The Pen Addict 204/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	204
Title:	Notebooks Filled with Garbage
Release Date:	May 11th, 2016
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Tiff Arment
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 204
Audio File:	Audio Episode 204
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 204
Length:	7676 min <br />1.267 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Welcome to The Pen Addict. Hi, Tiff.

Tiff Arment: Hi, pen friends. Hey, pen buddy.

Brad Dowdy: Long time no talk. I'm glad we, like, you're in this little realm now and you've been to the Atlanta Pen Show and we're going to talk about all this stuff later, but it's so cool to have you on. I appreciate it.

Tiff Arment: Thanks. I'm really, really excited to be here because, Brad, I feel like I hear you talk every day, you know, most days, and now we finally get to chit-chat again. It's really great.

Myke Hurley: I know, I know. It's awesome. But nothing can stop the pure mountain of follow-up that we have today. So, we should probably get cracking.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, before you get into it, this is one of the first times we've actually removed stuff from the dock. Yep. Like, it got to be that big and we'll just hold it till next week. We have a lot to talk about. So, I really want to hear the follow-up of this conversation you had about your Nakaya talk from last week.

Nakaya Pens

Myke Hurley: Yeah, so, you may have missed this, but before the show last week, I started looking at Nakaya's online because of TIFF. It's actually why TIFF is here. Because it was her fault because she was posting images of beautiful ones over the weekend prior. Oh, it's all my fault. Yeah. It was all your fault. And then we actually released it as a RelayFM B-side. We don't do these very often, but if there's something fun that's happened outside of a show recording, we'll put them in there. And I put a link in our show notes again if you want to go and listen to that. And basically, it was just me finding out that there was a Nakaya distributor in Europe, and I was very excited about this. And what happened after the show was exactly what I expected to happen. Thomas Hall blew up my DMs, telling me not to do anything. Because he said, and he makes a good point, that it would probably end up with me being cheaper to import one of these than to actually buy it in Europe, which is a very good point. But my whole thing was just the concern of the long travel in shipment and stuff like that. And also, as Thomas pointed out to me, to not rush into this, because this is a big purchase decision. So he's doing me a solid, as he always does. And when I'm in San Francisco, he's going to be mailing me one of his Nakayas for me to try out a little bit. So he wants me to make sure that I know that the size is right for me and stuff. Because there are, what are they called?

Brad Dowdy: So the one that you like is the Piccolo size, which is the smallest.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and there's also a longer one as well, right?

Brad Dowdy: There's a long Piccolo, but those are only from a shop called Aesthetic Bay. I think they are the only long Piccolo dealers. I think that's just for them. I could be wrong on that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and so this is also one of those things where he's like, if you like this, we need to hook you up with Aesthetic Bay. Because they're based in Singapore, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, okay. So cool. I didn't know that was where you were having this conversation. So yes, perfect. So this is a whole big thing.

Myke Hurley: So I'm not close to buying a Nakaya yet. But now I think I'm starting the journey now because I'm going to be more serious about it when Thomas sends me it. So he wants me to get a good feeling for the size and the weight before I make any decisions. So Tiff, you haven't bought one yet, have you?

Tiff Arment: No, I didn't do it yet.

Brad Dowdy: I'm laughing because Tiff might actually beat you to the punch.

Myke Hurley: Maybe, actually.

Brad Dowdy: Because I think I'm taking it nice and slow now.

Tiff Arment: Well, I'm impatient. I have this horrible fear that just like Myke said last week on the beat side, you feel like it's going to go away. Now that you decided what you want, you're like, that's it. It's going to all of a sudden disappear.

Myke Hurley: And this is something that Thomas said to me. He's like, they do make them. And I was like, that is a good point. I'm thinking of them like they're vintage. No, they just make them. They're in production. So as long as you pick one that isn't like a one-off, then, you know, you're good to go. Like they're going to keep making them. And I guess it's just about taking time. Because they are more expensive than other pens. And they are quite particular, I guess. So, you know, I'm interested to see how I'm going to end up rolling with this one. But I definitely am going to be buying one.

Tiff Arment: I mean, I know exactly which one I want. Like exactly. Which one is it? I know everything about it. The feathered one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I put a link in there. Yeah. I know exactly what I want. I'm ready. It's just... I'm telling you, the sooner you buy it, the more time you have it. And so, the less expensive it is over time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. This was a conversation that me and you were having, right? Yeah. It makes sense. I kind of get it. So, like, the idea that if you buy it now, over the days of your life, it costs less. Because you just average it out.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Oh, that's totally something I believe in. Or at least make that excuse for myself. Yeah. I can get on board with that.

Myke Hurley: So, here's the thing, though, about some of these. So, the Nakaya that you're looking at, Tiff, the Feathers one, is $750. And this is the thing, like, that's not... It's very expensive. But for really great pens, that's not crazy. Like, and... Because you can get crazy real fast of these, like, into the thousands. But, I mean, this is the price range that I'm going to go for with my first one. Because it's very expensive and I'll need to save for it. But I'm not going to bankrupt myself buying it. Like, you can do quite easily on these, I think.

Tiff Arment: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, you look at some of them. The $24,000 ones, you know? You can go really high.

Myke Hurley: Brad's probably got his eye on those.

Tiff Arment: So, you're like, oh, $750? That's no problem. Compared to $24,000. You're getting a steal.

Brad Dowdy: But I think what I need to do is, I think Thomas is sending you a couple of his. I need to send a couple of mine to Tiff. I think that's the plan.

Myke Hurley: There you go. Everyone's got to get hooked up. Yep. Brad, you mentioned a Field Notes stamp that you received, but couldn't remember the name. And then you posted it on Instagram. So, I'm going to put a picture of that in the show notes. And it is the Field Notes Guest Pass was what it was called.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, they got one of those stamps made. For when visitors come. And we were talking about it last week. And I just couldn't. I was just blanking on what it was called. But it's cool. They rotate the date around to the current date, date of visit. And then it has a little tour guide spot for the signature. Which BB stands for Mr. Brian Bedell. So, yeah. That was that. That was the failure on my part last week to remember. I love that the stamp is set in Futura.

Brad Dowdy: How could it not be? And how could I not get it on the Chicago Flag Edition? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Very smart. Very smart. I like that choice.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you have the choice of any of your books or any books you pick up there or whatever. I was like, well, I mean, y'all just came out with the Chicago Flag Edition. That's obviously really important to you guys. You're located right in the heart of Chicago. Kind of a no-brainer. Easy choice there.

Myke Hurley: The only other one would be Butcher. One of the Butchers.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I didn't bring any with me.

Myke Hurley: I think they'll punch you in the face, right?

Brad Dowdy: Like, if you got one of those out, like one of the originals. Just go around the counter. Yeah. Just go around the counter. Here, take this one.

Vanishing Point Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you know, did we talk about last week the stuff I saw in Chicago? At the pen show, the vanishing point? Is that why this next link is in the show notes here?

Myke Hurley: No, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So, you put in a link to the show notes about a Pilot Capitalist Vanishing Point original 1960s. That's up on eBay right now. I saw this pen at the Chicago pen show and I almost bought it. It was like a consideration for me to buy. Because it was there. It was in my hand. I got to look at it, see it. I don't think it's not this exact one.

Myke Hurley: So, this is the original design, right?

Brad Dowdy: I don't think it's the very, it's not the very first design. Because they were, their first designs were much simpler. They didn't have this level of detail with the black stripe patterns and things like that. This is the coolest looking one. This is probably the most popular vintage one. Just because of its style. The one I saw was in pristine condition. Didn't have a box and paperwork. Like, this one has the box and everything with it. Which is kind of crazy. So, the one I saw in Chicago, I very much considered it. And when I decided not to buy it, I texted Myke Dudek. I said, hey, Myke. They have something here you might be interested in. And I shot him over a text. And they were asking $650 for it, which I thought was a fair price.

Myke Hurley: Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Now, looking at this price, it's definitely a fair price. So, this one on eBay that we'll link in the show notes is $1,100.

Brad Dowdy: What do you think about this pen? Could you go $650 on this pen? I just couldn't feel like it was, no matter the cost, I felt like if I paid it, I couldn't use the pen. Like, I won't buy a pen unless I'm going to use it. I would have trouble using this pen. So, that was my hesitation. Not the money as much as the money plus the not using it. And I couldn't see myself using it very much.

