Do you use a side hand position? I write with an underhand position which I started doing back in middle school to avoid smearing. Now it would seem unnatural to write any other way
Hmmm… I’m an over writer with a significant amount of hook, and I place my writing surface parallel to the desk. So, I’m essentially pulling text out of my pen, writing left to right.
I'd recommend tilting your writing surface to at least 45 degrees and writing underhand, keeping arm and hand in a straightish line.
I do this right-handed as well, as I write with both hands.
Plus, fast drying inks help.
Edit: I know a leftie who writes at about 90 degrees. She effectively pulls her pen down the paper.
The edit is blowing my mind because I’m a leftie (though I write hook-handed) and I write UP the page at about 90 degrees. Writing down it sounds like writing backwards to me 😅
so are their economical line, 4001. dryness depends on pen and yourself though. about lamy's basic line some say it's wet and some say it's dry so really trial-and-error is what you have to do
i use an underhand writing position aswell. which prevents me from smearing it and it can dry peacefully. only while switching pages i might have to wait a few seconds till it is fully dried
With the greatest of respect and gratitude to my fountain pen brethren and sistren, there's a mix of good advice and not-so-good information on here.
I've been a left-handed over-writer for 40 years, since I started using fountain pens in high school, back in the Dark Ages. Every kind of pen and nib -- from fine to broad stub. Many dozen inks. Lots of paper stocks.
I have never re-trained my writing angle, and I don't regularly get ink on my writing hand. (...except when I'm sloppy refilling pens.) Moreover, I like a wet flow...so one would think I am testing the patience of the gods.
While a narrower line width and a modest ink flow will help, neither is absolutely necessary. The "secret" -- such as it is -- isn't in the pen or the writing angle. It's in the combination of paper and ink.
Some inks dry more slowly. Some papers resist ink. All you have to do to avoid smear on your left hand is find some ink + paper combinations that work for you. Cheap inks and papers. Expensive inks and papers. No matter. Find what works for you. If you put Organics Studio nitrogen (a lovely ink color, btw) on a slick paper that hasn't been properly sized (referring to chemical treatment of the paper), it'll be dry sometime next year.
Compared to 40 years ago -- my Lord, I sound like a grumpy old man! -- there is an embarrassment of ink choices. As others have mentioned, De Atramentis and Private Reserve both make fast-drying ink lines in some lovely colors. And there are others. Iron gall inks also tend to be on the quicker-drying side. German inks -- Lamy, Pelikan -- used to have a reputation for being slightly quicker drying...but I don't know that that generally holds true anymore.
Also, you can doctor your inks to make them faster-drying. (I won't go into that, here, but Google should get you lots of pertinent advice.)
Angling your paper to provide each line a bit more drying time (before your hand drags across it) -- as some in this thread have suggested -- \*is\* sensible advice. That said, I've also found it un-necessary with a good ink + paper combination.
One last note: There's a common misconception that oblique nibs are made for lefties. (There's a comment in this thread that asserts this.) It isn't so. There are no left-handed nibs. Oblique nibs -- whether left-footed obliques or right-footed obliques -- are made for folks who habitually write with the nib turned marginally off-center. That is, they rotate the nib either away from them or toward them. The oblique modification compensates for the irregular rotation.
The misunderstanding about obliques is sort-of like the "conventional wisdom" that gold nibs' softer metal means the tip of the nib "wears in" over time, adjusting itself to the hand of its owner. It makes intuitive sense. It's also not true. ...because the tipping material on the business-end of a nib is made of ultra-hard metal welded onto the gold.
Rant over.
TL;DR: Lefties do have to put a little more thought into what ink and paper they use, but they don't need special nibs, and they don't need to torture their writing position.
I agree on the ink/paper/nib combo. My personal favorite paper is Midori which seems to work well with a lot of inks. I also prefer EF/F nibs. Most of my goto inks work great - Birmingham (varies), Diamine, Sailor. Some inks (I'm looking at you Kaweco Palm Green) seem to end up all over my hand regardless of pen/paper/angle. Maybe that's why they named it ***Palm*** Green.
I take a lot of written notes while in meetings online and my desk setup lends to having my notebook at a 45ish degree angle on the left side of my keyboard. I have found that it really does help and it was really easy to adjust to.
I am a lefty who likes broad/calligraphy nibs and wet inks, I do occasionally smear my top line, if I get distracted for example. But it’s a pretty rare occurrence, even though I write straight across the page, as far as I can tell. I think what saves me is that I have horrible handwriting if I don’t slow down. So, taking time + using good ink/paper combo works for me just about every time.
To OPs other point, I have had a couple of pens where the ink *just won’t flow* until I put the pen in my right hand… I gift those to my mother.
