How Hard Do You Bear Down?

[Pfhorrest]

Depends on whether the nib is steel or gold.

[Ron Z]

I've observed is that I tend to clutch the nib section when I'm writing fast. That should also be avoided.

 

Italics mine....

 

???? It's what the section was designed for - it's the "gripping section." That's why it has a contour - to make it more comfortable to hold. Some folks like to hold the pen above the threads, but I think that most grip the section. No right or wrong, just preference.

 

One of the genius moments of Sheaffer was when they designed a firm nib with a ball point. The nib was one that anyone could pick up and use, vs. a flexible nib that required a very light touch. Along with the fact that a firm nib won't break as easily, this is one reason why the firm/manifold nibs are far more common than flex nibs.

 

I find that I'm somewhere in the middle - not enough pressure to make a BP write, but a heavy enough hand that I generally avoid flex nibs.

 

Both Richard and I have had clients come to us to have their nib adjusted so that no pressure is needed to make them write. In both cases it was because of nerve damage in the hand or wrist. The light touch is one of the beauties of a fountain pen.

[lapis]

IMO if you have a good pen and an ink that the pen likes (i.e. any ink that is wet enough for that pen) then zero pressure is necessary.

I had to press the heck out of a brand new MB pen that I once owned, so go figure.

 

Mike

[Juan in Andalucia]

Relax your fingers and let your wrist and arm do the job; a fountain pen should write with no pressure other than its own weight.

 

Juan

[CCMphysician]

Oh and to answer the originally posted question. Just enough to lower the pulse rate.

 

http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/uptodate/pictures/card_pix/norm_ecg.gif

[Mauricio]

Used to put a lot of pressure ... to the point of making a stiff face (not joking!). Was placing so much pressure that it seemed more like I was carving the notebook than writing on it, creating a callous/bump by the knuckle of my middle finger from all the pen pressure. Over the last few years, I have retrained myself to just let the pen glide/slide over the paper. Once I relearned this proper method of writing, the is less tension on my arm, hand, and face. Have lost the callous on my middle finger. The only exception now days in when using flexible nibs as the pressure varies on the downstroke and the type of flex nibis when using flex nibs.

[I am not a number]

I use a stack of pressure.

 

I know it's not the "proper" way to do it, but it's the way I've always written.

[Sandy1]

Oh and to answer the originally posted question. Just enough to lower the pulse rate.

 

Oh Oh

Now we're on thin ice.

Do we need one of those brain scans to see if one is 'blissed-out' when using a certain pen & ink & paper?

I for one don't need another MRI so soon. No really. Well, not right away. Maybe later, OK?

 

BR

S1

[Imzadi]

I still struggle to remind myself my job is to steer the pen and let the pen do the work. No extra pressure needed.

[tonybelding]

My grandma was born in 1915. She learned to write in school using a "pen-staff" -- cheap dip-pen with disposable steel nibs. She tells me she was always destroying the nibs by pressing down too hard on them. She's afraid to use any of my fountain pens because she thinks she'll ruin them. (She likes Pilot G2s, though.)

 

I just thought that was interesting, as a way of showing you can't always blame it on ballpoints.

 

As for myself. . . I grew up writing with ballpoints. When I use my fountain pens, I put a lighter hand on them. However, I do apply some pressure. I can't help it, I need the guidance of the pen pressing against the page. I never have managed to damage any of them yet.

 

I also have an antique Fairchild dip-pen with a pearl handle and great gold super-flex EEF nib. That's a bit of challenge for me to write with, but everything comes out looking really old-fashioned.

[piembi]

I love fountainpens because I can write without any pressure.

 

Several of my vintage German nibs are semiflex but I have to remind me to use some pressure if I want them to flex. Usually you cannot tell if I have written with a Parker 51 or a Pelikan 400 .....