Hero 616 - Made in China

What does this pen and this car have in common?  Yep... made in China. If you have spent anytime at all on eBay drooling over Fountain Pens...these must have come across your browser.  Well, I fell for it.  Bought a 6 pack, or a 10 pack...I am not sure which anymore.  All I remember is they were about $1 a pen. In red black and I might have a green one floating around.

The goal was definitely to make this bad boy look like a Parker 51. At first blush they pass the test.  They do look like a Parker... until you pick one up.  If you ever picked up a 51,  you know this one does not feel like a Parker.  It's eerily light...even with ink in it.

Don't cheat....which one is the Parker 21 and which one is the Hero?

Filling is...twist off the body...dip (ink is preferred) , squeeze a few times and wipe off the nib.  That's it.  Keep it simple right? Here's the guts.

In this case,  I don't think it's suicide,  or flattery.  More doing what you have to do to get by.   "It is what it is" comes to mind here.  For a $1 you get a very workable fountain pen that across the conference table looks like a more expensive model.  The nib might not be as smooth, or the metal quite as shiny.  But again.  A buck.

Ebay links:

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-X-PIECES-HERO-616-CARBON-FIBER-FOUNTAIN-PEN-H19-/150340204103?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2300f97647#ht_3447wt_754

http://cgi.ebay.com/H33-10-X-PIECES-HERO-329-CARBON-FIBER-FOUNTAIN-PEN-/350366537827?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5193791863#ht_3813wt_754

http://cgi.ebay.com/3X-HERO-616-Fountain-Pen-Vintage-Style-Classic-Pen-NEW-/180580306069?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0b6ccc95

I don't have any affiliation with these sellers...just passing along the info.

Pen News!

I added a new column on the right hand side that I plan on keeping updated as news related stuff comes flowing in.  I am tempted to put it in the body...and I might eventually but in order to keep the noise down I will tuck it over there.
Enjoy!

If you are interested in this sort of thing, let me know and I could start putting more in the main part of the blog... up to you. Feel free to leave a comment.

And I started putting my missing links back in,  shoot me an email if you want a link exchange.

Pentel Graphlet 0.4 ... a good non-pen

Who has two thumbs and cannot stop using his new .4 mechanical pencil? This guy. Larger pictures if you click...
















I think like most people... I had natural progression down to smaller leads from when I first started using non-pens. (everyone calls pencils "non-pens" right?) You had your Yellow #2 and it stayed as sharp as you had the energy to walk to the pencil sharpener for.
Years later...I remember my first .3 pencil. It was almost perfect. There was the occasional scratching and lead breaking and paper tearing but for the most part... It was near perfect. However...I found some really good feeling .5's that a solid grip that made up for the thicker lead. Now I think I have found my happy place....

















Each different lead thickness has a different color cap!

Then I discovered the .4. OOOOH baby. It's kinda like chewing on a old pieces of leather for all your life and then someone handing you a piece of gum and saying "Here, try this."

"Thank you... where were you 4 cows ago?" (you have to excuse me today-I had a fresh new brand of espresso this morning and I might have gone overboard.)

















If lead ever had a small family reunion and some of them got together for a distant cousin portrait... this would be it. That's a .3 on the left then a .4, 5, 7, 9 and up to a who knows what that size is on the right. Oh...and that is a Parker 61 Mechanical pencil that I need to review (second from the right.)Love.

















Jetpens sell these for $7.50 a pop. Before you go start a rally about it...it's a very fair price for the quality. I will be picking up the entire series.

Oh, I cannot stop listening to The Avett Brothers. Anytime punk and folk are blended give me a shout, I would be in... Enjoy your day.

1944 Parker 51 Mustard with Empire Cap

It's a little dreary in Boston today, so I decided to break out the good china to liven things up a bit.  Nothing can inspire you like a nice pen.   I have seen this exact pen model on the cover of books-so to be able to have one in my collection is a true dream.

I have probably picked up this pen about 30 times to actually blog about it,  but I sort of liked that it was my secret. But in car talk... it compares to leaving a GT40 in your garage and just dusting it off every now and then and imagining how fast it would go.  No,  this one does not travel,  but it is worth sharing.  There were some old pictures floating around on Flickr that got some attention  (and offers) but this one remains with me.

It was build in 1944 and the two dots on either side of the 4-like this ".4."  let me know that is was build in the second quarter of 1944.  Sweet huh? 66 years.  I kinda want to have a reunion with everyone that has owned this pen.  We could all get together and hug... unless they are all creepy people,  then maybe just coffee and crumpets or something.  yeah... skip the hugging.  Thanks.