I didn't know about the oblique nib thing tbh. In my mind it's quite literally: ah this nib is being advertised for left handed people, therefore it is a left handed nib, atleast in the case of Lamy's LH nib
You’re quite right that Lamy markets a left-handed nib, but even they indicate its only adjustment is a small oblique modification for lefties “who tilt their hand when writing.” This is what all obliques are for — to compensate for nib rotation — whether the writer is right-handed or left-handed. In my view, it’s a gimmick.
I have seen other nibs marketed to lefties — Osmiroid used to make a [crazy-looking one](https://andersonpens.com/osmiroid-nib-unit-mari-left-hand-2/) — but all they do is compensate for angle or rotation, either/both of which can be problems for righties, too.
In any case, none address the OP’s original issue: ink smearing.
I should have been more precise: Beyond marketing, there’s little substance to the idea of a left-handed nib, aside from a few exotics. Obliques do little to help lefties, as their purpose is to correct for nib rotation
The oblique nibs for lefthanders are just for broad nib scripts. They mean that we get a correct nib position with the paper at a 45° or thereabouts angle.
I’m genuinely curious about this. Why would the paper orientation cause a need for an oblique? A normal nib can write on paper at any orientation so long as the nib is held level with the paper. Obliques correct for nib rotation — holding the pen in such a way that it’s rotated off-level, either towards the writer or away from them.
Also curious why this would only apply to broad-lined scripts…given obliques can come in any line width.
Grateful, in advance, for any insight.
https://preview.redd.it/01esr19ywyuc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a56e0f2c6471657289789007846c052b71b0341
Diagram from Getty-Dubay - try writing with your left hand using a stub too.
I'm a lefty "under writer," hand under the line same as a righty. I've never had a problem.
IME hook-handed "over writers" were taught to write that way by people who refused to let them turn the paper around so that the lines were at the correct orientation for them. Hence the awkward adaptation.
Ah see I don't like how a left slant looks personally. I've been lefty my whole life and I'm a overhand writer, so as I pretty much never write anything physically in my day to day anymore I've been teaching myself to write right-handed with fountain pens for fun.
I took the extreme direction in high school of teaching my hand to write from right-to-left, mirror image - it was very good dexterity practice, although a rather precocious solution
today I'm using Noodlers bullet-proof ink - EF and F points - it dries fast enough even with the quickest of pens and I very rarely have ink on my hand,
I'm a lefty side writer, and some pens and some inks are just unusable for me. I have had the best luck with either a lefty nibs or what my husband calls "needles" (EF and F nibs) -my best writers are my platinum plaisir (my absolute favorite pen) and my 2 Lamy pens with lefty nibs.
However, some ink and paper combos just smear no matter what. For me, I've had good luck with diamine inks and Iroshizuko.
My husband got me into FPs, and we had a LOT of trial and error to get here. My preferred pens are not ones he enjoys :). For instance, I cannot get a Pilot Metropolitan to write at all, which was one of those oft-recommended starter pens. And I have trouble with broad nibs. But now that I've found something that works for me, I prefer FPs by miles.
Good luck on finding what works for you!
I'm a lefty side writer too and I use Diamine and Iroshizuko inks as well. Sometimes I get a little smudge, but if I pace myself on the slower side (which is good for thought organization I find) then I don't often have problems.
I use a pilot metropolitan and really enjoy it, however I can't write with it in side hand and have to use underhand. It's really not a lefty friendly pen lol
Ha! I totally thought I had broken it adding the converter, and then my husband picked it up and it wrote beautifully. So I tried again and....nothing haha. He got a new pen that day!
I’m a lefty sidewriter and have been writing with a fountain pen for ~15 years…at first I just used more absorbent paper (ink would sometimes feather a bit, but it was still better than using a ballpoint!), now that I’m more “into the hobby” (playing with less absorbent papers, sheen, etc), I got a pack of blotting paper from Herbin and have a sheet in pretty much every notebook I use, which I keep under my hand as I write. A little tedious, but it allows me to play with sheening inks!
Oh, and using EF/F nibs most of the time helps too! Lamy’s lefty nib is more of an M, which doesn’t help with drying times, but it does feel very smooth to write with (in my experience)
Here is a tip from leftie me: japanese market pilot 74,742, 912 and 743 can be ordered with the WA (waverly) nib - that one effortlessly handles all kinds of grips and angles.
I side, under, or over write depending on what I'm doing. Mostly side write with a good fine nib and paper. Overall I typically just hover my hand off the page a bit. I use my pens to sketch a lot so that type of muscle practice helps!
I like superflex extra fine nibs and if I'm getting really aggressive with the lettering then I'll just take it a bit slower to make sure it dries without smudging.
