The Pen Addict 300/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	300
Title:	A Podcast About Pens
Release Date:	March 21st, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 300
Audio File:	Audio Episode 300
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 300
Length:	6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict. Yes, it is a podcast about pens, and we are at episode 300. They said it would never happen. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Harry's Squarespace and Blue Apron. We darn did it, buddy. Episode 300.

Brad Dowdy: Crazy, huh? A podcast about pens.

Myke Hurley: 300 episodes in. As we mentioned last week, we don't have anything particularly special planned today, but we do actually have, funnily enough, kind of a classic topic-wise. We'll talk about a pen show, we're going to talk about some field notes and a couple of Kickstarter campaigns, one potentially of dubious origin. It is just a, it is a veritable classic coming up for you today. But we have, we have a lovely piece of follow-up from a friend, John, who sent in an email. We've got some statistics from John. I love it. The pen addict. So, John says, congratulations on episode 300. I have some fun statistics for you. So, here we go. This is some of the stats of our 300 episode reign that we've had going on here. So, episodes 1 to 100 is a total of 81 hours and 1 minutes of audio. Episodes 101 to 200 is 104 hours and 55 minutes. And episodes 201 to 299 are 107 hours and 57 minutes. So, the total of everything from episode 1 to all the way to 299 is 293 hours and 53 minutes. It's pretty consistent, I feel. Yeah. Our shortest episode is episode 33, which was 27 minutes long. And our longest episode is episode 235, which is 89 minutes. And then 240, which is also 89 minutes. I'm surprised we never broke the 90 minutes. I feel like we would have done that by now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it feels like we have cracked 130 a couple of times this year, even.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah. But we must just be at like 89, 88. That's kind of funny. Yeah, yeah. And then two just like wonderful little stats here. Episode 48 was 48 minutes long. And episode 59 was 59 minutes long.

Brad Dowdy: That's super cool. That was my favorite little tidbit out of this whole thing.

Myke Hurley: Out of the 300 episodes, there have only been seven where we've not both been on the show, which was me every time. Brad's never taken a week off.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't realize. I guess I've never missed this show because we'll just pre-record or I'll grab a guest if you can't make it or something like that. So, yeah. That's cool.

Myke Hurley: Because, you know, I'm sure people like me, but we need you to be on every episode. Without you, the show doesn't work, right? Like you are the knowledge person out of the two of us. So, if there's ever a reason that you can't make it, we find a way to restructure things. But if I can't make it, then we can have somebody fill in. So, thank you so much to John for sending in those wonderful statistics. It's quite a thing to see.

Brad Dowdy: One more quick tidbit. If you take that total of 293 hours and divide it by 24-hour days, we've actually wasted 12 entire days of people's lives.

Myke Hurley: I would like to say we've improved 12 full days of people's lives.

Brad Dowdy: I totally agree. I mean, it's certainly improved my life, you know, that I could spend 12 days in a row talking about pens. It's definitely changed my life. And, you know, Myke and I, just so y'all know, we got out the tears before the episodes. We did. We did not cry during the episode. So, yeah. It's been a treat and a joy. And thank you, Myke. And thank you to everyone who has listened to us for 300 crazy episodes on a podcast about pens.

Myke Hurley: All right. But let's move on. Let's do what we're here to do. So, you just got back from another pen show because I feel like this show has just become a pen show review podcast over the last couple of months. And that ain't stopping. You just did the Little Rock Slash Arkansas pen show where you were hype man extraordinaire, I think, again. Yes. Taking over an Instagram feed and posting everything that was going on in the day. How was the show?

Brad Dowdy: It was excellent as, well, I would say as always, but I've only been twice, but it's been excellent both times. And the difference between this year and last year was noticeable. It was a larger show. They expanded into a second room of the hotel that they were in.

Myke Hurley: Some people call that the Dowdy effect.

Brad Dowdy: So, the Dowdy effect happened. No, I can't take credit of that. It's all credit to the people who run the show, work hard behind the scenes to fill in all of these extra vendors that want to come and have the extra rooms added for someone like Michael Soule to come. You know, which was a huge get for the Arkansas pen show. He wasn't there last year. And to have someone like that to just be there in the show, in the presence of greatness like Michael Soule, I mean, that's a huge added bonus for this show. And this is a small show. It's never going to be the size of an L.A. or a D.C. San Francisco just, you know, because of the location, you know, and the timing. You know, it's around a lot of good shows and, you know, it's not necessarily the easiest place to get to. But what I found in Arkansas and what I found as far as a lot of really well run shows is they have a good pen club behind them. And that's what Arkansas has. So, they're able to like really, really do an effective job setting up the show, running the show, organizing the show, and making sure it runs smoothly when everyone is there. And that's how this was. And this is a very different show for me. Like we've talked about, I just go to the show. And I do the hype man thing, run the Instagram account. We'll have that link to the show notes. And, you know, I help out where I can. Like I help Vanus pens set up and break down. I help them out at their open house, which is probably the highlight event for a lot of people at this show. Not only do you get the pen show, you get a local pen shop hosting an evening in their store, which is really cool. So, I worked behind the counter at the Vanus pen shop on Friday night along with Anna and Matt from the pen habit and Carrie from Kenro Industries and Fountain Pen Day. So, we had, you know, a bunch of community members there to help out with the show and help out with Vanus pens. And then on Saturday when it got busy, I jumped in with Dan Smith, the Dem Smith, and his wife. They were running a very busy table. So, I just hopped in and slung some pens for them and caused, you know, general havoc and upheaval at their table. So, that was fun. And hosted a party on Saturday night in the hotel, just in the bar, in the bar area. So, we had a packed house for that. And it's just a very chill show that I get to just do all kinds of stuff. You know, get to see all the vendors, get to sit at a table and visit with people. I got to meet new people that I haven't met before, like Patrick from Papier Plume, who I've talked to via email several times. And I've met Renzo, who also works at Papier Plume, but never met Patrick before. So, it was cool, you know, spent some time with Patrick at the bar. And I got to meet Larry and Christine Drumgoole, who run Drumgoole's pen shop in Houston. So, it was nice to meet all these people and sit down and actually spend some time with them. Like, I met the Drumgooles at LA and Baltimore, but I didn't get to sit and talk with them. Because you're just going too hard during these real huge busy shows. But I think overall it was a success, the feel from the show vendors. It seemed like it was a success, you know, business-wise. And I think it was just great. But, you know, I have a lot of fun at the Arkansas Pen Show, and I hope I can make it back there every year.

