Graf Von Faber-Castell Intuition Grenadilla

[jar]

 

To address that, I think its the "wow" factor that is missing in some of the GvFC pens. There's also the fact that the same amount of money can buy you a nice limited edition from other brands. In addition, GvFC pens aren't very rare or limited in supply so I keep putting off the purchase because something else comes by.

 

That depends on what you mean by the "wow" factor. GvFC pens with only a few expections are definitely understated pens (the Caran d'Ache pens are also understated). They are not the peacock or wood duck; they are neither showy nor do they have a loud voice.

Edited July 26, 2013 by jar

[humsin]

 

To address that, I think its the "wow" factor that is missing in some of the GvFC pens. There's also the fact that the same amount of money can buy you a nice limited edition from other brands. In addition, GvFC pens aren't very rare or limited in supply so I keep putting off the purchase because something else comes by.

 

YES, I know its German and its minimalist and utilitarian, but when you see yourself paying such a large amount of money for a pen you ask yourself what makes it stand out from the rest? And here the Intuition doesn't really have anything special to show - for example, unlike the Omas wood pens with in-built pistons, the Intuition is a C/C pen. Unlike the Japanese wood pens, this isn't made of some thousand-year-old cedar wood from protected reserves on some mysterious Japanese island.

 

(And this is coming from a person who adores the Pernambuco version so much... yes, it makes me feel so conflicted )

 

Edited to add: Just IMHO, don't take me too seriously!

 

May I assume that you dislike Montblancs?

[elderberry]

GvFC definitely have a lot to offer in terms of quality. Still the way the pens are shaped (either very slim or quite bulky) and the metal sections have put me off a few purchases.

 

Different story with the Intuition wood: It's the only pen I know of sporting a wooden section and it's a beautiful thing to hold and write with.

[jar]

GvFC definitely have a lot to offer in terms of quality. Still the way the pens are shaped (either very slim or quite bulky) and the metal sections have put me off a few purchases.

 

Different story with the Intuition wood: It's the only pen I know of sporting a wooden section and it's a beautiful thing to hold and write with.

 

 

If it is the metal section that puts you off, then order it with a resin section. In addition, while all metals may be equal some metals are more equal than others. The Classic can also be ordered with either the Platinum plated section or a Steling silver section and Sterling silver is very finger friendly which is why it is the preferred material for silverware.

[humsin]

 

 

If it is the metal section that puts you off, then order it with a resin section. In addition, while all metals may be equal some metals are more equal than others. The Classic can also be ordered with either the Platinum plated section or a Steling silver section and Sterling silver is very finger friendly which is why it is the preferred material for silverware.

 

It's a shame, after repairing my nib, they switched my sterling silver section for a platinum one. It looks weird since the rest of my pen is silver. Oh well

[lovemy51]

Nice pen!

Nice review!

Nice Pics!

No way i can pay that much for it!!!

 

congrats!

[HITY]

I have no longer used the fountain pen since i was middle school student , Recently ,my roommate give me a pen ,the brand of the pen is duke fountain pen ruby , i feel it is writting vell well ,because of its nice nib , and with its beautiful appearance . I share this pen with you ,i hope you like it .

 

[humsin]

Update:

 

Now that I have used this pen for a few weeks, I can post some comments with regards to its long term performance.

 

The grip section is a bit higher than I would've liked it to be. The grenadilla wood feels excellent (clarinet/oboe players would know), but the taper can be more pronounced. In long writing sessions, it is still slightly too girthy. The nib writes a little bit too smoothly on Clairefontaine paper for my liking. On a smoothness scale of 0-10 (0= max feedback, 10= only smoothness), I think this pen places at a 8-8.5, where my preference is at a 7. However I think this is where the crowd is most pleased. I also have a minor complaint about the filling unit. Screwing it in and out can be a bit of a nuisance. It is also prone to being loose, and when the nib unit is loose, you feel some give when you write (think "Kuru-toga" mechanical pencils). Also, filling it with ink can also be a messy affair. Even as a separate unit, dipping it into ink allows many metal components to come into contact with ink. Ink ends up stuck in some crevices. You end up forced to fill the converter with ink, and inserting it into the sleeve, like a cartridge. This pen also uses up ink very fast. With a wetness of 8/10, when writing in my journal, I can write about 2 days worth of experiences. Then you have to perform surgery on the pen, just to fill it with ink, to get it to write again.

 

With long term use, it now feels more like a 85%-90% pen but it is still excellent. I love it very much, but it's difficult to find its ranks among EDC pens. It's not so delicate as to needing house arrest, but it is not robust enough for EDC use.

