The Pen Addict 483/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	483
Title:	You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
Release Date:	October 13th, 2021
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 483
Audio File:	Audio Episode 483
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 483
Length:	8282 min <br />1.367 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 483. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Estabrook by Accutron. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by big vacation boy Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy, vacation.

Brad: Hey Myke Hurley, how are you? Aloha. Yeah, big vacation, like a three and a half hour drive from my house vacation, but I will take it. It is, the fog of the household lifts when you just move a few hours away and try to take a break for a minute and I will have to report back that it is working so far. So, good vacation so far.

Myke: You've got like a hat on and a t-shirt that says like, beer me and you've got like something in a koozie.

Brad: That's pretty much how it's rolled all week so far, yes. Beer shopping on Sunday night when we rolled in and we are currently out, so that's how vacation's going.

Myke: Good man, I'm pleased you're enjoying yourself. But we are obviously still here for the pen addict as always because we cannot take a week off now. We have shut ourselves into a little issue where we cannot take a week off now because if we don't take a week off, we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary as working together for our 500th episode, which I think is in February. I think we worked out, something like that. So, we now cannot take a week off. So, if Brad takes vacation, doesn't matter, keep doing it. Christmas, doesn't matter, we're still doing it.

Brad: So, yeah, what day is Christmas on this year? We'll work it out.

Myke: We're probably going to pre-record for Christmas week anyway. I don't know. Well, we'll see. But, yeah, we cannot take any time off anymore. But who would want to, right? Who would want to?

Brad: I can't quit you. No, I love doing this. Like, you know, I was working on the show notes last night. I enjoy this stuff. Like, you know, I've got a break from most of everything else the rest of this week. And I can spend an hour or two doing this. Like, it's cool. I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Myke: So, we wanted to give some follow-up on the Panaddict Slack survey. How's that going? Do you know?

Survey Results

Brad: I do know. So, Catherine Palmisano and Michael Harris have put together this survey. It's still ongoing. And what we want you to do, if you're listening to this, we want you to go click this link in the show notes today. Because we have 418 responses so far, Myke, which is more than doubled last year's response rate. And this is just a fun survey. It's like, you know, kind of like one of those anonymous demographic, you know, what are you into type of surveys where we just try to figure some things out about the Panaddict community, right? It's definitely, you know, skewed to, like, the nerds who are, I say that lovingly, being one of them, you know, like in the Panaddict Slack. And, like, this group that listens to a podcast about pens, right? It's not necessarily the general, you know, public view of fountain pens. So, we have this very specific information. So, it's running about another week or so. And Michael and Kat sent me over a sneak peek of one of our favorite little questions in the survey, which is, what is your favorite fountain pen brand? So, have you had a chance to look at these results so far, Myke? Yeah. I have some things to say. Okay, so, let me read the current standings with 418 responses so far. Let's go down to up. Down to up. So, we have the top, what, six? Okay, top six brands. I think this is probably, like, a good line of demarcation here in the overall survey results. So, Lamy checks in at number six, 146. People voted Lamy as their favorite fountain pen brand. Lamy coming in fifth, platinum at 147. And then Pelican right above that and fourth at 149. So, that's a group right there.

Myke: Just real quick, we need to stop right there, I think, for a second. Yes. Obviously, Pelican, these two are very close. There's three in it, right? 146, 147, 149. Yes. This is not the order I would have placed these three in.

Brad: You personally or you thinking of what the public would reply?

Myke: The second part. I mean, probably me personally too, but the second part. I don't think I would have ranked Pelican as highly. I think I would have maybe, definitely I would have put platinum above Pelican. I would have put platinum higher than they are. But platinum would go above Pelican. And I don't know about Lamy and Pelican. I think maybe Lamy above Pelican as well. I feel like Pelican pens are great and they do great work. But you just hear less and maybe I feel like I see less. So, yeah, that surprised me. Just that three is a surprise.

Brad: Well, to me, out of those three, it's Lamy. That is someone's number one brand over the five above it, which I get. Like, obviously, I'm like the biggest Lamy lover ever. Would they be in my top five?

Brad: Probably. I guess they'd be in my top five. But remember, like, this is not saying this is someone's fifth ranked pen. This is saying this is what they voted for number one. Right? So, if you think about it that way, I think Lamy is shockingly well represented here. And I kind of like it. I'm down with that.

Brad: All right. You ready to jump into the top three? Yeah. I actually have a lot to say about this. Coming in at number three, would you have guessed, Myke, that it's Twisby? No. At 182 votes.

Myke: The reason I wouldn't is because Lamy's so low down. Right. Comparatively. But I get this more. Because I would consider these two brands similar in like, like they're in a very similar bracket to me from an availability and cost perspective.

Brad: I almost understand this more than the Lamy votes, to be honest, though.

Myke: I would put them higher myself, too. But I think it just surprises me that between Twisby and Lamy is Pelican and Platinum.

Brad: Yeah.

Myke: That is surprising to me, especially because of the gap. So, remember, Lamy was 146. Platinum was 147. Pelican's 149. Twisby's 182. That's a big gap. That jump is, it's just fascinating. This is why I'm so happy that Catherine and Michael put this together because it's the same as last time. I love picking through this. It's just, it's fascinating to me.

Brad: And I think the one and two are the most interesting thing and the thing I want to talk about. Yeah, we haven't even got to the part to discuss. I think the Twisby thing is interesting because that's the, if you're looking at this from the outside or looking at this from yours and ours perspective, like this is the area of the market that's growing the most, right? This Twisby range, right? And that's why we always talk about these pens because there's so many people getting into this hobby and finding, hey, we can share this cool stuff that Twisby's making and share it with y'all. And it turns out that that's kind of what maybe people have been looking for all the time. And like, that's all they need. And like, that's the, that's the Twisby thing. And, you know, they're able to take those Twisby's and they look cool and they're able to use bottle ink with most of them and just have a fun time with Twisby. So that one doesn't surprise me as much as some other stuff. All right. Number two, Myke, Sailor at 195 votes. Number one, Pilot, 241 votes. So the gap from number one at 241 to number two at 195 is the gap of Pilot and Sailor. What are your thoughts?

Myke: This is very...

Myke: I think the jump between them is the thing that surprises me the most. That it's 195 to 241. I don't know if I would have put Pilot to beat Sailor and everyone else by so much.

Brad: I think this is exceedingly interesting. When they sent me those numbers, I said, oh, I'm going to have a lot to say about this. And, like, at the fear of, like, talking about it now before even the results are finalized. I think it's such a big gap right now. My initial thoughts, I think I just want to go ahead and give them instead of waiting for the final results. And then we'll revert back. This surprised me. The gap surprised me. But here's my thoughts. All right. Just hang with me. I think we are currently living in a peak Sailor environment right now. I think Sailor has climbed to the top of the mountain over the past few years. And, like, in the past year, they've hit their peak. Right? What else is Sailor going to do for us today that is going to move the needle in the favorite fountain pen brand category? I don't know because they literally do everything. Like, what are we missing from Sailor right now? And I'm not saying this is a pro or a con. I'm just saying this as an observer. What do I want from Sailor right now?

Brand Comparisons

Brad: Nothing. Lower prices, I guess, is about it. Right? I mean, I'd like them to be a little less expensive. But if there is something I want from a brand, I can get it.

Myke: So the Discord's pointing out, which is an interesting point just for the discussion, is in the survey, you can pick multiples. So this isn't like the favorite, but a favorite. I still don't think that changes how... Okay, so looking through that lens...

Brad: It acquired more votes.

Myke: I still don't fully understand pilot here. Because I feel like...

Myke: I understand what you're saying about Peak Sailor, right? But that doesn't change the fact that people that already own one, what they think about the ones that they already own. Right? Right?

Brad: So in that context, in the context of, hey, I can pick multiple, what this tells me is that someone might own fewer pilots, but they are never not excellent.