As always...click for larger pictures.This pen was built the way that pens were supposed to be built. I have reviewed a few 51's before, but this one is special. People's eyes tend to glaze over when they see or talk about Empire caps.

I kinda realized that blogging is a winter thing for me.  During the Summer,  I just have too much stuff going on.  I want to thank everyone for your patience and caring and keeping me in your readers.  Stay tuned for more frequent updates and more fun pens.

Dr. Grip....Meet Mr. Dremel.

If you have a second... go back and read this post.  Trust me,  it will all make sense in the end.  Scan even if you like.  But the idea was that I REALLY like this version of the Pilot Dr. Grip.  Not everything,  but I saw the potential.

I liked it,  but did not like the ink.  So...I did what most pen lovers....errr... guys would do and I made it work for me.   Please forgive me,  but I sacrificed a Zebra Sarasa 0.4 in Black for this project.

Mr. Dremel...meet Mr. Pen.  The Pilot ink is on the right,  the Sarasa needed some serious whittling and about 1/2 inch hacked off the back. Shaved done,  tested...shaved some more...shaved some more.  I sort of was careful.  After all there is ink in there and I do have carpets....

I think i had to go back one more time after this picture  and then it dropped right in and started clicking like it was made for this pen.

So now a pen that's been sitting stale in my desk drawer will go into the rotation.  So here's the lesson... Pen you don't really like + power tools + favorite other pen = Nice solid usable pen.

Oh,  and I threw the first pitch out at Fenway for the Red Sox the other week.  That's cool also.
Enjoy your weekend.
Seth

Haven't used these but they seem like a good deal!

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.40564

0.3mm Black Gel Ink Pens (12-Pen Pack)



Anytime I can buy a 12 pack of pens I tend to get a little giddy.
No they are not a sponsor or have I ever considered buying anything from them before,  but they showed up in my feed.  Let me know if you order them and if you have a review to share.  Yes... this is my first post in a long time.  The summer was for my bike and my family. Colder weather means blogging.  

Journal 21...a planner review!

The good folks over at The Quo Vais Blog sent this planner out late last year and I bet they thought that I forgot about it. No way. However...here's a preface to this post. I am not a daily planner guy in the traditional "write it all down" sense...because of my work, I have to be tied to an electronic calendar. There aren't enough Getting Things Done seminars in the world that could figure out a way for me to accuratly keep two separate calendars matched if one is written with a pen. I simply don't have that functionality. That being said, what I do have is a need to track lots of items. Like: miles and expenses and calls and how many times a day Janet goes to the bathroom. (that would be funny and hurtful, except that I work from home.) Ehh...still funny.

But here I was, saddled with a journal that impressed me from the start. 1. It has some heft to it. It just feels substantial. 2. The paper is magical.

I will let the experts go over the details:

16 months monthly, September 2009 to December 2010
12 months daily, January to December
8 AM to 9 PM schedule
Soft green tinted vellum paper
72g, acid-free and pH neutral paper
Annual planning calendars for 2010 and 2011
Current and following month calendars
Elegant round corners — tear-off corner opens to day in progress
Sewn binding, lays flat when open
Full line per half-hour
Blank space for daily notes
Bound in address book
Refillable

You know what, there isn't one of those things that I disagree with. (and I have a little man crush on a few of those up there.)


So I don't tend to fill it up. I add things daily, but I am not sure I am using this as it is intended. Sure it reminds me of things and tracks items but I see this as a planner for someone who REALLY uses a planner. Like...life starts to crumble if the planner gets lost. Those people are still out there.

The good news is...that it is vacumatic and I love it. (no that's not the good news.) The good news is that it works on this paper. It's true, a journal that you can use your sloppiest fountain pens on. So go nuts! You can make this picture larger and try to figure out what I do during the day, but it's mostly like Nicholas Cage in Windtalkers....some sort of Navajo-like clicky sounds that would be impossible for the enemy to decipher.  (Whew, that took a bit longer to explain that I needed.)

So, pop quiz...you are called to a meeting in D.C. and you have 5 minutes to pack for a day trip. (not tottly unrealistic for me) What do YOU take? Here are the 4 things that I would grab to handle the meeting. Maybe a power cord also, but if I am limited to 4 items I can handle it for a while.

Bottom line, great journal, you can buy it here and I am glad I get the chance to use it.

I didn't have a quote in the journal so I will leave you with this one:

A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.
- Confucius

Planning...get it?