My two newest pens 🩵 They are so pretty and sparkly, absolutely lovely in the light and I have no regrets getting two cuz I couldn't decide which blue one ✨
I like to get pens as keepsakes and these ones I got partly using the goodbye gift my old team gave me, so they'll hold a nice memory when I use them or see them on my desk.
I haven't seen many posts on this pen (just two and one was a video in German) so I wanted to share my first impression and review of this great pen I stumbled upon while browsing under the cut! The takeaway though is I LOVE this pen: quality construction and writing experience, gorgeous aesthetics, great value. A solid 9/10 if I'm being critical.
Starting off with some more photos of closeups of the nib and parts disassembled, a size comparison of some similar pens, and a writing sample (the width is about the same as my TWSBI eco M). I realize like an idiot I spelled quartz wrong. Whatever. Can't fix it now.
Basics
Pen: JD 21 made by Jiaxiang Pen Factory
Nib: steel Chinese #35 nib (roughly the size of a western #6), comes in M and F only
Colourways: various with gold trim, mine are the "blue white" (turquoise ish one with strong chatoyancy) and "sea blue" (translucent blue with opaque light blue swirls and a bit of subtle shimmer)
most of the colours lean towards darker/very saturated
Dimensions: 12.7cm capped / 11.5cm uncapped / ~15cm posted / 1.0-1.2cm grip section depending where you grip
it's a Sailor Professional Gear Standard (not Slim) essentially, refer to the size comparison with my actual Pro Gear Slim/Jinhao 82 (smaller) and Tramol "traditional Chinese colours" (I think it's about the size of a Pro Gear Realo?)
Filling: cartridge/converter
provided converter appears to be a Chinese 2.6mm bore converter (photos below compare it (left/top) to a 2.6mm bore converter from my Jinhao 100/Centennial (right/bottom)) as it's definitely not a 3.4mm bore but the length and connector area are different and I swear the bore looks like it's a tiny bit wider??
disclaimer: I have not tried a 2.6mm bore cartridge but I feel it should probably fit as I managed to fit my Jinhao converter on it seemingly without issue
Quick Pros & Cons
My overall impression is this is a great looking and writing pen esp for it's value and I find only minor non-issue complaints for which I'd take off a point rather than call it a 10/10.
Pros:
It's beautiful. Very Shiny. I am a crow. I like this shape/design a lot combo with the nice acrylic.
It writes smooth and wet easily without having to adjust anything with a light touch. I do not like Sailor feedback. I gave it an extra hard task using Sailor Manyo Hinoki in it which is my driest ink, I've only dared use it in my TWSBI eco til now.
A great value I think, 30 CAD is much less than a Pro Gear that's in the ~400-500 range at this point. The only competition is the Tramol pen mentioned above which has worse cheap feeling construction and is more at ~60 (prob more now) which doesn't come in a M nib either (although you could buy your own Jowo nib unit for extra)
Good construction, the acrylic feels nice quality without visual imperfections, nothing wobbles or screws together badly or the like.
The size is great I love #6 approx. nib size and slightly longer/wider dimensions! I find the Pro Gear Slim a bit small and I have tiny hands; I much prefer the Standard over Slim size.
Cons:
This is like the most nothing con ever (to me) but it takes quite a few turns to (un)cap the pen at roughly ~2.75 turns. I know this does bother some people so I mention it since even I find it a little much even if it's not a big deal to me.
This one is also like not a big deal to me but again it bothers some so I'll mention you can see some slight internal marks (pics below) on the more transparent pen (the "sea blue" one) that are either glue or some machining marks from turning the acrylic. You have to look for them to see it due to the patterns across the acrylic so it's not obvious and I'll mention that there are similar glue marks on the translucent Sailor pens reported so it feels unfair to judge this only for the JD 21.
I honestly can't find anything else to complain about right now.. the cap seal might not be the most air tight but I tend to not screw my caps on super tight so? I left it for 2 days before doing the sample and it wrote without issue still though the ink was a lil darker at first.
Oh I didn't have any issue here both were correct but I did receive my pens with a note in the box with a contact email from the company since they got an increase in orders and there had been some colour mixups in the pens sent out. So there is a chance you could end up with a wrong colour.
Looks & Construction
Ok well starters here: this is basically a Sailor Pro Gear Standard. The shape and dimensions are essentially exactly the same, the design is very close minus minor branding details, and according to a forum post I saw, you can even exchange a Sailor Pro Gear nib unit with this pen's. It's a pretty traditional-shaped flat-topped pen and there's many pens in this general shape from many brands (though this is obviously closest to the Pro Gear). I find torpedo/cigar shape pens ugly so this is a plus to me.
If you love the look of Pro Gears but hate the Sailor feedback or don't want to shell out the several hundreds or want some more interesting acrylic material or all of the above (me) then this is the pen for you.