Myke Hurley: Now, I do want to just mention our lovely third host of the show, Anna Reiner. She launched another new project in the kind of colouring lineup called the Colodex, which is the colouring, but in a Rolodex, which is brilliant. Again, she knocked it out of the park with another great idea.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely genius. So, she wouldn't even tell me any pre-information on this. Like, you know, me and Anna are pretty tight, and, you know, we tell each other everything. She was so nervous about this. Like, she wouldn't even tell me ahead of time. She didn't tell me until they were setting up Friday morning, or was it Thursday night? I guess she finally broke them out Thursday night when I took that one picture on my Instagram feed. This is just genius. I absolutely love this idea. You know, with the colouring, you would use your ink swap cards and keep them on the ring, which, you know, that was what it was made after a discontinued product by Morimon. Morimon, you know, had like a ring index card that a lot of people use for samples. Well, this just takes the vintage style and look that Anna loves so much in the Rolodex and modifies the colouring cards to fit a classic Rolodex, which you can still get all different sizes and shapes of Rolodex to store your ink swabs. With tabs as well.

Myke Hurley: She has little tab options too, which is nice. Yep. Yeah, I really like this.

Brad Dowdy: Tab divider cards. Yeah, they're fantastic. So, yeah, super cool. So, I love this product. It was a hit, and I know she sold a bunch of them this weekend. So, it's fantastic.

Myke Hurley: Do you know about general availability?

Brad Dowdy: They should be available directly from her and at various vendors, I would say, probably this week. Okay. So, she made a bunch of them. She left with none because other vendors took them home, took the excess home with her. And then I think she already has a good run back at home or will have them soon. So, they'll be available directly from her and then directly from some vendors where you've previously been able to buy the colour ring. I know a bunch of orders were placed over the weekend. So, they should have them pretty soon.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that was really great. That was really great. I'm excited to see one of those. I'm hoping that maybe Atlanta will be able to spin one around. That would be fun.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, I took some home with me too. So, I didn't get one of the – I didn't take home one of her vintage Rolodexes. So, I'll have to get me a Rolodex because I keep saying I'm going to start doing my colour ring and I keep not doing it. But it's like time to do it and organize these things because I always want to know what I have and, you know, what it looks like and be able to show it to other people too. So, it's very cool.

Misu Ixion

Myke Hurley: So, I wanted to give a little bit of follow-up about a pen that we've spoken about a little bit in the Misu Ixion. Which is – I mean, we've spoken about it because – well, we both bought it and we wanted to like – and one of the things that we were talking about previously is that there seemed to be a bit of a controversy around it. Like, it seemed like that it didn't go very well towards the end of the campaign and some of the shipping – there was some shipping problems. Etc. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: There were nib problems and customer service problems were the – that was the gist of it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But we both have this pen. We both decided to buy this pen and we both like it, right? And we're talking about the fact that we like it. We both got ours. And I just wanted to say that I have really taken to this pen a lot. I think it's one of my favorite purchases that I have gotten in the last few months. It's been a big surprise for me. It's definitely one of my favorite Kickstarter pens of all time. I can't 100% put my finger on why. I think that there are a few different factors. I really love the color options that I got. I got the blue with the brass, which is a really nice color option.

Brad Dowdy: That seems to be the hot one for all of us who have bought lots of Kickstarter pens before because that's what I got. And I know a bunch of other people got the exact same setup because it was so different.

Myke Hurley: And they just really look good together. In general, I like the overall build. But I think also my personal combo that I went with, it just turned out to be really good. So I got the broad Boknib and I paired it with Rubber Oster Fire and Ice. And it writes so smoothly and I get a lot of the red come through. So yeah, I just wanted to say that I really like this pen. And I hope that they're able to sort out whatever it is that they needed to sort out. And I hope that more people can get their hands on it because I actually really recommend it. I think that it is very well priced, very well made. And I'm a big fan of it. And I just wanted to mention that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I think the barrel is awesome. I just, the nib has been such a bad experience for so many people, myself included.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's a shame because I mean, like I say, mine's perfect, right? Like I can't, I have absolutely no complaints.

Brad Dowdy: And you're the only one I've seen that has a broad nib. So we'll have to see what other nibs other people have. But I saw one, someone brought one to the pen show this weekend to have Dan Smith look at it, you know, just to eyeball it. And his was very similar to mine in where that the nib just seemed thin. It was out of alignment. The QC on the nibs from Bach seemed to be horrible this time around. I think it was probably more, you know, you had a higher chance of receiving a dud than a good one. So you may have gotten a good batch and it's, I don't know, it's, it's left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. I understand that. Well, because there was so much bad lead up to it. So any little thing is going to get blown up and the nib is not exactly a little thing. I mean, that's kind of a big deal. So. Yeah. I did have one bit of follow-up last week. We had, in the Ask TPA episode, we had a question about the Ixion squeaking. You know, when you, the metal on metal twisting sound that it makes. Toothpaste seems to be the answer. And that's something I can get behind. Be our good friend, Tony, from the Gear Geeks Live podcast and Everyday Commentary, said a lot of the gear people, like with flashlights, will use toothpaste because it's gritty enough. To knock the edge off and you can wash it right off when you're done. You know, there's no residue like an oil or graphite might leave behind. So I thought that was a great idea.

