What Do You Use For Fast Writing?

[eds]

Hi everyone (especially students!)

 

I was wondering if you have any preferences/reccomendations for times when speed is a must, for example, taking notes from lecturers that make you go "what did he just say?", when writing exams, or even when forced to write at a speed higher than 45 words per minute or else a bomb will blow up under your seat! :roflmho:

 

My weapon of choice is the F nib Lamy safari, relying on their light weight and ink supply (you can last a while with an F nib); once I took a Baoer 388 pen, and my writing slows down to 1.5 pages A4 in 30 minutes. Definitely not reccomended. However, the papers my university supplies is even worse than the 75 gsm paper I bought in tesco; it provides a lot of resistance that gets annoying in the long run, especially since I am using an F nib.

 

So do you guys have a reccomendation on what to use?

 

Also, as a side question, what inks do you use for exams? I'm using Noodler's black for fear of water spills.

[Surnia]

TWSBI EF, Avacado is my main test/exam ink. Almost never skips, and the line isn't wet enough that it feathers.

 

Jinhao #30 hooded nib is actually a very nice writer, all 3 that we got actually write very well. NEVER had it skip on me, except when the nib dries (tends to happen a lot unfortunately, bad cap design... nothing a quick dip in water doesn't solve though).

[calibr8]

I'm not sure if this is for you, but I know that every caran d'ache pen goes through a Fast Writing test at the factory.

[jBeckett]

Sailor 1911m medium nib is my go-to jotter.

 

Exams? I started using gel ink pens or a mechanical pencil because I have a bad habit of resting my nib on the paper. Pilot Prera fine nib before that.

[Gojira]

My Lamy Safari has yet to fail me in this regard. I'm now also finding that the TWSBI 530 with a fine nib is great for fast and extended writing sessions. If I feel like writing fast with a little extra flair, my Sheaffer Legacy 1 with a medium nib is the pen to use.

 

I'd also say that my Waterman Expert 1 with a broad nib is a fast writer but the line may be too thick for some. Same goes for any of my Stipulas with a stub / italic nib.

[jameswatts]

Every Aurora I have (Style, Ipsilon, Talentum) is excellent for taking notes at speed, because of their reliability. Another good option is the Vanishing Point, and the Lamy Safari or Al-Star. Excellent pens that in my experience work flawlessly.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

While no longer a student, I still use the same rig: a Parker Sonnet flighter, with an M nib; ye olde Quink Blue-Black with SOLV-X; and whatever paper's to hand.

Not at all worried about spills: no fluids allowed in work space.

If verbatim is required, then a stenographer is invited to join; I've never found the need to record every word spoken.

If I were to seek a new set-up, I'd likely use a Carene + M nib, or a Duofold + M; with a fast ink - perhaps MB Royal Blue, or ST Dupont Royal Blue, or Visconti Blue; with unlined HPJ1124 or even the recent 20lb Staples-brand that was a surprisingly good performer. The converters hold enough ink to write for quite some time, but during a 14-hour day, expect to re-ink a few times.

 

I could easily suggest a pen from the M2??-series of Pelikans, for choice of weight & nib; and acquiring a tuned nib from a shop like nibs.com or richardspen or hisnibs.com certainly cannot be ignored. I do prefer a more firm nib though.

 

Those who prefer wider nibs may well choose an ink such as Herbin, so the nib doesn't go wandering.

 

I write single-sided, and use the facing blank page for additions / clarifications, illustrations, graphics, etc. Looseleaf, so pages can be inserted on the fly.

 

Bye,

S1

[WhisperBlade]

Visconti Homo Sapiens.

[ClassicHippie]

Every Aurora I have (Style, Ipsilon, Talentum) is excellent for taking notes at speed, because of their reliability. Another good option is the Vanishing Point, and the Lamy Safari or Al-Star. Excellent pens that in my experience work flawlessly.

 

What's your opinion of the Style overall? I'm looking into getting one mainly for taking notes at school. What nize nib do you have?

