The Pen Addict 313/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	313
Title:	The Ocean is in My Hand
Release Date:	June 20th, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 313
Audio File:	Audio Episode 313
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 313
Length:	5959 min <br />0.983 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 313. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Simple Contact. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Hello Myke Hurley. Long time, no talk, but no one would know that except you and I. Well, it actually has not been that long, but it was a long time talking. It was a long time talking, so we've been teasing this a lot, and our effort for the RelayFM members podcast extravaganza was one for the record books, I must say. What did we clock in at? What was the final edit time?

Myke Hurley: The final recorded episode runtime is 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Brad Dowdy: We are so dumb. We were exhausted by the end of that. Actually, if you make it through the whole thing, number one, you're a hero, but number two, you get to about the two hour mark, and we have this sound of defeat.

Myke Hurley: And then a fight.

Brad Dowdy: We rallied. We rallied hard, and we finished strong, and you're going to be really surprised when you hear this episode.

Myke Hurley: This is the worst tease for two reasons, because one, we're not going to tell you what we did, and two, you're not going to hear it until August. But nevertheless, this is...

Brad Dowdy: And three, it could be absolutely terrible. You might hate it.

Myke Hurley: That's a very strong chance of that as well. So, basically, we will talk about this again, kind of in late July, early August, but if you want to become a RelayFM member, you can go to relay.fm slash membership, and you can sign up. And then when the time comes around, in kind of mid-August time, you're going to start getting all of our bonus specials, and the pen addict is the weirdest that I've ever done.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's the dumbest, greatest idea we've ever had. So, it could be... You could hate it and turn it off after about 20 minutes, or you could just, like, power through and go, oh my god, they did it.

Myke Hurley: I'll spend, like, a quarter of your day with us or something, you know? Whatever it's going to take.

New Releases

Brad Dowdy: But everyone's spending an hour of their day with us today, Myke, on the pen addict podcast. Let's talk about today. We're talking about all the new things today, which is... We're pretty good at this. You know, I like getting new things, and I like talking about the new things, and people want to hear about the new things.

Myke Hurley: It hasn't happened by the time that we're recording, but I'm expecting a Field Notes drop.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. Is that today? I was thinking maybe next week.

Myke Hurley: I feel like it's got to be today. I already... I got my shipping notification last week.

Brad Dowdy: So, I feel like it's probably this week. I was really proud of a joke I made on Twitter last week. Sometimes I pat myself on the back. Like, they had their power blown out by a balloon getting stuck in electrical wire. Like, one of those, you know, aluminum balloons got up, blew out the electric wire. I said, oh, is this a hint for the summer release? I was really happy with that joke. It fell kind of flat, though. That's okay.

Brad Dowdy: That's all right. They're already on a rampage this morning for other reasons. You can go follow their feed for all the shenanigans. But I'm not here to talk about Field Notes unless it drops during the show. We're here to talk about Blackwing Volumes 1001. Hopefully, I said that right. We did a lot of Instagram pronunciation on my Instagram stories this morning, Myke. So, I'm hopefully pronunciified up. Is that a word for today's show? I think you've already ruined it by saying pronunciified. Yeah. Yeah. There's always a safe bet that I'm going to ruin something. But anyway, the newest Blackwing Volumes came out, the 1001.

Myke Hurley: Uh-huh.

Brad Dowdy: And have you ever heard of a puzzle called the Kin Kin Puzzle? Absolutely not. Okay. Me neither. I maybe kind of heard of it at the time. Whoops. I just threw the pencil on the floor. Hang on. That's the point you have in front of me. So, that's the puzzle. You drop the pencil, you pick it up. Um, so, it's, um, you know, it's, I don't want to relate it to Sudoku, but they're probably in the same category of puzzle, you know, boxes and filling out numbers. And it's kind of like a crossword, cross mix. And the creator, his name is Tetsuya Miyamoto, invented this puzzle form in 2004. I'm reading this from the Blackwing site. And so, they made an addition to celebrate this puzzle. Um, and it came out really, really great. It's a beautiful looking pencil. I don't know how to explain the color finish on this. They call it a red stained barrel. It makes it almost look like a, uh, cypress wood or a cedar, like that red color in the cedar. But it's slick. So, it's not, uh, an unfinished pencil. It's a pencil, you know, it's got a coating on it. And what's interesting about this pencil, and it may be the only pencil I own that is this way. It's a five-sided pencil. And now, I know you don't have one of these in your hands. And I know you're not the biggest wooden pencil guy. But this is really strange, um, feeling. You wouldn't think for a pencil, you know, with this narrow of a diameter, those types of things, like, really change how the pencil feels in your hand. But one less side makes it weird. Like, I've used three-sided pencils plenty of times. And I've used six-sided pencils. And I've used round pencils. Heck, I've probably even used a four-sided square pencil at some point. But this five, um, five-sided pencil, it's a little bit weird. Like, if I think about it too much, it bothers me. If I just pick, pick it up and write, it's fine. Like, it's totally fine. It fits like my other six-sided, six-sided hex pencils. And it's good to go. But since I know it's five-sided, I think about it too much. And it's bugging me. So, I gotta use this more. But all signs point to this being a winner. I think it's a winner. It's got the 602 core, which is the standard firm core, which I love. Probably my favorite core, even more so than the extra firm. It holds a point nice. It's really sharp. And it's still got some softness to it. Their firm pencils are still a little bit soft. So, don't think of it like you're writing with a nail. So, I'm all in. And I continue to forget to send you pencils, Myke.