Tiff Arman & Julia Scott

Myke Hurley: I also just wanted to provide a little follow-out. So something that I just noticed that just launched today. Friends of the show, Tiff Arman and Julia Scott have just launched a show about art called Make Do. Get out. Yeah. Like as of like literally happening, it's happening right now. So you can go to makedopod.com and find out more about the show there. I'm going to add this. It's going to go straight to the top of my list of shows to listen to because they're two fantastic people. And I'm really interested in listening to this. So it's a show about art and creativity and how to turn that into a thing. So I think a lot of people would enjoy that on this show.

Brad Dowdy: Well, pairing those two up together is like my idea of perfection because I love them both. Yep. And they're just awesome people to begin with and they're smart as heck. And so I listen to like every word they say and wonderful. That's great news. I can't wait to talk to them about it. We'll have to get both of them on the show at the same time in the future.

Myke Hurley: I think that that is a wonderful idea.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: All right. So I'll put a link in the show notes so you can find out more about the show. And I'll put an Overcast link in too. If you use Overcast, you can just subscribe. If I can find an iTunes link, I'll also put that in just for funsies because I want to give them a bit of a promotion here. So go check it out. And I'm looking forward to listening to the show.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Squarespace Advertising

Myke Hurley: All right, Brad, should we take our first break? Let's do it. Today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends at Squarespace. I just want to say super quick, Squarespace have been with us since basically the beginning. Yep. So, like, thank you, Squarespace, for your continued support of this show over 300 episodes. It's kind of wonderful and wild. You can use the offer code INK at checkout, I-N-K, and you'll get 10% off your first purchase at Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace. They'll let you easily create a website for your next idea. With the ability to grab a unique domain name, award-winning templates, and more, they are the best place to go and start with your next project. No matter what type of website you want to make, Squarespace have all of the tools that you need to make it happen. They're an all-in-one platform. There's nothing to install, no patches to worry about, or upgrades needed. They have got you covered. If you want to create a blog, a portfolio, or even a website that has its own online store, Squarespace has all the tools and functionality that you're going to need, including the ability to beautifully customize their templates so you can make your site look just the way you want, and even grab that unique domain name for it so you can let your brand spill out onto the website, which is really important. They have award-winning 24-7 customer support as well if you need any help. You can start today with a free trial. You can go in and customize the site and make it your own by going to squarespace.com. Their plans start at just $12 a month, and if you use the offer code INK, you will get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for The Pen Addict. Thank you so much to Squarespace for the continued support of this show. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

Brad Dowdy: Can I make a quick comment on Squarespace and this podcast and advertising as a whole? We have fun doing our ads, and I know not everyone wants to hear advertising in their feeds, but that's how Myke and I pay the bills. And we love our sponsors and love our advertisers, and we try to have fun when we do these things like ad reads. Myke, whatever you just said a second ago, I was drinking my water, and I about spit it out, and this is on an ad read about Squarespace. And I think we're kind of known for that, and I'm proud of the fact that we do good ad reads, especially you. You do most of them, but I'm proud of the fact that we have fun doing this. And I think it comes out in just the most benign things like reading an advertisement. So I just wanted to say that real quick.

Myke Hurley: I think that that is a very good thing to say, and if you don't listen to the ads, maybe you should because you don't know what you're missing. You don't. Some of them have been very special. So there is a pen that we have known about for a while, which has now exploded onto Kickstarter, and that is the Mark I from Studio Neat. It is probably worth noting right up front that I do a podcast with Studio Neat. It's called Thoroughly Considered. We just spoke about this Kickstarter in detail. I'll put a link in the show notes to that in case you want to get a bit more background about the pen. But I think it's worth me and you talking about it because we have prototypes. We've been kind of semi-involved in this along the way, giving advice where we can. So I'm keen to know what you think about the pen. It had a $30,000 goal. It's currently at $87,000, which is wild with 1,200 backers. This is actually – I love that this happened because it – I don't know. It helps prove a point. Right. This is the most funding they've ever received in 24 hours of any Kickstarter campaign that we've ever done. And it makes me happy because it proves the point to a lot of makers, I think, as to why pen and paper is still so important. And I know this was something that we – I mean, I know I spoke about this with them behind the scenes for a while, like leading up to the panel book and leading up to this pen. Like this market is very vibrant. And if you make really cool, interesting products that have something different about them, then you can really shine. And they have. And I'm very happy to see that. So what do you think about the Mark 1? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Before I give you those thoughts, I just want to reiterate that you and I are heavily embedded with Tom and Dan at Studio Neat on a very personal level. They're very good friends. These guys are real-life friends. And, you know, we're very – along with being friends, we're also huge fans of what they do because they make products like this, which is just straight-up killing it on Kickstarter. And I knew it would from the jump. I think we got our first prototypes. It had to be six months ago, if not longer than that, right?

Myke Hurley: So they came – the original prototypes that we got were in October. But since then, they redesigned the entire mechanism because they weren't happy with it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, like, the first barrel I got – I actually got two barrels. They sent me, and they scrapped the entire mechanism from what they started with, which tells you how seriously Dan and Tom take this stuff. So, you know, it's been an experience for them trying to learn how to make a pin, and it's fantastic. And it just – it's got a different feel than any other type of pin in this category, you know, like the Schmidt refill category. The knock mechanism now – let me get this for you.

Brad Dowdy: It's a rock. Like, it's a rock solid because they rebuilt this from the ground up and designed it, you know, from scratch. So I think it's really, really cool. I've been using it ever since they sent me either one of the first prototypes with the more squishy knock and then the final – as close to final version prototype as I have now with the good knock. I've been using it for show notes for ages because I use the Pano book when I do show notes, and I like using this pin with it. It's good. With that Schmidt refill, it's very, very good on this paper.

Brad Dowdy: You know, I don't know. I love it. I mean, for $50 for what it is, it seems like a steal. They could charge twice as much, and I would back it. You know, I think it's just that high quality. Yeah. The Cerakote ceramic-type finish on it is really cool.

Myke Hurley: It is an aluminum pen coated in a ceramic coating, which makes it unlike any aluminum pen that you've held before because it doesn't feel like metal. It's very strange in a good way.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I actually don't know how they're selling this for $50. That's a really good deal.

