Gazing Far TmX

[someguyhere]

I figure I might as post some quick impressions on a small pen company based in Taiwan. It's called Gazing Far and they produce pens that in many cases feature different types of wood you wouldn't normally run across, such as Dragon Juniper, Longan, Taiwanese Zelkova, et cetera. I had recently came across this review (a much better review than mine) which got me curious about this pen model. Previously I had heard about this pen company on this forum about a review of a different pen (Tm2) made from the same company which is a more traditional fountain pen shape.

 

I didn't see many different examples of wood types on their website; when I inquired about getting a Dragon Juniper TmX (which was not listed), they responded that they didn't post some of their unique pens on their website because they were afraid of misrepresenting the wood grain online. Because each piece of wood is different, even from the same type of tree, they'd prefer to have the customers look at the pen in person to make sure it was what they really wanted. After mentioning that it wouldn't be a possibility for me to visit in person (as I live in the US), they not only took photos but videos of all the different grains of wood that I was interested in. For example, they showed me a video of three different TmX pens in Dragon Juniper to allow me to pick which pen I liked the best. I thought that was definitely going above and beyond.

 

As for the pen:  I think it's great! The pen is a short pen, and for any sort of writing you'll really want to post the pen. It's extremely well machined and slipping the cap off as well as posting it is very smooth. Dragon Juniper has a faint natural fragrance to it; my understanding is that because it's a wood pen, it will develop a small patina over time. Here's a photo of the pen in its closed position.

 

 

The nib is a medium Schmidt nib, though you can pick a fine nib if you'd like. It's smooth, wet and writes well. No complaints. The line seems finer than most other Western medium nibs. The nib was well aligned with the appropriate spacing between the tines.

 

 

Here's the pen disassembled. It comes with a small bottle of ink (you can choose the color) and a Kaweco miniature converter. It also accepts cartridges as well, as you would expect. To fill the pen I would just unscrew the entire nib unit from the body so as not to stain the wood. Very easy to do.

 

 

Here's a picture of the ink. It's a good performing smooth ink that doesn't seem to feather much either. It has light shading on Rhodia paper.

 

 

Picture of the pen in sunlight.

 

 

So that's my quick impression. It's about $150, but the pen is unique and writes well. It's a light weight and short pen, and you can easily change the nib to other Schmidt nibs by twisting the unit out. The company is highly responsive and super friendly; shipping is $50 but it comes in a few days. There's no clip to the pen, but I never use clips anyways.

[A Smug Dill]

Beautiful! Thank you for the photos and your review of the pen.

[DvdRiet]

Thanks for this review! I had seen these pens recently, for sale in one of the local webshops here in NL (where I ordered a Laban) and I was curious about them. I will definitely go back for a closer look and maybe pick one out for myself now!. 😊 And absolutely fantastic to hear about a company that goes above and beyond to make sure the customer gets the pen they want!

 

Isn't this also the company that does their inks like little jam jars with a piece of cloth over the top?

[someguyhere]

19 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

Thanks for this review! I had seen these pens recently, for sale in one of the local webshops here in NL (where I ordered a Laban) and I was curious about them. I will definitely go back for a closer look and maybe pick one out for myself now!. 😊 And absolutely fantastic to hear about a company that goes above and beyond to make sure the customer gets the pen they want!

 

Isn't this also the company that does their inks like little jam jars with a piece of cloth over the top?

 

You know, I think you're right about their full size ink bottles. However, the bottle they gave me was more of a sampler size...which was fine by me since I didn't even know it came with ink in the first place.

[DvdRiet]

3 hours ago, someguyhere said:

I think you're right about their full size ink bottles.

 

Need to go back and check the website, but I think they also had what looks like a picnic basket filled with jam jars as a gift set. 😊 

 

And funnily enough, I get the idea now. A guy who sold me a pen also sent me a jar of homemade jam as a thank you for my patience with a delayed delivery and when I sent a photo of it to a friend, she thought it was ink. Lumpy ink, but ok... 😂

[rudyhou]

👍  a handsome looking wooden fp.  a convenient size to bring out as it'll fit into a pocket.

[Arcticart]

What a beautiful pen

[Ambien]

Thanks for this review. I've been looking at wooden pens and I'll check it out later.