The Pen Addict 415/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	415
Title:	Blender's Choice
Release Date:	June 17th, 2020
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 415
Audio File:	Audio Episode 415
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 415
Length:	5656 min <br />0.933 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 415. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Brad Dowdy, you played yourself some. You went and jinxed it, didn't you? You had to do it, didn't you? You had to jinx it, and now look where we are.

Brad Dowdy: Well, Myke Hurley, it was a very acumen statement you put in our show doc this morning after I put in a note that I wanted to talk about for our lovely, completely smooth, running, ahead of schedule Kickstarter campaign with the Retro 51 pens, Myke. And I opened up the show doc after I wrote the notes yesterday. I opened up this morning to see what Myke has added, and right there, on my first topic, where I'm frustrating, expressing my frustration, Myke says, congratulations, you played yourself. And you couldn't even be more accurate. I seriously, I giggled when I saw that. I was like, son of a... All right, so, you know the part where I said the pens were done, and I've paid for them, and they were shipping to me? All of that happened last week. They showed up Friday night at my house. And I was like, what is it, 888 pens? I don't know if I ordered 900 or what, but 888 Retro 51s show up. Boom. We're going to be ready, just like I talked last week, you know, getting ready to ship them in July, you know, and kind of get this project out and get ahead of things. So, I opened up one of the boxes, and one of the glaring things you see on the exterior, normally, of a Retro 51 pen is the little sticker where it says what number the pen is, like number 188, right? That sticker. So, I open up the box on the number side and just see a sea of black. Like, there's no number stickers on any of these pens. I kind of knew what that meant. And so, I emailed Retro 51 and sent them a picture. I was like, hey, I think this is a problem, and there's no numbering. And they got back to me Monday afternoon after investigating it, and they did not list on the order to get these numbered, and it was a mistake on their part that they admitted to. Like, they fessed up to, like, yeah, we didn't pass that information on correctly. So, I have nine separate UPS return labels in my email right now that I have to print off, ship these pens back to Retro 51, all of them. Because what can happen, like, this is going to be fixed fine. Like, everything is going to be fine in the end, but we're more just delayed. Right. The piece on the pen where the numbering goes is a separate piece. So, they can manufacture all those numbers on there, but they have to manually replace every ring on every pen.

Myke Hurley: This is not, like, as bad as it could have possibly been. Luckily, the thing that needs to be fixed is a part that can be independently manufactured. Like, if there was a problem in the pen body, for example, way worse problem, because then you just start again.

Brad Dowdy: Which I didn't even look at that. I didn't open one, so I don't even know what they look like, but I'll get them to confirm them, because they're going to have to open them all up, right?

Brad Dowdy: So, I didn't get to confirm the pen body, because I didn't want to open it up, because I felt that there was a problem, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they will open them up, so I'll get Richard to confirm them, because they're going to replace them.

Kickstarter Campaign Update

Brad Dowdy: At their office in Texas, it's going to take us a few weeks to get the rings manufactured, and then they'll get them shipped over, and then they will replace them all. So, this will probably be like a six-week process or so, maybe something like that.

Myke Hurley: If all the pens were being sent overseas to be changed and then sent back, that would take way longer, wouldn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, that would freak me out a little bit more. This does not. This is more of just a blip, even though it sucks. But now we're probably looking at August earliest to ship, probably September, which was our original kind of time frame.

Myke Hurley: So, all that time that we were happy that we'd made up, well, lost it. Lost it all.

Brad Dowdy: No good deed goes unpunished, Myke. No good deed goes unpunished. So, yeah, that's the latest. It was disheartening. Like, you want to, you know, see, like, Bugs Bunny's heart, like, pound out of his chest and then drop to the floor, like, cartoon feeling when I opened that box. Like, that's what it was like. I was like, oh, no. It was like, it was the dreaded feeling, like something was wrong, and it was. So, yeah, it'll get fixed. Easy fix. A lot of work on their part, and I got to get these. I got to figure out how to get these pins back and then get them picked up here soon. So, I'll get them back this week, and then we'll be back on more Kickstarter updates later when I can tell you I've received them again. So, just hold that thought, and we'll be back to it later. I got a link in my email from a good friend of the show, Andy Kuhn, about a nib that he said, hey, I think this might be an interesting dimension on the podcast, and I want to get your thoughts on it. So, I sent you a link. I put a link in the show notes, and we'll share it with the chat, and I'm sure a lot of people in the chat have seen it. It's been making the rounds, like in the Panatic Slack and things like that. Do you understand what's happening with the solid rose gold nib I'm seeing here from Santini Italia?

Myke Hurley: I can't understand how this is possible.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, let me read the description.

Brad Dowdy: Here we present our new solid rose gold nib, 18 karat. The nib is completely produced by an 18 karat rose gold stripe. I don't know what that means. To create this nib, we used an alloy that kept the 750 thousandths of pure gold, but adding for the rest of the alloy, only copper. So, let me kind of...

Myke Hurley: That didn't help at all. ...talk about what they're doing here.

Brad Dowdy: So, they've taken a traditional gold, you know, yellow gold, and basically added copper to it to make rose gold instead of making a gold nib with rose gold plating. Right? So, there's no plating on the nib. The actual metal is a mixture of gold and copper.