Myke Hurley: So, tell me. Why would they do something like this? Is it because... I mean, the design of this pencil isn't as wild as their previous one. So, like, have they put their time into making it the five-side? Like, is that like the gimmick of this one?

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's the gimmick. And it's also they like to tell stories about things that they find enjoyable and important. That's what all of these types of subscription services do. They want to tell a story that they think fits the brand. And the method of Miyamoto's puzzle making, you know, inspired them to do something to, you know, support that.

Myke Hurley: To honor that specific shape, right? That is like a classical shape. But it's not widely used now. Is that kind of the... Because you said, like, you've never had a five-sided pencil.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think I own a five-sided pencil. And you wouldn't... Most people, if you just saw this pencil laying on a desk, picked it up, you wouldn't notice it. But I noticed it since they told me it's five-sided. And now I can't get it out of my head. And I'm sure there's other ones out there. I'm just not the pencil expert, as my friends at Erasable are, to know if you can get other, like, common five-sided pencils. So it's interesting. It's neat. The design is really, really good looking. They have been on quite a roll. I'm a big fan of these volumes from Blackwing. I've been a subscriber since day one. I enjoy them. You know, sometimes I buy... You get a dozen with each shipment. And every now and then I'll buy an extra dozen. Like, I won't buy an extra dozen of these pencils. They don't do it that much for me. I like some of their previous editions better. And I don't need that many pencils. But yeah, overall, I think this one's really, really good. So this one will be... If you're interested in it, just like the past two or three editions, they've been knocking them out of the park. They'll sell out quickly. So you should check them out.

Myke Hurley: I think that they've clearly done a good job here. Because I see people getting as excited about the Blackwing release as Field Notes. You know, like I feel that maybe of all of the subscription services, stationary subscription items that have been released in the subscription boom of the last couple of years. I think Blackwing have been the most successful. I mean, it helps that they already had a huge, well-respected base and product, right, to begin with. But they have clearly captured the imagination of people. You know, because I see, for example, on CW Pencil's Instagram stories or whatever, they were saying, oh, they're on the way. We don't have them. I'm like, please stop asking. They'll be on the site when we get them kind of thing. And yeah, they said it in a nicer way than that. But it was clear that they were getting bombarded by people who wanted to buy the single editions. Right. Because they go out to retailers more slowly, right? Then they go out to customers, it seems, which makes sense. But clearly, they get bombarded with it, which means that even amongst that community of people who are really excited about pencils, you know, like that's what they care about. The people that buy that stuff, they want this product, too, which I think is good. I'm pleased, you know, because it's nice to have good quality items like this. And I think that it's cool that Blackwing have been able to do it. Yep.

Blackwing History

Brad Dowdy: So a funny little anecdote you reminded me of talking about Field Notes. So Knock at one time bought directly from Blackwing or whatever the mothership brand is called, you know, on a cow seat or whatever. Because we gave away some of the Palomino pencils in the past. So we've always been on their retailers list. Well, you know how, like, Field Notes is super secretive about anyone getting any information before they officially release it on the new edition.

Brad Dowdy: Blackwing in the past would always, about a week beforehand, tell the retailers what the edition was. So, like, the retailers would know it before the public. Like, yeah. And it was funny with the last one, the Exquisite Corpse, the 54, the pink one. Like, the moment I got that email, I was like, oh, man, these look great. And I couldn't say anything about it. You know, I mean, you just don't do that. And then I saw things around the internet saying, like, it leaked immediately. So this time was the first time that they did not do that. They sent out an email. It's coming. You should order it. And we're not telling you what it is until we release it publicly. So I thought that was a funny little side note, little inside baseball thing. It was kind of, it was pretty funny. So don't look for those early anymore because people can't keep their mouths shut.

Brad Dowdy: So the opposite of keeping your mouth shut is writing things down and sharing those words with other people, Myke. And one of my favorite parts of being in this community is seeing cool things like Plumbago, the zine behind, that the guys behind Erasable have created, mainly Andy Wellflee. And this time he's getting editing assistance from Harry Marks. And issue number four is up for pre-order. So if you like all the pencil talk we just had, this is something you want to look at if you're, if you haven't noticed this before. So there's all kinds of cool articles. I thoroughly enjoy every issue I get. The quality is amazing. The writing and artwork is fun and fascinating. You know, Ana did the cover of this issue number four, the creative nonfiction memoir issue. Yep. I'm a massive failure. I just wanted to go on record as that. They asked me to write a piece for that and I could not get it done in time. So I have apologized to Andy and Harry for letting them down.

Myke Hurley: This is, this is a good apology though.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, I would, even if I wasn't invited to contribute, I'd promote the heck out of it because this is what, this is one of those things when I get it in the, in the mailbox, I can't wait to rip it open and see it. And every issue, there's only been three so far, the quality has gone through the roof. Not that it was ever bad, but my goodness, they do such a good job putting this together. So, and they don't do this to make money. You know, they, they sell these to continue to make these and to donate proceeds to various charities. This time, the National Immigrant Law Center, which is a very important hot topic, hot button topic in the U.S. right now. So they're doing good things and they're good people behind it. And I just love cracking this open when I, when I get it in the mail. So pre-orders are out now. It's eight bucks if you'd get the, the pre-order. So take a look. We'll have a link in the show notes.

Cosmos Inc Pen

Brad Dowdy: I got an email, I don't know, a few weeks ago from the guys behind the Cosmos Inc. magnetic fountain pen. And I didn't really notice this one on Kickstarter until they sent it to me.