Myke Hurley: So this is the thing, right? I think a lot of people are looking at this, and they're struggling with $50. And I know that when me and me... Oh, not me. I know, I know. But there are people... I mean, I've seen this criticism. And when I was talking to Tom and Dan about this, and they told me it was going to be $50, I was like, I think that might be a hard sell for some people. But this is a pen... This is one of those things that you have to feel the value of it. And when you use it, you feel the value, right? And sometimes it can be tricky to convey that type of thing. So like if a pen like this doesn't immediately speak to you when you see it, you might think, I don't know about $50. But when you use it, you're like, oh, okay, now I see, right? Because it's rock solid because it's made of aluminium. It has this ceramic coating on it so it feels soft and grippy. And then it has one of the most satisfying knock mechanisms that I've ever used. So when you put all of that together and it's built around my literal favorite refill, it's an easy sell for me. I bought both of them. So I went in for the two because I love the copper and the white.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's the one I'm going to get. Since my latest prototype is the black one, I'm going to order the white one, which I think is the better looking of the two. I mean, we all have a lot of black pens, like if we're listening to this. And the black is great. It's fantastic. The white's different though, which is why I personally will get the white one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, and the white one's a little bit more glossy than the black one, which is kind of more matte. So yeah, I think this is a really great pen. And I completely admit you've got to take our opinions with grains of salt because these are our friends. Yes. But this is an excellent product. And I'm happy to see that it's doing so well on Kickstarter. So at least our opinions can be validated on the design of it. We both think that it looks really nice. Obviously, so do lots of other people. And I can tell you that any pen that makes this sound, that's a quality pen right there. So this is great. I'm so, so happy for them because I love seeing these two succeed. And boy, howdy, are they succeeding?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The best I can say about this pen is from the day I got the first prototype over six months ago, it's always been in my rotation. I mean, that's the highest price I can give it.

Myke Hurley: You can't buy that, right? Like someone can't buy that of you. Yeah. And this is one of the things I think you're going to love it. It has no clip. It has no roll stop. I wanted them to put a roll stop on this pen and the original prototypes, the original, original designs did have one on there. But Tom and Dan have decided that that's something that they don't want to do because they like the pen as it is. They have said, and they said to me that they are investigating ways to see if a clip could work. But they like the pen as it is. And they may offer something in the future, but right now they don't have something that they like design wise. And I know that that upsets a lot of people, but it is a design thing. They are both really embedded in minimal design and they like the pen without a clip on it. So that's why it comes without it. So maybe they'll add one in the future. I don't know. The pen has a good weight to it, so it doesn't roll around like crazy. But yeah, of course it will roll because it's a cylinder. But this is the design thing. And here's the thing. If you don't like that, it's cool because you don't have to buy it.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, I've never been a pro clip or anti clip person. I kind of like it.

Myke Hurley: No, I mean, I wanted a roll stop if they were interested in adding one. But if they haven't, fine, whatever. Like I have so many pens that have no clips. Like every acrylic pen I ever buy has no clip on it. You know, like most of the time I will opt for no clip because from a design perspective, I prefer it. But if, because you know how I feel about Visconti's, right? Like I feel like a clip can ruin a pen. But honestly, like I think Sailor might be the only brand where I think they do clips really, really well. I love Sailor clips, except for that Pro Gear 2 thing, which is terrible. Oh yeah, that's ugly. Yeah. But you know, I like the rest of them. So I don't know. It's a personal taste thing. If you don't want a clip, then you're not going to get this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The lack of a clip doesn't even register with me. I'd rather have no clip than a bad clip. And clips are not easy to do.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: You can phone it in and it'd be janky or you can like really, you know, over-engineer it and charge 20 more dollars just because it's a pain in the ass. I said, but I said, but all right. So this next one, have you seen a price on the TWSBI precision art fountain pen yet? I haven't seen a price.

Myke Hurley: I've just seen images. I haven't.

Pen Clip Design

Brad Dowdy: And here's the thing.

Myke Hurley: It looks really good. Talk about, talk about a clip ruin and a pen. I do not like this. I really don't like pens where the clips start like halfway down the cap.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's well, because it's, I would rather an integrated clip than like a slid on clip, which is what this is. But I mean, it just depends. Like again, with this pen, the clip doesn't even register with me. I guess I'm just not, I'm just not a clip, a clip person. Clips not high on the, the ranking of things that I look at. Like I didn't even notice the clip until you said that. Yeah. I had to go back and look at it.

Myke Hurley: Honestly, I don't like the look of this pen in general. It's too many steps up and down.

Brad Dowdy: There's a lot going on. That's for sure. I wonder how the weight's going to be with the expanded middle and metal end piece. I'm still going to get it. It looks pretty cool. So I'm wondering when I get this in hand, is it going to be like as big as the VAC 700 and have these kind of weird, you know, section drops and heavy, you know, unbalanced barrels. But I mean, I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt till I get in. I think it looks very interesting and I hope it's good. I'd like them to be, you know, I'd like it to be, you know, a new addition to the lineup if it works. And we'll see. We'll see if they've learned a lot over the past few years. This is a completely different design than they have been doing. I guess the last brand new design was the Eco and that's been a couple of years now. So I look forward to this. I think it looks cool. I will definitely get one. I don't love the color. You know, I would rather something else for their color. But the rest of their precision, like their precision line with the pencils, you know, are the darker, more muted colors, blacks and silvers and taupes and things like that. So I'm interested to try it. I don't have like crazy high hopes. I guess my excitement is tempered a little bit just because it looks like it could be a little bit awkward to write with.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, I look forward to getting one and trying it out and seeing how it is. But first thoughts are I think it looks pretty good, but we will definitely have to wait and see the reality of the weight and balance of it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I don't know. This one just doesn't flip my boat. Like I don't even really like the material. Like it looks like this kind of strange wood type finish. I don't even know if it is wood.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what it is. It's got to be metal. Like it's got to be like a...

Myke Hurley: I guess so. It's just not photographed very well.