Brad Dowdy: I'm not a scientist, but this breaks my brain. I don't know. Like, I guess they're convinced that this isn't going to be a problem, and maybe it's not going to be a problem, and maybe that little of copper to make the tint of the color is going to be fine. But copper changes very rapidly in relation to gold. Like, you'll get some, you know, gold might have to be polished every now and then, but copper is an aggressively changing material. I don't know what the proper scientific term is for that, but, like, the minute you pick up a copper pen, for example, you can tell where you've picked it up because that material changes. It's affected by external forces way more than gold is. I'm going to let somebody else go first on this one. You know, this is one of those where I really like the idea. Hey, this is a great idea. Is it going to work? I'm not going to go first. Right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's like you've taken one metal that... I don't...

Brad Dowdy: Let's call it stable versus unstable. I don't know if those are the right terms.

Myke Hurley: An unstable metal, which is copper, right? Where, like, things change, right? Like, you know, it patinas. Like, the color changes. Like, it's... It's a feature. Yeah, it is. But, like, it's a thing that happens to it. And then you've mixed it with a soft metal in gold. And so I just... I wouldn't want to be the one to put the money down. Right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, I'm willing to go first a lot of times, right? Uh-huh. And I'll take the risk for, you know, experimentation's sake and say, hey, is this a thing? Is this not a thing? And this doesn't feel like the one that I want to go first on.

Rose Gold Nib Discussion

Brad Dowdy: And it'll probably be... I'll need, like, a year to see someone else using this to see how does it work. Is there some kind of copper creep in this nib that is unexpected? And, like, I'm sure they've tested this out, I would think. And it's very... It's going to be very interesting to watch, right? Mm-hmm. I think this is a unique thing. I think it would have existed by now if it was a viable solution. Maybe that's a little short-sighted by me. Well, I don't know about that. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting. And I'm certainly interested. But, like I said, I'm not going first on this one. And I will be happy to try one out. And I'll be happy to look at one. And I would be happy to hear feedback from anyone who picks one up. So definitely let me know if you're going to take the chance on this nib. Because if it works, it could be a pretty unique feature just to have that different tint. They're doing it for the color, right? Not for any... They're not doing it for any other reason other than appearance, right? They're not saying, hey, this is a better performing nib. They're doing it because, hey, we want a rose gold color nib without plating.

Myke Hurley: And if it works, you get to be the company that does that. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: So let's hope that it works. Like, I'm not hoping that it doesn't work. I'm hoping that it does work. But I have questions. I don't have questions about the Sailor 1911 Wicked Witch of the West, Myke. Do you have questions about this, Pen? Because I said let's play the guessing game. And I've already, like, played my hand pretty aggressively.

Myke Hurley: No. Tell me. Tell me your thoughts.

Brad Dowdy: My thoughts of my thoughts or my thoughts of your thoughts?

Brad Dowdy: Tell me your... Just tell me your thoughts. Tell me what you think of them. I think it's fantastic. Okay. I think it's fantastic. It's one of the most perfectly built editions that they've made. So this is the North America Limited Edition, North American Exclusive Release. I forget that... I interchange Limited Edition, Special Edition, Exclusive. I think those are all just kind of words that you can use during for all these situations. But it's a North American release. Like, they've done the Lighthouse in the past and they've done other... Is this like the 4AM? Fresca 4AM. Exactly. Same... Along those lines. It comes in the 1911 Large and 1911 Standard. It's absolutely beautiful. I would buy it if I hadn't just bought a bunch of other pens. But I do have one issue with this. But I want to hear your thoughts on this before I relay my problem.

Myke Hurley: I've ordered the Large. I think it's stunning. Like, I... Yes. This is a beautiful pen. It is... We haven't really described it in case you can't see it. But I'll put the links in the show notes to both the Large and the Standard. It's 1911 style. It's a deep purple resin, as it's described. And it's got all of the black ion furniture that we love. So, clip, band, nib, all of that is in the black ion plated. Which has been... What's the black 1911 that this first appeared in?

Brad Dowdy: Or is most popular in? There's two. There's the Imperial Black and the Black Luster. That's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, Black Luster. So, what's funny... So, I'll tell you my problem in a second. But I did not order it. But what's funny is, if there was a third choice, and the third choice said King of Pen, I would have already ordered it. Which is just...

Myke Hurley: I had that thought, too. If there was a King of Pen, I don't know if I would have been able to resist.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, which goes against everything I just said about not wanting to spend the money. I would have ordered the King of Pen immediately.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Here's the problem.

Myke Hurley: That was why I went with the standard, because I also actually don't have... Sorry, a lot... I don't have a large 1911. Okay. I think you're going to love it. I have two slims and a King of Pen, so...

King of Pen Rant

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think you're going to love it. So, that's good on you. So, here's my problem. The biggest complaint about the 4AM was they didn't black ionize the nib to match the rest of the external hardware, and they claimed it was a cost issue. This is the standard retail price that these limited editions always have with no added cost, and they ionized plated the nib. So, that's a little bit going against earlier statements that they have on why the 4AM didn't get the nib, and why does this one get the nib?

Myke Hurley: Well, what if... What if the body is cheaper? The material?

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to go no. It's... Let's be clear about Sailor real quick. Okay. And this is my King of Pen rant. Their barrels are plastic. They are simplistic. Right? Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want to be crystal clear that the King of Pen is the most outrageously priced pen that I just happen to love, and it is... If you want value for your money, you're basically getting like a huge honking nib surrounded by clear plastic. Right? I just want to be perfectly clear. I love my Sailor pens. It's my favorite pen, but let's not pretend that these barrels are something special when they're not. I just want to be very clear. They just happen to look good, and the colors are fantastic, and the entire package is great. They make a beautiful pen overall, but there's no difference in these barrels. If anything, this barrel looks nicer than the 4AM. So, I don't buy what happened with the 4AM being a cost issue when they come out with this one at just at the exact price. There's no price increase on this one, which is good. I'm glad. This looks better.

