Flipping Nibs

[hank scorpio]

Please forgive a potentially noobish question, but I couldn't find an answer when I searched the forum. Will writing upside down with a nib cause any long term damage?

 

I'm very happy w/ my Hero 100 from an everyday writing standpoint, but I take very small notes in my Moleskine planner (got to stretch out that one page/week). I saw rroossinck's post on a F nibbed Sheaffer he was selling that was XF upside down. I went ahead and gave it a try w/ the Hero. It seemed to do the trick and may very well have solved my only real issue with the pen, but I'm concerned that eventually this could damage the nib or throw the tines out of whack.

 

Thanks for any insight you all might have!

 

Jason

[Shangas]

Hey Jason/Hank/n00b...

 

No, I don't think writing upside down with your FP will *damage* it, per-se, but you may not get as smooth a write out of it as you might if you used it the right way up.

[Sharkle]

I love this feature in a nib, so practical when I need a fine line but the paper's not the best. It's probably not at all bad for most nibs unless you apply a lot of pressure when you write. I haven't noticed a lick of damage to my pens.

 

As for this being a noobish question, don't worry about it. You might not have found much about it on here because perhaps there is't much interest in this feature, as I posted a question about it fairly recently and got very few replies.

 

 

Edited for typo.

Edited June 29, 2008 by Sharkle

[Richard]

Back in the day, many pens had nibs designed to be flipped; a flippable nib is called a duo-point nib. Waterman patented a nib with the feature in about 1915, and advertised it as the Duo-tip. The Parker Vacumatic and Sheaffer's Feathertouch nibs, both introduced in the 1930s, worked this way. My ItaliFine is a modern take on the idea.

 

Some nibs that aren't finished to be flipped will nevertheless flip just fine. Th only caveat is that you can't apply much writing pressure to a nib when it's flipped, lest you compress the tips of the tines together and choke the flow.

[piembi]

As a school girl I used this feature frequently with the old Geha schoolpens. Later I simply forgot about it. So I guess it will not harm your nib. At least if you do not use much pressure.

 

When I lend my vintage Pelikan 140 to another FPN member she called my attention to the nib (thanks again!). This nib is an italic fine when used upside down. So I checked some other vintage Pelikan nibs and some of them are designed to write upside down with a fine line.

[FrankB]

The only thing I will add to the good advice above is that I try to pay attention to the tipping material. As long as I can see that I am writing on the nib's tipping material, and not on the gold, then I am okay with flipping a nib. If I have to alter the way I hold the pen to assure I am writing on tipping material, I do so.

[donwinn]

The Parker 180 and Sailor Trident were specifically designed to write that way, and sold with nib descriptions like M/F or F/XF, as it was planned which nib width one would get from the side used. Hero or one of the other Chinese makers also makes one currently, for much less money than the Parker or Sailor, and IIRC, cutepens.com (not affiliated) may offer the Chinese "tribute" pen.

 

This post actually brought back memories of junior high, when I would have to occasionally flip my Sheaffer to get a finer line on marginal looseleaf notebook paper. Since that was the early 1960's, I do not remember if there even was tipping on the nibs. I do remember, however, the beautiful Peacock Blue ink I used to use and can no longer find.

 

Donnie

[Sapphire]

I'd forgotten this trick. I used to do it at school for labelling diagrams. Fountain pens were compulsory and back in them days I could only afford one.

[mompus]

Back in the day, many pens had nibs designed to be flipped; a flippable nib is called a duo-point nib. Waterman patented a nib with the feature in about 1915, and advertised it as the Duo-tip. The Parker Vacumatic and Sheaffer's Feathertouch nibs, both introduced in the 1930s, worked this way. My ItaliFine is a modern take on the idea.

 

Some nibs that aren't finished to be flipped will nevertheless flip just fine. Th only caveat is that you can't apply much writing pressure to a nib when it's flipped, lest you compress the tips of the tines together and choke the flow.

 

 

I'm having an "ah ha" moment. So it's called a "duo-point nib". Great, Ive been searching for that name! I have a bunch of the Chinese ones, (I was thinking of calling them "switch hitters")

[lapis]

I'm afraid this is just a "confirmation" of all that said already. I only have 8-9 FPs from 5 different countries and they all write upside down. I do that quite often since I prefer M or B nibs and the flip makes a nice F which I do need every now and again.

 

Cheers

Mike