Brad Dowdy: And I've kind of been poking through the campaign. And the first thing that jumped right out, Myke, this campaign has 12 days left to go. They're almost at 200 grand. And I wanted to get your thoughts on this pen just as an entrant into the Kickstarter pen world based on like what you've experienced in other Kickstarter pens. What you think about this pen, like on your initial look at it.

Myke Hurley: It looks fine. Yeah. You know, the design of it is very simple. But, you know, tasteful.

Myke Hurley: I'm intrigued by their mechanism. They have like a magnetic mechanism, which does two things. One, it closes the cap, but also lines the cap up with the flat edge. I think that's, that's pretty cool. Right. So it stops it rolling. I wonder what the long term, like, use of a fountain pen with a magnetic cap is. Like, do you end up with a lot of ink collecting on the nib because of the force of the cap attaching every time? Like, probably not. Like a little extra pop. Yeah, probably not. I see that. You know, but I don't know. I would be interested to see what that is like in the long term. You know, like, does it, because it's a magnet. And because typically, because it's cool, you would let it go. Does it overall over time, like, cause any problems? I'm expecting it. It likely doesn't. But, you know, who knows? I like this. They have a beautiful stretch goal edition, which they're probably going to get to. It's like 250,000 euros, which is like all black with this brass band. Yeah. Their video, there was a moment in their video where I audibly laughed out loud. So they're talking about the materials. And they're like, you can, we use machine grade, airline, airline grade titanium and aluminium. We don't like plastic. I was like, what's the, I don't understand the requirements. And just, you know, I wonder, I wonder what their feeds are made out of. But anyway.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And their converters. Did we get metal converters? But yeah, like all of the, any metal, any metal base Kickstarter project has to tell you like the metal specs. And it's always like this super technical aircraft grade. 10,832. Yeah. It's just like. Two titanium. We show how cool it is. All these words.

Myke Hurley: They also have a potential stretch goal for a clip and they've got an image in there and it looks terrible.

Brad Dowdy: In my opinion. Like it looks really bad. This pin's not made for a clip. So the first thing I thought of when I saw this, I was like, wow, this is the pin type B. Because it's the exact silhouette as the pin type B, except it's capped in the middle. It doesn't have the, you know, the fancy sleeve. But like the barrel shape and flat side is totally the pin type B.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: But it goes completely different from there. Just in, you know, my first glance at it. But I bring this up because Franz, our good buddy, this is his first ass TPA. Like I had no idea. He hadn't dropped in on the ass TPA thing before. He said, I really want to know what your thoughts are of the still form Cosmos ink fountain pen on Kickstarter. I can't seem to find any discussions about this campaign. And I don't remember if you or Myke ever discussed it. And we haven't. And because it's kind of just another cool fountain pen. Like it looks really good.

Myke Hurley: I can totally understand and see why this pen has made hundreds of thousands. Because it fits right in that niche of like, here's a good looking pen that has a cool twist. You know, like it has a cool little thing to it. And the thing is magnets. But frankly, like the magnetic thing is not enough of a pull for me to get a pen from a company I've never used. When they're just using a buck nib like every other Kickstarter pen that I bought in the last year.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So I think that's why it hasn't come up. So the second part of that equation is, you know, why haven't we talked about it? Well, because it seems perfectly fine. And we all own one already. Right. In some form or fashion, we own this pen. Right. Like it's not the exact pen. And it maybe doesn't have a magnetic clip.

Myke Hurley: It's like really, this is just a Nemisu pen of a magnetic clip. Like for me, it's made of the same materials, same colors, uses the same nibs. It's probably going to feel very like same in a weight perspective. But it's just a magnet. And whilst that's cool, that's not enough for me to go for. And like, you know, a company like Nemisu, I bought my first pen from them when they were like, it was like novel to be doing a fountain pen Kickstarter. And now I bought previous pens from them because I like their products. So like I've kind of, they're one of the companies that I kind of patronize who make this type of pen. So I buy their new pens because I'm like, I know they make good stuff. This colorway looks nice. I'll give it a go. And I love my Ixion. I love that pen. It's one of my favorite pens at the moment. Yeah. You know, again, with the huge disclaimer every single time, I know people have had problems with it. I don't. I love mine. It's all nib based. Yeah. But then, so I'm just like, I don't, it just doesn't do it for me. But I bet it's going to be great. I bet people will love it. And it's cool. But it's just, I'm not going to drop the like 60 pounds on it or whatever.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I do have one of these on the way. They reached out to me. They got the prototypes done. I don't know if I'll have it reviewed before the campaign's over, but I'll send out some notes. Maybe we'll talk about it when I get in, when I get it in, since I won't have time to like fully review it in the next 12 days. But yeah, I mean, Franz, I think it looks fantastic. You know, I'm interested in getting one in hand, seeing what it's like. And, you know, I think it's just, it's a product of Kickstarter and a product of the pen community. The way you see things happening, you see it blowing up on Kickstarter because it fits that mold perfectly. But us as the pen community as an entirety, it's not blowing any of our minds because like I said, we already have this pen in some kind of shape or form. So it's cool though. I'll be interested to see what the build quality is like once I get it in hand. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So like, this is one of those things where you might pick up this pen and you're like, oh my God, this pen is incredible. And then I'll buy one. You know what I mean? But like, it's, you know, I'm good for this. Totally. I'm good for this campaign. I don't need another Kickstarter campaign pen right now. Yep. All right. Should we take our first break?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Because we do need some other things, right?

