Can Fountain Pen Help Improve Hand-Writing?

[penbrute]

A 9-year old is adept (effortless/fast) at cursive and if insisted upon can write neatly. However, the default writing is (very) large/untidy/inconsistenly sized, and generated with quite a bit of pressure. Even numbers come out huge.

 

I am wondering whether a fountain pen might help improve handwriting habits. A decimo would be perfect because it is thin and the nib is small-- but is way too expensive given the high chances of a sprung nib. So a cheap pen with a small+thin section and a small fine nib. Looking for pen suggestions (also on improving the handwriting.)

 

Amazon comes up with a bunch of pens (e.g. Lamy ABC) for kids but figured this would be the place to ask.

[Lulu05]

A 9-year old is adept (effortless/fast) at cursive and if insisted upon can write neatly. However, the default writing is (very) large/untidy/inconsistenly sized, and generated with quite a bit of pressure. Even numbers come out huge. I am wondering whether a fountain pen might help improve handwriting habits. A decimo would be perfect because it is thin and the nib is small-- but is way too expensive given the high chances of a sprung nib. So a cheap pen with a small+thin section and a small fine nib. Looking for pen suggestions (also on improving the handwriting.) Amazon comes up with a bunch of pens (e.g. Lamy ABC) for kids but figured this would be the place to ask.

Don't know about kids, but I write more neatly with a fountain pen! For a nine year old it wouldn't have to be an expensive one. When I was little I was so proud of my £10 red Parker fountain pen.

[aeba]

Fountain pen can possibly but not necessarily help with handwriting. My handwriting was bad before using fountain pens, and remains just as bad. Btw, I used to use 0,5mm mechanical pencil in school, but now I use mostly B or BB nibs.

[Astronymus]

I've been using fountain pens since I learned writing. Yet my handwriting isn't that good neither. BUT it's much better than with ballpoints.

 

I guess it depends on how much and how fast you have to write.

[sandy101]

My handwriting is better with a fountain pen, than without. Pelikan & Faber Castell have ranges of pens aimed at primary and seconary school aged children. I got my nephews a Maped tatoo which had superhero emblems on it for the pricely sum of £4 each. They came with rubber grips. The Pelikano is OK, but mine is uses ink really quickly - it's a gusher. The nibs & flow on my F-C school pen is better. Sadly the packaging didn't come with a name, but it cost me around ten euros in a Woolworths in Berlin.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I think that my handwriting is about equally good with my best fountain pens and a high quality ballpoint refill, say Schmidt Easyflow for example. Ballpoints don't necessarily require heavy pressure. The result will probably be nicer looking with a fountain pen, but that's more the richer look of the ink and subtle effects of line variation and shading, than it is the actual script.

 

Just my opinion, likely enough to be in a minority, and possibly wrong. And of course, a lower quality ballpoint that does need more pressure is a different matter. It's also possible that the novelty of a fountain pen might encourage a willing student to put more care into writing. No harm in hoping. If you can consider something as high as $30 to $40, a Pilot Prera is small, light, and has a good nib (I'd suggest going with a medium). And the Iro-ai versions are rather attractive.

[ParramattaPaul]

Using a fountain pen has improved my pathetic scribble from something akin a toddler's doodles to legible handwriting.

[pajaro]

I personally believe that improving one's handwriting requires work at handwriting regardless of the instrument. Because this is the Fountain Pen Network there will be a tendency to think that the fountain pen will be superior at everything, including improving handwriting. My handwriting improved significantly as I grew older, meaning through teenage years, and I was using a ballpoint through most of that time. I do not believe that the use of a fountain pen is going to, in and of itself, improve handwriting. Handwriting will improve when the writer wants it to through working at writing better. Without regard to the instrument used.

[ac12]

Basic handwriting is independent of the writing tool.

That said, the wrong tool, such as a stiff ball pen, requires a significant downward force to write, that it makes it difficult to write well.

 

From what you said, I would recommend a nice gel pen; smooth easy to write, and will withstand abuse and heavy writing that most fountain pens cannot. When he can write with very LIGHT pressure, then he might ready for a fountain pen.

 

I would start him off with a Lamy ABC or Safari, or a Jin Hao 599 (copy of the Safari).

Or for a slimmer pen, the Baoer 801 or Reform 1745.

 

Heavy pressure and he will sooner or later, spring the nib and ruin the pen.

