The Pen Addict 49/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	49
Title:	A Sailor Is At The Top Of My Wish List
Release Date:	April 9th, 2013
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 49
Audio File:	Audio Episode 49
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 49
Length:	6262 min <br />1.033 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 49 of The Pen Addict podcast, your weekly show, where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined today by the travelling stationery salesman that is Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Are you ever not on your A-game? Because I feel like you bring your A-game with the intros every week.

Myke Hurley: I always try. Okay. Yeah, thank you.

Traveling Salesman

Brad Dowdy: That's pretty solid, because I am on the road today. So yeah, this is from an undisclosed remote location podcast recording. So yeah, so hopefully it's going to work out well. I didn't want to, you know, I don't like missing episodes these days. I feel really bad, and not just personally. It's like I enjoy doing it, so I want to have my weekly chat with you. And if I don't get to do it, I miss it. So I wanted to make sure that we recorded this week, even though I'm not at my house until I'll be back tomorrow, I think.

Myke Hurley: I'm happy that you're here. Yeah. Because as well, with us these days, the content just builds up. Like, it's not like with the other shows. Like, with most of the shows that I do, if we miss a week, we typically can skip out the topics. But that's not really the way that it works on this show. We kind of have to talk about all of the things.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's like our cache is building up, and it just keeps building and building and building. And sometimes we have to pare it down. We cut things mid-episode sometimes, knowing that, you know, we're in pretty good sync on, you know, what we're trying to get out of the show. And, you know, we're working in a live document while we're on the show, and one of us will just move something out, knowing that we're not going to get to it, just because we have so many topics to cover.

Myke Hurley: Saying about the traveling salesman thing, I've included a link to one of my favorite photos of this year, which is you buying paper from Aramanki from the back of a car that Stephen took. And it's in the show notes for people to see.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, please go look at that picture. It came out great. That was Stephen Hackett's idea, because we were, you know, me, myself, Aaron Manke, Bradley Chambers, and Stephen Hackett all met up in Atlanta this past Saturday, you know, just to meet and visit and chat, but also to record an episode of the 512 Pixels podcast, which I'm sure you will link to that as well. Mm-hmm. Something nefarious is going down, and it actually turned out pretty well. It was kind of funny.

Myke Hurley: I can't remember what Stephen said on Twitter. It was quite funny along the lines of things being shady. Yes. There were some shady dealings going down, which is totally out, especially in black and white, which he put the image in black and white on his Flickr page.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it was, like, really dark. It definitely looked shady, that's for sure.

Myke Hurley: You did a great job on the podcast, by the way.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, thanks. It was fun. It was super fun recording it. We had a great time. You know, we all just bounced off each other real well on the different topics that Stephen had, and, you know, I haven't – I just downloaded it about 30 minutes ago, so I haven't listened to it myself. I was actually looking forward to listening to it just to see – because, honestly, I was a little bit out of my element, you know, because it was more just on the technology speak. And, you know, we integrated some of the things that I do with, you know, the pen addict in this podcast. But, you know, Bradley, Aaron, and Stephen, you know, kind of have a more technological slant to their podcasts and websites. So I was – I wanted to check that out. So I will be – I have downloaded, and I will be listening shortly. But it was certainly fun. We had a blast. I mean we all – it's funny. You know, like you and I have never met in person. But if and when we do, which I know we will one day, it will be like I've known you forever. It's – you just like – guys like Stephen and Aaron, even though I didn't know Bradley that much, but like Stephen and Aaron, just them, just – you just walk right in. You sit down, and you're comfortable, and everything's a go. So it's a different way people are meeting these days and getting online and having these relationships and friendships with people. And, you know, when you finally get to meet in person, it's like you've known them for a long time, and it's just a very comfortable, very fun thing. And so we had a good time.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it was like when I met Stephen last year, it was like take 20 seconds to size each other in your brain because you've seen how somebody looks. You know, I would be able to pick him out from a crowd, obviously. You know, I know what he looks like, but I'd never seen him in full height before. So I was like, right, all I have to do is get used to that, and then it's normal. So like we shook hands. I think I hugged him. I don't think – I'm not sure if he wanted to be hugged, but I hugged him. And then we jumped in his car, and then that was just it then. We were now on holiday with a buddy. It was very strange, but awesome at the same time is what I like about it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And one thing that was funny about that picture, I've got it pulled up now. Me and – when I walked into Aaron's in-law's house, me and Aaron looked like we're dressed exactly the same. We both have this red-blue plaid shirt on and have this thin beard, receding hairlines and glasses. The only thing is I've probably got Aaron by a couple stone, as you would say.