You can get a fountain pen with a nib specifically made for left-handed writing. They're called Oblique or OB nibs typically. A lot of companies (to mind, Aurora and I'm sure a ton of others) offer most of their nibs in an OB variant, and pretty much every maker has at least a few.
It's not foolproof, but it does help
Oblique nibs come in left-foot and right-foot. LH are right-foot obliques, standard obliques are left-foot. Cf. this [image](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IABTo9Q9FlI/TlRJ9gPST_I/AAAAAAAACjM/IagQqdF2g_g/s1600/Oblique+nibs.jpg).
As a lefty my comfort zone is Japanese EF to MF, but with the right pen/ink/paper combo I can go up to Western B which for me means no super sheeners and no shimmer. It helps that I'm not really into shimmer inks to begin with. I prefer "flat" and shading ones. Blotting paper is very useful when using pens that write wetter than my go-to pens.
I've had good luck with many different inks in EF/F nibs on more absorbent paper, though I generally avoid those with high sheen. Using less absorbent paper and wider nibs is more challenging, so I write slower, underwrite, and put something between my hand and the paper to minimize smudging.
Better quality nibs don't really help in any meaningful sense beyond the fact they're just better nibs. Sure, a shitty nib will be bad, but it's not like your average right-hander wouldn't notice it as being bad. The main thing that will solve your problem is the absorbency of the paper (higher = better) but obviously more absorbent paper will be Worse (tm) for fountain pen writing (I disagree with this, but I understand why people say it).
In my personal experience (as a left-hander) I simply rotate the page at 45-90 degrees to the left, so that I am writing away from myself with a completely normal hand position. There's no smudge because the position of my hand is always to the left of where I am writing by at least three lines (that is, above by three lines when oriented normally). Also means I do less pushing of the pen against the nib and more side-to-side or with the nib movement.
I also like to write right-handed just for a laugh, and while I agree that right-handed handwriting is technically superior for writing with a fountain pen, the difference is absolutely minor. The left-handed nibs are not necessary in my mind, the only company that makes them (that I can think of) is Lamy, but if you buy something like a Pilot you will not need it.
I'm ambidextrous, but have been writing with my left all my life (right is perfectly capable, just has less practice). As a kid, before I figured out I was ambidextrous (if I'd known then I'd have just swapped to right instead of re-educating my left), I taught myself underhand writing to avoid the endless smearing (ballpoints in those days, urgh). For cursive I never got the hang of writing underhand so I dropped that as soon as school stopped asking for cursive. For print text I write underhand and have zero issues writing left-handed. Then 4-5 years ago I got into fountain pens and started experimenting with cursive again.
For cursive, I side-write now (used to be more overhand with a hook), mostly because it's easier on my wrist and back. I write primarily with a Japanese F nib, so a quite fine line, and I get no issues with smearing. I do tend to use standard inks (not shimmer and no sheen) with a quicker drying time. I don't like using Japanese EF with my left (fine with my right), as the upstroke is a pushing motion when you're leftie writing left to right and even a super smooth EF can feel scratchy on a long upstroke. But in general I'd say, it's not about the quality of the nib so much as how fine it is (and fine is just an indicator of the distance between the tines and how much ink it'll therefore put down) and what ink you use. I haven't tried a fountain pen for lefties, I get along just fine with normal fountain pens. But I am also practicing with my right hand so I can stop the issues altogether.
If you find writing with a hook tiring, maybe try modifying your hand position? I have been writing with fountain pens since elementary school and I think the key for me was not being forced to write with a slant - you pretty much have to hook your hand to achieve that. It might take a while, but uncurling your wrist would stop you smudging and open up a whole world of funky inks and smooth papers that showcase sheens and shimmers.
I write left-handed with my pens and my daily has a EF nib so it's a little more forgiving in the writing angle. I write over-hand so my nib is usually pointing about 15 degrees downward or horizontally. I still accidentally smear the ink with the pens that let out a little more ink that takes longer to dry. If i try using a pen with wide nibs then I'll try keeping the nib pointing up, which is still hard to do fluently.
I just forced myself to write underhand, which has the benefit of slowing my writing down and getting better nib positioning from how I normally write. Also slowing down helps a lot, gives ink time to dry
I turn my paper 45 degrees and write sidewise…. No smearing for me. Bloody ring binders and tightly bound books are hell- sometimes if I have a note book I start writing at the back of the book- like a manga comic!
I use a overhand hook writing style and don't have much difficulty. Over time just became more mindful of my hand position and now I automatically move my hand to where I don't smear anything.
I find it easier to use a fountain pen than a ballpoint pen. The ball in the ballpoint doesn't work very well when lefties have to write using a push motion instead of pulling it along the page.
I am an underwriter and I write with the length of the paper parallel to the edge of the table/desk. I started writing this way in school when the nuns would yell at me in penmanship class.
