The Pen Addict 249/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	249
Title:	An Astronomical Wallet Event
Release Date:	March 22nd, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 249
Audio File:	Audio Episode 249
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 249
Length:	6969 min <br />1.15 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 249. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Casper. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Hype Man extraordinaire, Mr. Brad Dowdy. You done? You're all hyped out, huh? Well, thanks for listening, everyone. Hi, everyone. I'm hyped out, man. How's it going? Very good. We're going to find out a little bit later on in the show exactly how the hype situation went down over at the Little Rock Pen Show. Was it Little Rock Pen Show or the Arkansas Pen Show? Arkansas Pen Show. Okay, because we've

Brad Dowdy: been calling it Little Rock, right? Right. It was in Little Rock, but it was the Arkansas Pen Pen Show. Okay, cool. Yeah, different shows do different things. Right. You know, like the Ohio Pen Show is, I think, the name of the one in Columbus, but most of them do it by the city. You know, Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore. Yeah, we don't call it Georgia. No. But, okay,

Myke Hurley: so it's the Arkansas Pen Show. We're going to talk about that a little later on in the show. There was something that I saw on Twitter this week that really made me laugh and also, like, my ears pricked up a little bit. I got interested and I wanted to just mention it because I thought it was real fun. Caroline Weaver of CW Pencils, the store that we love so dearly, she tweeted that she bought her first fountain pen. She chose a pencil yellow Lamy Safari, Team Safari Forever. Yes. And then followed it up by saying, what if this pen thing becomes an obsession and I end up opening a very tiny pen shop? Not hating this idea. So my thought here is, like, we need to do everything possible to convince Caroline that this is a good idea.

Caroline We Trust

Brad Dowdy: I mean, like, we've said it before in Caroline We Trust, right? So, like, there's no way, like, it wouldn't be amazing, right? Like, it was funny. She started, you know, she copied me in the tweets because she was blaming me and that's kind of the perfect pen for her to buy.

Brad Dowdy: Just, you know, completely perfect for her and maybe she just needs to start knocking down walls next to her and, you know, see what happens. Expansion.

Myke Hurley: Just because of the way that she does the pencils, I would just love to see her curation for pens, right? Like, what does she pick for pens? So, we're on board. Caroline, if you're out there, if there's anything that we can do to help you along this path, we are at your disposal for this, is what I would say.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so we hope to be talking to her on the podcast soon. So we will certainly bring this up.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah. We most definitely will. So, yeah, it's cool. I'm looking forward to it. You know,

Brad Dowdy: to her dabbling in the pen world and if she comes up with something, you know, a little more than the pencil shop, I think it would be interesting.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: So we had some follow-up about legal pads, right, from an Ask TPA question. Was it last week?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, we got a ton of feedback on this. Some of the most feedback we've ever gotten on one of our listener questions. And a lot of it was kind of similar answers. Like, you know, we threw it out there to the crowd and wanted to see what they were using for legal pads, what they were using for inks on legal pads. And most of it came back kind of like I thought. It's your stock inks from traditional manufacturers. So Peter says Schaefer's script blue-black. It's very bleed and feather resistant and would look very legally. Adam says Aurora blue-black in a Metropolitan or Noodler's black. And Theo, who is a lawyer and does this all the time too, says the Pelican 4001 blue-black. So he, most of those inks, a lot of them are kind of dry-ish. So they work good in that situation. And, you know, I think any kind of ink, that's just your very basic entry point ink into some of these very traditional brands is probably going to work well with that. What I found interesting about the pad itself was lots of recommendations for the standard Staples yellow legal pad. That came up time and time again. Staples makes a higher-end legal pad called the Cigna. Everyone says that's garbage. So like their high-end legal pad is not very good. But the entry-level one is not very good. And also, I think Sean noted that the white legal pad is worse than the yellow. The yellow seems to be better. He also had a good tip. He says, this is Sean, he said, when you're shopping for legal pads, look at how the ruling lines are printed. If the lines look like crap, the paper is going to bleed and feather. You know, if they, you know, kind of fuzzy or, you know, just not solid, the paper's probably worse. And if the lines are clean and sharply printed, then you have a better chance of your pen and ink working on that pad. So that makes, I think that makes sense.

Myke Hurley: I've only ever used a legal pad once. I was coming back from my first ever trip to America. I was coming back from Detroit, Michigan. And I, at that time, was trying my hand at writing a story, like a short story, a novel or something. It's just one of the many things that I tried as a younger man. And I bought a legal pad and a pen, and I was using it, and I was writing, going through probably the worst turbulence of my life. So it was pretty, it was a pretty interesting experience I have with legal pads is not a usual experience.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I, I mean, it's not something I ever use, but I understand the convenience and sometimes requirement to use something like that. But yeah, I mean, and, and that's the, the whole issue was, you know, you want to use something as inexpensive as possible because you're just going to burn through these and you need them, you know, on the fly and it's with the office stock. So yeah, the, the sailor stuff, I mean sailor stuff, the staples stuff came up time and time again.

Aurora Flex

Myke Hurley: All right, Brad. So we have been spending so much time over the last maybe couple of weeks talking about and anticipating the Aurora flex, right? So like this came up weeks ago, the news that Aurora making flex nibs. And then I think it was either last week or the week before we spoke about the interview that you did with Aurora and brought it up again then. And there was a model provide, of the 88, the 70th anniversary. What is it like a few hundred of these being made or something?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what they're doing to launch this product is they're going to make eight barrel colors. They're going to release one color per month for eight months, and there will be 188 of each of those colors. Okay. So did you track that? I think so. For example, blue is coming out this month and there are 188 of them available worldwide. Okay. Yeah. And the next month, next month will be whatever the next color is. I don't know the complete order.