Myke: Well, let me ask... And what Sailor... What pilots are people owning and using on the regular?

Brad: This is where I have a lot of my questions. And I have to rethink a lot of my thought processes around this. Because I've been on the drum banging for pilot to do more. And maybe, like, I'm wrong. And, like, pilot knows what they're doing. Pilot's not overkilling us like Sailor is, right? They're not just pumping things out on a practical, weekly basis. And when they do make something, it's perfect, right? Like, people... Some people do not like Sailor nibs, right? Like, that's a thing. You rarely hear that about pilot, right? They're just more consistent in their manufacturing. They seem to be... They have this stability about them. So if you're making a list and you're checking five pins, you know, pilot's going to be in there. Even if you're, you know, your Pelican's your favorite. Like, you're number one. Pilot's probably going to be in there, too. Because just the quality and the expectation of the product is always met when it's delivered, like, to your hand.

Myke: So in the Discord, they're saying Metropolitan, Custom 74, 912, and 823. They're like, you know, these are the ones that are popping up. And I agree that, like, all of these pens, like what you're saying, like, Sailor and Metropolitan, they work great.

Myke: I'm bringing my own bias to this conversation. Right. None of them excite me. Right. And I feel like I can get pens that perform as well, mostly better than the Pilot pens that I've used from other brands in this list. But these are ones that work for me, right? And I know this is like a different thing. But again, we're only bringing our opinion to this list. And I'm blown away by the lead that Pilot has right now. I just, it's just very interesting to me. Like, you could have given me 20 guesses and I wouldn't have put Pilot on the top. I just would not. I probably wouldn't have even considered them.

Brad: Yeah. I would have considered them. I wouldn't consider them at number one. But I think what it tells us is that this is the baseline brand, right? People are buying whatever price point Pilot and getting a good product.

Myke: See, I would have thought that would have been Lamy, right? Like, that's why I was so surprised about Lamy. See, not me. Because I'd seen the rest of the list. Like, what a... Okay.

Brad: The statement I just made, can I make that for any of these other, the next five brands? Sailor, TWSB, Pelican, Platinum, or Lamy? I don't think I can. I would maybe say Pelican. And that's about it.

Myke: No, because Pelican don't have an entry.

Brad: They don't have a great entry. They have some average entry products. I think Pilot just has this baseline of quality at all price points that is showing that it's unparalleled.

Myke: I would potentially posit that TWSB is as high as it is because they are the new attempting to be baseline brand, I think. Maybe. I just think TWSB does things differently. They do. But I think with the products that they have and the products that they are introducing, I think they are trying to be that brand, right? Where they're like, we have lots of options, they're all good, and we're expanding our price kind of coverage, you know, like with the swipe and stuff like that. I think that TWSB may be trying to get to that kind of like, we want to be the pen company for everyone in the way that maybe Pilot has been in the past. And one of the reasons I say that is if we say, you know, we think Pilot is so high because they have so many options and they all work well, I think I would personally be able to make that argument for TWSB. And then that could also potentially argue why TWSB is so much higher than the rest of the brands.

Brad: Yep. Yep. It's so interesting. I love it. Love it. Like this isn't even the final results yet. And like I could talk for another 10 minutes just thinking about this.

Myke: So I'll make my personal call for Team Sailor. Come on, let's take down Pilot.

Brad: Yeah. So I don't know that it's going to happen. Like I bang the drum for Pilot to do more, but maybe Pilot's doing just right. So they just keep pumping out really good quality products. So this is fun stuff. And we will definitely get through this more, you know, in the future once the final results are in. But I do find it interesting.

Myke: Just remake the M90 though, you know? I don't know.

Brad: All I want, Myke, all I want, is an orange 912. And I will shut up.

Accutron Collaboration

Myke: That's it. They need to remake the M90. That's what they need to do. That pen is, I used my, picked up my M90 yesterday. Like I put it back into my personal rotation. It's perfect. It's basically perfect. I just, I don't understand why they won't make another one of these.

Brad: I do.

Myke: Okay.

Brad: That's not going to happen.

Myke: Well, I'm happy I have two.

Myke: This episode of the pen addict is brought to you by a new collaboration between Estabrook and Accutron. Watchmaker, Accutron and pen maker, Estabrook have joined forces to produce a new pen collection, commemorating both brands, the Accutron by Estabrook. And these two brands have such a rich history. Both have successfully represented what was beloved about the past and the great possibilities of the future. And so the Estee Accutron is a collaboration that is a history in the making. The Estee is made from a proprietary diamond cast formula in Accutron green blended with gold and diamond dust, which I love the way that that looks. I was using my Rocky top yesterday in my Estabrook Rocky top. And I just love what they do with that diamond cast material. It looks so cool. They also have gold plated trims that accentuate this limited edition collection, which delivers in luxury as much as it delivers with an exemplary writing experience. 100 pieces of this collection are offered in the Estee oversized model with 18 carat gold nibs coveted for their exceptional performance, making their Estabrook debut on this model with the Accutron tuning fork logo engraved on it. The Estee Accutron is also available in limited production traditional fountain pens with a gold plated nib and engraved logo in a full range of nib sizes. Each pen is equipped with a cushion cap closure to provide a secondary seal to ensure an easy start. This is excellent, by the way. That cap does a really great job of making sure that the pen's always ready to go. Plus nibs are specially manufactured for Estabrook by German maker Yowo and can be inked with any international cartridge or converter. The Estee Accutron is also offered as a limited production rollerball as well. Brad, what do you think of this collaboration?

Brad: It's such a great look. I love the materials. When they first came out with the diamond cast, I was like, ooh, wow, what are we doing here? And like, can they pull this off? And with their first experiments, I don't know, a year, year and a half ago, they proved that they could. So seeing them collaborate with another brand that's kind of adjacent, right, in the watch space, I think is very interesting, especially for them, for growing the brand to get this crossover type of potential. and adding in something that the watch lovers, I'm sure will like, an ultra premium version limited to 100. Like they, I think they've kind of nailed how they've set this up to, to be a collaboration, right, with Accutron. So I think it's cool. I love the materials. I love the colors. And what you said about the cap, the way it works, it's a great writing pen for, for that reason. Like you can, you can set it down and maybe if you don't use it for a day or two, you just uncap it. It's going to write right away. It's comfortable. I, I am shocked at how much I love my Esther Brook pens. And I shouldn't be because they make wild colors that I like. They make a shape that I like, and they make, they have the performance that I like. So no surprise to me that I really liked these pens. I was a little late on the uptake, but now I like seeing them push the brand along into these collaborations with, you know, someone like Accutron in, in the watch business and getting this great crossover potential. I love it.

Myke: I'm really curious to hear the, how the nib performs to the 18 carat gold nib. That's, that's very exciting.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I'm hoping to get one in hand. I doubt it'll be the 18 carat gold one, but I'm, I'm efforting. Uh, to, to try one of these out. And, uh, I, I know it's going to be great. I doubt it'll be the gold one. Uh, maybe I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll acquire a, a, a, a, a,

Myke: all right. So maybe Brad, you could just go buy one. Go now to I could try on watch.com collections. And you can choose partnership items at the top of the page to check out the SD Accutron. And you can use the code pen addict 20 for 20% off. That's accurate. I didn't know that part.

Speaker 00: And Accutron. That's the part of this show. And really,

Brad: that was unfair, Michael. That was unfair. I'm on vacation.

Speaker 00: Nothing to do with me, man. That's, that's just the kindness of the folks at Asaberg and Accutron.

Brad: It's not, I'm not looking, I'm not looking at the ad copy. I'm on vacation. And then you go and drop a, a 20 off code on there, which is, uh, not the norm. So yeah, cool. I love it.

Myke: All right. So should we do some hashtag ask TPA today?

Brad: We are a little bit behind Myke. So I thought with me being on vacation and not wanting to necessarily go full podcast prep mode, I think it was time to catch up on the ask TPA. Don't you think?

