Writing cramps, Fountain pens, ball point pens - what works best for you ?

[Lesmore]

Before I retired, my career involved a lot of writing. I used to experience hand cramps and as a result I looked for pens that reduced the cramp.

I discovered that fountain pens worked quite well for me and so for about 30 years, I for the most part used fountain pens.

After much experimentation I found that the Schaeffer White dot (with a medium gold nib) fountain pen was the pen for me. Over the years I had four...three were black bodies, one a gold body.

Being retired now, I find I don't write nearly as much, with the result being that the ink tends to dry up in my fountain pens, from lack of use.

I've now switched to Schaeffer White Dot ball points (black/gold bodies) and a very nice Waterman ball point.

Both the Schaeffer's and the Waterman ball points glide smoothly and with little effort over the page. They are reliable and fit my large hand well.

So....what's your favourite pen.....and why do you like it ?

 

[Cartier]

TWSBI 580 - 1.1mm Nib

It is a decently large pen. No need to post it. It has plenty of heft but isn't a chore to hold.

The 580 looks beautiful, especially when filled with a vivid ink.

I also love that it is piston filled. It feels like a quality pen.

The pen also writes very well with the stub nib. It was very wet at first, actually too wet. After a couple pages it calmed down and writes like a dream now.


Some of my old Paker Vacumatics are in a close second and my Monteverde Black Steel 1.1mm nib is the smoothest nib I have ever written with.

 

[Andy]

Ballpoints are quite painful for me to use, probably due to the small size.

Even have the same trouble with the thinner fountain pens, for me, the best FP has been the TWSBI Vac 700.

All the TWSBI jokes aside, it is the perfect size and weight, and it is comfortable to use all day long.

 

[Cartier]

All the TWSBI jokes aside, it is the perfect size and weight, and it is comfortable to use all day long.

I'm still not sure why it gets hated on. Sure, initially there was some cracking problems on the section but they have fixed that with the 580. The nibs have been swapped, the Bock nibs for Jowo, which I thought was a nice change. Their pens are great and they listen to their customers.

 

[Andy]

I'm still not sure why it gets hated on. Sure, initially there was some cracking problems on the section but they have fixed that with the 580. The nibs have been swapped, the Bock nibs for Jowo, which I thought was a nice change. Their pens are great and they listen to their customers.

Not sure either, I think that they are a fantastic pen.

Had some issues with the original nib in my 700, an email to TWSBI CS and they shipped a replacement out, free of charge! Can't get much better than that!

OT - not long now until the Vac Mini!!

 

[Viseguy]

For reasons too boring to explain, I recently tried using a gel pen for a month instead of my usual FP. I developed forearm pain -- which went away a couple of days after I resumed with the FP. A fountain pen really does make a difference.

 

[Slivovitz]

Fountain pens actually taught me better writing technique with ballpoints and rollerballs. I learned that you don't necessarily need to press very hard with those, either. As with cartridge razors, people just get in the habit of bearing down hard, and there's nobody to tell them different.

I still find that fountain pens are a bit more comfortable, although I've never had a real problem with hand cramps. It's not the pressure so much as the writing angle. With a fountain pen, I can adopt a shallower angle than with a ballpoint or rollerball. It just feels more natural that way.

As for picking a single favorite pen, unfortunately I've gotten into this a bit too heavily for that to be an easy task, or even a possible one. My Pelikan M205 is a durable, trouble free pen with all the ink capacity I'll ever need. The soft medium nib on my Namiki Falcon is beautifully smooth, and it feels like I could go on writing with it for ever, but the vintage gold nibs on my Eversharp Symphony and Skyline are also a pleasure to use. There are others that I won't mention, or this post will get out of hand. I suppose what they have in common is that they're all light pens, a good size for my hand, with nibs that never miss a stroke, and seem to add a bit of expressiveness to my handwriting.

 

[Mr5x5]

Pain was the main reason I decided to try fountain pens and I was happy I did. It took me an eternity (or at least the Ahab made it seem that way) until I found a pen that I really like...No Nonsense in medium italic. Once I get a converter for it I think I am set.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Pain was the main reason I decided to try fountain pens and I was happy I did. It took me an eternity (or at least the Ahab made it seem that way) until I found a pen that I really like...No Nonsense in medium italic. Once I get a converter for it I think I am set.