Myke Hurley: So it's an interesting decision, but like I can see it, right? Like you're making different colors, doing limited editions, that kind of thing. But the star of the show, right, was the flex nib. Right, right. Making a flex nib. So Susan, she did the review for you over at the Pen Addict. And it seems like it doesn't cut the mustard would be a phrase I would use here.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I mean, it's all relative, I think. So I had the chance to use this pen at the LA Pen Show. So, and I've had a chance to use it at the Little Rock Pen Show. So whatever Aurora's been out since they've launched the pen before sales have started on the pen, they've had samples that we could try. Okay. And, you know, it's a perfectly nice pen. It just doesn't, it's not like a super flex nib. And that's fine. It's just like, you know, the original Pilot Falcon is a soft fine. It's not a flex nib. It's got some flex in it. But it's not going to go crazy like some kind of wet noodle flex. And the issue that I found with the Aurora Flex, while it's a, it's an awesome writing pen, I didn't find it to be a super flexible pen. I mean, you can push it some, but it's not as flexible as the Omos Flessabile nibs, which Susan compared it to, which I also have. And it's not as flexible to me as the Pilot FA nib, which is becoming a more readily available nib in the US market. And even if it's not as flexible, or if it's as similarly flexible, it's three times the price is like a Pilot 912 with an FA nib, which you can get for like around $225, something in that ballpark. So it's a, it's a great pen. I just didn't feel it was necessarily, it wasn't a mind blowing pen. And I think Susan found it to be the same way. So like, we've talked before, how, when the writers of the Pen Act do reviews, I have no involvement in it. And I, it's, that's on purpose. Like, I don't want, I don't say anything about any of the products that we review before the review's done. And they just, they get the pen, they review it, and then they turn it in. But my expectations and my time with the pen, my thoughts line up like verbatim, almost with what Susan said. And I mean, it's, it's a really good pen. The thing about this pen, they will sell out immediately. Like, this isn't going to have any, any ramifications on them selling every single one of these pens, because there's only 188 of each color. But if you, if you come to me and say, Brad, there's this Aurora Flex pen out there. Should I buy it? Or should I look at something else? I'm going to recommend the Pilot FA nine times out of 10. Unless there's a real good reason you want this Aurora, you know, maybe it's the barrel color, maybe like the limited edition aspect of it. And that's where the expense lies, right? They're not making, this isn't a perma release pen. You know, if this was just a stock pen that they were doing, maybe the cost would come down some, but it's a limited edition. So they're not making as many, making fewer colors. So it's going to cost more. It just doesn't feel like a $650 pen when really all you're getting is the nib. And the nib is really awesome. It is great to write with. It's just not some kind of crazy super flex. So your expectations should be set accordingly.

Myke Hurley: Because I think people are expecting different though, right? Like, I think it, there seemed to be the expectation that it was going to be this kind of cool, fancy, different, weird, super flexible nib. And it seems, you know, like Susan was just like, it's, it's flexible, but it's not super flexible. It's not anything like as she compares it to the Omas Extra Flexible, which I still hate that name. It's an interesting name. I hate that name. Anyway, but it, you know, it seems like an issue, and as you said, and she put it really well that like, this is a really nice pen, but it doesn't offer enough to justify its price.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. But, you know, it's going to justify its price all day, every day, because it's limited, because of Aurora's name. The 88 barrel is night is a piston filler, you know, these other ones that I'm talking about, like the Pilot 912, you know, that's a cartridge converter. So, you know, it definitely has some features, but you just gotta, you got, you have to decide why you want this pen, right? Which is our buying decision every day, right? Why am I choosing pen X over pen Y? And so, you line all these things up, and then you make your decision on that. So, there's certainly valid reasons to purchase this Aurora, and believe me, they're already pretty much sold out of blue. I mean, they're, they're just gonna fly off the shelf, and I tell you, if you want one, you better get on it, like, quickly. Like, if you see a color come out that you want, like, we got, Aurora got one of each of the eight colors, I mean, excuse me, Kenro got one of each of the eight colors to send out to people. So, Myke got the, Myke at Ink Dependence got the yellow one, Joe Crace, I think, got the green one. So, if you see a color you like, you need to talk to your vendor and get on the list, because I know we were working with Van S. Pens on this one, and it didn't even matter linking to them, because you couldn't buy them anymore. All

Myke Hurley: their pre-orders were sold out. Basically, what it seems like is that, like, the way that I'm looking at this is, like, this is a great pen, but don't really think of it as a Flexnip so much.

Brad Dowdy: Think of it as a regular pen with something extra.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it is, like, the baseline of Flexible, but it writes really nicely on a day-to-day basis, which I think is, you know, that's fine if that's what you're looking for, but what I'm saying is it's not what, I don't think it's what we're expecting, right? And so, just, I think people just should adjust their expectations a little bit.

Brad Dowdy: I was expecting that because it's impossible to make a modern Flex pen like any type of vintage Flex. So, this is kind of in line with what I was thinking, to be honest. Right. Like, it's not a disappointment from that aspect. There are technical limitations to what you can do, and, you know, that's why it's not an outlier for Flex, right? It's in the range of normal for Flex, which is cool. That's fine.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Whereas an outlier would be, like, your vintage stuff, which you just can't make that kind of thing anymore.

Myke Hurley: Why?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. I'm not a nib meister, but it's just to, it's the way the nib has to be manufactured. And to get a thinness for Flex while we're maintaining the ability to spring back and not have people returning your pens every month because they sprung the nib.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Right. Okay. It's like a quality control type deal. Yeah. Because otherwise, people would just be breaking them left, right, and center and be returning them and your business would go under. Right. Right.

Myke Hurley: Put it simply, I guess. Right. Right. All right. Well, you know.

Brad Dowdy: This is not an easy, this is why no one does it because it's not an easy thing to do.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Aurora Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's why it's a big deal when a company like Aurora decides to put their time and effort into something like this. Yeah. And they did a great job. It's just, you know, manage your expectations, decide what you want in a pen and see if this fits. That's it.

Myke Hurley: I will say that Susan seemed more disappointed than you are.

Brad Dowdy: Susan's wanted to buy this pen ever since she heard about it.

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: So, and she couldn't decide, like she was talking to me about it before, like when they first announced when she'd email me, are you getting one of these? Can we get one of these? Like, can we try it? Can we try it? I want it. And, you know, and she likes, she likes writing, you know, with a little bit of flair and, you know, she enjoyed it to her. Obviously it made her handwriting look great, but it wasn't any more special than anything else she already had. I guess that's the, that's the kicker, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. It's like, as you say, like if your reasons are you want to own this beautiful limited edition pen, then you're going to be, you're going to be more than happy, right? Because it's a nice pen and it's limited edition and it looks great.

Brad Dowdy: I'll tell you what, everyone who tests it like at a pen show loves it. Like it's really, it's really fun to write with.

Myke Hurley: But it may be, it just, maybe for some people won't offer them what they are hoping for or expecting for, right?

Brad Dowdy: Sure. Okay.

