Faber-Castell’s TK-fine 970x series is one of the most elegant and distinctive designs, with its tapered metal grip and integrated lead degree display. I think the tactility of the milled and grooved metal surfaces is 80% of its charm: a decidedly luxurious touch to a professional set of drafting tools.
I’d obtained a Keuffel & Esser branded version in 0.7 a while back but was luckless until recently with the ‘lattice grip’ version, where the grooving was done in both horizontal and vertical directions.
So is it just your assumption that it’s visible cost cutting, (or, as we’ve learned, using the Sparstift), or are the cheaper models verified later models?
Given Germany’s reputation for meticulous record keepers, it’s surprising how tough these catalogs are to track down! Seems like their archives in Stein are locked tight and physical catalogs are either collector’s gems or lost to time. Digital scans are scarce too—anyone know why these are so elusive?
Really fascinating coverage on the TK-Fine, @drifand!
Was the deep green color what drew you to this line initially?
I had read about the TK-fine a while back… and I don’t recall what production version the reviewer had reviewed, but their impression was mixed and remained with the TK-matic much preferred.
I’d no idea there was such a range of production versions of the TK-fine. Really curious to see how the metal grips changed over time. The one on the very bottom reminds me a lot of the grip on the ¥1500 Platinum drafter.
While I generally agree with the timeline, based on my own observations about the texts on the body, I believe the metal grip 970x was contemporary with the plastic grip 971x, which must have been its cheaper counterpart (also partially sliding sleeve on the 970x vs fixed for the 971x), see my post here:
Just like the older 9505 + 9515.
Another thing to consider is the cone. Longer and tapered at the tip for the early checkered version and most examples of the grooved version. However some late circular grooved grip versions ( those that also have the color coded stripes at the back) have a simpler, shorter conical tip. The third version of the 970x with the stamped metal grip, with longitudinal grooves inspired by the plastic 971x, only comes with the short conical tip.
@drifand , can you post a photo of them with the cones unscrewed and clutch visible?
Ok, so I think in general, manufacturers seldom if ever go from cheaper to more expensive processes. The resin clutches on the ‘least processed’ versions seem to support my theory.
The plastic clutch KE 0.7 should probably swap places with the metal clutch 0.3 with the unusual clip. That would group the KE with the plastic grip 9719 as both have the ISO colored stripes. That could mean the vertical grooved metal grip 9705 came ‘last’, as FC standardized the look of the metal models to the plastic ones.
^ Absolutely agree.
My point was that the 971x is just as old as the 970x, based on barrel text, clip. On my first generation 9719 the clutch is brass. Will post a photo later.
Both “devolved” in parallel, receiving at some point resin clutches and short cones. That point was likely sometimes late in the production run of the second gen 970x ( circular grooves grip and color coded lines in the back).
After that point 970x devolved further into gen3 with metal sheet grip with longitudinal grooves like the 971x.
The clip on your 0,3 is definitely not original, looks like the current production Tk-fine.
Oh man, that FONT is soooo insistent!
And what’s with the direction? 3rd person view is upside down. User view needs to rotate the pencil until the clip hits your hand to read it…
Well, “operational” is of course relative. Sitting in a collection with occasional use versus daily use… is a different story. We see very few mechanical pencils using resin clutches. A vast majority are brass. I would love to pick the brain of a mechanical pencil product engineer and learn about why they bothered with resin clutches at all. Was it much of a savings over brass to use it? Or was there some other consideration… perhaps just 'trying something new"? Or maybe even there was a brass shortage at times, where the mechanism maker resorted to resin for a time? The tendency for lead slippage seems to be higher for resin over brass… but after a long period of usage, is my guess.
As a side note… it’s kind of curious how frequently certain vintage brands / model listings on eBay are turning up from countries like Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Far more than other countries like Poland and Germany. I wonder if there’s some interesting reason for it (like something to do with duration of usage past the dawn of computer aided design).
), or are the cheaper models verified later models?
