The Faber-Castell Design Ondoro Orange Review

The Ondoro is another of my Faber-Castell Design (FCD) pens. These FCD steel nibs are common across the entire design product range - Basic, Loom, Ambition, Ondoro & e-motion and have been impeccable in my experience. My first pen from the design series was an Ambition. I feel that the Ondoro is structurally a much better pen, though it might lack a bit of aesthetic flair prevalent to the Ambition. Below is a link to this review on my blog:

                The Ondoro line comes with a fountain pen (with 4 different nib widths), a roller ball, a propelling pencil (0.7mm) and a ballpoint pen across three coloured resins - Orange, Black & White (now discontinued) and a wooden one (smoked oak) priced substantially higher.

PRESENTATION

The Ondoro along with the included converter was hand-delivered at my workplace by A.W Faber Castell India personnel, encased inside this moss-green cardboard box. This colour always reminds me of the Australian Baggy Green Caps. The box has a slider where the pen is placed beneath a fabric band on a felted bed, along with a warranty card and a cartridge. Like the pen, the box does portray certain elements of minimalism.

DESIGN - HEXAGON & CHROME (6/6)

The pen seems to have an innate affair with geometry, structurally constituted of two overlapping hexagonal prisms - one orange and other chrome, with domed ends. Bold and minimalistic both in terms of convergence and functionality. The barrel is glossy while the cap is shiny chrome plated metal. Unfortunately the mirror finishes have a magnetic attraction for fingerprints. Faber-Castell calls the barrel material precious resin and it does feel qualitatively substantial.

The metallic cap snaps on and off the barrel with audible clicks. While putting the cap on, the hexagonal facets of the cap need to be aligned with the ones on the barrel. There is some metal at the end of the grip which actually is part of an insert for the nib unit. And there rests the shiny FCD nib. The barrel is designed to converge with the section subtly initiating a concave taper at the end of its hexagonal facets, leading to a comfortably concave grip section.

The finials at either end have smooth and convex domes, the one at the end of a barrel carries a engraved circle or an ‘O’. 

A mirror finish on the hexagonal chromed cap will attract your attention while you keep resisting your instantenous urges to polish off finger-prints, even after the slightest touch. The dome like finial is etched with Faber-Castell logo of two jousting knights and embossed there is a traditional statement preserving antiquity - Since 1761. The spring loaded clip is shaped like an arc with a concave end. It’s engraved with GERMANY on one side of its loading point. A plastic insert inside the cap gives the snap-on friction.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The rather small resinous concavity at the end of the barrel unscrews from the body, with seven turns and it disengages the section containing the nib and CC filling system. There is a mention of e3 on the metallic thread insert, it’s apparently a reference to their old manufacturing plants.

The insert for the section threads with the metallic insert in the resin barrel. 

The converter says SCHMIDT on the piston along with the brand imprint of FABER-CASTELL Germany on the metallic sleeve. It has a reasonably high capacity of around 1 mL, and the ink does last for quite a while! I usually am biased towards piston fillers, but I like the capacity offered by Faber-Castell or Schmidt converters. In case of GvFC Converters, there is no mention of Schmidt on the converters themselves. This converter will snugly fit many other pens. 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is made of stainless steel alloy with an iridium tip. The initially available nib sizes featured F, M and B nibs, though an EF was made available later. I went with an F sized nib. Right out of the box, this was a very smooth nib.

           The nib has a perforated imprint of dots which cover a third of its surface area. There is a subtle absence of any breather hole. The nib-size is embossed above the traditional Faber-Castell Design logo of two jousting knights near the tail.

The feed is standard grey plastic, with a big filler hole for ink suction, which incidentally is used across the GvFC Intuition & Classic Series.

Faber-Castell Design (steel) nibs are sourced from JoWo whereas the GvFC nibs (18k except Tamitio) are made by Bock.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

Sans the cap, the pen measures around 12.4 cm, which is quite comfortable for me given the wide girth. The cap can be posted easily. While the posted pen exceeds a 15 cm scale, a steel cap of 17g does make it top-heavy. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.4 cm
• Capped Length ~ 12.8 cm
• Posted Length ~ 16 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 1.9 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 32 g (Cap Weight ~ 17 g)

Some capped, uncapped & posted references with a few pens like GvFC Intuition, Pelikan m205 and TWSBI 580 run below for your reference.