Myke Hurley: Well, there you go. I mean, I still think it's absolutely stunning. I'm not going to buy one because I, I'm not interested in spending that amount on a pen brand that I've never used, never used an Aurora. I have it on my list. I said like I, my pen show list currently has one pen on it and it's Aurora Optima. It's the only thing on my list right now. But yeah, that's, that's all. So we'll wait and see. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. All right. This week's show is brought to you by Squarespace. Enter the offer code Inc at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace. They let you easily create the website that you have for your next idea. Maybe you're looking to create an online store to sell your physical or digital goods. Maybe you want to create a portfolio to display your artwork. You want to create a website for your band, including music. So people can come and listen, you know, just play it all there. They have tools for that. Maybe you want to create a website for your restaurant. You want to put maps and menus and all that stuff. And you can do all of that with Squarespace. Maybe you want to create a blog to talk about pens. Well, I know a man that did, and his name is Brad Dowdy and his website is on Squarespace. They are the only one platform that will let you do any and all of those things. There's nothing to install, no patches to worry about, no upgrades needed. You don't have to sit and worry about any of this fiddly stuff. Squarespace have got you covered. They have award-winning 24-7 support that you grab a unique domain name and take advantage of beautiful templates. So your website will look amazing. Their plans start at just $12 a month. You can sign up for a trial with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com and then use the offer code INK and you'll get 10% off your first purchase once you're done with your trial and want to put your website out to the world. Thank you so much to Squarespace for their support with this show. Using the offer code INK will not only get you 10% off your first purchase, it will show your support for the pen addict. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website. Right. So Brad, you're on the downswing right now from a pen show. When did you get back from the Arkansas pen show?

Brad Dowdy: Yesterday afternoon. So I'm in recovery mode. So yeah, it was a lot of driving because I took an extra side trip on Monday that put me even further away from home. So it was like a two-day drive to get back. So it was rough. It was long. Um, like if I drove to Arkansas to the, to little rock and back, that would have been like no problem at all. I think it took me eight and a half hours to get there, which was completely fine. It was a good drive. And if I just turned around and came back that way, that would have been just fine. But whoo, I'm hurting with the, with the extra driving that I did because you know, you go to pen shows, you don't get a lot of rest as it is. You know, I think we're up till after midnight every night. Um, I was up by five, five 30, like two of the mornings, you know, to get back. So it just catches up with you over time. And you know, it's just a zombie yesterday. I got home about two o'clock yesterday, had so much going on. It's the moment I got home, um, crashed about nine o'clock last night and, uh, slept pretty good. I don't have any problems sleeping. It's just not a lot of, not a lot of hours and a lot of driving in between. So I was pretty beat, but it was an awesome, awesome trip. And, uh, I would do it again in a heartbeat. How long was the trip? Did you say? Uh, the initial drive from Macon to Little Rock, eight and a half hours. Did you do that in one go? Um, I stopped once, you know, got some food, got gas. And, uh, so that was the only stop. So I couldn't, I don't think I could have made it any faster than I did just because I didn't really stop. So as always, I was following

Myke Hurley: along with your trip via social media and, and from your diary that you put into refill. And I noticed that you, uh, visited Van S. Is that your first time you've been to the Van S store?

Van S Store

Brad Dowdy: First time I've been to the Van S store. So I drove. Tell me all about it. It was pretty awesome. So my drive, that was my destination. So like all this drive, you know, the whole eight and a half hours, the termination point was the Van S pens parking lot. So it was kind of cool. You like park in the store sitting right there in front of you and you walk in and there's Lisa and there's Myke and there's all their employees and there's their shop, which is really big. Um, it's like half pen store, half like gift shop. And the it's, it's bigger than I expected. They had more stuff than I expected. Um, but it's as cool as I expected. Like it's fun. You know, like I have a big table. You can, um, you know, they have a lot of, uh, uh, customers that'll come in and hang out and talk about pens and ink, you know, kind of like our pen show after parties. They have like a big table there where you can just come sit and hang out and, and talk with your buddies. And, you know, I got the tour of, of all the stuff there at Van S and you know, the next year is their 80th year in business. So you can imagine they have lots of, uh, lots of stuff that they have carried around through the years. So I got to see some of the old, you know, like promotional items, some old, old artwork, some of the old, um, you know, like, um, cabinets, you know, different brand cabinets and things like that, that they've repurposed over the years. And it's, it was just really, really cool to see that. I don't know that I've ever been into a pen shop before I got to thinking about that. You know, I don't know that I've ever like walked into a pen store in my life before. So that was pretty cool. And, um, you know, everything's out on display. They just have cabinets after cabinets, after cabinets of display. Um, they have everything. So it was really, really cool. They have as much ink as you think they have. It's crazy. Um, the amount of inks that they have and they're all there and they're running the online business out of a section of that shop too. So it's, um, you know, I was interested to talk to them about how they manage like the, the physical brick and mortar inventory versus the online inventory, how all that stuff works. And, uh, all the employees were super nice and helpful. They let, just let me jump behind the counter and do whatever I wanted. And it was fun. Um, so Carrie, uh, from Kenro was there and a fountain pen day. Um, and he was there when I got there. So we just had fun, like going through the store, checking out all the stuff and, um, you know, seeing Myke's repair station and some of the old tools he would use for that. And, um, it was just, I could have, if, if I live there, I'd be there all the time. Just, I'd, I'd be, I'd be pulled up to that table, you know, every afternoon or evening after I got off work or on the weekend. Um, it's, you know, it's like, uh, um, you know, like people would go and like hang out at the comic book store or something like that. You just, the place where you get your regular customer of, it feels like you're part of the family there. You know, they have that type of feel to the store. So it makes people want to hang out there and, um, do stuff. And Lisa says, you know, she loves the people hanging out there. I would go bankrupt. You know that? Yeah. Oh, totally. Totally. But she says, you know, if you hang out there too long, I put you to work. So the people like at the table, um, she's like, Hey, I need all these ink samples done. So they'll sit there and pull ink samples for, which is cool. That's pretty sweet. It's fun to be part of that family. It's a total family, uh, atmosphere and feel, which I mean, it's a family business. Um, you know, little rocks, definitely a family oriented town. Everyone kind of knows everybody. And, um, it was just really, really cool.

Myke Hurley: So as Rez said in the chat room, are you Brad, are you Brad Venice now?

Brad Dowdy: I could pull that off. That could be my name. I, I, I do feel like part of the family now. And, um, you know, it's just Lisa and Myke make it easy. I mean, they're just easy going down to earth people and you know, there's no pretenses and you know, there's like, I don't ever have to worry about anything around them because I mean, that's how I am too. So I'm, you know, pretty low key and, you know, easy to get along with. So we of course get along like swimmingly. It's really just, I felt right at home from the moment I walked in. And, and I mean, there's really not much more you can ask for than that. Right.

