The Pen Addict 143/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	143
Title:	Horse Head in Myke's Bed
Release Date:	February 23rd, 2015
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Dan Bishop
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 143
Audio File:	Audio Episode 143
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 143
Length:	5252 min <br />0.867 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 143 of The Pen Addict on RelayFM. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Harry's, an exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined, as always, by the man, the myth, the legend, that is Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hey Myke, how are you?

Myke Hurley: I am good, sir. All the better to be here talking with you again. We're, as we record this, mere hours, 39 in fact, from our Kickstarter campaign being over. I'm very excited to see that, to see that final hour tick over. It's going to be good times.

Guest Introduction

Brad Dowdy: It's going to be real good and we're going to talk about that momentarily. But first, I want to introduce a special guest today. A what? A legend in his own mind, Mr. Dan Bishop from Kara's Customs, our long-time favourite pen maker. How are you, Dan?

Myke Hurley: I'm doing well. Is Dan just here to, like, to tell me off or something?

Brad Dowdy: He might. I thought that was what the pre-show was for.

Myke Hurley: How dare you lose something that I made for you? No, we repossessed it, actually. I sent a guy.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that makes sense now. Now I get it. You weren't loving it enough.

Dan Bishop: You didn't pay enough customs fees, so we had to take it back.

Myke Hurley: Customs fees? Oh man, you need to think of a way to use that. Like, customs fees. I like that. That's pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: So we're going to talk to Dan about the LA Pen Show, which I'm pretty excited about. I know we've done, like, an Atlanta Pen Show recap when I've gone and visited the show. But Dan not only visited the LA Pen Show, but him and Bill Karras actually set up a table and were vendors at the Pen Show. So this is pretty awesome. I'm pretty excited about talking about this. But let's take care of a little business real quick, and then we'll get into the Pen Show stuff. Sound good, guys?

Dan Bishop: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So the Kickstarter, Michael, like you said, what do we got? 38 hours to go. $13,425. Our backers are awesome. And last week, I made an update because I went to the fabric cutting shop and picked up the forest green and yellow interior for the cases. So I posted that on the Kickstarter page. If anyone who is following and has not seen that update on the Kickstarter page, go take a look at the primary colors for your new Hightower cases that we're going to make for this project. I'm pretty excited. They look really, really good. And the cases are going to turn out awesome. So we are looking forward to that.

Myke Hurley: One of my favorite things about this whole process has been how my girlfriend tells me about the updates. I have no idea that they're going to happen because Brad doesn't tell me anything. And then I only find out because she's a backer because I didn't back, which I feel so good about after last week where we were reading through the rules. Because technically, by those rules, she shouldn't be a backer. Oh, really? Well, you kind of said you can't have anybody that's related to you or the project.

Brad Dowdy: Really? Okay. I knew you couldn't back your own projects, but I didn't know. I mean, people have family members that back the projects. I don't see why.

Myke Hurley: I think that's technically okay, but they have it in there in case it gets abused. Yeah. So if you get one of those 10,000 levels, right, and then someone's backing that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I've seen one case of abuse of that where it didn't come to fruition, but we won't get into that. Why not? All right. So moving on quickly before I get in trouble and get angry. I did the wire cutter. They were nice enough to have us. Myself, Brian Green, Elizabeth from No Pen Intended. We helped them out with a best pen article last year sometime. And they just recently asked for our advice again for a best mechanicals pencil article that they did. Tim Barabo, who has been real nice and easy to work with at Wirecutter. So this posted last week, the best mechanicals of mechanical pencils. And the winner's pretty easy, Myke. Do you even need to look at the article to know what it is?

Myke Hurley: Well, all I'm going to say is if what I expect to be the winner is not the winner, there will be trouble. I'm opening it now and I can see right on the top of the page you have a Kuru Togo. Yeah. You couldn't pick anything else. Sorry, dude. No.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. No shot at anything else, especially the low end Kuru Togo, which I mean, you can get for as cheap as like $3, $3.50, something like that. I've had mine.

Myke Hurley: I've got mine right here. I've had it since like we started this show. Right. I actually bought it like a couple of weeks before we started the show, I think.

Dan Bishop: Oh, sure. You don't lose that. Great.

Myke Hurley: What?

Myke Hurley: I have nothing.

Myke Hurley: I have nothing. I just... Here we go again. I just don't know where it is. My only thing is that I must have taken it out of the house to use it and somewhere along the way, it's...

Brad Dowdy: I think it... Yeah. I think at this point it would have turned up in the house. Yeah. So it must have escaped. So TR4656 in the chat room says, surprise, the rotary isn't on there. I think that was probably my second choice, the 600.

Brad Dowdy: And I am surprised it didn't get on there. But the Pentel Sharp and the Pentel Sharp Carry and the Pentel Graph Gear 1000 all are excellent, excellent additional choices. I love all of those pencils and they give you a really good writing experience when you use them. So it was fun to be part of another Wirecutter article. And I'm glad this one finally saw the light of day. We were working on this one last year as well.

Myke Hurley: Oh, really?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So this one's been a while in the making. I will give Wirecutter credit. I don't know a lot about them. I know... Was it Ben... Who's the Wirecutter guy? The main guy. I never talked to him. Oh. Tim... You know who I'm talking about. Gizmodo guy?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I can't remember his name though.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So... But Tim has been... Never mind. Yeah. Never mind. But anyway, Tim is excellent to work with. He's really thorough. Which is why these take so long. And you can see how long these articles are. I mean, they take this stuff seriously. I mean, we go back and forth. I mean, sometimes dozens of emails. And just his... He'll like nitpick my answers. And then he does this with everyone else. So I know they put a lot into these articles. So I just wanted to point that out. So... Thirdly... Mr. Bigfoot himself. We're just going to start calling him that. Dwayne Lively. Who went and hunted down the Bigfoot vanishing point for us. Last week, Myke. He wrote an article about... On his blog. About his experience. Being involved in our shenanigans. And I'm not going to read the whole article to you. But I wanted to read the very first sentence. And then everyone can find the show notes at... Relay.fm. Slash. Penaddict. Slash. 143. To go click and read the rest of this post. And you should. Because it's really good. But the first sentence should have you sold. It says... Perhaps the oddest thing the internet has done to me... Is turned me into a pen detective. So... You can follow up from there. I cracked up when I read that. So... It's pretty funny. So go check that out. About the hunt for the elusive... And... Turns out to be... Non-existent orange vanishing point. Did you know, Myke... And I think we might... Did we talk about it last week? There is an old... Limited edition orange vanishing point. Did you know this? With chrome accents?

