The Pen Addict 398/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	398
Title:	Plastered on a Card
Release Date:	February 19th, 2020
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 398
Audio File:	Audio Episode 398
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 398
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Brad Dowdy: From Real AFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 398. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined across the podcasting table by Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hello, Myke Hurley. How are you today? I'm very well, very fine, very dandy, my friend, especially because of a delivery that arrived at, I am not joking, 10pm last night. What? Is that normal? That's not like postal service, right? That's like additional delivery service? Parcel Force, which is like the, it's pretty much like the Royal Mail, but just like a parcel company.

Myke Hurley: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Parcel Force?

Brad Dowdy: Parcel Force, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Nice. That's a great name, right? Space Force here in the US.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, Parcel Force. I think Parcel Force used to be a part of the Royal Mail or is part of the Royal Mail. It's kind of spun out. It's not really important, but it's like, it is effectively the national, yeah, over 25 years, a long history is part of the Royal Mail group. There you go. So Parcel Force, owned by the Royal Mail, but it's like a separate thing which deals with parcels only, so it's larger packages, and has slightly different rates and services, that kind of thing. So it's completely unnecessary, but that is why it arrived. I'm thoroughly interested in this. Jeez, that's when it arrived, 10pm.

Myke Hurley: It's the 10pm thing, right? It's like, who is delivering at 10pm? I want to know, and apparently it's Parcel Force.

Delivery and Customs Issues

Brad Dowdy: Parcel Force. But it was a big surprise to everybody, but the pen was supposed to arrive yesterday. This is the Bung Bucks 8th Anniversary 4B pen. It arrived. Brad, I got a very upsetting customs... It was a big one.

Brad Dowdy: Because they took a, you know, it went through customs, and I paid my 20% tax.

Myke Hurley: Oh my god.

Brad Dowdy: So, you know, I should have paid it. I had to pay it. I'm fine with paying it, because I should know, right? Like, it is a thing. I should tax something that occurs, fine, but it was just...

Myke Hurley: Yeah, you're gonna have to take out a special insurance policy just for this pen.

Brad Dowdy: I sat down yesterday and took a look at, for reasons which will become clear soon, and again, it's like the reason I bought this pen, which I'm gonna be able to talk about in like a week or two. But a big thing, big change to my working life that I'm very excited about. I just want to make clear, because people keep bringing this up, we are not having a baby right now. People keep thinking that we're having a baby right now, and it is not a thing. We're not... Right now in our lives, there is no baby coming. But anyway, so... I was looking at my pens yesterday and was kind of working out like the most expensive ones. Mm-hmm. And it now lies this one, my King of Pen, my 1911 King of Pen, and my now, like, Brooks customized Pro Gear King of Pen. I think they are my most expensive pens.

Myke Hurley: Oh, this one by a pretty decent margin.

Brad Dowdy: I would have to work it out, though, Brad, to be honest.

Pen Purchase Discussion

Myke Hurley: Well, you bought the 1911 in person, and I mean, I know how much that cost. Yeah, but... Which was a lot, but not as much as this.

Brad Dowdy: I would have to... I am not 100% sure right now without checking, like, actual prices between this and the other King of Pen, because I had, you know, I had real, like, Arushi work done on it. Like, that was expensive. You know, like, that was an expensive pen price in itself on top of the Pro Gear price, but that was a cheaper price because we got a really good deal on those. So I'd have to work it out, but this one definitely is sitting amongst that list now. Elite company. So tell me about it. I mean, it's fantastic. The texture of it is so unique and interesting. The pen is kind of cold to the touch, and I'm not sure why. Because I actually... I don't... I don't really know what this pen is made from, honestly. Like, I don't know what the material is, because I never... I've never actually ran Google Translate on the page itself. But it feels very good. I like that there is, like, this gold line right around the very, like, tail end of the pen. Okay. So one of the, like, the clear divots is filled in with gold, which is very nice. Oh, that's interesting. Right? So it's in the pictures, but I hadn't noticed it until I got it. I hadn't noticed that. Right? The B at the end with the Rodden in it is awesome, because it's, like, you basically can't see it unless light goes over it, and then you see the Rodden.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I, you know, I absolutely love this. Oh, it is, as I had, I think I'd read this, but the blue lacquer is a Rushi inside of, like, the little ridges. So it's, like, a... This is a super weird pen in, like, good ways. I don't have anything like it. The grip section is metal.

Brad Dowdy: Like, the other...

Myke Hurley: Like, the fifth anniversary. Yeah, so, like, it's dark. Like, I think they... What do they call it? Ion. Ion. Black Ion? Yeah. I think it's their terminology. Something like that.

Brad Dowdy: But, you know, I have a couple of these now, and it really changes the way the Pro Gear feels, because it puts the weight in the end. So it's a very, very different feeling. And then the nib matches it, right, in color. Yes. It's, like, the black iron, as you say, the ionized, or whatever it is. And then it has the B logo on the nib. I've got a zoom nib, which works fantastically. I was agonizing a little on what ink to put in this, because the cap... The cap says blue-black on it.

Myke Hurley: Right. Right. I mean, 4B is bung box blue-black. Yeah. That's what 4B stands for.

Brad Dowdy: So the cap says bung box blue-black. Like, that's what the writing on the cap says. So I put Lamy Petrol in it.

Myke Hurley: Close enough. I mean, that's a good ink.

Brad Dowdy: It's the only blue-black that I own. And I actually don't think I've ever used it. But I really love it. It's a great color. And with the zoom nib, it lays down a lot of ink. So you see the blue and black variation in it, which is really nice. So I would like to get bung box 4B. Yeah. But I didn't think about that at the time. But that's now on my list. Is that ink that is readily available?

Myke Hurley: Or was that just... I think in the normal bung box lineup, you can now get it, which means some retailers will have it. You'd be able to pick it up at a pen show, maybe.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So that will be an Atlanta pen show purchase for me, then, if I can find it.