Myke Hurley: You, uh, mentioned in refill that you had pre-ordered a couple of pens that you were picking up there. And I want to know, I want to know the, the deal on this, my friend.

Brad Dowdy: Well, being part of the family does have its benefits. Um,

Myke Hurley: Oh my God, Brad Dowdy. So I put the links in. I cannot, I hate, I hate you. I hate you so much right now.

Brad Dowdy: So I'll probably get, I'll probably get in trouble for what you're yelling at right now, but let's talk about the other one that I won't get in as much trouble for. The first one's the Aurora Nebulosa, which I talked about, um, for the past couple of weeks, I guess, since I first saw the color of it. And it wasn't necessarily going to be there in time for me to pick up at the show, but it happened that they all came in at the, um, right around the same time all the flex nibs came in. So I thought it was going to be like another month or so, but it was there. It got there the day I showed up actually carry hand delivered that one. Um, because he was delivering some stuff to Fades. So mine was in there and I had that on pre-order because I wanted an extra fine nib on that one. And it's just as good looking in person as it is in pictures. It's my first rose gold plated fountain pen. And on this purple, it looks fantastic. It's actually very light, the rose gold, which I appreciate like, it's not real stark and strong, if you will. Um, it's very subtle and the clip and, uh, uh, cat band nib, they all fit in, in there like perfectly. And I was so busy. It has yet to be inked up. It's still sitting on my desk in a box. Like when I got, I didn't have time while I was there. Um, because one, I didn't want to carry it around cause I hadn't finished paying for it. Um, and I just never had time. Plus I couldn't decide what ink I wanted in it. So I just said, you know what, I'm just going to throw this in my suitcase and take it home. And then when I got home, everything just came out of the suitcase onto my desk, which is a catastrophe right now. So I haven't had a chance to even ink it up yet. The next pen is in the same boat. I haven't had a chance to ink it up yet for all the same reasons that I just mentioned. I hate you. And I might get in trouble for this one. Um, I might be kicked out of the family, but I got the bung box fifth anniversary sailor fountain pen. I hate you so much. So this is, we were talking about this pen weeks

Myke Hurley: ago. It's the one with like the sparkly gold, uh, body with the black cap. And we were both trying to work out how to navigate the bung box website and just gave up. So why were you going to get in

Brad Dowdy: trouble for this? Well, because she only pre-ordered a couple and they were already sold. So like, they're not available. Right. Yeah. So, I mean, I emailed bung box. Um, and basically I said, we'd just handle it through Van S and it was just the easiest way for everyone. Cause I said,

Myke Hurley: I wanted it. So yeah. So there's that. You're not the only one that wanted this pen, you know, doubting the person you got to worry about is me here. Right. This is one of those,

Brad Dowdy: this is one of those things that you don't know is going to happen until it actually shows up. Yeah. Right. So it's like hard to even say, well, can I have two of those? Like,

Myke Hurley: no, I get it. I get it. No, I don't, don't, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you should have bought me one. I'm just annoyed that you have one. That's my problem here. I don't know if I didn't

Brad Dowdy: notice this in the beginning, but it has a metal section, which is pretty awesome. Oh really? Yeah. It's got the metal section, like the Imperial black in the 1911, but I didn't

Myke Hurley: realize that. Just bring it to Atlanta so I can touch it for a while. Oh, no doubt. And then spend the rest of my life trying to track one down. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, um,

Brad Dowdy: it's also still uninked just because I just haven't had time. Like it's, it's crazy, but I did buy an ink to go in this pen, which is in one of our, uh, ask TPA questions below. So we'll, we'll it's a bung box Imperial purple. So I think that's going to be a good ink for that pen. So I, I, yeah, ink, that's a thing.

Myke Hurley: The chat room are giving me a bunch of tips right now about how I can procure one of these bung box fifth anniversary pens. We are going to be sharing a room. So the tips tend to range between knock him over the head, uh, and or trick him. So yeah, you don't,

Brad Dowdy: you don't have any ties to North Korea, do you? Why would I? Um, I don't know. See that that's what a person who had North ties to North Korea would say. So I'll, I'll have to get someone else to, uh, drink my drinks, um, or try my food before if you're around.

Myke Hurley: You got to get an official food taster. You could get that Atlanta though. You're like the king of that town. Jeez Louise. You get an official food taster and the Atlanta pen show. I'm not the king of

Brad Dowdy: anything. All right. So how was it being the hype man? It was great. It was, uh, this was such a different show in like every way possible, except it felt completely familiar. Yeah. Um, which was cool. Uh, it was a comfortable show for me to like walk around and do things. So like when I got there on Friday, so we did a couple of set up things on Thursday night, but the show started Friday morning and I got access to the Arkansas pen show Instagram account. And I was just going to track the show for them on their Instagram account for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, take pictures of the show of the vendors, of the products of the classes. And that was really fun. So like, you know, I would just think about, you know, I wanted to try to get as many pictures as I could of different things, you know, different vendors, different pens, um, you know, different people than you would necessarily normally know at a pen show. People I didn't know who I'd never met before, you know, strike up conversations with them, learn about them, learn about their business, how they got into pens, what they're doing here, that kind of thing. So it was fun. And, um, you know, it was, I knew a lot of people, but there was a lot of people I didn't know. So I was able to get to meet some new people and had some good conversations, you know, telling them what I was doing, uh, for the show. And it was cool to go see some of the classes that were happening. I actually got to sat, sit in a class, um, which was a fountain pen hacks class for, um, you know, using like household items to help, you know, clean and maintain your fountain pens. Oh, nice. This is really cool. Like I took a bunch of notes during this class. It was, it was really cool. A gentleman named Danny Harris did that class. And the, the key takeaway that I had was the Arkansas pen club that put on the show really did an amazing job putting it together. Like they had everything down, like to go off without a hitch, like the, the room layout, the room set up, the scheduling of the event, the scheduling of the classes, like there were no questions. Right. So that's a, not an easy thing to do. Um, and it's especially not, uh, something you see at all shows, you know, like, but like all the good shows have this Atlanta has this San Francisco has this, you know, DC, not so much because the promoter does things differently. Doesn't mean it's not a great show, but it's run differently and you can't get the things you always need or they're not as open. Um, but it's also at a different scale. You know, this show was 50 tables, you know, DC is probably 250 tables. So it's a different scale. So they were able to do things on that more personal level. I had that personal touch. It was really a great experience. Like I have, I had the best time. Um, I hope I can go back next year. I hope I can go back every year just because of the people, um, who run the event, the people who attend the show and the vendors that attend the show. I mean, you can't ask for a better group of people than were at the Arkansas Pen show this year.