Terracotta is much redder than the orange in an Ondoro

 Uncapped the Ondoro almost matches a TWSBI 580

 Not posted!

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

The Ondoro resin versions retail at around USD 125. I purchased it with a good discount, directly from A.W Faber Castell India, as there were some warranty issues with my other Faber Castell pen. I believe it’s a good value for money pen and given such a beautiful nib, which can defeat any other.

OVERALL (5.6/6)

This nib is moderately wet, runs fine and smooth. There is absence of any line variation among horizontals & verticals. The nib has got some spring and a touch of softness. I find the grip very comfortable to hold the pen, you might say a little bit of barrel weight could have blessed this one. I will definitely recommend this pen to you, if you are looking at the Faber Castell Design Series. 

                      

             Being a moderately wet writer out of the box, the Fine nib puts a decent fine line (finer than TWSBI F) which takes around 15 seconds to dry a wet MB Toffee brown ink on MD Paper.

REFERENCES

Faber Castell Ambition

GvFC Intuition

Faber Castell History

Bock Clientele

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Pelikan Souverän M605 Marine Blue Review

The M4XX/6XX are usually considered to be next steps to an M2XX. As with the model numbers, there is a general increase in nib size & specs, in addition to overall dimensions, when you move from M4XX to M1XXX. Brass piston fittings in 8XX/1XXX series, render additional weight to these pens. The designs of the striped 400/600/800/1000 are pretty linearly recurring over the entire writing range except for several special editions. 405/605/805/1005s refer to the similar pens with silver accents, plated with noble metals (like Palladium or Rhodium), unless it’s a special or demonstrator model. The other model numbers refer to special/limited editions like the one reviewed here which is the m605 Marine Blue Special Edition. Another such alluring model is Souverän M 625 with sterling silver fittings (Ag 92.5%).

DESIGN - THE MARINE TRANSPARENCY (6/6)

Light and dark can play very differently with this pen. The m605 marine has a darker hue of blue which is as elegant as the deep blue ocean and it’s capable of refracting even a tiny shimmer of light with the palladium coated silver loops dazzling in utter consonance. Absence of light makes it adorn an almost blackish blue hue.

As you can see this blue is remarkably darker than the blue shade of a Pilot Custom Heritage 92.

The entire pen gleams with a revealing blue and silver with ambient light and these effects do proliferate with sunlight. The radiance is matched throughout the pen starting with a silver gleam from the famed finial and the pelican beak (clip) through the concentric bands in the cap before finally converging with the piston rings. The resin reflects quality and does not feel feeble or insubstantial on touch. 

The cap feels light and unscrews with a single turn, revealing a dazzling rhodium plated nib. The grip reveals another knot of glitter, towards the nib end. The transparency does reveal the inside works of its piston mechanism.

Two concentric palladium plated bands with a dazzling silver crown embossed with the pelikan logo, adorn the cap with a signature pelican beak-shaped clip. The thicker one carries the usual brand imprint of PELIKAN SOUVERÄN GERMANY. The logo on the finial is the one embraced by Pelikan post 2003, that of a mother pelican and its chick, gleaming in brushed palladium. You can see the distinct outlines of the cap insert here. The bands have an intrinsic association with the design rather than just differentiating the aesthetics element. 

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A piston filler with a sturdy knob is embellished with two concentric silver loops. Apart from their enchanting looks, like any other pelikan, it's an easy and hassle-free mechanism. The piston end unscrews with three to four rotations and ink is sucked in, with quite a gush, once the piston is screwed back on. And of course, you can observe the entire thing in action. A plastic spindle connector in the M4XX/6XX limits overall weight. M6XX fills upto 1.4 mL of ink. However, given the wet flow of the flock, it does not last for a long time.

             One thing to note here is that these piston mechanisms for M4XX/M6XX are not supposed to be dismantled as they are friction fit under heat. In case of problems other than lubricating the piston seal, it’s better to send the pen to Pelikan Germany/Country Authorized Service Center. Pelikan does have an excellent customer service.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib comes in a rhodiated 14k design across four stock widths - EF, F, M & B. It has the standard pelikan scrollwork with the usual convenience of a screw-fit section.