Myke Hurley: It kind of looks like – if you look at the color version, and I'll put a link to Stephen's tweet in which he actually says in which Aaron sells Brad and Brad illegal fireworks, which is quite funny. It kind of looks a little bit like Aaron is standing in front of a mirror.

Brad Dowdy: I noticed that. I didn't say anything, but like immediately when I walked in the house to meet all of them for the first time, although I'd met Aaron before, I was like, oh, man, me and Aaron look like twins. And then when it came out on this picture, it looks like we're the exact same thing. So anyway, it was funny.

Myke Hurley: Oh, dear. Right.

TWSBI ROC

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, that's enough of our rambling. Speaking of red, white, and blue things, you kind of have a new red, white, and blue thing in your possession.

Myke Hurley: So many long-time listeners of the show will know my pain that I feel for not owning a TWSBI ROC version, which is the 540, the TWSBI Diamond 540. It's called the ROC, the Republic of China. And when I Google it, of course, what do I get taken to? Brad's review. So I'll put that in the show notes. You're just all over Google.

Brad Dowdy: I try. Actually, you know what? I don't try. I'll just do a Squarespace hat now. I don't try. It's all them.

Myke Hurley: That's a very good point, actually. SEO built right in. Don't have to worry about it. That's Squarespace.

Myke Hurley: And so yeah, I loved this version. And then I was going to buy a TWSBI, as people know, and didn't get around to it. It was like, oh, I want to get that version. I want to get that version. Then we went out of stock. And then, oh, I forget the guy's name. John Martin. John Martin. I can only ever remember his Twitter name. But anyway, yes, it's John Martin. He sent me, very, very kind, sent me a TWSBI that I have right next to me now. Because the ROC version has become my daily user.

Myke Hurley: And I love it. And how did I get it? Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I had people on watch. There was a red alert out for an ROC because we actually found one on eBay. And you bid it on and lost. And then you became a bitter eBay boy about the sniping. And so, you know, since we had talked about it, you know, a couple of people kept their eyes open. And one of them landed on the Fountain Pen Network. And it was a fair price, I thought. So I just went ahead and bought it. I wasn't going to wait around and, you know, let it slip away again. And even though it wasn't your preferred nib size, the TWSBI makes their nibs very easily swappable. So, yeah. I jumped on it, let you know, and sent it out to you.

Myke Hurley: Can you remember? Thank you very much, by the way. I mean, I honestly can't thank you enough for this. Because it was very, very kind of you to go through that trouble for me. Yeah, no problem. Can you remember what nib size it is? F. Can I tell you a secret? Or EF. Can I tell you a secret? Yeah, I think it's F. Go ahead. I love it.

Brad Dowdy: Really?

Myke Hurley: I love it.

Brad Dowdy: It's way finer than any other pen you have, huh? Do you have anything that fine?

Myke Hurley: No, it's perfect.

Brad Dowdy: What I've found, my ROC is EF. So I think yours is F nib. I'm almost positive. What I've found...

Myke Hurley: I've got the box. Let me see if it's on the box. Because I was looking on the nib and couldn't see any markings.

Brad Dowdy: It's on the side. It's not dead center. Look to the side.