Pen Stylus Tips

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but it looks like it might be like a molded, you know, with like those striations in the barrel kind of thing. So, yeah, I don't know. We'll have to see. We will have to see. The next one I just added in and I've seen it on Instagram for a couple of weeks now, but BN Works. They sent me a pin in the past that was pretty decent. It didn't really kind of move the needle for me, their previous pin that they had. But this one, the twist two-in-one, I like the design of this one. I like the two-tone twist mechanisms. I like the knurled kind of the... I wouldn't say the knock, but the twist mechanism in the back of the pin. I think it's a cool looking design. It's pretty expensive. It's 85 bucks for the same Schmidt refill that we're talking about now. But I think that seems to be kind of in the price range. I'm going to get one of these to try out. They shot me an email just yesterday. And I've been communicating with them back and forth. They have something to send out now to reviewers. So I kind of like the look and style of this pin. So I really want to try this out. I don't know if you'd seen this one before. The two-in-one refers to an additional stylus you can put on the end. So for me, it's basically a one-in-one pin. Like, yeah. The stylus is done. Y'all can stop making styluses with your pens now. Everyone needs to stop.

Myke Hurley: Everyone needs to stop putting those weird stylus tips on their pens. Because, like, the best styluses that exist now are the ones that are made by the makers of the hardware. Like, the Surface Pen is really good. The Apple Pencil is really good. That's it. It's game over. Like, the Pixelbook has the... I think it's called the Pixel Pen. I don't remember the name of the pen. Like, you need to stop making those smooshy styluses now. Because, like, nobody wants them. And nobody should be using them. Like, if you have a tablet, you should... And you really want to use a stylus, then you should be used... You should have a tablet that supports a real stylus that's made by the company. Because they're the best. Everything else is, like, it's just an extra finger. It's an external finger. It's just not very good.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, it's pointless. So, luckily, this one, you actually don't... It's not integrated into the pen. You can add it on separately. So, I think it's pretty cool looking otherwise. So, yeah. Just... Y'all stop doing this.

Myke Hurley: It ruins the look of a pen to have this, like, weird rubber nubbin in the end of it. Like...

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was... Yeah, I was gonna go with nipple. But, yeah, it's not good. It's, like, the third nipple. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, not good. But, overall, I'm... I will let you know when this arrives. It might be a little bit. But, uh, I'm anxious to give this one a shot.

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Field Notes Coastal

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke. We're going to play the game. We're going to play America's favorite game. What do you think about the latest Field Notes release? The Coastal Edition.

Myke Hurley: Yesterday or the day before yesterday? Monday. Monday. Field Notes Coastal. All right. So who's going to go first? Who's going to do it? So we do this, in case you haven't heard before. We play a guessing game where we both try and guess how the other person feels about the Field Notes release. Who wants to go first?

Brad Dowdy: I think I went first last time. Okay. So you go first this time. So you're going to say what you think I think about this edition.

Myke Hurley: Cut and dry. You love it. Like, there's no way around this one. Like, it's cut and dry. I don't even think it's worth me going into detail. I know that you love this edition. All right. So let's just skip to you then.

Brad Dowdy: And I'll elaborate on why it's cut and dry in a minute. Yes, you're 100% right. For you, I'm going to go the same for a little bit different path just from the technicality of the production, the technical aspects of it. But it's one of the more challenging editions. And you always respect the, you know, the process that they go through. And some are much more intense than others, which is what this one is. And therefore, I think you adore this edition.

Myke Hurley: It's straight up. This is like, okay, I don't have this in my hands yet. But this is surely going to be my favorite of all time. Like, it has everything that I love all on one book.

Brad Dowdy: This wasn't a fair guessing a game edition because they did something special this time.

Myke Hurley: They should. I mean, it's wild. Like, I'm really, really excited about this because...

Brad Dowdy: It's the best edition in probably about two years.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I'd have to roll back through and see where I could pick one ahead of this one. It would take me a while to get there. It's got to be like two years.

Myke Hurley: Because, okay, so one thing, all you need to do is tell me reticle grid and I'm in, right? It's like my favorite. But then the reticle grid has this split fountain of ink printing so that some pages will be blue, some pages will be green, and some pages will be a greeny blue. Like the reticle, not the page. Which is wild. That's just fun. And then it's like holographic foil on the front with also more reticle on it that matches the coastlines. Like, it's basically Dark Sky 2 Electric Boogaloo. And Dark Sky is my favorite Field Notes edition of all time. I'm really struggling to not buy more of these. Like, yeah. I think I'm... I'm going to wait until mine come because if they really, really blow me out of the water, I might just get one more pack. Like, just one. And, like, choose which one I like most, either East Coast or West Coast. But, like, because, you know, we said this before, I don't want to keep buying more and more and more. But... Right. This is incredible. Like, I'm really excited about this edition.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And the covers are a puzzle, right? So, it's not the same coastline print on each cover. Like, if you get East Coast, it's, like, essentially a full East Coast where you can, like, lay out the three notebooks and make the map of the East Coast. And then same for the West Coast. My only question... So, first, a confession. Then a question. I let my sub lapse. I kept looking for the last two days. I kept expecting them in the mailbox. So, when the mail would come, I'd, like, run out there real quick and get the mail. And I was like, sweet, my field notes are going to be here. After they didn't show up yesterday, I went and looked at my count and I was like, whoops. Somehow I missed the resubscribe. So, I fixed that this morning. So, I don't have mine yet. And that leads up to my only question. Is this reticle grid and how it's going to handle ink when you start writing on it? I don't know what's going to happen there. So, I'll withhold the pure, unadulterated adulation until I get to try it. But just in the quality of the thought and the execution of the design...

Brad Dowdy: I mean, I think they were talking about this back when we visited them in October. That this something, a bigger one was coming up, you know, when this one's... You know, this one clearly takes more time than some additions. Sweet Tooth.

