The utility of hemispherically capped single-wall carbon nanotubes for use as scanning force microscope tips is investigated for the first time using molecular dynamics. These simulations show that [10,10] armchair nanotubes recover reversibly after interaction with a hydrogen-terminated diamond (111) substrate. The [10,10] tube exhibits two mechanisms for releasing stresses induced by indentation : a marked inversion of the capped end, from concave to convex, and finning along the tube’s axis.