Myke: I think so. All right. First one comes from Bijou Al and asks, is a $1.50 to $2, uh, a pencil dead zone, like the 50 to $100 there is in fountain pens below 150, especially below a dollar. You've got loads of great options and above $2. You've got all the fancy ones like black wing. What do you think?

Brad: I love this question so much, which is why I kept pushing it off on ask TPAs until I had time to, to think about it more. So I have this, this old question of mine, which is actually, it's, it's really kind of a flawed question, but it's this idea that I have that way back in the day, um, when I talked to, um, Dr. Jonathan Dean's, who is an economist. And the, the idea of the question is what's a more egregious purchase. And I think I've mentioned this on the show before. What's a more egregious purchase, a $5 wooden pencil or a $500 fountain pen, right? Which is the bigger outlier to their particular product category. And, you know, that's not, it's not really fair because, you know, $500 is a much more meaningful amount of money than $5, but you get the gist, right? Like a $5 wooden pencil is insanely expensive relative to what you can get for $1. Um, so I was trying to think about this and what Sarah is saying, I think is right. There is this weird little gap in wooden pencils, even though in the end it's like less of, you know, the, the money is still relatively close between a dollar and two 50. Um, but there is this gap in this zone, right? I could be totally happy with some pencils that are like in the $1, $1 and 25 cent range. Like some of my favorites are the uni Mitsubishi 98, eight 50 and the Tombow 25 58. Both of these are considered their respective brands, office pencil, right? This is the bulk office supply pencil. And they're better than any pencil you've ever used. If you're not into this pencil thing, like I am, right? If I just gave this to someone who just uses whatever pencil they find, they're going to notice that it's better, but then you jump right from that into premium pencils. And those are like the two, $2 and 50 cents and up, which like the Tombow mono, the black wings, and you know, some of the Caran dashes and things like that are right in that two 50 range. So yeah, there's not oddly, there's definitely not a lot of options in there for that price point. So I thought it was a good perspective. And similar to the fountain pen world, you can get a great fountain pen for like 25 bucks and you don't have to spend what the, the, the level of improvement you're going to find if you spend a hundred dollars is, is marginal, right? Like there's not a huge difference. And that's kind of the same thing with this. Although you get a little bit, maybe fancier exterior with a $2 and 50 cent pencil, then your basic office pencils, how much extra quality are you going to get? Are you going to get double the quality? I don't know that you are. So it's a great question. I like it. And yeah, there really is a dearth of pencils in that, in that medium range.

Myke: Also, what have your panic bought from CW pencils, which we haven't actually spoke about.

Brad: We haven't. We haven't. I'm still waiting to email Caroline. I don't want to bother her right now, but I'm like, I'm like dying to talk to her. So I, I will talk to her soon. But you know, CW pencils shutting down. We did mention, mention it, you know, back in the day, but they're, as they're,

Myke: I'm not sure we did Brad. I don't know. Like a month ago? We spoke about it, me and you. But I'm not sure we've mentioned it on the show. So I would just like to recap it in case we didn't. Yeah, please. CW pencils is, they went for a bit of a rebrand. And kind of, not rebrand as such, but they rejiggered what the shop was going to be. So this is Caroline Withers, a wonderful pencil shop. And has, it has now, they've decided to actually close, close down for good. So they're currently kind of, they're moving on, which is, I find it very sad. Yeah. But these things do need to happen sometimes, but it makes me very sad.

Brad: Yeah. And I've, I've shared some thoughts, I guess, with, with you privately that hopefully I'll be able to share with, with Caroline soon. And maybe we'll get her on for, for an interview. I don't know if she's up for it, but I, I'm definitely going to be talking to her hopefully soon. So what have you panic, panic bought from CW? I, I did pick up a couple of things. So one of my favorite pencils is a collaboration that CW did with Karen dash. It's called the editor pencil. And it's a half and half pencil, half, uh, standard graphite, half red, literally for editing, you know, was the idea behind the pencil. But I like this one so much because the red side is very nice. It's not like a real, it doesn't feel too clay like, you know, or soft, like a colored pencil. It's very, very pencil like. And the other side is traditional graphite, right? So it's like a normal pencil, not like a blue, which you get a lot in these half and half pencils. You get a one red side, one blue side. This has a standard, um, HB side on it. And I've enjoyed these. So I bought a dozen of those. And then I, I, I just said, Oh, well, let me go ahead and get this other thing. I bought the, um,

Brad: Pentel carry, but the one that has been, um, what, uh, craft design, uh, technology, the one that has been CDT up, which is, I have thoughts on that too. Like they CDT takes, uh, they usually work with Pentel and they, um, say this in air quotes, upgrade certain models and make it their own and then charge a premium for it. They didn't charge an ultra premium for the Pentel. So I bought a Pentel carry model, the CDT pen, Pentel carry model. It's kind of a, like a pearlescent white. Um, and you know, I love the carry. So, um, those are the only two things I've bought. I'm, I'm good on like standard pencils and things like that for a while. I'm happy with everything else I had. So those two things are kind of non-standard ish. So I wanted to pick those up, but, uh, that's it.

Myke: So, uh, a couple of years ago, uh, I bought a Dina, a tote bag, uh, a CWP tote bag collaboration with a company called OAD. It's like a really nice tote bag that has these leather pockets on it and it has four pencils spot and you put four pencils in it. Um, and unfortunately, I think I lost one of the pencils recently. So I know that she went and bought some, um, of the CWPE pencil sets. So she would be able to replace those. That's, that's, that's all, uh, we went and bought. Cool.

Junior Legal Pads

Myke: All right. Daniel asks, uh, what are some fountain pen friendly junior legal pads, like eight by five kind of dimensions? I was given a beautiful leather portfolio from Oberon design, but I need to fill it with some great paper.

Brad: Worst product category ever. Junior legal pad. It just is because this is the,

Myke: I don't think I've ever heard of junior legal pad.

Brad: Because it's not real Myke. Oh, okay. It's, it's not, it's not a standard, right? This is, we're going to get into my standards argument.

Myke: So it's basically legal pad paper, but smaller.

Brad: Yeah. So the, the traditional legal pads, like the large, the really large, like eight, ish by 14. Yellow. It was a popular size. And then we have the, you know, uh, eight and a half by 11, you know, kind of standard copier paper size legal pad. And then we have this, what they call a junior legal pad in the U S to where it's basically like your steno pad, you know, like your, it's basically a five ish, right? But an A5 notebook is 8.3 inches by 5.8 inches. So it doesn't fit the width usually of these covers. So therefore you have to buy these, you see these in, in office supply cabinets and it off the office supply, big box stores is just stacks and stacks of these pads. Like these are what's commonplace in American offices. And it's generally just poor or standard paper quality, you know, tops, you know, whatever other brands. I was looking to see if they had like black and red ones in the eight by five size, but I couldn't find a black and red is like a good office paper brand here in the U S. But like, I can't even think of the other brands besides tops because they're just not that good. So if you can't find anything in that, I, you could try some of the A5 stuff like rodeo life, more I'm on, but the actual physical eight by five of a junior legal pad, you're just kind of stuck with what, what you can find. I maybe hit up some of the U S printers, like write note pads. I don't know if they have something. I don't know if black wing, black wings done a legal pad before. I don't know if they've ever done any junior size.

Brad: Maybe try field notes, just hit up some of these people and see if they have something like that in stock, but I'm not familiar with anything, especially ones that would be like fountain pen friendly.

Myke: I was going to, I was just doing some conversions. If paper standards, man, if 8.3 by 5.8 would fit a subtle notebook would fit in there. No,

Brad: it's got to be top bound. These junior legal pads are top bound, top bound. I know. Yeah.

Myke: I wouldn't say it anyway. It will fit. Yeah. Ish. Maybe. Yeah. But we're like eight. My, my products are a five ish as well.