Myke Hurley: If I was a big fan, you know, of the Vanishing Point, like a real big fan, like I had a bunch of them, I would go $650, I think. $650 is, like, it's expensive. But for, like, a really good vintage pen, like I can see going to that level. But $1,100? Yeah. I'm not so sure anymore. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Tiff, have you ever used a Vanishing Point?

Tiff Arment: I did at the pen show.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. What do you think about them? So, from your perspective, just for anyone who doesn't know you or isn't familiar with you or didn't get to meet you in Atlanta, you're pretty new to this whole fountain pen thing, right? You've always used pens and paper, and we're going to get into all this. But from a fountain pen perspective, you're pretty new.

Tiff Arment: Actually, not as new as you think. Cool. Yeah. So, it's not as new as you would think. But new to all the modern fountain pens and everything. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, what do you think about the Vanishing Point just as a pen? Like, I'm a fan. I use it. Myke, not so much. So, what is your take?

Tiff Arment: I think it's really cool, and it's definitely one that I would want in my collection because it's such a unique, cool design. And when Myke was showing them to me and we were looking at them at the pen show, I understand why Myke doesn't want it because you're left-handed and you can't hold it the way you want to, right? But I kind of fell in love with one of them. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: They're kind of pretty cool. They're kind of pretty cool. They are. They're beautiful. And that's what I got in Atlanta. I got my orange one in Atlanta. That made me happy to where I didn't feel like I needed the old school black stripe Vanishing Point. But I totally – I had to text Dudek about this because he is into these even deeper than I am. And I don't know. He thought about it. It was a good price, and it was interesting. But this one, $1,100 one, there's no chance.

Myke Hurley: So, whilst we're talking about Vanishing Point, so I was going to mention this later on, but I'll mention it now. Jeff sent over the ink to me that I bought in Atlanta. And he included in the package a 1990s version of the Vanishing Point.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. You got the green and chrome. It's faceted, right? Yep. The green faceted model. That's the best design they've ever done for a Vanishing Point, I think. It's very different. It generally looks the same as the modern ones, but it's much lighter. It's a touch thinner, and the clip is more integrated into the barrel. It's the best design. Obviously, they've been making them for over 50 years now. This is the best design that they did, and I wish they would go back to it, honestly. Do you know why I wish they would go back to it?

Myke Hurley: Because I can use it.

Tiff Arment: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Because the clip, the way that the clip is, it has a way lower profile. Yes. And it's much, much easier to hold. And I have been using it very happily over the last couple of days.

Myke Hurley: So I'm very pleased that I can use this, but I wish they would go back to this as well. Because this is a design style that I actually just think is more comfortable. And I can't 100% understand why they decided to make the clip protrude as much as they did. But this, I threw the cartridge in it that I have in my M90, the little purple Namiki cartridges. And I'm very, very happy with it. And so I'm very pleased that Jeff sent it to me. And I believe he sent this to me, if I remember correctly, because I gave him my... Yeah, I did. I sent him my original Vanishing Point that I bought way back in the day on the show, like my first big fountain pen purchase. Oh, gotcha. Because I never used it. And he liked it. So I sent it to him. So he sent this one to me. Cool. And I really, really like this pen a lot.

Brad Dowdy: I'd love for a pilot to sneak it in one year as a limited edition, just like they redid the M90 about five years ago. So I would like to see some kind of Vanishing Point anniversary with this integrated clip model back in play. That'd be cool.

Render K

Myke Hurley: No doubt about it. What is going on with the Render K?

Brad Dowdy: They are refreshing everything. We've known they've been doing this for a while. Karis Customs has been working on this for a while, relaunching the Render K in conjunction with the Fountain K. So when they, the original Render K fit Pilot High Tech Cs and they had some modifications to fit the G2, Pilot G2 refills. And it's still one of the pens I use the most. My High Tech C refill lives in it. Well, then they decided to make a fountain pen based on the general design of the Render K, but they, the parts didn't match up, which was fine. I mean, they just made it look like it, built it around a fountain pen nib and converter and grip section. And they've been working behind the scenes for the second version of the Render K to integrate with the fountain pen model, the fountain K. And they've finished it. They've, they've got all the integration done. You can actually buy a Render K barrel now with a section for a High Tech C or a G2 refill, depending on the style that you like. And you can just add in a section for the fountain pen and it'll fit right in your barrel, which I think is really cool what they did.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So it's basically, and also they have like conversion kits as well that you can buy for your existing ones. I think this is a great way of moving their product line forward. Yeah. Consolidating the pen barrels into one type makes so much sense considering that aesthetically they were that way. Um, this is like a, a sign of the maturity of Kairos Customs as a pen manufacturer now. That they're thinking about it from this way. It's exactly the type of thing that you're currently going through at NOC. Yes. Right? Yes. Like consolidating the product lines and working out how to push them forward by being smarter about your manufacturing choices.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So it helps them refine their manufacturing. It helps them come out with a cool new product. So it's like doubly beneficial. And then it benefits us as the consumers to get something pretty cool too. I mean, this is, this is really neat. I, I'm a, I'm a big fan of their pens obviously. And then what they did here was, was really cool. Just like when you, uh, when you bought your inks, you bought two of them. So you can have one fountain, one rollerball. Well, now you can just buy like one barrel and switch the sections around. I think that's pretty neat.

Cross Customs Pens

Brad Dowdy: Oh, and then, oh, did you see the, uh, the end of this newsletter, Myke? I did. Yeah. So this is the exciting part to me because I have a lot of the aluminum barrels. Um, they're offering up the del, basically Delrin and Micarta as barrel options just for barrels. So you can, these are like a barrel add-on. You can't buy a full pin. I think the way I read it, you can't buy the full pin with this barrel, but you buy the barrel as an add-on to your already, your, your grip section for the, the render K or the fountain K.

Myke Hurley: So it makes my Delrin render K only slightly special now, because I think one of the reasons that mine is special is the whole thing is made of Delrin. Yes. And I think the problem is the tolerances are too low. So they, you know, they wanted to make sure or too high, whatever one means it's hard to do. Uh, and, uh, so it means that I guess that they're not doing the grip sections for that reason. Maybe we should have Dan explain this to us at some point.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So I'm talking to Dan, I'm going to, uh, work on getting some samples and we'll get Dan back on to talk about all this new stuff. So they're going to launch later this month. So we'll probably have him on in June sometime to, to talk about this. Cause this is, this is a big change for them in a very, very positive way, very positive direction. So, um, I, I, I love seeing this. This was, this was an exciting, uh, exciting little newsletter.

Myke Hurley: Tiff, do you own any cross customs pens?

Tiff Arment: I do. Oh, I have one. I got one at the pen show. I feel like I have one of everything. Like I'm slowly getting one of everything. That's like my goal. And then I'm going to focus on the ones that I like the best and get more of those.

Brad Dowdy: One of us. You're totally one of us. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Talking about buying more pens. There's a place that you should buy more pens. And that's the pen chalet because they have an amazing catalog of stuff from all of your favorite brands, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, Kaweco, and many, many more. They have fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, roller balls. They have everything that you're looking for, all the accessories that you're going to need. They have great customer service. They do great discounts as well. They always have closeout specials every two weeks and discounts twice a month. So you can always just go back to pen chalet and see if that pen that you've had your eye on is now at a great discount. They also do great customer service and they believe in it. They have a satisfaction guarantee. If you're not happy, you let them know and they'll sort it out for you. Pen chalet have free shipping on the orders of $50 in the United States. They also ship and sell internationally as well. And they have great shipping rates and, you know, in some instances, you can also take advantage of a conversion rate, which might work in your favor, depending on where you are in the world as well. Go to penchalet.com and you want to click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password pen addict and you'll be able to get the 10% coupon code, which you can use on anything at pen chalet. And also you will find there some special offers, including this week's very special offer. You can get yourself 45% off the Lamy Filofax gift sets. I didn't even know these existed, but they're real cool. They have the Safari versions and AL star versions and they have matching colors between them in some instances, which is kind of nice. So you can pick yourself up a Filofax and Lamy gift set, which is awesome. I used to be big into Filofax when I was a kid. It was one of my first like big pen and stationary related things. I love Filofaxes and they are really cool. And if you want to keep that sort of stuff written down, Filofax is a great option. They're really expandable. And then you can get one with a lovely Lamy to go alongside it as well from the pen chalet. Thank you so much to pen chalet for the continued support of this show and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So this gift set's pretty cool. You can get the, you're basically getting the, the Filofax for free, but it's, it's like cheaper than the price of the Lamy Safari itself. And you get the Filofax notebook with it. And that's pretty cool. One of the other pens he had in there, Ron did was the, and I was looking at this yesterday is why I'm bringing it up. It's the Delta Dolce Vita skeleton. This is a crazy pen. I mean, it's like way too expensive and it's really not that good looking, but it's just kind of cool.

