What does Grip Section Have to do with Stub/CI ?

[Rroberrt]

Changing from a ball (single line) tip to a stub or italic tip, eventually brought into focus for me a characteristic unique to, (or at least more important with) a square tip nib - Rotation.  

 

Before, it didn’t matter much how I held the pen, the ink flowed - but then came Stub.  Now, the mechanics of one tine lifting off the paper and the smaller sweet spot resulting in a skip are a little better understood.  As is the impact of the grip section in avoiding that, and maintaining the desired rotation.

 

No doubt there is a clearer explanation of this phenomenon, but ‘skips’ for example could easily be blamed by a newcomer on Baby’s Bottom, when the culprit is in fact - rotation.  And the resolution might be in the design of the grip, ribbing or form., to provide a firm and stable rotation.  Or perhaps an oblique tip, to compensate for an unusual pen-hold.

 

It seems quite complicated, but I do love when occasionally I get it right and the pen lays out that clean almost italic line.

[silverlifter]

This is why so many people new to fountain pens complain about the alleged Lamy 2000 "sweet spot". Those nibs are stubish by nature and the combination of the hooded nib, unmarked section, and stubby grind is unforgiving for rotation. People used to ballpoints and rollerballs are not at all sensitised to nib-orientation, and it can take a while for that motor skill to develop.

[Rroberrt]

7 minutes ago, silverlifter said:

 People used to ballpoints and rollerballs are not at all sensitised to nib-orientation, and it can take a while for that motor skill to develop.

I agree, but not only ballpoints and rollerballs; I used FP’s for years and never had to give rotation a thought, Of course the ball-tip on the end of my 75 looks to be about 1/16th in dia.

[silverlifter]

Yep. Some pens are definitely more forgiving than others. The round German nibs, kugel, spring to mind. Others, like the hooded P51 proved so problematic even for fountain pen users that the next iteration, the 61s, had an arrow pointing to the tip to help users orient the pen.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Do houd your fountain pen like a fountain pen at 45 degrees just behind the big index knuckle or at 40 degrees at the start of the web of your thumb.

 

Do not hold it before your big index knuckle vertically like a ball point.

The fat round ball nibs are designed so you can hold it like a ball point also, or cant or rotate the nib around a bib blobby nib tip ball.

 

 So don't roll your fingertips together like that kind of round ball nib lets you get away with. Just hold the nib flat to the paper.