Karas Kustoms EDK Pen - Massdrop Exclusive

In our little community the Karas Kustoms brand has definitely become a household name. Concurrently, the online group buying platform Massdrop has also become a bit of a hub for our community to get their hands on pens we enjoy for great prices. So, when these two companies combine to put out a special pen it is a pretty exciting deal.

Living literally a drive down the road to the Karas Kustoms shop allows me to stop in almost weekly to visit and see what they guys have been working on. There was talk of a smaller, shorter pen for quite some time, but it wasn't until recently that they put together the EDK.

The EDK is the smallest pen in the Karas lineup to date coming in at just around 5" from tip to tail. This makes it pretty easy to toss in your pocket, or to clip to your jeans or bag with their very industrial and strong clip. Overall, the EDK seems to take a lot of design elements from some of Karas' existing pens the click section of The Retrakt and the grip of The Bolt, but put into a more compact size.

Playing a bit on the "EDC" (Every Day Carry) trend and phenomenon, the EDK is meant to be a portable pen that is functional and durable. It seems to fare well on both accounts.

The refill the EDK was designed around is the Schmidt Cap-less P8126 rollerball which is a great writer. This is the same refill shared with pens like the Retro 51 Tornado and is also found in the Karas Kustoms Ink, a full-sized rollerball pen.

Now, from a true EDC type of scenario, the P8126 may not be the most ideal if I'm completely honest. As a rollerball it contains liquid ink that is super smooth in most writing situations, but if you're using this out in the woods, on a job site, or in a more "extreme" type of environment, it may not be the best. If you're spending most days in pretty conservative environments, it is a refill that is excellent.

Luckily, the P8126 is nearly identical in size to most Parker style refills (and are generally interchangeable in many pens), so I was able to fit both the Schmidt EasyFlow 9000M as well as the Fisher Space Pen (with Parker spacer) and both worked well. I thought with the Fisher specifically that I would get some rattle in the tip, but haven't found that to be the case.

I did find that the Fisher did bind up a bit with clicks occasionally, but not enough to where I'd be overly annoyed by it. When changing in these other refills, the clearance of the tip was still good and there wasn't any poking out which would stain your pocket or ink up your bag.

A noticeable design feature of the EDK that is different from the rest of the Karas line is an inclusion of six rings machined out of the grip section of the pen. They aren't deep, but are just deep enough to add some texture for added control while writing. I haven't written with the pen while in a rainstorm or anything like that, but I'm sure it would come in handy.

The EDK is going to be available in a mix of materials like tumbled aluminum, copper, brass, or a black anodized aluminum. The folks at Massdrop were kind enough to send me a full brass version of the pen and I was also able to get my hands on the black anodized aluminum for the review.

Actually, if you are considering buying the EDK when they release on the 26th, you'll want to go vote for which version: 

The aluminum version comes in at just shy of 1 oz which is an excellent weight for a metal pen. The brass, a bit heftier, at 2.1 oz with refill. I love the added heft of the brass, but personally, the aluminum is more my preferred weight.

Although, with the parts being interchangeable, I can put the heavier brass grip on the lighter aluminum body and I then have a pen that is now around the 1.5 oz range instead which makes a big difference. This combo is actually really comfortable as it presses the pen a bit more to the page on its own, but isn't overly heavy.

Definitely keep an eye on the EDK this coming week and make sure to go vote if interested!

Thanks to Massdrop and Karas Kustoms for sending these over for review.     

New from Doane Paper - Moon Camera Idea Journals

As a quick and noteworthy announcement, Chad Doane of Doane Paper Goods (grid+lines) just released a brand new product called the Moon Camera Idea Journals. As one of my favorite brands I couldn't help but share because these look sweet.

Chad teased us with this image from the moon landing earlier this month:

And what he produced for us was this:

Contrasting from the light covers of his traditional Idea Journals and rigid grid + lines layout, the new Moon Camera journals have a black cover and open space layout with only the reticles as a general guide. I can't wait until my order arrives to officially check these out...   

The Silver Bullet - Fighting Werewolves with Fisher Space Pens

It is almost Halloween! Perhaps you believe in ghouls or goblins... or perhaps werewolves?

Luckily, if werewolves are prevalent in your area, the good folks at Fisher Space Pen may just have you covered...

If you aren't familiar with the myth, it is tradition that the only way to permanently transform a werewolf back into his (or hers?) human state is to shoot them with a silver bullet. Thanks to our lovely friends at Wikipedia, we can read all about where the myth stems from, attacks made in France by a wolf called the Beast of Gévaudan. 

Also, I'd highly recommend the podcast Stuff You Should Know and the episode where they discuss werewolves because, frankly, these guys are hilarious.

So where does Fisher come in? Well, the company produces one of our favorite all-weather, anty-gravity, high temperature writing refills which they put in a variety of pen barrels. One is referred to as the bullet pen, but there is also a pen that is literally made from the bullet casing from a .375.

Traditionally these .375 casing pens have maintained their brass color and finish, but knowing that we may need to slay some mythical beasts this season they created an all silver version known as...wait for it...The Silver Bullet.

Honestly, I was completely sold on this and knew I wanted one. Fisher was kind enough to send me one of these as a sample for review which was awesome and I'm pretty jazzed to talk about it. 

I mean, seriously, is the below promotional pic they sent out not fantastic? I was hooked.

The Silver Bullet doesn't come in any sort of special spooky packaging, but that's alright. Fisher makes a nice series of plastic clam shell type of cases that clip shut that are nice enough to keep in my opinion and provide a good presentation. 

The pen isn't actually made of any silver if anyone was wondering, but the pen section as well as the casing are coated in a nickel/chroming and polished to a mirror finish. It definitely makes an impression when you pull it out of the packaging for two reasons: it is all chrome and it is a bullet.

Being all chrome and mirror finish, anticipate some fingerprints on it. Not really much more to say here.

Some people aren't super crazy about the Fisher refill, but I actually quite enjoy it. I see it for the very utilitarian type of pen refill that it is, but come at it with an enjoyment of the heritage and history that the pen has grown to have. Is it your smoothest, darkest writer? No. But that isn't what it is made for.

Like many pocket pens, you use the bullet casing sleeve as a means to extend the pens length while writing. Unposted (or "un-bulleted?") the pen is only about 3.5" long which is too small. By adding the bullet to the back it gives you another 1" which is comfortable. Still a relatively small pen, but great for pocket carry.

Most of the weight of the pen is in the very tail end of the casing as it is a thicker piece of brass. In bullet cartridges, this is where a lot is happening like the firing pin and where the explosion needs not to go, so the pen is a little on the top heavy side.

Not going to lie, this pen is awesome. A big part is due to me geeking out over the fun marketing which I think Fisher nailed. Outside of even that, it is a highly functional pocket pen that I personally know dozens of your friends would enjoy. Heck, I bought five of these .375 pens last Christmas as gifts for some of my family members.

If werewolves aren't your thing, they also came out with a zombie slaying pen called The Zombie Apocalypse with a green bullet...

Is this pen a solid necessity? Probably not, but it sure is fun.

Also as more of a disclaimer, I probably wouldn't recommend (nor does Fisher) taking this pen through airport security. 

Thanks again to Fisher for sending this my way!