Good [time of day], fellow nibblings!
I've been waiting patiently for over a month for my new grail pen to arrive at my door (a pox on the customs office for being so curious about my mail) and decided that patience isn't a virtue that I relished so I decided to pop by the website of one Franklin Christoph. Therein I saw a host of interesting pieces that I wanted to own and so I took the bite and ordered myself a #19 with a fine gold nib. I would have gone for the needlepoint grind but they'd run out so a fine nib was where the coin toss took me.
Out of the box (or pen sleeve, as it were) I was offered a beautiful baby smoke-and-cinnamaroon accented acrylic piece of wonderful:
The nib is an 18k gold in fine, large enough that I know it's there when I'm writing but still a very hard writer with little to no flex. It came adorned with the scripted "F" that's standard on all their pens and is comparable in size to, say, a Visconti HS oversized and/or a TWSBI Vac-700.
It's a cartridge converter, something I generally dislike, but the accoutrements and general hand-feel allow me to overlook this simple annoyance. At just under $300 USD for a simple gold nib without any fancy grind I wasn't expecting much, but was quite surprised at the look, feel, and size of this baby. As a collector of biggish pens I was happy to see how it stacked up next to a couple of its new brothers and sisters:
(top to bottom: Lamy Safari, TWSBI Vac-700, Franklin-Christoph #19, Visconti Homo Sapiens oversize, Omas 360)
As you can see it is a large pen. As someone who is partial to them I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by its girth-to-weight ratio. I had expected it to be heavy and bulky as the only pen I own that is wider is the Omas, but its triangular shape gives a feeling of a much smaller width. Thus, as a fat, round pen I expected the #19 to be a pig in my hand and barely useful apart from signing documents. Thankfully I was wrong.
As a wide pen the grip section is still quite tapered and manageable while the pen body rests comfortably in the webbing of my thumb/index. I haven't felt strain after an hour of full use nor any awkward heaviness or weight unbalance while either capped or uncapped.
That said, I'm used to pens one does not post, but I was very curious what the weight balance would be with that critter on the back:
Uncapped and posted it is one of the smaller of the group I chose, so perhaps I'll blame on its neighbours being too large for comparison. That said, as a posted writing instrument the weight balance is quite pleasant. I've only owned three companies whose caps I don't mind attached while writing: Omas, Sailor, and now Franklin-Christoph. I feel the weight of the cap is inconsequential to the balance while writing and, if anything, enhances the experience, something I can't say for the other two.
On the topic of the cap, however, I have to say that my biggest beef is the flimsy-feeling clip they used. I feel like I could tear it right off with a good tug but am unwilling to experiment with that statement any further. I'm welcome and happy to be wrong about this but I'm only comparing it to my experience with other makers. It feels like the kind of clip one would get on a hobbyist's table-turned pen... and in my experience I am able to tear the clips off if I want to with those ones.
Finally, a terrible writing example:
As mentioned, very little flex from a large gold nib, but then I shouldn't complain. At the price I paid I was quite pleased with the overall experience and will use this pen as a note taker and possible journal writer.
In conclusion, I would personally recommend Franklin-Christoph. I was happy with the experience of ordering (also got a couple other little things and will likely purchase a pen-fold from them as well), their customer service is responsive and wordy (something I like), and the product they sell is quite attractive and appears, thus far, to be durable and safe to own.
Hope someone enjoyed the review!
I've been waiting patiently for over a month for my new grail pen to arrive at my door (a pox on the customs office for being so curious about my mail) and decided that patience isn't a virtue that I relished so I decided to pop by the website of one Franklin Christoph. Therein I saw a host of interesting pieces that I wanted to own and so I took the bite and ordered myself a #19 with a fine gold nib. I would have gone for the needlepoint grind but they'd run out so a fine nib was where the coin toss took me.
Out of the box (or pen sleeve, as it were) I was offered a beautiful baby smoke-and-cinnamaroon accented acrylic piece of wonderful:
The nib is an 18k gold in fine, large enough that I know it's there when I'm writing but still a very hard writer with little to no flex. It came adorned with the scripted "F" that's standard on all their pens and is comparable in size to, say, a Visconti HS oversized and/or a TWSBI Vac-700.
It's a cartridge converter, something I generally dislike, but the accoutrements and general hand-feel allow me to overlook this simple annoyance. At just under $300 USD for a simple gold nib without any fancy grind I wasn't expecting much, but was quite surprised at the look, feel, and size of this baby. As a collector of biggish pens I was happy to see how it stacked up next to a couple of its new brothers and sisters:
(top to bottom: Lamy Safari, TWSBI Vac-700, Franklin-Christoph #19, Visconti Homo Sapiens oversize, Omas 360)
As you can see it is a large pen. As someone who is partial to them I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by its girth-to-weight ratio. I had expected it to be heavy and bulky as the only pen I own that is wider is the Omas, but its triangular shape gives a feeling of a much smaller width. Thus, as a fat, round pen I expected the #19 to be a pig in my hand and barely useful apart from signing documents. Thankfully I was wrong.
As a wide pen the grip section is still quite tapered and manageable while the pen body rests comfortably in the webbing of my thumb/index. I haven't felt strain after an hour of full use nor any awkward heaviness or weight unbalance while either capped or uncapped.
That said, I'm used to pens one does not post, but I was very curious what the weight balance would be with that critter on the back:
Uncapped and posted it is one of the smaller of the group I chose, so perhaps I'll blame on its neighbours being too large for comparison. That said, as a posted writing instrument the weight balance is quite pleasant. I've only owned three companies whose caps I don't mind attached while writing: Omas, Sailor, and now Franklin-Christoph. I feel the weight of the cap is inconsequential to the balance while writing and, if anything, enhances the experience, something I can't say for the other two.
On the topic of the cap, however, I have to say that my biggest beef is the flimsy-feeling clip they used. I feel like I could tear it right off with a good tug but am unwilling to experiment with that statement any further. I'm welcome and happy to be wrong about this but I'm only comparing it to my experience with other makers. It feels like the kind of clip one would get on a hobbyist's table-turned pen... and in my experience I am able to tear the clips off if I want to with those ones.
Finally, a terrible writing example:
As mentioned, very little flex from a large gold nib, but then I shouldn't complain. At the price I paid I was quite pleased with the overall experience and will use this pen as a note taker and possible journal writer.
In conclusion, I would personally recommend Franklin-Christoph. I was happy with the experience of ordering (also got a couple other little things and will likely purchase a pen-fold from them as well), their customer service is responsive and wordy (something I like), and the product they sell is quite attractive and appears, thus far, to be durable and safe to own.
Hope someone enjoyed the review!