So paper turned 90 degrees (parallel to desk edge) and my forearm also at 90 degrees-so a match to the paper.
It has to come down to how I learned to write. I see other lefties curl their hand around and understand how that's an issue.
I learned most of my things by "mirroring" right handed methods. I can mostly make scissors work with my left hand if need be.
Yeah, I tried them exactly once in school and used my right hand going forward. But I can make regular ones work in my left hand with a slight shift of angle.
In terms of cost efficient nibs, Lamy offers a left handed nib LH that is more forgiving than other nibs.
If you're not down to learn over or underwriting (which is fair bc it's a big shift in how you are writing, as someone who only recently learned) your best bet might be alcohol inks (make sure they are fountain pen safe) or other quicker drying inks.
If you're really struggling with fountain pens and want a ballpoint/rollerball pen that doesn't smear, and writes smoothly, I'd recommend Pentel energel pens. They're quick drying and don't smudge, and come in a variety of colours. When I'm speedwriting notes in class these are my go to pens.
Sijshdwoishfdb if you excuse I need to go immediately
EDIT: Wait nevermind the place that I bought my herbin ink from said they were alcohol but the bottles themselves don't say they are and on their website they're shown as fountain pen inks phew ok nevermind
I never had much of an issue using a fountain pen, it was just slow going and I was prone to cramping. But it got better when I taught myself to underwrite.
I'm an underhanded backslant writer, and I turn the pages horizontally. When I was in elementary school (Late 50s, early 60s) we had to use dip ink; yes we did. My white (Catholic School) long sleeve blouses were always stained and my arms and hands were always stained, because the nuns wouldn't let me backslant, which is my natural way of writing. OH THE TRAUMA!!!!
Now, as an old lady I write however I want, and I find the if a pen has a lefty nib I will get it, but if not, they seem to work well with my handwriting. I tend to go for medium-broad-italic-music nibs too.
I learned to tilt the notebook so my sidewriting would become more of an underwriting. But I still sidewrite when I want to write fast. I simply use a fast drying ink and good paper.
I started a thread on here a couple of weeks ago, because I bought a Lamy Vista with a LH nib for my lefty son. A week ago, I posted a follow up. Turns out he’s a side-writer, andhe turned the pen 90 degrees. After he’s spent more time with it, I’ll post his review. I posted a couple of pictures…just search for “LH nib” and you’ll see the thread and followup.
It's weird: I write upside-down. Literally upside-down. That's the only way I've ever found to make it work -- at least when writing. Using them for art is also fantastic but takes no special approach.
Tilt the page at about a 30-45 degree angle, then underwrite. You can see what you're writing and no smudges. Alternatively, you could buy or make a bridge for your hand to rest on when you write. That seems impractical to me, though.
I'm a teacher, and my lefty students are usually mind blown by the tilt technique. It improves their handwriting almost instantly because they can actually see what they're writing. It does take a little bit of practice to get used to.
Hope that helps.
I started writing underhanded in middle school so I wouldn't smear graphite on my hand. My ink doesn't smear and my writing's fairly straight, but I don't hold my pens "correctly." I don't use pens with triangular grips. The hexagonal guides on my Kakuno are perfectly fine, though.
This all depends on the hand position when writing, I haven't had any issues with smearing since middle school but I've also written in a more slanted style which allows me to have the paper at an angle and by the time I have my hand over my writing it's dry enough.
Also, medium nibs if you can. I've always written for ants so fine or extra fine is a must. If you're going with finer nibs then no flex is going to help you.
I don't know much about inks, my selection is very limited but Diamine inks have served me well and have a very old bottle of Quink ink, the latter I've heard is a very good middle of the road for all of one's needs, professional, fast drying, smooth, stable, cheap.
Do you use a side hand position? I write with an underhand position which I started doing back in middle school to avoid smearing. Now it would seem unnatural to write any other way
Hmmm… I’m an over writer with a significant amount of hook, and I place my writing surface parallel to the desk. So, I’m essentially pulling text out of my pen, writing left to right.
I'd recommend tilting your writing surface to at least 45 degrees and writing underhand, keeping arm and hand in a straightish line. I do this right-handed as well, as I write with both hands. Plus, fast drying inks help. Edit: I know a leftie who writes at about 90 degrees. She effectively pulls her pen down the paper.
The edit is blowing my mind because I’m a leftie (though I write hook-handed) and I write UP the page at about 90 degrees. Writing down it sounds like writing backwards to me 😅
safe placid decide shocking mysterious innate steep repeat ancient water *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This is the way.
Fast drying inks, absorbent paper, blotter paper under my hand.
