Your favorite writing implement?

[Mr Skeptic]

Good Luck with that Captain.

 

Has anyone here ever used one of those split keyboards - or a Dvorak style keyboard?

 

I've used both. The split keyboards I greatly dislike. The Dvorak keyboard was nice, and I might even have increased my typing speed. However, due to compatibility with other computers I quit using it, since I can't properly change my settings for the school computers. By Dvorak keyboard, I mean the key configuration but with a regular QWERTY keyboard. Note that you'll essentially have to re-learn how to type, and then you might forget the other layout and have trouble typing in the other layout. However my older brother remains a devout Dvorak user.

[imatfaal]

I might try ebaying for one - mainly cos I really dislike my business principals using my pc; I cannot say no when they ask, but with a weird keyboard...

[Mr Skeptic]

Because I write very small, I also appreciate the capacity of mechanical pencils to make very fine lines. Here's an example of how small I can write. I can't write smaller due to limited ability to see what I'm writing.

That's on graphing paper. For comparison, a penny is three of those squares wide.

 

Of course I usually write about 4 times larger than that, but still small enough that a .7 mm pencil sometimes is too wide.

[TaoRich]

I find fountain pens rather difficult to write with, is it just me? The ones I've used have either had too flat a writing tip where I can't roll it around while writing or I also find that it creates an irritating friction or scratching on the paper when I'm writing???

 

You have to be a bit patient with a fountain pen, use one with a gold nib, and choose the right nib to suit your style: thin, medium, fat

 

Then, as you write, the nib wears itself to fit the precise angle that your hand-grip creates in alignment with the paper.

 

Once you've worn it in, you'll find it glides like silk.

 

That's also the reason why you shouldn't casually borrow someone else's fountain pen - your hand angle stuffs up their groove.

[Gallstones]

My favorite writing implement is any pen that writes dense, black ink and has a liquid reservoir. Never a ball point.

 

Currently in use I have Uniball Vision fine (0.5 preferred) and Bic Z4.

 

For sketching I prefer mechanical pencils.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Gallstones