Myke Hurley: What ended up happening is the 4AM didn't sell the way that they wanted it to, and they thought, well, maybe if we take a little bit more of a loss on the next one, we'll put the plane on it, right? Like, there is a reason. I agree with what you're saying, that like, they said one thing and they do another. But cost also includes margin and all that kind of stuff. I know. I know. It's just me being pedantic. Nevertheless, I'm pleased that they did it because it really seals the deal for me with this pen. Yeah. It's called the Large Wicked Witch of the West, which is a great name for a pen. And also, like, just the coloring of it. It's got, like, a kind of Wicked Witch vibe to it. So, it's a very cool pen.

Brad Dowdy: It's a very cool pen. This one will sell out. If you're interested in this pen, like, this is probably one you're just going to have to go for.

Myke Hurley: Do you know when it becomes available? Because it's pre-order now, I think.

Brad Dowdy: No. I'd have to look on, if you look on Sailor's North America Instagram account, they usually put dates, but I don't have that link in the show notes. But we can find it pretty quick. Someone will find it. While I talk about this next item, which is sort of related, this one caught me off guard, Myke. There's an ink now, a limited edition ink that Sailor released called Sailor's Sailor Fountain Pen Ink.

Myke Hurley: I'm very confused about this. So, I want to say it slowly so people in the back can get it. Sailor's Sailor Fountain Pen Ink.

Myke Hurley: So, Sailor made a Sailor ink.

Brad Dowdy: I'm so happy to be discussing this.

Myke Hurley: And the label looks fake, which is hilarious to me. It looks terrible. Right? It looks like I made it. It's very confusing. Sailor's Sailor.

Brad Dowdy: So, this ink is a limited edition made to represent the 15th anniversary of essentially Sailor's ink mixing bar. Right? The custom inks blended by famed Sailor ink blender Osamu Ishimaru. Right? So, this is a, they've been doing this type of ink mixing for 15 years and wanted to celebrate it with an ink. And I, the Sailor's Sailor, I can't help but laugh when I say it. It's a, it's a 50 milliliter bottle. It's a bright blue ink. It's $39. It's very expensive. The interesting part, I was going to say funny part. It's not funny. The interesting part is this was supposed to be a Japan only limited edition. And I don't know if they overproduced or were just being nice. You know, it's, it's the marketing. Now we're going to release it to the rest of the world. Right? So, it was not intended to be something that our market could access overseas. But now it is. And, you know, it's whatever. I'm wondering how close this is to Sailor Sky High. So, I'm anxious. I'm not going to buy this ink. Um, you know, I, just like the, the pen. The, I, I really want the pen. I really want the ink. I, I've, I've, I've bought enough here recently, but I can't wait for people to see it and do comparisons with Sailor Sky High. It looks like it's probably a little bit darker than Sailor Sky High, but that's one of my favorite inks. I inked up my Fujiyama blue with Sailor Sky High. That's how much I love that ink. So, I think this looks like it's probably a little bit darker. Um, maybe it's like Mont Blanc Tolstoy, which is one of the most popular limited edition inks created probably in the last decade. So, I'd like to see someone, uh, compare those two and just kind of see, yeah, the Bung Box Sapphire is another one. So, I kind of want to see where this one falls because, I don't know, is, is this made to represent the most popular ink that the Sailor's Ink Blender has ever made? Like, is this the, is this the blender's choice, Myke?

Myke Hurley: This is very weird. It's very weird.

Brad Dowdy: I will agree with you.

Myke Hurley: The, the tag team of these two products is almost mind-bending to me.

Witch of the West Ink Plans

Brad Dowdy: So, let, let me ask you, let's rewind to the Witch of the West. You've ordered it. Do you, do you already have ink plans for that? Because you can, you can put some awesome inks in that, in that pen and make it just look awesome. Are you just going to go with like straight purple?

Myke Hurley: I don't know. See, I would also like a green in there because like the Wicked Witch of the West, like purple and green and black, like maybe put like a really vibrant color. I don't know. I don't have a, a plan for that yet. Yeah. But green would be, would be pretty cool, right? Bright, yeah. Bright green. And I have two bright greens that I really like. The Akamon 28, I think it is. And the, yes. The key, the key lime pie. Sweet. Yep. Um, I don't know. Monteverde. Yeah. The Monteverde key lime. Uh, so they're both two really good greens that would look, would look pretty great in that one, I think. So. Yeah. I think, I think that might be the way to go. It's not my Halloween pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. This is a great pen. It's good. It's, I, I'm going to pass. It's going to be hard for me to take a pass on it and, you know, maybe down the line for some reason, this is like, I passed on the Tangerine, right? And then later on at a pen show, like I decided I couldn't pass it up anymore. And, you know, I was more able to afford it at the time and, and I picked it up. It doesn't mean I'll never own this pen, but I'm not going to pre-order or, or, you know, get in line for it right now. As much as I think it might be the, it's the best looking, all of their releases are like eight out of 10, nine out of 10. I think this is probably like a 10 out of 10 for me personally. And I'm, I'm, and I'm good. I'm going to pass. It's just, I can't buy everything.