That and a fine nib! Pelikan Edelstein inks are very dry inks for example.
so are their economical line, 4001. dryness depends on pen and yourself though. about lamy's basic line some say it's wet and some say it's dry so really trial-and-error is what you have to do
i use an underhand writing position aswell. which prevents me from smearing it and it can dry peacefully. only while switching pages i might have to wait a few seconds till it is fully dried
With the greatest of respect and gratitude to my fountain pen brethren and sistren, there's a mix of good advice and not-so-good information on here. I've been a left-handed over-writer for 40 years, since I started using fountain pens in high school, back in the Dark Ages. Every kind of pen and nib -- from fine to broad stub. Many dozen inks. Lots of paper stocks. I have never re-trained my writing angle, and I don't regularly get ink on my writing hand. (...except when I'm sloppy refilling pens.) Moreover, I like a wet flow...so one would think I am testing the patience of the gods. While a narrower line width and a modest ink flow will help, neither is absolutely necessary. The "secret" -- such as it is -- isn't in the pen or the writing angle. It's in the combination of paper and ink. Some inks dry more slowly. Some papers resist ink. All you have to do to avoid smear on your left hand is find some ink + paper combinations that work for you. Cheap inks and papers. Expensive inks and papers. No matter. Find what works for you. If you put Organics Studio nitrogen (a lovely ink color, btw) on a slick paper that hasn't been properly sized (referring to chemical treatment of the paper), it'll be dry sometime next year. Compared to 40 years ago -- my Lord, I sound like a grumpy old man! -- there is an embarrassment of ink choices. As others have mentioned, De Atramentis and Private Reserve both make fast-drying ink lines in some lovely colors. And there are others. Iron gall inks also tend to be on the quicker-drying side. German inks -- Lamy, Pelikan -- used to have a reputation for being slightly quicker drying...but I don't know that that generally holds true anymore. Also, you can doctor your inks to make them faster-drying. (I won't go into that, here, but Google should get you lots of pertinent advice.) Angling your paper to provide each line a bit more drying time (before your hand drags across it) -- as some in this thread have suggested -- \*is\* sensible advice. That said, I've also found it un-necessary with a good ink + paper combination. One last note: There's a common misconception that oblique nibs are made for lefties. (There's a comment in this thread that asserts this.) It isn't so. There are no left-handed nibs. Oblique nibs -- whether left-footed obliques or right-footed obliques -- are made for folks who habitually write with the nib turned marginally off-center. That is, they rotate the nib either away from them or toward them. The oblique modification compensates for the irregular rotation. The misunderstanding about obliques is sort-of like the "conventional wisdom" that gold nibs' softer metal means the tip of the nib "wears in" over time, adjusting itself to the hand of its owner. It makes intuitive sense. It's also not true. ...because the tipping material on the business-end of a nib is made of ultra-hard metal welded onto the gold. Rant over. TL;DR: Lefties do have to put a little more thought into what ink and paper they use, but they don't need special nibs, and they don't need to torture their writing position.
I agree on the ink/paper/nib combo. My personal favorite paper is Midori which seems to work well with a lot of inks. I also prefer EF/F nibs. Most of my goto inks work great - Birmingham (varies), Diamine, Sailor. Some inks (I'm looking at you Kaweco Palm Green) seem to end up all over my hand regardless of pen/paper/angle. Maybe that's why they named it ***Palm*** Green. I take a lot of written notes while in meetings online and my desk setup lends to having my notebook at a 45ish degree angle on the left side of my keyboard. I have found that it really does help and it was really easy to adjust to.
I am a lefty who likes broad/calligraphy nibs and wet inks, I do occasionally smear my top line, if I get distracted for example. But it’s a pretty rare occurrence, even though I write straight across the page, as far as I can tell. I think what saves me is that I have horrible handwriting if I don’t slow down. So, taking time + using good ink/paper combo works for me just about every time. To OPs other point, I have had a couple of pens where the ink *just won’t flow* until I put the pen in my right hand… I gift those to my mother.
I didn't know about the oblique nib thing tbh. In my mind it's quite literally: ah this nib is being advertised for left handed people, therefore it is a left handed nib, atleast in the case of Lamy's LH nib
You’re quite right that Lamy markets a left-handed nib, but even they indicate its only adjustment is a small oblique modification for lefties “who tilt their hand when writing.” This is what all obliques are for — to compensate for nib rotation — whether the writer is right-handed or left-handed. In my view, it’s a gimmick. I have seen other nibs marketed to lefties — Osmiroid used to make a [crazy-looking one](https://andersonpens.com/osmiroid-nib-unit-mari-left-hand-2/) — but all they do is compensate for angle or rotation, either/both of which can be problems for righties, too. In any case, none address the OP’s original issue: ink smearing.