Myke Hurley: I was getting some serious Atlanta vibes looking at the pictures. Like it was strong. Like usually with the other Pen shows, like they look like, they look nice. They look fun, but like this just looked like Atlanta.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's, it definitely has that, has that feel. So yeah, I can see that, you know? So this was, this room was about as big as the big room in Atlanta, maybe a little bigger, something like that. Okay. So, um, the scary room, the big room in the back. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. With all the vintage stuff.

Pen Repairs

Brad Dowdy: But this had a good selection of everything. Lots of vintage, lots of modern. Um, there was two pen repairs or two nib grinders. There were people like Anna and Bob selling things that weren't like straight up, you know, with traditional pen show fare. Um, like for example, Anna had four vintage typewriters and she sold, sold all four of them. Wow. How cool is that? That's really cool. Like that says a lot about like the type of vibe that the show was, show was, it was very cool. And of course, Anna had the new, uh, coloring notebooks, the ink swab testers. Oh my God. I just got the name.

Myke Hurley: Um, get it, get it, get it. I just got it. Why is it taking, I don't think I said,

Brad Dowdy: if I said it out loud, I must've done right. Unless you, until you say it fast. Yeah. If you're reading it as with the, with the dashes, I mean like everything is perfect about the name.

Myke Hurley: It's just hilarious. Oh my God. I can't believe I just got it. Hey Myke, welcome to the banana. It's a pun guys. Wow. Do you have your coloring book? Yeah. Coloring. Coloring. Oh wow. I got it.

Brad Dowdy: That's really funny. I like it. It's amazing. And, uh, they sold up, they had great feedback on that and sold a bunch of them. So it was really, really cool. I mean, I had a blast and just like a complete

Myke Hurley: blast. Something that you did that I thought was hilarious, uh, was you made up little badges or there were badges made up, uh, to, to finally try and settle the Safari versus AL star debate. There were an orange badge that said hashtag Safari forever. And one that said hashtag all star always. And, uh, so what was the deal here? Were people kind of making their votes?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So this was a hundred percent Ana's idea. She texted me like a couple of weeks before the show. She says, Hey, I think I want to make pins for our Safari versus AL star battle. Um, that we could give out at the pin show. I said, Oh my God, that's an awesome idea. So she got the pins made and brought onto the show. So when we were talking to people, you know, and if, if it came up, um, you know, we would ask them, you know, to pick a side and some people wouldn't, and some people would say neither, which is funny. Um, and then a lot of people were picking, you know, either the Safari or the all-star. And it was just a fun thing that we can do. We'll have the pins, um, at the Atlanta pin show as well. Um, although the rest of the order actually left them behind and Lisa's going to bring them to me in Atlanta. So come see myself or Ana in Atlanta and choose your team. Um, Safari forever. Yeah. Safari forever. And it was just a fun, like we wore them all weekend long and people were asking where they could get those. And it allowed us to have like fun conversations, you know, about the Lamy and that's what it's all about. Just having fun, you know, do silly stuff like that to, you know, open up the conversation and do silly things and, you know, put a smile on people's face. It's pretty cool. So what purchases did you make

Myke Hurley: at the show? I can't imagine that walking around all of the time really did much good for you. I bet

Brad Dowdy: it was worse than usual. In fact, well, the kicker was I bought those two pins essentially before the show. So I was kind of tapped out before the show even happened. And I wasn't, I didn't know those were coming on the Thursday before the pin show and they both came. They both just happened to get there on Thursday. So I wasn't really expecting that. So on Friday, I don't think I bought anything, but like you say, you know, you end up walking around. It was, it was different to be able to walk around and talk and hang out with vendors and go through and learn about some of the pins and things. And on Saturday was the first pin I bought was a small, excuse me, platinum pocket pin. I need to take some more pictures of it's like the pilot elite 95 or sailor like sailor pilot and platinum. I'll make these old school looking pocket pins. Um, you know, there's small plastic barrels, small black plastic plastic barrels, gold trim in a kind of integrated looking nibs, um, 18 karat gold nibs or 14 karat gold nibs. And this was, I have a pilot one. I have a sailor one. So this was a platinum one and I thought it was cool. It was only 40 bucks. So I was like, yeah, I'll have this one. Um, it was brand new. It had never been inked before. So that's another pin I haven't inked up yet. It's just, I haven't inked up anything that I bought. Um, um, you know, at the show. So I love that pen. It's just a neat pen. It's kind of one of those pens, like the Kaweco's at the previous LA pen show. I like the pocket pen stuff. That's the kind of aesthetic that appeals to me. And that one's just another one like that. And I mean, for 40 bucks, I couldn't pass that up. I mean, it's not an expensive pen by any means. I didn't get some hot deal on it or anything. It's just a cool to have pen. Um, and that was it on Saturday. And then on Sunday, it was pretty quiet at the show and all throughout the show, Friday and Saturday, I learned so much about vintage pens just from talking to some of like the Arkansas pen club members that have been doing this for decades. Um, there were some serious big time collectors there with monstrous vintage, rare collections. Um, where we could talk about these things and be able to sit and spend some time with a lot of people. I learned so much about vintage pens. I mean, believe me, I know, uh, like one half of 1% of what they know, but still it's like, I have the, I got the bug at this show for the first time, because it's the first time I've been able to walk around and focus on learning and sitting with people, picking their brains. Hey, tell me about this pen. Why is this pen this way? What's the difference between this one and this one? That kind of thing. So I found, I did pick up two vintage Schaefer's. Um, one of them's called a tuck away, which like we were talking about the platinum a moment ago, it's a small pen. And I just love the design. Um, it's a shorter pen design with a short clip and it posts, you know, to the full size. But what made me purchase this pen was this nib on it. And I'm, I'll take some pictures. Like I owe all kinds of pictures and details on all these pens. I just have to get to it. When I opened the cap on this pen, I could see that the nib was like a needle. And not only is it practically a needle, it's firm as a nail, which on a small pen, I like having a small writing experience. Like on my small pens, I don't normally have like a stub nib, right? That kind of goes against what I'm doing. So to have this type of nib on this pen, and I looked at several of them, I bought it from Myke Beiler, which some of you have been to pen shows will know Myke and his brother, Tim, they're from Arkansas. Right. Um, and part of the pen club there. So, you know, I got to spend, you know, an hour with Myke, going through all these Schaefer's. Why is this? Why is that? And he had maybe five or six of these tuckaways. And this was the only one with this nib like this. And I said, I think I have to have this just for the way it writes. And besides the fact that it looks cool, I getting into vintage, it's like you don't buy, it's almost like a lot of people don't buy all the vintage, right? You focus on certain things. Everyone I talked to had some focus. It was Parker, this, or it was Schaefer. Yeah, you have your thing. You have your thing. And you're always like hunting down your thing. Like you don't hunt down all the things because there's a million of them.