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: It was released like in the 90s. And they pop up every now and then. They run about 500 bucks. If they do show up. It was a limited edition. So that one is not on the radar. I will be passing on that one. But if anyone has a good deal on one. You know, I guess get in touch. But you rarely see them. They're very, very limited.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to have to go show mascot. On Mel. Who writes us these amazing... Bullet point podcast responses. Are you getting these, Myke?

Myke Hurley: I am, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: How amazing are they?

Myke Hurley: They're kind of like... Okay. I want to say something very quickly. So, you know, I'm very happy to grant the co-mascot status for this. But I just want to be very clear. We only need one person to do this.

Myke Hurley: Mel, I want Mel to know I really appreciate these. Because they're funny to read through. But I really... I can't... I can't have more than one.

Brad Dowdy: Well, she does... You're saying that because... And only you and I have seen these. She does an extremely thorough job at doing this. And it's actually very, very helpful. Because being in the Japanese market like she is. She gets a lot of clarifications for us. And expands on a lot of the topics that we talk on. Especially around Japanese pins. She can elaborate. You know, like where all the platinum lakes. That they made the 3776. Some of those pins out of the clear ones. You know, where are the different lakes. I love every second of these. And I read them at least two or three times. Because I always pick up something that I don't. And Mel, I feel bad that I don't reply to everyone. Because I read them. And I don't know what to say. It's like you blow my mind. Every time I can't... I can only tell you you're this awesome.

Myke Hurley: There's nothing to say. Right. Because we've already been through it. But they're nice to refer... It's like play-by-play commentary of what's happened in the show, effectively.

Brad Dowdy: That's exactly... That's the best way to put it. Mel puts together a play-by-play. I've just put this in byword. It's 651 words. This recap. So it's basically a play-by-play of the show. And it's freaking hilarious. And I mean, she even has like laughs in here. And things like that. But you know, I think she's not looking for a response. Like because she... The way she ends the... Ends the emails is... See you guys next week. It's just like... She likes to do it. And she's helping us out. And it's really awesome. So Mel, if I don't give you an email response... I wanted to give you a podcast response... And say thank you so much for doing this. It really, really makes my day... When I get these emails in my inbox. And I usually keep them in there for about a week. Because I read them multiple times.

Letter Writing Month

Myke Hurley: Mel, here's a question that you can answer at this point... In the bullet point response. Can we take... For next week's episode... Your response for this week's episode. And just post it... Like I'll upload it. And we'll post a link to it. So people can see... An example of the work that you do. You can let me know if you're happy with that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Let us know. Yeah. No pressure.

Myke Hurley: It doesn't matter either way. But if you want people to just get a flavor of what we're talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Alright. And last one. The Enco Rhymo is in full swing for February. The letter writing month. And I made a comment on Twitter. I've received a bunch of letters. So have I. Oh, that's awesome. And have you found... Like I have found... The quantity of... People using brown ink has blown my mind. Like I get so many letters in brown ink. And I've realized how beautiful these brown inks are. And they're really good for letters. That I'm gonna have to dip my toes into the brown ink spectrum. I just got another one today. Probably before I even said that on Twitter. I opened it up right before the show. Another brown ink letter. So what's your take?

Myke Hurley: I'm not getting brown ink. But I am... I am increasingly surprised at the amount of people that seal the envelopes with wax.

Wax Seals

Brad Dowdy: Yep. That's probably my number two takeaway. Lots of wax seals. Which are really cool.

Myke Hurley: My thing that I have to admit though. Is I've received them all. And I've looked at them all. But I've not done anything with them. I haven't responded to the people that have sent me the letters yet. And I intend to do that. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And see I haven't responded either. And I actually laid it out up front. That you know I'm probably not gonna have time to respond to everyone. But I would love to get your letters. If you want to send one out for EncoRymo. So I have not replied. And I don't know if I'm gonna have time to do that. To be perfectly honest. But I know Jeff's been doing some at the shop. People send them to knock as well. And Jeff's been shooting out some replies. So thank you all.

Myke Hurley: I don't even want to know what they say. I can't even imagine the types of things he must put in letters to people. Like just stuff that doesn't make any sense to anyone.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I spent Thursday and Friday at the shop last week. And I will agree with that statement. That's probably the case. So it was a good couple of days I had last week. Something I don't get to do often enough. I love that guy.

Myke Hurley: I cannot wait to meet him. I'm genuinely really excited about it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. And we're gonna get to meet Dan Bishop in person too.

Myke Hurley: Bishop are you coming to the pen show? I am. I didn't know that. Yeah. Oh no.

Brad Dowdy: This is a recent development. Probably the past few weeks.

Myke Hurley: He's gonna beat me up.

Harry's Shaving

Brad Dowdy: So let's get into some pen show stuff Myke. But let's talk about one of my favorite sponsors of all time.