Pen Chalet

Myke Hurley: I'm sure. I mean, there's always something you need and I'll tell you who can give it to you. Pen Chalet. Because Pen Chalet have products from all of your favorite brands and they sell everything you're going to need. Maybe you want a Pelican fountain pen. Maybe you want a Lamy rollable. Maybe you need a mechanical pencil from a company. Maybe you want some Lamy products, some Namiki products. Maybe you're looking for a pen case. Maybe you're looking for a pen holder or refills for your Namiki pens or converters for your Sailor pens. They got it all. They got everything. There's infinite possibilities with Pen Chalet. So many combinations of brand and product because they try their best to have everything that you're going to want and need. They have fast and reliable customer service. They're always doing great specials and discounts. They sell internationally. They have great shipping rates as well there. But if you're in the US and you order something over $50 in total, you will get free shipping on that order. If your order is $50 or more, it will be sent to you for free. Pen Chalet has a 100% satisfaction guarantee because they want you to be happy with their products. They offer low prices on high quality pens because they just want to make sure you got the best stuff. That's what they're all about. Go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict and you can get your hands on this week's special offer and also the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet. This week's special offer is 40% off the Platinum 3776 and a free case.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's kind of crazy. Like I kind of scrolled through and double checked all the things. It's like not just an amazing price on the 3776, but you also get a pen case with it. So that seems pretty cool. The price is as good as you'll find at least the 3776 in the US market and it's pretty fantastic. So I just got an email that I replied to this morning. They were saying, pick one, 3776, Pro Gear Slim or Pilot Custom 92 and I picked the 3776. So that tells you what I think about this pen. I think very highly of it.

Myke Hurley: You've got to send that person a second email now.

Brad Dowdy: I know, right? I said, if you like the aesthetic, you know, if you can pick a style that you like, I'd pick the 3776 just because I think it's just an amazing writer. So it's really, really good.

Myke Hurley: So once again, penchalet.com, click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password penaddict to get yourself that deal and also a code to save 10% on anything at penchalet. Our thanks to penchalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: G Herbon has come out with it. It's new sparkly ink is ready, Myke. It's also en route to me, like the Cosmos pen. Then Execlaire was kind enough to reach out and send me a bottle of 1798 Corline Digiped. So what do you think? I'm not sure how I did with the pronunciation there. It seems easier than some of the previous years in pronunciation, but I'm still not sure how I did.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I don't know. You probably did okay.

Brad Dowdy: But this one, this is an orange sparkly. Okay. So we're in, we're in business here, Myke. Yeah. I have like last year, the last two, the Amethyst and the, what was the blue one called? Emerald de Chivore. I have been super close. Like I have been close to wanting to use those and I haven't because sparkles scare me in the types of pens I use, which are generally fines and extra fines. You don't get benefits and you get clogging. This one, this one, Myke, I think I'm going to make it happen. And the way I'm going to do that is I'm going to pick out a specific pen to make this happen in probably a Twisby with a stub nib, even though it's might be a clear barrel and it might, you know, look funny. I think I'm willing to sacrifice a pen, even though I say that I don't think I'll have to, right? I'm, I'm good enough with my, my pen cleaning and pen hygiene to where it's not going to cause a problem. But the issue for me with the sparkle and shimmer inks is actually putting them in a nib that's going to show off the properties of the ink. And for me, that's a stub nib, not one of my extra fine nibs. So what do you think about it?

Ink Color

Myke Hurley: I mean, I love the look of the color from the image that you shared on Goulet and I say it's interesting to me, but I just like you, I just get scared about putting this stuff into a pen, especially because of the way that I am, you know, like I will keep ink in a pen and use it until I'm done with it. Yeah. I don't think I want to have to change that to the point where I'm like thinking, having to think about it, you know, like, so I would get this new ink and be like, oh, this looks fun. And then I put it in the fountain pen that I want to use it with. And then it's like, well, how long am I allowed to leave it in here for before I ruin everything? You know, I'm just like, I think I'm happier right now to just continue trying to find some inks that have some cool properties to them, like shimmering or whatever, which is not going to necessarily destroy whatever I put it in.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I don't think it's going to destroy anything. No, but it can make things bad, right? Like it can screw things up. I don't know. Well, it just might like dry up in your feed or things like that. You might have to clean the feed a little bit, but I don't think it, I'm, the more I look at these inks, the more I want to use them and the less I think there's going to be any issues with it at all.

Myke Hurley: Everyone in the chat room is losing their mind at me right now. Fine. Okay. I'll buy the ink.

Brad Dowdy: But you also, you also leave pens inked for much longer periods of time than I do. Yeah, we're talking years, right? Yeah. So it's more of a consideration for you than me. Like me, I'm not worried about it because I clean my pens out frequently and use them. And so it's, it's real cool.

Myke Hurley: And I don't do that because I speak for the, for the every person, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I just don't like the sparkles because I don't use them in nibs that show off the property. So I don't want to clog, you know, like an EF nib having extra things in it. That's, that's not good for an extra fine nib, but that's really not what they should be used for. It should be like a, you know, super wide nib. So I'll use probably like a 1.1 TWSBI stub, something like that. That's what I'm thinking anyway. So we'll see. I am, this is the first one that I am anxious to get inked and using to see what it's all about. So I've always sent off the, um, sent off the other inks for review. Like Susan really likes the sparkle inks and she has the handwriting and the pens to use to really show off the properties of the ink. I think this one, sorry, Susan, I think this one I'm going to keep, uh, for myself and then and review it. I mean, it's orange. I got to review it, right?

Myke Hurley: I feel like it's your brand.