I think these pens are absolutely gorgeous!! See my many photos above trying to capture how they shine in the light. The chatoyancy on the "blue white" one is SO INTENSE and looks like flowing water with ripples. The "sea blue" one is aptly named and I find really fun in that no two will have the same swirly/marble vein pattern to them, and as a bonus it has some sparkly shimmer to it also rippling across the translucent parts like a subtle version of the chatoyancy of the other one.
I think this pen stands out with the unique acrylic materials used for the body and the larger dimensions of this pen. Most other Pro Gear like pens are based on the (uncomfortably) smaller Pro Gear Slim with the one exception being the Tramol pen I have mentioned above. I'd argue the materials used are more interesting than even Sailor pens which mostly are simply (a combo of a few) plain solid or translucent colours and maybe a bit of glitter of the foil-like or extremely fine hard to see until you squint varieties.
I'm not going to say this pen has the build quality of a Sailor which has like 15x the cost but for 30 CAD I think this is a perfectly well made pen. There's no rough edges on the outside, things screw together well (which cannot be said of my Tramol pen that skips threads on the cap and caused a twisted up nib once), nothing wobbles, the turned acrylic doesn't have imperfections and feels nice and not cheap/light. Time will tell how the plating on the clip/trim hold up but I baby all my pens.
I want to mention the construction of the JD 21 cap which avoids a common failure point of the Jinhao 82 near the metal band at the bottom of the cap where two pieces of plastic are screwed/glued together to sandwich the band. On the JD 21, rather than screw/glue a 2nd small piece of plastic to the main cap, the metal band is attached to the main cap (you can see metal on the inside extending just under the end of the threads part of the main cap piece) and then the 2nd small piece of plastic is attached on top the metal band (you can see the metal under the plastic). This feels sturdier to me so no twisting force is applied to a glued joint.
All the colourways these pens come in have a bit of variability to them so each one looks unique. Could be good or bad depending on how picky you are/your luck. Some patterns are less variable (like 2 tone cracked ice/marble look) compared to other (any with swirly sorta patterns like both of mine esp the "blue sea" one) so something to keep in mind you can't choose how it will look.
Writing Performance
I'll note that I did feel like it didn't write as well on the new/Sanzen Tomoe River paper vs my usual Midori MD paper like it felt kinda like it couldn't get ahold of the paper without a lil pressure. I am using the driest ink I have and I left this pen sitting for 2 days though so I think another ink wouldn't have that feeling. I think my issues with the TR paper is the paper though, I have not been particularly impressed with it since I got the pack of sheets and I know there were bad batches in the period I got it..
On Midori MD though the pen is glassy smooth maybe even smoother than my TWSBIs (wow!) and writes perfectly with a light touch even though I'm using this super dry Hinoki ink. Others have said the pen writes at a nice wetness and I think I would agree but I guess I'll find out more for sure when I try something wetter next fill. Tested the wetness twice on the writing sample because my finger was a lil wet the first time so I dried my finger and tried again.
The line width of this M nib is basically the same as my TWSBI eco M nibs so a very standard western M. I like seeing shading and other ink properties so I didn't get a F nib. This pen doesn't come in EF or B or stub/other special nibs and I don't know how swap-able the nib is due to the fact the nib unit housing is allegedly the same as a Sailor Pro Gear one. At the least you cannot just screw in another random nib unit.
something simple this year since life is busy
ft. Charbon and Cotton.. I'm so happy we have their names now after like 10 years; now we just need a card but I 100% believe they are a black and white pair of kitties...
hope it's ok I join ah I only played the game less than a month so I guess I have to say favourite focus is it's on! wonder halloween! cuz it's the only one I finished reading so far so djgksd I love wxs though and want to read all the stories in order when I can..
and favourite comm is either hakoniwa no coral or cyberpunk dead boy!
M-083 Endearing Eggs || World of Eyre / Elnin ARPG prompt
Feel like I figuratively pulled a muscle it's been so long since I've drawn
Aza found one of the fey-touched eggs and is oh so reluctantly (he says) taking care of it since obviously he cannot just leave it now.. even as he sets it on a plush cushion and keeps it warm
And another matching ink doodle this time Natsume for my friend Mackerel also getting mailed later ❤️ Felt really good getting to use my cute witchy washi tape it fits Natsume so much ✨
Pen: artist made glass dip pen, Sailor pro gear slim
Ink: Diamine inkvent brandy snap & peach punch, Pilot iroshizuku hana-ikada, Sailor manyo hinoki, Sailor black
Paper: Cosmo air snow
An ink doodle I did of Sora for my friend Jasper that I'll be mailing to her 💛 Had fun picking out inks from my collection I think they ended up suiting Sora a lot!
Pen: artist made glass dip pen, Sailor pro gear slim
Ink: Colorverse alpha Gemini, Diamine inkvent brandy snap & peach punch, Pilot iroshizuku chiku-rin & hana-ikada, Sailor manyo hinoki, Sailor black
Paper: Cosmo air snow
booping the little kitty in the counter is so cute and fun I am determined to get the black kitty boop badge and now I can do it without blowing up my friend's notifs too