Brad Dowdy: This is a weirdo. It's like they designed it pretty much like a rib section, which is a little bit, you know, in the skeleton, in the skeleton, skeleton related. It's kind of cool and kind of scary at the same time. I don't know what to think about this pen. Um, but yeah, that's something to look at. I've been looking at Deltas ever since, uh, uh, our friend Joe, uh, made his, made his blog post about his, uh, his three favorite pens. And we're going to talk about that later in the show. But, uh, this is one that I had been looking at that I will not own, but it's kind of interesting in a creepy kind of way. I don't know what to think about it. Yeah. I don't like it. Yeah. It's a little much, a little much, but yeah. Um, thanks Ron. Thanks pen chalet. And, uh, we'll, we'll have some, uh, some fun pen chalet giveaways here at the end of the show to wrap up our Kickstarter project. So still a lot to get to on this show, including my mailbag.

Myke Hurley: Let's hear it. I've had a crazy mailbag this week. And so I want to go through some of the stuff that I got. My squire finally arrived from Baron Fig. Um, and I, there's a funny little story about it, I think. So, uh, I was like order number two or something like that for the squire. Cause we, we found out it was, it was happening just before it happened. Right. Right. And I was able to kind of just go and, uh, put the order on before we had the guys in for the show. So I'll put a link in the show notes for that. That was a, it was a great episode where we spoke to the Baron Fig guys and when they basically sent out all their updates and said, Oh, we've got everything shipped now. And I didn't have any shipment notification left it a little bit, nothing. So I sent them an email and they were like, Oh, something kind of got screwed up. Uh, we'll get one sent out to you. Like, sorry for the hassle. And they sent me a tracking number and stuff. And then it arrived and I got the notebooks, um, and the pen. And I realized my pen was not in the fancy box. It was in a different box. It was in just a regular box. I reckon they screwed something up and didn't have any of the Kickstarter models left. And I have a production model. It's the assumption that I've made. I'm not complaining. I just think it's funny. Um, like it was just this like whole weird thing, but yeah, I'm, I'm a little, I am a little bit bummed that I didn't get that fancy kind of pen stand box. Mine was just like a box. You open it up and the pen's just laying inside. Um, but I want to talk about the pen though, because I think it's fantastic. I really, really liked this pen a lot. Um, I love that they have the, uh, retro 51 style, the Schmidt, uh, refill in there. I think that's fantastic. Um, the texture on the aluminum is unlike a texture I felt, um, on an aluminum pen before. Um, it almost has like a kind of soft grippy touch to it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I, it's kind of satiny. Yes. That's a little describing it. Yeah. That's kind of what I, I don't know what the real name of that finish is, but that's, that's what I generally use for that type of finish. It's like, it's not matte. It's not smooth. It's kind of in between it's, it's satiny.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And I really liked that. It's very different. The size of the pen is interesting as well. It's not like a large full size kind of pen. Um, it's not as big as the retro's, uh, work. It kind of is a kind of around that sort of size, uh, but it's thinner as well. Um, it's quite, quite a nice profile to it. It's weighted real well. I liked that. It's got a slight kind of teardrop shape as you get to the grip. Um, and I found the mechanism to be very interesting and pretty much flawless. It's a, an interesting twist mechanism. Um, there are times where you can feel the mechanism moving. If that makes sense. Like you can feel that there's, it's kind of gripping on something. Um, but, but I found it to be very good and I will echo that. I really wish they went with just one logo on the barrel. Um, the sword logo would have been way cooler or just the Baron fig one. But yeah, I've got to say, love this pen. Really recommend it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. This pen's a winner in my book. Uh, they, they did a really, really good job with this. And honestly, I wasn't sure how it was going to come out. We never, none of us did until we got it into our hands and they pretty much nailed it. They did a good job on this pen.

Myke Hurley: I had faith they would do something good. I didn't think it would be this good for that first pen.

Brad Dowdy: Did you get in on this one? Uh, Tiff. I know you're a, you're a Kickstarter pen junkie too.

Tiff Arment: No, no. My Kickstarter pen days are over. Yeah, we'll get to that. I'm staying away from that with like the longest poll that you can find.

Myke Hurley: But these guys, they're local to you. They're, they're based out in New York. Yeah. Baron fig.

Tiff Arment: Oh, cool. Yeah. I'm just looking at the stuff now that you, as you guys are talking about it.

Baron Fig

Myke Hurley: Yeah. They have, they've kind of, um, they've really kind of exploded onto the scene, uh, in the last couple of years. Um, they're very prolific. They do lots and lots of stuff, but the stuff that they do is good quality. I've got to say.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I just don't use it that much because it's not very fountain pen friendly paper, but, um, like the small notebooks that they do, um, I think are pretty cool. They just did one called Explorer. That's probably their best looking one they've done yet. I mean, I'm not going to buy it just because I don't need more notebooks that I'm not going to use, but, um, it looks cool. They do a good job of designing them.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they do. They do. They do good stuff. Yes. I really liked that pen. Um, I like it a lot, but it was funny how it came to me. Uh, I mentioned that I had the inks come through. Um, so I have my bottle of Ackerman 28. Um, I was inking some stuff up yesterday. I'll put a link in the show notes to an Instagram photo of a slight explosion that occurred. Um, but I wanted to mention, cause we've mentioned Ackerman a bunch, but I don't think we've ever spoken about this. They have a really unique system for how the bottles work, um, for how to fill. So the, the Ackerman bottles, they're like, they have like a big reservoir at the bottom and then they have a really long neck. Um, and inside the neck is a ball. So what you do is with the, when it's, when the cap is screwed on, you turn the ink bottle upside down, turn it back around again. The ball blocks the hole and then you have ink in the neck. So it's always possible to get to the very bottom of the bottle. And I think it's just a genius filling system. Yeah. It's fantastic.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, not only are their inks great and everyone loves the ink, they're actually famous for the bottle.

Myke Hurley: Um, I assume that this bottle is patented to the hilt because why would more people not do this?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm not sure about the patent, but what they did, what you and I have missed out on before we got into these Ackerman inks is they even made a larger size bottle. Um, I think 150 milliliter bottle. I think these are 50. Um, so you can imagine a triple size of what you currently have with the same shape and design and same filling system. Um, when I work for Van Ness at pen shows, we keep an empty bottle full of water there so we can show people and they usually go, Oh, okay. I need one of those. It's a great selling point. I love, uh, they're really, really cool. And, uh, I mean, yeah, they wouldn't be as cool, uh, if the inks, uh, weren't any good, but the inks are fortunately awesome. Um, so you just get the cool bottle on top of that. I mean, you can't really beat it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I'm big fan, big fan of that. I think it's awesome. And also that green is amazing.

Brad Dowdy: Good. I'm glad you went with that one. That's one of my favorite inks easily.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So I picked that up from Venice. Uh, they said, they sell it online. I'm sure. Yes. Yes. Ackerman number 28. 28. I'll put a link in the show notes so people can, can go and find that if they so desire. Uh, that isn't the only thing that I've had though. This morning, my, uh, tornado retro tornado, uh, surfing showed up. Um, I bought it from the pen shed in the UK, as I mentioned before. I love that we have pen chalet and pen shed.

Brad Dowdy: The pen shed cracks me up. That's an amazing name. It's not lost on me.

