The Pen Addict 247/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	247
Title:	My Optima Is in the Shoptima
Release Date:	March 8th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 247
Audio File:	Audio Episode 247
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 247
Length:	6868 min <br />1.133 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict episode 247. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Mac Weldon. My name is Myke Hurley. I am joined, as always, by the one and only, the wonderful, the man with the plan, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I was actually about to, I was thinking I should put you on the spot. I was like, I need a title of this episode, Myke, and you actually came through without me even saying anything. I felt, it was feeling like our pre-show conversation felt like it was leading into this. So, good job by you.

Myke Hurley: We are sympathetic on meeting you.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, we are.

Myke Hurley: You know, you wanted it and I just give it to you. That's how it works. That's how we're up to nearly 250 episodes. Three weeks, we're at 250. That's crazy.

Brad Dowdy: Astonishing, yeah.

Myke Hurley: There's nothing, we're not going to do anything for that because like... That was coming out of my mouth. We're not going to do anything. It's just going to be a regular episode because like three weeks after that, we're doing a live show. So, like, don't expect fireworks for episode 250. Yeah. Even though, like, I know that every 50 of them, it seems more and more important, but 250 seems like an incredible achievement. That's a big number. We'll talk about that, I'm sure, over the next couple of weeks and then 250 will come and go.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I might could squeeze out a tier or two. We'll see. Yeah, we could do that. See what we can come up with. We could do that. We're good at that. I've got to cry every 50 episodes.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, we're really good at that.

Field Notes Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: My field notes came in, Brad. Yeah, so tell me all about them, Myke.

Myke Hurley: All right, so, I mean, I don't even know how to talk about this now. Right?

Brad Dowdy: I feel the same way. Like, I don't even want to talk about this, to be perfectly honest, but I think we should. Because... And we'll wrap it up.

Myke Hurley: I feel damned if you do, damned if you don't. Right. With it. So, okay. The corners of my books are, like, frayed a little bit. Yes. They're not split, but they've got, like... If I run my finger down the spine, I can feel the edges, like the very corners, right? Mm-hmm. I don't know if I would have noticed this if I wouldn't have been expecting it. Because honestly, right, look, I don't care about this. Like, if my cover was split all the way down the side, as you said, that some people's are, I would be annoyed about this. Yes. But I'm, like, it's just a little bit of fraying at the edges, which would happen to me after, like, three days of using the thing. Mm-hmm. I get, like, if you want your... If you want perfection from your notebooks and you're not happy with them, then return them. But, like, for me, this is perfectly fine. Like, you know, you can take of that what you want, right? You know, you can either believe me or not believe me. But I don't care about this. Right. Like, let's say, there is a little fraying. It shows way more on the bottom because you see the yellow coming through the black. Right. But that's just how it is. Like, I don't, you know, they look fine. This edition in general is not going to be a favorite of mine. Yeah. I think it's fine. It's solid. Like, I don't have any ill feelings towards it. But I'm not going to put this in my top ten. It is a nice edition. And if you want Ledger, then you're going to be very happy, right? Because they don't do that very often. Right. I don't like Ledger. But I said to Edina yesterday, I was like, I've got these. She freaked out. She was so excited about them because she's like, oh, I can make to-do lists. Yes. I'm like, great. Go crazy with them. I don't want them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The Ledger's super handy.

Myke Hurley: She also, more than anyone I've ever known, freaking loves the pencils and pens, the field notes ones. She has access to whatever she could want, right? In this office. Like, she uses a TWSBI Eco by day. But she freaking loves the ballpoint pens. Yeah. I don't know why. But they are great because they're so simple and reliable. But, like, I never would use them.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. See, I actually do use that one. It's the classic Bic Click. It's a wonderful pen. I like Bic's ballpoints. So, yeah. And they're great looking. And my kids use the pencils. I don't use the pencils.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't know what she uses the pencils for because I don't think I've ever seen her use one, but she always takes them. And then my ideal is that she then has to take the craft away from me. Yeah. It's like, you can have all this stuff, but you have to deal with the craft notebooks because no one in my house needs those. Like, you've seen my drawer, right? Like, I've got more than enough going on over here.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. My kids get the craft, too. And then my daughter wears the bands of rubber on her wrist to school. Now, the bands of rubber, I buy packs of them. They're so cool.

Myke Hurley: Like, if I ever make an order from Field Notes for something extra, I always throw a bag of the rubber bands in. I use those things everywhere. Like, they hold together cables for me. I have them holding together other stationary items. Like, they are incredibly durable, just awesome rubber bands. Like, and I like that you get the occasional one in the package, but I always buy extras because I always need them.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And they work well as jewelry.

Myke Hurley: Like one of those Livestrong bands?

Guest: Yeah. That's how my daughter wears them.

Brad Dowdy: That's amazing. She'll literally wear it for like three days in a row. Then it'll disappear, but yeah. Field Notes, strong, man. To school and everything.

Myke Hurley: All right. Grid paper. I like the grid paper. Like, I could use this. That's totally fine. The grid is unoffensive. It's faint enough. Like, it's how I like it, right? Like, it's there if you need it, but if you don't, you can ignore it. I like the ruler on the cover just because it gives it a bit of character. You know, I'm always banging on about, I want my products like this to have a story to them, to have like a cohesive idea. If you're going to be buying into this type of thing, especially subscriptions, I want ideas, cohesive ideas. And this is like a notebook made for people that are doing work. So what do you do? You put a ruler on it in the cover. Like that. Right. That whole idea, that makes total sense to me. Like, I can get on board with that. I think it's a nice touch. So from a design and idea perspective, I'm happy with these. I have no personal issue with the quality of mine. Your mileage may vary, right? It depends on your own taste levels. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And quick comment on that. We did get some feedback saying that we shouldn't say it's impossible to QC 105,000 notebooks. I think that we may have said that in those terms, but both of us agree that, yes, you should be able to QC any product, no matter what quantity you're doing, because that's your job. So, yes.

Myke Hurley: Well, okay. So on that, it is technically possible, yes, to look and check 115,000 notebooks. Practically, I don't think so. You have to take a sample. Who could do that? Like, how big a company would you need to be able to look and check 115,000 notebooks? How many people do that?

Brad Dowdy: Smaller than you think.

Myke Hurley: Really?

Brad Dowdy: Because, yeah, they don't come off the line in a big shot of 100,000. They're coming off the line constantly. Someone is physically shrink wrapping all those books.

Myke Hurley: Are they? It's not a machine?

Brad Dowdy: It could be a machine, but, I mean, like, our shrink wrapper is, you know, we're not doing that quantity, but it's by hand.

Myke Hurley: My point, all right, so let me clarify my point on this then, right?

Brad Dowdy: Okay, so I'll clarify mine too. Apparently, I think you can QC that many, Myke doesn't.

Myke Hurley: I think that, well, anything's possible. I just think that practically that is a difficult thing to do. That's how it sounds to me. If anybody can actually point us to an answer for this, great. Otherwise, I think we're just going to have to stand divided on this issue.

Brad Dowdy: That's okay. There is an expectation, though.

