I've mentioned before that I've had to train my left hand to write due to arthritis in my right thumb. I started writing with my left hand last May, and I'm pleased with my progress. Soon I'll post some pictures of my progress. In the meantime I need some nib advice.
In October I ordered a Cross Townsend with a broad nib from an e-bay seller. He mistakenly sent me a nib that had "OM" stamped on it where "B" should have been. I've been told that "OM" stands for "oblique medium." This was the happiest mistake I've ever experienced. This is my first experience with an oblique nib, and I am addicted to it. It's extremely smooth - like all Cross nibs - but the really pleasant surprise is that it puts the "thicks and thins" where they should be. I have a stub nib that I loved when I was using my right hand, but - with my left hand - all the "thicks and thins" are in the wrong places.
My husband and I have examined this Cross oblique nib under a magnifying glass (not a high-powered one) and it appears to be a left oblique - the shape of the left foot. But our magnifying glass is not great and neither are our eyes!
When using my left hand, I am an underwriter, not an overwriter, and I write with the pen straight or turned very slightly clockwise in relation to the line I'm writing on. With my pen in this position, the lines that are diagonal from northeast to southwest are thin and the diagonals from northwest to southeast are thick - as they should be. Do these results seem consistent with what a left oblique would produce in this position?
Also, I can't tell if this oblique is 15% or 30%. It's not a large nib so this hard to see. I'd like to determine exactly what this nib is - acertain that it is indeed a left oblique as well as the degree of obliqueness - so that I can have some of my other nibs refashioned like it. I'll appreciate hearing opinions from those of you who have experience with oblique nibs.
Judybug