Myke Hurley: That is our friends over at Harry's. For many of us. Shaving is a pain. It can be uncomfortable. It can cause nicks and cuts and scrapes. It can cause razor burn. And most of all. All of this pain comes at a high price. But that's where Harry's come in. Harry's was started by a couple of guys who wanted a better product. Without having to pay an arm and a leg to get it. Harry's make their own blades. They make fantastic blades. High quality. High performing German blades. That are crafted by shaving experts. They love the blades so much. That they found in this German factory. That they went to. That they decided to purchase the factory. To make sure that they would always have the blades that they wanted. And needed. And loved. Harry's razors offer a high quality shave. At about half the price of other big brand blades. They ship for free. To your doorstep. And their starter set. Is an amazing deal. Which is $15. You get a razor. Moisturizing shave cream. Or firming shave gel. And three razor blades. On average. An everyday shaver. Saves $150. Each year. On blades. Using Harry's. And with Harry's. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Because it is that important to them. Mr. Brad Dowdy. Considering that you are such a lover. Of Harry's products. Could you tell me a couple of things. That you like about them?

Brad Dowdy: I just like. The quality of the handle. I like. The sharpness of the blades. They do not dull quickly. This is not. Like. Some low end blade. That you're going to. Burn through. Once a week. And you know. They're just going to get you to buy. More and more blades. They actually last me quite a while. I am an every other day. Shaver though. So. Take that. For what it's worth. But. Yeah. Just the quality. And I especially like. I've never been an aftershave gel. Aftershave lotion guy. But their aftershave lotion. Smells so nice. I am. I'm all over it. And just about to place an order. For some more. So. I. I just like everything. About their product. There's. There is no. Negative for me. The design. The quality. The feel. The price. Everything's spot on.

Myke Hurley: You've got to look after your skin man.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: It's important stuff.

Brad Dowdy: I'm getting ready. I'm getting ready for you. You're coming soon. So I'm. I'm doing some skin prep.

Myke Hurley: You can experience a clean. Close. Comfortable. Shave. With Harry's. Go to harrys.com right now. And they will give you five dollars off. If you type in the coupon code. Pen Addict. With your first purchase. That's. H-A-R-R-Y-S.com. And enter the coupon code. Pen Addict. At checkout. For five dollars off. And start shaving better. Today. Thank you so much to Harry's. For their support. Of this show.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So Dan. I have a lot. I wanted to ask you. About the pen show. There's so many things. Rattling through my brain. But let's start with. The basics. And how did this happen? How did Karis. Decide to go to the pen show? How did Bill get on board. With doing this? And just kind of give us. A little bit of the background. Of the lead up to the pen show. How you made that decision. And you know. Just getting there. And getting set up. And doing this. As a company.

Dan Bishop: Well. Obviously. We. We have different avenues. For marketing our products. And. We. Looked into. The pen shows. And you know. I didn't know anything about them. Because. You know. In the Phoenix area. They don't have pen shows. Obviously. So. We. Just kind of looked at. I think it was probably even. It's like. December. Said. Oh yeah. Let's. You know. I heard there's one in LA. When is it? And we're like. Oh February. Uh. Okay. So. I mean. It was. It was. Almost like. Immediately. We. Found out how much it was to get a table. We got a table. We booked a hotel. And it's. It's a six hour drive. So. It's. It's a. No brainer.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Dan Bishop: So. We just hopped in the truck. With a bunch of pens. And. You know. Pocket protectors. And stickers. And just drove to California.

Brad Dowdy: That's awesome. And. Just to. Just to lay. A bit of the groundwork. For those who aren't familiar. Not just with pen shows. But with LA. Specifically. LA. Is. Probably one of the two largest pen shows. In the world. But it's the most. Different. Schedule. Of any pen show. Being that. Thursday. Through. Saturday. Are called. Trader only days. You have to buy a special pass. And then Sunday. Is your public day. Right. So. How did you guys. Plan on. You know. These first few days. As opposed to. Getting ready for Sunday. Where I imagine. Every year. I see it. It's just like. Mass chaos. On Sunday. So. So. How does the. The first few days. Compare to. Like a Sunday.

Dan Bishop: Well.

Dan Bishop: We. We. We decided to go for every single day. So we drove out Wednesday night. Got in at like. Around. One thirty in the morning. Because we left after work. And then. We. We got up bright and early. We went into the. The ballroom. And. There were. Already a bunch of people. You know. Looking at. People's tables. And some other things. And we just kind of set up at a random table. And.

Dan Bishop: We're quickly ignored by. The regular crowd. And I'll explain why. And. So. The. The trading days. The people who usually go in for the trading days. Are the people who are either vendors. Or. You know. Really big enthusiasts. Or people who are looking to complete a collection. Or to find repair parts. Or something. You know. They're not just there to. You know. Browse. They're. It's serious business. I mean. Some of these people were there. Day one. Setting up their tables. To get ready for Sunday.

Dan Bishop: So. We found out. That you can kind. You can. Find out what table you're supposed to have on Sunday. And you can kind of stake a claim on that table. But we didn't know that. So we set up.

Dan Bishop: In somebody else's area. I guess you would call it.

Brad Dowdy: Gotcha.

Dan Bishop: And so they came up and said. Ah. Can you guys move? And. We went. Uh. Sure. But why? And. It's. It. There's a lot of. I guess. Etiquette and tradition. Involved in. And it wasn't a big deal. You know. So. We just ended up moving. And we ended up sliding down a little bit. And we were in the spot that was supposed to be Myke Matsuyama's spot. You know. So. The end of the day. We actually moved to our. You know. Correct table that we were going to end up at. On Sunday. Mm-hmm. So.

