A neat Aurora 88P!

Notice anything different about this little Aurora 88P?

I’ve owned this one for a while now, and really enjoy it (the vintage Aurora 88 models are absolutely top-notch pens), but I really got tired of it showing fingerprints all the time. So, one night while watching TV, I decided to give it a satin finish. Out came the abrasives, and a few hours later I had a nifty satin-y finish that feels GREAT in the hand, looks really elegant (the satin & chrome combo really looks good, in my opinion), and is almost impervious to fingerprints! Since the 88P is an all-celluloid model (there were a handful of different versions of the 88 – read my friend Andrea’s outstanding profile of this iconic pen here), it took the satin finish very nicely and very evenly, too. The best part about it is that it’s totally reversible with a little bit of polishing (I didn’t remove much material at all, so it should be able to be polished back out to a glossy finish without disturbing the imprints on the section).

At any rate, it doesn’t take much to do this, so if you’ve got a pen that you want to experiment with, grab some soft abrasives (I use these in 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit) and start with the finest grade and work backwards until you get the finish you’re looking for! Experiment with wet and dry sanding, and see what happens! You might be surprised the way your pen responds to a satin finish!

(*Disclaimer: You’re doing this at your own risk…if you choose to do this to an Omas Arco Paragon and you don’t like how it turns out, I can’t take responsibility for that. In fact, if you DO decide to give this treatment to an Arco Paragon, please email me your address because I’m gonna find you and kick you for even thinking of it. You’ve been warned…)

Spell with Flickr!

Spelling with photos is always lots of fun, but it can be time-consuming to do it if you’re shooting on your own. Locating the right words, cropping them appropriately, and arranging them all takes some time. But, if you want to shortcut it, take a look at this neat little web app from Eric Kastner. No, it’s not your original work, but it’s a whole lot quicker letting Flickr handle it!

Spell with Flickr

Getting re-aquainted with the blog…

Ah…it feels good to be back. It’s been a long time in the making, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to start posting a little more regularly than what you’ve seen from me in the past few months. There’s lots of cool new pen topics and interesting stuff to talk about, too. Despite the troubled economy, pen companies are still doing cool things, and there are always a few more vintage pens that don’t get the love they deserve.

In the coming months, I’m hoping to be able to stick to about two posts per month. Here’s a few ideas I’m working on: tips on smoothing scratchy nibs, a few new-ish pen reviews, some notebook short-takes, perhaps a hack or two, some history lessons, and maybe some additions to the budget writers series, too.

Hack.05: Signos and Sliccis and Bits…oh my!

The uniBall Signo, the Pentel Slicci, and the uniBall Signo Bit are great rollerballs that are available in super-fine lines.  I’ve been a fan of skinny lines forever, it seems.  I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because I’m a lefty.  Ergo, thick lines = more ink on page.  More ink on page + left handed overwriter = messy hands.

I also like to fit a lot on a single page.  Saves paper.  It’s one way that I can reduce consumption of natural resources.

Ever since JetPens opened up its webstore, I’ve been wanting to place an order from them for some of the new breed of skinnier-than-thou rollerballs that you can’t find here in the States.  Pilot’s Hi-Tec C, the Pentel Slicci, the uniBall Signo Bit (which, incidentally, is the skinniest line on earth at the time of this posting), etc.  They’re all cool pens, but not one of them is easy to get if you’re in the middle of corn country. 

So when I got started with the testing for the Moleskine shootout that I’m finishing up, I decided I’d order a couple of things and give them a run for their money to see if they’d fit the bill.  I ordered a Slicci 0.25mm rollerball, a uniBall Signo Bit 0.18, and a handful of other stuff just for fun.  Here’s the problem with these pens, though.  They don’t fit very comfortably in the hands of big ham-fisted guys like me.  I’m 6’6″ tall, and I’m built like one of the guys on the Ohio State o-line…except I’m not nearly as fit. 

Time for a hack.  3 of ‘em, actually.  With very little work, you can easily make the refills in these fit in a handful of different pens that are more comfortable for bigger hands.  I used the Levenger TrueWriter, which I think is an incredibly well-balanced pen, the Lamy Safari, and the Sailor Gel Innovation. 

What you need in order to make these work:

1. A Pentel Slicci.
2. A Sailor Gel Innovation.
3. A little piece of paper towel.
4. 2 minutes.

What you need to do:

1. Take the Slicci’s refill from the barrel.
2. Remove the Sailor’s refill.
3. Wad up a little tiny piece of paper towel, and shove it down into the Sailor’s barrel.  The Slicci refill can be used as a ramrod to get it in there.
4. Put the Sailor back together.
5. Enjoy hacked pen for big hands.  The shape of the Gel Innovation is really comfortable.

Here’s what it looks like.

The TrueWriter Hack:  The Signo RT Gel refill in a 0.38mm is a nearly perfect size (in my mind) for a refill.  Nice and skinny, and the RT Gel’s refill is remarkably well-behaved, too.  Pull the refill from the TrueWriter, and replace with the RT Gel.  Enjoy!

The Safari Hack:  This one is just a little more involved, but still easy.  Take the Signo Bit 0.18 refill, and use sandpaper to grind off about 1/4″ of the material on the bottom of the refill’s plug.  Keep test-fitting as you go, but you’ll know when it’s right.  Enjoy! 

Of all of these hacks, I’m still not sure which one is my favorite.  They all have their place in my life.  The Safari Signo Bit is my Bible marginalia pen, and as such, it works great.  Super-fine lines work well with the thin Bible paper and they don’t bleed through, either.  The TrueWriter Signo also works for this, although the lines are thicker.  The Slicci/Sailor works really well as a Moleskine pen/disposable, and I enjoy their blue ink quite a bit, too.  If I could only keep one, it’d probably be the Slicci/Sailor.  All three are great pens, but the hacked Slicci is the one that’s the most versatile.

(Yes, the Moleskine shootout is still coming.  It’s not quite ready yet…too many great products!)

Technorati Tags: levenger truewriter,pentel slicci,uniball signo bit,uniball signo gel rt,rollerball hack,moleskine-friendly rollerball,lamy safari,sailor gel innovation

Seminal Work: Patrick Rhone’s Org-Fu

I’ve been meaning to get this posted for a while now but the schedule has been a little hectic lately.

Many of you know (or are tangentially aware of) Patrick Rhone; for some of you, that was how you got here. He’s a good friend of mine, and he’s taught me a lot about productivity. I wanted to pass along a link to a whitepaper that he put together a while ago. You may have seen it elsewhere (I know that Merlin Mann linked out to it from 43Folders, among many others), but as a new year dawns upon us, and so many of us are making new resolutions and promises to ourselves, I thought it might be good to review this, as it’s (in my opinion) such a great jump-off point. Patrick’s system is clear, concise, and works well.

If you haven’t read it, you should. Find it here.