Myke Hurley: But this is wild because they've done so many little different things to it. Which is... Yeah. What I'm so excited about. They seem to have really kind of pushed the boat out. No pun intended. And they didn't need to also do the different reticle grid color printing, right? Right. That could have been part of an addition on its own. Right? Like, that could have been the fun thing in a more standard edition, more simple. But they really did, like, really pushed the boat out on it in a way that I'm excited.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, they shot their shot on the cover and then followed it up with a dunk on the paper. I mean, it was like all the things in one shot. So, that's what makes this a special edition. So, I just hope the paper holds up to some realm of normalcy. Well, no, it's not maybe the most fountain print friendly thing. But I want to see how those... How the ink on the paper lasts. And knowing them, I mean, they've been carrying this for months and months and know that it works just fine. So, yeah. I'm anxious to get it in. And I should have it by now if I didn't screw up my sub. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, we'll probably have them for next week. Which is rare that we get them at the same time. But it's because you done screwed up. I done screwed up, Myke. I want to also just put a link in the show notes to a tweet that I got from listener of the show, Robert. For an addition of field notes that I've never seen before that look wild, it's the new Starbucks coffee farm. Have you seen these?

Brad Dowdy: Just, I saw the same tweet you did. And these are from the roastery that they work with in Seattle. So, they've made some of their best additions for that roastery that you have to get in person there. The... I forget the name of the one. The first one they did that was the large size wood cover one with the copper stamping was one of the single best additions they've ever made. And it wasn't a standard addition. And that's still, like, outside of the colors realm. That's probably, I don't know, top three addition. And they did Capitol Hill, which was like a series of six covers. And now they're doing this one with the coffee farm where they're showing the coffee plant. You know, as it's blooming, it's stunning. It's wonderful.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I really, really like the look of this one a lot. I would actually quite like that print on, like, a pair of swim shorts or something.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. Sure. That fits my beach aesthetic quite a lot. Well, we just need to get them to make boxers. I bought the Harry's boxers. Now I need field notes boxers with the coffee farm pattern. Yeah, if you're listening, Jim. Get on it, Jim.

Myke Hurley: Make me some underwear. What's wrong with you?

Brad Dowdy: I want field notes on my butt, Jim.

Seed A52 Case

Myke Hurley: Oh, gosh. But let's move into the single most important product release of the year, the Seed A52. Case by NotCo is now available. Oh, hallelujah. Right. So have we got, like, four of them to sell? Like, what's going on?

Brad Dowdy: We had about 150 of them, and they're almost gone. But we're going to have more. I mean, they're constantly coming in now. I just happened to get enough. I felt like 150 was about the right number to put them up for sale with the amount of people that have been looking for them and requesting them. I may have been a little short, but I wanted to go ahead and get these out because it's been too long. It's been too long coming, but they're awesome. I've been told by very reliable sources this is the best product we've ever made. And by very reliable, I mean unreliable, as Tony is. So, yeah, I love this product. I know a bunch of people have been wanting it. I'm glad we're finally able to get it out there. So these will continue to come in. And then the lilac, oh, I always call it lilac, iris and electric blue will be coming up soon, too. So, yeah. If you don't happen to get one, you know, today or tomorrow or whatever, and they sell out, they'll only be out for a minute. We'll be restocking, you know, probably every week or every other week for the next few months. And I really, really appreciate everyone's support in this case. It's something that took longer than expected, which is essentially our tagline now. So I think we'll make a case in the future where we'll just put it on the back of the tag, took longer than expected.

Myke Hurley: That could just be the name of a product. I'm excited to get one of these. I'm going to wait to get one in Atlanta, I think. I'm assuming you'll probably have some to sell there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I assume that too, but you never know, right? Yeah, I get to have one of my famous yelling phone calls when we get off this call today.

Myke Hurley: Oh, gosh. Well, I'm sure we all appreciate you yelling at people because you've got a great case. That's what I do. So you can go get that at notco.com. You can find links there for the Seed A5. And of course, they'll be in our show notes as well. So you can go and go and check it out and buy one for yourself. Should we take our last sponsor break? We've still got a bunch of stuff to get through today. Last break and a few more fun things. All right. Today's show is also brought to you by Harry's. Harry's is all about a great shave at a fair price, which is why over 3 million people switch to Harry's and you should join them. Harry's founders Jeff and Andy decided to create Harry's because they were fed up with overpriced razors and they wanted to fix it. They knew that a great shave comes down to great blades made of sharp, durable steel that lasts. And they also cut out all the unnecessary costs, allowing to deliver to you one perfect razor at an amazing price. Harry's offer high quality blades at half the price. You pay just $2 per blade. They bought a factory that's been making some of the highest quality blades in the world for over 95 years. So they know that they're good and they offer a 100% quality guarantee. If you don't love your shave, let Harry's know within 30 days and they'll give you a full refund. Brad, I know that you're a big fan of Harry's. Would you like to tell me anything about Harry's?

Brad Dowdy: They traveled with me to Arkansas in my handy dandy Harry's Dopp kit, which I feel doesn't get enough love, even though I speak about it all the time. It's this cool little Dopp kit with the woolly mammoth on the front. It's like this cotton denim thing. It's really, really cool. And yeah, I left the Vaness Homestead bathroom smelling like wonderful Harry products every day.

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Brad Dowdy: All right, I bring up this next Kickstarter link out of necessity.

Myke Hurley: Just so people will stop sending it to us, because it will continue for the next 21 days at least.