Myke Hurley: But I have one of the old... When they first came out with the vase bottles, that's my 4B bottle. I haven't bought one in the new ink pot bottles. But that's how they have them now. And I think it's sort of available. But actually, I haven't looked for it in a while.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. So that will be on my list. You should be able to get it. This, for me, though, like... You know, I look at my collection of Pro Gears, or Sailor Pens, which is extensive at this point. And I'm very proud of that collection, because, you know, they... Like the Retro 51 before it, they really... I believe that they show my... Kind of my personality, I think, in pens, because they're so expressive. And I love that. And I have so many, and they're all so different. And I have so many... And what I like about these more than the Retro 51 is that I also have, like, different nibs and stuff, so they will perform differently in different inks, so they have different colors. Like, it's more... I can express more and enjoy more about them that way, you know? Which I really like. I love that. And I'm very proud of this collection. And this pen is going to occupy an important part of that, because it is so weird, so different, and also so rare that they only made 88 of them. And so that kind of, in a way, as a collector, excites me, right?

Myke Hurley: It's a brilliant pen. I mean, I don't think there's any two ways about it. It's just, like, everything about it's fantastic. I love it. I can't wait to see it. It's crazy expensive. It is crazy expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But lots of pens are, you know? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, like, you know, I can swing, like, one or two of those a year, maybe.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: You know, maybe one. So, like, I bought my Galaxy, you know, late last year. I bought my... I bought a King of Pen Tangerine this year. Like, I'm not looking to, like, drop another, like, crazy amount. But you never know what comes up. That's the thing, is, like, you don't have to have the FOMO too bad, because something else always comes down the line, right? All right. Like, the Bung Box 8th Anniversary pen, which is just really a brilliant pen. Love it.

Brad Dowdy: I'm very happy to own this now. And so, like, you know, I think when I go to pen shows and bring my sailor pens, I really think at this point, the pens that will make the people that will be the most interested in is this one, my now Brooks Customized Arushi King of Pen. Are you getting that in Atlanta? Oh, I'll be bringing it. Don't you worry about that. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Oh, do you have it? You have it now?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. I have it.

Myke Hurley: Oh. Yeah, we've spoken about it. I have it. I know. I, like, I've seen the pictures, but I didn't realize it was in your hands. Yeah, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I've had it for a few weeks. It's stunning. I love it. And then, like, the royal, like, the royal purple one with the sparkles in it that I got from Pensachi. And also the Wancho Japan Steel, like, the hands, not steel one. Yes, smallpox pen. Yeah. Yes, the smallpox pen. That's a great pen. I keep going back and forth. They're so unique. And so I think people will like them. Yep. Very cool. Because I love them. They're my favorites.

Curedas vs Pilot Cat Plus Twist Mechanism

Brad Dowdy: I wanted to do a bit of follow-up real quick because there's been something hilarious that we have done. We keep talking about the Curedas and wondering where the twist is in the knock. Yeah. This was not a thing from the Curedas. Right. It was the Pilot Cat Plus, which also has a twist knocking mechanism. Right. But those pens were happening around the same time. So... We covered them back to back. Yeah. So we got them confused of each other. So... Not a shock. But the pen that has the knock twist mechanism is actually the new Pilot Cat Plus, not the Curedas.

Myke Hurley: Cool. Yeah. So you were confused and then I didn't catch it. Well... Because it seemed right to me. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Well, there you go then. Uh-oh.

Myke Hurley: I was like, yeah, I can't remember. I forgot that the Pilot Clap... Like, we covered those back to back on whichever episode that was a few episodes ago. And then that's what the title came from, was the knock knock twisting knock of the pilot, the new Pilot Cat Plus, which seems... Yep. You know, utterly ridiculous.

Brad Dowdy: So thank you to everybody that pointed that out.

Myke Hurley: Um, continuing the follow-up train, I got my choosing keeping platinum care package. Oh, nice. Yeah. So that came in, um, like on Monday or something like that. Um, it's really amazing. Like this kit, like you got this whole kit, right? Like you talked about it last week. Did you get the notebook? Because I don't remember you talking about the notebook.

Brad Dowdy: I did. But the, as nice as the notebook is, uh, is lined. Yes. I chose the color for you, by the way.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. It's brilliant.

Brad Dowdy: There was a color choice. They had one to match every color of the Curitas.

Myke Hurley: Really?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no. This is, my God, this is perfect. I love this notebook, even though it is lined. Um, I just opened it up yesterday. This is, this is like a book. Like, I mean, like a book you would pull off the shelf to read, like a novel or something. The way it's bound and the way it's styled. Um, yes, it is lined, but I have already found a use for it. I've already been writing in it. I don't think this paper is going to be very fountain pen friendly, which is interesting. I'm using an extra fine platinum, uh, well, Nakaya nib in it. Inked, Myke, with the, the blue black Mount Fuji platinum ink cartridges, of course. You know, the 5%, uh, I, I love this. Like you read it last week, contains 5% of the natural water sourced from the base of Mount Fuji.

Brad Dowdy: How nice, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So it's a, it's a little bit darker than platinum stock blue black, which I do not like. Like I like fine. It's just not really a blue black. Um, this one's great. I, this notebook is fascinating. Um, just in the way it's, it's, it's built. It's really uniquely styled. I hope they sell these. Like, I don't need another one if they're going to continue to be lined, but I think they just look so good.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what the deal is of them, but they were for sale separately in choosing keeping that you could buy them.

Myke Hurley: Like how much was it? Do you have any recollection? Was it in like the 20 pound range? I'm guessing.

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to say yes, but I don't remember.