[BrandonA]

Never really paid attention to the speed I write, having done a few tests this morning my medium nib MBs seem to function perfectly regardless of the speed.

[dickydotcom]

I have recently been trying to improve my speed and neatness because I have to take notes in interviews.

I now have two distinct styles of hand writing. One fairly neat italic for letters and notes to keep and a second much more flowing style for taking contemporaneous notes.

As for paper, I have found the Oxford refil pads to be very good. They have a smooth writing surface. Ink does not seep through so you can use both sides of the paper and they say the manufacturing is all environmentally friendly.

I also have a small blotter to hand for when I have to turn the page.

Dick D

[eds]

Never really paid attention to the speed I write, having done a few tests this morning my medium nib MBs seem to function perfectly regardless of the speed.

 

What I mean is not how the pen skips during writing fast, but that it becomes too heavy to write fast...

 

But yeah my main problem is trying to be legible, as my handwriting goes to a scrawl when fast. :embarrassed_smile:

[ehemem]

Pen for rapid writing: A Retro with a Parker black fine ballpoint refill.

Ink: see above.

[Ghost Plane]

BB or OBB nibs are the fastest for me. OBB makes my writing more legible.

[Paddler]

I am not in school anymore. When I was, I used a Sheaffer lever filler equipped with a fine Feather Touch nib. It is a nail and very smooth. Plus, when you turn it upside down, it writes extra fine for adding edits between the lines. The ink was Blue Black Quink. The combination would write faster than I could maintain legibility. It writes well, even on bad paper. Besides, if you have to copy verbatim, you probably don't care about a little feathering.

 

Paddler

[MikeF]

I'm not at school anymore too...

but this may be useful for someone, so, here it goes again:

 

 

I have to sign probably more than 100 pages in less than 1h along with some other paperwork once a week.

At those times I usually reach for my Waterman Edson. It's a black medium one.

 

The nib is extremely smooth, very precise because it does not flex nor spring, and for those occasions it works quite better than most... to sign sheets in a book, to sign papers in a pile without removing them... to sign in papers someone's lending to you and are not resting in a propper surface, I don't have a pen that matches the Edson.

Edited January 28, 2011 by MikeF

[nvbrennan]

I use an XF "51" and a Binderised XXXF Pel M600. Also sometimes an XF MB 146. I find that I can only write fast with these sorts of nibs and my small handwriting requires them anyway.

[Dark Side]

Lately I've been using my Lamy Al-Star with M nib because it has good flow and my fast scrawl doesn't look too bad but today I'll be taking my Twsbi Diamond fine nib with me to school to see how it does.

[georges zaslavsky]

sheaffer balance vac fill oversize with extra fine lifetime nib perfect tool for fast writing

[Tricia]

Not what you're wanting but:

 

- Livescribe pen that records the lecture as I write my notes so I can then go back, tap on the place in my notes I want to listen to again, and it plays the audio from that spot. Sweet.

 

I'm not a student but I have used the above for notetaking at a number of workshops (a few all-day) and it works very well for me. Easy transfer to Evernote, too.

 

Totally handwritten notes are usually done with roller balls, usually cheapies from the office supply store. (I tend not to travel with my good pens, fountain or roller...) Since I scan whatever notes I take, I try to not use any pen with too light of an ink.

 

To be honest, if I have to write fast, I prefer a keyboard. I can type very fast and between years of practice and long-standing muscle memory, I can transcribe pretty fast. A Neo works well but the keyboard is noisy, so not welcome in a group setting (other than, say, a coffee shop when I'm making notes to myself). My MBA11 is very quiet and probably the best choice for me. Haven't been to a workshop since I got it, though, so I can't say anything about it in that setting.

 

For a fountain pen, the smoother the better - my Bexley Sherherazade comes to mind - but frankly I much prefer writing slowly and thoughtfully (and legibly!) on Clairefontaine paper when writing with a fountain pen. That usually means I don't use them when taking notes in a workshop / lecture setting.