Myke Hurley: They are the official retro 51 dealer in the UK. Yeah. Um, mine showed up today. You know, they're numbered, right? Yes. I have number two. Oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah. I don't know how or why number two was sent to the pen shed, right? Like I don't know why out of everywhere they got the number two, but now I have it.

Brad Dowdy: So they, they must have known one of those was going to you and then that the pen shed would get hook you up.

Myke Hurley: I kind of in my heart of hearts, hope that's what happened. Cause they, retro 51 knew that I was going to be ordered. Cause they told me to order through pen shed. Yes. So if they did, thank you retro. Uh, I love this one. This is gone right to the top of my list. This is beautiful. Uh, it's like an acrylic plastic, I guess. Right. Um, it just looks like a surfboard. It has little ridges in it where the, the extra colors are. Um, and it has a blue cap right on the end. Would you call that a finial? Yes. Yeah. Um, I love this model. I'm using it today. So if you want to know what I'm using today, that's what I'm using today to, to write my show notes with.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So this is, I mean, they come out with so many additions and you know, we, we all buy several of them. This one is the first like insta buy that I've had in a, in a while. Um, just because the vintage surf is still my favorite one and it's still my most used one. And so any, uh, any other surf related to, uh, to pair up with my vintage surf, that was a easy, easy purchase for me. So I haven't even used it yet. It's sitting on my desk. I've got so much stuff to, to go through.

Myke Hurley: So now we have this vintage surfboard, uh, and now the new one too, which is kind of cool. Um, the Atlanta pen show, I think completely reinvigorated my love of pens.

Myke Hurley: My table here, my desk here is just covered in pens right now. Um, I'm using more stuff. I am rotating things out. I'm using different pens every day to take my show notes and stuff with. Uh, I'm feeling happy right now with everything. And I still haven't completely unpacked from Atlanta. Oh, wow. There's still a lot of stuff just sitting in the case. Um, like the, my big kind of folder, I brought so much stuff that I now feel like somehow I don't have all the, I don't have enough space to put it all back and I don't really know what happened. It must just be all the stuff that I bought in Atlanta is now pushed everything else away. But yeah, I am. So thank you everybody, Atlanta, because you, you've done something to me because now I've just got pens all over my desk and I'm trying, I'm playing around with more stuff again and I'm feeling real great. So, cause then I was kind of going into a bit of a funk, um, leading up to Atlanta. Like, I don't want to buy anything. I don't use anything. Well, now I don't feel like that anymore. I'm buying everything.

Brad Dowdy: That definitely happens to me.

Tiff Arment: Buy all the things.

Brad Dowdy: I definitely go in cycles like that. Um, where it's, I'm definitely in an all or nothing kind of thing. And what I've found from Atlanta and Chicago right after is being so involved into all these fountain pens has actually made me want to use different things besides fountain pens because I've been using them so much. So I'm, you know, back into the exploring the gel and the pencils and all kinds of different things like that. So yeah, I agree, but for a different reason.

Myke Hurley: All right. So Tiff, it's your time. So you just came back from, from the Atlanta pen show as we did a few weeks ago. Uh, this was your first pen show.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. Yeah. And I think I pretty much reacted the way that you said that you reacted at your first pen show. You just kind of went berserk running around buying all the pens. Yeah. I pretty much did that.

Myke Hurley: I feel now that this is just the correct way to act at your first pen show. I think you're just going to get it all out of your system.

Tiff Arment: Like a pen buying lunatic.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think I'm good with that in retrospect. Just, you know, come in and be a crazy person for your first pen show. Why, why not?

Tiff Arment: Yeah. It's so overwhelming. Like all of a sudden, all the things that you get to look at on the computer, like online, and now you get to try them and write with them and play with this and everyone's showing you their pens. And you're like, oh my gosh, I want all these things. There's so many different things. And then you're like, okay, I'll buy them all. There's one. There's one. There's one.

Tiff Arment: So now I have this whole arsenal.

Myke Hurley: You mentioned about the fact that like your, your love of pens has run deep. Like explain this then. Cause you, I think you were kind of teasing that.

Tiff Arment: Well, you had sent me, um, the TWSBI eco and, um, the pilot, uh, Metro for Christmas this year. And so that kind of started all of this right now, but back in, I guess, well, I was going through all my stuff. I started to dig out all the things that I had in the past. And I thinking it was like middle school, early high school, based on the friends names I have written in all of these books. I had a calligraphy set from Schaefer. And so I had a whole bunch, I had two fountain pens with, um, all the interchangeable nibs and the cartridges and, um, pots of ink. And I even had one of those sets that kind of looks like, um, I don't know, like Ben Franklin he, like, uh, nib holder and like the little ink pot. And, um, I had a whole bunch of those, um, the wax ceiling stamps and, you know, all those stationary sets. I had all that stuff cause I thought I was going to be a writer. So I, I just had all this stuff, right. And I would always play with it and trying to have beautiful calligraphy handwriting. But I just thought I was just, I don't know, like a one-off person that was kind of interested in this world, I guess you would say. And, you know, you, you play with that when I was a teenager and it was fun and it was kind of like a little art experiment, I guess. And then it kind of faded away. And I, I, uh, hand addressed all my wedding invitations and every time I'd send, um, thank you notes to people, I'd always like wax seal it and do all that kind of dorky stuff. But which I thought was like, so dorky, right. So I'm like, Oh, I'm just, I'm the only, I never got letters with all that stuff involved with it. And, but I always would send letters with all that. And now, like when you were saying, Oh, a pen podcast, I was like, yeah, right. Like, you know, this pen podcast, I didn't listen for the longest time. And cause I was just into other things, you know, as you get older and then we started talking about it. And when you sent me those pens and then I really started listening and it just, it just reinvigorated everything. It was like, wow, there's like a whole bunch of people out there that have all this stuff. And there's companies that are making brand new pens and there's like vintage pens and there's this and there's that. And it's not just, you know, weird little box sets in very expensive stationery stores. That, you know, you buy and you play around with and, you know, they're kind of like a mockery of real pens, you know, or like, you know, like the like show pizzas, like, Oh, look at this fake antique.

Tiff Arment: So yeah, I guess, you know, it's always been there, but it's always been one of those things that's like, Oh, I just thought I liked this stuff. I didn't know it was a thing that a whole bunch of people were really into. And it's like, I found my people all of a sudden. This was like, Oh my God.

Myke Hurley: Exactly what happened to me and why the show exists. Right. It's like, I had this like long interest in these things from when I was a kid. And then I found Brad. My life changed.

Tiff Arment: I feel like that's what happened.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm sitting here grinning from ear to ear because the story that you tell about, it takes a different kind of person to go into the store, you know, a decade or more ago and come out with like one of the calligraphy type sets, right? You know, okay, you're into writing a little bit. You know, you like certain things about the writing or the artistic part of it. Um, and you can find these calligraphy sets, you know, in some random office supply store and come home with it and play with it. And it's pretty cool. And, but you kind of keep that hidden to yourself, right? You know, none of your friends are, are into that, or you're not really showing this off to anyone, but you went out there and bought it. And there's so many other people that did that too. Like I've done that, you know, back when you can't, you know, before the age we're in now where we can find all this stuff. We all did it like in our own little secret way and we all have that same little story about going to buy that calligraphy set. It's the exact same thing. Um, and I'm just sitting here grinning because there's so many people that have gone through these steps and then all of a sudden they're here now and their eyes have been opened a little bit and they're like, number one, oh my God, this is amazing. And then, oh my God, what did I get myself into?

Tiff Arment: I think that's why it was so easy to buy so much stuff at the pen show because it's like, I've been waiting years to have this happen to me. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, I, I have all of this, um, accumulated stuff that it's not even, it's not high end. It's not special. It's just, you know, like I would find like little things here and there and bring them home and like them. And, but it's like, all of a sudden this feels so right. Like the barrier to entry was so low because I was, I was primed and ready for it. You know what I mean? Yeah. So like, it's just, it's wonderful. And it's such an easy thing to fall in love with. You know, they're small, they're compact, they're useful. Like that's why it's pens are just, it's so great. You could change the eggs. Like there's so much variety, you know, variety and it's, it's just delightful. It has just been making me so incredibly happy and fulfilled. I can just sit here and write, you know, the letter W 12,000 times in a notebook and be completely satisfied.