Pen Chalet Promotion

Myke Hurley: But if you do want to buy everything, Myke, if you do want to buy everything, good place to go for that best place to go for that pen chalet. This is actually where I bought my, uh, my 1911 this morning because pen chalet sell authentic, amazing roller balls, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more. They have your favorite brands like sailor, but also Pelican Monteverde, Lamy, Pilot, Kaweco. They do, uh, not just pens though. So it's not just pens and roller balls and mechanical pencils. It's also everything you need for them. Carrying cases and inks, refills, uh, so you can get ink cartridges as well as bottles. They will fountain pen converters so you can fill your pen nice and easy. And they just do all the great accessories that you're looking for as well. There's always something new going on at pen chalet. They're adding new products all the time and they do great sales all the time as well. Uh, they do free shipping and all those over $50 in the U S and they have great shipping rates and it's, I've always found it to be really fast, reliable shipping. So I've ordered from pen chalet many times. So I have absolutely no problem in doing that again today because pen chalet also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their products. If you go to pen chalet.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website, you can use the password pen addict to get this week's special offer and to get the code you need to save 10% at pen chalet. So Brad, what do we have on offer this time?

Brad Dowdy: The scroll bar just keeps going. I'm not sure I've made it to the bottom yet, but there's all, there's all kinds of things. There's, there's the Estherbrook Phaeton. There's a bunch of Monteverdes. Um, there's a bunch of Conklins, a bunch of stipulas, and then you screw a bunch of piniters and you just keep going. And then Montegrappa mini copper mule fountain pen. I didn't know. Number one, I like this shape of the Montegrappa copper pens, the mule and the mule has been around for a while, like five, six years. I didn't know there was a mini version of this to be perfectly honest. I didn't know this pen existed and the price point it is at is, you know, it's laughable like as, as always with, with Ron's deals. I, I don't need to buy any pens, but I find it interesting. The other one I find interesting, which you might be surprised is there's a Pelican K805 ocean swirl ballpoint pen. I've always threatened to buy one of Pelican's ballpoint pens because let's be honest, like the sailor king of pen, any ballpoint pen is going to be overpriced. You're paying for like the barrel and the hardware and stuff. And you're writing with a ballpoint, but this has that ocean swirl material of the 805. I already have the fountain pen. Maybe this is the one, like I didn't know this existed. Desk set, baby. Right. So then we're going desk set for that. And you just keep going. I still haven't made it to the end. Like there's the platinum carnelian still in there. This purple Parker dual fold. I don't know. There's a lot. So yeah, just keep scrolling. And then there's even, I finally reached the button that said view more specials, which I'm just going to leave for someone else because that's a lot of stuff already. Really good stuff from Ron this week. Yep.

Myke Hurley: Penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the password pen addict to get your eyes and hands on these wonderful offers. Our thanks to Penchalet for their continued support of the pen addict and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: Michael, I reviewed a product on Monday.

Myke Hurley: Oh boy, did you? This is one of the rare, scathing dowdy reviews. I wouldn't say that you were unfairly harsh because from what I read, I believe you, but harsh you were.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, so this is for the Blackwing One Step Long Point Sharpener review. This is the new fancy Blackwing Sharpener. Beautiful looking, really well designed. You know, this could go in your Dieter Rams, Johnny Ive cannon. I love it.

Myke Hurley: I love the design because it's like evokes the shape of the pencil. Like I really like it. Like I think it's beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: It's killer. It's absolutely killer design. And this launched earlier this year and someone had one at the Baltimore Pen Show and they're like, here, test it out. And I did. And it didn't really kind of jive with me at the time. I was like, yeah, it's okay. And I'll wait. You know, I wasn't going to make any decisions off of that. I'll wait till I get my own. So I finally got my hands on one. And it's just really bad. And I don't often just like lean into like really bad products. Like they're usually not worth your time reviewing. Like if there's a pen that's just really terrible, I'm not going to spend all my time just crushing it in the review. But there's certain products that fall into a different category in that, you know, the brand is so popular and so well known for making really good products that this one's more of an outlier. And I think it's more of an interesting conversation. So I will spend some time saying like, this really is, it's bad. Like it's legitimately bad. But the problem is, I wonder, as I was writing this review, I wondered, you go look on Black Wing site, and there's like 93 reviews, ranks at five star, no one star reviews. I'm like, what am I missing? Like, how is my experience not at least moderate, right? I'm not expecting perfection. How is my review not just moderate of this product when everyone else seems to be having a great experience with it? So I started looking through my comments. I actually went through, there's no one or two star reviews on there on Black Wing sites. I was like, that is interesting. Then I started getting comments on my post. And I'm looking in my comments. And one of my comments says, I have one inspired by the look. And I also had the same issues. Still looks awesome. But I'm waiting for your review first next time. So what happens when you sharpen with this pen, it leaves a ragged.

Brad Dowdy: The exposed cedar is ragged. It's not smooth. And I have a comparison shot. And you know, all things being equal, it's not like it's been run over by a car ragged. But when you compare it to literally every other sharpener I used in the review or didn't use in the review, other sharpeners I've just used, period, it sharpened more poorly than any of those. And this is a $20 pencil sharpener, right? It's not like a $5 pencil sharpener where I can say, oh, this is junk and toss it aside. This is a $20 pencil sharpener. I expected more. So the next review I get, or the next comment I get on the post is, says, I'm sitting here looking back and forth between your photos and my freshly sharpened pencil in front of me. I can't even connect the two. I have the one step too, but it's as if we're using two different sharpeners. You're not the first I've heard from who had a hard time with it, but our sharpening jobs look completely different. But I know you can only review what you've got in front of you. It's odd. And the very next review is, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I've had this since it first came out and I've been very pleased with its looks and performance. It's a great sharpener and people who see it always comment on how cool it is.

Blackwing Sharpener Review Update

Brad Dowdy: So what do you do when you have a product that performs like this and there's just all this huge range? Like, what's your first thought? Oh, well, you know, if my experience is different, there's maybe something up in manufacturing. Lo and behold, Michael, I got an email from Blackwing after this review.