Myke Hurley: Naturally.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: But then again, again, it's like your mileage may vary, right? Like, that might come off the line. Someone looks at it and they're like, that's fine. True. Right? Oh, yeah. Let's talk about something that is unequivocally awesome. Yes, please. Which is your interview with Aurora. Yeah. I loved this piece. I said to you before we recorded today that I was wondering how it was going to come out. Like, I was wondering if you were going to maybe just, you know, you sat down and interviewed them, which you transcribed the interview. But instead, you wrote like a feature piece using the information that you got from the interview with, was it Linda at Aurora? Yes. Yes. And I loved it. It's one of my favorite things that you've written in a long time because it told a real cool story. So, I recommend that people go and read this article. It's on the penaddict.com, of course, and it will be in our show notes for this week. So, you can go and get it. Spoilers. We're going to talk about it now. So, like, I guess if you don't want spoilers for the article. So, one thing that jumped out at me, Brad, is this million dollar pen?

Aurora Pen

Brad Dowdy: So, I'm sitting there interviewing Linda and she's awesome. Like, she is like so outgoing and just wants to tell you everything about Aurora and is just really open and honest. And we just had a real good conversation. And she's just, like, fun to be around because she just talks and has fun. So, we were, before we sat down to do the interview, the guys at Aurora were like, hey, you know, let's set the interview up for 10 o'clock. Because she's got to leave, like, in the afternoon. She's flying to Dubai. And I'm like, okay, whatever. You know, she's going to do her thing, you know, continuing on the world tour. Because she talked in the interview, like, about how the Middle East is one of their, and Asia are some of their biggest customers. She says, yeah, I'm flying out this afternoon to Dubai to deliver this million dollar pen to, like, some royal family. She's like, do you want me to bring it down from the room? I'm like, nope.

Myke Hurley: Don't let me go anywhere near that thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Instant no. I could not say no fast enough. Nope. I don't want to be responsible for that pen leaving where it's sitting right now. She's like, you're sure? I'll go get it. She said, I'll send someone to go get it. I'm like, no.

Guest: Please do not do that. I do not want. I'm totally on board of you on this one.

Myke Hurley: There is no world in which I want to be anywhere near something that costs a million dollars. Right. You're just asking for trouble, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. So, she says, well, at least let me show you pictures. I'm like, okay, yes, we can do that. So, she had them on her phone, all the pictures of the pen. It's just, as you can imagine, it's not like a super-sized pen, like, you know, the big Stallone-sized crazy pen. But it's like a normal-sized pen that you can just imagine totally encrusted with diamonds and sapphires and all these beautiful jewels. It really looked, I mean, it was definitely a work of art. It was beautiful.

Myke Hurley: Would you use a million-dollar pen? Like, would you? No.

Brad Dowdy: No. I would have no interest in this whatsoever.

Brad Dowdy: But I like, these pens were classy, not gaudy. I mean, for a million-dollar pen, you can do pretty much anything you want. But they look really cool.

Aurora Pens

Myke Hurley: How do you even? I mean, I can't even. Like, how do you get to a million? Do you mean, like, how? How?

Brad Dowdy: It's just all on the jewels. I guess so. It's bonkers. The quality of the diamonds. Give me the highest-rated quality of diamond and give me 300 of them. And then I'll put them on the pen and boom, million-dollar pen.

Myke Hurley: Only the best for you, right? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Only the best. So, I'm glad you said that about the interview because I didn't know how I was going to do it. So, I'm not a journalist and I'm not used to writing while I'm talking to someone. So, I didn't. I had a microphone that I just sat down on the table. So, I could go back and I prayed that the audio worked because I wasn't taking notes while I was talking.

Brad Dowdy: And so, luckily, it did. And, you know, I thought the whole time I'm talking to her, this isn't going to be like a transcription type interview. I don't like to do. I'm not going to go from question to question to question. I want to have a conversation. So, I took that. I listened back to it several times, figured out what I wanted to do. And I was like, let me just do this like I'm telling a story of my conversation and then interject like the important parts that Linda discussed and things like that. So, like I was hoping it came out well. I've gotten really good feedback on it. So, it was kind of nerve wracking to post that because I didn't know was I doing the best thing to capture the interview. But I'm happy with how it turned out and I'm glad everyone else is. So, yeah, it was very cool.

Myke Hurley: So, I didn't really know much about Aurora, which I think was kind of the point, right? Like you spend a lot of time in the article talking about how they really refocused on the U.S. market with, you know, help from Kenro and others. But they sound like a really cool company with good values about people, right? Like that seemed like a thing that was peppered throughout the interview.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they really do. You know, it's a family run company. The people that have worked there have worked there for decades. It's female dominated as far as like headcount goes. It's not a big company like in the necessarily. But, you know, it's got just a disproportionate amount of women working for them, which Linda says, you know, obviously, you know, is the best way to go. And I fully believe that, too. She says, you know, it's just a really, really cool company. And what Linda's only been there for six years. She came from the fashion industry. And what she was telling me that her job is to basically listen. Like she goes out to the market. She works with her distributors and tries to understand what Aurora needs to do for specific markets. Like Aurora does not have a worldwide strategy. They have an individual strategy tailored for the market they're in. So she's able to work with someone like Kenro Industries in the U.S. to say, hey, what's good in this market?

Myke Hurley: What are the tastes? What are the trends?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And she can get that information directly and, you know, can ask, you know, and I don't know the full extent of that conversation. But I'm assuming in the past it went, why aren't we doing as good in the U.S. as we are in Europe and Asia and the Middle East? And they figured out a few things, talked about different products, made some pricing changes to get them more competitive. And they hit on everything they were trying to do. And now Aurora is like a thing, right? That's all you can ask for from as a company is to what you make becomes a thing. And Aurora has now done that where two years ago they were just Aurora. Now people were looking to them and looking at their designs and looking at their quality and, you know, checking out their products and understanding more about them. And trying some Aurora pens out, seeing what they're all about and enjoying them. So to see them directly try to get into a market and adjust in a pretty short time frame, it's kind of cool to see a business do that. I will tell you, I mean, like she told me, and I don't know if I explained this perfectly in the interview, we're the only market that got the price decrease on the optimus. She doesn't have to decrease the Optima in Japan because that's their number one selling pin and has been for like 40 years. Right. So it was interesting to talk to her about how they're able to be flexible like that with different product lines in different regions based on everything that goes into what makes a pin sell. So it was very cool.

Myke Hurley: So, you know, from their perspective, the articles worked because I've become interested in buying an Aurora.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, like I bought my first one last year.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And you, I mean, you can't shut up about that thing.

Brad Dowdy: Well, and I'm going to tell you a story right now, which is a massive downer. I broke mine. So it is now back at Aurora getting fixed. I don't know what I did, but I broke the barrel somehow or the barrel broke. So, and I miss it. Like I miss having that pin because it is, I love it so much. Like I can't wait to get it back and try it again.

Myke Hurley: And you have to demonstrate her, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So somehow it split like in the middle. I don't know what I did. I mean, I carry it all the time. So I don't know if I did something or there was something wrong with it, but my Optima is in the shop getting, getting an overhaul.