Myke Hurley: Gotta, gotta be on brand here. Well, I mean, I'll see how this one comes out and it, and then maybe I'll give it a go. I mean, I think I have two sparkly, uh, inks. Yeah, I do. I have two of the emerald, like the, Jeoban. Yeah. I have the Emerald of Chavuant. I think the first one, the blue one, Stormy Sea or something. Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Is that what it was called? Uh, I think so. Like, or was that the gray one? I don't know. They did the gray and blue early. They did the red early. Those were kind of a little bit separate from this new, new batch that they're doing.

Myke Hurley: Well, I'm, I'm literally on Colt pens right now. I'm going to buy this one and then, and then we'll see what happens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think it'll come out. I think it comes out next month, but I'm really intrigued at the color. They look pretty awesome. So, um, speaking of staying on brand, Myke, Sailor Pro Gear. I got the ocean. It is in my hand. The ocean is in my hand, Myke.

Pen Discussion

Brad Dowdy: I don't even know where to begin discussing this pen. Like, I blocked off a huge chunk in the, in the show notes to discuss this pen because it's going to be a ramble fest. I, I love it. And it's weird. Like I have these, I don't have mixed feelings necessarily on it. I just can't figure it out. Like I love the pen. It's an awesome pen. Obviously it's a Sailor Pro Gear. It's the full size, not the slim, not the king of pen. So it's a full size Pro Gear ocean. So we were always, the first thing that everyone wants to, one has wondered about is the translucency of this barrel. And it is almost identical to the Sailor Pro Gear earth. If you happen to ever run across one of those, I did a review of those, uh, of one of those on the blog last year, a couple of years ago, we'll put a link in the show notes to it. So it's not a completely translucent barrel. There's varying levels of translucency, if you will. So like part of the barrel and part of the cap are really hard to see through. You can tell, like, I can't see the converter in it, if you will. Right. I don't see like the shading or color of the converter, but in the grip section, it's much more see-through. So like the opaqueness level is, I don't know, would that be higher or lower? It'd be lower, I guess. You can see it better. Um, so, and that's not, it's exactly how the earth was. The section was more transparent than the barrel and the cap. But although around the end of the cap, you can see through some of the parts there too. What this pen reminds me of is a color and feel, like the feel of the color of like some, like a 1960s kitchen or 1970s kitchen where they had those really strong, weird colors like the yellows and browns and greens. It feels like it's a, um, you know, what were those dishes called? It feels like it was one of those like very particular dish colors from back in the 60s or 70s. And that's not a knock on it. It's just the way the depth of the color is, is really hard to explain. It's, you absolutely have to see it in person. Dan, I bought mine from the Nib Smith. So Dan Smith did a great job on mine. And for example, if you take the cap off with the cap on the pen, okay, I cannot see the nib inside the pen unless, you know, maybe I stuck it up into the light or something like that. But if I take the cap off and look inside the barrel, it like lightens up and I can see like my finger making a shadow on the outside, if that makes sense. It probably doesn't. No, I know exactly what you're saying.

Myke Hurley: Really, really hard. I said, no, I think you've explained that perfectly fine. Like, yeah, if there is something inside of a part of it, you can't see it. So like when it's capped, you can't see through the cap. When there's ink in the barrel, you can't see through the barrel. But like you can see through the grip section a little bit and you can see through the cap when you take it off.

Brad Dowdy: So Tony in the chat room, the green I was looking for is avocado. It's not that color, but it has that consistency, if you will. It's like there's some depth to it. It's a more, it's a teal bluish green. It's real pretty. The ocean color is pretty.

Brad Dowdy: I like my 1911 tangerine better and I like my sky pen better. So that doesn't mean I don't like this pen. I love this pen. But if you're going to force me to like answer, where does it rank in the colors that sailor sailor has done recently that I also bought and enjoy? I think the tangerine is better and I think the sky is better. But this is such a weird pen. Like I'm having a really challenging time with my thoughts on it. Because I love it and I'm confused by it at the same time. So the thing I like the most about it so far is the nib. So Dan, I ordered a medium fine nib and told Dan to put a stub grind on it, which is, you know, for a really fine nib. That's not the easiest thing to do. And he nailed it. Like my nib is awesome. Dan did a really great job.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I don't know. This is such a strange, strange pen. And I'll be talking about this a lot because I find it interesting. The pictures are tough. The thoughts are tough. I love the pen. It's not something I dislike. It's actually quite the opposite. But I don't know how to tell you I like it and why. I'm having a real difficult time on it. But hey, it's a sailor pro gear. The color is awesome. The trim is awesome. The nib is awesome. What else do you need? But if you want me to explain the color, that has been more of a challenge in my mind than I've been able to solve. So related to this pen, I had two questions from the Pen Attic Slack Room. First one from Teante. And I thought this was a good spot to bring up this question. It wasn't about the sailor pro gear ocean, but I think it kind of relates. How much does a pen's cost affect your review and or actual enjoyment of it? Does an expensive pen get a more critical look than a cheaper one? For reference, a sub-discussion came up about the Custom 823 and Stephen Brown's review. The price difference between the U.S. and Europe is more than double. So this is a really good question. We've talked about this a little bit as a kind of a side note when we've talked about reviewer bias before. Right? Like we all have biases, you know, in the way we write and the products we review and the products we choose to review and how we review them and things like that. It's like it's natural to have some bias. And one of the bias points was, well, are you going to be as fair if you spent, are you going to like a pen more because you spent $500 and don't want to feel guilty for buying a $500 pen that you don't like? Then a $50 pen that you don't like, well, you just, you know, slag it off more easily because it was cheaper. Right? So that is a point of bias in just, you know, it's general. Like that's not something anyone does specifically, but that is a thing that can happen. I've never found it to be that way because that's not how I write or review pens. So on a personal level, no. But anyone can say that. It's all, back when we were talking about these bias questions, it's all in the body of work. Right? You learn what a reviewer likes and dislikes. You understand their point of view, where they're coming from and, you know, getting their honest opinions on products. But I do think it can, people do worry about making an expensive mistake, if you will. So, you know, I can see that from time to time, but I don't like, I don't see that necessarily in our community. You know, if I spend that much money and I hate the pen, I'm going to say I hate the pen and I screwed up. And I hope you don't make the same mistake. Or I hope you consider these things, you know, that I found, you know, that I didn't like about this product. And add that to your collection of knowledge about the product. You know, that's the other thing is you never want to take one person's point of view as like the way. Right? I have an opinion. You know, Anna has an opinion. Myke has an opinion. Myke has an opinion. Joe has an opinion. You know, all these people have opinions on the products. And you should take that collective wisdom and apply that to your likes and dislikes. But I do see that as like a little tick in the bias column that a lot of people are maybe less likely to just crush a pen that they've spent so much money on. And it's usually not going to happen anyway because hopefully they would have come to that conclusion before actually spending the money.

