German or Chinese?

[mke]

I am not sure if I should announce this as a "German" or a "Chinese" pen? LINK

I NEED it in red!

 

[Jamerelbe]

Looks attractive - and yes, somewhat Germanic!

[mke]

> somewhat Germanic

 

Hmmm?

Like this?

 

[Aysedasi]

Not a fan, personally, looks thin and long metal section.....

[Licue]

A "german-inspired chinese fountain pen", maybe?

 

 

Btw, are (Graf von) Faber-Castell fountain pens considered "typically german looking" pens?

I'd probably count them among the lesser known FP brands (unlike say Pelikan or Lamy).

 

 

And yes, I suspect I might not like the section either.

[mke]

Yes, these GvFC pens are typical German design pens - these are Bauhaus style pens.

Graf von Faber-Castell fountain pens are well-known pens world-wide - especially their pen of the year series (PoTY).

2nd series of the PoTY: link

 

There are several pens which I would be happy to have - this one e.g.

[Scriptorium Pens]

2 hours ago, mke said:

Yes, these GvFC pens are typical German design pens - these are Bauhaus style pens.

Graf von Faber-Castell fountain pens are well-known pens world-wide - especially their pen of the year series (PoTY).

2nd series of the PoTY: link

 

There are several pens which I would be happy to have - this one e.g.

 

I wouldn't mind having some of their PotY styles, either.  Metal sections don't bother me, but I'd rather have thicker sections.

[Aysedasi]

3 hours ago, mke said:

Yes, these GvFC pens are typical German design pens - these are Bauhaus style pens.

Graf von Faber-Castell fountain pens are well-known pens world-wide - especially their pen of the year series (PoTY).

2nd series of the PoTY: link

 

There are several pens which I would be happy to have - this one e.g.

 

That one is quite a looker, perfect for my GvFC Olive Green too.  I'd just have to forgive the metal section..... 

[MuddyWaters]

It looks like a different iteration of the Hong dian thin pen, the one that is typically in stealth black. Hong dian has a history of copying Faber Castell designs already. 

[A Smug Dill]

7 hours ago, MuddyWaters said:

It looks like a different iteration of the Hong dian thin pen, the one that is typically in stealth black.

 

The shape of the cap's front end, and absence of a ‘jewel’ there, makes this slightly different from the model 1850 (‘Forest’ series).

 

I think the Golden and Green colours look nice, but I'm not a big fan of the shiny chrome section, and cap and barrel butt for that matter. Furthermore, while I like the model 1850, enough to have quite a new of them, but only in black and off-white because the other newer colours are priced significantly higher — twofold or more! — in the market presently, it has not proven to prevent ink evaporation particularly well when the pens are capped and unused; so I'm not having high hopes for this model in that regard either. The thin, textured ‘rubber’ coating on the model 1850 can be scratched/cut through just by pressing it against the edge of a hard object (which I carelessly and stupidly did), and I'm not sure the wave-patterned layer on the barrel of the model 1843 is any thicker, softer or hardier.

[Licue]

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Furthermore, while I like the model 1850, enough to have quite a new of them, but only in black and off-white because the other newer colours are priced significantly higher — twofold or more! — in the market presently, it has not proven to prevent ink evaporation particularly well when the pens are capped and unused; so I'm not having high hopes for this model in that regard either. The thin, textured ‘rubber’ coating on the model 1850 can be scratched/cut through just by pressing it against the edge of a hard object (which I carelessly and stupidly did), and I'm not sure the wave-patterned layer on the barrel of the model 1843 is any thicker, softer or hardier.

The Hongdian 1850 is rubber coated? 

I read a few reviews of the 1850 and I don't remember that being mentioned. Also wouldn't guess it from the pictures I've seen..

I thought the rubberized ones were the 6013 and/or the 517D?

 

Also unfortunate to hear that the caps don't prevent evaporation well 😑

[A Smug Dill]

12 minutes ago, Licue said:

I thought the rubberized ones were the 6013 and/or the 517D?

 

The 517D looks, in product photos, like it has a different type of rubberised coating. (I only just placed an order for one, but haven't seen or touched one ‘in the flesh’ yet.)

 

The same type of coating on the 6013 is also on the Birch Forest (in different colours, of course). I just checked (a new unit I have sitting in a box), though; the Black Forest doesn't seem to have that coating, and the rhombus pattern is on the metal and not rubber.

(Need to head out now, but I'll take another closer look in a few hours.)

[Licue]

^Ah, that's kinda good news 🙂 - the light colored Birch is the Forest variant I'm least interested in.