              Like all its cousins, the nib is exquisite and efficient. With a standard m6xx feed, the nib-section is an ensemble of efficiency as well as art. And this monotone rhodiated finish does converge with the palladium coated trims in terms of both glitter and glimmer.

The tail end specifies the nib-width and composition (14 C, 58.5% Au) of the gold-alloy used. Three arabesques diverge along the shoulders of the nib with two of them converging near the circular breather hole. The third curve runs across the tines towards the shoulders ending with the tail end of the nib. There is of-course the dazzling mother-baby pelikan logo, resting above the tail. This one in the picture is a Fine nib and writes smooth and wet out of the box.

A standard black plastic feed (earlier ones had ebonite feeds) ensures a good ink buffer for the promised wetness and prevents hard starts.

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

For me, this pen is quite comfortable to write continuously, while posted. The overall capped length is around 13.3 cm. The total weight of m605 has a third of contribution from the cap and it feels light without posting the cap. The pen does get some heft from the ink inside the barrel.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.4 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15.4 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2.3 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 18 g (without ink)

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with its cousins - m400 and a m805 go below for your reference. There is also a posted reference with two similar pens (in terms of weight and dimensions) from Pilot (CH92 & C74) too.

ECONOMIC VALUE (4/6)

The m605 Marine retails at around USD 595, it does sound like a rather crazy spend. I have found it frequently auctioned on the bay with the final price dropping to 60% of RRP or even less. You can get a Pilot Custom Heritage 92 for USD 130 or less, although it will lack the finesse of a pelikan. I do consider the pen as a dependable workhorse.

OVERALL (5.6/6)

These 14k nibs are extremely smooth and have a very wet flow. The nibs are stiff & I absolutely love these nibs since I find myself quite ill equipped for flexible nibs. With a slight bit of spring and softness in them, there is absence of any noticeable line variation. Being extremely wet writers out of the box, the Fine nib puts a line which takes around 20 seconds to dry GvFC Moss Green ink on MD Paper. 

REFERENCES

Pelikan M4XX

Nib Adjustment

Pelikan M625

Patent

Piston mechanisms

Ink Capacities

Pilot Custom Heritage 92

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The Pilot Custom 74 Review

This one is my all time favourite pen and one of my first fountain pens with a gold nib. The Custom 74 (C74) was released as in 1992, sporting a Pilot#5 14k nib. I was planning to review it for a long long time but thanks to all the other pens, it never got the attention it truly deserves. The C74 was launched 74 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918), and as usual it does carry the first two digits of the model number as ‘74’ and the third digit is by default ‘1’ usually refers price at launch of the pen (i.e 1 X JPY 10,000). The demonstrators were released much later with the coloured ones specifically meant for the US market. I have always felt that the C74 along with the Custom Heritage 92 are the best starter premium pens.

                      The C74 (for the Asian market) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which is more of a protection than presentation and the pen also reverberates with this understatement.

DESIGN - THE CLASSICAL CIGAR (5/6)

The C74 comes in four standard designs of glossy resin - Black, Deep Green, Deep Red (or bordeaux), and Deep Blue, all in gold plated trims. The resin material feels strong though not heavy. There are also the clear and coloured demonstrators (blue, orange, violet and smoke) with silver trims and smoky finials, available at higher price points. I would personally prefer a piston-filling CH92 when it comes to demos. 

The cylindrical cigar starts with rounded off finial and a gold plated clip/ring syncing nicely with concentric cap bands before concluding with a golden dazzle at the end of the barrel. The glossy red resin shines moderately under light, preserving its business look. 

The cap is light and unscrews with little less than two turns, revealing a dazzling golden nib. The grip section is moulded from the same resin and a golden ring announces the beginning. 

But as usual the nib dazzles out from the rest of the pen. 

The two injection-moulding threads are somewhat visible at the threads of the barrel and grip. I would have preferred polishing them off, through there is little room for argument at this price point.

The cap with a rounded off finial preserves a classical look. A few things etched across a lower centre band include the model name of CUSTOM 74 and PILOT MADE IN JAPAN, separated by a *. An concentric narrow band above renders some differential aesthetics. The clip is tension-fit and has the shape of an inverted triangle, ending up with a golden sphere. PILOT is engraved vertically at the top. The design of the clip is reminiscent of Parker Big Red pens of the 70s.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

The barrel unscrews from the section with four and a half turns. As you can observe the section has metal threading syncing with the resin threads of the barrel. You can also see one of the feeble lines of injection moulding on the outer threads of the barrel.

