the R&K Iron galls Salix and Scabosia. Both dry relatively fast and the water resistance means if you have oily/sweaty hands it still won't smear. I would advise to stay away from Private reserve inks (just from my personal experience) but only on rhodia. They never seem to dry on rhodia, but on other papers they work fine.

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Haha, got it, thanks! Good to hear from a fellow lefty. I shall look into Japanese pens--is there a particular brand you'd recommend?

 

Nakaya:

Any and all

 

Platinum:

Any and all since they seem to provide the nibs to Nakaya. I think Nakaya eventually gives the nib a final bit of sorcery that makes them such wonderful writers. Every Platinum I have tried has been a great writer, even the inexpensive Platinum Preppy. About 5 usd. Most Valued of my possessions is a 3776 New Century with the Slip and Seal cap that keeps your nib from dehydrating. Proven in the wilds of Santa Fe New Mexico which is high, dry, cold AND hot.

 

Pilot

Again a any and all recommendation save the Vanishing Point. After you learn a bit more of what you want out of a pen, THEN try a VP. The clip seems to interfere at first try, with nib alignment. I do have a Limited Edition 2014 Maple VP that I bought recently that works fine for me. I am not a big fan of Pilot just because of their designs but every penI have tried was an excellent writers, even one of my favorites, the inexpensive Pilot Petit 1 (about 7 usd).

 

Sailor:

Any pen with a 21K nib. These seem to be the most reliably smooth writers in their production line. I have had problems with their 14K nibs but the quality of the pen's build design as a whole is better than Platinum's.

 

But wait till you see the Nakayas :)

Edited by RudyR

What Would The Flying Spaghetti Monster Do?

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Nakaya:

Any and all

 

Platinum:

Any and all since they seem to provide the nibs to Nakaya. I think Nakaya eventually gives the nib a final bit of sorcery that makes them such wonderful writers. Every Platinum I have tried has been a great writer, even the inexpensive Platinum Preppy. About 5 usd. Most Valued of my possessions is a 3776 New Century with the Slip and Seal cap that keeps your nib from dehydrating. Proven in the wilds of Santa Fe New Mexico which is high, dry, cold AND hot.

 

Pilot

Again a any and all recommendation save the Vanishing Point. After you learn a bit more of what you want out of a pen, THEN try a VP. The clip seems to interfere at first try, with nib alignment. I do have a Limited Edition 2014 Maple VP that I bought recently that works fine for me. I am not a big fan of Pilot just because of their designs but every penI have tried was an excellent writers, even one of my favorites, the inexpensive Pilot Petit 1 (about 7 usd).

 

Sailor:

Any pen with a 21K nib. These seem to be the most reliably smooth writers in their production line. I have had problems with their 14K nibs but the quality of the pen's build design as a whole is better than Platinum's.

 

But wait till you see the Nakayas :)

 

Awesome! The Nakayas are far out of my grad-student price range, but the Platinum looks nice!

 

I want to thank everyone who has commented so far, everyone has given such great suggestions. Also I am warming to this Noodler's brand, if only for their ink names--"Bernanke Black"!

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Welcome to FPN! :W2FPN:


I am glad that you joined us today!


Please feel free to ask us anything about fountain pens and inks.


Please enjoy the forum,


-William S. Park



P.S. I'm a lefty too. I have no problems writing, so sorry, I cannot help you.


“My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane. - Graham Greene

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Welcome! Lefty here as well, and I notice that it's easier for me to use generally broader nibs as I tend to write quite quickly, and finer nibs dry up on up strokes.

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Hello and welcome. I have an acquaintance who writes with her left hand. She is stubborn that way. I am convinced she doesn't have to write that way. I think she just writes with her left hand because she thinks it makes her look cool. I think she may be right. She does look cool writing with her left hand. I've tried it. I have no talent for using the left hand to write. Not only do I not look cool, but not even I can read what I have written. Some got it and some haven't.

 

The fine and extra fine nibs are not a problem for her. She and I both have the same favorite black ink: Noodler's Old Manhattan Black Ink. It dries very quickly and is a very black black ink. You might give it a try. Hope you enjoy your time with us.

 

-David.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery. -Anon.

A backward poet writes inverse. -Anon.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Welcome from another lefty. I have discovered something funny about my left hand: it accepts gifts just as quickly as my right hand! Sometimes my feet compete and they are quite capable of accepting gifts too...

 

Seriously, don't allow the world to tell you what you cannot do with either hand!

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Hi there :) :W2FPN: Fellow lefty here. I used to smear a lot because of the way I held my pens. The quality of the ink, paper and pen do matter, but speaking for myself, it was just a matter of holding my pen differently. I used to be a sidewriter, pushing my hand over the words I wrote, but over time, I changed to holding the pen above what I'm writing. I've become an overwriter, and I've got no problems with being a lefty anymore ;)

 

I'm sure every lefty has got their own problems to deal with, and I solved mine by changed my hand-positioning. I hope this helped a bit :)

Edited by Ebu
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I'm a lefty too. There are truly some issues you have to think of.

 

  • When writing left-to-right, lefties are prone to smudge what they wrote. Most left-handers will unconsciously try to develop "tactics" to avoid it. (Such as: hook-hand, overwriting, underwriting, etc.) This was happening to me all my life too. Tilting the paper and using quicker-drying inks help.
  • Lefties are usually pushing the pen instead of pulling it. This means that on the downstrokes, the nib can just cut into the paper if it's not a very smooth one.
  • Lefties have a tendency to grip the pen too hard or push the pen on the paper too hard. You need to learn not to do this. This was the hardest for me.

Many websites have advice and info on how to write as a leftie. Most of the info isn't specific to fountain pens. Try them out and use what works for you.

Here're some resources:

http://www.handedness.org/action/leftwrite.html

http://www.iampeth.com/lefties_01.php

 

The topic does come up on FPN, for example this thread has some advice as well:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/272133-pilot-metropolitan-for-lefties/

 

 

Hope this helps!

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