I eyedroppered both of my No Nonsenses with just a touch of silicone grease- I have had zero leaks, and I store them horizontally. Also, never had a burp. Those bodies hold a lot of ink. Side note- they appear to have excellent feeds- they write the first time, every time.

 

[maskaggs]

Hope you all won't mind me resurrecting this thread. I've done some searching on whether a FP might help with clinical writer's cramp - a focal dystonia in the forearm - and this thread popped up. Can anyone offer some advice on whether a FP might offer relief for chronic, and severe, pain?

 

[Eeyore]

Hope you all won't mind me resurrecting this thread. I've done some searching on whether a FP might help with clinical writer's cramp - a focal dystonia in the forearm - and this thread popped up. Can anyone offer some advice on whether a FP might offer relief for chronic, and severe, pain?

It did help my wife, but she also had to relearn her handwriting.

 

[musicman1951]

I'm between two Pelikan m600 pens, a vintage and a new pen - both with stub nibs done by Mike-it-work. I like to write posted and can't decide which I like better. They are both extremely comfortable and beautiful. I have an M800 I also like, but that's no in the running as it's too big to post.

 

[coyotewhisper]

I have such a variety of brands of fountain pens. Mostly I use vintage over modern. To chose a one favorite from them is difficult.

I would say my favorite pens are my Esterbrooks, each one has a different nib, giving each one their own writing personality.
Other vintage favorites would be an Eversharp Skyline, Waterman Sky Writer and Crusader

Modern pen favorites would include my TWSBI 700 Vac, Waterman Executive II. and Waterman Charleston.

I write two dozen or more letters a month my pens are used regularly.

 

[Bob L.]

I write between 300 and 500 words on days where I just keep my class journals up-to-date. Add another few hundred or so if I get the urge to think on paper.

I've found my Parker 51s and my Lamy 2000 to be my best pens for writing quick notes and start-and-stop journal entries. Their pull-off caps make these great pens for this purpose.

For longer writing sessions I like my TWISBI 580-AL and that same Lamy 2000. Both of these pens have Pendleton Brown stub nibs. A Franklin-Christoph Classic Rock with a Mike Masuyama stub nib is also a favorite. These pens all have more heft than my 51s.

 

[Slivovitz]

Hope you all won't mind me resurrecting this thread. I've done some searching on whether a FP might help with clinical writer's cramp - a focal dystonia in the forearm - and this thread popped up. Can anyone offer some advice on whether a FP might offer relief for chronic, and severe, pain?

Well, maybe, but not having any medical qualifications, I wouldn't want to promise anything. If you can hold a pen lightly, not the knuckle whitening death grip you see with some people, and if you can write by just pulling the tip lightly across the page, not really pressing down, that can help. Fountain pens can help you do this. Writing more with hand and arm movements, and less with drawing characters with finger movements is also good. Fountain pens tend to be held at a shallower angle to the paper than you would use with a ballpoint, but whether this is good or bad for cramps, I'm not sure.

You can reproduce some of the smooth, no pressure feeling of a fountain pen with a felt tip or a good rollerball. If that helps you with the cramps and pain, it might be worth moving on to a fountain pen. Chances are that the pen won't do it all on its own; you'll have to work on technique. It's worth a try, though, unless your doctor is just telling you not to write.

 

[Corey]

I have a Pilot VP Fermo that I picked up on eBay for a very nice price that writes amazing. I don't know if someone did some work on the nib or if all medium VPs write this smoothly, but it's amazing. It writes incredibly wet and puts down a thick line, which makes me think it was worked on. My Namiki VP with a fine nib doesn't feel anywhere near as smooth, though it's still a great pen to write with. Still, the Fermo is just a gem, and I like the design better than a standard VP.

To throw on some more TWSBI love, I use my Vac 700 1.1mm stub every day. It's a favorite to use. I had J. Herbin Stormy Grey in it, and it's the first pen I own that really shows off that gold sheen. I've refilled it three times already, and don't think I'd want to put another ink in it. I may have to pick up another one just to try other inks in. I have a Vac 700 with a fine nib loaded with rohrer and klingner königsblau that I use often at work that's also a great pen, but I love that 1.1mm stub. I have a 580 with the 1.5mm stub, but it seems to write a little wetter than the feed can handle, so it'll run dry if I write too long. Maybe another ink would fix that.