This Popular Knife Brand’s First Pen Boasts a Unique Mechanical Feature

Say hello to the Bard’s “mid-click” technology.

Published August 1, 2024

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Updated August 1, 2024

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Look, an esteemed knife and EDC brand extending its expertise to pens is nothing new. Everyone from Benchmade to Spyderco to The James Brand has put its own spin on a stylus over the years, with varying levels of success.

This subtle shift aims to optimize the pen’s balance, making it less a burden to your hand and more an extension of it.

Perhaps that is why, when the folks at Detroit’s own WESN decided to join the club, they thought long and hard about how to stand out. The result is a little tweak to traditional design.

Meet the Bard

Rather than the standard click on top of the pen, WESN shifted the click-point down the body of its maiden offering, dubbed the Bard.

WESN Bard

$75 at Kickstarter

This subtle shift adds to the pen’s length (roughly 5.3 inches), but more importantly it aims to optimize the pen’s balance, making it less a burden to your hand and more an extension of it.

That’s easily the most standout feature of the Bard, which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. While the product has already blown well past its modest $15,000 goal, you can still score one for $75 — 40 percent off the future retail price.

wesn bard in use — The Bard’s mid-click mechanics aim to balance the pen and make it an extension of the user’s hand.

Engineered for EDC

Additional qualities of note include a full titanium body, a removable titanium pocket clip, a weight of 35 grams (0.08 pounds) and a finger-friendly milled grip.

Otherwise, in typical WESN fashion, this pen is ultra-minimalist, focusing on function over frills. Even the branding on the clip cruises comfortably under the radar.

wesn bard and other wesn products — In both size and style, the Bard sits comfortably among some of WESN’s other EDC offerings, including (from left) the CB, the Samla and the MT.

As for ink, it relies upon Schmidt P 900/Parker G2 refills, which are generally beloved, ubiquitous and affordable.

That’ll serve you well should you prove to be as prolific with the pen as famous handwriters who have come before such as George R.R. Martin, Stephen King and, yes, The Bard himself.