Myke Hurley: There is an F on the box. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to go get the pen. It's in my bag. But I'm going to get it. But I can still hear you.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Well, what I've found about the ROC is... The Twisby nibs feel different than any other nib that I've tried. Just from a response perspective when the nib hits the page. I don't know how to explain it. It's not ultra smooth, like glassy feeling. But it's not rough either. There's almost like a... God, this is such an unfair term because it's more of a... It's a negative term. But how I feel is it's almost like it's sticky.

Brad Dowdy: And that's not... Like I said, that's not really a fair term because it's really smooth. And what I mean by that, saying it's sticky, is it leaves a very clean, sharp line. There's not a lot of spread. The nib is tight. It's... Okay. It's more of a dry writer, I guess you would say. It's not a super wet writer. The nibs... The ink's just not gushing out of the nib. I guess that's probably a better way to put it. But you can feel a little bit of the nib on the page. So it's not like super glassy. But the line is like no other. It's a comparable nib. It stands alone.

Brad Dowdy: When I use it, I always... I always enjoy using it because I always feel that it's different than others. The output is different. And it's excellent. It's really one of the best bang for the buck pens going.

Myke Hurley: So the blue one that John sent me is incredible.

Myke Hurley: Because what... He did tell me he had it customized. And it's really thick. And I love that. I mean, yeah. People know that that's my preferred in standard. But even though I got the great ink. So I got the Hiroshizoku Konpeki. Which dries nice and fast. Still not fast enough. I don't think I'll ever find an ink that would dry fast enough for the line that this pen lays down. Because it's not just a thick line. It's an inky line. But that's just how it is. It's one of the things I actually love about that pen. Right. But the fine in this is perfect. It's controlled. That's the best way I can describe how this pen feels. I feel like I have a greater control over it. But control is something that I usually don't feel like I have with very fine fountain pens in my own experience. Maybe I've just not in the past used the right pens. And this may be the next stage for me. This pen. But I will now be maybe more willing to try things out. But it's just the quality of the nib is extremely important.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And isn't that funny? Like you've, when we first started, you were, I mean, I think the finest nib you would use is a medium. And you had a lot of broad nibs. And then where me is, you know, I would only use an extra fine nib. And now I'm using these 1.1 and 1.5 millimeter stub nibs and loving them. It's crazy.

Myke Hurley: I mean, they're thicker than anything I would try. 1.1 or 1.5. That's ridiculous. That's like a marker pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I wouldn't take that to the office and take notes in a notebook with. But I get a ton of enjoyment writing with those pens. It's just fun.

Myke Hurley: But the, so the ROC is my current number one. Wow. It's, I really love the TWSBI. There are so many things that I love about the 540 that this, this, because I now have two of them. The filling system is excellent. The piston filling is just, it's brilliant. And we had somebody on Twitter ask us, they were worried about the TWSBI system. It's like, it's my favorite ink system. It's simple and easy. And I mean, unless you are a fool like me who dips the pen too far into the ink and gets your hand covered, as people may see from my Instagram. And I've actually just done it about two seconds ago. I took the blue TWSBI and I uncapped it, but obviously I hadn't dried it off properly because I've written with it and now my hand's covered in ink again. Oh, yeah. This is just my own stupidity that leads me to these situations. But yeah, but the nib is excellent on this because, and also it's a new experience for me, which I really, really love. But I just love the colors.

Brad Dowdy: They pulled that off wonderfully. I thought it was excellent.

Myke Hurley: And the Compecci ink leaves a very, very similar blue color to the end. So it goes blue, clear, blue, silver, red, silver, blue. I really, really like it a lot.

Brad Dowdy: It's funny. I've got the exact same ink lit it up in mine right now.

Myke Hurley: And it looks great, doesn't it?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. It's a perfect, perfect match.

Myke Hurley: This is an excellent pen and I'll be forever grateful that you were able to help me acquire this.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. Not a problem. I'm happy to do it. Happy to do it. I'm glad it's brought you so much enjoyment so far. I feel like today's going to be a long show. It's tracking that way and you know what? That's okay.