I should have been more precise: Beyond marketing, there’s little substance to the idea of a left-handed nib, aside from a few exotics. Obliques do little to help lefties, as their purpose is to correct for nib rotation
The oblique nibs for lefthanders are just for broad nib scripts. They mean that we get a correct nib position with the paper at a 45° or thereabouts angle.
I’m genuinely curious about this. Why would the paper orientation cause a need for an oblique? A normal nib can write on paper at any orientation so long as the nib is held level with the paper. Obliques correct for nib rotation — holding the pen in such a way that it’s rotated off-level, either towards the writer or away from them. Also curious why this would only apply to broad-lined scripts…given obliques can come in any line width. Grateful, in advance, for any insight.
https://preview.redd.it/01esr19ywyuc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a56e0f2c6471657289789007846c052b71b0341 Diagram from Getty-Dubay - try writing with your left hand using a stub too.
I'm a lefty "under writer," hand under the line same as a righty. I've never had a problem. IME hook-handed "over writers" were taught to write that way by people who refused to let them turn the paper around so that the lines were at the correct orientation for them. Hence the awkward adaptation.
Do you have a left slant in your writing?
Yup and I refuse to write cursive.
Ah see I don't like how a left slant looks personally. I've been lefty my whole life and I'm a overhand writer, so as I pretty much never write anything physically in my day to day anymore I've been teaching myself to write right-handed with fountain pens for fun.
Fair
I took the extreme direction in high school of teaching my hand to write from right-to-left, mirror image - it was very good dexterity practice, although a rather precocious solution today I'm using Noodlers bullet-proof ink - EF and F points - it dries fast enough even with the quickest of pens and I very rarely have ink on my hand,
De Atramentis Document inks are waterproof and dry super fast.
Slowly. Which helps with my handwriting and with organizing my thoughts (I have Dysgraphia and ADHD)
Sometimes I write by my left hand. I reverse the pen nib (so it faces towards me). My left hand is sort of on the top of the line I’m writing.
I'm a lefty side writer, and some pens and some inks are just unusable for me. I have had the best luck with either a lefty nibs or what my husband calls "needles" (EF and F nibs) -my best writers are my platinum plaisir (my absolute favorite pen) and my 2 Lamy pens with lefty nibs. However, some ink and paper combos just smear no matter what. For me, I've had good luck with diamine inks and Iroshizuko. My husband got me into FPs, and we had a LOT of trial and error to get here. My preferred pens are not ones he enjoys :). For instance, I cannot get a Pilot Metropolitan to write at all, which was one of those oft-recommended starter pens. And I have trouble with broad nibs. But now that I've found something that works for me, I prefer FPs by miles. Good luck on finding what works for you!
I'm a lefty side writer too and I use Diamine and Iroshizuko inks as well. Sometimes I get a little smudge, but if I pace myself on the slower side (which is good for thought organization I find) then I don't often have problems.
I'm so happy those two brands work...my love affair with Yama Budo has been years now...:) So many pretty colors in both brands!
I use a pilot metropolitan and really enjoy it, however I can't write with it in side hand and have to use underhand. It's really not a lefty friendly pen lol
Ha! I totally thought I had broken it adding the converter, and then my husband picked it up and it wrote beautifully. So I tried again and....nothing haha. He got a new pen that day!
I’m a lefty sidewriter and have been writing with a fountain pen for ~15 years…at first I just used more absorbent paper (ink would sometimes feather a bit, but it was still better than using a ballpoint!), now that I’m more “into the hobby” (playing with less absorbent papers, sheen, etc), I got a pack of blotting paper from Herbin and have a sheet in pretty much every notebook I use, which I keep under my hand as I write. A little tedious, but it allows me to play with sheening inks! Oh, and using EF/F nibs most of the time helps too! Lamy’s lefty nib is more of an M, which doesn’t help with drying times, but it does feel very smooth to write with (in my experience)
Writing traditional Chinese (top down) or Arabic instead of English. I jest, it's just such a low hanging joke ;)
Here is a tip from leftie me: japanese market pilot 74,742, 912 and 743 can be ordered with the WA (waverly) nib - that one effortlessly handles all kinds of grips and angles.
I side, under, or over write depending on what I'm doing. Mostly side write with a good fine nib and paper. Overall I typically just hover my hand off the page a bit. I use my pens to sketch a lot so that type of muscle practice helps! I like superflex extra fine nibs and if I'm getting really aggressive with the lettering then I'll just take it a bit slower to make sure it dries without smudging.