Brad Dowdy: Oh man, that's exactly right. So I think one of the, one of the first things that we talked about when I first realized that you were into pens was kind of funny. Um, I think we were in the, in the relay Slack room and you had mentioned you got this fountain pen and you were talking to Myke about it and like how to fill it and what do you need to use? And then Myke and I kind of had a light bulb moment and said, wait a second, which pen is this? Are you talking about? And you go, it's one I got from Kickstarter. And we both kind of went, Oh no, we both, we both knew without knowing what pen you bought and you bought the visionary, didn't you?

Tiff Arment: I did. It was one of those, like I said, you find these one-off things and you're like, Oh, I had these, you know, crappy Schaefer fountain pen, you know, like from the box set kind of thing. And I was like, Oh, okay. Maybe I should get something. You know, this is years ago too, right? Like, it's like, Oh, I'm all over Kickstarter. That was like when Kickstarter was awesome and you just kept buying a thousand things from them. I'm still waiting for my animal stackers, which were like six years ago. But yeah, like I just, I was like, Oh, this is, this looks cool. You watch the little video. It's all intriguing. I didn't know what I was looking at. And I was like, maybe I should get a really nice fountain pen and try this out. So that's why I went for it. Yeah. How'd that work out for you?

Tiff Arment: It's kind of the worst.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's pretty much the same experience that everyone had. And Myke, Myke was such a, Myke's a team player. He took one for the team and he ordered one. So I didn't have to. And yeah, it's, it's pretty much everyone's had the same experience, but man, that, that guy got everybody, man. He marketed the heck out of it.

Tiff Arment: It was like, it was, I have a little handwritten thank you note, actually.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, he did a beautiful, beautiful job selling this pen. And yeah, but that's how we first, that's how we finally kind of first realized, or at least I first realized that, okay, Tiffany's into fountain pens a little bit, you know, that someone would buy the Visionaire on Kickstarter. That's actually pretty cool in the, in the grand scheme of things. And now, you know, that, that, that little hook is, is, is set. And now we can kind of say, okay, now here's the real stuff you need to look at.

Myke Hurley: And, uh, well, this is exactly what I did. As soon as I saw that Tiff owned the Visionaire, that was why I sent her the fountain pen care package of the Yomko and the Metropolitan. It's like, no, use these.

Tiff Arment: This will make this right.

Brad Dowdy: These are two really great pens. You're going to like these ones instead. Yeah. Yeah. So now we're shopping for Nakaya's, right?

Tiff Arment: Ugh.

Myke Hurley: All right. Let's, let's go back a moment to, to see how this has happened. Because Tiff, you have an, and I made this joke about a hundred times at the pen show. Uh, you have taken the quickest acceleration from Visionaire to buying a Sean Newton pen that I think anybody could have ever taken.

Tiff Arment: Well, I like what I like. I know. And, uh, it's around.

Newton Pen

Myke Hurley: But so at the Atlanta pen show, one of your purchases was a, a Newton pen, which was beautiful. It's beautiful. And it was, the kind of, kind of the material was like a Tiffany pattern, right? Like, I think it was one of the reasons it sold you on it.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. It's a Tiffany case, which is kind of like a, um, uh, vintage plastic made out of, made from like milk, really. You know, it's very, um, it's yeah. And the pattern, it's a pattern, uh, Tiffany stained glass pattern. I don't know. I just fell in love with it. So it felt like the right one. So I bought it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's a stunner. I know you showed it to me and I had seen that pen before and I was like, oh, that's just such a good looking pen. And I love the way that material looks in any, in any pen. Um, and I've seen a few and I've seen, I've seen like a few rods of that before they've gotten made into pens and yours turned out wonderfully. Have you been using it like constantly? Is that like one of the pens?

Tiff Arment: I've been using it a lot. I've definitely been using it a lot. I'm trying to find the right ink for it. You know what I mean? You know exactly what I mean. I'm really, um, I've tried like three different inks in it now and man, that button filler is crazy. I have turned my hands many different colors. Thanks button filler. But other than that, like it's, it's beautiful because I'm trying to like keep it because he said, don't get the case in wet. So I, it's very tricky. I'm, I'm still very delicate with it, but. Oh, wow. How do you clean it? I, I'm still really confused, honestly, on how to clean it. Um, it's very, I don't know. It's you, you prime it a little bit with some water and then you squirt it out and then you fill it again. I've managed to fill it twice. So, um, but it's been a disaster both times, but, uh, I'm still looking for like the right ink for it, but I have been using it a lot because it's just so lovely and the balance of it's beautiful. I just, I just love it. It's more, I feel like this pen that, that the Sean Newton pen is more of like a work of art, you know, it looks, it looks beautiful on my desk and it's also, it writes gorgeous.

Myke Hurley: So, so I found a picture of the pen that I'm going to put in the show notes from Sean's Instagram, which also tells the part of an interesting little story about this pen, um, which we found out after you purchased it. Yeah. Yeah. We were accosted by Thomas Hall. Naturally. Uh, basically Sean had made this pen and sold it, but loved it so much. He brought it back. Like he bought it back from this person and then had it at the Atlanta show and then sold it to you.

Tiff Arment: He did.

Myke Hurley: Oh, wow.

Brad Dowdy: That's, I didn't realize that. That's quite the story.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. There's a, the Instagram photo that I'm going to put in the show notes is of basically Sean took the picture when he was so happy that he got the pen back.

Tiff Arment: I've seen that one too.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So that's, that's like a really interesting story in it. And, and then we kind of said to him like, are you sure about this? He's like, yeah, but you can have it.

Myke Hurley: And it is an absolute stunner. My favorite part of this pen is the, like the, the purple, I think it was a called something web, purple web.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. The purple web. I think it's celluloid.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah.

Tiff Arment: Yeah.

Pen Purchases

Myke Hurley: That is just stunning. So you bought that. And what else did you buy at the pen show?

Tiff Arment: Oh, what didn't I buy at the pen show? This really should be the question.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's the way to do it. Oh, you got a Franklin Kristoff of a music nib, right?

Tiff Arment: I did. I got, I got that. I got a Karis Customs. I got a Parker 41, which Brad helped me purchase from the, the lovely and, oh, come on.

Brad Dowdy: The lovely and talented Susan Wirth.

Tiff Arment: Yes. Thank you.

Brad Dowdy: That pen. I've actually fallen in love with that pen. I almost bought that pen for me in Chicago. I just didn't get around to doing it.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. The debutante one.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Because it's such a cool color. That blue color with the, and the way the cap's designed is really, really good looking.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. The cream color. It's so pretty. It's so pretty. It writes really nice too. And, you know, she's replaced the bladder fill system. So it's, it fills and writes wonderful. And I also got a-

Myke Hurley: What is it called?

Tiff Arment: The debutante. Debutante. Yeah. Parker 41. I like that. They come in different colors, but I have the teal one.

Myke Hurley: I've actually found a picture of the exact one that you have, which is great. Like, it's like the teal with the white cap and the kind of gold. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tiff Arment: That's it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's beautiful. It is beautiful. So you've got a vintage pen, a Newton pen, a Franklin Christophe. Yeah.

Tiff Arment: I got another vintage Waterman flex nib pen.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Tiff Arment: Man, I got so much stuff.

Brad Dowdy: We should have given Tiff the scavenger hunt. That would have been like the pen addict scavenger hunt. Buy a modern pen, buy a custom pen, buy a vintage pen.

Tiff Arment: I did all those things. You did them all.

Brad Dowdy: You checked all the boxes.

Myke Hurley: I did.

Tiff Arment: I even got a retro 51 too, so.

Myke Hurley: Well, you have to. That's a given. So what are you doing with these?

Tiff Arment: Right now, I'm just like writing, filling up notebooks with like writing the same word over and over and over again, trying to make it look perfect. Um, or just doing little doodles. And I just feel like I'm writing all the time, but it's nonsense. You know, like I'll write out song lyrics or I'll make lists that are actually useful for something I need to do. But, um, yeah, I just, I'm constantly using them because I just really like the way they feel and I hope to do some like lettering artwork with them and various things that I've seen on Pinterest and other people that I very much admire. They're the things that they write with them, but I'm working up to that because I'm still practicing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I've put in the show notes, a couple of pictures that you tweeted. One was an Instagram photo. One was on Twitter. Like of you just playing around with the pens. Um, which I think, I mean, that's exactly, that's what, I mean, I said like I've been using stuff. That's what I've been doing. Like I just filled up a whole page of a notebook yesterday of just little scribbles and words with the new stuff that I've been receiving. And every now and then when I pick up my sky at night pen.