Myke Hurley: I feel like there's also a potential possibility of someone to be harsher on a pen that's more expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Without a doubt. I mean, especially if you're coming from a place where you don't spend. So, if your style and aesthetic is, you know, a $30 to $50 pen, you're going to really, you have a opportunity to feel a certain way about a high price point for whatever reason that you want. You're just like, well, I don't see the value in spending that money on that type of pen, right? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I feel like just, at least I feel this way about myself sometimes, that if something's really expensive, I expect a lot from it. Sure. And so, if I don't get that, then I would be mad. And I guess also, you know, if you paid your own money for it as well, there can be some regret in the decision maybe that comes up. And like Tony's just mentioned Visconti, right, in the chat room. And like that's perfect for me where there is one design element that I don't like about those pens. And it makes me so mad. And I won't buy one because they're like $500 or $600. Like where if it was a $100 pen, I would already own probably two of them. Right, right. Right. But like I'm way more critical of pens when they're more expensive.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah, as we're going to find out in the next question, and I'm not quite done with this first one yet, it's so individually specific. It's hard to like just, you know, completely crush any product that you don't like because it might fit someone else's needs perfectly, right? So, we're going to talk about that in a minute. But I wanted to finish Tianti's question because she was talking about the pricing of the Custom 823.

Brad Dowdy: And Pilot had a huge issue, I think about two years ago with the EU pricing was crazy. And a bunch of the vendors like really kind of took them to task. And I don't know if it's changed, but it sounded like maybe it hasn't. But so, you know, you want to shop for the best, you know, the best value, the best support. You know, you want to buy from authorized dealers. I do very much believe that. Whether that can support your after purchase questions in a simple and efficient manner and, you know, help you out with anything you need on your purchase. So, you know, that's just kind of a nature of the beast of regional questions. And I know Pilot has had some EU pricing issues in the past and maybe they're not resolved yet.

Myke Hurley: Well, a lot of companies, they're banking on currency fluctuations in Europe anyway. Right.

Brad Dowdy: And I think actually Pilot came out. I think they did a press release after that first uproar. I'd have to go back. I may be misspeaking here, but I think they did a press release stating, you know, to that effect, something to that effect. So, all right. So, my good friend Kimberly came in right after Tianté's question and a bit of a follow-up from last week's topic on reselling of pens. She says,

Myke Hurley: Is that the price that you're paying internationally is very rarely the final price that you'll pay. Because when that pen arrives, you will be hit with taxes. Right. Like, that's one of the reasons that, for example, say that in the UK, that pens are cheaper outside is because they don't have RVAT added to them. Right. Right. Right. But that will get added when it comes through customs. So, like, I think that it is something you've got to remember that sometimes by the time you've paid for shipping, because the shipping will be more expensive, plus the customs, plus the customs handling fees, which you can calculate this stuff. Like, it's possible to do. I think you've really got to weigh it up at that point to work out if it actually is cheaper. I think that is a discussion, like a discussion point that people can get lost in. Well, actually, a lot of the time, you kind of end up about the same amount. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, and it's just something to remember. This isn't always going to be the case, right? Sometimes you might be able to get a deal somewhere or whatever. But I think it's just worth bearing that in mind, that it doesn't necessarily mean cheaper. I always kind of look at it as, like, where is something available? And then plan from there.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. So this is another tough question, because it's so individual per case basis thing. Because you could have two types of sellers. You could have one that's taking advantage of the arbitrage between the price differences, who's trying to sell you a pin and make a profit on it. Or you could have someone who generally, you know, bought this pin, thought they were going to use it, ended up not liking it, and wants to move on from it and buy something else. So, it's almost impossible to answer this question for the variance you get in the pricing. So, like, how can you, you know, get around screwing yourself? You just have to know what the going rate for that pin is and what you think is a good rate for you personally. Like, everyone's going to be, you and I are going to look at a single pin through different lenses. Right? So, I'm going to have a value attached to pin X, and you're going to have a value attached to pin X, and they could be widely varying values, and they could mean something different to both of us. Right? So, you just have to do a little bit of market research, if you will, to figure out, okay, I'm not familiar with this pin. What are the range of prices it goes for? Am I getting a good deal on this pin? Should I pull the trigger? So, it's kind of a little bit of a process-based thing you have to go through. There's no black and white answer to something like this. Right? It's just so many variables, and the biggest one being you as a person. That's the biggest variable. How do you feel about this? Research.

