Minimalist executive rollerball made with your choice of historical woods. The Model R features a medium barrel, minimalist design, a world-class writing experience, and a cap that posts to either end with a satisfying click. Made with your choice of woods, from 50,000 year old kauri to cypress from the bottom of the Mississippi River. 110mm Euro rollerball refill gives access to the best premium refills on the market. German-made Schneider Topball 850 included. Made in Chicago and guaranteed for life. Choose your adventure The Model R is part of our Workhorse Collection, a pen and pencil collection that lets you choose your favorite beautiful wood with a killer story. Choose the one that makes it most meaningful for you or your giftee! Ancient Kauri It's called ancient kauri, and it's up to 50,000 years old. Yes, 50,000! The oldest workable wood in the world, ancient kauri shows just the earliest signs of petrification. Called "whitebait," this phenomenon creates small veins of mineral deposits that give the wood a one-of-a-kind luminescence. 50,000 years ago, in what is now Northern New Zealand, a major natural event felled huge forests of kauri trees that had been growing for some 2,000 years. This event also created bogs in the area that protected these giants from the elements. Today these trees are typically found under farmland from which they are carefully excavated before the ground is returned to its previous contours. Just for some perspective, here are a few things that happened on Earth less than 50,000 years ago… 16,000 years ago the depressions that would become the Great Lakes were fully formed. The last Ice Age ended approximately 5,000 years ago. Homo Sapiens reached the area from which these trees were recovered only around 40,000 years ago. Bog Oak No, this wood isn't stained black. 5,000 years in a peat bog in the Ukraine have naturally turned these huge, ancient oak trees black all the way through. At the end of the last ice age rising water levels caused huge oak forests throughout Europe to die standing and fall into the muck. For the last 3,500 - 5,000 years these trees have been preserved in anaerobic conditions underneath peat bogs. The ages have turned bog oak a deep black with dark brown grain. This is the result of a chemical reaction that occurred between the tannins in the oak and soluble irons present in the bog soil. Bethlehem Olivewood Each piece of this gorgeous wood is completely unique. The beautiful grain of Bethlehem olivewood can be straight, curly, dark, light, swirling... You get the gist. Throughout Israel there are olive groves that have grown for over 2,000 years. These trees saw Rome rise and eventually fall. They watched much of Biblical history unfold, and they still stand today to bear witness to the trials faced by the region. These trees are highly protected; those who maintain them gather branch trimmings and deadfall and make them available to tourists and woodworkers. Sinker Cypress Prior to the onset of modern industry and logistics, loggers practiced log driving, where floating logs down river to a temporary sawmill was the first step in the process of creating lumber. The term "lumberjack" comes from this process. Occasionally logs would sink and become trapped in the silt at the bottom of the river. If enough silt was laid down before rot and erosion set in, the log was preserved. Today these century-old remnants of pre-industrial America are recovered from the bottoms of river beds, becoming one of the most sought-after varieties of reclaimed lumber on the market. Picklewood Redwood Prior to the onset and broad adoption of refrigeration technology, food preservation was a much more complex task. Pickling was a primary method of food preservation and a lifeline for many homes. Large amounts of lumber were required to construct pickling vats. Today these vats are no longer needed in such large quantities, and they provide an excellent source of reclaimed lumber. The compounds used in the pickling process add beautiful character to the wood, evident in our picklewood redwood's beautiful deep red/brown tone. Salvaged Indonesian Teak Too many woodlands are diminished as the result of deforestation. One contributing factor is improper systems of recycling. We source our teak from IndoTeak Design, whose prerogative is to salvage the highest quality teak without any damage to the environment. By properly utilizing FSC Recycled 100% teak salvaged from Indonesia, their production operates as a zero-waste process. This means no trees are cut down as a result of their work. Instead, the wood is saved from 100-300-year-old structures that would have otherwise been demolished. They also provide excellent working conditions for their team in Indonesia. Specifications (it's all in the details) Open tab Size: 5 inches long capped. 4.75 inches long uncapped. 5.5 inches long with cap posted on the back. Weight: 1.5 oz capped. 1.1 oz uncapped. Refills: Compatible with all 110 mm Euro rollerball refills. Ships with a black Schneider Topball 850 rollerball. In the box Open tab Packaging and what's included: Packaging represents 1/3 of municipal waste. We keep ours simple to save space, but make it by hand so that you know what's inside is loved. Your pen will include a: Handcrafted leather pen sleeve. Stitched booklet with stories of the wood and pen care instructions. Handmade kraft paper penvelope.