[mrchan]

Hi, lovely review and pics. One question, when you dip the nib to fill it, is it difficult to wipe off? Since the section part is so low and near a few grooves etc, do you find it extra effort to wipe it clean? Perhaps you could take a pic or two on how it looks after you fish it out from the inkbottle? Thanks.

 

Sorry I just read your newest comment and I think that answered my questions. So no, I won't be getting this pen then. But lovely nonetheless.

Edited August 12, 2013 by mrchan

[jmccarty3]

To reactivate an old thread, I see on the GvFC site that the Intuition Wood Platino is now available only in the Ebony and Grenadillo finishes. I had been hoping to find a Pernambuco because of my fondness for Sherlock Holmes (readers will understand)--in fact, I bought my son a Classic in Pernambuco when he graduated from college for that reason. It would appear from the filling mechanism that the nibs are easily interchanged. Anyone have a Pernambuco Intuition they'd like to part with? I searched on the Mall and didn't find anything.

[beboy]

To reactivate an old thread, I see on the GvFC site that the Intuition Wood Platino is now available only in the Ebony and Grenadillo finishes. I had been hoping to find a Pernambuco because of my fondness for Sherlock Holmes (readers will understand)--in fact, I bought my son a Classic in Pernambuco when he graduated from college for that reason. It would appear from the filling mechanism that the nibs are easily interchanged. Anyone have a Pernambuco Intuition they'd like to part with? I searched on the Mall and didn't find anything.

Please see the link bellow:

http://www.stylo.ca/en/produits/Faber-Castell%2C+Graf+von/Intuition+Platino/367_1851_34.html

$550 CANADIAN dollars. That actually means $440 USD. I don't think you will find a price so low elsewhere... I bought my Ebony Intuition from them.

Edited February 25, 2015 by beboy

[jmccarty3]

Thanks very much!

[meiers]

I just discovered this thread and completely agree with your review. I am in fact just writing with mine. What an exceptional pen. Too bad they don't make the pernambuco version any more.

Edited April 30, 2017 by meiers

[overwriter]

Thank you for the review. A beautiful pen. I have always wanted one.

[alext9036]

I loved mine before it started to have problem with the converter. Every time when I unscrew the barrel to fill the pen, the converter gets stuck inside the barrel. I'd have to a pair of tweezers or a hook to fish it out. Two other friends have the exact same pen and started to have the exact same problem recently. So I think it has something to do with the pen itself.

 

After a filling, I connect the converter to the nib, and push them into the barrel to screw the pen back together. It seems that, at this point, a vacuum is created inside the barrel, so the next time when I pull out the converter, it gets sucked into the barrel.

 

Does anyone else have this problem?

[fatmav]

On 3/22/2019 at 6:30 PM, alext9036 said:

Does anyone else have this problem?

 

Yes, it happens to mine too. It seems that:

(a) the barrel on my pen has shrunk in calibre over time, and 

(b) the GvFC converters are too thick for the now-shrunk barrel.

 

I have yet to find an International-ish converter from another brand that works with this pen. I had high hope for Waterman because Waterman converters are slimmer towards to the top, but their nozzles turn out to be too short for the GvFC feed. So I resolved to use short International cartridges with this pen.

 

For the future reader who landed on this page due to this problem ("Graf von Faber-Castell Intuition converter stuck"), I have attached three pictures showing the second version of an "apparatus" I made to fish out the converter in my case. Basically I took a paperclip and bent it into a wire with a small loop and a small overhang. The key is to ensure the distance between the tip of the overhang to the main wire is *slightly* larger than the opening of the converter. This tip-to-wire distance is marked in red in the first attached picture.

 

Then I force-inserted the loop and the overhang into the converter. When the tip went in, the loop would open up a little bit to reduce the tip-to-wire distance; once fully inserted, the tip would spring back to restore this distance. This apparatus allowed me to pull the converter as seen in the second photo, where the converter is actually hanging in the air for demonstration (note the shadow). This is because the converter opening is smaller than the tip-to-wire distance and so the tip is actually pressing on the plastic material of the converter opening. Alternatively, if your converter has an agitator, you can also use the gap between the overhang and the main wire to pull on the agitator, as shown in the third photo.

 

When you finally remove the wire from the converter by force (a bit of wiggle helps), the tip may scratch a tiny bit of plastic out of the converter opening. But this is of course way better than having a converter stuck in an otherwise marvelous pen. 😆

 

P.S. The first version was to make the widest part of the loop a bit bigger than the converter opening and my plan was to insert only the loop and leave the overhang outside. In my case, it turned out my converter was just too stuck in the barrel and so pulling on the wire just compressed the loop and the wire slipped out.

 

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