The PENguin Blog

As I posted earlier, Oregon has always been fertile hunting grounds for both pens and, more recently, knives. So I thought I would share this year's finds: From left, an ASCO (Aurora sub-brand in lapis. This one stays with me. A mandarin Parker Duofold pencil to match a streamline Junior. This will make up a set for sale. A Parker Vacumatic sub Debutante, a lovely pen that will clean up and be offered in San Francisco. Ditto the striped Duofold, and the Pelikan M800. If anyone is interested let me know. The Targa 1001 is new with stickers and available. I think I may keep the yellow Waterman's 7, but if anyone wants to talk me out of it . . .  Next, a Wahl-Eversharp hand engraved set, a pretty uncommon set that I got in the wild on the Coast. They need restoration and will be up for grabs, and I included the image something that came to me from a friend, a Zenit that I just got and will stay with me, unless . . . And the knives: Top left, an old school damascus an...

Just to wrap up my account of our 2018 trip,  From Portland we drove pretty directly to Ashland in Southern Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival which we have been addending for more than twelve years. There we were to meet up with two other couples and our daughter for a week of camaraderie and culture. As we drove south the smoke from Northern California and Southern Oregon fires became apparent. By the end of the week, the OSF was actually having to cancel performances in the outdoor theater because air quality was unsafe for performers and crew. For most of the week we were able to walk in the park, but by week's end walking felt like it had in June when I was hiking at 6,000 feet. Rosa anxiously awaits the start of Love's Labour Lost One of my favorite places in the world, Lithia Park and Lithia Creek, while my knees prevented me from going into the hills as in the past, I got in a couple of nice, short walks with Howie and with Anna

What better way to spend a sweltering Sunday than in a brewery with a bunch of pen friends? Beer flowed modestly, pizza sizzled, and pens and pen friends gathered. I was happy to see some friends, meet some new folks, and acquire a small handful of (three) pens. Here are a few scenes from the show followed by my finds. Stuart Hawkinson, organizer and all around good guy Michael McNeil and John Schwab So, what did I get? A Pelikan M800. It needs a bit of work, but is sound. A yellow band Waterman's red ripple 7, and an ASCO (Aurora sub-brand) in lapis. 

Saturday saw us at another of our favorite Portland institutions, the Portland Art Museum. I was especially keen to see “The Shape of Speed.” Their display of iconic automobiles. I could go on about the exhibit, but instead you might go to their website. I will say that I have seen a lot of car exhibits and this was one of the very best. Many of the iconic makers of the period were represented, though often not with their best designs, but there were an Airflow and Thunderbolt from Chrysler, a Talbot-Lago, a Delahaye, an Alfa 6C, etc. Any Bugatti is worth seeing, even if it is as funky as this one was.   A Bugatti interior. Looks nice in there Sharon asked my favorite, and initially it was the iconic Alfa-Romeo 6C But at the end of the day this Talbot-Lago with Figoni et Falaschi bodywork stole my heart And there was the "motorized lobster." From there we went to the LanSu Chinese Garden and then met a friend...

There are times when I just put up the images and say “lookit,” and then there is today’s post where entitling it, alone, took up most of my bandwidth. First it was gonna be the conventional “Day in the Garden.”  But I have been so thrilled with my knife finds that I came up with “Knives and Roses” (get it, Axl, yadda yadda). But Rosa, our chennille travelling companion, has also been prominent of late and she was demanding a billing, so maybe “Knives and Rosas?” but there was just one of her . . .  you see where this was going. So, as I sat down to type, this title came to me in a blinding flash of something. So anyways, we went to the Rose Garden, ostensibly because, Sharon says, they have the best gardening gloves in the known universe, and I wasn’t gonna take pictures. Later, a bit of shopping; a stop at the Portland-precious, but always excellent, Hay and Straw for an ice cream lunch (it’s hot here); and dinner w...

I don't normally devote posts to a single place, but on Thursday we started our day with my annual visit to this shop. It would be a mistake to call it a knife shop, for they have knives, swords, a few guns, anything that captures the fancy of the owner Dave Rappoport, a former cop who owns the store. As his assistant Jim (whose last name I did not get), put it, "after 44 years in the knife business, I have never seen a more eclectic shop." The question was not if I would get something, but what it would be. I got two things, the first, a mammoth ivory and mokume gentleman's folder with a damascus blade and some nice filework by Russell Milligan of Bakersfield, California.  The second piece is one of those obscure classics, a Lone Work Knives Paul Defender in cocobolo with checkered handles. The knife has a unique gravity opening system developed by the legendary Paul Poehlmann, it is a tricksy gravity device. Great fun!! We spent t...

Part of Oregon's charm for me is that I seem to find more pens and knives in the wild here than any where else. My best find, from several years ago was a cardinal Waterman 55 at the low, low price of $9. It remains in one of my pen drawers. This year may have matched that when I came across a hand engraved Wahl #2 set from, I think, around 1910. It shows use and needs a proper nib and feed, but it is charming. I am not sure whether I will keep or sell it. It came with an unused Sheaffer 1001Targa that will probably go to a new home at the San Francisco Pen Show. Oregon has also given me a number of new and old knives found both in the wild and in shops. My first of this trip was on the coast, a new old stock Case 3254CV Trapper from 2008. It's one of the more common Case knives, dating back to 1940 but it's a classic and I don't have one. Coming up are trips to the Portland Pen Round-Up and Hawthorne Cutlery, so I expect to have more to show off soon.

Oregon's Coast is one of our favorite places. Here are just a few of the images as we walked and drove: The Oregon Dunes Ma and Pa and Rosa Rosa wishes to point out that she is a well established outdoors pig, some shots from her recent camping trip in the Sierras