Myke Hurley: You'd have to buy every pen ever made. Right. And there's only, you know, there's only one person in the world that can do that. And that's LeRex.

Brad Dowdy: That's hilarious. That's true. Love you, LeRex.

Schaefer Tuckaway

Brad Dowdy: I could see the Schaefer tuckaway being my thing, right? Because it's the way the pen is designed. And I'm even more happy with it. I mean, I was ecstatic to buy it because it's so cool. But having using it, you know, I had Myke ink it up because I wanted to use this right away. Um, it's been that enjoyable of a pen, um, that fun of a pen to use. And I could see it being, okay, that's a pen I could end up with like five or 10 of, you know, if I found different ones in good condition, things like that. What started me on his table was this green striped Schaefer. Um, this one's called the Balance. And I just bought this one because it's so pretty. And both of these are, um, vacuum fillers with incredible, like look like they've definitely been resacked or practically barely used because both of the mechanisms work flawlessly, but the balance, um, and a lot of the balance is not just this one that I bought has kind of a Waverly nib on it where the nib kind of bends up a little bit. So you have a little bit wider, um, writing surface when the nib hits the page, but I really bought this one for its looks. It's, um, pristine looking on the outside and inside. The green is really, really bright. And I'll, I'll, I'll try to take some good pictures of these

Myke Hurley: because, um, I found some good pictures online of this, of this green one and it is very beautiful. It almost reminds me of the vacuumatic a little bit, right?

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. And this is a very common pen. Like this isn't like a crazy, you know, hard to find pen. And same with the tuck away.

Myke Hurley: Like with the vacuumatic, right? You, you'll find a billion of those at every pen show you ever go to.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. So, and the prices aren't crazy too. I mean, the price, they're not dirt cheap, but you know, they're like low one hundreds. So, you know, reasonable, you know, all things considered. Um, they're just cool. Like, you know, part of going to a pen show and part of, you know, the main thing about this hobby is you find something that fits you, like your personality, your writing style and finally having the time to sit and look at some of these vintage pens more than just like a superficial glance. As I walked by the table, I was able to find those things that fit me. Yeah. Right. So now I'm like this stinking little tuck away. I can't stop thinking about it and using it. It's the only pen I've used since I've, since the pen show, it's the only pen I've made sure to have inked up because the nib, the nib's so cool. Like it's, it's cool. So I'm really, really happy with my purchases. Um, so those were all the, the outside the pre-order stuff. Those were the only three pens I bought, the two Schafers and the one platinum. Um, and then I did buy some inks. I wanted the new platinum classic inks, which they just did six colors of iron gall inks that are kind of unique color, some Browns, yellows, reds, purples. Um, I bought all of those. I bought six bottles. You would become that guy we were talking about. Yeah. I bought all of them. I knew I would because when I saw the moment I saw these, I was like, these are perfect for me. This is what I like in an ink. So, um, my buddy, Dan Smith from the nib Smith, he had all of these in. Um, so I bought the whole set from him. So yeah, it was, uh, it was, those were my show purchases and I'm, uh, I'm super thrilled. I think that's it. Gosh. I mean, it was more than enough with the, with the pre-order stuff. It was an astronomical, uh, wallet event for me, which is not, not pretty. We might have, we might have to have another, uh, another pen attic pen sale coming up soon after, after these first two shows of the year. I've gone, I've gone kind of stupid, which is good because in Atlanta, I don't think I bought anything in Atlanta last year just cause I don't have time for that. So this is good. Yeah. We'll see. I bet you buy something. Yeah. I mean, I'll end up with something, but still I'm not going to have time like I had at this show. So, but it was, it was nice to be able to do that for a change. Yeah. I mean, it's just a cool thing and I couldn't imagine doing that in one day, like at any pen show. Like I see why, I see why these shows, if I was just a visitor to the pen show and was doing the things that I was doing and having the conversations that I have was having, I'd want to be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday just to take that time. You need at least two days. It seems like to do, unless you're looking for something very specific and, you know, to be kind of in and out, which a lot of people do too. Not everyone has all weekend to spend at the dork convention, but it's, but us dorks that do get, you know, they suck every minute out of the entire weekend and have a blast doing it. So it's amazing.

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Myke Hurley: You can get $50 towards any mattress purchase by going to casper.com slash penaddict and using the code penaddict at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. So that's casper.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict. Thank you so much to Casper for their support of this show. All right, we're going to round out today, Mr. Dowdy, with some Ask TPA.

Brad Dowdy: So, Andy wants to know, I noticed some rollerballs, the Pilot V5, have a feed, while others have a refill, which is R51. Maybe subcategories, what's the difference? And does Brad consider them differently? So this is a new thing for Pilot. So the V5 has been around and the V7 are the Precise, the Pilot Precise pen. It's the needle tip with the little circular window in the cap. And it's considered one of the all-time great rollerball pens. A lot of people like the needle tip, the writing experience is smooth, the ink is dark, and they have, you know, the way the system is set up, they essentially have a feed with ink in the barrel. It's not a refillable pen. You just, the ink sloshes around on the inside, you can see the ink levels change, and when you've used it all, you toss it. What a great pen. It really is truly one of the all-time great pens.