Myke Hurley: I mean, research is the key. If your concern is that buying used, you might end up paying more, do the research. It's all online for you. You check what you'd be paying, and work out what if you bought it new, what would it cost you in customs and stuff like that. And then, you know, one that I find, and it's up to you how you want to do this, but how much money are you willing to pay to reduce aggravation and increase speed? Right. Right? Like, if your threshold for that is $10, well, that might be the benefit of buying it locally. You know what I mean? You might start tipping scales at that point. So, I think it's a case of, like, if you have a purchase which is big enough for you that you want to really kind of sweat the price, it's all online. You know, all the numbers are online. Just see what it's going for on eBay. See what it's going for in, like, private forums. See what it's going for on you. Work out what the shipping is going to cost you, depending on where it's coming from, and then pull the trigger on whichever one you feel most comfortable with.

Pen Purchases

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you know, and I don't ever go into a purchase, and again, this is a very personal thing. This is me talking as a pen purchaser for something that I like. I don't ever go into a purchase saying, what am I going to get if I try to resell this pen? That has never once crossed my mind in making a purchase. So, like I said at the beginning, there's all kinds of different angles. Are you trying to, you know, make money on a purchase to resell it for a higher value? You're looking at things one way, and I'm not saying Kimberly is. I'm just saying in general, a general buying process. Everyone's looking at it from a different angle. Like, I don't buy pens looking to hold their value or concern about their resale value. I buy a pen because I like the pen and I want to use it.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Someone else may be looking, well, I like this pen, and I think it's a good deal, and I could probably resell it for more. That's a valid thing, too. So, you got to decide, you know, it's an infinitely open-ended question because the variables are just massive in a question like this. So, you just, I mean, we always talk about being careful with your money, you know, and don't go on spending sprees, which you don't know what you're buying. So, do the work. Ask people around you. Ask for help. You know, check prices out, you know, and just be careful out there, Myke.

Myke Hurley: It's a crazy world out there.

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Brad Dowdy: All right, we got a few Ask TPA questions to end this up on. First one I thought was a really good question for both of us, because we both have individual experience with this. So Joe Casabono says, I'm a fine nib kind of guy, but really want the Sailor Pro Gear Great Purple Cosmos, which comes with a zoom nib. How does that stack up? I've read it can be broad, medium, or fine, depending on how you hold the pen. Thanks. So you got a zoom nib in a recent Sailor, is that correct?

Myke Hurley: Yep, I have it on the 1911 Tangerine.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. And I had a zoom nib on, I forget the name of it, Stardust Galaxy or Starburst, something like that. So I got a zoom nib on that.

Brad Dowdy: I thought I would like it, I ended up not liking it. Okay. It was, so it's a blocky type of nib that, yes, you can, by the angle you hold it vertically to the page, can change the width of the line, broad, medium, or fine. I rarely got to that fine level. Maybe if you flip the nib over, but I never write like that. I don't, yeah. I don't write like that as a...

Myke Hurley: So weirdly, I think this is, maybe for the first time, something I have more experience than you want.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Which is very strange. Yeah, because I got mine grounded to like a fishhook architect and then I sold it. So there you go. Because I didn't like it.

Myke Hurley: Maybe I should answer this question then. So I would say that there kind of, there isn't three areas for me with this. There's really kind of two. You can do fine or you can do broad. That's how I found it to be because, I don't know, the broad side, you can kind of, you can vary it a little bit, but it's more tricky to do where it's way more simple to like, you hold the nib in one orientation, it's broad, you flip it over onto its backside and it's fine, right? Like that's way easier to do than to try and like angle it in such a way that you can also get a medium line. So I would say that whilst it's possible to do, I don't think that that is really something you should consider is going to happen here. Like most of the time you're going to get broad or fine. And the fine, so when you're using the nib upside down basically, that is not a great experience as a fine nib. It's obviously, I mean, if you think about it, it's never going to be as comfortable to use because it's super weird. You know, like it works and it works fine and it's a good fine nib, but it's nowhere near as good as other sailor fine nibs like that are more regular. I, however, really recommend this pen and this nib because it's super weird and fun. I love using my 1911 because I can do silly things with it and the, the zoom, you know, the regular side, the broad side is super broad and I love that. Like, but if that's not your thing, don't go for it. Like if you don't think you would enjoy the broad experience, then don't do it because that's what you'll end up using most. Because whilst the fine nib side works, it's not super comfortable. It doesn't feel really great and you kind of have to be pretty particular about how you're holding it. I've found to get a consistent ink flow.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I liken this nib to a chisel tip marker. Like I really enjoy chisel tip markers, but I don't use them to write with every day. You have to have a special occasion to write with this. So if I'm using fines or extra fines and I expect to have that individual variance in this pen, I'm going to be disappointed. And I was. So, you know, you kind of got to, that, this is one that you, if you ever had the opportunity to, to test drive one, to see what you really think. Like mine was really good. I bought it as an experiment to see if I would like it. Turns out I didn't, but Myke really likes his because it fits like some of the things that Myke does with, you know, his writing and other people really like it. And it's a really cool idea. It just depends on what your expectations are to get out of this nib.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I feel like if, if, if broads are not your thing, then you should probably not do this.