Brad Dowdy: Shocker of all shockers.

Brad Dowdy: I was like, oh, here we go. There's a quality control problem with a batch of these. And apparently I have one of them. So they're going to send me another one.

Brad Dowdy: What I find interesting is... How do I not know this beforehand kind of thing? I don't know. Like, if they know, should it be corrected already? I don't know. Like, that's... I don't know Blackwing's business. You know, things happen. Like, I've had QC issues on plenty of products. Like, sometimes things get out that are bad. But this seems to be like a decent amount of bad ones are out. And this is a recent acquisition. This isn't one I've had since February. So they're going to send me another one and I will test it. And if it's... I'm expecting that it's going to behave differently. Because so many people had a great experience with this sharpener. I find it odd that I didn't. So that's kind of where we're at with this sharpener. I want it to be well. Like, I'm not trying to... Like, I don't take my review frustrations out on companies. I state what I believe is my honest opinion of my experience. Right? Yeah. So, you know, this one's going to be interesting because I'm getting another one after Blackwing reached out and they've admitted to a QC problem with a certain batch. And apparently, I got one. It's pretty telling when people don't have the experience... Are able to share their comparisons with me and say how different it is to what I got out of this sharpener. So, good stuff.

Brad Dowdy: So there will be an update eventually to this review. I'm interested to see how...

Myke Hurley: You know, because it doesn't really seem like there's any redeeming feature of it at the moment. So, I'm keen to see if that completely changes.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Like, the more I put it up against every other sharpener I own, the more I hated it. Like, it was... I will literally never use this sharpener again because there is not one sharpener I own that it is better than. Right?

Myke Hurley: Right.

Brad Dowdy: And it's not cheap. This is a premium sharpener. Like, and I compared it to other premium sharpeners.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And people who want a premium sharpener, you need to get on Team Pollux. It is the king of pen of sharpeners because it is way more expensive than it looks like it should be. But it works exceptionally well. So, get on Team Pollux if you want a really, really great sharpener. So, until we see if this one's... My next version of this one is correct.

Myke Hurley: So, here's something that is incredibly timely. Incredibly.

Brad Dowdy: Incredibly timely.

Myke Hurley: Yep. The Franklin Kristoff online pen show is incredibly timely because as we are recording this, it literally is 11 a.m. Eastern Time, which is when the first sale opens.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So, all of our live listeners are no longer listening because they've gone to play in Franklin Kristoff's online pen show. And the reason I'm bringing this up is not because I love Franklin Kristoff, which I do. And I love all of their custom models, which I do. And, you know, I'm a customer of theirs for the pen addict, which I am. Like, I love all the things. But the reason I'm bringing this up is because it's a cool and different way for these vendors that we all support at pen shows when we're not supporting them online to have their online version of pen show. And the idea I had yesterday when it was mentioned to me is I only knew about this because I was on their email list, which I didn't even realize I'd gotten the email at the time. I was streaming and people started talking about it. I was like, hey, did you get the thing about the show tomorrow? I was like, no, but I hadn't checked my email yet. So I wanted to talk a little bit about retailers and email. So this is this is a weird topic because email is kind of a battleground for your attention. Right. And there's sometimes you just don't want to, you know, be bothered with all of the retailers, you know, promotion emails and sales emails and new stock emails. I just want to say maybe consider signing up for some of them, not all of them. You'll get inundated. And I'm not trying to, like, over promote consumerism.

Brad Dowdy: But on this podcast, I just said I wasn't buying the purple sailor. Myke, give me a break. But yes, it's there is a fine line between too much, too much. Maybe it's not a fine line. It's probably like a big fat Sharpie marker line. And there's a challenge, you know, for all of us and buying too many things and trying to manage our expectations and manage our budgets. But it is very helpful in times where companies like Franklin Kristoff and Edison Pen and Carolina Pen Company and not the big retailers that can't get out to pen shows and, you know, make their month by going to a pen show. You can sign up to their newsletters and kind of see what they're doing. And that's helpful to them, you know, having those extra eyeballs on their newsletters. And, you know, maybe you'll see something down the line or maybe you see something today that you put on your wish list for a year from now when you can afford it or for a special occasion. And I just wanted to say, like, as someone who tries to manage their inbox very carefully, that I'm glad to sign up for several retailers' emails just to kind of support their endeavors, even if I'm not buying something from every day. So that's just one of those little topics that kind of we don't ever have a reason to talk about. But getting this online pen show email made me think, oh, cool, even though I'm not going to go buy anything, it was like, it's cool to see companies doing this. And you should sign up to some of your favorite pen retailers' email list if you want to see what they're doing and see what they're up to and help support them.

Myke Hurley: I think that is a very nice idea.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's figure out all the not nice ideas I have in this section of Ask TPA. Myke, I'm done being nice today. I'm going to take these Ask TPA questions like that Blackwing one-step sharpener review.

Myke Hurley: All right. Are you sure? It's go time. Okay. This is going to be Big Boss Browdy. Browdy. Browdy. That's what we'll call you now. Browdy. All right. This comes from Outside Rose. Any suggestions for an A5-ish sized bind or a notebook that would allow me to insert and rearrange pages? I'm making a survival guide for my next duty assignment and want to be able to create a small collection of important information I can keep in a bag and modify over time. I would just like to say at this point that Relay FM LLC and Pen Addict LLC is not responsible for any recommendation when it comes to creating a quote-unquote survival guide for a duty assignment. Because that sounds very scary. Yeah. So, if this doesn't work out or like a page falls out and you get yourself in trouble, don't come anduck in to Brad's door.