Myke Hurley: So say it's in the shop to me.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, you could say it, but you shouldn't say it. My Optima is in the shop to me. You should say it because now there's going to be like 50 show titles that's saying my Optima is in the shop to me. So I just wanted to spell that out for everyone again.

Myke Hurley: Just so we can make sure that it definitely gets them for the contention for title of the episode.

Brad Dowdy: But like that doesn't even faze me like, oh, I hate Aurora. Now my stupid pen broke. Like I cannot wait for this pen to come back to me.

Aurora Optima

Myke Hurley: So you have the what the red demonstrator, right? It's like 780 bucks or something.

Brad Dowdy: It's less. It's they're like, or I think I paid like around five for it. So like the MSRP is like that, but the price they're allowed to sell them for in the US is like around 500 ish.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So there are places that you can get them from for a better price. Almost.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, almost everywhere. Okay. Everywhere in the US that sells Optima sells them in that price range.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. So they have a bunch of awesome pens coming out. Like one of the reasons Aurora was in the country was to talk about their new Flex nib pen, which we're going to have a review. Susan's doing the review on that one. She has the pen right now. Um, that review is going to be coming out soon. Um, so they brought their nib Meister into New York. They had an event in New York before they flew out to LA. Um, and they, you know, had him do like a demonstration and talked about, you know, how involved the nib making is and how it's like a completely hands-on process. Um, from, from start to finish to, to get the quality. And that's really like Aurora is really known for like their materials, which we're going to talk about in a minute and their nibs. So they make just beautiful stuff. So the Flex nibs coming soon. Um, you'll probably see a bunch of reviews coming out like in the coming weeks. They're about to hit the market here in the next week or so. Um, they look pretty cool. The Optima Rosa red is actually like, I'm trying not to buy that one because I want my demonstrate. I like my demonstrator better, but this one's really pretty. Like the color of red in this Russell red is the color of the ends of my demonstrator. Yeah. So it's, and which I of course love that. And it's a beautiful, beautiful, um, material. And a lot of their materials are like historic for the company. Like she was telling me, they use, still use materials and designs that they were using like in the thirties and forties. Um, the same, same patterns and same colors because they're just so well known. So, um, but I'm not going to buy the Rosa because I have the demonstrator. I'm probably not going to buy the Flex because I'm saving up for what's called the 88 Nebulosa. Did you get a look at this pen?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I took a look at it.

Brad Dowdy: Not interested?

Myke Hurley: It's not for me.

Brad Dowdy: Not for you? This is one of the best looking pens I've seen in years. Why do you say that? This is, I just love purple. Like it even, it's even gold or it might even be rose gold. The depth of this purple. I am just a huge purple fan.

Myke Hurley: Have you seen this pen?

Brad Dowdy: Not in person. Also, and that's what I'm about to say. The last year's model was called the Soleil. S-O-L-E. And it was that yellow acrylic. I've almost bought that pen like five times and I'm glad I didn't because I want this one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I feel like maybe if I saw this, I might like just go head over heels. Right. But like, just the images of it, it's not my complete bag. Now, I am looking at one on the Nibsmith. The Aura 88 sat in black. Mm-hmm. Whoa. Yeah. That's my bag right there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We reviewed that one, I believe, on the pen. I think Jeff reviewed that one last year. But this Nebulosa, like that's insta-buy for me. Like I'm getting this pen.

Myke Hurley: So, I'm just about to start a new note in my Apple Notes, which is pen show shopping list. Mm-hmm. And I think I'm going to be leaving a pen show with an Aurora of some kind.

Brad Dowdy: I almost bought the full demonstrator in LA. Like I saw it. It was brand new. It's a great price right in there in that $500 range. I almost bought that one because it actually looks really, really different than my red one, even though the red one's just the finials. Yeah. This one's like pure, clear finials and everything. And it just looks really, really nice. I almost bought that one, but I held out because I spent too much money elsewhere. But anyway, I'm all about this Nebulosa. It's hard not to consider the Rosa, but yeah, I can't go too crazy because this year has already started off with a bang, which is just one of those things.

Myke Hurley: A bang for the wallet. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And I got Little Rock coming up next week. Oh, wow. So y'all better come out and see me in Little Rock. That's going to be a fun show. Hype Man. Hype Man. Hype Man. Hype Man's going to be on it for that show. It's going to be fun. This is going to be a fun show, and I can't wait. And everyone that was at Baltimore last week looked like they had a blast. That looked like a really, really fun show. So yeah, pen show season is off to a roaring start.

Myke Hurley: It's firmly here, isn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So let's tell all of our pen show promoters once again what website they should use to do their pen show websites with.

Myke Hurley: Squarespace. Use the offer code INK at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace. They let you easily create a website for your next idea with a unique domain, award-winning templates, and more. As Brad said, if you are a pen show promoter, Squarespace is perfect for you because you can create a page really easily. You have 24-7 support in case you have any questions. You can put maps in there. Maybe you want to sell some merchandise. You can use their online store functionality to do it. You can talk about upcoming things with the blog functionality that they have. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that lets you create any kind of website that you're looking for, especially if you're trying to create a website for an event like a pen show. There's nothing to install, no patches to worry about, no upgrades needed. They let you easily grab the domain name that you're looking for and take advantage of beautiful templates that have responsive design to show off your great ideas. Squarespace plans start at just $12 a month. You can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com. And then when you decide to sign up, use the offer code INK, I-N-K, to get 10% of your first purchase and show your support for The Pen Addict. We thank Squarespace for their support of this show and RelayFM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

Guest: So you should... I'm sorry, I scrolled back through the chat room and my Optima is in the Shoptima. The Pen Addict is the greatest thing I've ever read. I mean, I feel like it's almost too good to be the title at this point.

Myke Hurley: We'll have to see how we feel about that. Listeners will know. It's making me cry.

Brad Dowdy: Oh my goodness. All right, before we get into this next thing, I forgot to put this one little tidbit in the show notes as I tear up here from laughter. The Lanier Kickstarter, I'm sending out the surveys this afternoon. So everyone who's been wondering about that, that should be hitting your respective inboxes this afternoon. So I just want to throw that out there because that is on my list for today. All right. So a few products that I wanted to hit real quick. One we didn't get a chance to talk about last week. And I wanted to for a couple of reasons. It's the Baron Fig Infinity. Did you see this? This is the Vanguard size, which is my preferred Baron Fig size.

Myke Hurley: Wait, is that the pocket one or the big one?

Brad Dowdy: It's the medium one.

Myke Hurley: Medium one. It's the soft bound. I don't think I've ever had or touched one of these, so I don't know how big it is.

Brad Dowdy: So it's a soft bound cover and it comes in two sizes, like a five by seven and then something a little bit bigger.

Myke Hurley: All right.