Dan Bishop: But. Yeah. Thursday was just a bunch of. People setting up. You know. The Andersons were there of course. And you know. A lot of the other vendors were. Were coming in and setting up. But it wasn't really fast paced. It was pretty. Pretty chilled out. You know. There wasn't. Super crowded. Amount of tables. Because. The. The traders. As you said. The first three days. Like. Anybody can buy a trading pass. And they can go into the show. And get their personal collection. Out. And sell. Or trade. Or they can go and meet with other people. But you're only allowed to take up half a table. Per. Traders pass. Mm-hmm. But. As the days go on. You know. Especially. Most people work. So Thursday. Friday. It's kind of slow. Saturday gets busier. But I think Saturday. Was to the point. Where they were scrambling. Looking for tables. They were kind of. Wandering around. Saying. Who had. Permission to occupy a whole table. You know. Because we had. A trading pass. Plus a vendor pass. So we could occupy a whole table. The whole time. But. Some people got shifted around. And. You know. It's. It's serious business.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Reading some of the. Some of the recaps. And. Some of the. The stories people were telling. It sounded like serious business. There were some serious. Pens. And some serious money. Changing hands. We're going to have a bunch of. Recap links. In the show notes. That y'all. Should go check out. And read. If you want to. See some pictures. Of the show. And kind of get a feel. For what it's like to be there. So. When you guys are there. Thursday.

Brad Dowdy: Did you do any. Did you do any shopping? Did you feel. Like. I just kind of need to hang out. And let people figure out. Who Kara's Customs is. And you know. Make sure they're comfortable. Around these bearded fellas. That are sitting here. And what you know. You know. Just kind of. Kind of lay low. On Thursday. Or y'all just kind of. Get out there.

Dan Bishop: Well. I. Previously. I've been in contact. With a couple people. I'd spoken with Lisa Anderson. To kind of. Ask her a few questions. About you know. What to expect at the show. So. I met. A lot of people in person. That I had dealt with before. Brian Gray. Scott from. Franklin Kristoff. You know. Like I said. The Andersons. But we had. We'd have customers. Come up to us. And it was interesting. Because the. The vintage crowd. Typically is. An older crowd. But occasionally. We'd get. Somebody would come by. They'd just look at your table. And keep moving. But somebody would stop. And say. Oh. I know you guys. I follow you guys on Instagram. And you're. I know. You're just. You're kind of astonished. Because there's this gentleman there. That you would never guess. Was on Instagram. But then. You know. Sometimes they would pull out a pen. Yeah. I've got one of your pens on me right now. So. It was. It was cool to. Meet people. That. Had your product. That were looking for you. At the show. So. I've never had that kind of experience.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So. So you. You haven't had that kind of experience in person. But you're used to that online. Right. I'm wondering. What did. What did Bill say. When someone like that. That you wouldn't expect. In a million years. To be a Karis customer. And here comes this guy. And he's taking out this pen. Like what. What is. I'm really curious. What Bill thought about this whole thing.

Dan Bishop: He. Um. I think he enjoyed it more than he thought he would. In fact. When we got home. He started riding with a fountain pen.

Myke Hurley: Ah. Oh yeah. Look. He's. He's been won over now.

Dan Bishop: Well. I don't. I don't know how long it'll last. Honestly. No. But he. I think the. It's just being immersed in that environment. I mean. We were there for four days. Which. Yeah. We. We didn't need to be there the whole time. Because the vintage guys don't really. You know. They don't need us for anything. So. We're just kind of there for. A few people's benefit. But. Bill. No. He. He enjoyed it. I mean. He was there. And we interacted with a lot of the customers. And. Everybody was really nice. You know. We. I don't think we met anybody there. Who was.

Dan Bishop: Anything. But just. Absolutely cordial. You know. People would look at our product. And even if they. They weren't interested in buying it. Sometimes they'd come. They'd ask questions. And. You know. I would show them how. You know. Everything worked. We. We kind of. Had to change the way that we displayed things a little bit. Because people didn't understand. You know. Like. Exactly what we were. Kind of. I said. Well. What is this? What is this pen? It's called the ink. What. And. What's this? What? The grip sections? Or. What? And so. We. We got to the point where. We had a few inked up. And we had some rhodia pads out. And we let people try them. And. I mean. I worked commission based retail sales. Through high school and college. At an automotive paint and supply store. And so. I was used to talking to people. And. And. And selling people things. But. You know. Interacting with them. Because. The products that I sold were fairly expensive. So. Uh. I. I was familiar with people who. You know. Were wanting to spend money on things. But weren't sure what they wanted. So. People would come by. You know. People would bring their girlfriend. Or something to the show. And then I would. I would hold up. You know. Like a violet ink. And say. Hey. You should look at this. And then. The girlfriend goes. Ooh. And then she opens it up. And then sees the. Ooh. I got like a double. Double layered. Ooh. One time. Um. But I got to meet. Lots of. Small. Um. Pen makers. There was some people. I'm horrible with names. I got all their business cards. So that I'd remember them. But. People as far as Ontario. And Canada. Had come to the show. You know. Um. I ate dinner with. Um. A gentleman from. Chicago. And. His name is Pierre. But I can't remember the name of his pen company. I'm really bad at it. But.

Wooden Pens

Brad Dowdy: Oh. The. Um. Gosh. He makes those long. Wooden. Yes. Flex nib pens. Yes. I'm blanking on. I know exactly who you're talking about. But I can't think of the name. I'll. I'll find it. I can't. Put it in the show notes.

Dan Bishop: I can't pronounce it.

Brad Dowdy: Um. But um. Start. It starts with an R. Someone in the chat room will get it for me.

Dan Bishop: It's the. The Desiderata.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The D. The Desiderata. Yeah.

Dan Bishop: Gotcha. But he. I ended up going to dinner. With a bunch of people from. The Fountain Pen Network.

Brad Dowdy: Uh huh.

Pen Show Experience

Dan Bishop: Uh. The. The forum. It was fantastic. We got sushi. We talked pens. And just kind of hung out. And it was kind of neat. Because I was just. You know. They just said. Hey. You want to go to dinner with us? Yeah. Sure. Why not? And. So I. I got in the car with. Uh. With Pierre. You know. And we just. Went and got sushi. And hung out. It was. It was a great time.

Brad Dowdy: So that's. That's like. The biggest takeaway. And that's what I think Myke's going to find at the show. Is that. The people are just. Genuinely awesome. And that's why I'm glad y'all. Even though. Really. Sunday. Is the day for you as a company. Going. Those early days. Is better for you. Just to kind of mingle. And just kind of. Meet all these people that you've talked to online. Like the Andersons. You know. That you maybe not have ever met in person. And just kind of. Get that. Get the whole feel. And just kind of ease into it. And.

