The Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 came out in 2015 and is the smaller (shorter) version of the popular Stabilis 66 desk pen. The internet went all a-craze with its release, particularly in the solid ice finish with most users eyedroppering it to see the ink “stick” to the uneven ice finish of the body.

I lusted after this pen for months, but I was unable to commit, as I was on a self-imposed pen purchasing hiatus (3 weeks in Japan which resulted in a lot of pen purchases. I don’t want to say how many, as my husband reads this blog and I’m also a little ashamed). After months of whinging about how much I wanted the pen, my husband bought it for me – sick of having to hear about it. He’s a good man.

I purchased this with the Masuyama ground medium stub. I had tracked this baby with fanaticism (refreshing the Fedex page every few minutes, complaining about the route it was taking, complaining about how long it was spending in each port) and as soon as it had arrived I inked it up with the stock cartridge and impatiently waited for the ink to flow through the feed.

When I first wrote with the ground stub, it was a disappointment – very very scratchy. It took a lot of patience to wait till home time to smooth it out with some mylar paper. Once smoothed, it was lovely to write with, to the point where when the cartridge was finished, I was really upset I had to clean it out.

I have since discovered that stub nibs aren’t really my thing, I prefer a normal line with my writing, and have since swapped out the stub for a standard medium. Franklin Christoph nibs are such a joy to write with, I have had few problems with them and this one is no exception. It is smooth but with the tiniest bit of feedback which makes a lovely noise when writing on Tomoe River Paper – I like to think of it as the nib singing.

As for eyedroppering – well as you can see from the photos, I’ve not committed yet. There are a few reasons – I’m overly worried about the barrel staining. My OCD self would not be able to let it go and until I can guarantee that it won’t, I can’t yet commit. The second, and more important, reason is that whenever I open the cap, 9 times out of 10 I manage to loosen the barrel as well. Not an issue when you use a cartridge, but significantly more problematic if you have eyedroppered the thing.

The only thing that might be worth noting is that, although it is called “pocket” its not really that small a pen. It is in fact longer than a Pilot Prera and only marginally shorter than the Marietta 20.

From Left to Right: Kaweco Classic Sport, Pilot Prera, Franklin Christoph Pocket 20, Franklin Christoph Pocket 66, Edison Pearlette, Sailor Sapporo, Franklin Christoph Marietta 20

In my last post, I vaguely commented on the Sailor 1911 Black Luster’s size being bigger than the 1911S. I thought it might be helpful to post some photos of the size difference, along with the Mont Blanc 146, which I also spoke about.

From left to right: Sailor 1911S, Sailor 1911 Black Luster, Mont Blanc 146

After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

I am a huge fan of Sailor pens and when I saw this one reviewed on the Clicky Post, I put it on my wishlist straight away. I was fortunate to get it a lot less than the US list price directly from Japan, but it was only available in the medium nib size, which is fine by me. I would have preferred a broad, but Sailor nibs are smooth no matter what size they come in and this is no exception.

This is in the larger 1911 size which is similar to a Mont Blanc 146 Meisterstuck, if you are familiar with that. It is a really good size for me and I think it would suit someone with larger hands as well, compared to the smaller 1911S which is a little smaller comparatively.

The difference between this model and the normal Sailor 1911 is firstly, it is polished to a high shine. All the trims are also plated in “black ion” plate – Sailor doesn’t elaborate on what this is made of. The last difference is that the grip section is metal, compared to the normal 1911 plastic. This weights the pen a bit and changes the balance slightly towards the front end of the pen. I don’t notice the change in weight unless I use both one after the other. Its nice to have the extra weight when its there, but I also don’t notice the lighter standard 1911 when I use that.

One thing to note for those with fingerprint OCD, the grip attracts them like mad. I keep polishing the grip whenever I use it and for the photos here I actually polished it with my t-shirt – and ended up with ink all over myself.

Sailor mediums are a little on the fine side, compared with western nibs. They write similar to a Platinum medium or a Pilot FM nib if you are familiar with those. I find Sailor nibs give a bit of feedback, compared to other nibs, but its very pleasant. It makes a noise when you write and sounds like the pen is singing. If you have written with a Platinum or Nakaya, the experience is pretty similar.

Keep in mind Sailor only recommends Sailor inks to be used with nibs plated in “black ion” and does not warranty the nibs that have been used with other inks. I’ve played it safe so far – there are plenty of colours to choose from so it hasn’t been a problem.

It’s a fair bit more than the normal 1911 so whether you feel the additional cost is worth it is your personal decision, but I’ve not regretted it so far. I love this pen, its one of my favourites.