Infinity Design

Brad Dowdy: So it's just really nice. The Infinity, I think, is probably their best looking design yet. And it's gotten actually no hype, like zero. And I think that's because it's all hype from them right now, right? It's always something. So it's hard for the cream to rise to the top, you know, unless you're the askew, which, you know, that got news on both sides of the ledger. So that was just wildly loved or wildly hated. So that gets a lot of press. The Infinity got almost none. And it's maybe the single best product they've released. And as far as design wise, it's very simple. It's very good colors. Like if you like purples and pinks like me, it's got pink stitching. It's really, really good. But it's lost in the shuffle. And I think that's just a it's a symptom of something that they've created. Right.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's a shame. I think as well, the Vanguard is maybe their least focused product from an outside perspective. Maybe. You know, I think the Confidants are definitely sitting right up the top. Right. Like that's I assume that's their best seller. Mm hmm. So and then, you know, you've got like the pens and the pencils, which are different. And then like the other notebooks, I think maybe get lost a little bit more. But yeah, I agree. Like. It's difficult to be super hyped over something when it's constant.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. Right.

Myke Hurley: And that's what's going to happen when you do. What are they? Quarterly subscriptions of five products or something? Four products?

Brad Dowdy: Four products. So essentially one a month.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So there's going to be a lot of stuff. But I will say these are great looking. Like they're really good looking. And also like pink stitching is awesome. Big, big kind of that. Just a nice little touch. I like that a lot. And also, you know, I'll say like if you're a person that likes this type of notebook for meeting notes and stuff like that, you cannot beat soft cover. Like. Yeah. Soft cover. Soft cover. Is so much better than hard cover. Like I used to get soft cover Moleskine's back in the day. Mm-hmm. And they're freaking awesome. Like that's the best product in my opinion that they make. Agree. The red soft cover one. Oh, so good. Like oversized. Like it's bigger than the usual ones. That is a great product that they make. Yep. So yeah, I would recommend this. Because it looks like a good size. They're thin. They're not thick. But you know, you get a three pack. So I don't think it's a good looking. So thumbs up from me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's fantastic. And I gave a pack away last week. So they're very, very cool. This next pin. This next pin. The interview. The review. Just went live this morning. I got. Dan from Karis Customs introduced me to Michael from Michael's Pens at the LA Pen Show. He's like, you should go talk to this guy. He makes some pretty cool stuff. And I went over. I hadn't seen him before. I hadn't seen his pens before. And I went over and talked to him. And he's got some really interesting designs. A lot of which don't speak to me. Because they're big and heavy. But he came out with this new pin. And it's called the S Model. New York Edition. And what Michael does. He's just. Basically makes machine pens. And that's how him and Dan got to talking. And got me hooked up with Michael. Just to see Michael's work. It's really well done. It's really refined. It's really quality. And I love Jeff's review that came out on it this morning. He did. He kind of. I got to talk with Michael. And I got the pin. And I was like, I think Jeff would do a really good job with this review. And I thought he did a fantastic. Like he kind of got the pin without me saying a word about it. I just sent it to Jeff in a package of stuff. I said, there's one pin in here. I definitely want you to review. I didn't even say which one. And he sent me the review. And I was like, I'm pretty sure this is the one you wanted me to review. Right? And I was like, yep. And he did a really good job. I'm impressed with this pin just from the quality of it. What it reminds me of. The very first thing I thought of the S pin. Was this is the big boy Zebra F701. So the F701 is like the number one off the shelf everyday carry pin. This pin is shaped like that. But better in every single way. It's, you know, refillable. You can use better refills. Things like that. It's retractable. It's got a clip. It's made of metal. It has a nice grip. Everything about this pin is really good. What are your thoughts on a pin like this? I don't know if this is necessarily your style. But I just think it looks great.

Myke Hurley: So I'll say it's 100% not my style. Right? I would never use a pin like this for a bunch of reasons. Right? It's not going to have the type of refill experience that I like. I don't really use pens like this anymore. But there was a lot going on on this pen. But I'm pretty sure I like all of it. Yeah. Right? That's the thing. It should not work. If you showed me all of these pieces. Just laid them all out. I'm going to make one pen out of this. I'd be like, no, don't do it. Whatever you do is step away.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. So this is the most normal pen he makes. Huh. So I want you to go to the link and I'll put it in the show notes. What he's known for.

Myke Hurley: Oh boy.

Brad Dowdy: What? What he's known for is a pen called the Fat Boy. This is what made him a thing to get into the pen market were these Fat Boy pens. They are insane. I mean, they're really cool. I could never use one. They're super well done. He's got this Tesla coil one. So it's really nice. It is just wild and out there. Yeah. But this is how he got popular with these Fat Boy pens. Let me say. That was his calling card.

Myke Hurley: I would never, ever, ever use one of these. But they look freaking awesome. Like the black and red one with the lightning bolts on it. Like it's amazing, right? Like they look so cool. But I don't think I would ever use it. But I love everything that's clearly gone into this.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like he gave me, he, I think he wanted me to, so he gave us that pen to review. I think he wanted me to take one of the swirly ones because it's like made to fit like your grip. It's actually, you know, it's not just, it's designed appropriately to fit your grip, but that's so particular for someone. I was like, you know what? I think this, this S pen would do the best on the site. And what's funny is he just started the S pen. Everything has always been like the fat boy style, the really, really huge style. So, I love the S pen.

Myke Hurley: So basically, I mean, it's the same design ideas, but just made into a regular size, right? Because there are pens on the fountain pen hospital link that's in the show notes, which look like this one, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I think it's really cool. I like it. He's got a real, a real interesting style. I mean, it isn't for me, but I can see like so many people wanting to use something like this. Yep. Like if you work with your hands, right? Like if you, if you own a mechanic business, right? This, this would be a great thing to sit on your desk. Right. You know, this is a cool gift pen for the person in your life that might have those crossovers, right? So yeah, I think, I think this is, I think they're pretty awesome. Or like if you make hot rods or something. Yeah. There's one with flames on the side.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, I think they're just totally cool. Yeah. Like I said, not necessarily for me, like the S model is about where I would stop on this, but I would use the heck out of that pen. And these, like talking with him and seeing these pens in person, they're extraordinarily well-made. Like the quality is, you know, the pictures look as good as the pens in person. I mean, they look as they should. They look good.

Myke Hurley: With hair, right? Yeah. I think this is awesome. I love seeing stuff like this.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So very cool, Michael. I, I, I appreciate you, uh, letting us, uh, review one of your pens. And, uh, now I kind of have a new fascination and now I guess I'm going to have to buy one because I gave that one to Jeff because it's, it's so cool. I just, uh, I, I was really happy that Jeff liked it. Like when I send like the reviewers pens, I don't say anything like, you know, we don't discuss. Here's what you should talk about. Like I didn't even tell him this pen was coming. I was like, just review this. Like, I don't care what you say. And I'm glad that he liked it. So it was, uh, his, his thoughts, uh, meshed with, with my thoughts on the pen. So that was kind of cool.