Receipt Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yep. So Sid Anderson says, what's the best pen for receipt paper? I work retail. I want something nicer than a big stick. So big sticks are actually pretty good for receipt paper. I'd look at the, um, if you want to like a true upgrade, either of the Uniball Jetstream or Pilot Acroball, which you can get at the, on the store shelf. Those are going to do real well on the receipt paper. Um, outside of that, you're just into your basic ballpoints, like the Inkjoy, the paper made Inkjoy, which I honestly, as good as the Inkjoy gel pens are, I did not have a great experience with those ballpoints. So I'd be looking at a Jetstream or an Acroball, um, maybe an Acroball because you can get those in like a, they're a little bit cheaper, a little bit thinner, have a little bit better grip than the Jetstream. So, uh, and you can find them at all kinds of stores. So it's really cool. Evan Max, I think is in the chat room today, Myke, but if he's not, well, well, embarrassing regardless. And, uh, this is a question I don't know the answer to, which is why I love this question. All of the steel italic stub nibs that I've seen available to buy off the shelf are untipped Lamy, Pilot, Nemecine, Kaweco, et cetera. The only steel italic nibs I've seen with tipping material on them are custom ground after the factory. Is there a reason for this other than saving costs on cheaper steel nibs for not tipping them? I never noticed the lack of tipping on steel nibs. Can you explain what tipping is? So it's essentially considerate. Like if you look, grab one of your gold nib pens and the tip of the nib has basically a ball of metal there that's then shaped into whatever shape the nib should be. So you could have a broad nib pen and it looks like it's a little raised rounded area. Okay. So that's the tipping. The very literal, the literal tip of the, of the pen of the nib. So a lot of steel nibs, the italic and stub nibs, like the Pilot ones, not tipped at all. And I love them. The Lamy ones are not tipped at all. And I love them. The TWSBI ones are not tipped at all, but they're rounded and softer. Like they have a wider depth to the steel, if you will. So while they don't necessarily have the big tipping, you know, they do have that softer, rounder feel in the nib as opposed to like the Pilot nibs. And why that's the reason? I don't know. I just cannot think of what that could be. So I'd be interesting to know if any listeners have any idea. While steel nibs don't have that tipping where gold nibs do, I'd have to actually look at some gold stub nibs. I almost never buy, trying to think what gold stub nibs I have. Like I've got gold broad nibs that I've had ground into a stub. So there's been plenty of tipping there, but I did an aftermarket grind. And I'll have to, this is something I'll have to think about it. So it's an interesting question. I never thought about it that way, honestly, because I like that steel feel of the, of the nibs, you know, the sharpness of like the italics. So yeah, like the chat room's yelling at me because they shouldn't be, they're saying that they shouldn't be tipped to begin with because to get that line variation. So yeah, which that makes complete sense. So, you know, with an italic and stub nib, you're getting a, a fine horizontal line and a thicker vertical line. You don't want the tipping to like dissuade from that, that type of shape. So yeah, maybe that's why.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Last question. Sarah wants to know, how's the upgraded internet treating you? When can we expect some Twitch streaming? So the upgraded internet, I wish it was at my house, but it's at the, it's at the remote pen addict, uh, office space. And it's kind of amazing because Myke and I's, yeah, studio B, Myke and I's, uh, three hour and 20 minute podcast from last week would have taken me hours to upload from my house. I think it took less than a minute from the other house. So that was pretty cool from studio B. So it's going good. I did a test stream yesterday and I'm looking at my schedule to figure out what I can do either tonight or most likely Thursday night for the first pen addict stationary stream. So stay tuned to the Twitter.

Myke Hurley: So people should subscribe to twitch.tv slash pen addict, right? That's where they're going to find it. If you go subscribe on there, you sign up, you subscribe.

Brad Dowdy: Just go follow and hit follow and you get on a little alert when I go live.

Myke Hurley: So follow, yes, that's the verbiage. Follow and you get the alert. Subscribe is a, it's a thing for later to give Brad money, but that, that will come later on, right? Yeah. We're not worried about that now. Follow and then also subscribe to Brad's YouTube channel, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So pen addict is on YouTube as well. So they have weird, not really direct links to send to that. I guess maybe you can get one later. I haven't totally get done that, but it's, I got it. There's a pen addict channel already there. I got it in the, in the, in the, it's in the show notes. So these videos will be saved. Like Brian in the chat room saying, ah, well, I won't be there, but that's kind of one of the reasons why I wanted to do it on Twitch. It'll be saved there for like two weeks or a month or something. And then it'll just be offloaded to YouTube and you can check it out later, but I will keep the stationary streams recorded and saved and offloaded to YouTube for safekeeping. And then any game streams I do, which will just be for fun. Those I won't save over to YouTube. So the YouTube channel will just have like all the, all the live stationary shows I plan on doing on Twitch.

Myke Hurley: But I know it's, I know it's upsetting. If you can't make it, try and make it because it's so much fun to watch live, which is really, really, really excellent. I've been enjoying that a lot myself recently. I've been doing some game streams, which I've been enjoying greatly. Even you popped up when we were doing one yesterday. All right. So if you want to find Brad online, twitch.tv slash penaddict is a great place for that right now. But also Twitter. He is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. Penaddict on Instagram, penaddict.com and knock.co for Brad's writing and wares. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E. You can find this week's episode at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 313. Thanks again to Pen Chalet and Simple Contacts for their support of this house. I've read the chat. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: I bought a whole new house just for internet, Myke. Yeah. Let's get that rumor going.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: You got to do what you got to do, man. Fast internet is really important. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.