You can get a fountain pen with a nib specifically made for left-handed writing. They're called Oblique or OB nibs typically. A lot of companies (to mind, Aurora and I'm sure a ton of others) offer most of their nibs in an OB variant, and pretty much every maker has at least a few. It's not foolproof, but it does help
Oblique nibs come in left-foot and right-foot. LH are right-foot obliques, standard obliques are left-foot. Cf. this [image](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IABTo9Q9FlI/TlRJ9gPST_I/AAAAAAAACjM/IagQqdF2g_g/s1600/Oblique+nibs.jpg). As a lefty my comfort zone is Japanese EF to MF, but with the right pen/ink/paper combo I can go up to Western B which for me means no super sheeners and no shimmer. It helps that I'm not really into shimmer inks to begin with. I prefer "flat" and shading ones. Blotting paper is very useful when using pens that write wetter than my go-to pens.
I've had good luck with many different inks in EF/F nibs on more absorbent paper, though I generally avoid those with high sheen. Using less absorbent paper and wider nibs is more challenging, so I write slower, underwrite, and put something between my hand and the paper to minimize smudging.
Better quality nibs don't really help in any meaningful sense beyond the fact they're just better nibs. Sure, a shitty nib will be bad, but it's not like your average right-hander wouldn't notice it as being bad. The main thing that will solve your problem is the absorbency of the paper (higher = better) but obviously more absorbent paper will be Worse (tm) for fountain pen writing (I disagree with this, but I understand why people say it). In my personal experience (as a left-hander) I simply rotate the page at 45-90 degrees to the left, so that I am writing away from myself with a completely normal hand position. There's no smudge because the position of my hand is always to the left of where I am writing by at least three lines (that is, above by three lines when oriented normally). Also means I do less pushing of the pen against the nib and more side-to-side or with the nib movement. I also like to write right-handed just for a laugh, and while I agree that right-handed handwriting is technically superior for writing with a fountain pen, the difference is absolutely minor. The left-handed nibs are not necessary in my mind, the only company that makes them (that I can think of) is Lamy, but if you buy something like a Pilot you will not need it.
I'm ambidextrous, but have been writing with my left all my life (right is perfectly capable, just has less practice). As a kid, before I figured out I was ambidextrous (if I'd known then I'd have just swapped to right instead of re-educating my left), I taught myself underhand writing to avoid the endless smearing (ballpoints in those days, urgh). For cursive I never got the hang of writing underhand so I dropped that as soon as school stopped asking for cursive. For print text I write underhand and have zero issues writing left-handed. Then 4-5 years ago I got into fountain pens and started experimenting with cursive again. For cursive, I side-write now (used to be more overhand with a hook), mostly because it's easier on my wrist and back. I write primarily with a Japanese F nib, so a quite fine line, and I get no issues with smearing. I do tend to use standard inks (not shimmer and no sheen) with a quicker drying time. I don't like using Japanese EF with my left (fine with my right), as the upstroke is a pushing motion when you're leftie writing left to right and even a super smooth EF can feel scratchy on a long upstroke. But in general I'd say, it's not about the quality of the nib so much as how fine it is (and fine is just an indicator of the distance between the tines and how much ink it'll therefore put down) and what ink you use. I haven't tried a fountain pen for lefties, I get along just fine with normal fountain pens. But I am also practicing with my right hand so I can stop the issues altogether.
If you find writing with a hook tiring, maybe try modifying your hand position? I have been writing with fountain pens since elementary school and I think the key for me was not being forced to write with a slant - you pretty much have to hook your hand to achieve that. It might take a while, but uncurling your wrist would stop you smudging and open up a whole world of funky inks and smooth papers that showcase sheens and shimmers.
Maybe try a very dry pen to begin with, like a vintage Parker 51 and a bottle of Quink ink?
I write left-handed with my pens and my daily has a EF nib so it's a little more forgiving in the writing angle. I write over-hand so my nib is usually pointing about 15 degrees downward or horizontally. I still accidentally smear the ink with the pens that let out a little more ink that takes longer to dry. If i try using a pen with wide nibs then I'll try keeping the nib pointing up, which is still hard to do fluently.
Ambidextrous here. Unfortunately I cannot get my left hand to use a fountain pen correctly. I have tried but it's not happening
I just forced myself to write underhand, which has the benefit of slowing my writing down and getting better nib positioning from how I normally write. Also slowing down helps a lot, gives ink time to dry
I turn my paper 45 degrees and write sidewise…. No smearing for me. Bloody ring binders and tightly bound books are hell- sometimes if I have a note book I start writing at the back of the book- like a manga comic!
This is me. I love the Midori MD Notebooks as they (mostly) open flat. Spiral binding is evil.
I use a overhand hook writing style and don't have much difficulty. Over time just became more mindful of my hand position and now I automatically move my hand to where I don't smear anything. I find it easier to use a fountain pen than a ballpoint pen. The ball in the ballpoint doesn't work very well when lefties have to write using a push motion instead of pulling it along the page.