CW Pencils Subscription Box

Brad Dowdy: Another thing I got in the mail last week, it was a hotly anticipated item from CW pencils, their subscription box. Number one. So did you see my, uh, my Instagram post with everything that was in it? So it's got lots of stuff in it. Um, I thoroughly enjoyed opening this box and seeing what was in it. Like, that's the thing about this type of subscription service when they're not the manufacturer of the product, but rather they're the curator of the box. Um, like field notes or Baron fig, they're the manufacturer for their subscriptions. CW has to curate the set, make it a cohesive thing. And send it out into the world and hope it's, hope it's well-recepted. Um, hope everyone's receptive to it. Um, I loved it. They did a really great job putting this together. What they did was their first one is called the classic box. So out the gate, they essentially wanted to do like a retro themed. Here's kind of where like, you know, the yellow pencil style came from. Um, and one of the original reporters notebooks. And there's like this whole fold out, like that thing on the left, Myke is like a four, three page fold out. Oh really? A little book. Like you open it up. It's completely filled with like a paragraph description of each item in the box.

Myke Hurley: I wonder for a moment if they were all handwritten, but it doesn't look like that's the case.

Brad Dowdy: They totally, I don't know how they got this to print, but I keep touching it like it's going to smear.

Myke Hurley: It's really good. It looks great. Like they've nailed the printing of making it look like a pencil.

Brad Dowdy: It's very, very well done. Yep. Yep. So I don't even know how they, they did that, but whoever they work with for that is, it's killer. And the whole inside's handwritten in the same, the same way as it is on the front. So it's wonderful.

Myke Hurley: And I assume, I mean, I assume that's Caroline who's written that.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I don't know.

Myke Hurley: It could have been anybody there. Right. But like that, that's, that's the dream, right? Like the idea.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. That's the idea. So it says fondly Caroline, Alex, Caitlin, and Meredith. And like Meredith did the artwork for the postcard that you see at the top of the image. So that's a hand drawn eraser of the eraser that was included in the box. So like, that's the kind of cool stuff you're getting. Like that's something that they had printed to add into your things. Yeah. So what we like, and you've already said it in this show earlier, you want a cohesive idea and you want it to tell a story. Well, they did everything right in this box.

Myke Hurley: Also nice background on your picture there, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: My wife is taking full credit for that. I just want, I have to be clear on that. Every picture she sees, I was like, oh, you like those backgrounds? I got you. I was like, yeah, you know what? You did really good on that. So I got like two new backgrounds to take pictures on and they really make all the, like the stationary stuff pop. So yes, props to Mrs. Penaddict on, on that one. And she reminds me all the time. I was like, oh, that background looks good. I'm like, yeah, I know you're the best.

Brad Dowdy: She didn't care about the picture, but she's like, oh, that looks good on that background. I'm like, I know. So, um, four pencils, an eraser, a sharpener, reporter's notebook, the postcard. Um, the pencils, what I, why I chose to subscribe to this is because I want to try more pencils. And, you know, I was able to, they included something, um, that I've always heard about. And that's the general semi hex, which in the little pamphlet, it says originating from the early 1900s and made in America's oldest pencil factory. We consider this to be the best yellow American pencil around. Try it in this slightly softer number one grade. So that's what they concluded. So like they think this is the best yellow pencil in America that America's produced. So that pencil has a story. It's cool. So each pencil down the line has a story.

Brad Dowdy: And the Steno book, the reporter's book, it has a story. This notebook, Myke, did you know that this notepad has a place in the Smithsonian? It was first, it was first created over 70 years ago when a journalist asked a stationer to cut a spiral bound notebook in half to fit his pants pocket and the rest is history. So this is that model of notebook, you know, based off the original. So it's lots of cool stuff like that. The only negative I have is that, okay, so let's see. So the, there's a blog called the weekly pencil and it's a, her name is Deidre and she does a great job and she just basically did a price breakdown of all the products that were in there for those who are wondering what they get for their price, things like that. I'm not super concerned about that, but I will say the paper mate Mongol pencil. I really wanted because I love the Mongol logo. It's the least expensive product in the box. Like Deidre has the cost of this pencil, 17 cents, which is fine, except like my Mongol, the graphite core is broken. So like when you sharpen it, like the lead falls out, right? Like it's, have you ever had a pencil like that where you sharpen it, but the lead just falls out. So it's cracked on the inside. So the only thing I can say on this first box, if I was to give any recommendation is don't let the most inexpensive product in your box, take the rest of it down. Like in this case, I don't think it necessarily did because I love all the other products so much more, but don't let something that's so inexpensive like this be a negative.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like maybe just don't include it.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Or include something else. You know, it's, it's part of the story. It's a traditional pencil. The Mongol brand's been around forever. It's still popular in other parts of the world. But like mine is unusable and you don't think of it in the entirety of the box, the $30 box as well. It's just a 17 cent pencil. You think of it as, Hey, it was part of my $30 subscription and I got like a janky pencil out of that. Um, so don't let the tiniest item, you know, be something that people remember this box for. If that, if that makes sense. And like, I mean, it's a perfect box for me. I love the cron to ash pencil, the technograph. It has the coolest stamping on it. Um, I've never seen so much gold stamping on a single line of a pencil before it says technograph. Then it's got like three gold fish, cron to ash, Swiss made seven, seven, seven. I don't know what that means. This is the jackpot pencil or something HB. And then the, uh, the forest, uh, certified, you know, so it's, it's the most stuff I've ever seen on a single pencil. And then the magic pencil. Of course, I got a jumbo magic pencil. This is, this is the ticket. Like this is one of my favorite things. And this is, I actually prefer this jumbo size. We bought some of the, uh, traditional sizes, um, for my kids and you like go through those too fast. Um, but I learned about these from Anna and, uh, Anna was giving them out at the DC pen show last year, but this is the big jumbo magic pencil.

Myke Hurley: And when I went there with the, with the armaments, I think everybody left with one of those. Oh, no doubt. It's like, how do you not pick one of those things up?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So I, I've loved writing with the magic pencil so far. And you know what I said when I opened this box is, wow, I don't think I have a jumbo pencil sharpener. Well, the sharpener they included in the box is from Faber Castell. It's got two holes. It's got standard and jumbo size. So you can sharpen your standard pencils and you can sharpen your, sharpen your jumbo size pencils. So they kind of thought of everything here. And the, uh, the eraser works surprisingly well. It's a very retro styled eraser. It looks like something I'd find on my grandfather's desk. Like when, um, I would, I would go through his, all his desk stuff when he was a artist, you know, and, uh, and steal whatever I, I could get my hands on. So very happy with this release. I look forward to what they do and, um, you know, keeps, keep telling these stories, keep putting these things together because, uh, I love them and I think, uh, everyone else will like them too. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Uh, even though I'm not a big pencil person, like just looking at that arrangement, like I want, I want it. Right. And, uh, two things. One, the box is still sold out. They sold so well. And two, they don't ship international. But when they do, I might, I might just, I might just get, get the occasional because it looks so pretty. Like it's put together so well with such care. Like, I like it. It's everything about CW pencils, right? The whole attitude and style of the company, like speaks to me greatly. Exactly. They do a fantastic job. Just great minds over there.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Today's show is brought to you by Mack Weldon. Mack Weldon is better than whatever you're wearing right now, unless you are my co-host, Mr. Brad Dowdy, because he divulged to me before the show that he's currently wearing pink Mack Weldon underwear today, which I was, we do this, you know, at the start of the course, like, Hey Myke, Hey Brad, how are you? Yeah. Good, good, good. What underwear are you wearing today? It's just a usual way that we just start the show together. You know, it's part of our warmup. So what do you think of your, your Mack Weldon underpants, Mr. Brad Dowdy?