Tiff Arment: Oh, that pen, Myke. I love that.

Myke Hurley: Cause it sits on my desk always in its little stand and I just pick it up cause it's so impractical to write anything with, right? The music nib is just makes it impossible. So I just sit and just draw little boxes and write little words. And I'm just finding again, like you are like just an enjoyment in just using the stuff again, which is just awesome.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. It's, I have notebooks filled with garbage. Like it just looks like scribbly garbage and some of it looks cool and I'll take a picture of it for Instagram, but most of it's garbage, but it's, it's all about the practice, right? So when I go to a pen show and I sit down and I'm like, oh yeah, let me test your pen. And then I look at beautiful flourished handwriting. I'm like, oh, that's just me. I'm just that talented.

Tiff Arment: I didn't practice for 12 weeks straight writing one letter.

Myke Hurley: This just flows from my hands. I can't even help it.

Tiff Arment: The talent just oozes from my pores.

Myke Hurley: So, uh, you expect to return to the Atlanta pen show?

Tiff Arment: Oh, absolutely. It will certainly be a yearly pilgrimage. I had such a great time. I met so many amazing people and learn so much. It just, it was just a great, amazing weekend away surrounded by things that pretty much only I like in my current life circle. You know what I mean? So yeah, it was great. I went on a road trip with a friend of mine, uh, this weekend and I talked her ear off about pens and I'm pretty sure she was like, okay, great. Wow. Super interesting.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to drop you off here, right?

Tiff Arment: Make your own way back. Well, I was the one driving, so she was stuck with me. But yeah.

Myke Hurley: All right. There's a little topic that came up, um, from Joe Crace about top three pen brands. And we're going to talk a little bit about that because it's an interesting kind of thought experiment to go through. But before we do that, let me thank Harry's for sponsoring this week's episode. It's time to stop compromising on your shave and get started with Harry's. If for some reason you have yet to make that switch over to Harry's razors, I know that you're going to be paying too much for a comfortable shave or you've settled for a lower quality razor. Don't do that to your skin. Get Harry's. Get a good shave at a good price. It's simple. You can get the best of both. Harry's make their own blades and that's how they can guarantee this. They can make sure that they have great quality German engineered five blade cartridges that are going to give you a close, comfortable shave because they make them. And because they make them, they can keep the cost down. And on average, an everyday shaver saves over $150 a year when they use Harry's. Over one million people have switched to Harry's and you should be one of them. You won't need to be wrestling to get blades from behind plexiglass cases anymore. You'll be able to order online and be at the checkout within 30 seconds and they'll be shipped to your door for free. Harry's have a set called the Truman. It's just $15 and you're going to get yourself a razor, moisturizing shave cream and three razor blades. It's time to stop overpaying for a great shave. Go to harrys.com right now. You'll get $5 off when you use the coupon code PENADDICT with your first purchase. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.com. Coupon code PENADDICT to check out. You'll get a special $5 off. You're going to end up with products that look great, feel great, smell great. Thank you so much to Harry's for supporting this show and RelayFM.

Myke Hurley: All right. So I saw this link in your newsletter, Brad, as I do every week. And I will once again thoroughly recommend that people go and sign up and become a PENADDICT member at PENADDICT.com slash members because Brad does one of my, if not favorite, one of my kind of top two favorite email newsletters. It's actually an email I look forward to receiving, which is very rare in my life. Well, thank you. So you should go and read that. And one of the things that I found was in the newsletter was from our friend Joe Crace at the Gentleman Stationer. And Joe wrote a post about his three favorite pen brands. And this isn't something that we talk about. We talk about our favorite pens, right? Quite a lot. And we have what our new favorites are and our top five pens. But brands is a different thing because, you know, this kind of requires that you know a little bit more about the company or have a lot more than just the one pen. So I want to start because I think mine are the least exciting.

Myke Hurley: I have my three and I kind of have a runner up. We have Tiff on the show. Tiff hosts top four. So I've gone for four, right? That's how it works.

Brad Dowdy: That's how it works. You're going to cheat just like Marco.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. I'm taking a page out of Marco's book and just refusing to pick the amount that even I set for myself.

Retro 51

Myke Hurley: I chose to do this topic. I chose to pick three, but I'm picking four. So the first one for me isn't obvious, which is Retro 51. I think as a brand, I think that nobody even comes close to what they're able to do at the price point that they give. Um, their pens are very affordable. They work fantastically and they look incredible and they have loads of different styles. I can't think of any pen company that hits those three things. You know, like for all of the reasons that we love field notes, I think Retro 51 fits right in with them. They're like, for me, they go side by side. It's a great product at fair price and they have loads of interesting additions so you can create your own little collection or just buy the ones that speak to you. Um, and Retro 51 continues to be a pen that I am able to give to anyone and they're going to enjoy it. Like, uh, on the bagel episode of top four, uh, you hand Marco a pen at the beginning and I know it was a Retro 51 because of how I reacted to it. Right.

Tiff Arment: Which I've had for years. I had that so long and then I found it again and, uh, actually got a refill that wasn't dried out. And yeah, they're, they're great. But yeah, Marco was even like, oh yeah, I guess if I wrote anything with it, I actually wrote things down. I might enjoy this maybe, but I was like, oh, you're the worst. How could you not appreciate this?

Myke Hurley: It's just a superb pen through and through. Uh, my next company is Rotring because I have a, you know, I have a love for mechanical pencils. I haven't been using them as much recently because I've been using all my new fountain pens. Um, but I just think from a design perspective and from a quality perspective, it's, it's hard to beat Rotring. They, their stuff is incredible and their mechanical pencils are just so good. They are just so good. I love the best. And then my next one was a little, my third pick was a little bit more difficult. Um, because I only have one sailor pen, but that's who I've picked as my third. Um, and it's purely because my pro gear is so good. Like that, that sailor pro gear is so incredible. Uh, that I just, and every other pen that I've used, I only own one sailor, but every other pen that I've used just confirms why they are so amazing. Right. All of their stuff looks so good. Um, they do crazy things like King of pen. Right. Um, and I love the colors that they do. They do interesting special editions like that pink one that you have. Um, yeah, I think sailor are just a clear choice. Like the materials that they use are great. Their nibs are fantastic. And the quality that you can get at the price point that they offer, um, is amazing. Like they're like $200 or whatever, but they are way better than other $200 pens. Like just flat out. Um, so sailor is my, my third pick. Like my runner up is pilot. Um, just because some of the, some of the stuff that I have from them is fantastic, but it's all the older stuff. Uh, I don't really feel like for me anyway, that they do as much anymore that I love, you know, but you know, I look at the M90 and now this new vanishing point and it's like, how, you know, how can I not pick them? Um, but they, I think for me anyway, their vintage lines are way better than the current.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Uh, if we were doing a, just a vintage, vintage pen palettes, vintage palettes, old stuff is amazing.

Myke Hurley: Like it's yeah, they, they had and have still, but really it shine their sense of style. Um, just unparalleled and, uh, just say, look, I know that it's, it's a shame when you're just going back to your old stuff and reissuing it, right? Because you're not really giving yourself room to grow, but they should just reissue everything they've ever made forever and we'll all be happy.

Brad Dowdy: I'd be okay with that as you'll, as you'll see when we get to my list.

Myke Hurley: All right, Tiff. Um, what do you think?