Myke Hurley: Like it doesn't seem it, but it wouldn't, it doesn't seem to be, you know, like some special like $80 notebook or anything like that. But I think just for what it is, it's really nice. And I think people would like it. Although I need to put some heavier fountain pen inks, um, to the test on it. Cause I, I'm not convinced that they're going to work well with this paper. It seems like an absorbent paper, um, even with the extra fine nib that I'm using. So yeah, it's really cool. And I liked the postcard set that you were trying to explain, uh, last week. And like, I get it now. Like it's a really, it's basically like a mini book, right? Like there's a couple of postcards you can use for, you know, mailing and writing letters, but it's really like telling the story of the history of Platinum. And I thought it was really neat. So very well done Platinum.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Those, those, uh, postcards though, they were written by, um, Choosing Keeping.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I was wondering because they have all of the Choosing Keeping branding on there. And I'm, I was wondering if, you know, Platinum did it in collaboration with them. And if they did that, like, if they had like, you know, five other in stores around the world, did they get their own set of cards with their own shop branding or whatever? I think so.

Brad Dowdy: So like Platinum provided, I believe the imagery and some information and Choosing Keeping were up, like, uh, text, um, to accompany each of the images. It's really nice. Like, again, like if you can make it go to the store while they have all this stuff, because during, like, I put all the condition on it so you can see what the, the, the, the books look like. Because if you buy, um, a Platinum pen there right now, you get one of those books and a bag. Do you got the tote bag?

Myke Hurley: I did. It's great. I love the logo. Yep. Um, I also got the, the Curios brochure, which is the last thing I want to point out.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: At no point in any picture of the Curios in the brochures, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven images of the Curios. At no point do they show the fin coming out the back. Except in the, um, technical drawing, there's like a line around the back, which is kind of hidden. Like, you don't notice it. You think it's just like, you know, part of this little technical drawing, like this cutout, uh, piece. And I would have never even caught that if I didn't see it on the real pen. At no point during the real pen being in use do they ever show that pointing out. So now that we know that it's there, now I'm looking, now I'm seeing that it's not in their marketing. So it's interesting.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm.

Venetian Card Company Review

Myke Hurley: All right. Um, I wanted to bring up the review I did on Monday, Myke, which is the Venetian card company artist series card. Did you get a chance to look at this review? I read it this morning. Yeah. What do you think about a product like this? It's not for me. Yeah. I, I like, I get that, right? Like, this is a very strange thing that I, I ran into it at the Philadelphia pen show and I was talking to the artist, his name's Zach. And I'm looking like I saw the, um, the pen stands first. Like he makes these pen stands out of plaster. He's essentially a plaster artist and he makes these pen stands and I'd seen them on Instagram. And then I saw these cards and it was all this plaster artwork, essentially.

Myke Hurley: Plastered on a card for lack of a better term. And the card backing is like a postcard or note card. And in his regular, you know, his regular artwork and his, his plaster work and his sculpture work, he would give these to his clients as part of, you know, their, um, their commission or their order of their artwork. That was like the thank you note. And then the clients were like, well, can we buy these cards separately so we can send them to our friends? It's like, well, maybe that's a thing. And he made these cards and I think they're just a super unique thing. Now the kicker is these are crazy expensive, right? Like a single card like this. I bought like the high end card. I think the regular price is like $89. So it's like a gift in and of itself.

Brad Dowdy: But like you could, it's like you could frame it as a, it's just one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. A single card. Yeah. And it's like a single piece of artwork basically, but you send it as a postcard or a thank you note or something like that. And like people will just frame the card as art, right? It's that type of thing. So like, it's definitely not for everybody, but I just came up way impressed with the technique and the application. And, you know, I like these types of things anyway, right? The real artsy type stuff. So it kind of stuck with me.

Myke Hurley: You know, I was taken aback by the price when he first said it. It's like, whew. Yeah, that's a lot. And like the more I thought about it, you know, the more I couldn't really like get away from it. I was like, I think I need one of these and like, I'm going to send it.

Myke Hurley: I did not send it to you, Myke, just so you know. I didn't want to risk it going overseas, but I did write a letter. It is out in the wild. The recipient has received it. So I don't know. I'm interested to see how it traveled in the post. That's going to be my follow up to that little review. But I wanted to share that because I think it's such an odd and unique item. And I think the, if you're even like slightly interested in this and bulking at the price, there is a lower price point. That's still outrageously priced like the $30 cards, but they're really neat. And yeah, I just wanted to give them a shout out because I really like this product, even though it's not something I'm going to, you know, buy maybe more than like once a year or twice a year. If I have, you know, the interest in sending someone a special, special note.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's not, that's not for me, man.

Myke Hurley: Not you, bro. I get it. It's not a lot of people for sure.

Brad Dowdy: No, I was, I was surprised. Like I was, I read over the article a couple of times because I thought I misread that it was only one that you got. Oh yeah. No, it was only one. I could buy it. Oh, I could buy more. Oh no, no, no. I mean like that you.

Myke Hurley: Yes. That was a single card for that price. Yes. It's a very considered purchase. You don't make that purchase on a whim, right? For anyone who's interested in that type of thing. So yeah. But, you know, it's one of those unique items that you run across sometimes at pen shows. And I thought it was cool to share.

Cafeco Student Pen Discussion

Brad Dowdy: So you may remember one of my favorite little pens that I found in the last year was the Cafeco Student. Yes. But only in the 70s Sol. Remember, they had like a bunch of colors, but then they had a model called the 70s Sol, which was white body and an orange cap. And it was just like super fun. They have some more colors. This is a point that they've just released. This is pointed out to me by creativelyo on Twitter. They have a blue and a green now for the cap. It's called the 60s Swing and the 50s Rock. Which feels the wrong way around to me, but like you do, right? Like I feel like Swing was more the 50s and Rock is more the 60s. But that's where they are. But you can order those now. I still think that the 70s Sol is the best one, the orange one. But I like that they have doubled down on what makes this pen the only reason you would buy it because the standard color additions is too boring.