Brad Dowdy: I love this question so much. Like, there's several very easy answers. But the answer I want to give, I don't think exists. So, let me give the easy answers and then I'll tell you what I want for this answer. So, the easy answers are any disk-based system, right? Insert and rearrange pages. Right. Levenger, Circa, Staples, Arc. I use the William Hanna. That one, you know, is, you know, the most expensive of the bunch. There's other systems where you can have any kind of disk-bound system. And then if you find out that that disk-bound system works for you, you can eventually invest in a punch that will allow you to use whatever your favorite paper is. You know, like an A5 size Claire Fontaine paper you can use and punch it into your own disk-bound system. So, those are the ones I would look at. I prefer the disk-bound over the binder ring systems. Like, Kikuyo has a binder ring system. You know, a bunch of the Japanese brands have binder ring systems. And then you have things like FileFax where you have binder ring systems. Those tend to break down, especially if we're putting survival guide, considering that in the answer. Binder rings don't really make my survival guide list, right? They're just going to break down and become an annoyance. So, what I would like for this answer is disk-bound right-in-the-rain paper. And I don't know if that's a possibility. Because if we're doing a survival guide and we have a duty assignment, I feel like this is going to be a very heavily used product. Maybe indoors, maybe outdoors as well. And I would like to have that paper that's going to handle this work a little bit better than what you would get from, you know, Levenger, Staples, or William Hanna. So, that's something I'd look into. I don't know if Right in the Rain sells loose sheets. But they have so many models and options of their product. I would be surprised if you could get something that you could modify into one of those brands. But disk-bound systems, you can get plenty of them in A5 size. And if you like it, you can eventually get into your own paper. And I would love to see a Right in the Rain version.

Myke Hurley: Could you not just... I mean, if you wanted to, you could take the time in buying the paper and cutting it out of a book and hole-punching it yourself, right? Like, even the Right in the Rain paper.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, absolutely. Because I'm wondering if they make pads. They've lost me on how many different variants they make now, which is good. Like, they're out there, which makes me think there's an option for that. And if you really got serious, you could end up probably just ordering, like, Yupo paper, like, sheets, you know, and really... Oh, they do paper. That would take a lot of work.

Myke Hurley: They sell paper now. They do what they call all-weather printer paper. That will get you what you're looking for. They do it in all kinds of sizes, too.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, they've really expanded over the last two or three years, their paper lineup. So, yeah, that's what I would do if you're concerned about it having to be weatherproof. You're limited to ballpoint pens and pencils at that point, but I would still be fine with that.

Myke Hurley: Next question comes from Nick. Nick wants to know, for me, I was wondering, Myke, what your pen situation will be at Mega Office. Will you have a pen block for home and some for work, or will you carry them every time? So, one, I mean, I pay rent on an office, not that I've been there in three months, but I have yet to work this one out. I feel like I would just have all of my favorite pens at the office, but Adina says that's a risk in case they get stolen. I have said, this is a conversation we've had many times, if somebody broke into our office, they would not take the pens, is my opinion. Like, they would take the computers and other technology things we have lying around. Equipment. Equipment. I can't imagine anybody would steal the pens. And it is a case where, like, if somebody broke into our studio, for me, the worst thing that they could take would be the pens. See, that's where it gets more tricky. Look, is everything else covered by insurance, right? And I don't have an emotional attachment to. Like, if somebody stole my laptop, I'd be upset, but I'd get a new one in insurance and I'd be fine. But even if I could insure the pens, I can't replace some of them. Right. So, this is the problem. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do. What I know I don't want to do is carry pens backwards and forwards every day. And then it's a case of working out which are allowed to be there. I really, like, this is something that is going to take me a long time to work out. I mean, honestly, like, I have a lot of stuff still to work out with the studio anyway. Like, in the alternate timeline, I would be there right now recording this show and I would have worked it all out because I would have been working from it for a couple of months. But I have never worked a day in the studio. So, it's still too soon for me, even though I signed a rental contract in February.

Myke Hurley: Crazy.

Brad Dowdy: I'll chime in. I'm 100% bringing them back and forth every day. Like, I'm tailor-made to do that. I'm a backpack bag guy. I'm throwing my bag, throwing them in a case, bringing them back and forth.

Myke Hurley: This is the question of, like, I don't know if I'm going to do a bag backwards and forwards every day. Like, I'm actually considering not doing that and just having everything that I need where it needs to be. Right? So, like, all of the computer stuff will just stay in the office and I'll have some redundant machine at home in case I need to do anything. But the plan is to not do any work at home anymore. Right. So, I don't know. And then it's like, okay, but I like to have all of my pens with me. Like, I wouldn't even be able to choose which three to take. And so, yeah. Basically, it's going to be either... What it's going to end up being with the pen stuff is when it comes to the office is a lot of change. Like, that is going to be something where it really... Like, one of the big changes is do I keep all my pens in one place? Do I take them backwards and forwards? Do I then have to choose which ones I want in advance? Like, that's a pretty big difference in my use case. So, but it will be like many things now that I, you know, won't... I eventually won't be working from home. A lot of stuff I'll do will change. But honestly, who knows? Like, I have no idea. Like, I've got this studio, but I don't know if I'll ever use it the way that I intended to. Like, I don't know. Like, there's too many questions still, unfortunately.

Brad Dowdy: The reason why I love this show is because of how important that question that we just got is. So important. Like, how much we think about that. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: We will come back to it.

Brad Dowdy: It's great.