Brad Dowdy: Well, and I start, I mean, I did it. It's partially my fault because I made a scribble joke, and people are noticing a new Kickstarter project. I'm going to go with Picolor. Picolor. Even though it could be Piecolor. I'll go Picolor. Picolor. Like Picolor. Picolor. Piccolo. Picolor. Um, it's a, basically a, a paint mixing setup where, you know, you can build your own paint colors out of, you know, find a sample, mix a color, but it actually spits it out into like real little paint files, not into necessarily a pen mechanism, although they do have some kind of syringy brush pens, which it's really not for that at all. I mean, it's not related to a scribble at all. This is essentially a paint mixer that you can dump into a pen and use it as a pen. I mean, it doesn't seem very scribbly to me. It just seems if you wanted a digital paint mixer. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So this is the thing, right? Like it seems kind of scribble penny because it's an app and it can be any color and it goes into a pen. This may or may not work, but it does feel like this is a more potentially viable product than the scribble pen because it's this box. It is a box that you probably put in a bunch of inks into and then it mixes them, which is that is a technology that already exists, right? You can do that. And this is like a home way of doing this like a 3D printer. The reason the scribble pen seemed like nonsense and was nonsense is there's no way you could do all of that work in something so small in one pen that you could hold. Like an external box that mixes ink, mixes paint into colors is more potentially viable than something that just doing it all within a pen. And like they are going for the paint angle, the drawing angle, right? They have some brush pens and stuff that you have like some. Color matching. Yeah. And there's color matching and all that stuff. So there are some, there are definitely some crossovers.

Brad Dowdy: Scribble overtones. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And honestly, we don't know if this is a real product or will work, but it feels more potentially likely than the scribble pen ever did.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's a paint mixer. I mean, so I'm not even spending the time to like go through the whole project. I see like, I see the idea where it could be scribbly, but it just seems like a straight up paint mixer. And then you do whatever you want with the paint that comes out of it kind of thing. So, you know, it's definitely not, well, I'm not going to say definitely not anything about sketchy Kickstarter projects, but not related to the scribble as far as I can tell. And, you know, different technology, different, different output, things like that. So just thought we'd bring that up to kind of put the kibosh on, on that one. So we'll just be ignoring that one from here on out.

Myke Hurley: So this next thing was also sent in to us, and you can't do it because otherwise we're just going to go around in circles forever. It is a page from Grammar Girl, quickanddirtytips.com. And it's about, does pin and pen sound alike to you? Because we have had this problem during the Kickstarter campaign where Brad kept telling everyone that we were going to be making enamel pens for everyone, which is a thing that was coming across. But it's because it is a, it is a Southern thing where pin and pen somehow sound exactly the same.

Grammar Girl Article

Brad Dowdy: It was a three page article on Grammar Girl and a bunch of us sent it this, sent it to us last week and I loved it. It was hilarious. And I understand why. And the actual, I don't know what you call the actual issue that this is, the, the vowel sounding the same is actually called the pin and pen problem. Like it's named after these, these words, when you read the article, the actual issue, when you bring it up, if you're using other words, it's referred to as the pin and pen problem. So, and apparently it is a Southern thing, which I would not have realized either, but yeah. And it goes through some examples of a few other words. I don't know. The problem is I kept reading on, reading through that article on how do I fix it? And that's what I never found. You know, I can't, I don't know how to fix that.

Myke Hurley: You can't be fixed.

Brad Dowdy: You're beyond fixing at this point. That's the problem. That is true. That is true.

Myke Hurley: It's one of those things. I bet that there are a bunch of words that contain this sound within them, right? That sound. There are.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They give a bunch of examples. The second, one of the most, the second most common one was caught and caught. They caught the bed and caught like a robber. Huh. Okay. And I guess as well. C-O-T and C-A-U-G-H-T.

Myke Hurley: If you said the word open, you could also be exclaiming about you're surprised that there are pins everywhere, right? Open and open, right? Oh, oh, pins and open.

Brad Dowdy: So it's a fun article. You should go, we'll have it in the show notes. You should go read it. It's pretty cool. And like I said, the only thing I didn't get out of that article was how to fix it. But I guess it's nothing I would ever try to fix anyway. It just is what it is. I just have to always have the disclaimer pin like you write with, you know, if I'm putting them together.

Myke Hurley: So we have some episode 300 last TPA.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So first off, it's follow-up from last week's or the last few weeks. First follow-up is from last week's when we had the Visconti question, you know, buying it online and making sure you get a good nib. But I had two excellent resources that were sent to me. If you're purchasing in the US, nibs.com is an authorized Visconti retailer and will modify and check the nibs for you before shipping. Also, the writing desk in the UK. I think I got like three emails or tweets like immediately. Writing desk in the UK does this. Writing desk, writing desk. So those are two great options for anyone looking to have your Visconti nibs checked out prior to shipping. So keep that in mind if it comes up for your future Visconti online purchases. And another email, we keep getting the feedback on the save it or keep it notebooks, which was originally a notebook preservation society meeting. It's now into should you keep it or should you save them at all? And when I get new thoughts on this, I always like sharing them. And this was another one. This one's from Kelly. I've enjoyed the conversation over the last couple of weeks about the pros and cons of journal saving. Like Brad, my instinct lies in the toss them camp. Then I remember that history only remembers those who leave their marks. And while I don't think my mark is worth all that much, we don't know much about the lives of women in history because they didn't leave much behind that gives scholars a glimpse into their lives. I'm still not sure history is a great reason to save my bullet journals. Today's commonplace book relating the bullet journal to the old commonplace books. Reason to save them in perpetuity. But I do think it's something to consider, especially if you're not necessarily real well represented in historical scholarship. I thought that was brilliant. Like that's something I haven't considered. Right. You know, there's always been underrepresented portions of our society that unfortunately, we may not learn about all the details of their lives until it's too late. So having these notes of record, if you will, is just fantastic. And Kelly says, while I don't think my mark is worth all that much, well, you don't know that Kelly. And we may not know that for a hundred years. So having your notebooks behind for us to, you know, take a look at it as a resource. I think that's pretty cool. You know, I think that's a really good reason thing for keeping it. So chalk one up in the keep it, in the keep it column. Myke, what do you think?

Myke Hurley: I agree with that. Right. Like you never, you don't know, you don't know what your mark on the world will be. And that is definitely a good reason to keep these things. Yeah. I agree with that for sure.