Tiff Arment: Well, I had trouble with this topic because I have one of everything pretty much. Uh, the only ones I have multiple of are pilot and it's hit or miss, you know, like, uh, I really like the metropolitan, but I really don't like the, um, Pereira. I think that's the other one I have. Yeah. Um, I don't like that one. I got it cause I thought I would like it. I don't. Um, so I, I just, I had really, I had a, I don't know. I guess I was trying to think of, all right, of the ones that I do have the one-offs of pretty much everything, which would I want more of? And that was also a tricky question because I really liked the Waterman, uh, flex nib that I got the vintage Waterman that I got at the pen show and I love flex nibs, but I don't really care for the way, uh, the Waterman styling is. And I don't know anything about their modern line. So I couldn't really pick that one. I really love the aesthetics of Parker pens. I love their, the arrow clip and just the way a lot of them look in the way that they're styled, but I haven't written with a lot of them to really know besides the, uh, Parker 41 that I have, which is an older pen also. So I couldn't really pick that. I love my TWSBI Eco, but I, I think I love it because it's, um, a one point, it's a 1.1 stub nib. And I think I like 1.1 stub nibs. So I'm not sure if it's the TWSBI, especially cause they don't have a lot of variety in their line. It seems like the, a lot of them look similar. I like demonstrator pens. So that's probably why I like that particular one. And I'm also a little dubious about their, um, quality because a lot of people say that there's breaks. So I didn't really want to pick that either. And I like my, I have two Lamy's now and I really like them a lot, but again, they just, they write beautiful and smooth, but the, it seems like the only difference between them are color and I don't feel the need to have all the colors. So I couldn't pick them either.

Myke Hurley: I struggled with Lamy and TWSBI, um, to not put them on the list. Cause I've had such great results with them, but there's just things that both of them do, which is like, I just can't pick you. Like TWSBI seem to have sorted out a lot of their problems, but their problems that they've had in the past is like, I can't, I can't in good faith say that you're one of my favorite brands cause I don't know how you're going to go along. And Lamy, it's like, I love my Lamy pans, but they just don't, they just don't set that fire off in me. You know, like I have Safaris, I have AL Stars, I have a 2000. Um, you should look at getting a 2000, by the way, I'm just going to say that. Uh, but you know, I, they, they just don't, they just don't excite me in the way that the others do.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's how I, I felt about them too. And I have two TWSBI's now and they kind of write the same, you know what I mean? Like they're not, uh, they're useful. I pick them up. I do want to use them. Um, the same with the Lamy is I very much want to use them. Let me see which Lamy's I have. Um, I have a Safari and I have, um, the one from, um, Father Kyle, which was the. It's the AL Star, I think. Yes. Yeah, that's right. And yeah. So, and then I was thinking about Retro 51 too, but again, I don't feel the need to in myself to like collect all the different types. You know, I'll pick like the one or two that I think are very attractive and I love the way they write and I like having them, but I wouldn't pick it as, you know, that's it. The end all be all. And I guess so like, you know, those are all the ones that I had and I have a couple others. Uh, but again, I, I just, I don't know yet. I don't know which one's my brand to cross joke, but, uh, yeah. Yeah. So I, I'm still, I'm still finding, I'm still going to find, I'm going to, I mean, there's a lot out there still that I haven't bought or use. There's a lot of brands out there that, um, you know, the price points get higher and higher. So I haven't delved into many of them yet, but I haven't found the one that's hooked me completely. I, pens in general have hooked me. So I'm happy with that. That, that satisfies me.

Myke Hurley: Aside from Nakaya, are there any brands that maybe you own pens of or that you want to, that you want to dive into more? Like, are there any that are like, I want to explore, kind of explore what these pens offer?

Tiff Arment: I feel like I want one of everything.

Myke Hurley: Uh-huh. That's normal. Very normal. That's completely normal.

Tiff Arment: You know, like I have a Pinterest board of like all the pens that I like. I love the, um, uh, I'm sorry if I pronounce everything wrong. Um, Visconti. Yeah. I, I really love the look of a lot of their pens, but again, like you, Myke, their clip bothers me.

Myke Hurley: Good. I'm pleased that you feel that way. Cause I feel like I'm slowly becoming the only person that feels like this. No, no.

Tiff Arment: I look at how beautiful their pens are. And then that clip is just like, oh, it's like a, oh, it's like a spoiler. Like, it's just, I don't need a wing to keep my pen on the desk. You know what I mean? Like it's so big. Um, so I haven't really, I've written with them at the pen show and I really like a lot of their styles. I don't have one and I don't know a ton about them. So I couldn't really pick that. Um, you know, the Nakai is again, like they're beautiful and I can see there's a lot of variation in the nibs. And so that's exciting. And again, like I don't have one, so, uh, I don't really feel like I can pick that as like, this is it. This is going to be my brand. Um, so I don't know. Yeah. Again, sailor too. I don't have any sailors, although I am aching to find one of those turquoise ones. I want that to be my first and I don't think they make them in the United States. So I'm going to find it.

Myke Hurley: I didn't even know they had turquoise ones, but it doesn't surprise me that they do.

Tiff Arment: Oh, it's like secret. I found it at, uh, Aesthetic Bay.

Myke Hurley: You're so, every now and then, like you say something, I'm like, oh, you're further into this than I thought you were. Like it's just every 10 minutes. There's just another thing. It's like, oh, okay. You found that then.

Tiff Arment: My kid's at school. So I got some time.

Pilot

Brad Dowdy: That's amazing. All right, Brad, what you got? The first two were easy, like no thought. And actually number one is easy. Number one is Pilot.

Brad Dowdy: They fit my aesthetic perfectly. They fit, um, my style, the way I like to use pens, the different filling systems, the big converters, um, that they do a demonstrator look in almost everything that they do, which I enjoy. But what really always keeps me coming back to Pilot is I know for a fact that I'm going to get a spot on nib, no matter if I'm going with a steel nib pen or going with a gold nib pen from Pilot. I don't know that I've ever had an issue with them, um, from a, from a nib standpoint, straight out the box. They're always spot on. So they do a great quality manufacturing, great QC leaving the factories and they're great. What's also cool about Pilot is that when you start getting, making that transition from steel nibs, you want to try gold nibs. So their price points are wonderful. Like you can get a really good quality pilot pen with a gold nib in some cases for under a hundred dollars. If you shop around, um, definitely pretty much everything in their gold nib lineup is between a hundred and $200. Even like the custom heritage nine 12, which just started becoming available in the U S, which is kind of their, their larger size. That's it's like the, um, the pro gear, the standard pro gear from sailor, that size of pen, it's a really good quality pen, really good value, really good gold nib. And they have lots of different options. Like they have the, um, the Falcon nibs, which gives you a little bit of flex and they have stub nibs and they do a lot of cool things. So I like the variation. I like the quality. I like their fine nib is probably like my number one stock nib to get, um, to fit my writing style. It always writes wonderfully. So I'm a huge fan of Pilot also because like I mentioned earlier, I just love the history of the company and the vintage designs that they did. And that plays in a lot to what I'm currently using. Um, you know, knowing that I've, this is the company that made all these cool things before and I have some of those cool things and now I have some of their modern pens and I don't know, it just kind of all, all, uh, kind of goes together. That's my favorite brand. Second is sailor for a lot of the reasons that you discussed, Myke, even though you only have one, they, you can see it in them that they just do cool stuff. Like Pilot is generally straightforward. They make all these products, they make really cool colors right out the gate. And then that's kind of what they do. And then every year they'll introduce the new ones. Sailor does that. And then they just double that with all kinds of random stuff that they do. Interesting colors, um, crazy materials, um, great designs. You know, they work with a lot of individual companies. Like we were talking about aesthetic Bay or, you know, like I'm a fan of bung box and they do custom designs for all these different shops. And that's where you can really get in trouble with their, with your wallet. I'm trying to find all these different sailors that, um, have all these great colors and designs that you can only get at this one store. And, um, they, they're just fabulous looking. They have a huge range of nib options, which you'll see this in my list. This is why I like end up going with certain brands. They do a ton of different stock nib options. And then they have a whole lineup of specialty nib options where you can, you know, you can get all kinds of crazy things built into the nib. Um, you know, you gotta pay for it, of course, but just out of their stock nibs, they do a hard fine nib, which is one of my favorite nibs. And I've been able to pick two of them up because people don't like them. People purchase the hard fine nib, think they're going to like them. They don't like how firm the nib is and how fine it, it writes. Both of my pro gears have hard fine nibs.

Myke Hurley: Hard fine nib sounds like my idea of hell.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, me too.

Tiff Arment: It sounds like the worst.