Brad: Yeah. I'm going to get that. I'm going to get that a five. I'm going to get those paper standards tattoo that I shared one day. Did you see that? I don't know if I shared that on Twitter or whatever. I don't think so. Someone had like a, a three, a four, a five, a six measurements, all tattooed on their forearm. I'm like, yes, this is what we need. On your chest.

Myke: And then you can have it like actual size.

Myke: You just hold up a piece of paper. You know how like some people are like, uh, Adam Savage has a ruler tattooed on his arm. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You could get that with paper standards, but it would probably have to go on your chest. Yeah. Let's not do that.

Brad: No one wants to see those measurements.

Myke: All right. This one, this is a long question comes from Yulva. Who asks, uh, all right. I'm in search of my perfect nib and I'd love some guidance. I'm a few years into the fountain pen hobby and I've really enjoyed trying out different brands and nibs. Living in Sweden, I have little opportunity to try before I buy. So it's been a bit of an adventure so far. I started out liking European fine, but now I'm really enjoying European mediums or even broads. I have bought mostly beginner and cheaper non-beginner fountain pens. The exceptions being a Pelican M600 fine and a Leonardo Memento Zero fine. I know I enjoy a really smooth nib and a round one. I really don't like my Toosby medium because it behaves almost like a stub nib. My current favorite is a basic Lamy medium steel nib, but I also enjoy my Kaweco broad and Lamy broad steel nibs as well. I don't think I'd like to go broader than that. I would like to find a really smooth broad nib or even better, a broad nib of smooth feedback, almost like an expensive colored pencil or soft graphite pencil. The line is very fine between scratchy and nice feedback though, so I have been hesitant. I have been looking at Pilot's middle range, so the VP price range, and also Sailor's cheaper gold nibs like the Sailor PG Slim, but I'm not like Pro Gear Slim, but I'm not sure if I'm even on the right track to get what I want. I have considered another Pelican, but they're not really my aesthetic. I also don't like Demonstrator or Translucent pens, which limits the search a little bit. Any guidance on what brands, models, and styles I should be looking for would be helpful. Different brands seem to have such different nib characteristics.

Brad: So I'm going to put you on the spot real quick and see if you get the answer that I want you to give me. What's your favorite writing nib right now?

Myke: What's my favorite writing nib right now? All right, I'm going to exclude the stacked nibs because that's not fair for this conversation. I think I would probably go with a medium platinum gold nib.

Brad: Yeah, so I think the answer is broad platinum gold nib. So yeah, that's...

Myke: I changed my answer. It is broad 14 karat gold platinum. I always forget this nib.

Brad: See, I knew what your answer was, but I wanted to see if you could give it. More than any,

Myke: I forget this because I don't find this for Sailor so much, but especially with platinum, there is this like way to try and remember the differences between Japanese nibs and European nibs is that it's one off. So a broad Japanese nib is a medium European nib. I don't feel that as much with Sailor. I really feel that with platinum and that's why I forget because the platinum broad nib that I own feels just like and lays down the line just like a medium European nib. Mm-hmm.

Brad: And with the platinum nibs, they're the definition of this feedback statement. The, a broad nib with a smooth feedback, almost like an expensive colored pencil or soft graphite pencil. Platinum is the only one that can pull that off to me. Um, Pelican and Pilot are glassy. Um, Sailors are firm. Could be, some people will say they're scratchy. Platinums have this kind of comfortable scritch-scratch to them that is different. Um, I'd say Lamy is also glassy a little bit, but not as much as, as Pelican and, and Pilot. So, platinum is the nib answer. The problem is the aesthetic that we're looking for here. I don't like demonstrator and translucent pens. Platinum mostly makes demonstrator translucent pens, but, you can get some like solid black with gold trim or rhodium plated trim. And that's in that, it's on the higher end of the price range you're looking at. Although with, with Sailor, well, with Sailor and Pilot vanishing points, I guess the 3776 is right there in that say $200-ish, give or take, where you're shopping. price. I would be looking at a platinum broad nib in, in one of those models. You're just not gonna have a lot of visual style options that aren't demonstrators with platinum. That's the only kicker.

Myke: cool looking platinums are demonstrator models.

Brad: Yep.

Myke: And otherwise

Brad: they're really boring.

Myke: That's your two options.

Brad: Yeah, exactly. So, they just don't have that, that kind of setup right now. But I think that's the nib you're looking for.

Myke: Well, all right, let me rephrase that. You can get really nice looking platinums that are not demonstrators, but it's going to cost you a lot of money. yeah, yeah.

Brad: That's a different price point.

Myke: Yeah, right. We're like, we're basically into a different question at that point.

Brad: Yeah, the Azumos and stuff are like $600-$700 and up and things like that. And you know,

Myke: you get all the limited ones, like there's that one that the Cherry Blossom one, and then my Galaxy Starlight one, which is just Yeah,

Brad: the Koi celluloids, the Chin Keen, I think is the one, the blue one. So yeah, those are different price points. But yeah, that's what I would look at. Yeah, I think the thing

Myke: that really stood out to me from Yulva's, and I apologize if I'm not pronouncing your name correctly, Y-L-V-A, so Yulva, is that everything that they own is European. Yeah,

Brad: that's why I'm saying broad, right, for the platinum.

Myke: Just in general, it's like there are different characteristics, and I think that they would really benefit from a Japanese nib, and I think if I was going to say if you could just pick one, it's platinum gold. Yep, agree.

Myke: Sam asks, my best friend loves the Tusby Eco in a stub nib. She likes to use them with sparkly inks. What would you recommend as a step up from that? Maybe something like Pelican? What do you think?

Brad: The Pelican would be great. I don't know what their stub offerings are, but they have broad and double broads, I think, in the 600 that you can get. That's a pretty aggressive step up, to be perfectly honest. I like Yovo stub nibs. Yeah, like the Yovo stubs, like in Leonardo's. I like even Lamy's stub nibs, even the Lamy's steel stub nibs, like you can get in the studio, or even the Lamy 2000.

Brad: I think all of these pens, like if you're only using sparkly inks, should be fine. I think the Pelican would be great. I'm not sure about the Lamy 2000, how that one cleans out with sparkly shimmer inks. That's a pen I would not put anything

Myke: strange into, because you can't get in there.

Brad: Yeah, you have to fully disassemble the nose cone to clean that out, and that generally doesn't go well for a lot of people. There's some little hidden tiny parts in there. That feels

Myke: like you take it apart and it never goes back right. It just doesn't matter what you do, you never get it back just right. It has a rattle to it now.

Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So something like the Leonardo's with the stub Yovo nibs I think is a great idea. Actually, I use one of mine like that. I think, I mean, I don't want to dissuade you from the Pelican M600. I think that's actually a great shimmer nib pin, because the nib unit just screws out and you can clean it very, very well. That's what you want to do with the shimmer ink, so I am considering that fact. It's just if you want to make that big jump, there is an intermediate jump you could make into getting something cool, and I think it's probably like that Leonardo Montegrappa range, but I mean, don't let me dissuade you from the Pelican, I think it would be a killer choice. I just don't know that they have a stub nib, so I would get probably like double broad or something like that to get that kind of real gusher effect.

Myke: Fred asks, how do you know if nibs are interchangeable? Are all screwing units interchangeable? In other words, if I have, say for example, tactile turn pen, but I'd like to swap nibs, what can it be swapped with? How about Lamy nibs? Can I switch with anything outside of a brand? Is there a general guide? Such a good question. This is a great and horrible question, because the answer is yes, no, maybe, to all of that.

Myke: I'll give my basic to it.

Myke: Ideally, swap within brand, because you know it's going to work most of the time. You can swap outside, but to do that, typically, the best thing is if you know there's already a compatibility. My feeling is if you do not know, like if you cannot get a clear answer, ideally from the manufacturer, as to what nibs it could be compatible with, I wouldn't do it.