Brad Dowdy: You know. I think. You know. Hopefully that was a good experience for you guys. It sounds like it was an awesome experience. To be quite honest. And I'm jealous I wasn't there.

Brad Dowdy: But. You know. It sounds. Like you did it exactly right. You know. You just got in there. You know. You. Hooked up with a bunch of people. You've been. Talking to online. And you met some new people. And then. Then Sunday. Let's talk about Sunday. So. Friday and Saturday. Friday and Saturday. It's pretty much. Kind of the same. Task. You said Sunday. Saturday. It's getting a little bit busier. And as far as the traders go. And then Sunday. Happens. And it's like. The floodgates are open. Right. So like. What's the difference. Between. The previous three days. And then all of a sudden. Sunday happens.

Dan Bishop: Well. It's. It's funny. Because. Everybody that talked to us. You know. Everybody. You know. Brian Gray. The Andersons. Everybody. They're like. This is your first show. Right. Yeah. It's our first show. So. You know. Sunday's kind of crazy. Right.

Dan Bishop: That's what we've heard. Yeah. It's. It's crazy. Just so you know. It's crazy. And so. We were kind of. Thinking. Because we. We'd. We'd. We'd. Done a couple. Hot rod shows. And stuff. When. The good guy shows. Here in town. When we sold phone cases. And some other things. And so. We'd been to some. Events. But. Everybody was talking like. It was going to be like. The end of the world. You know. And. Everybody's. Like. Regaling us with stories. About how. You know. They're. Some of the. The sponsors of the show. Have goodie bags. And. They have people with their arms. Outstretched. With goodie bags. Lined up on their arms. And the people are like. Running by. And grabbing them off the arms. And all this. I'm like. This is going to be madness. This is just going to be. Just total pen insanity. So. We geared up for the show. And. A line started out the. Out the lobby. And into the parking lot. And. It was a big push. The beginning. But it was really steady. All day. Apparently. In some. In the past. There had been a huge push. Like. Really. Really big. And then it kind of died down. This was just busy. All day.

Dan Bishop: But. It was. It was great. A lot of people. Came by. And talked to us. Bill went out to the truck. In the parking lot. And somebody saw his shirt. And said. Is Dan Bishop here?

Dan Bishop: And. He came back. He came inside. And he said. There's some guy here. Who's looking for you. And I was. I didn't. What do you think about that? Like. So I went. What's he look like? And he's like. Oh yeah. I'll point him out. When he gets here. I'm like. That's not going to do me any good. But. Apparently. The guy came by. And talked to us. And. I didn't even know. So it was just somebody. Who was looking forward. To meeting us. Apparently.

Brad Dowdy: He wasn't. He wasn't handing you. A manila envelope. Or anything. Was he?

Dan Bishop: Oh. No. Not that I'm aware of. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: You weren't. You weren't in trouble then.

Dan Bishop: He like. Cut a lock of my hair off. While I wasn't looking. No. No. It was. It was really great. And. It seemed like. Because. A lot of the people. On the trader days. Were. Were older. People. You know. And. I mean. I don't want to like. Sound. What is it? Ageist. Or. Whatever you would call it. But. Like. A lot of gray hair. Sure. And. Pretty much. Anybody who was. Under. 35. Would stop. And talk to us. And so. When the public days. Opened up. And we got kids. That were from like. Even on Saturday. That looked like. They were from maybe. Like a high school. Like. Club. Or something. With their teacher. This one kid. He wanted a brass. Bolt. So bad. He came by like. Six times. I don't think he ever bought one. But. I was ready to almost. Just like. Okay. Okay. How much can you afford? You know. Like. I want to give you. But he was just like. Constantly coming by. You know. Just like a shark. Just back and forth. Over and over again. But. It was. It was crazy. You know. All day on Sunday. Until the very end of the show. We had people coming by. We were giving away pocket protectors. And stickers and stuff. And. In fact. Myke Matsuyama. Came by. And he saw that we had stickers. And pocket protectors. And we're like. Yeah. You take one. And he's like. Really? Yeah. And he's like. Take. Take a few. I think he. Seriously. I think I unloaded like. 20 pocket protectors. And a whole bunch of stickers on him. So. I don't know what's going to happen to him. Or where they're going to go. But. He was very. Excited to get them. So. You know. It was awesome.

Brad Dowdy: I'll give him some grief. When I see him in Atlanta. About that. I'll say. You're out. And I need one. And he needs to give one up to me.

Dan Bishop: No. But. It was. Go ahead.

Brad Dowdy: No. I was just going to. Just going to say. How did. It's almost impossible for you to have. Any type of expectation. Going into something like this. The first time. But. Did you have. You know. Obviously. I'm not asking for numbers. But do you feel like it met your. Expectations. It was worthwhile. Not just from a. Publicity and meeting people. Aspect. But did you actually do good business?

Dan Bishop: We. We did okay business. The main point of the show. Was to kind of. To be there. To say. Hey. Right. This is. We're here. Like we're part of this community too. Like. Yeah. That goes.

Brad Dowdy: That goes further than any dollar amount.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. And. It's so funny. Because. I was in charge of. Of like. Coming up with a list of things to. Bring to the show. And I totally over packed. I mean. In like the worst kind of way. I mean. We brought so many pens. And. So. You know. When I. When we go to Atlanta. It's going to be my wife and I. We're going to probably. We'll have the Reader's Digest version. Of that inventory. In a. In like a carry-on bag. Or something. But. No. It was like. Because we had no idea what to expect. Like you said. It was. You don't know how many. Pens. Somebody sells. Like you see an online. Company. That makes products. And people talk about them on the internet. And so you. You don't know. They could sell a hundred a day. They could sell two a day. And so we. We figured. We're six hours away. Let's just pack a whole bunch of stuff up. And if we don't sell it. We'll just drive it back to the shop. And sell it online. You know. Like. I mean. It wasn't. It was like the end of the world. So.