Myke Hurley: It's one of those great entry, pen-addict entry-level pens, you know, like I used one of these and have used one of these many times over the years. Like it was just one of those things. I was like, here is what I consider to be a nice pen to write with, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So Pilot made, no more than like two years ago, they made the same barrel pen and made it a cartridge fill pen. So with Pilot's ink cartridges, the same connector design as their standard fountain pen inks for the Precise line, and you can take this and refill it. I don't know that I, I'll have to go back and look at the review. I don't remember offhand if I tested the inks, but I remember at the time testing the cartridge model, the ink seemed a little lighter, a little less viscous, you know, a little thinner ink than the traditional V5. I remember liking the V5 and the V7 better, but you can do cool things with the refillable one, right? I mean, you can put any kind of ink in there that you want into those cartridges, you know, have to empty one out, clean it out, refill it with, I don't know, some random, you know, sailor apricot. You can put that in a rollerball pen. There's nothing stopping you from that. I don't know necessarily how it would perform, but none of these rollerball cartridge pens work wonderfully with fountain pens. The ink's just made a little bit differently, but it's kind of a neat to have or neat to play with. If you want to stick with basic colors, I would totally stick with the standard Precise V5 and V7 as compared to one of the cartridge models. But they're cool. It's like, I want one of these so I can play with it when I want to. And if I do something weird with it, you know, no big deal. But if I was going to write in a journal every day, I would want the standard, standard V5. So do you think of them as different types of pens,

Myke Hurley: or do you lump them all into the same categories? That's a tough question. I think it's probably

Brad Dowdy: the same type of pen. Okay. This one's just a little bit more, more finicky. I think, I mean, it's the same type of pen. It's just not as good of a pen on a one-to-one comparison. Okay. If that

iPenbox Subscription

Myke Hurley: makes sense. So. R. Wendell asked, what are your thoughts on the iPenbox subscription? They've been getting it for a few months and thought they had good variety. This is completely new to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So it's completely new to me other than I have heard of it and I've never looked at it. So I'm going to the site now and I want to see if I can find what's in the box. So it's a $30 monthly pen box. Let's see if we can find what's in one of these things. And if anyone in the chat room has used it, let me see. But you coming up with any, any products in the iPenbox, Myke? Yep. There's got to be a, all right. So they've got a link in the show notes.

Myke Hurley: They have like a, on the, on the main page, they have like a history, like what's been in previous boxes? So for example, in the February box, Schaefer viewpoint calligraphy fountain pen, two millimeter broad nib, Monteverde fountain pen ink sample of Mandarin orange, the Rosetta notes pocket notebook dot grid, also in orange. This was clearly the orange box. Yeah. The, the hashtag winter with orange, the worth, worth a shorty 3.5 inch, 3.15 mechanical pencil.

Brad Dowdy: That's a cool pencil. I have one of those. That looks wicked. They're actually pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: The, uh, Schneider slider edge triangular barrel, Visco glide ballpoint pen, and the Oto Minimo

Brad Dowdy: credit comp pen. Okay. This is a pretty cool selection of stuff. I can totally get behind this selection of goods. Yeah. That looks great. I mean, this is what you want in a box. You get variety. You get stuff that's not right off the shelf. You get extra things like an ink sample,

Myke Hurley: but you get, you know, it looks like they go with color themes quite a lot.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's cool. Um, I'm totally behind this. This looks like a great, uh, this looks like a great setup for a monthly pen box. You get, I like the, the variety is right on the money. That's what you want to see. And it's not stuff you can just like walk down to the store and get, or necessarily easy, easily find if you were just like shopping and putting it all together. So yeah, I'm, I'm good with that. Like it, it looks cool. Yeah. I think this is a lot of fun. I'm looking through it now.

Myke Hurley: And this, this looks really good. Like if this is what you're looking for, this is it.

Brad Dowdy: So good job. I pen store on your iPad box. I've never heard of iPad store before either. Mm-hmm. I've heard of them. I just have, I haven't shopped there or looked at it necessarily.

Myke Hurley: I think they're doing a good job. This looks like fun.

Executive Rollerball Pens

Brad Dowdy: All right. So our buddy Joe Lebo has a couple of questions. What's an executive style rollerball pen that can take Parker style refills and under $50? Uh, that's pretty much what I said when I, when I got this question. So I don't use Parker style refills that much. So I'm not totally dialed into this. What I do like from Parker, if you, I think Parker's pens are actually a really good choice for this. So they do an executive style rollerball pen and I forget the model name of it, but it's a new Parker has revamped their lineup in the past couple of years. Their models like around the $50 price range are excellent. Like even the fountain pens that I've tried are really, really well done. And they look like that executive style look. Like if you were trying to give a gift or, or something like that. So I would try one of those. Um, Myke's going to send you over to the retro 51. Um, even though it doesn't take the Parker, like if you're married to the Parker, I guess it could fit in, but that's such a good pin trying to see what other ones are out there. Do you have any other recommendations? I mean, the Parker in that price range, it's kind of a, kind of a weird little mix of stuff. And it's, it's not necessarily, you know, something I'm always looking at and don't have, you know, the perfect answer for this. Well, let me pull up the, um, the Parker lineup here. So, okay, here it is the Parker urban. So that's the one that I was looking at where I've tried those in the fountain pen model. And I was pleased with those. So you can try that. I don't know what else you would really do. Um, for that Parker in an executive style, everything is more machined or lower end. Like I would use the jotter. The Parker jotter is an amazing pen, but it's a click pen. It may not be the executive style you're looking for, but the jotter is awesome. But look at, look at the Parker urban. They have, they have a decent range, um, and a very classic style. So

Myke Hurley: look at those. I think that's a good option. I mean, it looks like what I would expect an executive

Brad Dowdy: pen to look like, you know, right, right, right. His second question is what ink is similar to bung box Imperial purple. So Imperial purple is one of the brighter purples. And I tend to go for a duller purple when I'm shopping for purple. So I don't actually have bright purples, but I did buy a box of the Imperial purple because it looks so good. And all the pictures I've seen it, the new Monteverte. Oh, I'm going to butcher this name because I'm not looking at it. And if I was, I wouldn't be able to say it char right char right. It's a, um, essentially a jewel based purple jewel based. It's very bright. Has a cool, um, green sheen. I'm going to order some of these. I didn't, they had it at the pen show, but I was, I was shopped out by, by that point. Um, but we'll find that I'll put that in the show notes or I'll send you a tweet, Joe on that one. It looks like a, um,

Myke Hurley: it looks like a good bright purple. That is nice and bright. Monteverde char right. C H A R O I T E.

