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I occasionally have arthritis flare ups in my hands and fingers. With that, my normally "Business Palmer" cursive turns illegible. However, my printing is very legible and nicely spaced, but much slower than my cursive. It is enjoyable to me to write cursive and to slowly improve . . . .but. . . . I am wondering if it is within good etiquette to switch to print on some letter corresponding for this reason? Then, there might also be the fun challenge to improve my printing style as well which I've never done. Thoughts? Thanks you for you help and thoughts, jim ps: Some people have writing that looks more like printing or printing with flourishes than script and it can look great as well. But I have not tried that for corresponding.

There are quite a few threads on FPN about recommendations for fountain pens for those with arthritis and similar conditions. They have been very useful, but what I'd like to do with this thread is something different. I want to ask members of FPN with hand pain - if we were designing a pen from scratch to deal with the issue, where could we start? It's personal. After a year of increasing pain and a crisis that left me pretty much paralysed, I've got a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and I've started treatment. It will be a long hard road. I was about to start making pens in my workshop when I ended up in hospital: had the lathe up and running, all the blanks ready.... So now, I will probably do some thinking about making pens that actually address the ergonomic requirements as well as just looking good. FWIW my current thoughts: reasonably fat and flared section, relatively light weight, and possibly a Waverly nib to allow a more relaxed writing position with the fatter shape.

I have been using FPs for some time, and while I haven't found an all-purpose writer I love, I do adore my Platinum #3776 Century w/ music nib for composing/arranging/etc... all those music-type-thingys that constitutes my freelance job. Now I would really like to find a good fountain pen to use in my everyday world of writing notes, jotting down lists of errands and such, but I have begun to develop a rather severe case of Rheumatoid Arthritis, so gripping is becoming more and more difficult by the day. I have decently large hands anyway, so I'm thinking an Oversive is probably the way to go. So my question is this: Is there a pen, or group of pens, you would suggest I look into that has/have a large (but not that Japan Jumbo hugemongous) barrel? I would prefer to keep it in the $300-$500 US range, but would spend more ($750 maybe) for something nearing perfection. So far I've been researching the larger Viscontis, Deltas, and Pelikans, but most of that research has been online, so I really have no idea as to whether or not I am on the right track. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! PS-I live in Houston TX, & I know Dromgoole's is a godsend for hands-on research (as long as I don't get too distracted by all the shiny things), but I'd really like to go in with some idea about what direction to start looking.

So, I have had a difficult, on again / off again relationship with fountain pens since grade school, mostly due to my Texan-male-football-trained brain that thought the correct way to do (almost) everything was to use more force; I can't even begin to count the number of bent nibs scattered through my past. After escaping high school in a small West Texas town, I became a classical musician, and then a composer, then a teacher of and for classical composition, and finally an ex-teacher composing musician with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the pain of writing everyday (I refuse to use a computer to compose) became too much to bear. A friend gave me a Lamy Al-Star and taught me to "let it glide." Almost instantly I found what I had been missing out on all these years, and I love how little effort jotting out a manuscript takes! I recently purchased a Platinum 3776 Century w/ Music Nib, and now I am hooked.