Hopefully the blue/green/purple ones are without rubber too, like the black one.

 

Thanks for the answer.

[mke]

> Black Forest doesn't seem to have that coating

 

No rubber, only steel - I have this pen.

 

[A Smug Dill]

I was wrong. I found a seemingly endless scroll of marketing images for the HongDian model 1850, which seem to have originated from the manufacturer itself, in an AliExpress item listing. One of the images specifically addresses the character of the pen barrel's finish:

 

 

Looking at the close-up image of the pen barrel (in the section highlighted by the yellow rectangle), as well as inspecting my Black Forest pen under a loupe, I can see that the finish does not look like metal; there is a certain undulating uneveness over the surface area in each tiny rhombus shape. According to the marketing image, it is rubber that is (spray?)painted onto the barrel, after which the pattern is engraved onto the surface, which feels somewhat hard instead of soft, but isn't cold to the touch like the “deep gunmetal black” metal parts on the pen's body.

 

6 hours ago, mke said:

No rubber, only steel - I have this pen.

 

I'm pretty sure it's made of aluminium and not steel, although to be fair, I must admit I haven't yet tested that with a magnet.

[Licue]

7 hours ago, mke said:

> Black Forest doesn't seem to have that coating

 

No rubber, only steel - I have this pen.

 

 

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

I was wrong. I found a seemingly endless scroll of marketing images for the HongDian model 1850, which seem to have originated from the manufacturer itself, in an AliExpress item listing. One of the images specifically addresses the character of the pen barrel's finish:

 

 

Looking at the close-up image of the pen barrel (in the section highlighted by the yellow rectangle), as well as inspecting my Black Forest pen under a loupe, I can see that the finish does not look like metal; there is a certain undulating uneveness over the surface area in each tiny rhombus shape. According to the marketing image, it is rubber that is (spray?)painted onto the barrel, after which the pattern is engraved onto the surface, which feels somewhat hard instead of soft, but isn't cold to the touch like the “deep gunmetal black” metal parts on the pen's body.

Well, now it's getting strange 🤔

 

Could it be that there are several, slightly different versions of this pen?

Now that I think about it, I vaguely remember reading something about different cap ends/cap jewels among pens of that model. Not 100% sure tho, maybe I'm misremembering.

 

Or maybe they all are rubber-coated and it's a "stealthy" rubber that tries to conceal its true nature... 🧐 🤷‍♀️

 

 

Meh..

[mke]

I would say "rubberised paint" means paint mimicking rubber. It looks like powder coating but I am not an expert.

Steel or aluminium? Anyway it is certainly metal.

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

37 minutes ago, mke said:

I would say "rubberised paint" means paint mimicking rubber. It looks like powder coating

 

Whatever the material and application process is, the guilloche is on a distinct coating layer instead of being directly cut into the metal tube that forms the barrel; and, as I've seen (more readily by virtue of the coating being a distinctly different colour) on my Birch Forest, that layer can be scratched or worn through.

 

I tried looking into 橡胶漆 some more, but there is no Wikipedia entry for it. From what I can gather from other web pages, it is chlorinated rubber enamel/paint (made from chlorinated rubber powder).

[mke]

@A Smug Dill

I think you are wrong.

 

橡胶漆 doesn't mean they mimic the guilloche. It only means that the touch of it should feel like rubber. Same thinking as in "peach feel" or "soft touch" coating - which is also only a coating in the order of micrometers (search for they keywords if you want to know more about this kind of coating).

 

https://baike.baidu.com/item/橡胶漆/3401510 (rubber feel coating)

 

 

I couldn't scratch the guilloche of that pen with my finger nail. I think the guilloche is cut into the metal and then the rubber feeling is spray-coated over it.

 

Anyway, their pen quality is high. It shows that they started as an OEM producer of writing tools.

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

3 hours ago, mke said:

橡胶漆 doesn't mean they mimic the guilloche.

 

Of course it doesn't.

 

笔 = pen

身 = body (or, in context, the barrel)

橡胶漆 = rubber paint

刻花 = engraving

 

笔身橡胶漆刻花 = pen barrel's rubber paint (is) engraved

 

3 hours ago, mke said:

I couldn't scratch the guilloche of that pen with my finger nail. I think the guilloche is cut into the metal and then the rubber feeling is spray-coated over it.

 

Well, for the sake of those who may be interested in getting the Hong Dian model 1843 (Oceangoing Voyage series) pens, I hope the colourful barrel coating on them is thicker and hardier than what is on the model 1850, but I certainly won't be betting on it.