Myke Hurley: And these colors line up exactly with the orange. Yes. They're not primary, right? Like, right. So, the originals were primary. And they did not work as well as the 70s Sol did. And I'm guessing Kaweco is figuring that out. So, it's a darker green and a deeper blue. Yeah. Which both look great with like the ivory type barrel and the gold trim.

Brad Dowdy: And the gold trim and gold grip section. Obviously, gold color grip section. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, here's the thing. What do we need? We need the 80s has to be purple. Is it like the 80s wave? Like what do we call it?

Brad Dowdy: I think it should be pink.

Myke Hurley: I'm thinking purple. Because that's going to fit in with that colorway. I would call it like 80s pop anyway. 80s pop. Yeah. 80s pop.

Brad Dowdy: Or glam.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's got to be purple though. I'm feeling you, Kaweco. I see what you're doing here. Or let's see if we can come up with an 80s pop and make it purple. It's got to be 80s pop, right? Like as much as I don't want it to be. But yeah. That's what it would be. But yeah. These are great pins. They're going to do super well.

Zebra Blend Ink Pin Revelation

Myke Hurley: I do have more follow-up. We did the OKB general election recap like a couple of weeks ago. It's the big Japanese poll of stationary users for their favorite pins. And we were at the time, we had no clue what the number two ranked pin of the entire list. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: That was when I was using Google Translate on the screen, right?

Myke Hurley: Yes. So then we figured it out. And it's called the Zebra Blend, which is one of their emulsion ink pins. And a very kind reader went and bought me that pin and sent it to me. And I have it in my hand right here.

Brad Dowdy: Oh. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So this was the number two. Number two overall. It was like Jetstream, which, okay. Yeah. Great. This pin. And then like every other pin that you have heard of, like Zebra Saracic Clip and Uniball Signo DX and just on and on and on. All that good stuff. But this one was just like such a huge outlier for me. The idea around this pin is not as much as the refill, Myke, when I read the marketing of it. So like it is a lot around the refill, right? It's supposed to be this hybrid ballpoint ink like the Jetstream. You know, it writes like a rollerball. I mean like a ballpoint, but it's very dark like a rollerball. So great. But what the blend tries to be is a pin that cuts down on any of the vibration when you're writing. Like the way the grip section is made and the way the whole front end of the pin is weighted differently. Like it has a brass weight inside the pin body near the tip and, you know, it makes the center of gravity lower. And the grip is like very soft and comfortable and it's supposed to absorb the vibrations. So it's like a whole, it's a whole thing around this pin. So yeah, there's the, there's the zebra blend for you. And that's why it's number two, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: I don't fully understand. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I mean, do we understand lots of things?

Brad Dowdy: No, like the, the weighting thing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like I look down, like if I unscrew the barrel and I look down, like I see this brass ring around the inside of the barrel. Like it's, but, but you can't really, if I didn't read that, it's not that noticeable. You know, I don't go, oh boy, this tip pen is really front weighted, you know, or something like that. I don't particularly notice it. It's not, it's not, you know, an outrageous type of feel. It feels pretty normal. Like, which is, it, this is the long way of saying, I really don't get why this pen is number two. It's not that great. Right. Like I wouldn't put it, like, it's probably not top 10 out of that list for me. Um, part of it is because the ink is not that great. I think it's, it's far inferior to the Jetstream ink, even using this pen in the last couple of days. It has what I call, uh, spider webbing or spidering. It's like when you're writing with a ballpoint, you'll stop your letter, lift the pen and then start a new letter. And there'll be a string that connects that sometimes from a ballpoint. Do you know what I'm referring to? Like when I talk about that with a ballpoint ink, it's almost like a little sticky bit. Sure. Yeah. Just say, yeah. And, um,

Brad Dowdy: Yes, I do. I 100% know what you mean.

Myke Hurley: Like if you're making, if you're marketing me as your, this is your super fat, fancy ink, I want it to be a little bit cleaner writing than that. Um, it's just not as clean as like a Jetstream is. So yeah, I would, I would, I would, uh, knock it for that. Um, this wonderful listener also sent me another pen. It's called the Zebra Fordia. F-O-R-T-I-A. Um, it's the Fordia M, which is E-M, which stands for, of course, emulsion. At least they changed the Zemulsion out and just went with a regular emulsion. It's a really nice metal barrel pen. It's a, it's a slim barrel metal pen. And I think it's only like four bucks. I would honestly go for this pen more than the blend, I think. And this pen, actually, when I look back on the list, it was number 42 on the general election results. So it's, um, also seems to be a pretty popular pen. I would, like I said, I would kind of go, I like this, the way this Fordia feels more than the blend. So, but like I said, neither, um, do themselves any favors by having this Zemulsion ink. I think Zebra's gel ink is, is far superior. And the Uniball Jetstream hybrid ink is going to beat the Zebra's emulsion ink every time. So there you have it. That's my vote for the OKB general election. Thanks.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Should be heavily weighted for you, though. You should get like super delegate votes or something. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move at Squarespace because you can create a website for your next idea or project. They give you everything you need to put your next work online. Whether it's getting a unique domain name so people know where to go, right? So you have your website address all set. Take advantage of award-winning, beautiful, customizable templates that you can set exactly how you want. And they have so many options that you can choose from for different types of website. But you can also just build one from scratch. You can just use their tools to do that. But no matter what template you choose, they're super customizable. And the templates are so fantastic because they also have like page structure and stuff. So we used one for our wedding website and it gave us an idea of what we actually need to include on a wedding website, which is really useful. But you don't need to just build wedding websites or events or blogs. You can build anything with Squarespace. Portfolios, online stores, they have a full capability for an online store. Physical digital goods, integrations for services that you need. You can even send out email campaigns to Squarespace now. They are the all-in-one platform that will let you put your project online. There is nothing to install or patch or upgrade. You don't have to worry about any of this stuff because they have got it covered for you. Squarespace have award-winning 24-7 customer support. So if you need any help, they can help you out. I've been using Squarespace for so many years now. It's the place that I go to build websites. I just don't go anywhere else. I know how to use Squarespace. It's super simple. I don't have to worry about all of the pain points, the things that I don't understand about how you get a website running. You don't have to worry about hosting. Exactly. None of that. I don't want to think about any of that stuff. I just want to do whatever it is I want the website online for. There's a reason for it. I don't want to put a website on the internet so I can run the website. I don't care about that stuff. I just want to be able to produce the work that goes there. And Squarespace enables that for me and for so many other people. You can go to squarespace.com slash penaddict right now and sign up for a free trial. No credit card needed. Then when you want to sign up for a plan, you can build your entire website. Sign up for a plan to launch it out to the world to see it. Their plans start at just $12 a month. But you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show by using the offer code penaddict. That is squarespace.com penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and all of RelayFM. Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