Orange Inks

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. All right. So let's get in. We have a few quickie ass TPAs to wrap up this episode 300. This one fits right in with the theme of the entire show. And it's from Sue. And she wants to know what ink will go in the Sailor 1911 Tangerine. And you're the one to answer that, Myke, because you have the Sailor 1911 Tangerine.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Well, you know what I've got in mind? I have Fuyugaki. But I'm thinking about changing it up. I want to get some more orange inks as well, because I love orange so much. And I feel like I need something that has a bit more pop to it than Fuyugaki does.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I'm not on the Fuyugaki train like you are, but I actually think that's a pretty good match for the Tangerine. If you want something with more pop, I think the orange boven Akramon number 16, I want to say. Chat room, correct me if I'm wrong on that. That is a very strong orange ink. Like either that or lucky orange from Mont Blanc, I think make a super, super good match for the Sailor 1911 Tangerine. And just anecdotal from the Arkansas pen show, that pen is still like hot fire. It's so good. It sells. It sells so much. When I work with Dan and Keisha for like an hour or two on Sunday, no one went past that table that didn't pick up that pen. It's just hot fire of a pen. It's really good looking. They sold a bunch of them and I know I'm sure other vendors did too. So yeah, it even, I'm getting closer and closer into buying one myself. I like the large size. It's very cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. This goes on my list of pen show purchases. Some kind of orange, a new orange ink, I think. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So there's, there's all kinds, lots of good orange choices out there. So Greg wants to know, have you tried out the Kaweco 14 karat gold nibs? They seem pretty pricey and don't know if they are any better than steel. The two-tone ones sure look nice though. So this one is a dilemma. They, I have one. I have a two-tone one. I had a broad one. I think. I didn't bring it out to answer this question that I had ground down into like a cursive italic. It's still pretty wide. I love this nib. They are way overpriced. You know, it's one of those dilemma questions because it's just a teeny tiny nib and it costs a lot. And I didn't even have to go look at the prices recently. I didn't look at them before this, but I remember when I looked at them previously, when I've talked about this. And if you go look at my Instagram feed, I have pictures of my fire blue, my Kaweco Lilyput fire blue with a 14 karat gold nib. I joke about how I made the most expensive Kaweco Lilyput on the market with that barrel and that nib. I think they're just way overpriced. As nice as they are, they're way overpriced. So I, I don't know what you want me to tell you, Greg. It's really good and it's really expensive. So is it better than the steel? I mean, that's not a, even, you know, the, the right question. I don't think, you know, it's, it's completely different. It's not in the same market. It's so expensive. It's awfully nice and they look great. So I'm, I'm sorry that I can't give you a definitive answer, Greg, but it's good. I just don't know that I can tell you to spend the money. They're crazy. All right. Justin wants to know, I am wondering if they're going to be a little bit of a are there any multi pens that use the G2 or juice refills. What would you think the answer to this question would be, Myke?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I thought so too. Oh, I thought there would be something that I could provide to Justin. And this led me down an interesting path. There's, I knew there wasn't going to be a G2 or juice refill, standard refill, because multi pens don't use standard refills. So that's the thing. If you're new into multi pens, they use a skinnier refill to fit all those refills in there. So you can't just buy a G2 refill and pop it into a standard G2 refill and pop it and think you're going to be able to use it in a multi pen. And I don't think that Justin's asking that, but he wants to know, are there any G2 modified multi pens where you can use a G2, you know, get three or four slim G2 cartridges or juice refills? And there's not, there's absolutely nothing. The only thing, the only multi pens pilot makes right now is the friction, which is an awesome barrel. I wish they would convert some of those refills. They, they obviously have the technology to do all these things. Just add some juice ink into those friction refills and make a juice multi pen. Maybe we'll see that soon on the market. But right now there is nothing from pilot that's compatible, compatible with G2 or juice in a multi pen. It's only friction. So interesting question, Justin, I'm going to keep that on my radar for a while because I thought, Oh yeah, let me go. I thought I would at least find like a G2 three color multi pen, but there's not. So interesting stuff, Myke.

Myke Hurley: So what would you need to, how many more minutes do we need to go for?

Brad Dowdy: So we need to go like 160 or something, 140 maybe. Yeah. So we need to go. We have a while to get to 300 minutes on this episode.

Myke Hurley: We got to buckle up everyone.

Myke Hurley: If we're going to do this trend, we're not done yet. No, of course we're not going to go for 300 minutes because we have, we have completed a classic episode of the pen addict. If you want to find show notes for this week, you can go to relay.fm slash pen addict slash three zero zero. So man, we're into, we're into a new number for me to talk about now. 301, 302. We're building up to Atlanta. I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone that's going to be at the Atlanta pen show here in like three weeks. Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think so.

Myke Hurley: I'm so excited. I'm so excited right now.

Brad Dowdy: I know. I was hoping there was an extra week mixed in there somewhere, but I think three it is. No, no, no. Come on. Come on.

Myke Hurley: Get the, you're going to see me. We're going to hug. How great is it going to be? That's true. That's true. I can't end this episode without a heartwarming thank you to everyone. This is a podcast about pens, which shouldn't exist. Like there is no logical reason for why an audio only podcast about pens should be listened to by anyone, but it's listened to by a lot of people who have helped us create an incredible community. I don't have any show that I do that provides the level of warmth and feedback and encouragement that this show does. You send us to places every single year with the Kickstarter campaigns. You support us by buying products that even me or Brad sell. And you also just, you support our sponsors, which means that the show can continue, right? Because it is something that we're able to be compensated for our time and effort that we put in. But more than anything, you know, we are committed to trying to give you the best show that we can and you give us back a lot of love. And that means a lot. So thank you so much for helping us get to episode 300. This train's never going to stop. So, you know, there's no need to jump off. And we'll be back next week with episode 301. Thanks again to our wonderful sponsors for this episode, Blue Apron, Squarespace, and Harry's. You can find Brad online at penaddict.com. And while you're there, go sign up for Brad's membership refill. It's awesome. It's my favorite email newsletter that I get every single week. I read it, the entire thing, every time. Love it. You can also go to Knock Co. to buy Brad's wonderful pen cases that he creates with the wonderful, wonderful Jeff, who I cannot wait to see soon. And you want to find Brad online, he's at Dowdy, he's on Twitter, penaddict on Instagram. I am iMike. I am YKE. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.