Brad: Yeah, so, the short answer is how do you know if nibs are interchangeable?

Brad: Unfortunately, the answer is you ask other people who are smarter than me, because I even lose track on a day-to-day basis of what I can just kind of hot swap, right, where I don't have to manipulate anything. I don't have to change a feed, manipulate the nib, do any kind of extra work other than just moving one thing out and putting another thing in. So, like, all screw-in units are not interchangeable. You know,

Brad: Lamy nibs, you can't swap with anything outside the brand. Lamy nibs in particular, you cannot swap with anything outside the brand. But then you even get some close stuff, like, say, a Kaweco nib and a Yovo nib, that, theoretically, you should be able to just swap in and out, but there's some slight shape differences that don't fit the feeds right, right? So, it's a real, there's no, like, universal chart to say, you know, this is what swaps with this, unless someone may have created it that's really, really into, some people are really into, like, frankenpinning all the things and figuring out, you know, what goes with what, you know, can I put this vintage nib into a conant, right? And then they will figure out how to do it. But it's not, straightforward generally. So, I have a lot of Yovo nibs and a lot of Yovo nib units, and I swap those out no problem at all, right? Because it's, even though I bought a different brand, they're still using the same housings, the same fittings, the same feeds, the same nib shapes, and I'll swap them in and out, but those are all still Yovo nibs at the core. Now, if I have a pen with a Bach nib, it looks the same, but it's not going, I'm not going to be able to put a Bach nib on a Yovo feed or a Yovo nib on a Bach feed and have it just work, right? There's manipulations and changes and physical differences that have to be accounted for, and it's just not straightforward, unfortunately. So, a good place for that would be the Pen Addict Slack, where you can say, hey, I have this pen and I have this nib. Is there a way to make it work? And there are places that sell different parts and things. You can make these things happen. It just depends on how deep you want to go down that rabbit hole, and that's not one that I've ever been just inclined to go down.

Myke: Feels like a quick way to break a pen.

Brad: I don't mind doing it. I've just, so, I just don't really have a need. Like, I've got enough pens to wear. I'll just, I like the one nib in the pen that it

Myke: when a nib broke and I brought a nib from another pen into that one. Or like putting these, let's talk about stack nibs last time, but I knew up front that they were going to fit. That was the point, right?

Brad: Right, right. Which is why I chose

Myke: the pens that I chose to put them in.

Brad: Yeah, so a lot of people will manipulate Twisbees to fit vintage nibs, to fit pilot nibs, and just do all kinds of cool stuff like that.

Myke: So the kind of the answer is it is sometimes possible, but it's not easy. There isn't a hard and fast guide to it.

Myke: Peggy asks, I'm wondering what you think about what seems to be a new trend with two tone pens. I'm seeing makers posting lots of pens of caps that are not the same material as the bodies. Metal caps are a different story and pretty much a normal thing, but I'm not sure about mismatched acrylic. I don't really like it. What do you think?

Brad: I have a lot to say about this question. I love this. I love Peggy for sending this in. I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret that makers have. Sometimes they have parts that don't match with what they intended to go with, but they're just sitting there extra and they match a different part that didn't fit the thing that it was going with. Instead of having that go to waste, they will put those together and go, oh, this is a thing. I should sell it and recoup some of the cost instead of eating the error on one side or the other. I can get something back out of it. So that's our dirty little secret. We all do it. I happen to enjoy it. I have joked about this one shown design pen that I picked up from Ian at Philadelphia and that's different because it's metal, not the acrylic like Peggy was talking about. It's just like, yeah, this part didn't go with this pen, this part didn't go with this pen, but I put them together and made a pen and now I can sell it instead of having to bin it. And it worked. I was like, yes, I like this, even though I know they're not made originally to go together, I like that. So from a maker perspective, I'm all about it. Mismatched acrylics, I'm fine with it.

Brad: It's never going to be the big thing. It's more just one-off stuff. In the end, the makers are going to find out that a forced mismatch, it's limiting. You're limiting your market and it's fine to have a few of these. It's never going to be the primary type of product that makers have, but it's more going to be, hey, what materials do we have on hand? Can I make three pens out of this and see if they sell as opposed to 30? That's the limitation of any trend in a forced mismatch situation. You'll see a lot more of this like a pen show. It's also hard for a maker to sometimes put up a one-off on, create a product category, write a description, do all this stuff. They might just hold it, take it to a pen show and see if anyone's interested in it. I like the trend. I'm not opposed to it. I like weird, wild stuff, but I don't think it's going to be something that's an overbearing trend that we'll continue to see.

Myke: I'd wondered if sometimes you've made a pen and the cap and body just don't match clearly enough, like they were meant to, or it's like this is too complicated, so I'm just going to not bother and just do mismatching. Yeah, 100%. It's not a bad thing. 100% because especially with small makers.

Brad: It might

Myke: look better, right? Sometimes something that's close but not just not right looks worse than something that's very clearly chosen to not match.

Brad: Right. So mistakes are expensive for small makers, right? We're not sailor who runs a thousand clear blue caps that don't end up working with the barrel. They'll just hold the caps and make some other barrel down the line and they'll be fine, right? Like one mistake for a maker is costly, so it's a matter of trying to recoup some of the time and material cost in some of these two-tone products.

Myke: All right, should we take our second break? Yep. All right, today's show is also brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform to help you build your online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace has you covered by combining cutting-edge design with world-class engineering, so it's easier than ever to establish your home online and make your ideas a reality. Whether you want to showcase your art with an incredible portfolio, publish your next blog post, get the word out about your new business, announce an upcoming event, have a store of your own, and so much more, Squarespace has everything you need to create a beautiful and modern website. You start with a professionally designed template and use drag-and-drop tools to make it feel like your own. You customize the settings, the products, the look, the feel, the typography, the colors, everything with just a few clicks. And Squarespace websites are automatically optimized for every type of device, whether it's a phone, a tablet, or a PC, your content is going to look fantastic and adjust to fit that screen size. You also get free unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security, dependable resources, 24-7 customer support, SEO and email marketing tools, domain name registration, and so much more with a system that you don't need to install anything, patching anything, upgrade anything. They take care of everything for you. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. And when you sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase. Show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of the penaddict and RelayFM.

Brad: I'm excited for this next one.

Myke: We have a horror story.

Brad: Yeah, we do.

Pen Horror Story

Myke: We haven't had a horror story in a long time. This is where people send in something terrible that has happened to them and we decide as to whether it can go in the horror story hall of fame, which is on the pen wiki, right?

Brad: I think so. It's been a while. It's been so long. I forgot all the details. I need to find that.

Myke: What is the wiki again?

Brad: Stationary.wiki.

Myke: Stationary.wiki. I'll find the there's a hall of fame that's been put on there, which I will find and we'll put it in the show notes so people can go in and take a look at that too if they want to. So we have these horror stories. We have a small amount of them that are considered to be hall of fame worthy. So I actually, ah, here we go. I found that we have both every horror story ever. Oh, wow. Fantastic. Just like a, just a quick summary of them all. And then there is the hall of fame, which is there are currently five entries in the hall of fame. Nice. So, all right. So who has sent this one in? We have this from pen with an extra N. It's not like a pen is written in. It's like, I'm so sad. Somebody used me. Anyway. Okay.

Myke: Pandemic has been, I haven't read this. So just, just to clarify, I read all the questions and edit them and that kind of stuff. So they're good for the show. When I saw, I read the first line that said this was a horror story. I haven't read the rest because I like to be surprised as I'm reading them. I know you've read this, right? I did. I did. Because I wasn't

Brad: sure where it was going at first. So yeah, just to be sure.