                   The pen takes all pilot converters CON-20 (0.5 mL), CON-50 (0.5 mL) & CON-70 (1 mL) along with pilot proprietary cartridges (0.9 mL). I have used the included CON-70 converter with this pen with a push button filling mechanism. Mind you, the ink bottle with have some froth during the otherwise fun filling exercise. 

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is friction-fit and comes in a standard 14k design across four stock widths - EF, F, M & B. In addition to these four there are eight special widths available across SF, FM, SFM, M, SM, BB, MS & C. It’s comes rhodiated for the silver trimmed demos although the widths are limited to F, M & B.

      The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. It has a standard scrollwork where the elongated hexagonal imprint separates the design from the outer shoulders and tines, with a decor running inside its circumference, encompassing the circular breather hole. 

The branding and nib specifications of PILOT, 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy) along with the nib size and width are imprinted below the breather hole.

A standard bluish grey plastic feed with moderately spaced fins delivers a buffer capacity and a decently sized feeder hole gives a decent ink suction.

The only difference I find between the C74 nibs and the rhodiated nibs of the CH92, is on the softness front, which makes the C74 nib more delightful. 

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

I do not know why but the cigar shape of a pen does give an extremely comfortable feel to my hands. The cap weighs only 8 grams. It’s a comfortable grip section with around 1 cm girth. For my hands the un-posted C74 lacks a bit of weight rather than length. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12.5 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15.5 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 20 g

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a few similar pens in terms of dimension and heft like the Custom Heritage 92 and the Pelikan m605 go below for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE (6/6)

The C74 retails at around USD 160 for the rhodiated demonstrator versions in the US, although the glossy resin versions sell at USD 100 or less, in Japanese shops like Engeika or Rakuten. I had bought the first pen a long back for close to USD 100 from Engeika’s Indian Arm - Pensindia. I do find the C74, a terrific value for money. 

OVERALL (5.8/6)

This 14k nib is the smoothest of all my nibs and it has a moderately wet flow. The nib is sturdy and does not have any variation between horizontal and vertical lines. This medium nib has an exquisite level of softness with a fair amount of spring which makes it phenomenal. These wet lines take almost 25 secs to dry a wet ink like Diamine Majestic Blue on MD paper. The grids are 5 mm squares.

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A Review of the Platinum Izumo Tagayasan with Matte Finish

The Izumo series was launched in 2010 to celebrate the birthplace of Platinum’s founder Shunichi Nakata. The Nakata surname of course reflects in all Nakaya nibs. Coming to Izumo, the Izumo province is located in the eastern coast of Japan and is famous for its political history as well as making traditional Japanese paper out of vegetable fibres (a sample of which is also included in a paper roll). The two variants of Izumo pens are Urushi-on-ebonite and Wooden versions. I am reviewing one of the wooden versions here. Some of the other versions have been rather marvellously reviewed by Hari1(had got mine on his recommendation), Hari2, & atomic_doug at FPN. 

This Izumo is called Tagayasan which literally translates into Iron Sword Wood (鉄:Iron 刀:Sword 木: Wood). More on this later.

PRESENTATION

The pen comes in a wooden box (IZU4000061) made of up Paulownia wood encased inside a handmade paper box. The box will itself feel very light which is characteristic of this wood along with high resistance to deformation, and it’s also used to make chests and boxes in Japan. This box also used for Nakayas and a few other premium pens of Platinum (Urushi Maki-e) with an RRP of JPY 50000 or greater. 

Once you open the satin lined top cover, you will find a green kimono encasing your Izumo, resting along with a standard platinum converter, a cartridge (though a complementary box was included by the seller), a paper roll made of traditional Japanese paper (Kiku) and a few other cards for maintenance & use. The one important out of them warns you against posting the cap. You will see later that there is a metallic insert for threading the cap and it might chip off the barrel wood, if posted. 

DESIGN - THE WOODEN CIGAR (6/6)

The Izumo Tagayasan comes in two finishes : Matte (PIZ-50000T #20) and Gloss (PIZ-50000T #21). The word Tagayasan in Japanese refers to a wood which is as hard as iron, and to my delight, I found that it was produced in India. The scientific name is Dalbergia latifolia and it’s more commonly known in India is Shisham or Bombay Black Wood. As the wood is hard, durable and resistant to termites, it’s used in India to make premium furniture. 