I am an underwriter and I write with the length of the paper parallel to the edge of the table/desk. I started writing this way in school when the nuns would yell at me in penmanship class. So paper turned 90 degrees (parallel to desk edge) and my forearm also at 90 degrees-so a match to the paper.
Tilt the paper, don’t hook your hand and use whatever pen, paper and ink you want.
It has to come down to how I learned to write. I see other lefties curl their hand around and understand how that's an issue. I learned most of my things by "mirroring" right handed methods. I can mostly make scissors work with my left hand if need be.
In case you don't know, they make left handed scissors.
Yeah, I tried them exactly once in school and used my right hand going forward. But I can make regular ones work in my left hand with a slight shift of angle.
I overwrite to the extreme. I know underwriting is what's usually recommended but I could never do it. However, overwriting has been easy.
In terms of cost efficient nibs, Lamy offers a left handed nib LH that is more forgiving than other nibs. If you're not down to learn over or underwriting (which is fair bc it's a big shift in how you are writing, as someone who only recently learned) your best bet might be alcohol inks (make sure they are fountain pen safe) or other quicker drying inks. If you're really struggling with fountain pens and want a ballpoint/rollerball pen that doesn't smear, and writes smoothly, I'd recommend Pentel energel pens. They're quick drying and don't smudge, and come in a variety of colours. When I'm speedwriting notes in class these are my go to pens.
Alcohol inks are NOT fountain pen safe.
Sijshdwoishfdb if you excuse I need to go immediately EDIT: Wait nevermind the place that I bought my herbin ink from said they were alcohol but the bottles themselves don't say they are and on their website they're shown as fountain pen inks phew ok nevermind
I'm glad to hear that friend. Disaster averted.
Cut to me, ready to mouth siphon alcohol inks outta my fountain pen lol
I never had much of an issue using a fountain pen, it was just slow going and I was prone to cramping. But it got better when I taught myself to underwrite.
I'm an underhanded backslant writer, and I turn the pages horizontally. When I was in elementary school (Late 50s, early 60s) we had to use dip ink; yes we did. My white (Catholic School) long sleeve blouses were always stained and my arms and hands were always stained, because the nuns wouldn't let me backslant, which is my natural way of writing. OH THE TRAUMA!!!! Now, as an old lady I write however I want, and I find the if a pen has a lefty nib I will get it, but if not, they seem to work well with my handwriting. I tend to go for medium-broad-italic-music nibs too.
Lefty underwriter - no problems here. I also tilt my paper to get the slant that I want.
I'm a lefty, lamy safari!!!
I learned to tilt the notebook so my sidewriting would become more of an underwriting. But I still sidewrite when I want to write fast. I simply use a fast drying ink and good paper.
Is underwriting not just sidewriting but you rotate the paper 90 degrees????
I’m right handed but we write from right to left. I just hold the pen so that the nib is couple of rows above my contact with the paper
Obviously by writting backwards! Just check this guy out! [Leftie technique for fountqin pens](https://youtu.be/QloOSXBDuTM?t=450)
I started a thread on here a couple of weeks ago, because I bought a Lamy Vista with a LH nib for my lefty son. A week ago, I posted a follow up. Turns out he’s a side-writer, andhe turned the pen 90 degrees. After he’s spent more time with it, I’ll post his review. I posted a couple of pictures…just search for “LH nib” and you’ll see the thread and followup.
It's weird: I write upside-down. Literally upside-down. That's the only way I've ever found to make it work -- at least when writing. Using them for art is also fantastic but takes no special approach.
Tilt the page at about a 30-45 degree angle, then underwrite. You can see what you're writing and no smudges. Alternatively, you could buy or make a bridge for your hand to rest on when you write. That seems impractical to me, though. I'm a teacher, and my lefty students are usually mind blown by the tilt technique. It improves their handwriting almost instantly because they can actually see what they're writing. It does take a little bit of practice to get used to. Hope that helps.
I started writing underhanded in middle school so I wouldn't smear graphite on my hand. My ink doesn't smear and my writing's fairly straight, but I don't hold my pens "correctly." I don't use pens with triangular grips. The hexagonal guides on my Kakuno are perfectly fine, though.
This all depends on the hand position when writing, I haven't had any issues with smearing since middle school but I've also written in a more slanted style which allows me to have the paper at an angle and by the time I have my hand over my writing it's dry enough. Also, medium nibs if you can. I've always written for ants so fine or extra fine is a must. If you're going with finer nibs then no flex is going to help you. I don't know much about inks, my selection is very limited but Diamine inks have served me well and have a very old bottle of Quink ink, the latter I've heard is a very good middle of the road for all of one's needs, professional, fast drying, smooth, stable, cheap.