Myke Hurley: Like. Yeah. Like. What's the worst that can happen? Like. You take some back. Like. It's better than not having enough. And then. Like. For two days. You're like. No. We haven't got any.

Ink Colorways

Dan Bishop: Yeah. And that happened. Actually. It's funny. Because. One of the colorways. That we. We sell. Is the gray ink. And online. Everybody kind of looks at it. And goes. Ugh. You know. And they just. Because nobody buys them. You know. And. At the show. I took one. And I put a. A copper grip section in it. And I put it out on display. In one of our little. Our display cubes. That everyone kept trying to steal. And or buy.

Dan Bishop: But. So. I put it out there. And people would open it up. And they're like. This is awesome. You know. And we sold. I think we only brought like. Six. And we sold them like. In the first day. Even. And it was super slow. Otherwise. And so. It comes Saturday. Everyone's like. Do you have any of these? Or. Or whatever. And we're like. Sorry.

Brad Dowdy: They're gone. You talked me into the gray. Years ago. On the. Render K. Because I was buying a gift for someone. And the first. My first choice. Wasn't in. I was. And you said. Man. You need to check out this gray. I promise you. You will like it. And I got it. And before I sent it off. To the person I was giving it to. I was like. Holy crap. You were right. The gray is. There's really a legit. Looking color. In person. It may be hard to relate. Online. But. It's a. I can confirm. That's a pretty sweet pen.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. It's. Color is such. A subjective thing. Too. And every. To every batch. That you get back from anodized. Can be a little bit different. So. Like you said. We had some. Some variations. With the orange. The orange. From the. From the inks. Wasn't as bright. As it had been in the past. Because the vendor. Had sold the business. To another person. And. So we've been chasing orange. You know. For a while. And. So we didn't have any orange. We didn't have. Any blue. Because we'd sold out of them all. People kept buying them. From Kickstarter. And losing them. So we ran out. And.

Myke Hurley: Orange and blue man. I'm telling you. See. Mine were orange and blue. You guys did something. Like self-destructing. Or something. I don't know. So.

Dan Bishop: But. Yeah. We. People. Seeing things on the internet. Is. Is entirely different. Than handling them in person. We had several people. Yeah. Come by. And pick them up. And go. Whoa. These are so different. Than what I expected. And. You know. I got to run down. To. You know. Nibs.com's booth. And like. Look at all the Nakias. And like. Open up the titanium one. And look at it. And then run back to my booth. Like. Nothing happened.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I saw the pictures. Of the Nibs.com stuff. It was. Pretty. Pretty cool. Pretty cool stuff.

Dan Bishop: Well. Some of the. I mean. The pen world. Is so crazy. I mean. There's. You know. I saw everything. From Nakias. You know. Where. Completely understated. You know. You know. Lacquered pens. To. You know. Like some of the Montegrappa. You know. The chaos pen. The Sylvester Stallone. Chaos pen. Oh god. Yes. Yeah. So. Yeah. I. I want that poster. On the wall. If any reader. Can get me the chaos poster. I'm going to forge his signature on it. And put it up on my office wall.

Myke Hurley: Is that the one where he's like. Kind of standing to the side. He's flexing. He's like.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. Oh this pen. Yeah. I don't want my pen. I'm going to find it. And put it in the shot.

Brad Dowdy: It's so good. That. Talking about that pen. Never gets old. I've never seen one in person. So that's awesome.

Dan Bishop: No. But it was. It was interesting. I mean. You go to the show. And you see all. All kinds of characters. Oh. And here's one thing I need to ask. The pen community. So. One thing there was an abundance of. At the show. Was older guys wearing. Fly fishing vests.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I saw that. A lot of that in London.

Dan Bishop: Well. What's. Well. I mean. I never saw anybody utilize. The pockets. Maybe. I mean. Maybe. I'm not. You know. Watching these guys constantly. But I'm thinking. Is this some kind of. Pen vendor uniform. That I'm not aware of. Because. I'm just a Bass Pro Shop. Like. Two miles from the shop. And I can. You know. I can get her done. So.

Fishing Vests

Brad Dowdy: So that's what. That's what Jeff and I. That needs to be our uniform. At the Atlanta pen show. We each need a fishing vest.

Dan Bishop: You need to sew one. Out of like. The obnoxious colorways. Oh. You know. We could do that.

Brad Dowdy: And. Yeah. Jeff already has a. Denim vest. That he's sewn for himself. So. I know he could knock that out.

Dan Bishop: No. I mean. It's. It's just funny. I'm. You know. I'm teasing obviously. But it was. It was interesting to see. These guys. You know. They. They come out. And they have all these pens. And I look up. And the guy's got a. Fishing vest on.

Brad Dowdy: Mm hmm.

Dan Bishop: And I. I guess. I don't know. Maybe they have like. All kinds of MacGyver stuff. In their pockets. But.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm guessing that's it. To carry all the. Extra accessories they have. But who knows. Who knows. So. This was. One of the biggest pen shows. In the world. If not the biggest. And. It's your first foray. Into the pen show. World. Live. And in person. What are your big takeaways. From the show. Either good or bad. Or. You know. From that very first time. You know. What kind of met your expectations. What. Didn't meet your expectations. So what. What did you go home. The conversation you and Bill. Are having on the way home. About how this went. And what were your main takeaways.

