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Comment by capnrefsmmat | Hacker News Reader

Something like a Lamy Safari or Al-Star is a good place to start; they're inexpensive (as fountain pens go) and basically indestructible, and you can either buy ink cartridges or a converter that lets you fill it out of a bottle.

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Exactly this. I started with a Lamy Al-Star and it's a nice, robust little pen for pretty cheap. Aluminum, so it can take being thrown around. My girlfriend recently started using the Safari and it's a good pen too.

My main "workhorse" pen is the Lamy Studio. Heavier than the Al-Star, a slightly grippy coating, better balance when "posted" (putting the cap on the end of the pen while writing). Also a bit thicker, which suits my personal preference.

This thread at SA is a pretty good primer for fountain pens and ink: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=324...

I have a few other cheap chinese fountain pens that I mess around with, but mostly stick to my Studio.

Edit: Bonus points to owning a semi-nice fountain pen: you'll never lose a pen again. I religiously keep mine in my pocket because, damnit, I spent a lot of money on this pen! No more losing your 20 cent Bics and frantically trying to find a new writing implement.

Plus inks are fun to buy and experiment with :3

Thanks. I'm left-handed and I've never been happy with hand-writing. My death-grip on the pen inevitably results in a vicious cycle of hand cramps and messy handwriting.

I've been looking to change things up by taking hand-written notes (less distracting overall, more focus), but I'm back to the same old. A better writing instrument might help.

As with anything, there is an enormous online discussion forum dedicated to fountain pens:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/

You should find anything you need there. Just try not to get ink on your shirt.

Experiment with different pen widths.

Learn a good pen grip - you may be using an incorrect grip.

Before you start to write practice a few lines of zigs and zags and lines and loops.

This website has some examples and ideas for improving or fixing handwriting.

(http://briem.net/)

Switching to using a fountain pen has made my left-handed writing much better, mostly because I have to slow down and think about how I put the pen to paper, rather than just scrawl it along.

Lamy do left-handed nibs which help a lot. I'm very happy with my Lamy Safari, but I also have a Schneider Base which works well.

Being left handed, you may have to experiment with paper and ink. Some inks, usually archival quality, take longer to dry and you may smear them. Less archival quality inks soak up faster, especially with more "open" paper that sucks it up.

I can second the Lamy Safari suggestion. I found the Safari to be extremely reliable: always starts right away (even after weeks of not writing), never leaking (even in planes and or if I shake it), and needing very little pressure to write.

It might not be the smoothest or the prettiest for its price, it's stiff as a nail but its reliability made it an everyday writer for me.

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