Myke: All right. The pandemic has been a weird time as I shifted my focus to my job and family. I kind of lost interest in all things stationary. I think it's because I started working from home. So at the end of the day, I just wanted to get away from my desk as fast as possible. But in September, I finally thought I should write back to my long neglected pen pal. So I went to my fountain pen display box to get one of my vanishing points. Only I discovered to my confused horror that all three were missing. Couldn't believe it. There were three empty slots where the vanishing points should have been resting. I stared at it for a good while before I eventually tore my room apart to find them. Looked through every bag, every pen pouch, every nook and cranny, behind the desk, under the desk, in my closet, everywhere. And with every passing minute, I started to panic more and more until I broke down crying with the realization, oh, that's sad, that I had somehow misplaced. It's really sad. Some of my most prized possessions had been misplaced. The 2015 limited edition vanishing point Twilight, the 2019 limited edition tropical turquoise, and the limited edition Japan only purple decimal vanishing point that was part of the Cat Plus 20 collection. There's three very particularly picked. Marlies in the discord says vanished vanishing points, which is, hello.

Myke: Each had sentimental value and a memory attached to it, like the Twilight that I had bought from one of my pen friends and was my first major pen purchase, the purple I had special order from Japan as a gift to myself when I got my new job. I checked my ink log and was shocked to see that I had actually recently inked all three vanishing points just the month prior on August 19th. Then I remembered August was when my office tentatively reopened for a hybrid work setup. At the time, I had excitedly inked up my pens again and started thinking about my everyday carry. So of course, my vanishing points were my go-to, being the great workhorse pens that they are. I must have taken the set to work and misplaced them somewhere at the office. The hybrid setup only lasted two weeks before the office suddenly closed overnight because of rising COVID cases. We couldn't even go in to get any of our things from our desks. With everything being so hectic, I must have forgotten to check what my vanishing points were. I went into the office recently and looked everywhere, in everyone's cubbies, sorry to my co-workers, desks, meeting rooms, and asked the office managers if anything was in the lost and found. Nothing. I don't know how many times I just wished to see it randomly on someone's desk, like they picked it up and didn't know what to do with it. I don't know if they were stolen. I was listening to an old pen addict episode from last year, Myke was discussing how he was going to carry his pens to work or if he should just store them there, and that if someone broke into the office, they wouldn't steal the pens before stealing the technology. I feel the same. You wouldn't know that these three pens could be collectively worth a thousand dollars unless you knew about them, but it breaks my heart to imagine them in someone else's hands that don't understand their value, monetary, or sentimental. I have just resigned myself to the loss, though I am utterly gutted. I feel like such an idiot for losing these pens that are basically irreplaceable. Of course, I have other pens I can use, but these are special. I will keep looking and hoping, low-key, that they will pop up somewhere as I don't have the heart to buy another to replace them. I'm not sure if this is really a horror story, maybe it's more of a tragedy, but I also wanted to write to you too, as I know you will understand how I feel. I just wanted to commiserate with someone who understands. It's hard to freak out to your boss that you just lost your pens. Thanks for reading and for offering great content on the show. I've been out of stationery for a long time, so I'm just getting my feet wet again. Maybe then my vanishing points will come back to me. This is a very sad story.

Brad: It's a dagger. Yeah. Straight to the heart. It's not a horror

Myke: story.

Myke: I agree. But it's very sad. I actually think Pen knows. It's a tragedy. This is a great tragedy. It is not scary. It's brutal.

Brad: I hated reading this the second time even more than the first because I was like listening to you read the words of Pen's sadness in their writing because a lot of us know those pens and those are special pens. These are not run-of-the-mill vanishing points. All three of them together in a singular case, I hope they pop up somewhere. I have a group of pens that I've misplaced. I know they're not lost or stolen. I can't find them. But this is more of a situation where there is a reality that they could be gone and it's just a dagger. It's, oh man. That's rough. I feel for you, Pen. Like this is a rough one. But I thought we would read this during horror story time. Not a horror story. But like just to commiserate with Pen that we get you completely and this is just brutal. What a terrible. There's a way that this

Myke: could have been a horror story, right? Like that they show up and it's all, I don't know, in some like terrible way. You know what I mean? Like there is a way that I was wondering if it was going to go in that direction. And I mean, unfortunately, still could turn into a horror story for Pen. You know, like they show up someday and it's

Brad: like, you know, I don't

Myke: know. I don't know what exactly.

Brad: We only want. I don't know if we I don't know if we only want good follow up or do we actually want if there is follow up and it's horrible. Do we want to hear it? I'm not sure.

Myke: Yes. I want to know. Yeah, we do. I genuinely really hope. I really, really hope that they didn't that that they do show up. The one I don't know if this is good hope to have Pen, but the one thing I'd say is you didn't remember taking them. So you might not have remembered where you put them, but you might have put them somewhere that it will come back to you. We're going to think

Brad: positive thoughts.

Myke: Yeah, that's my that's my my my my positive thought for that is that somewhere you just haven't come across yet and someday you will come across them again.

Brad: Yep. That's what that's the way I'm thinking about the pins that I've I have missing right now. All right. We have a bunch of questions, Myke. I want to get through I want to get through all these. We're going to do them all. Let's hammer them.

Myke: I don't know if we're going to do all of them. Actually, no, we might. I just scroll down. There's not as many. Yeah. All right. Great. We got this. Trent has a two part question. I am a professional land surveyor in Utah. When we complete a map, we are required to print the map on mylar vellum. I don't know why that's in brackets because I don't know what you've read these parts means sheets and then wet sign them. Question one. What pens or ink would you recommend for signing the maps? It would need to be a quick drying and permanent pen. Right now we use a fine or extra fine point Sharpie, but I'm looking to have a little more fun with pens in this part of my work.

Brad: With that type of material, I don't know that you're going to get as good results from anything but a Sharpie. Like I'd like to tell you some. Yeah. I'd like to tell you to use like some aggressive like Diamine document ink, right? Like the the most permanent of permanent fountain pen inks, but you're probably outside, you know, a lot that's having a fountain pen just for this. I don't know how well it would dry on that type of sheet, right? Because it's almost kind of a it it's almost has like a firm coating, I think, on some of these sheets. And I don't know if it would ever dry. I don't know how you could not use a Sharpie for this. Like I'd like to tell you to use some Sharpie, some ballpoint or some, you know, like the Jetstream ballpoints with like the like the the permanent ink technology. Sharpie, it's just not going to work well on that page. And I get some colored Sharpies, maybe get the purple ones or something like that. I don't know that there's a better answer than that, but I would be interesting to hear if anyone listening has some better answer for this particular type of sheet. I don't know that Sharpie is is beatable.

Myke: What are those Sharpie cases? They're called Sherpas or something?

Brad: Yeah, the Sherpa. Just get one of those. Get the Tiffany one.

Myke: Yeah, just get some kind of cover for the Sharpie because you're not going to get a better Sharpie. The Sherpa ones are cool because you can get lots of really weird and wonderful designs. I've got one here that is like the the carpet from The Shining. Yeah, like Prop Dog.

Brad: Yeah, exactly. That's a cool. That's a cool pattern. They're like 30 bucks. They're like not ridiculous, but your leaks make your Sharpie feel a little more special.

Myke: Mm hmm.

Myke: Question two from Trent. Occasionally, we need to make corrections on these maps. In the past, we used an old electric drafting razor. Google Deitzgen 3395. That's D-E-I-T-Z-G-E-N. Really old school stuff. Unfortunately, you can no longer get the proper eraser to use on Mylar. What's Out Now are made of rubber and they just fall apart and it's kind of intended more for paper. Any recommendations for that? Yeah, no. So, well, go to eBay and get a Deitzgen 3395, I

Brad: guess. Trent is finding out that sometimes we ask these questions because we're looking for wisdom of the crowds because we don't know the answers. Like, I'd hate to recommend something for this because I have no knowledge of what would work well on Mylar paper, but you know what? We might have a listener that does. So that's why I want y'all to send in these very highly specific questions to your own situations because me and Myke might not be able to help, but we might be able to find someone that can and share.