Dan Bishop: Um. That it was important. To bring. Young blood. Into this industry. I mean. Amen. We spoke. We spoke to. Um. The people at Pen World Magazine. And I had a conversation with. With Laura. The editor. And. Um. A lot of. The. You know. Vintage pen. Collectors. They. They. They don't see any. Kind of plus. In having. You know. Modern pens. They want the. They just want the old stuff. But. To bring. Younger companies. Into the. Into the fold. Is important. Because. When. You know. 10. 15 years. Goes by. No. There's not going to be anybody new going to the show. We had a lot. Like I said. Anybody who was under the age of. You know. Let's say. 40. Or 45. Instead of 35. You know. They were talking to us. They were looking at our products. Because for them. You know. This is. A modern product. At one point. Fountain pens. Were a modern product. For somebody else. So. You have to keep. Bringing that up. And so. We're going to keep pushing. Into that market. And try to get things. Into people's hands. To get them excited about it. Because. There. There's. This whole push. And you know. We've talked about. You know. This on forums. And you guys have talked about it on the podcast. But this. Idea that. Everything's going digital. That analog is dead. You know. That handwriting isn't important.

Dan Bishop: You know. I have. I have terrible handwriting. And it's. One of those things that I really. You know. Feel like I need to work on. But. If you don't know. You know. That a fountain pen can help make a difference. Or. You don't know that you could buy a quality. Pen. That isn't. You know. A thousand dollars. You know. You're just going to kind of. You know. Move on.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah. I. I. You're preaching to the choir. On that. And I think that's super important. And. I think that's what. I enjoy. One of the things I enjoy the most. About this community. Is bringing in those new people. And they all generally seem to be young. But then also. Getting that feedback. From. The people who are super experienced in this. And they. Like. They like seeing it too. Because they want this to continue as well. I mean. It's. It's just. Good for everybody. To have this type of open environment. Where. You're able to talk to someone. And get some information. Without being. You know. Shy. Or intimidated. Or worrying that you don't know what you're talking about. We're kind of all in that same boat together. And. You know. People like myself. And Myke. And Dan. You know. We're here to. To help. And. To. Get you involved. And to. Help you find the things that are awesome. And. I. I just think that's. That's really cool. And I'm. I'm glad you said that. That's really good. Well.

Myke Hurley: Like. Saying about the young blood as well. Like. What. Where I thought you were going to go with it. Dan. And what I also think is really important. Is. New people. Making things. Like. Not just new people. Enjoying things. You know. Like. Not just like. Getting new people. To understand the value of owning a pen. But like. You guys. So you Brad. And you Dan. Like. New companies. That are coming. Like. Onto the scene. And making modern products. Like. That is. If anything. I think. Maybe even more important. Like. To sell to. To new people. But also to old people. Like. To the older people as well. Like. You know. We've been doing this stuff. Like. 10 years. Or whatever. So they can understand a little bit. Like. It doesn't need to be all vintage. Like. I think having. New companies. Fresh companies. Like. Knock. And Karas Customs. Make this stuff. And like. Be able to make. Like. A sizable chunk of their business. If not. You know. In the Knox case. All of their business. Out of this stuff. I think is super important.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. I. At the show. Keegan from One Star Leather. Was there. Because he's based. Absolutely. And. I. Was pointing people in his direction. As much as I could. You know. I would. Talk to people. Some people would get out of case. And you know. It's. Maybe it's just the. The salesperson in me. From. You know. Doing it for so long. But. I'd say. Have you seen. You know. Keegan from One Star. And they're like. Who's that? And I said. See that guy right there. You know. Right there. I'd just point to him. And. I'd go look at his stuff. And. We have. A lot of overlap. In our. Customer base. And. If. If you guys would have been there. I'm sure you would have sold a lot of product. Because there was. There's nobody. Doing it.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. I mean. You know. That's exactly why. We exist.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. And. And. Like. Before we decided to. Get into the pen market. You know. There was. Really. You know. Besides the. The pen type A. It was the first. You know. Kind of machined pen. To kind of pop up. Nobody else was doing it. You know. Right. We. We decided to. Fill this. This. This niche. In the market. You know. I kind of joked around. That we were the gateway drug. Because. You know. The stuff. The truth. Yeah. The stuff that we make. Is. You know. A guy who's into. You know. A decent writing pen. Refill. You know. Wants an upgrade. And he gets into it. And. You know. People will buy. Multiple. Pens from us. And. It's great. Because we're able to continue. Giving people what they want. But at the same time. We're able to grow the market. So more people are aware. Of the products. In the industry. So it. It helps everybody. When everybody gets along. And everybody. Comes up with new stuff.

Brad Dowdy: So this show. Was such a big hit. You're now. Part of the pen show circuit. Right? You're going to hit them all. In the U.S. Just load up the family trucksters. You and Bill. Hit the road.

Dan Bishop: I don't know about that. No. I think. The L.A. Pen show. Is definitely going to be. A staple for us. Because it's so close. And. The Atlanta show. This one. I wanted to go to. I was going to go to it. No matter what. So he said. Well. Okay. You're going to go. You know. Let's. Let's make it official. And you know. Send you out there. And I'm bringing my wife. And it'll be. It'll be a good time. So. You guys can all. Find out how. How much of a man child. I am by speaking with my. My wife. And. But we. We're considering going to the D.C. Pen show. But I mean. Honestly. I have a little bit of apprehension. Just because. The. The vintage focus. That's on the show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Dan Bishop: But at the same time. If it's something that's. That we can do. Or maybe have some new products. You know. Some time to take to the D.C. Show that kind of appeal towards that crowd. Kind of bridge that gap. I don't know. But. I think it would be great to go at least once.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I. I think you're right on that. And we're kind of thinking the same thing. You know. It's not a. We're not in a place where. We're traveling the. The country to all the pen shows. As cool as that would be. But. Yeah. Maybe more than one. On any given year. Is a. Is a good deal. So. That's. That's very cool. Well man. I'm. I'm glad y'all had. Such a good. Positive. Experience. And. I mean. I didn't expect anything less. I knew it was going to be awesome for you guys. And. It was just. It was good to hear. You know. All the. The goings on of the pen show. For a lot of people that have never been to a pen show. And for those of you who have never been. If you're. Within a couple hour drive. You can easily get. You can easily get there. You should go. Because. There's. There's nothing to be intimidated about. The people are awesome. Even the people that are just like. You know. Have these vintage pens. That you've never. You know. Seen. Or. Written with. In your life. They're. So willing. To help you out. And answer questions. And they'll let you look. And. Look at anything. And it's a really. Great experience. So. Definitely. Definitely. Check them out. In your future. If. It is so. Available to you. In your area. So.

