Any Right Foot/reverse Oblique Users Who Are _Not_ Left Handed?....

[markh]

I just acquired an old Swan Mabie Todd. Nomenclature on the bottom seems to read "5SF", but I couldn't be sure - it's pretty hared to read. It does have a #5 MabieTodd New York nib. So probably a late 20s-early 30s pen.

 

The pen has a firm nib cut for a right-footed (sometimes called reverse) oblique. It's a fine nib, but the grind is sharp enough to allow line variation depending on the direction the nib is moved. I should mention that I like using left oblique nibs, mostly for in interesting line variation.

 

I understand right oblique nibs can be useful for left handed writers, but I'm a righty.

 

I'm trying to decide if I should keep it as is, or reshape it to a "normal" nib. I would be interested in hearing about how right handed writers use a nib shaped like this.

 

thnx,

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a post war 100n that is a F right foot, superflex...first stage Easy Full Flex. I don't use the pen much....not so much about the nib which works ok. I don't use a couple of my 'better' pens as much as others.

 

Just cant the nib a bit to the right instead of the left like a left foot and enjoy the pattern. Align the clip on the cap to being midway between the slit and the left edge of the nib, grasp the pen before putting it to paper .... then write.

 

Sell it to a left hander rather than 'ruining' a rare nib........and right footed nibs are rare.

[mitto]

Yes, I have a Parker 45 with 14k right obliaue nib and I am not a lefty. I use the pen with no difficulty.

[bokchoy]

I have some dip nibs that are right obliques. As I'm not naturally suited to left or right obliques, it took some practice to write with them.

 

I hold the pen in my normal position, then rotate the pen along its long axis until both tines contact the page evenly. The result always looks weird to me but the nib is properly angled in the sweet spot.

 

I think a stubby right oblique makes it easier to get line variation that roughly resembles a flex nib - thicker on the downstrokes than the upstrokes. Though it's different from actual flex of course.

Edited April 23, 2017 by bokchoy

[Ghost Plane]

Sure. Don't buy into the myths. If it's comfortable in your hand and you like the line it produces, enjoy. I've had left, right and architect nibs in use. When I've sold them on, it was for the pen being too small, not a dislike of the nibs.

[ac12]

If you like it use it.

 

A right foot oblique gives you a wider vertical stroke and a narrow horizontal stroke.

The left foot oblique gives you a wider horizontal stroke and a narrow vertical stroke.

 

I am RH and prefer the right foot oblique.

I have a friend also a RH but she prefers a left foot oblique.

So it just depends on what YOUR eye prefers.

[KateGladstone]

I know at least one right-hander who has recently switched to a right-foot oblique nib (that I ground for him tonight; he's my husband, and we both came to agree that this would be better for him than any other nib profile he had tried).

 

Right-foot oblique nibs suit quite a few right-handers who turn their hand rightward enough that it's resting on the little finger as they write — and they also suit many, if not all, of the right-handed overwriters ( = "curved-wrist" writers). Some people mistakenly think that's right-handed over writers do not exist – that only lefties fall into that quirky and oft-neglected group — but this is not the case. The impression that there are no right-handed over writers comes, probably from the fact that they are such a small percentage of the right-handed population (anywhere from 1% to 5% of the right-handed population, depending on whose surveys you trust: I estimate 5%), but in terms of absolute numbers ( supposed to relative percentages) they are as numerous as the left-handed overwriters. (About 50% of left-handers are overwriters; when you consider that there are about 10 times as many right-handers as there are left-handers, a little arithmetic will show you that "5% of right-handers" is about equal to "50% of left-hand."

There have been models of nibs made to suit left-handers (the left-foot oblique for left-handed underwriters, and the "cranked" left-acute-oblique — once made by Osmiroid, but sadly no longer produced anywhere since the demise of that firm — for left-handed overwriters). As a hand writing a teacher and remediator whose caseload includes both left-and right-handed over pwriters as well as underwriters, I think that there is a continuing need for nibs to suit all four of these great divisions of pen-wielding humankind. I have tried for close to a decade, without success, to find some pen firm or pen-maker who would be willing to work with me to develop a line of inexpensive overwriter nibs (Or rather two lines: one for lefties, and the other for righties) and to supply these writers with hands on getting the most out of their hand writing and their pens (as overwriters, left- or right-handed, have somewhat different requirements for paper-and body-position then their underwriting counterparts).

Since some neurological research (citations on request) shows that over-versus underwriting tendencies are inherited and are related to individual features of the wiring of one's brain, there are reasons to accommodate these inborn traits in relation to handwriting. Who is the enterprising penmaker, where is the forward-looking pen company, that is willing to serve these users of pens!

