Dennis,

I was affraid that this method of "Backflipping" an engine to start it, might be misconstrued with what I was describing.

When "backpflipping" an engine, you bring the prop up to the point of compression, and then flip it backwards(clockwise, in the wrong direction) away from the compression . The prop then loosely bounces down the stroke and starts up automatically correcting itself and running in the proper counterclockwise direction. What I was doing was actually bringing the prop up to the point of compression, and then quickly flipping it clockwise tightly through the compression. When it starts in this manner through the compression, I can't tell if it continued on its merry way in the wrong direction. Or if it quickly reversed itself, but is too fast for the eye to see.

You know when you start an engine using a starter by driving it in the proper counterclockwise direction, it always starts and stays going that way. Now whether a single flip
by hand has a tendency to correct itself, I don't know. Hence, why I figured it would be safer for me to just assume that I had it going the wrong way, and ask if that is a bad thing to do.

I can tell you that it sure makes a wind blowing back to me as if it was going in the proper counterclockwise direcction. (But maybe big 20" props make a big wind no matter which way they're going, and I can't use the feel of a breeze as an indicator alone?)