Myke Hurley: Right. Are you guys at Nock ever going to think about LA. Then. If it's that big.

Brad Dowdy: Oh yeah. Yeah. For sure. I think we'd probably do. So. We're doing Atlanta. Obviously. Yeah. Yeah. We're not going to do it.

Brad Dowdy: Atlanta.

Myke Hurley: Who's going to that?

Brad Dowdy: Then. I would think. Like. DC would be on the radar. Before LA. Just because of proximity. We could drive to it. Right. And then. That's something. That we think about. You know. Like. Okay. Maybe. In. 2016. We do LA. And. You know. Just kind of do. Pick one. That we travel to. Like. Big time. Every year. You know. Maybe one year it's LA. One year it's Chicago. Columbus. But how would you even do that? Like.

Myke Hurley: You'd have to like. Ship stuff there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We'd have to ship. We'd have to ship. We'd have to coordinate all that. So. That's why DC. DC would be on the radar. Before. Yeah. I mean.

Myke Hurley: At least it'd be easier for you. Than some of the pen guys. Right. Because the weight of your stuff. Isn't going to be as bad. Like. Right. If. You know. If Keras Customs had to pack up a box. Like. That is significantly more expensive. I assume.

Brad Dowdy: To ship. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. So. You know. It's. You know. These are all the things we're. We're trying to figure out now. So. We're. Excited to see how Atlanta goes. And yeah. A bunch of people are. Are talking about Raleigh. In North Carolina. Which is real close to us. So. We've had a bunch of people mention. And we should just come up on. Come up there. And that will be. A real. Real easy. Convenient one for us to get to. So. Those are all. Those are all the thought process.

Pen Shows

Myke Hurley: Is this your first pen show?

Brad Dowdy: Me?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like. For. For Knock.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. We didn't get to do. Yeah. We didn't get to do last year. Because. We were still finishing the Kickstarter project. At the time. And. We didn't want to. Start selling goods. While we haven't fulfilled. Everyone's Kickstarter order.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So. You in like. Full on production mode. For the. The show.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah. We're pulling. Making stuff for the show. As we speak.

Myke Hurley: Same. Yep. Well. I'll be there. To be. You know. To be on deck. If you need. Yeah. We're excited.

Brad Dowdy: We're excited. And we're excited. Dan's coming. And Dudek's coming. And Anna's coming.

Myke Hurley: It's going to be such a great party. It's going to be. Saying about. If you're a drive away. And you can make it. This is the one. Like. This. You know. We're going to have a. It's going to be an excellent time. I am so excited. We are not. Far away now. What are we like. Eight. Nine weeks away.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Something like that.

Dan Bishop: So. At the show. This is. This is like the meeting of the Dons. You know. This is. So. On Instagram. Anytime I've. You know. Met a pen blogger. At the shop. It's always. Hashtag. Pen blog mafia. We have to do. That's right. A pen blog mafia. Instagram shot.

Myke Hurley: I'm so on that. Like. We will definitely do that. I'm so up for that.

Dan Bishop: I'm going to put a horse head in Myke's bed. And everything. It's going to be fantastic.

Dan Bishop: All right. On that note. We're going to go.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think we need to go prep for. Retaliation. For a pen show. In Atlanta. Because. Dan's going big. And not going home. So we need to be prepared for him Myke. So. So that's a wrap. For this week. Dan. We appreciate you coming on. And enlightening us. And again. I'm really excited. That y'all had such a great experience. There. At LA.

Dan Bishop: Yeah. I'm. I hope Atlanta's just as fun. So. I'll do everything I can. To make sure that. Everybody has a good time. Yes. Yes. We look forward to it.

Myke Hurley: If you want to find the show notes. For this week's episode. You want to go over to. Relay.fm. Slash. Penaddict. Slash. One. Four. Three. Thank you so much Dan. For joining us today. Where can people find you? Where can they keep up. With what you're up to. And what Keras is up to.

Dan Bishop: You can find me. On Instagram. At design. Underscore. Concussion. And. What we're doing at the shop. At Keras Customs. So.

Myke Hurley: Awesome. And. Mr. Brad Dowdy. Can be found. At penaddict.com. And. He's also on Instagram. He's penaddict. I am. I Myke. I am. Y. K. E. On Twitter. And Instagram. Brad is at Dowdyism. D. O. W. D. Y.

Brad Dowdy: I.

Myke Hurley: I. I. I. I. I. Thanks to everybody who checked out. Inquisitive. Our most recent episode. I mentioned it last week on the show. And I had a bunch of penaddicts. Brad. Contact me to tell me it was the first time they checked out the show. And they really enjoyed it. So. I'm really happy that. The people went and did that.

Inquisitive Podcast

Brad Dowdy: I would like to. I would like to say this publicly Myke. I've never gotten chills on a podcast.

Myke Hurley: You haven't told me what you thought yet.

Brad Dowdy: I. Well. It was pretty amazing. I. literally got chills listening to it at one point and I was like oh this is really good it's nuts so you did an amazing job so everyone should go listen to Inquisitive if you want your mind blown a little bit by what Mr. Hurley was able to accomplish in this podcast and it's just the beginning

Myke Hurley: Thank you man, yeah because I forgot that you hadn't listened

Brad Dowdy: had you? Nope, nope Awesome

Myke Hurley: and thank you to our sponsor for this week our good friends over at Harry's go check them out and help support the show but most importantly thank you all for listening, we'll be back next time until then say goodbye Brad

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye Brad