Myke Hurley: I'm glad you put the Namisu. Are we going to go with Naos? Naos? N-A-O-S?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't know.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. The Namisu Chaos pen. I'm glad you put this in because we were just talking about it on stream yesterday. I hadn't seen it before and someone brought it up and wanted my opinion on it. And I got to say, at first glance, it looks great. It is a very Namisu product, right? You look at this and you go, oh, that's a Namisu, right?

Brad Dowdy: So they're going with Naos. Naos. I just listened to the audio of the video to confirm that because I'd forgotten. Naos.

Myke Hurley: So I wasn't even close. Okay. Cool. Naos. Does it mean? Is there a meaning? Probably, Brad. There's probably like a Greek. Probably. It's probably like the Greek god of swappable pen tips, right? That's what I'm thinking. Sure. Okay. Okay. Because that's what this pen is. So, right? It's a singular barrel with two grip sections. Grip section for the fountain pen style. Grip section for your ballpoint rollerball. Grip, I'm guessing this is Parker style. But a couple of things I wanted to point out. One which I already did.

Brad Dowdy: It's an ancient Greek temple. See?

Myke Hurley: I was close.

Brad Dowdy: You were so close.

Brad Dowdy: And it's also a hieroglyph depiction of a temple or shrine.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Well, this pen body is a wonderland, I guess. Yeah. It's really well done. You know, it's typical Nemisu. This is a Nemisu product. You can see it from a mile away. And I think it's great. The price point is outstanding. I think the bronze pen might be the way to go. Yes. Even though it's the upgraded one. It's the one I would buy. That's pretty great.

Brad Dowdy: It's the one I would buy. It looks the best. Yes.

Myke Hurley: And it's not even that much more of a price bump. Maybe $10, $20, something like that. No, it's a little bit more.

Brad Dowdy: It's a little bit more. Yeah. $42. I see it in pounds to $56 if you're on the early backer thing.

Myke Hurley: So $73 US dollars, which I think is pretty great. So, like, we both like the Ixion when it came out. The Nemisu. The problem they had is they ran into Bach issues, right? It was not Nemisu problems, but they had a fulfillment issue because Bach's got into a production slowdown. And people weren't able to get their nibs. And Nemisu ended up getting them late. And then, like, the QC on them was poor. But in the past couple years, I haven't seen that out of Bach nibs anymore, right? That was the hesitancy in the past about Bach nibs is they went through this real struggle with QC and production. And it seems to be completely solved, as best as I can tell in any Bach nibs that I've received recently. They seem perfectly great. So, yeah. Like, this looks like a good pen. Like, I would be in for it. I haven't backed it yet. If I did, it would be the bronze as well. I don't know if I need it. So I'm thinking about it. But, yeah. The bronze one looks good. So anything you want to add to that?

Brad Dowdy: I think that it looks great. I just got lost in Nemisu's Kickstarter page. Did you know they had a canceled project in July where they were trying to make ebonite pens?

Myke Hurley: No. I don't know how I missed this. I would like to go read the details on this.

Brad Dowdy: So they were trying to make ebonite pens. They ended up, they weren't going to. I've looked at, just looked at now. The funding was canceled because they just weren't going to do it. Because their customers thought it was too expensive. Sure. Because it is expensive. And they have, like. It is. Customizable roll stoppers. I put the link in the notes so you can take a look at it. It's not a great looking pen, really. Okay. I think. It might have been the biggest problem. It's like, it doesn't really spark my interest. But it's funny because, like, I found out about this one immediately. The new one. But I feel like I didn't even know this one existed. And it's just a curiosity. But, anyway. The Naos, whatever. I've forgotten how we're calling it now. I think it's beautiful. Now. I like the removable clip. I like that you can choose whether you want rollable or a fountain pen. And you can just change it out. Right? I think it's really clever.

Brad Dowdy: This would be an instant buy for me if they had kept the hexagonal pattern on the cap.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I guess they're just trying to make it different than their other pen, though. Totally get it. Like, what product do they have, right? Then it's the same.

Brad Dowdy: But I wanted a Y Studio pen made by Nimesu. Sure. Sure. That's what I was hoping for when I initially saw the pictures. But I think it's really beautiful. But I'm not planning on going for this one. But I would have loved the whole thing to be hexagonal. It would have been great.

Myke Hurley: Yep. I'm with you on that. That would have been, like, definitely the Y Studio Nimesu. So, the refill fits the Pilot G2. So, it is the ceramic roller size, which is the G2 size, Montblanc size, so things like that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They're shipping it with a Schmidt.

Myke Hurley: Not the Schmidt that we love. Right. The Schmidt ceramic roller, which is the larger capacity rollerball. And it's not as good of ink as the one we like, the 8127.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. This is a great deal. This is a good-looking pen. I like this company a lot. I think they make really good stuff. British company. Yep. They've already met their funding goal on this one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And they will. The price looks good. So, yeah. I mean, that's my takeaway. It's like they did another good job, it seems like, to me. Mm-hmm. Right. So, very cool.