Brad Dowdy: You know, I take my underpants seriously. Very seriously. Yep. And if I'm not comfortable in what I'm wearing, I'm not going to wear them. So clearly I'm quite comfortable in Mack Weldon's boxer shorts, especially these pink ones. Um, these pink ones are my favorite. Um, I need to order multiple of them. They have little white, uh, polka dots on them. And, uh, I'm a huge fan.

Myke Hurley: They are the most Brad Dowdy underpants I think I've ever heard.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, this was, this was a lock that I was getting these, right? I mean, it's just a stone cold lock. Uh-huh. That I'm wearing them, um, unbeknownst to who our advertisers were today. Um, just should tell you everything you need to know. Oh, they're good looking.

Myke Hurley: I'm looking at the Mack Weldon website right now.

Brad Dowdy: You cannot, um, you cannot be, be cheap or not thoughtful with, with your underpants, with your undergarment selections, Myke. It's true. It's very important. Some would say the most important. Most. Um, piece of gear that you're, that you're wearing on a daily basis. And, uh, I really love my Mack Weldon pink and white polka dot boxer shorts.

Myke Hurley: As Brad said, the most important. So if it's the most important, you need to go to a great place. Mack Weldon is that place because they believe in smart design, premium fabrics, and simple shopping. They don't just make pink polka dot underpants. They also make, uh, socks, shirts, undershirts, hoodies, and sweatpants that you're going to love. They have a line of silver underwear and shirts that are naturally antimicrobial. And they want you to be comfortable all times. So if you don't like your first pair of Mack Weldon clothing, maybe it's for you to buy some pants or socks, whatever it is that you're looking for. You just keep it and they'll refund you. They don't want you to send it back. No questions asked. They want you to be comfortable. If you're not comfortable, then that's fine by them. And they were just sad that they've, you know, they haven't given you what you want. But I'm pretty sure they're going to because this stuff's amazing. They look good. They perform well. Whether you're just going to work, going on dates, everyday life, it doesn't matter. Mack Weldon has got you covered. Listeners of this show can get 20% off at MackWeldon.com with code PENADDICT. Thank you so much to Mack Weldon for their support of this show and Relay FM. That is code PENADDICT at MackWeldon.com for 20% off.

Ask TPA

Brad Dowdy: So we like to do this part of the show is usually reserved for our Ask TPA segment. And we always have lots of questions to get to either through Twitter or through snail mail. This time I had a rash of email Ask TPA and not just standard email Ask TPA, Myke. These are several hundred word emails. So I'm calling this the huge emails edition of Ask TPA. There's a few shorter ones, but we got some monsters in here, but they were so good. I wanted to read them or read parts of them and for us to discuss. What do you think about that?

Myke Hurley: That's a great idea.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I think there's some really interesting topics. And this first one is a little more than a topic. It's asking you to do a little more than just listen. We want you to go take a survey for our friend Stephen Moy, who's in the chat room today. So this message is from Stephen. He says, we met at the DC Pen Show. I'm currently doing a study on fountain pen weights. Would it be possible for you to make a quick mention of it on the show? I only have 90 responses so far, which to me for fountain pen weights, that's a lot of responses. Yeah, I wouldn't say only 90 to be surveyed. Yeah, that's what I thought too. He said he's active in Reddit, in the Reddit community. And he has a link in the show notes to take this survey. He says, the study is looking at the weight of the established fountain pen users most frequently used fountain pen and the number of pages written daily as a primary focus. So he's doing a study on weights in writing. And this is really cool. And hopefully Stephen will share the data with us, the results, and see what he finds out at the end. But we'll have a link to this in the show notes. And y'all should all go take this. I haven't done it yet, but I'll try to do that this afternoon. Because I think it's nothing I would have ever considered, right? No. We talk about weights when we're writing. This pen's light. This pen's medium. This pen's super heavy. This pen's too heavy to write with. But I've never considered, like, out of my most used pens, where do they lie on that spectrum. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And if and what effect that could have on the amount of time that you spend with them. That kind of thing. Right. Interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So he says he's looking at about three months to get all the results tabulated and come up with his conclusion. So we will be talking about it later. And we'll get the results from Stephen then. All right. So this next one, before I get into the long reading ones, I'm going to have to have a drink. I'll have another short one here. This is from Simon. Needs an all-weather pen. And I wanted to put this just because of the first sentence of this email, Myke. It says, hi, I'm going to be trekking in Nepal for a month and want to take some supplies for writing. If you want me to answer your email on the podcast, that's how you started.

Myke Hurley: I tend to be scared to give people advice in these situations. You know, it's not like, oh, I need a good pen for the high school graduation or need a good pen to take notes in the office. Like, if we recommend something to him and it doesn't work out, Brad, then we're in trouble.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I know. But this is actually easier because the answers are fewer, right? It really narrows the focus. So he says, the Fisher Space Pen Bullet Space Pen seems like a no-brainer, but I have big hands and even posted, I can't really use it. I know the refill is kind of key, but I don't know what barrel it fits in. Any recommendations for a barrel model or general alternatives? I think this is actually a very easy question to answer. So yes, stick with the Fisher Space Pen refill, but get a County Calm Embassy pen. It is a capped pen. It's not retractable. Heck, you could maybe, if you want retractable, you could probably go for one of Michael's pens. That would probably last a month in there and it'll fit the Fisher Space Pen because it uses Parker refills. But I use the County Calm. It's a capped pen, but it's big, sturdy. You can even get, I have an aluminum model. They do a stainless or titanium model that's heavier and it will take any beating you can throw at it. It's one of the best pens I own, an all-time favorite of mine. So look at County Calm, the Embassy pen. We'll put a link in the show notes. They are fantastic and they're going to be able to withstand a trip like that without question.

Myke Hurley: And if push comes to shove, you can use it as some kind of attack weapon.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. It's not super tactical. This is not a tactical pen. Although it's tactical in style, it does not have the glass breaking throat slashing features.

Myke Hurley: It doesn't have any blades or like you can't shoot anything out of the side of it. You know, you can't do that.

Brad Dowdy: Not this one. Not this one.

Myke Hurley: Maybe. That's a whole different type of scenario. scenario that you might be looking for. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. If you want more on that, go listen to my episode of Gear Geeks Live with Tony. We talk about all those silly pens. That's a whole thing that I just can't. Oh, it's a thing. It's a thing. That's for sure. All right. This next one, Myke. It says, hey, Brad and Myke, my name is Connor. I live in Portland, Oregon. And today I met a fellow pen addict for the first time. His name is Zeb. And he spotted me literally from across the room because I was riding with a Kaweco Lilliput, inked with black swan and Australian roses, in case anyone was wondering. That's a true pen addict right there. He gives you all the details. Because we want to know, right? Yeah. What's the point?