Brad Dowdy: It's totally a nail and it's awesome because it's so smooth, but it's nail hard. And both of mine, both of my pro gears have a hard fine nib and both of them are secondhand because the people who bought them didn't like them. So if you have hard fine nibs to sell and you're having a hard time, I'm your guy. It's like a great aftermarket that you have eaten up.

Tiff Arment: Send all the wet sloppy broads my way. Yep. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So my orange pro gear has a hard fine and then my imperial black has a hard fine nib and both of those I bought used because the people didn't like the hard fine and they wanted to go another route. So after pilot and sailor, it got really, really hard for me. I didn't know what I was going to pick for number three. And the reason you brought this article up was because Joe picked Delta for his third pin and it didn't so much surprise me as much as made me realize I have never used a Delta pin, maybe other than for a second in passing, like at a pin show. It's just never entered my brain. They make this really cool orange material that they're kind of known for. I don't know why I don't have it being a fan of orange that I am. I should have a Delta pin and I just never have. I'm going to go see Joe here in about a month. I'm going to be up in his neck of the woods. So I'm going to have to try his Deltas out and I'll report back. But it was hard for me to pick a third. I didn't know, you know, like Nakaya would be the easy answer.

Brad Dowdy: But it felt weird putting that on the list and I'm not sure why. Um, Edison was a consideration, um, just because I really like what, what Brian does and the materials he used in the, and how he kind of steps out when making filling systems and things like that. But in the end I went with Franklin Kristoff and I think they just kind of have this coolness factor that works for me. I like that they experiment with colors and that they experiment with barrel shapes and designs. I like the fact that I can get extreme nibs like Masayama needlepoint or a fine cursive italic that you can't get anywhere else. Um, I like the fact that the materials and the style that they design with are easy to eyedropper. You can eyedropper pretty much any of their pens, at least all the ones that I have. Um, they're just a fun brand. I, I like, they, they give me an enjoyment to use when I'm using a Franklin Kristoff. I'm using the model 45 that I picked up in Chicago today for my show notes is this bright blue pen. It's just fun to use. And that goes, you know, obviously a long way in what pen you're going to reach for on your desk. You know, does it give me enjoyment when I write with it? Well, yeah, I love looking at it. Um, I love using it. Um, I love, you know, playing with different inks and, you know, using the silicone grease to, to eyedropper, the pens up and swapping the nibs out between all, all the different ones that I have. I just have fun using the brand and that says a lot, I think. And so that was, uh, that ended up being my number three and I'm actually pretty happy with that choice.

Myke Hurley: It's weird because like, it's obvious, but not, you know, like I totally could see why you was like, I don't, I don't get this. Cause it's like, they're an obvious choice, but they weren't one that would have jumped straight to my head either. And I don't know why that is. Maybe it's cause they knew, uh, I'm not sure.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So when I was, I was writing that article or writing that, you know, uh, the newsletter I, I literally, I was like, I want to respond to this. I want to come up with my own top three, one and two were easy. I literally went and stood at my desk, got all my pens out and looked at everything. It's like, what am I going to pick for number three? And it came, it came clear pretty quickly, but it wasn't something that I thought of just like sitting down. Okay. This is the easy choice for number three. But once I looked at everything and saw all the pens that like I have the most fun with, it was an easy choice.

Myke Hurley: So that's it.

Brad Dowdy: That's it. So, um, we'll see, you know, number three could be that rotating spot. I think one and two are pretty solid. Um, number three could be like the, the, the rotating spot in and out. But, uh, I mean, I always have something Franklin Kristoff inked up and, uh, I think that says a lot because I try not to ink up too many pens at once.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I didn't, um, order mine, you know, like one, two, three, but I think roturing would maybe be the one that would swap out just as like, depending on how much I'm using mechanical pencils or not, you know? Um, because I've found a couple of, I've at least got one fountain pen now that I can use about it making a ton of sound when I'm recording. Cause that's one thing. Like I don't like taking caps on and off, but the, uh, M90, it, it works perfectly fine uncapped. You can just leave it on the desk for a while and pick it up and it just starts writing again. Um, so I've been using that quite a bit actually. And also it's nice and small and it's got a good, uh, I leave it posted and then the clip stops me from rolling away. So that's doing a good job for me.

Brad Dowdy: Cool. Yeah. I think that's good.

Myke Hurley: All right. But we have one last thing we want to get to this week, which we've been promising and you did promise that it would happen. And so we're doing it on the show, which is announcing the, uh, Kickstarter winners that we have. We have a few things to give away. Um, so Brad, do you want to go through this?

Brad Dowdy: Sure. So with, um, with our Kickstarter for the Atlanta pen show, we always like to do a few extra things for our backers, um, you know, in the former giveaways and we did the giveaways, you know, for people who made it to the show and, you know, everyone that backed us, you know, we want them to be involved in it too. Um, so we have three $100 pen chelee gift certificates that we're going to give away. We have three of the Joey Feldman prints from the pen addict episode 200. Um, the, the posters that we, we saw there, you know, signed stamped by Joey, um, Myke, Anna, and I also signed them. So we have three of those to give away. And then we have the well-appointed desk, uh, gift pack that we, that Anna gave away at the show. Um, she's doing one for all the online, um, backers too. And I pulled all the winners and actually a lot of these people were at the show too, but didn't win there. So, um, so, but you know, everyone, everyone who backed the, the, um, Kickstarter was eligible for these giveaways. So I pulled out the winners and the three pen chalet gift card winners are Caleb Thompson, Ed Dale, and John Martinez. The three print winners are Andrew Baldwin, Michael Healy, and Sarah Reed. And the well-appointed desk set winner is Kyle Sanders, better known as father Kyle. So congratulations to all of y'all. I will put this all in the Kickstarter. So you don't have to remember this or just some of these may, some people may not even listen to the end of this episode, but I'm sure they will to, to hear their name, but I'll be putting all this in the Kickstarter this afternoon to send out to everyone. So everyone knows who won what, and then we'll, we'll arrange all the delivery and shipping for you. So thanks to everyone who, who backed us.

Myke Hurley: Thank you so much. And this officially draws the Kickstarter to a close, right? Yes. Until next year.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. We are, we are closing this baby out and, uh, it was awesome.

Myke Hurley: All right. And same for this episode, Tiff. Thank you so much for joining us. This will not be your first appearance. Um, we will look forward to seeing just how far you get into this.

Tiff Arment: I don't think it's going to take very long. It's quite frightening. Yeah. I'm on a, I'm on a fast highway here.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I'll race you to a Nakaya.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. I want to thank everybody who, um, taught me everything that I know now in the last month that I've taken and run with. So thanks for all those awesome people I met at the pen show that taught me all the things that now is leading to this horrible habit. Well, horribly wonderful habit.

Myke Hurley: And Tiff is on Twitter. She is Tiffany Arment, right? You're Tiffany Arment on Twitter, right? Not just Tiff.

Tiff Arment: Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't just get the Tiff, but yeah, you can find me.

Myke Hurley: And you host top four on Relay FM with Marco Arment. It's a great show. It's one of my favorite podcasts. If you've not listened to top four, you need to fix this. It's just fantastic. So go and listen to that. I'll have a link in the show notes. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com and knock.co. We've got some knock news coming.

Brad Dowdy: Uh, hopefully in, by the end of the month. Yeah. Hopefully we'll have it sorted out by then. Yes. We'll have plenty of, plenty of news on the, on the horizon.

Myke Hurley: And we have a bunch of great guests lined up on the show that Brad has been working on. And I've heard rumors of a, of a, of a little invasion going on. We'll talk about that soon.

Brad Dowdy: We're going to announce that ahead of time. So, uh, people can, can get involved and ask, ask questions. Uh, but it's a, it's a cool little thing we're going to do. If you've been following me on Twitter, you've probably, you've probably seen some of it. So, uh, get your questions ready. We'll, we'll announce that next week.

Myke Hurley: Um, and you can also follow Brad. On Twitter, he is at Dowdyism and he is Pen Addict on Instagram. Um, I am at iMike, I-M-Y-K-E, uh, everywhere you want to find me. Thanks again to Harry's and Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's show. Most of all, thank you for listening as always. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, guys. Goodbye, guys. Goodbye, guys.