Myke: There are many thousands of people that might be. You are amongst your people. I feel like if you can find an answer, it's here by us answering this question.

Brad: Yeah, this is the proper level of nerdery for us. We just don't have this specific answer, but we might know someone who does. So y'all know how to get in touch. Hello at penaddict.com. If you know what kind of eraser we can use on Mylar paper and pens for that matter.

Myke: John asks, I know with fine wristwatches, it's important to keep the box and paperwork because it affects the price if you ultimately decide to sell them. But what about pens? I have two cabinets of doom full of pen boxes in different sizes and shapes. They take up a lot of space. In fact, more space than the pens themselves. Now I can understand keeping pen boxes and hand signed certificates for the maker pens and emerging pen brands. I don't know why. This is me. This is Myke speaking. I don't know why you would make that assumption, but that's interesting. But is there any reason to keep the Lamy Pelican Diplomat Platinum Montblanc Pilot etc. boxes?

Brad: I hate this question. I mean, not John's asking him the question, but I hate answering this question because there's no good answer. It's interesting.

Myke: I don't know. I've gone both ways on this. Do you have a feeling for why John thinks specifically that keeping the pen boxes for maker pens and small companies makes sense?

Brad: I don't separate the two, I guess is to your point, right? It's either the pen box or it's not. And someone like the expensive pens have, you know, fancier boxes and you're more aligned to keep them like, you know, the watch box, but say a maker pen with a generic storage box. Do you need to actually keep that? I don't know. When I started doing this and started getting the fountain pens and started getting more and more stuff, I just, I threw everything out. Like, I just, I didn't, I don't like having all that stuff in storage, but now I keep all of it. And I don't know that that's the right answer either, right? Because it just takes up space. And like, if I'm never going to sell a pen, like the only reason you keep it is like, if you might sell it, you know, maybe that's like the one valid reason I could think of. Otherwise, like, man, I'd throw, I'd throw them out. Like, I might get some grief for that, but I, I'd lean more on the side of throwing all that stuff out than keeping it for no reason whatsoever.

Myke: I think that most of it's not worth keeping. Right. Honestly, I really think that. Um, I actually want to recommend people go and check out, um, episode 72 of Thoroughly Considered, where I talk with Tom and Dan of Studio Neat, because we were talking about packaging for their products. And they mentioned something which is really stuck in my brain, which is you are literally, as a maker, shipping trash to people. Yeah. When you send them And charging them for the privilege. Yeah. You know my stance on it. Yeah. You are sending them trash. So like, if you, and so like the minimizing of packaging can be helpful in that regard. And so what makes me think here is you are, by keeping these boxes, storing trash. You are keeping trash in your house until eventually you get rid of it.

Brad: Um, and it's not even that it's like you're charging them for trash. It's not even just you're shipping them for them. You're passing this cost along to your customers. Right.

Myke: So, you know, there are reasons to keep the boxes. I mean, like, look, if you spend, if you spend a lot of money on a pen, like you would a watch, maybe you will want to keep that box because it's probably a really nice box. Right. Like I have some boxes that are worth keeping. Sure. Because they're beautiful. Um, and I can store things in them, but also, you know, again, if something really expensive, if it's going to retain value, maybe it's worth keeping that box. But for like every pen I own, no, I do not keep the boxes for them. No. Yep. Yep. TM23 sent in a clip to an episode of the podcast and they were asking the question for what is the best pen for signing a lot of books?

Brad: Yeah. So I haven't listened to this clip, but the podcast, it was one of my favorite podcasts until they went into like intermittent recording because Michael Schur is a little bit of a busy human being. So they rarely record, but just in general, what's the best pen for signing a lot of books? You're either going to want to look at the Sharpies are tough. If you're using like traditional like book paper, like they're just going to bleed like crazy. I always go to the Jetstream and I just go to like a 1.0 Jetstream. It's an archival ink. It's a ballpoint, but it's, it's dark and smooth. You can use blue or black and that would be perfectly fine. And honestly, pencil is not a terrible idea either. So, um, it, I'm probably starting with the Jetstream unless it's a glossy page book. And then I would use a Sharpie. I would, even though Neil Gaiman does it, I would almost never use a fountain pen for that pace and quality of signature versus the type of paper you're signing on with a fountain pen. I think that would be a challenge. So I'm always leaning on the Jetstream 1.0 for that or a Sharpie if the paper is good enough.

Myke: Uh, and I mentioned it just got a good thing about, um, Hank Green did a video trying to find.

Brad: We were, we did it on the show. We, we covered it on the show where he took all the, uh, all the permanent marker, like the Sharpies. There was like 10 or 12 different tests and he ran through a test and he, he did have an answer. And the, the traditional Sharpie was either number one or number two in the end.

Myke: Yep. Fantastic. Got it. Kate found it. I'll put it in the show notes. Uh, Sharpie would probably be my, my, my recommendation. Like again, we're just going to keep going back to the Sharpie today, I guess, but sometimes, sometimes these tools. It's popular for a reason. Uh, Derek. Yeah. They're, they actually are good. Like it's not just like the name brand. Um, and it's probably why Sharpie is so dominant. Like it's hard to beat. Yep. Frames, uh, sent in a question and said that I read a blog post that Brad put in Missville, which I'll put in the show notes. Uh, and since Brad put it there, I figured I'd ask the related questions defined by the article to either of you have an exit pen. This is a quote from, uh, the article on UK fountain pens. Yeah.

Brad: Anthony, our friend Anthony.

Myke: Anthony. Anthony. Anthony. If you can only buy one more pen that kills all further acquis, uh, acquis, acquisitive urges. Is that a word? Yeah.

Brad: Acquisitive, acquisitive urges. Yeah. Okay.

Grail Pens

Myke: It kills all further acquisitive urges. What would it be? If you can only buy one more pen that kills all interest in your current collection, which would that be? Suddenly we don't have a fallback plan.

Brad: So I've thought about this a little bit and it wouldn't require me to make another purchase, right? I could end up with a singular pen that I already own if I was forced to get rid of everything and keep one. Does that make sense? Like I'm in a position now where, you know, I've been fortunate to have the access and the means to acquire the things that I want. So I'm actually not looking at anything. I've never really had this grail mentality.

Myke: Because it doesn't exist. There is no grail.

Brad: There is no end game.

Brad: Oh, did I strike a nerve with this one? I don't know this whole, I don't know this whole scenario by you, but I guess we're thinking along the same lines.

Myke: Because I'm in two hobbies where this is a thing. Keyboards and pens. Everyone's finding their grail or their end game as if products stop getting made at some point. Right. Right, right, right. It's just not true. There's always going to be something new that you're going to like. There is no end if you're in the hobby. It doesn't end.

Brad: Yeah. So I don't have an exit pin because it's just not a philosophy, I guess, that I've fallen into. Yeah, I struggled with this.

Myke: Because it's like, this isn't going to happen. Like, this isn't, there is no pen that I could buy that would mean I would never need another pen. I probably already own that pen.

Brad: That's exactly what I'm saying. Yeah.

Myke: It's probably just a retro 51 or whatever. Right.

Brad: Like, I'm there. Yeah. I could pick one of five pens right now and be content the rest of my life. Like, I'm good. Like, I'm covered on that. So I don't know. Like, maybe that's not the answer you want frames. But I, there is, I thought about this when I read the post from Anthony and I was just like, there's, there's not. Because I'm never not going to love this stuff and I'm never not going to be looking. But I'm also not wanting for the one, right? The one doesn't exist for me.

Myke: Yeah. Realistically, we passed out a long time ago.

Myke: Kim asks, why are color mechanical pencil refills so rare? I found only one local shop that carries one brand of red 0.5 graphites in Budapest, European capital with 2 million people.