Myke Hurley: It's like, oh, I have blue ink in it. No, that is unsatisfactory.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. In case anyone was wondering, yeah, all of us were wondering what ink you were using in your Kaweco Lilliput. But so Connor says, I've turned several friends of mine, but I haven't met someone else out in the wild who has the same love of pens as I do. It was a really neat experience to be able to break out all my pens that I had in my bag and share them with a total stranger. In parentheses, he says, I didn't realize I had eight inked pens with me. That's all of us, Connor. So you're in good company. He was super nice, super enthusiastic, and turned me on to trying Orochizuku Siuro. I wanted to give him a shout out on the podcast if I could. He said he's a fellow listener, and I thought it might be cool for him if he heard his name come up on an episode. You guys read an Ask TPA I submitted once, and hearing my name on the show gave me a huge grin. I thought I could do the same for Zeb, and this would be more of a surprise. So if I could, I'd like to give Zeb from Ridgefield a shout out. It was super cool to meet you, Zeb. So welcome, Zeb. Glad you're a listener. Glad you and Connor found a mutual love of fountain pens out in the wild. We talk about that all the time. Like, I don't live in a big town, so I don't get many out in the wild experiences. But I think it's cool when you see someone using something that you know is not a normal thing. Like, seeing someone out in the wild using a Kaweco lily put, you know they're dialed into this thing that we're into. They're dialed into what you're into as well. And this is why, like, we talk about pen shows and meeting people for the first time in person. It's, the connection's automatic. It's not forced or difficult. It just happens. It's like instant click. And it's easy to have those conversations. It's fun. It's something we all enjoy doing. And, yeah, I just think, I just thought this was a great email that I wanted to share because this happens. And this community is so great that, you know, anyone can just walk up to anyone else and have these kind of conversations. And, you know, hopefully you've made a new friend. So it's very cool.

Myke Hurley: Zeb and Connor, if you two have never been to a pen show, you need to go to a pen show. Because you had a mini pen show. That's what it's like for the whole time. So get yourself to a pen show.

Brad Dowdy: Are you saying that because you use the Kaweco Lilliput?

Myke Hurley: No, just because they enjoy kind of like showing things to each other, right? Like, and like enjoying trying other stuff out. Like, that's what a pen show is all about, right? And so if they've never done that, they clearly enjoyed that experience. I think that they would get a real kick out of going to a show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was making a mini pen show joke, but I fell flat.

Myke Hurley: Wow. No, I didn't get that. I thought that you were saying I was criticizing his pen usage or something. That will not be the title of the show. We can at least agree on that one.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So maybe the intro to this email, you know it will. So this is for, this is Ask TPA, Best Fountain Pen, Inc. And the message is, Dear Anna's Husband. So that that has become a thing, warms my heart to no end. Anna and I love it. I got it in LA. You know, I'm going to see Anna and her real husband next week. So this is going to be, this is going to be fun. So the Little Rock Pen Show is going to be fun with Anna's husband, her literal husband being there. So it'll be fun. But me and Bob get along super well. So it's going to be fun. So this email says, thanks a lot. After listening to your podcast for a year and catching up on all the old episodes, I finally got a fountain pen, a Pilot Metropolitan, followed quickly thereafter within a week by a TWSBI Eco and then a Lamy Safari. Yep. You did it.

Myke Hurley: You 100% did it.

Brad Dowdy: So that's the entry trifecta right there. Yeah. All with fine nibs. And I love them. As for inks, I'm with Myke loving the Pilot Orochizuku Fuyugaki, which is great for my personal notes. I really love it for how fine it writes and then it doesn't bleed or feather, no matter the paper I put it to.

Myke Hurley: Oh, and also like, I think you missed this line in there that they said, and it's the best ink ever made. And Brad is silly. Yeah. I didn't miss that part. Thanks for putting that in.

Brad Dowdy: Because I really appreciate it. Some different, you know, alternate show document that you're looking at. No, no.

Myke Hurley: It's from the original email. Like he copied me in. He blind copied me into it, but you thought I didn't see it. Gotcha.

Brad Dowdy: So here's the real issue that I need to bring up to the listeners because what he tried was what I would have recommended. So he says, but blue ink is another issue entirely. I bought a bottle of Pilot Orochizuku Kanpeki and I love the color, but no matter the paper, it bleeds and looks sloppy. I tried Noodler's Bernanke and had the same problem and the color wasn't nearly as pretty. So here's the catch. I want a bluish ink that stays fine no matter the paper. I'm a litigator and I use a lot of legal pads in preparation for hearings and depositions. Despite the illustrious title, I can't afford to buy the amount of Rodeo legal pads that I would need to have nice paper to write on to prevent these issues. So what say you, Mr. Dowdy? What's the best bluish ink for my situation? Thanks for all the knowledge and enjoyment. Keep it up. Very truly yours, Curtis.

Myke Hurley: It's a shame that he's having bad luck with Kanpeki. I have not. You know, I found that ink to be great. One of the reasons I ended up picking it was because for me, I didn't have those issues, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right. But the paper is the consideration here, right? Exactly. So if he's using a legal pad, that's a very fibrous, not really accepting of fountain pen ink. So just on the paper side of things, if you can find at one point Staples carried a sugar cane paper in the legal pad size, that's going to handle fountain pen inks better. So on the paper side, you could try that. But really for the ink, the first thing I would have recommended was the Bernanke ink. And if that doesn't work, I'm a little bit at a loss. But the only thing I would go to next, and it's not going to necessarily give you the solution for the best looking blue inks, but I think you're going to want to try Stock Pilot Blue or Blue Black or Stock Pelican Blue or Blue Black. They might can handle those papers better, but I don't have a really awesome answer for this. So hopefully listeners can email me with any answers of inks that they use on legal pads, traditional legal pads, you know, tops, am pad, any of those, any of the type of the ones you find at the office or find in an office supply store that you can buy, you know, in like five, ten packs, things like that. So fine nib, blue ink, and has to handle the legal pad paper very well. And I think, and maybe Lamy. I might throw Lamy in as that ink too. I'm not sure how the turquoise would handle that ink, handle that paper, excuse me. So yeah, that's a hard question because I thought Bernanke ink would be probably kind of a good shot there. There is a Noodler's ink called X Feather that doesn't feather or bleed, but it only comes in black, I think. So I'm not sure what else. So any other thoughts? I would be open to legal pad inks that work well. And speaking of the aforementioned Tony, I'll have to ask him because he's a lawyer and he writes on legal pads a lot and I know he uses fountain pens. So I'll have to figure out what ink he uses. I think he might just use the Pilot Blue cartridges. So that's what made me think of that. All right. You ready? Yeah. You ready for this one? We're going to wrap it up with the big boy here.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Oh, wow. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: And these are the kind of emails I like though. We've gotten these before and I just like, so we're going to have a little story time here because this is a monster email, but I like reading the whole thing because it kind of tells a cool story about people who have found this podcast and who have discovered the love of writing and pencils and things like that. So I love these stories. Keep them coming. And this one's from Joseph and the subject line is, where do I go from here?

Myke Hurley: Depend. That's the answer. Depend.