 

I just acquired an old Swan Mabie Todd. Nomenclature on the bottom seems to read "5SF", but I couldn't be sure - it's pretty hared to read. It does have a #5 MabieTodd New York nib. So probably a late 20s-early 30s pen.

 

The pen has a firm nib cut for a right-footed (sometimes called reverse) oblique. It's a fine nib, but the grind is sharp enough to allow line variation depending on the direction the nib is moved. I should mention that I like using left oblique nibs, mostly for in interesting line variation.

 

I understand right oblique nibs can be useful for left handed writers, but I'm a righty.

 

I'm trying to decide if I should keep it as is, or reshape it to a "normal" nib. I would be interested in hearing about how right handed writers use a nib shaped like this.

 

thnx,

 

[markh]

..

Edited May 2, 2017 by markh

[markh]

Interesting. I sometimes write with the pen "behind" my hand - to the left. Especially with a nice crisp left oblique, it results in thin down-strokes and wide cross-strokes. Just feels "right" to me. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a right-handed overwriter or not. In my case, its intentional, mostly with oblique nibs (but sometimes just because I like it).

 

For the pen in question, I slightly de-tuned the very sharp/crisp right (reverse) oblique. It's still a right oblique, but now a cursive instead or crisp. For all I know that's how it started out 80 years ago, and the nib sharpened with much use.

 

I now like it - it's different.

 

.

[BlueJ]

I'd be very interested in seeing writing samples (by the same person, in the same hand) with left-foot and right foot obliques and a standard stub or CI, preferably all of similar tip width. It would be quite educational!

[georgeb]

I know at least one right-hander who has recently switched to a right-foot oblique nib (that I ground for him tonight; he's my husband, and we both came to agree that this would be better for him than any other nib profile he had tried).

 

Right-foot oblique nibs suit quite a few right-handers who turn their hand rightward enough that it's resting on the little finger as they write — and they also suit many, if not all, of the right-handed overwriters ( = "curved-wrist" writers). Some people mistakenly think that's right-handed over writers do not exist – that only lefties fall into that quirky and oft-neglected group — but this is not the case. The impression that there are no right-handed over writers comes, probably from the fact that they are such a small percentage of the right-handed population (anywhere from 1% to 5% of the right-handed population, depending on whose surveys you trust: I estimate 5%), but in terms of absolute numbers ( supposed to relative percentages) they are as numerous as the left-handed overwriters. (About 50% of left-handers are overwriters; when you consider that there are about 10 times as many right-handers as there are left-handers, a little arithmetic will show you that "5% of right-handers" is about equal to "50% of left-hand."

There have been models of nibs made to suit left-handers (the left-foot oblique for left-handed underwriters, and the "cranked" left-acute-oblique — once made by Osmiroid, but sadly no longer produced anywhere since the demise of that firm — for left-handed overwriters). As a hand writing a teacher and remediator whose caseload includes both left-and right-handed over pwriters as well as underwriters, I think that there is a continuing need for nibs to suit all four of these great divisions of pen-wielding humankind. I have tried for close to a decade, without success, to find some pen firm or pen-maker who would be willing to work with me to develop a line of inexpensive overwriter nibs (Or rather two lines: one for lefties, and the other for righties) and to supply these writers with hands on getting the most out of their hand writing and their pens (as overwriters, left- or right-handed, have somewhat different requirements for paper-and body-position then their underwriting counterparts).

Since some neurological research (citations on request) shows that over-versus underwriting tendencies are inherited and are related to individual features of the wiring of one's brain, there are reasons to accommodate these inborn traits in relation to handwriting. Who is the enterprising penmaker, where is the forward-looking pen company, that is willing to serve these users of pens!

 

Is it related to which eye is dominant?

 

Are you asking for a pen company to offer right / left obliques as a standard grind?

[ac12]

You use whatever YOU want to use, never mind the "experts."

 

I am RH and I prefer a right foot oblique. That is because the thicker line is the vertical stroke, similar to my dip pen.

A left foot oblique would have a thick horizontal line. That does not agree with my eyes.

[Runnin_Ute]

I am RH as well. I have a Pelikan M200 with an OB that is among my most used pens. Suspect it is a "right foot" but don't know for sure. It is a factory grind.

[effika]

I'm one of those right-handed overwriters, and I wound up with a right-footed oblique when I let myself work on a JoWo nib until it felt perfect. (I usually only let myself tune nibs until they're smooth, but with that nib I let myself continue until I was Done.)

 

So yes, MarkH, it's very possible to be a righty and use it! If it's not comfortable, please sell it to a grateful lefty or righty.