Myke Hurley: Last couple things I want to get to, then we'll get to some Ask TPA. Okay.

Myke Hurley: I've updated two more lists on the top five pen list on the Pen Attic site. Probably two of the more popular lists. One which never changes, which is the top five micro-gel, micro-tip gel ink pens, which is your sub-five millimeter gel ink pen category. Right. The Uniball Signo DX is the best pen there. And it's been that way for a long time. The Zebra Saracic clip has been number two for a long time. Like, I think those two are the best by a pretty decent margin. The Pilot Juice Up is number three. The Pilot Hitec C is number four. And the Uniball Signo RT1 is number five. But I really think, like, all of my recommendations would stop after the Signo DX and the Saracic clip. Unless you were looking for something really specific that the Pilot Hitec C can offer you. Now, I love the Hitec C. You know that. Everyone listening knows that. It's my number two behind the DX just because of how cool the line is. But I know that it's just, like, a frustrating pen for a lot of people. So, it ranks down the recommendation list a pretty good bit. So, yeah. That's a pretty stable list over the years. There's not much that changes there. My dream scenario, which I put in the notes section, is if Pentel would get rid of the Sleechy lineup completely. Because the barrel is so bad, but they have a good refill going. And moved it into, just killed off the Sleechy. And then expanded on the Energel lineup. And had some nicer, thinner barrels for the smaller tip pens. But not as thin as the Sleechy. Like, it went too far away from the Energel. It needs to be between the Sleechy and the Energel. That pen would be pretty amazing. But I don't know that they're going to do that. So, you know, this is my little sweet spot of the pens that I like. I know it's not for everyone. But this is the type of pen that made me start the Pen Addict way back in the day. You know, trying to find that micro gel and micro tip pen. And I just have a fascination and a passion for these pens. And I love them very much. Anything to say on that before we get to the real fun?

Brad Dowdy: I have nothing to say on the next one. And I have a lot to say. The first one, I have a lot to say on the next one. So, let's just move straight on to the next one.

Myke Hurley: Top five fountain pens under $50. You made a fantastic change here. Okay. I feel like it's right. But I get stuck in the titles. I get stuck in the nomenclature, right? In the details of, okay, I'm saying this is the top five fountain pens under $50 that I recommend.

Myke Hurley: But the readers, based on the feedback that I've gotten over the years, use this as this is the beginner fountain pen category.

Brad Dowdy: Because that is what it actually is.

Myke Hurley: And that is what it is. And for years.

Brad Dowdy: It serves this purpose. This is the purpose. Because under $50, that's the beginning. That's it. That's the beginning of a fountain pen. There isn't anything else.

Myke Hurley: But for years, I made it the top five fountain pens under $50 recommendation. Not considering pure beginners.

Brad Dowdy: There is a difference between this is the best fountain pen you can get for under $50. And this is the best pen you can get under $50 that should be your first fountain pen. That difference is small in wording, but massive in execution because of the filling system. And this is what you outlined, right? Like, whilst both me and you agree, the best fountain pen, the actual best fountain pen you can buy for under $50 is the Twisby Eco. One of the reasons that we think it is the best fountain pen is its filling system. It's great. Under $50, you get a really good piston filler. Right? It's like, you get that. That's what you get. And it's a demonstrator. You can see the ink sloshing around in there. Fantastic. Right? Looks wonderful. And you get a great nib. But for somebody who is starting out in fountain pens, ink is a nightmare. Yeah. Right? You want to start somebody out with cartridges. Preferably that come in the box. Preferably that come in the pen. Right? Lamy put it in there. All you've got to do is push it. And it's ready to go. Right? And if that's your first fountain pen, nobody should start with bottles of ink. Like, you just shouldn't. It's too much. It's too much of a commitment. It's too scary. Mm-hmm. So, yes. Whilst, you know, TWSBI ECO, number one, it needs to move down the list a little bit because of what this list actually represents.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Yep. So, like, I definitely go back and forth on it. But, you know, my email inbox tells me how people are using this list. And they're saying, I want to buy my first fountain pen. And I don't know that the TWSBI ECO is the right answer for that. So, it's now number three on the list. Lamy Safari, number one. Pilot Metropolitan, number two, which I still hesitate about. But it's still, even with the price increase, it's a classic. Like, it feels like what people have an idea of the fountain pen in their head. That's what the Metropolitan feels like, right?

Top Five Fountain Pens Debate

Brad Dowdy: The Safari is more special than the Metropolitan.

Myke Hurley: A hundred percent. But I'm not going to put the Kaweco Sport up there.

Brad Dowdy: No, but the Kaweco Sport is limiting in its own way because it's small.

Myke Hurley: Right. So, what do you put at number two?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, no. I agree that the Metropolitan. Yeah, yeah. Right? I agree with the Metropolitan being number two. I just don't want it to be. But I agree with being number two. Right. Like, you know, it's just like it's not for me. I've said it many times. The Safari is the best. It is better than I prefer over the Metropolitan. It's more special than the Metropolitan. They work differently, but they both work fantastically. And, you know, it pains me to see the TWSBI ECO go to number three because the TWSBI ECO is a better pen than both of these. Like, it is better value, better performing. It's more fun. It's better looking. Like, the TWSBI ECO beats the Limey Safari and the Pilot Metropolitan on every single metric.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Except for the fact that it is not the best pen for a beginner. Yes. It just isn't. And there we enter the age-old issue of these lists. Mm-hmm. Who are the lists for? Who are the lists by? What do the lists mean? Right? Like, it's a nightmare. Because as we've said many times, these are like some – it kind of goes back and forward. Sometimes they are Brad's favorites, and sometimes they are what is the best. And it is that idea of like your favorite movie probably isn't Citizen Kane, but Citizen Kane is considered to be by many the best movie ever made. Right? Right. But like best and your favorite, very different. Like, they're very different things. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So I try to look at it from that perspective as these lists are recommendations. Yep. Which is why I added on these posts my personal use. Like, you won't see the Pilot Metropolitan like probably in my top 10 in this price range, right? I never use that pen. Like, I'll use the Pilot Pereira and Pilot Kakuno a thousand times more than I'll use the Pilot Metropolitan. But then I can go put the TWSBI Eco number one on my personal use, Kaweco Sport number two because I use them all the time, and Safari number three than the two Pilots Pereira and Kakuno. So like that's my favorite list, right? Because that's what I always use. But when you're going to recommend something, like the Platinum Preppy needs to be on that list because of the price point and the quality you get for that price, you know, that should be in that recommendation list for someone to consider. So this one's a tough one. I mean, the answers are pretty clear, but the order in which they present themselves and what I'm trying to accomplish with this list is not always as straightforward as I'd like it to be. So I'm glad you said you're on board with like this change because I've had the TWSBI Eco up there for a couple of years, and like I've gotten enough comments to where people don't want to buy that pen for someone. And I was like, okay, I get it now.