Fountain Pens

Brad Dowdy: At the beginning of last December, I did not own a single fountain pen. Through the years, I have had at least a mild interest in finding the right things to write with and write on. When I was younger, I was gifted a couple of cross pen sets that I used to the point the finish was worn through where I held it. I've hunted for the perfect wooden pencil in an office supply store, which I loved to browse in as a kid. I have splurged on bound notebooks that I can abuse, but really not damage. When my sister gave me a brown leather Retro 51 tornado, she used for her wedding's guest book, because I like nice pens, her words. I thought, I guess so. She was right, and I still love that pen today. I bought a pack of Field Notes Shelterwood because I thought they looked cool in a store. It has always been more impulsive, but constant. So I think a lot of us can see ourselves in this email from Joseph already. So he says, last year I got tired of using notebooks I did not really like, and I set out to find my perfect notebook. A heavier quadrille paper with a top binding using staples or thread. No glue. Sound familiar? I'm an engineer, and as a previous engineer named Joseph pointed out on your show, I will always write to solve problems, particularly when math is involved. That's when we were talking about in the past, like, why writing's never going to go away, right? I mean, in math and science, it's super important to be able to write and explore your handwriting on a page to try to solve a problem. So he says, that means I want a cheap notebook too because I go through paper and because I'm an engineer. Over the course of several months, I ended up finding Rhodia Classic Orange pads online, then found jet pens. I ordered a stack of Apica CD notebooks and Rhodia pads in different sizes and colors, and on a whim, I ordered a Platinum Preppy because it helped me reach free shipping. That was my first mistake.

Brad Dowdy: At the end of February, I now have a Platinum Preppy, a Platinum Metropolitan, a Lamy Safari in dark lilac with KWZ berry, which somehow fell into my box with other purple samples. Thanks, Vaness. Twisby Eco, extra fine, inked up with Montblanc Irish green, and another Platinum Preppy in extra fine and black. All my inks are samples or original cartridges, and I have also tried Ackermann 13 Simpliste Violet, Ackermann 05 Shocking Blue, and Noodler's Violet. It has not been that long, and I have not been able to rotate pens and ink much yet. I did dip test all the inks with some of the pens, but I'm still scratching my head a bit at some of the differences. My Eco seems to flood any paper with the Irish green, while the Safari felt dry, nearly scratchy, with any of the inks I tried. From everything I read, I guess I would have not expected either of those things from everything I have read or images I have seen online. I was wondering what your thoughts are on trying things out at the lower cost end and where money would best be spent early on. The pens I purchased so far all kind of led me onto the next one as I like them, but I also don't expect to gain much from just buying the next one up at this point. I'm really just trying to get my bearings in the market and the community so I can have a better idea of what to expect and make an informed decision once I do decide to put more money into a single purchase.

Brad Dowdy: So let's stop right there. There's a little bit more that's a separate question that I want to take separately. So, number one, this is an amazing story. This is how a lot of us got into this, right? We always had like this deep-seated thing to write with something better than the junk we were writing with that we found at the office.

Myke Hurley: Go back to the start of the show and maybe like 15 episodes in, me and you start this journey, right? Safari to Preppy to Metropolitan. We go down that route together.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. So this is awesome that Joseph has found this and found us and has found some enjoyment in finding the things that help him enjoy his writing better and help him solve problems doing math and being an engineer. He's not just writing. He's writing to do work as well as writing for fun and once an enjoyable experience. So out of these pens he's bought, he said he's tried a few things. So, one of the things, Joseph, that I'm unclear on, which is going to change your experience, is you said you did dip test all the inks with some of the pens and that's not going to give you a good test for the eco flooding the paper with Irish green while the Safari felt dry. You need to fully ink the pens to get the real experience because I've never had an eco flood ink. But if you're just dipping it, you're going to get a different sample or experience of the ink delivery onto the paper than if it was filled and flowing and metered properly from the barrel through the feed, through the nib, onto the paper. Same thing with the Safari. Safari.

Brad Dowdy: The Safari has a solid feed. There's hardly going to be any ink in there when you're dipping it. But if you're using it filled with a cartridge or converter, whatever you're doing, it's going to be different. It could still be dry. But it's going to be different than your experience with just dipping that nib in your random inks and feeling what that's all about. So I'd be curious about that. Your point about not expecting to gain much from just buying the next one up at this point, I agree with that. I think you're good with what you have. Like, the Eco, the Safari, and the Metropolitan, and the Preppy honestly give you all kind of different writing experiences in the fines and extra fine nibs. Like, I don't know that unless there's some valid reason for you in the way you write, in the way, you know, you do your work to switch up with what you have. Like, you have good pens, you have good inks, everything should work as intended. You know, fill them up properly, don't just dip test them. I know you're trying, if you're just buying samples right now, you know, you're probably trying to conserve ink, but you need to go ahead and fill them up to see what the performance is really like. That's how you're going to know for sure whether you're in a good space with the pens that you need. So, anything else I need to say about that, Myke? I think that's...

Myke Hurley: I don't think so. I think you made a really good point of like, you've really got to try them properly. you've got to... Dipping is like a good tester, but it's not going to give you the results that you're looking for, as you said, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, this last little bit says, also, is it worth going to a pen show if you do not intend to buy anything in particular? Okay, I would buy tons of ink samples if they were available, he says. The Little Rock show is a bit of a drive for me, but I have family and friends in that area, so it would not be a wasted trip no matter what. I just do not know what to expect. This is a really good question because I've had this come up before. I've had people come up to me at a show saying, I just wanted to come and see what it was all about. So, you can absolutely go to a pen show if you don't intend on buying anything. And, I've seen people like, I couldn't. We're all different, but I know people do this because I have talked to people like at DC that said, we just came to see what it was all about. Thanks for talking to us today and we'll see you later. And, they said they had the best time. They said, this is awesome and now I have an idea of this and maybe next year I'll come with a list. So, absolutely, it's worth going to a pen show just because you can see things, touch things, feel things. you know, if you're, you already bought a Lamy Safari but people who are just getting into this, you know, maybe not, may not know how a Lamy Safari grip section fits their fingers. You can try it there. So, don't go in to a show with an expectation to buy something because that's absolutely normal and well, well worth it. I mean, it is very much worth it to go even if you don't spend a single dollar other than to get in. So, absolutely would recommend going even if you don't buy. Don't intend on making a purchase just to try things out, see things, see things you may not have known existed that might fit your needs better. So, it's very cool. It's very cool. So, absolutely do that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and that's it. you know, so that was a good email. We get these pretty frequently like the ramp up the like the zero to 60 in various speeds and where do I go next? Am I good? And I love that people are thoughtful enough to like send us these emails and ask for our opinion on these things. It's kind of cool.

Myke Hurley: If you want to find our show notes for this week, head on over to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 247. Thanks again to our sponsors, Squarespace and Mack Weldon. If you want to find Brad online, you can go over to penaddict.com on knock.co to find his writing and his product. You can go to Twitter. He is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. Brad is penaddict on Instagram and I'm also imike on Instagram as well. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict and we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.