Dudek Modern Goods - Logo

September 20, 2013

First and foremost, I want to express my deep gratitude for all of the support surrounding The Clicky Post, my products, their development, and the incredible feedback I've received from everyone. It is such a pleasure to make and share my Cubes, Blocks, and Grooves and to hear how people are using and enjoying them and to write reviews on the blog for everyone.

Today on Instagram I posted a picture of a Cube with an etched sample of the new brand logo for my pen holders that will soon be placed on the bottom of all my wares. Still finalizing the details, but I wanted to share with everyone the progress.

As the brand has developed, there came a time when I felt an official logo/mark was appropriate and was provided the pleasure of working with Brandon Wilson of ContraBrand. Brandon is an incredible artist who has done a wide range of brand design and individual artwork that are absolutely stunning. I feel so privileged to have some of his work being used on my products, and want to say thanks to him directly as well. Please make a visit to his site to see his works and products, and if you're in need of some design work, he is great.

Thanks again for following and visiting the blog and I appreciate the support so much!

- Mike

Fisher Space Pen Shuttle Series (CH4) Review

September 19, 2013

I think the Fisher Space pen for a lot of people is either hit or miss. Either you love them (a lot) or you can't really get over the fact that they are a ballpoint pen. For me, I don't feel that the writing experience of the Fisher refills are necessarily smooth as silk in all cases, but I do enjoy the brand due to its heritage and history. And, the refills really aren't that bad and I actually quite enjoy using them.

If you've ever perused the entire Fisher line, there tends to be a few "hokey" products that seem to be a bit overly branded. They aren't all winners in the "classy and conservative" category, but there are a handful of their products that intrigue me to no end.

One of my first big purchases from Fisher was my AG7, the original astronaut pen, that flew in space during the Apollo missions and others. Phenomenal pen that I really enjoy. Again, lots of heritage that is super cool which plays really heavily into the nostalgic marketing that helps carry the brand.

They later released a model very similar to the AG7, the Shuttle Series. If you looked at pictures of each and didn't necessarily know the details of both pens, you might actually mistake them for each other, but they are different in size, length, and some other design features.

My birthday was in July and my mom and dad asked what they could get me and I of course had a list of pens that were on the reasonably priced list. The chrome Shuttle Series (the CH4) was on the list and I helped my mom find a good link to buy it at. Like any good son would, right? It wasn't that I necessarily needed an almost identical pen to the AG7, but I did want one to try and to add to the collection.

If you are familiar with the AG7, the CH4 is right on par with it in quality and feel. The chromed brass has just enough heft to feel like a nice sturdy pen. It shares the same knock and retract mechanism as the AG7 where you push the knock in until it "snaps" into place, and then can retract the tip with a button on the side which shoots the knock out with some sort of spring mechanism inside. Pretty awesome, and really fun to play with.

It also shares a similar grip section like the AG7. There is a tight spiral groove that has been machined into the barrel about a centimeter above the tip that adds a nice texture and visual aesthetic that contrasts the chrome a bit.

As mentioned above, the Shuttle Series is thinner than the AG7; considerably thinner, and maintains it's diameter pretty consistently the length of the barrel. The AG7 has kind of a gradual taper from tip to knock that, if nit picked, could make the pen feel a little top heavy to some. The CH4 is well balanced due to Fisher choosing to make the diameter as they have. The CH4 is also a bit longer than the AG7, but only by about 1/4".

One thing I love about this pen is that it fits like a glove in my Park Sloper Sr wallet from One Star Leather Goods that I reviewed before. I was keeping a Cross Click gel in there, but once I found that the CH4 fit perfectly, I swapped it out straight away and it literally is a pen I carry with me at all times now.

Recent Instagram Shot with Park Sloper Sr

I think we ended up getting a steal on this one for about $20 which might be kind of an uncommon find, but a friend of mine (after using and "clicking" mine for about an hour) was able to pick one up for about $27 which is still a great deal.

rOtring 600 Mechanical Pencil (Old Style) 0.7mm

September 13, 2013

I'm not really a pencil guy as I'm sure you've gathered if you've been reading the blog for a while, but there are instances when I'll turn to one. When making my walnut pen holders or building other project in the workshop, the pencil is my writing instrument of choice.

Oddly enough, my very first rOtring was a pencil, an older 600 series 0.7mm with a smooth grip and retractable tip. It was made during the same timeframe as my 600 Lava ballpoint and bares the same design and feel.

The story behind my acquisition of the pencil started when a friend and coworker (not a pen or pencil “person”) happened to show up to work one day touting this 600 series pencil and I instantly called him out on it. I’d been eying the rOtring brand for a while, but hadn’t made a purchase yet so it caught my attention. He was surprised by my enthusiasm for the pencil, but mentioned it was one he’d had “kicking around in a drawer” for years and had no idea where it came from. After discussing with him the price of these discontinued models, he thought it might be a good idea to part with it because, he not being a writing instrument nerd, didn’t feel a need to be carrying a $75+ pencil around with him. He said that if I sold if for him on eBay that we could split the money (pretty good deal), but I ended up offering a fair price for the piece and bought him out of his half of the deal instead.

She isn’t perfect and has a few little nicks and marks, but I’m pleased that this was my first rOtring. I’d always been very interested in the matte black editions, but the metallic silver versions are quite striking as well. I enjoy the chrome accents of the tip and knock sections that are just flashy enough to be noticed. I’m sure the matte black version might hide scratches or dings better, but the silver versions are quite nice.

This particular version of the 600 pencil has a fully retractable tip. The knock has a sort of dual action to it where a full-on click will retract the tip, but smaller “mini clicks” extends the lead. Pretty cool.

Below are pics of the tip retracted and extended:

Under the current lineup of rOtring pencils, this feature is reserved for the 800 series, which is a bit more reminiscent of the iconic knurled pens and pencils, and still carries the gold accents which are pretty flashy. I’m sure one of those will grace my collection at some point…

I love the build and weight of these pens and pencils. They just feel solid and balanced in your hand. When you pick one up to write with it is impressive how good it feels. I have since acquired some additional rOtring pencils (reviews forthcoming at some point) and they really have done a stellar job of maintaining the feel and quality of these older models.

One topic that would be great to get into at some point is the pencil softness/hardness scale and how it impacts your writing experience. H’s, B’s, HB’s… what the heck does all of that mean? Well, why don’t we just get into it now? There is another blogger out there, Dave, that is pretty much the mechanical pencil guru. He has a massive collection of some pretty killer models. I’m not really even a pencil guy, but I covet (yes covet) some of his pieces. He did an article several years ago about lead hardness that I would definitely give a look.

Dave hasn’t seemed to post in awhile, but he has a great archive of some pretty awesome stuff to peruse.

Anyway, we’ve detoured from the main topic. Granted, if you’re not a pencil person, dropping some money on a discontinued model may not really be the best idea unless you get a smoking deal, but I would definitely give a look at rOtrings current lineup of 600 and 800 pencils (also a Rapid Pro pencil that I’ll be reviewing soon). In those times that you want to use a pencil, you won’t be disappointed with one of these rOtrings.

Thank you all for joining The Clicky Post during rOtring week! rOtring still has their Tikky promo running through the 15th, so if you're thinking of picking up something make sure to take advantage.