Myke Hurley: We're 15 minutes in. I have another five pens that I've arrived as well, which we'll get to that in a minute. But you have some follow-up as well.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe we won't even get into the main topic, but we'll see. Our main talking point today is my upcoming trip to the Atlanta Pen Show. And we might get to it. We might not. We'll certainly talk about it for a minute. I have a few points I want to make, but it doesn't have to be a long discussion.

Myke Hurley: You have a list and I would really like you to hear your list now and then on next week's show see what you picked up. So at the very least, I would like you to tell people what your list is.

Brad Dowdy: So we'll do that. We'll do that. But before we even get there, you're saying the TWSBI ROC is your new number one. I think I might have a new number one as well. The vanishing point is on notice. Wow. I think we mentioned it last week just either wrapping up or something like that that I have purchased my own Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the PO nib. And for those who have not heard me talk about it, we talked about it for a minute when I did the review on the blog about the Pilot Custom Heritage and this special nib that's called a PO nib. Just a quick recap of this nib and why it's special and why I enjoy it. And we'll link to the review in the show notes. But this is one of the pens that was loaned out to me by my friend Thomas who's been loaning me all these fountain pens to try out. And I'd never seen a nib like this PO nib, never heard of a PO nib. And when I got it, I was actually pretty scared by it because what it is, if you look at the image of it, it's like the fountain pen nib hooks downward, almost like a, I don't know, like a Falcon's Talon or something like that. It really hooks down. And it's called a posting nib. It looks broken. Yeah. That's what it looks like to me. It looks like you dropped the nib on a tile floor and it bent. But it's actually made that way and it's actually a very traditional Japanese nib that was made back in the turn of the 20th century. So where Japanese people that wrote with fountain pens, they write a lot of postcards. And since that medium wasn't very large, just the small card itself, they needed something very fine to write with. And since the paper quality wasn't that high, they needed something very firm to write with so the ink wouldn't spread. So Pilot came up with this posting nib. And what it allows is by far the finest fountain pen line I've ever used.

Brad Dowdy: And that's the feature of this pen. It's a firm, extra, extra fine nib. That's the only way it comes. And the reason why I have now finally purchased one because a reader of the pen addict read my previous article on the Pilot Custom Heritage, went out and purchased one, ordered one from Japan. That's the only place you can get them right now. There's a few vendors in Japan that sell them. He ordered one. He got it in. He loved it. But the line was way too fine. And that's the only way the PO nib comes. You don't get a PO nib that's medium. There's no variation. It is finer than any extra fine pen you've ever used before. And I actually did a writing sample I sent to Myke and tweeted it out where I wrote with the back of the pen. I don't know if I could write with like a .25 gel pen any finer than I wrote with this 912 PO nib. It's really something else. And I haven't set it down since I've got it. I've used no other pen since I've got it. It's sitting right in front of me right now. And I don't know. We'll see. I'm going to keep giving it some more time, see if I really go to it more than my vanishing point. But this is one of those things that I almost hate to make my favorite pen just because it's not really easily accessible. I mean anyone can order it, but it's not convenient to order. And it's certainly not cheap. It's an expensive pen.

Myke Hurley: Have you needed to adjust your writing style?

Brad Dowdy: No.

Writing Style

Myke Hurley: It doesn't make sense to me how that's possible. Do you understand why I would say that?

Brad Dowdy: I do. I do. I think it's because for one, I almost have a different writing style with a fountain pen anyway, right? That's just kind of the nature of a fountain pen. You have a little more laid back barrel angle, I guess if you will. And I think I'm right with a more vertical angle with a gel or a ballpoint pen. So it actually, when I first got, I will say this. When I first tried out Thomas's, I don't think I was holding it right. But it's just the finest little adjustment. The sweet spot on this pen is obviously very tiny. You do have to hold it at the right angle to get the smoothest performance. You can write with this pen and it can be very rough. But have I had to make any real adjustment to use this pen? And no, I haven't. I mean, it's very close to a traditional fountain pen grip or angle of writing is really what's more important. Not grip. But the angle of writing that I'm writing at, it's almost no different.