The build is remarkably sturdy and for a wooden pen it’s heavy and quite comfortably so. You will find this to be a large pen and initially I was concerned about its dimensions. The wood has a dark brown appearance with still deeper streaks running horizontally across the length of the pen. The golden gleam coming solely from the clip supplies the pen with a simply amazing contrast. 

Doesn’t the pen look like a marvellous piece of art? I salute the Japanese craftsmanship behind this handmade pen.

The cap feels substantial and unscrews with one and a half turns, revealing a stunning two-tone nib. The threads of golden glitter mark start of the grip section. The tapering of the section in someway ensures that your grip remains least affected by the metallic threads. Towards the nib a golden trim ensures the aesthetics remain singularly complete from top to bottom.

The finial is in the shape of an elliptical dome and quite deftly conceals the clip-joint. The dazzling tension-fit clip is plated with gold and has some resemblance with a traditional Japanese double edged sword called Tsurgi or Ken. It sports the brand name of PLATINUM within a dome of etched squares. There is a smaller sculpted impression below mirroring the sword in the green kimono. The metallic thread insert inside the cap render the pen unsuitable for posting.

FILLING SYSTEM (5/6)

As a cartridge converter filler, the supplied convertor is limited by a volume of 0.6 mL although platinum cartridges have an advantage with capacity of 1 mL or more. The Izumo also takes in proprietary converters and like other Platinum pens and there is an adapter available for international cartridges/converters, whose production is currently stopped. 

The proprietary converter does look good with its golden trims, but again you can see it only when you are filling up ink. 

The barrel unscrews from the grip section with four turns revealing the gold accented metallic thread section. The wooden barrel carries the opposite threads with a similar metallic insert, eliminating any chance of internal chipping of wood. The feed does draw ink even when the nib is not fully immersed inside ink.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6)

The nib/feed section is friction-fit and comes in a 18k two-tone design across three stock widths of F, M & B. I like the simple design of these nibs.

Above the tail lies the brand imprint of PLATINUM specified with nib type i.e PRESIDENT (or 3776) along with nib-composition (18 K) and width (B). A hearty breather hole lies above the imprint. Three bands of rhodium decor run amidst the body and shoulders as an enhancement. These bands are limited to the tines. The nib lays a moderately wet and smooth line with a characteristic stiffness. I would have personally preferred a bigger nib given the price point of this pen. 

The black plastic feed for the President nib has closely spaced fins and even with the cap open for a while, it does not take any effort to lay a nice and wet line.

PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

A comfortable length and weight ensures that the cap doesn't need to be posted while writing. With a cosy girth of around 1 cm, it poses absolutely no problems with extended writing times.

• Capped Length ~ 16.5
• Uncapped Length ~ 14 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2.4 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 38 g

Capped and uncapped comparisons with a pelikan m805 run below for your reference. You might be already noticing the giant cap with an elliptical dome finial, which contributes rather lavishly to the length of the pen.

Uncapped the Tagayasan is about 1 cm longer than a m8xx, making it a comfortable wooden companion. The threads at the section are located necessarily at an upper region of the section, which does not interfere with my grip, given the section taper. 

ECONOMIC VALUE (3/6)

The Izumo wooden versions - Tagayasan retail around US$ 600, though they are available at much lower prices around US$ 400 with known Japanese shops like Engeika or Rakuten. I bought it from Engeika's Indian arm Pensindia, since their service has been phenomenally good. I expected a bigger nib at this price point and I do have a sinking feeling that the usual President nib does not do complete justice either to this pen or its price point.

OVERALL (5/6)

This stunning 18k nib is smooth but not buttery, with kind of a controlled glide. It’s blessed with a moderately wet ink flow. There is a subtle bit of line variation, the horizontals being a tad thinner than the verticals. The nib is as stiff as a nail. Though, there is a hint of softness with this nib. 

Even being a wet writer out of the box, this Broad nib puts a line which takes around 30 seconds to dry on MD Paper. Ink used was Platinum Blue Black cartridge.

My other wooden pen is the GvFC Elemento reviewed here.

REFERENCES

Platinum Izumos

Hari’s Review of the Gloss Version

Bombay Black Wood

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