Myke Hurley: The Inky Side asks, I just received my 2-speed 580 Prussian Blue from Mark Bacchus, who ground me a blade-style nib, which was my first custom grind. Now I have an overwhelming urge to sell off most of my collection and get custom grinds on each pen that remains. Good, great, or perfect idea? Yeah.

Custom Pen Grinds Discussion

Brad Dowdy: So this brings up a bigger topic that you will hear me discuss next week on the Focus Podcast, which I recorded yesterday with David Sparks and Myke Schmitz, about being done. Like, kind of finding the perfect pen and like, well, this is it, and I don't really need anything else. And we talked about that with Sparky a little bit, to where he kind of found a pen that has kind of turned him off from purchasing more pens, because he doesn't think it'll be better.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, see, this is, David's in that, he's all been in that bucket, right? Yes. And I've said this to him many times, it's just a waiting period, like, his brain doesn't know that yet.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so he's gone through this a couple of times already, right? So we know, we know, David, and what his path has been.

Myke Hurley: Every pen I buy is the last pen I'm ever going to buy.

Brad Dowdy: Not me, I'm willing to say it's not. But I love the idea that the inky side is presenting. Do I take the pens that I don't use, sell them? Yes. And then the ones that I keep, do I customize them in the most customizable way possible for me? Yes. And then stick with that? Yes. Like, I think this is a good idea. Like, I could never do it myself. I will never do it myself. But I think for many people, this is absolutely, if you found something that works really, really well, and it's to the point where you don't use other things because of it, it's time to get rid of those other things.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, and I won't follow that advice. That's advice for you, not for me.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I feel like if you have stuff that you would be willing to part with to help you do something that you're more interested in, do it. But at the same time, I wouldn't make a decision like that very quickly in case you ended up regretting it later on.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Handwritten Advocacy Letters

Myke Hurley: Yeah. This question comes from Sarah. Is there a pen addict recommendation or recommended resource for effective handwritten letter writing when writing letters to leaders and officials to advocate for change? Things like best handwriting style, format, length, size, ink color. The goal is to show time when intergenerating it because it's handwritten, but also make sure it's digested and makes an impact. I would like to make a recommendation just straight off the bat. Use blue or black ink.

Myke Hurley: You think? Yeah, don't use a colored ink because I don't think it looks serious.

Brad Dowdy: Then I think maybe blue. Mm-hmm. And the reason I put this question in here is because it's an amazing question. It's something we should all be considering right now and that I have no answer for it, right? Is there a resource that says if you're going to handwrite to, let's say, just say public officials, you know, you're not, you know, writing your aunt and talking about your garden. Like, you want to make an impact and focus on change that you should believe is taking place. Is there a best practice for that? And I don't know. Like, I'm putting this out to the chat. I don't know that I would have gone directly to the answer that you said, but it kind of makes sense. But I would definitely not choose black because I think blue stands out a little bit more. If you're not going to allow color, I won't discount that, right? Like, if I'm dropping orange in my letter to my congressman, that might not be taken seriously. I do get that. But I think I would go with blue at least for some type of impact where black I'm not sure would have as much of an impact even though it'll still be handwritten and make a difference. I mean, let's be clear. Anything you write and produce and send to any public official is awesome. But what's the best? I love this question because I don't know. And hopefully we can get some feedback on this and figure it out. I think, you know, I like, I'm just picturing this in my head. Blue ink, no more than a single page, A4 or A5. You know, no front back, no two page, no multi-page letter. Very direct single sheet.

Myke Hurley: Glenn in the Discord, our friend Glenn from Hong Kong.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Who just sent me like, he just sent me like five postcards that were all awesome. I haven't thanked him yet. So I'll publicly thank him now.

Myke Hurley: But, you know, like Hong Kong, obviously there's a lot of reasons to write to politicians there. Glenn went with the color inks tribute to neon to stand out, which is, so here's my thing. You will definitely stand out. But personally, I would say to do it in a more traditional color so it will be taken seriously. That's how I would, that's my personal view on this. But in the same vein, I would suggest only handwriting if you are confident that your handwriting is very clear and legible. If it isn't, then your letter may be ignored, right? Then you might be better typing something out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, like Myke should type.

Myke Hurley: I should type. I mean, you're making a joke, but that's true though. Like my handwriting is not completely legible by everybody, especially if I'm writing something long. I can make it much more legible, but it's only if I was writing something short, which it probably wouldn't be. So, yeah, I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I love this question. So maybe we can explore it more. We'll see if we get some feedback on this. But I think the size, the length of the letter, I think we could probably all agree on the shorter the better. Like single page, if at all possible. No flipping, no second page. And then just as clear as possible. But then for color and, you know, envelope even, like, you know, I'm racking my brain. I think this is a wonderful question. All right, next one.

Myke Hurley: Next question comes from Mendel. Newbie fountain pen owner here with a question for you. I'm doing longer form writing a handful of pages at a time, and I've noticed the ink that I'm using starts out as a dark or deeper cube, but by the time I've reached the end, it's much lighter and sometimes doesn't flow as well, almost as if the pen starts to dry out a little. Let's take a break for a few minutes. It will start up again darker. In short, is this making any sense? Is this usual and expected? Is there something that I can do to change it? I'm using Lamy Blue Black in a TWSBI Eco, though I've noticed a similar occurrence with the Pilot Metropolitan.

