Do You Use The Reverse Side Of The Nib?

[kronos77]

How many people use the reverse side of the nib to write or draw with? How important is it to you? I suspect many people do use the back side and somewhat frequently. I use it mainly for doing the initial stages of a sketch or drawing, so it won't show through too much in the later stages. it is like poor man's flex. I also use it for writing in margins or when I have a bad paper situation, to prevent spreading.

 

I recently requested that Mr. Brown, the guy with the funny hats who reviews pens and inks on Youtube, include reverse side writing in his reviews. he however doubts that many people even care. I am sure he is wrong and would like to prove it, so please chime in.

[jar]

Of course not except on a few pens designed for that like my Parker 180s. It's just plain silly to do so unless the pen was designed with that in mind.

[kronos77]

Of course not except on a few pens designed for that like my Parker 180s. It's just plain silly to do so unless the pen was designed with that in mind.

 

Most pens can write that way. At least the ones I have. There are a few that obviously can't and they are very uncomfortable in that position. Why would it be silly? I don't mean as the regular writing surface, but at certain times when you need a thinner line.

[InvisibleMan]

I do, and I always try to get them to work right upside down if possible. Not all nibs cooperate the same way though, so it's not 100%. I have less than zero artistic ability, so I use my pens exclusively for drawing words and numbers. An upside down medium nib makes a very fine line that comes in useful at times.

Edited March 11, 2013 by InvisibleMan

[tonybelding]

I've long been aware that many fountain pens can do this (not only the few that advertised it as a feature, like the Parker 180). Sometimes it's useful, such as when I have to write something in a small space. However, I'll admit that I don't find the need to do this trick often at all. Also, because I have so many fountain pens, I forget which ones work decently reversed and which ones don't. So, whether the pen I'm carrying is any good for this is just the luck of the draw.

[sirksael]

I do from time to time, but honestly most of my pens don't tolerate it. Some do to some degree, but the only ones where it seems to work really well are the waterman gentleman/man.

[pajaro]

I often do this. Some of my stubs write on the reverse side with more line variation. There is plenty of tipping.

[JonSzanto]

Not real easy to read, but you can see in the following ad that the Parker Vacumatic pen was actually advertised as being able to write reversed (upside-down). Many Sheaffer pens have tipping on the top of the nib. Not silly.

 

http://www.pendemonium.com/images/advertisments/pkr_268.jpg

[jar]

Of course not except on a few pens designed for that like my Parker 180s. It's just plain silly to do so unless the pen was designed with that in mind.

 

Most pens can write that way. At least the ones I have. There are a few that obviously can't and they are very uncomfortable in that position. Why would it be silly? I don't mean as the regular writing surface, but at certain times when you need a thinner line.

 

It is silly because the nib/feed support system is not designed to work that way.

[mirosc]

Count me in! I've done that a lot and still do it. Even more: I don't like pens so much that aren't able to write on the reverse side and I use them only when I'm sure that I don't need the finer line (when I'm writing with italic nibs or just a plain letter...). It's nice to have the chance to add some small notes if necessary. Especially in meetings or conferences when one is adding something to the thoughts before and another one is commenting on that again and you have your own ideas on the subject...

 

I can imagine that there are quite some people that like the chance of two different nibs in one, and the possibility of buying an ItaliFine nib from Richard Binder seems to have a bit of an audience.

 

It looks very awkward though when I'm writing this way.

Edited March 11, 2013 by mirosc

[ethernautrix]

I (gingerly) test the reverse nib, out of curiosity.

 

I do write with the reverse side when doing so 1) gives me a different line width and 2) feels smooth and nice and obviously not ruining the nib (or paper).

[masterfisto]

Used the back of my Hero 616's nib to write an essay for my exam two weeks ago. Worked wonderfully on the horrid blue book paper.

[tandaina]

Nope, I don't.

[Uncle Red]

I almost never have the need so I don't.

[Ted A]

When I was in high school and only had one pen that had too wide a nib for some of the paper I had, I would turn the pen to get a finer line. But now, I can and do carry several pens with differnt nib widths so I don't have to resort to the reverse side to get a fine line, I just use an F nibbed pen.

[NedC]

All the time, with some pens, e.g. my Sailor Zoom nib pens it is my preferred standard orientation for writing, most pens work fine this way, some have feed issues if used with the nib flipped for extended writing and applying any pressure tends to choke the feed but other than the few pens with almost no tipping on the topside or 'wet noodle' flexes I don't see why one wouldn't.

[nxn96]

I generally never think of doing that except when I read one of these threads that says you can; then I'll try it on a couple of whatever's available and go back to my normal nib direction habits shortly thereafter. I think, for me, as most of my pens tend to have a somewhat fine nib width, writing on the reverse can sometimes provide an almost needle-fine point that is somewhat scratchy. Probably if I had "wider" nib width pens, I'd be more inclined to experiement with this option.

 

Hope this helps.

[RMN]

Depends.

 

Some nibs were made to do this, I read the CS italics were more or less designed to be reversed.

 

I just inaugurated my Cross year of the Snake (M-nib), and initially when starting to write it is on the wet side, so I reverse the nib until the feed is a bit less saturated.

 

And I normally do not use F nibs, but sometimes some very small writing is needed and I reverse the nib for that. Many nibs DO write well that way.

 

 

D.ick

[Bo Bo Olson]

I can see doing it if you need a finer line than what you have in the short term.

 

I don't see doing it 'on the long term'. One can grab a thinner nibbed pen for long term.

 

The other day I had a couple of semi-flex KM's and both had a thinner top section of the nib, that wrote F on one and F-EF on the other.

It was nice to see, but I didn't have any 'work' for the thinner top section of the nib.

[risingsun]

Richard Binder has been a big proponent of this use over the years...

 

I frequently use my nibs upside down... It's the best way to avoid nasty bleed-though on my checkbook register (for those of you who still use one with a FP). Also, as several have mentioned above, sometime you need to fit a note into a small space, and this allows me to use a wider nib yet still have that option.

 

In my experience, JoWo nibs perform the upside-down writing task very well...