Do fountain pens smear easily for Left handers?

[Thurnau]

I like Mont Blanc roller ball pens. When writing left handed my hand never smears the Mont Blanc rollerball ink. G2 inks writes smooth but smears a lot as my hand drags across the page. I like the look of the fountain pens, do the smear easily?

[metal man]

I would have to say that it would. Mine smears sometimes if I bounce around the page. Perhaps with a very fine nib it would be beter but the heavey lines are what I love about a fountain.

[Tools]

I can't speak for left handers, since I am not one.. But Fountain Pen ink does smear for the first few seconds.. Some of the heavy flow inks actually need a bit of time to dry... It also depends on the paper.. High porous papers bleed more, but dry faster whereas the more glossy papers may take a very long time to dry...

All this means that if you are a lefty, you will need to go more slowly with an FP if conditions are not optimum...and for general writing, you would want a fine nib with a less than a fully wet flow...

Quality paper, the right nib and ink, and some reasonable caution and any lefty will be right at home with a good Fountain Pen...

[Bisquitlips]

They can. Left handers push the pen rather than pull it. Unless you can write in reverse spell all words backward from right to left, then smearing will be a problem.

Look for some fast drying ink.

[Safetrends]

I am left handed and I have had that problem even with some inks now it also depends if you write upsidedown or rightsideup.

[Skullring]

I am a left handed underwriter I keep the paper at about a 20 degree downward angle so I don't smear the ink. Try some different paper positions and a finer point and fast drying ink will help. Phil

[Thurnau]

Thanks for the advice. Mont Blanc rollerball writes smooth and never smears for me. A finer point means that the ink won't write as smooth right? That was the point of trying and FP to begin with.

[Shangas]

A finer point means that the ink won't write as smooth right?

I've never heard that. I use fine-nibbed fountain pens all the time. They write great!

[Cato]

I have the misfortune of being left handed and loving fountain pens. Yes the ink smears terribly - whether that be fountain pen, ball, pencil, or rollerball. Some things I do to minimize the smearing is to write slower so as to let the ink dry and use a clean sheet of white paper as a blotter of sorts to put under my hand as I write. You can also angle your hand so your palm is oriented below what you're writing. The best solution is learn to write with your right hand. Go to a teacher supply store and get a handwriting book. It's not as hard as it sounds. If you practice on a daily basis, you'll be able to legibily write right handed in maybe a month or so. I've found that my right and left handed penmanship is similar; I just dont feel as comfortable writing with my right hand.

[Shangas]

Using blotting-paper is one way to handle this problem. Mind you, if you're blotting for every line, or even every word, you might want to buy a rocker-blotter...



...to make the blotting more smooth and quicker to do. I've got a rocker-blotter of my own and I'd be lost without it (I'm not lefthanded, but that's beside the point. They're wonderful things to use!)

[Lion]

I really enjoy writing with a fountain pen and am a newbie. I know I'm lucky to be right handed and not have these problems!!!

[Shangas]

Hahaha!! I'm a hardcore FP user as well, Lion and I'm also right-handed.