Brad Dowdy: This is a great question. And I had a second email in my inbox this week, which is why I put this one in because I already answered the other one directly because they didn't tag it as TPA, so I emailed them back. That had the exact opposite experience of this and wanted to know, does this make sense? Is this usual to happen? Is there something I can do with it? The longer they write, the more saturated the line got and the more ink flowed. So this just goes to show you that it's very setup dependent, right? Obviously, we all expect consistency. I think what Mendel is experiencing in this question is more common than the other way around. What Mendel's experiencing is the pen sitting, the ink collecting in the feed, which that's the feed's job, the plastic bit behind the nib. The feed is there to hold the ink so it is ready to go onto the page when you are ready to write. So the more the pen sits, the more likely the feed gets oversaturated and the ink could be darker when you start up your writing, even if you pause, right? So the more you write, the lighter it should be, but it shouldn't be drastic, right? You might notice a change in your first few words from the sentence five sentences down the page. That's to be expected. You don't want it to be like outrageously dark light. Then something I'd worry if like something is not seated right, something's not flowing right in the pen, maybe clean it, try it up again. What I wouldn't expect is it to get darker over the time like the other email I got. That seems like more of an outlier where it starts dry and then turns into a darker, more saturated line. But that could just be a flow issue to, you know, maybe once the ink gets flowing and the feed is not managing the ink flow as well. So these are kind of, I won't say common things with fountain pens, but there's definitely a variance in line color that's inherent with fountain pens that you're not going to get with like a gel ink pen. For example, like the gel ink with a ball tip roller is designed to be perfectly consistent all the time. And you notice it when it's not fountain pens. There's a little bit of leeway, both directions. So I think what you're experiencing is normal. Mendel Lamy blue black is notoriously dry ink, right? So when it's saturated, it probably, when you first started to write, it probably looks good, feels good. The more you write with it, there's a little bit less ink flow, which exacerbates the dryness of the ink, which is probably what you're seeing. And I'd have to say that's pretty normal. And it's probably setup dependent. Like I said, you know, this nib with this ink is going to behave this way. If you tried this nib with a different ink, say a diamine, you might have more consistency in it. So it's one of those areas in fountain pens where you have to be okay with a little bit of variance in performance based on nib size, ink, and paper. And this one is somewhat usual.

Ink Shelf Life

Myke Hurley: All right. Next question. Yep. All right. I think this is our last one for today, right? Last one for today. I'm listening to a live stream this morning with Stephen Brown. He took a question. How long is the life of a bottle of ink? His answer is about a year. He expressed some highly sought Parker ink is still okay for many. However, he recommends the obvious to watch for floating mold. I realize that you most likely in 10 years have answered this question many times. I'm not new to ink. However, I'm new to fountain pen dyed ink. I'm certain factors of permanent shimmer machine all work toward a varied response. However, in overall age, what is your experience? I don't know where that a year comes from.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I've never heard that short of a time frame, but I will say this. My best experience on how long an ink is good for is that you'll know it when you see it. That's how long it's going to last for. Or smell it. Right? Yeah. Or smell it. You will know if your ink has gone bad by if there's something growing on the top, if the color has changed, if it's separated within the bottle.

Brad Dowdy: Something as short as a year for a bottle of an ink doesn't make sense to me. So, um, I have bottles that are probably close to 10 years old that are perfectly fine. I keep them in, you know, I keep them in a closet and dark, you know, it's in temperature controlled, right? Temperature and, you know, how you store your inks are going to affect that. You know, I have them in a dark temperature controlled room. That's going to last longer than anything else. But you will know visually if an ink has gone bad. And out of probably the 200 or so bottles that I have right now, I've only ever seen one ink go bad that I had to throw out.

Myke Hurley: I've never had it. It's very... I have ink bottles that I've had for five, six, maybe, you know what, longer. Like my original Fuyugaki, I still have some in that bottle. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I know I've had that for like probably like seven or eight years at this point. I wouldn't say that there's a defined period of time. Like I think there's too many factors at play.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And so what the best advice is kind of what you're saying. You've used that Fuyugaki so much. You know how it behaves. You know how it performs in all nibs. And if you ink it up now and it's different, it's done, right? But that's just, it's just a rare thing. It doesn't happen that often. But it does happen. Like inks can go bad. And there's been, you know, definitely some batches of inks that have gone bad from manufacturers and they'll catch pretty quick. But if you're concerned about buying a fountain pen bottle of ink and not using it up in a year because it's going to go bad, I don't think you can really rely on that. I think it's going to last for years and years.

Myke Hurley: If you would like to send in a question to be answered on a future episode, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA and it will be put into a sheet where we can draw from. Or if you have a question that's longer than a tweet length, you can email them to hello at penaddict.com. If you want to find Brad's work online, he's on Twitter. He's at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. You can go to penaddict.com, knock.co, spokedesign.com. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Look at you, pro.

Myke Hurley: Have you still got stuff in stock? I know you've got to restock.

Brad Dowdy: We do. We do. I'm going to ship more when we get done today. Yeah. Plenty in stock right now.

Myke Hurley: So, spokedesign.com. They've got some of the wonderful, wonderful spoke pens available. Do you have some of the limited edition ones even? The Joker?

Brad Dowdy: Joker is in stock right now and we've sold a bunch of them. Dang.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to put that one in the show notes. That's my favorite. That's the one that I keep on my desk. That's the one I buy right there. That's the colorway. You can also watch Brad's stream live on Twitch at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I'm imike. I-M-Y-K-E. This show is a part of Relay FM. You can find this show and many more at relay.fm slash shows. You can find links and information for this episode at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 415. Thanks again to Pen Chalet for the support of this show and also to our Relay FM members. We really appreciate your support. Thank you so much. If you want to become a member and support this show, there's some links in the show notes so you can just go to relay.fm slash penaddict and you can sign up for that as well. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.