[Arkanabar]

I recall reading of a Lamy "A" nib, meant to resist even the pressure of schoolchildren unschooled in the use of fountain pens. It ought to be available on the ABC and Safari, and possibly as a replacement nib for their other pens.

 

Esterbrook Manifold nibs should also be able to take quite a bit of pressure.

[ParramattaPaul]

Basic handwriting is independent of the writing tool.

While I agree with you, I offer that one holds a fountain pen at a different angle than one does a Biro, rollerball or even a gel pen, and that induces hand tension. The hand is in a more relaxed position when using a fountain pen.

 

There is a discussion elsewhere on this forum about an alternative writing grip that places the pen between the first and second finger that was developed by, as memory serves, a Belgian hand surgeon specifically to relieve (Biro-induced) writer's cramp. Having used it, I can attest that the grip works very well with any writing instrument held more vertically. But again, since fountain pens are held at an angle approaching 30 degrees, there is less tension in the fingers and palm, and the alternate grip is unnecessary. For me at least, the different pen angle and tensionless grip experienced with a fountain pen translates to better handwriting.

[ac12]

Paul,

I must be odd, I hold my ball pens, pencils, gel pens, etc at about the same angle that I hold my fountain pen, approx 45 degrees from horizontal. Maybe that is how I was taught, way back then. I don't ever remember having a vertical grip with anything, but then as a senior citizen, my memory of much details from high school and back is pretty faded. Maybe I did, maybe I did not.

 

Actually in college I had a TIGHT grip on my fountain pen, which lead to hand cramps in about 20 minutes, and constant shaking of my hand after that, to keep the cramp from getting BAD. So I had the angle, but not the relaxed tensionless grip.

[sidthecat]

After about three years of practice, my handwriting has improved considerably, and the improvement carries over to ballpoints, pencils and my computer stylus.

Once your hand has memorized the pattern of your writing, it won't forget.

[Jerome Tarshis]

I must be odd, I hold my ball pens, pencils, gel pens, etc at about the same angle that I hold my fountain pen, approx 45 degrees from horizontal.

 

I myself hold fountain pens at a variety of angles. Ballpoints, too. Often enough I hold a pen near the vertical. Depending on the circumstances, such as how far away from me the paper is, I write at a much lower angle. If I'm really reaching forward, the angle might get down to maybe 30%. And sometimes the nib or ball itself seems to be making suggestions to me about what would be a better angle.

[ac12]

 

 

 

Esterbrook Manifold nibs should also be able to take quite a bit of pressure.

 

Yes an Esterbroom Manifold nib would work for a heavy hand.

 

But, I would not give a 9 year old a lever filler.

Too tempting to try a "Three Stooges" move, and make a MESS.

 

[hh1990]

Using fountain pens certainly made me want to have better handwriting, so making the effort has been much easier.

[basterma]

Stabilo makes the Schwan Easy Start line of gel pens with a special grip for children.

 

https://www.stabilo.com/com/product/3002/writing/easystart

 

It includes a Fountain pen as well.

[dcwaites]

I use the same grip with both ballpoints and fountain pens, and I choose BP refils (usually gel) that have the same low resistance as a FP.

However, I still write more neatly with a FP than BP.

 

With a child using a FP, there is the potential to write more neatly, but the child will need to be taught how to hold the pen properly, and to slow down, and concentrate on the handwriting. This, I have had to do all my handwriting life.

 

I don't think, unless the child has very small hands, that there is much advantage going for a narrow section. I would probably start with a Platinum Preppy - inexpensive, available in a number of bright colours, and as robust as you could ask for.

[Lulu05]

Using fountain pens certainly made me want to have better handwriting, so making the effort has been much easier.

 

This is exactly it for me too! And I think would probably work for many children (though not all). The little girls I used to babysit treated their fountain pens like sacred objects - and definitely wrote more deliberately with them. (I approved.) But obviously some more happy-go-lucky kids might not even notice the difference!

[Astronymus]

I recall reading of a Lamy "A" nib, meant to resist even the pressure of schoolchildren unschooled in the use of fountain pens. It ought to be available on the ABC and Safari, and possibly as a replacement nib for their other pens.

The "A" stands for "Anfänger" - Beginner. They are especially for school children who learn to write with a fountain pen. The nib is also more tolerant to wrong angles.