Left Hook Pens

When I first ordered this pen, I was nervous because a lot of reviews had mentioned a sweet spot on the nib, but I took a chance and ended up pleasantly surprised!

The Lamy 2000 is made of makrolon with a brushed metal grip section. It has a snap cap and is a piston filler. The metal section makes the pen a little bottom heavy while writing, but then the user doesn’t have to apply as much pressure with their hands. As someone who holds their pen vertically, the weight helps with ink flow. My girlfriend made a good point to me the other day about posting pens. She has small hands and generally doesn’t post because the added weight makes the pen off balance as it rests between her thumb and index finger. I also have small hands, but because the pen is resting on my middle finger (see photos below), the weight doesn’t effect balance as much. I prefer to post because length is more of a factor for me in balance and comfort. If the pen is long enough, then the weight of the pen can be distributed more evenly between my middle finger and the space between my index and thumb.

As for the nib, I have not had any issues with a sweet spot. I keep this pen inked with Lamy turquoise, and the flow is wet enough that writing is nice and smooth, but not so wet that the ink smudges as I drag my hand across the page. I’ve been using this pen to take notes for an online class because it has a snap cap, and because I don’t have ink smudging issues. Since I’ve started writing more extensively with this pen, my hand starts to hurt after writing a third of a page. I think the reason for this is that the grip section is tapered towards the nib and is smooth metal, so I find myself gripping the pen tighter than usual and end up with a cramping hand. This could also be because of the way I have my fingers oriented on the pen, with my index and thumb applying the most pressure.

I haven’t always held my pens this way, but this is how I’ve adapted my grip over the last year to be able to write legibly with a fountain pen. In school I learned to write by having my index finger controlling the pen with my thumb wrapped around it and touching my index finger.

With my adapted grip it definitely feels like I have more control over the pen. I feel like I can write neater, but my original grip is more comfortable because I wrote like that from when I was 5 all the way to 25. How do you hold your pen? Have you changed your grip over time? Please comment to let me know!

The Lamy 2000 is a very nice pen. I am still pleasantly surprised at how much I like it, but I cannot recommend it for lefty over-writers like myself because of the hand cramping issues I’ve had. Your mileage may vary as everyone holds their pen differently. This pen retails for about $150 USD and comes in black makrolon.

If you would like to purchase this pen for yourself, please click here. This is an Amazon affiliate link, if you click on it and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission from the sale. It’s a way for you to support this blog directly!

PS: I will no longer be giving smudged finger ratings as it feels very arbitrary.