Brad Dowdy: It makes sense, but it's difficult.

Myke Hurley: Yep, yep, yep. So yeah, so this is fun. This is a fun way for me to get this top five list updated. It's going to take me another couple months, but I've done, what, three or four of these now. So yeah, I'm happy with how it's going. I'm going to keep it going. I'm just kind of not necessarily going in order. I'm just kind of mixing and matching which one I want to do, which one feels right. Like I was looking at the $100 to $200 fountain pen range top five list, and that's going to be a big change. Like I don't know what I'm going to do. I need to put some thoughts into that, and that's going to be a little bit of a mess. In a good way. Like I just think it just needs a lot of change. So anyway, if you ever have any thoughts, if anyone, any listener has any thoughts on these top five lists, I'm all ears because feedback is what made me change this one. So it's good.

Transition to Ask TPA Questions

Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's round out the episode with a handful of Ask TPA questions. First one today comes from Myron. This is coming from an email, so it's a longer one. Not so much of a question for you guys, but more of a pen-adjacent question. With the advent of Kickstarter and other crowdsourced funding platforms, have you ever thought about or had any experience backing non-pen campaigns that relate to cottage industries that seem to have developed as a result of these platforms? I'm sure there are plenty, but the ones that I keep coming back to relate to everyday carry items and gaming stuff. Just curious if there are other things other than pens that you guys seem to come back to regularly and how those arenas have grown in recent years. So I would say that one that Myron mentions is the one that I see the most is gaming. And this can either be video games or board games, card games. Those two things have blown through the roof because of Kickstarter, especially physical games, right? So like card and board games. That industry has seen an absolute resurgence because of Kickstarter.

Myke Hurley: And that seems to be the core place for that type of creation, right? Because it's a very expensive upfront cost for the design and production of that platform. And you just don't see websites popping up with all this new game stuff, right? It's on Kickstarter because of the marketing that's built into that, the history of the similar products on there. I always look at bags and backpacks on there and almost never buy them because they're not unique enough. And I don't think they're interesting enough. So those fall a little bit short. For me, I do like the other adjacent items like the dice market on there seem to be pretty good. You know, which is just a random thing that goes along with the games. It just goes along with your thought on the gaming popularity on there. So I've backed some playing card ones. I'm trying to think. I haven't backed too many non-stationary ones though now that I think about it. A couple bags, a couple of games. The one thing I've never backed, which I've never considered backing, is the digital games. Those tend to be really long drawn out. And some of them end up really, really good. But that seems to be more of a black hole of support.

Brad Dowdy: Talk about delay campaigns, video game Kickstarter campaigns. They get serious delays. Yeah. I've backed, I think, two video games that just ended up cancelled after multiple years of development. Because it's just too expensive to make a video game.

Myke Hurley: Have you backed any of the hyped products that didn't deliver? Like any of the, you know, the big products that make the news. Like whatever that cooler was, you know, that did all the things and had like the blender and the stereo.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't think I've ever backed any of those. Like the big ones that didn't go anywhere.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, me neither. Me neither. So I am looking at CW&T's new watch campaign. Saw that yesterday. I mean, you know I love them. And that's just, I mean, that looks like a Brad watch, doesn't it?

Brad Dowdy: I like it a lot. It's actually one of their campaigns that I'm the most interested in, like design-wise. I actually really love the design. It's called Solid State Watch. They've taken this like super rock solid like movement. It's like a digital movement. The Casio, so Casio movement, I think. Yes. And they have just encased it in resin. But what that means is you can't change the time once the time is set. Yeah, you set it to your time zone. I think it is set to your time zone. Okay. Because you can't set it. Right. It's set before they put it in the resin. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? And that this, you know, that they went with this because it's like rock solid and lost for a lot of time. Yeah, so 10 years.

Myke Hurley: I think they plan on, they have like, it has like a 10 year life cycle.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it will die then. Yeah. And I think you can replace the battery on it. But the thing that gets me is the daylight savings time. Yeah. And I love that on their website, they're kind of just like, well, there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe buy two.

Brad Dowdy: And they do a two pack, you know, you can get a discount on a two pack.

Discussing Kickstarter Campaigns

Myke Hurley: I just love them so much. They are so weird in the best way possible. Like, who thinks of this stuff? Well, apparently them too. So I love them.

Brad Dowdy: I like this one. It is of their, it's a great style. Do you know as well, they put a little orange dot over the date. Yeah. Because the date won't work, right? Because you can't change it. I actually really like the way that they have created a thing which is ultimately flawed, but they've turned it into a selling point and then have pushed it. Right? They've pushed it. Yeah. And they thought about it because like the date they have to, they have to hide the date window or the date on it because the date will be wrong after the first non-31 day month or whatever. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: When you like think about what they make, it's just, it's fascinating. It's very clever. Like, can you imagine sitting around the dinner table with them too? And like what comes out of their brains? Like, how does this happen? That's why I love them so much.

