Faber Castell TK-FINE 9719 1.0 mm

After a long wait, it came the time to write about my Faber Castell TK - Fine 9719 in size 1.0 mm. I own this mechanical pencil for more than 7 or 8 years. It was my first Faber Castell I have purchased. I chose at the time the TK Fine as it seemed a nice alternative to other more plain mechanical pencils.

It is not the cheapest but not that expensive after all, it has a few nice features that you see on more expensive pencils.
It is a technical mechanical pencil, and it comes with a fixed retractable tip, which makes it pocket safe. The tip has a little bit of a wobble to it, but it is present in most mechanical pencils that have this feature. It features a lead hardness indicator, a basic and simple way to keep track of the lead that is inside, you rotate the clip. The indicator has the following writings available -, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H. Although because it is such a simple and basic lead indicator, people who use it a lot might get the letters erased by constantly rotating the clip, which is held in place by friction.

The clip has on the side written Germany.
The cap is a very thin barrel which is closed with at one end with a plastic part with ISO coloring to indicate the lead thickness at a glance.
The body is made out of plastic in the classic Faber green. The grip is octagonal while the rest of the barrel is round.

This pencil never clicked with me, even though I tried to make it happen.. The grip is slippery and a bit uncomfortable for longer writing sessions for me. This might not be the case for everybody so I will not focus on this too much. My other complaint is about the tolerances on the cap. It is way too lose on it, and there is a high chance of losing it. I have seen multiple TK-FINES around the office with missing cap ends. I bent my end cap at both ends to make it stay in place after I found it a couple of times on the bottom of the backpack.
Another thing that shows low quality in the materials used are the shiny surfaces. The tip, clip, and cap. Over time, even though the pencil sat in storage most of the time they have lost the shine and they look aged, weathered.

Faber Castell color bar in local stationery shop

One of the local shops just got a makeover. It has more room for products and right in the center of it, there is a Color Bar from Faber Castell. I have to say it looks really cool.