Brad Dowdy: That's a really good looking color. So maybe give that one a shot. All right. So Ryan wants his next pen. He says about $200 with a gold nib. Go with a brand I own already like Lamy or Twisby. And I like those or try something new. I think you try something new. And I think, you know, I'd look at a pilot or sailor. They have some good options in that range. Um, either the, any of the pilots, 91, 92, 74, nine, 12, all those have a gold nib. All of those should be under 200. If you want a very classically styled, bigger nib gold pin, you can go to the nine 12. Um, that's, that'll get you right at $200. If you want something, um, a little bit smaller, thinner, smaller nib, but still equally as nice. And I use them all the time. The 91, 92 and 74 all fit in that range, you know, different filling systems, um, demonstrator barrels, if that's your style. Also the sailor supportos have some really good colors and great nibs, the platinum 3776. This is a really good price range to get a really high quality gold nib pen. I actually brought my platinum 3776 to little rock and Anna was trying my pens when we were out, um, like at the pen addict meetup on Saturday night. And I wasn't sitting with her at the time. So she got me the next day. She's like, Hey, you had this platinum pen in there. Do you know what that was? Because I haven't used anything that I enjoyed that much in a long time. And it was just a stock fine nib and a 3776. It's kind of hard to beat that just for pure writing experience alone. You know, they may not have the style or aesthetic that they want because platinum's range isn't as broad for colors and barrel styles, but the quality and writing performance of that pen is elite. So there's a lot. So Ryan, if you go shopping in that area and narrow it down to two or three and want me to take a look at those, feel free to reach out. And, you know, we can talk about the differences between some that are like the most aesthetically pleasing to you. And, you know, it depends on how you write, depends on the nib that you would get things like that. So I'm glad to help out if I can. All right, Myke, Logan's going to be in your area. So he wants to know where you live.

Myke Hurley: Logan says, I'm going to be in London at the end of April. What are some must hit pen shops? I included this question because I get it quite, I get it quite a lot. So I wanted to just relink to the all things stationary, stationary shops map, because I don't know any of these places really, but Tessa does. And she put together this great map and it's of everywhere. There are pen stores all over the globe on this map. So if you're traveling anywhere and you want to find a good pen store, I recommend consulting Tessa's stationary shops map, which is going to be in our show notes this week at relay.fm slash panaddict slash 249. But of course, you can just go to allthingsstationary.co.uk and it's linked right there. And then you can find one from someone who knows, you know, also a lot of these, they've been put together from like reader contributions as well. So this isn't necessarily just everything that Tessa's ever seen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So any listeners who have shops in their area and want to get them added to the list, shoot Tessa an email and she'll get them added. We link to this all the time. It's very, very cool. It's great resource. Yeah. And you'll notice one of the things we talk about when we were in Arkansas, that Little Rock is very lucky to have someone like Van Ness who was part of the community there because I live nearby or, you know, I say I live in Atlanta. I'm obviously an hour and a half South of Atlanta, like out in the country, but I lived in Atlanta proper for 15 to 20 years and there's nothing. I mean, there's a pen store that it doesn't really register on anyone's radar. Yeah. Um, and to have these places in your hometowns or locally or within driving distance, you know, like Anderson pens or fountain pen hospital or anything that you can get to locally support these shops. They're very important to the community. Seeing how, you know, the shop at Van Ness has such a following and does such a great job introducing people to pens and has loyal customers that have been with them for decades. I just think it's really important. So, uh, you know, do that if you can, it's very cool. All right. I love this next question because it's easy to answer and we get it all the time. So Sarah wants to know what are the most fountain pen friendly sticky notes. I know none are great, but is there a least bad option? No, there is not a least bad option. They're all terrible because they have a coating on them to allow for the previous note to stick on them. Therefore your water-based inks are going to work like crap on sticky notes. It's, it's a chemistry thing. They just, I mean, I, I know people do use them and there is, you know, an opportunity to use them in some offices, but it's always a poor writing experience to me, unfortunately. So I, and I don't know how to solve that because to get a true sticky note, you have to be able to peel it off the page in front of you or page behind it. And that just doesn't work with the type of inks, um, that fountain pen inks are, which stinks. It would be very cool, but I don't know that we'll ever see a product like that. I don't, that's not something I, uh, you know, I think about, okay, is this something I want to dedicate my time to, to fixing? And it's not, it's just not, I'll stick with index cards. And, uh, if I need to tape them somewhere, I'll tape them somewhere because I will enjoy writing on them much better than any

Myke Hurley: kind of sticky note that's out there. To make some index cards that have a little included sticky pad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll get right on that. You can fix this. Only you, only you can fix this.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, maybe if I was still at a desk job, I would, but I do, I do, I do love a good sticky note,

Myke Hurley: but, um, just not with fountain pens. I used to use them all the time when I was at the bank.

Brad Dowdy: Oh yeah. They're awesome. One of the greatest inventions ever. Yeah. They're fantastic. But,

Myke Hurley: uh, yeah, I, you know, you just use what it is and it's not going to be great, but like you got what you got. Yeah. Last question today comes from Thomas. Thomas asked if, uh, Brad, if you've tried the new Lilliput clips yet, um, for the Kaweco, if so, are they any good? Uh, wasn't sure how they

Brad Dowdy: might fit with the brass wave. So I have not tried them yet. I was hoping to put, that was actually on my shopping list at Van S pens and they hadn't arrived by the time I was there. So I will get one soon. I do not have one yet, but we will talk about it on the show because I'm a huge Lilliput fan and I want to know how they work. Kaweco's clips are amazing looking. I generally don't use them because they slide. I mean, they're not designed to work perfectly with these slide on clips. So I'll be interested to see how the Lilliput does, if there's anything different in the way it does use, can use it for the AL star. And I say that I'm using it mostly on their metal barrel pins. So the metal on metal slides, it might actually work better on the classics, which

Myke Hurley: are the plastic barrel. Um, I will say that I have used, uh, the sport plastic sport with the clips and they slide around like you wouldn't believe. Yeah. So I find it to be kind of pointless to try and clip anything with. Right. And no matter how much

Brad Dowdy: you clamp down that clip before you put it on there, it's still going to slide. It's

Myke Hurley: always, it's always going to loosen, right? Like it might be okay initially, but over time it's going to loosen up. Yeah. I mean, I find the clips kind of pointless on the Kaweco's because I mean, all they're good for is like a roll stop, but the barrels are hexagonal. So it kind of doesn't make any difference. It might be more useful with the Lilliput because the Lilliputs are smooth, right? They're round. So it might be a bit better, but honestly,

Brad Dowdy: like not really worth it. I don't think. Yeah. And the brass wave might actually be the worst of all because it's never going to be able to come flush on the barrel. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll just have to see. It's a wait and see things, but I have no expectations that it's going to be some kind of a great product. It's aesthetically beautiful. I love the way they look, but they're just not a very functional product, but they're more functional than Kaweco's

Myke Hurley: converters will ever be. Right. All right. I think that wraps it up for this week, Brad. If you want to find our show notes, go on over to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 249. Thanks again to our sponsors this week, the great folk over at Squarespace and Casper. If you want to find Brad online, he is at penaddict.com and knock.co. And he's also over on Instagram. He is penaddict and Twitter. He is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. And we'll be back next week for episode 250. Wow. Until then. That's a thing. That's a real thing. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.