Brad Dowdy: I really like it. Design wise, it's good. It fits in my wheelhouse, but like, I don't want to buy two of them and it will annoy me. That I can only wear it for like six months of the year. Yeah. So, it's cool though.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Cool. All right. OSU ATS. What pen in existence, the most gaudy and impractical, would you own if money was no issue?

Myke Hurley: I mean, come on.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know if I want to own the Chaos pen though.

Myke Hurley: The high-end one? Not the regular one we saw. They have the, that's like the six or nine thousand. They have like a $50,000 one, I think.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, I guess it is that thing of just like, well, then I have it.

Brad Dowdy: Right? I don't want it, but like, if the case is then I can just have it, then I guess I would just, I would just have it.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I can't come up with an answer other than that. Any other, any other answer I come up with would be practical. That one is impractical.

Brad Dowdy: I think the problem is the way the question is asked. Because there is only one pen that comes to both of our minds when you phrase the question that way. Right. That like, you can own anything, no matter how gaudy and impractical. So, well, I'm going to the Chaos pen if you're going to phrase it that way. Yeah. You know?

Myke Hurley: Because there's all, there's all the, the Montegra, the wild Montegrappa stuff, you know, with the Samurai and the Lord of the Rings and the Game of Thrones, but those aren't usable. Like, I have never found those to be usable. I've had the chance to hold those. I want to use this pen, right? There has to be some practicality in my usage of it, or otherwise I'm really not interested in. And even if I have carte blanche. Um, so is it some, you know, fancy Montblanc or Caran d'Ache that's like diamond studded and all that? Like, no, that doesn't, that doesn't do anything for me. Like, I want to tell the story of the Chaos pen, right? You know what? There's an inherent story.

Brad Dowdy: I've just found, I haven't seen this one before, they're making a queen pen. Mm-hmm. Like the band Queen, right? Mm-hmm. And it's like a Chaos pen. You know, they haven't even got the price. It's like price on request, but you can have a, you can get, you can get a gold one and you can carry a gold one. There you go. I'd get this one. Yeah. This is what I would get.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I'm still on, I'm, I'm going to go with the Chaos pen, but I'm with you. Like, it has to be something like that. And man, Montagrappa does such a good job. Good job.

Brad Dowdy: Like, they do as good a job as you can do with this type of design, you know? Because it is like complicated, right? Like, so they, I think they do a, they, they do a good job.

Myke Hurley: And it's a commitment too. Like, I mean, they're not making thousands of these. Like they got, um, like, yeah, this is, it's impressive. Mm-hmm. They come out with way more than I could, than I thought they'd be able to. Like per year, right? Styles per year. It's several.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, I didn't even know about that queen one.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. Pulp and pen asks, I believe you mentioned you're doing a hand lettering course. Please, please share. So yeah, I'm taking John Contino's online workshop. Um, I haven't done it in the past couple of weeks. I'm right at the, I'm like through 14 lessons or something like that. Still going through like the beginning stages. So I'm about to hit phase two. When I get all the way through it, I will, um, share the results, but we can put a link in the show notes. Um, I forget the, I think it's just John Contino's hand lettering or custom lettering course. I forget the exact title, but we'll link it and put it in the show notes for you. But Michael Canavino has a silly ass TPA. I'll be the judge of that. If there was a really good ink eraser, would you use it regularly? Or do you like the permanence of pens? That's not silly at all. That's a very good question. What do you think, Myke?

Brad Dowdy: If there was one that worked, I would use it. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: But I'd at least own it for when I needed it. I just don't use, I just don't use erasers as a habit.

Brad Dowdy: Neither do I. But if there was one that existed, I would want one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I agree with that. I would, if it actually worked, I guess I would have it, right? But we're just so, you know, have this just belief that there's no such product. Like it's hard to wrap your head around it, being able to do that. Yeah. But if you could come up with the magic that did it, sure, I would use it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I would just own it in case I ever wanted it, you know?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But in general, I'm not an eraser, even though I like, I buy erasers to play around with. All right. Kruger Lawyer asks, what makes one ink wetter than another ink? Is it the chemicals used or the way they are mixed? Or are the wetter inks simply diluted more? That's a tough question because neither one of us are the chemists in this episode. And I keep threatening to get someone in who is. But yeah, I mean, there's different chemicals used in ink manufacturing. And, you know, the way these inks are made and the specific recipes and formulas that these ink makers use do have different agents that allow the ink to be wetter, drier, things like that. So I don't think it's a simple dilution thing. I think they have just, you know, different chemicals that they know to behave a certain way when mixed a certain way. So, yeah, it's a whole process. But it is mostly purposeful, I would say.

Brad Dowdy: All right. I think that about wraps it up for this episode. All right. If you would like to send in questions for a future episode, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. You can email them to hello at penaddict.com. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com. You can go to knock.co. You can go to spokedesign.com. Twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can go there. Tuesdays, Thursdays, 10 a.m. Eastern.

Myke Hurley: We got new emotes that I got. The new emote is amazing. I got half of a pen emote that's been approved. And, like, the front section has not been approved yet because there are four individual emotes. It's ridiculous. It's so good. We had a backup. Yeah. Young Khan is amazing. He does awesome work. I'll put a link in the show notes. It came out so good. It came out so good. It's ridiculous.

Brad Dowdy: So people that want to see it, there'll be a link in the show notes if you want to see the emote. Oh, man. Is it based on the Demonstrator Pro Gear?

Myke Hurley: Yep. Sailor Pro Gear. Orange, translucent Sailor Pro Gear. It's killer. I don't know what else to say.

Brad Dowdy: I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. You can find me online. I'm iMike. I-M-Y-K-E. You can find more about this show and more at Relay.fm slash shows. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much to Squarespace for their support. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. tittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittittit