Preferable Pen Weight

[PurplePlum]

What is your ideal pen weight?

 

I have pens of 37g and 45g which I cant use because they make my hand ache. My hands are on the smaller side for a female. The rest of my pens are around the 22g mark or less and perfectly fine. I have a 25g pen on order, hopefully that will be fine too. On the opposite end of the spectrum I have a 14g pen which is too light.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Most folks use the tripod...I use 'forefinger up' an alternative.

Help! How Do You Hold Your Fountain Pen?

 

 

I like light plastic pens, like a Pelikan 200/205. It is a well balanced standard sized pen, posted. Has a nice ride with a springy regular flex nib. Costs @$90-95.

Pelikan M200

Weight Total Length Diameter 0.49 oz 4.92 in 0.47 in 14.0 g 125 mm 12 mm

Picture with permission of Fritz-Schimpf, and it looks better in real than the picture.

Other light pens to look at are the Esterbrooks...the DJ is Standard the LJ...ladies Esterbrook is smaller and thinner. Go over to the Esterbrook sub section...they go for @ $30 now...a very sturdy vintage pen. One can buy like the Pelikan other nibs for it.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I don't know that I'd care to give an "ideal" pen weight, but the question made me curious enough to measure some of my pens. I'm more aware of picking my favorites based on the nibs and overall build quality, but it's likely that weight plays a part, also.

 

A group of my favorite modern pens, the ones that are most likely to be in use at any given moment, ranged from 19g to 27g. Not all had ink in them, but those that use converters had the converters installed.

 

A group of the vintage pens that I am most likely to write with ranged from 13g to 21g. None of these are inked at present, although I'd be surprised if a full sac added more than a couple of grams.

 

I'm a man with hands of about average size, and do tend to like very light pens, and also fairly slim ones. I have heavier pens (the heaviest is a Jinhao that's about 73g), and don't necessarily have trouble controlling them, but they just don't feel as natural in my hand.

[Driften]

I used to think weight matters, but I have found there is more to it than that. I own pens from 14g to 43g. I like most of that range, but I found that I don't care for my Montblanc 149 at 31g, but my Visconti Homo Sapiens at 43g is not a problem. My Montblanc 146 at 30g also is fine so it's not the weight of the 149 but other things like section shape and thickness as well as balance that come into play.

 

Some people here love heavy pens, others need light ones. Both sets of people say the other brings them more fatigue. So you just need to find what works for you and I expect you find it's not just weight.

[Innocentius]

Don't typically considering about weight too much... If you feel the ink flowing from the back of the pen to the front change the balance of the whole pen then that is too light, if you find using the pen as a self-defense weapon to be easier than writing with it then that is too heavy. So... >5 g and <100 g?

Edited October 2, 2018 by Innocentius

[senzen]

I don't have scales, I guess I have a bit of everything, from Lamy Vistas which don't feel like they weigh much uncapped, to Muji Aluminiums, to Pelikans, to Sonnets, Studios and one big chunky Le Man 100... The section width seems to matter more than weight to me.

[praxim]

I record the weights of my pens so at first it seemed I could give a well-based answer but then, not. My pens tend to be lighter because most of them are older. There seems to be a tendency for newer pens to be heavier, or maybe that is just that more expensive pens tend to be heavier.

 

Some of my favourite pens weigh around 9-10 g at writing weight (which is unposted). They are hard rubber. Add a gram or two for ink in each case. In those pens it is the nib that grabs your attention.

 

Another cluster is around 14-16 g, because that happens to be the weight of a whole bunch of Auroras, with vintage Waterman pens falling between those groups. Then there are modern pens in other brands clustering in the low to mid 20 g range, and a little fancy stuff I still enjoy weighing in around 30g.

 

My favourites max out at about 20 g. However, provided that the nib is good, it seems balance conquers all.

[Inky.Fingers]

When in doubt go vintage...they knew what pen is about. It matters also if you post or not. If M200 is big, then M300 is perfect. I rarely post. It can put posting parks on the pen barrel. Worst, if someone ask for your pen, always uncap it first, keep the cap. Two reasons: they wont run away with your pen, and they dont fudge up your cap, if it is treaded or over pressurize your cap.

Edited October 2, 2018 by _InkyFingers

[Runnin_Ute]

I have pens from a out 14 or 15 grams to about 32 grams. The 32 g pen doesn't post so is actually sbout 25 grams in use. It is huge (158 mm capped, about 150 mm uncapped) The pens that get the most use are in the 15-20 gram range.

[praxim]

Clarifying my earlier post, the weights I gave were all uncapped, given I mostly write unposted. I suspect a lot of the other given weights include the cap, whether the person writes posted or not. Caps can weight 10 g easily, with my heaviest being 24 g. That pen is a nice 30 g at writing weight. The cap for it does not post anyway, the manufacturer warning against it in case of damage to barrel lacquer.

[Karmachanic]

For me it's not about the weight, but how balanced the pen is between the web and middle finger. Where it wants to sit. That and not finger writing. To me it is holding the pen with ones fingers, in conjuction with finger writing, leads to discomfort.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Clarifying my earlier post, the weights I gave were all uncapped, given I mostly write unposted. I suspect a lot of the other given weights include the cap, whether the person writes posted or not. Caps can weight 10 g easily, with my heaviest being 24 g. That pen is a nice 30 g at writing weight. The cap for it does not post anyway, the manufacturer warning against it in case of damage to barrel lacquer.

 

I certainly assumed that the weight would include the cap, since I always post a cap that can be posted. But that's a good point, since many people do use their pens unposted (as we know from innumerable other threads ).

[usk15]

I usually prefer fountain pens between 20g to 35g, and ballpoints above 25g.

[Precise]

Up until very recently I had an aversion to heavy pens. I also never posted.

 

But a few weeks ago I noticed that weight and posting smoothed my penmanship. And unlike the OP and some other members, weight did not contribute to fatigue. I've been having fun writing with a Duke Chaplin which weighs 42g uncapped and 75g capped. It feels good to use it.

 

I've even machined some 20g weights to post instead of much lighter caps.

 

 

But, I still avoid heavy pens for carry in my shirt pocket. And I own plenty of light pens to choose when I venture out to work and meetings.

 

Alan

[ac12]

I prefer mine below 20g.

Pens in the 30g range, I can use, but usually for not more than a paragraph.

I have a hard cutoff at 40g.

 

Even more important than weight is how the pen balances in my hand.

If the pen is tail heavy, I do NOT like it, even if the pen is light. A tail heavy pen causes me to have to press down on the pen, to counter the heavy tail.

If posting a cap makes the pen tail heavy, I do not post that cap.

This includes the Lamy Safari, where the plastic cap makes the pen tail heavy.

None of my TWSBI's are posted.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I post. Medium-small pens, were very IN, in Germany in the '50-60's, Pelikan 140, Geha 760, Kaweco Dia. However, the caps are longer, so they post to the same size as the standard pens of their companies.

Someone brought up certain pens post deeper than others. I've not paid much attention to that but with over 70 am bound to have a deep seated posted pen., or the obverse a higher seated pen.

 

I do prefer lighter pens.....most of mine being vintage. Light and nimble. Which are longer than unposted Large pens. The vintage pens, no matter what sort of guts one had, had to have balance, because the competition had that.

 

There was a decade ago, when many were buying vintage US pens, lever pens; some that did not like the 'back weighting' of even plastic piston of a Pelikan because of that. Now it seems few have or brag their lever pens any more.

I once had a slew of Esties, now only two. I now find those two a bit too light and jittery, but I've been buying and using mostly piston pens since then.

I lack a Sheaffer New Balance.........it had been for it's time a 'new' feel.A Parker Vac is rock steady.

 

AC has a good point here, """"

Even more important than weight is how the pen balances in my hand.

If the pen is tail heavy, I do NOT like it, even if the pen is light. A tail heavy pen causes me to have to press down on the pen, to counter the heavy tail."""

However, I let my pen rest where it wants to.....I don't have to have the pen at 45 degrees, it can rest at 40 degrees at the start of the web of my thumb. It does take me a bit to get use to heavy, or real long pens.....or even some lighter Large pens that are posted, can rest in the pit of the thumb web at 35 degrees. There the weight of the pen set deep in the hand takes weight off the nib, so the pen is not as heavy.

I do have to get use to that, in I normally use Standard, or medium-large pens that rest a bit higher.

[mitto]

I generally preffer using light weight plastic pens. But I also like sterling silver pens like the P75s.

 

Also like using plastic body and metal cap pens like P51s. It never occured to me to weigh my pens, though.

Edited October 8, 2018 by mitto

[Arkanabar]

I generally prefer lightweight pens, like the 14g Pelikan M2xx, the 16g Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya, the 19g Platinum Plaisir, etc. But now that I do arm writing, it matters less to me than it used to, and I have comfortably used even a 36g Jinhao X750. Like others, I cannot abide by a tail-heavy pen.

[Cdaig35]

I think it is good to have a variety of pen weights for different purposes. I think most of us who are deep enough down this rabbit hole to post on forums have a multitude of pens that we rotate through. With that in mind, I think it is pretty reasonable to have a light and small pen for a shirt pocket like a pelikan m200, a robust pen for signatures like a Yard o Led, and a long writing session large and light pen like an edison collier.

[Uncial]

For ages I thought I liked lighter pens (but not too light) and many Chinese pens were too heavy for me. Fairly recently I've discovered that heavier pens can actually be a great pleasure if they are designed well. I simply hadn't discovered any until more recently. As a result I must conclude it's not weight but balance, girth, length and comfort of grip. I'm a light handed writer and have found that with heavier pens you can literally let the nib sit on the page and let it write itself under it's own weight. If the nib is smooth it literally skates. It's especially good with big nibs.