Brad: Color mechanical pencil refills are so rare because they're terrible. Yes. Like, they're literally a bad product. Soft. Really soft. Yeah. Right. And no one's going to be able to solve that in a 0.5 millimeter stick. That's why colored pencils are more popular. Because they're almost universally poor quality. Even the best ones are going to be lighter and more fragile than anything you could get in a traditional wooden cased colored pencil. So they're almost like manufacturers make them because they feel like they have to make them in small quantities to, to fit, you know, a market here or a market there, but they don't exist in a wider scale because they're not very good. It's as simple as that.

Speaker 00: Mm-hmm.

Myke: Jay asks, you both have niche communities of companies like Twitch increasing awareness. What tools, apps, platforms, et cetera, would you like to see that you think would truly help the pen community?

Brad: Yeah, it's been interesting over this pandemic time, you know, and not having pen shows and seeing like what we're missing, like as a community. I don't think we're, I don't think we have any huge gaps as a community. I like what Urban does at Fountain Pen Companion. I think the continual build out of that, which is selfish of me to say because that's not Urban's full-time job, but I think he really has something there, right? Like digital tools that help analog people manage their stuff. Like let's be honest with ourselves. We're into stuff. We have stuff. We're fortunate to be able to have this stuff. And some of us like to track this stuff in certain ways. So I like to see the continued support of tools like Fountain Pen Companion because they provide individual benefit to, to, to the community. You know, people can get in there and use that tool. I would like to see, you know, like Jay's talking about, Jay's started to stream some, you know, he's got a wonderful new podcast with Kathy here on Relay FM. Yep. It's called Conduit. Go check it out. Conduit. So they're like on episode seven. So they're doing a really good job so far. And Jay's streaming on Twitch. I love Twitch as a platform. I'm going to continue to try to grow on that. But I'm just so pro sharing and pro education and pro lift everybody up. Anything that allows me to shine a light on other people while having fun and, you know, sharing information with listeners or followers or readers like I'm for. But like, I don't know that there is a specific tool that I'm missing that, you know, for the community wide. I just like, you know, seeing stuff like FBC.ink being continued to build out. I don't know if you have anything on that.

Myke: Not for pens, but Jay did ask if I a bonus for me for around keyboards and I do have one. So a lot of the way that the keyboard stuff works is is products kind of have these stages where first they go through what's called an interest check where someone puts up a design and they are asking for feedback on that design. So they're like, hey, what do you think? Like with key caps, for example, like do you like the colors? Like what kind of tweaks would you like to see to the design parts of it? For a keyboard, right? Like this is what I'm thinking of keyboard, like for a keyboard design I'm working on. Like what would you like to see me change? That kind of stuff. And then also to collect not just feedback, but like email addresses for people that when it eventually goes up for preorder to be able to contact those people and be like, hey, you remember this thing that you like look up where you can buy it now, right? Then you have something called group buy, which is the typical way that products are sold, which is like a preorder of those products, right? So, hey, here's a product. I'm putting up a preorder and it's bananas because it's like, all right, you might be waiting one to three years for this, right? It's like that's the way the keyboard hobby works at the moment. Hopefully it's going to change, but that's the way it works right now. All of this stuff is centralized around a platform called GeekHack, G-E-E-K-H-A-C-K, which is not just for keyboard stuff, but that's what it is. And it's a very old forum. Like it's old. It's bad and old. And I find it so frustrating that all of this stuff is done on this really old system where like nothing is really able to keep track. You're not able to easily see updates. The platform is horrible. Like I would love to be able to go in and put in the stuff that I've bought, you know, like a kind of a fountain pen companion and keep a track of all of that, as well as have this system where people can go in and post updates on the projects that they're working on. It should be a better, much more modern centralized system. Considering keyboards are used by people in technology, you'd kind of hope that there would be a better system, but there isn't Geek Hack sucks and I want someone to replace it. Nice. There you go. Myke has spoken. Evan asks, who would you go to for tuning a VHS? I don't know what that is. Palladium nib. Visconti.

Brad: Visconti. Homo sapiens. Yeah. Palladium nib. Who would you go to for tuning a

Myke: Palladium nib of a Visconti Homo sapien?

Brad: Easiest question of the whole thing. It's Mark Bacchus at nibgrinder.com and here's why. He has been Coles of London, the US distributor for Visconti. He has been their nib person for, I don't know, well over a year now. I don't know if he still currently is. I believe he still is. So he handles more of those nibs than anyone and that's who you should go to. Easy peasy.

Myke: That's actually a fantastic answer. Perfect.

Brad: Next question. Not so easy.

Myke: Eric asks, is there an A5 or half letter size disc notebook with the binding at the top? I found them in full letter, but my work from home desk needs the smaller size. Traditional side binding gets in my way too much.

Brad: I am racking my brain because I swear I've seen this and I couldn't come up with them. I don't know if Levenger's had them in the past. Basically a top bound disc bound system for loose sheets. I have seen them. I don't know if it's one of the Japanese brands like Kikuyo. They make so many different, like not necessarily disc bound systems, but bound systems, right? With clips or rings, ring bound, I guess I should say. So I would look at those two brands and see what they've done. And if anyone else knows, let me know because I swear I've seen this and I can't come up with the proper answer. So it's basically like your A5 desk pad with discs at the top instead of side bound, which I think is a cool, cool layout if you can find it.

Myke: I think that, who was it earlier on in the show? Who wanted the, is it Daniel? Yeah, Daniel and Eric should get together, I think, and try and work on something for the, for the, for the, for

Brad: the, the junior legal cover.

Myke: Uh-huh.

Brad: There's clearly something going on there. I'm with you. We get this question a lot, like no one solved them yet.

Myke: And Tiny Badge asks, any advice for when you've lost that love and feeling about Pence?

Brad: Thank you for doing that, Myke. I left the, I left the musical notes in there, so Tiny Badge will appreciate that. And I put this question last.

Speaker 00: You've lost that love and feeling, now it's gone, gone, gone.

Brad: Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. We have gone way too long. Take a break. Just take a break. That's 100% the answer. Stop looking at new stuff.

Myke: Stop listening to the show. We'll still be here. You know?

Brad: Stop shopping for pens. Yep. Come back. Put everything down. Mm-hmm. Dig in the depths of your storage. Find something you haven't used. Find like the cheapest ballpoint pen or wooden pencil, something that you haven't used in a long time. But at some point you bought for a reason. And find out what that reason is. And just use that stuff for a while. And maybe a few months from now, yeah, you might say, hey, this fountain pen, I haven't used it in a while. Let me find a new orange ink for it. And then you go look for it then. You just gotta, you have to stop. Like, you just do. I go through this stuff. I go through cycles where I don't want to use fountain pens. Yep. So guess what? I just don't. Mm-hmm. And I only use regular pens. And then when I get back to my fountain pens, I'm like, yeah, I miss these things. And let's use them all up. And like, it was a nice break. And just go from there. You have to stop. Stop looking at stuff. Stop reading stuff. Stop listening. Just, you know, take a clean slate. Work from the minimum viable products that you can get through your day in and leave the rest alone for a while. And then you'll see. Then you'll figure it out. Like, do I want to come back to these other things? Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. Maybe your tastes change. It's okay. Like, you gotta stop. You've lost that love.

Speaker 00: Anyway, that's my entire day now.

Brad: Thanks, tiny badge. And it's gone.

Myke: Anyway, all right. If you'd like to send in a question. This show is gone. On the show. Just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. Or use question mark AskTPA in the RelayFM members discord. Or you can send in an email to hello at penaddict.com. Thank you so much to Squarespace and SD by Akutron. Or Akutron by SD. For their support of this week's episode. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com. Knock.co. Spokedesign.com. You can find Brad on Twitch as well. Twitch.tv slash penaddict. He's penaddict on Instagram. Dowdyism on Twitter. Brad on micro.blog. I am imike. I am y-k-e. And you can go to cortexmerch.com for some great paper products as well. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I