Brad Dowdy: Once I figured out where the sweet spot is, it's been no challenge for me to just pick up the pen and start writing and I'm good to go.

Myke Hurley: You see, that makes sense. It just, I can't understand that. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yep, yep. I let Hackett use it for a minute or two and I'm not sure he knew what to make of it, actually. He's like, wow, that's fine. But yeah, this is a pen I like. This is a pen that I want a lot of people to try. Like if I see them, I'm going to share this pen with them. But it's also one that I'm scared to try because it's probably pretty fragile if someone else gets a hold of this fine nib and does something crazy with it. But, you know, so we'll see. But be careful if you're going to buy one just like the guy I purchased it from. You know, he loved it, loved the idea of it. It was way too fine for him. And luckily I was able to, you know, chop a few bucks off of. Now I bought a used one that was practically brand new and, you know, saved 20 or 30 bucks from the brand new price and got my own. So it's a fascinating pen. It's hard to put down. So I'm going to keep using it and we'll see. We'll see. This is going to appear on some top five lists, that's for sure.

Myke Hurley: Very interesting. So my Jet Bands order that came through. Yeah. That we spoke about. It came through quite quickly.

Myke Hurley: Oh, probably an update as well. So my Field Notes books got slightly delayed.

Brad Dowdy: You still don't have the America's Beautiful editions?

Myke Hurley: I think they may be here tomorrow. Okay. There was a bit of an order mishap, but they very kindly rectified that for me. So it was very.

Brad Dowdy: Okay, cool. Because, yeah, normally they're shipping to you in general is very reasonable. Time frame wise.

Myke Hurley: They, I mentioned it to you, right? They shipped the wrong.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah, that's right. That was part of the order switcheroo. Gotcha.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I ended up getting another memo box rather than the books. But very kindly, I contacted them and they said to keep the box. Yep. And that surprised me a lot. And then they said they would ship out the books the next day. So I think that they may have arrived and I just need to pick them up tomorrow. Gotcha. So I'm very excited to see them. So I have my JetPens order that I spoke about. So I'll go through very quickly the stuff that I've got here. So the first thing is the Noodler's Conrad Flex Fountain Pen, which is a very strange beast that I had not, I could not have understood would be. So let me try and explain what I'm trying to get at. So it's a very nice looking pen, tortoiseshell fashion. It has a very strange filling mechanism. So it has a piston mechanism. But it's totally different. You have to unscrew the top of the pen and then twist this little part inside. Doesn't let a lot of ink in. And I guess this is why it's called a flex. You know, on a fountain pen you have, again, these are the terms I don't know, but you have the little line that goes up. This goes all the way up the nib. So if you press it too hard, the nib just separates entirely. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Does that make sense to you? That's your flex. Yes. That's what a flex nib does. That's its job.

Myke Hurley: What is the point of that?

Brad Dowdy: Line width variation. Like if you're going to write some fancy calligraphy or something like that.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah. Look at that.

Flex Nibs

Myke Hurley: Yeah. That's a very thick line. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And it's actually probably – I don't have a lot of flex nib experience, although I have a really cool one coming hopefully in about a month or so, which we'll hold off on that. I'll leave that tease out there, but it's pretty wicked.

Brad Dowdy: It's from what I've seen and what I've used to get the best effect out of a flex, you need to have some speed kind of behind your writing and some flair to it. Just like my standard print doesn't really work that well with a flex, you're not going to get that benefit of that nib. But if you have some – a lot of people use flex nibs for different classic writing styles, whether it be calligraphy or – I don't know all the proper terms, but the Spenserian writing. And there's different writing styles that use different line widths within the same letter. And something like a flex nib is going to come in handy for that copper plate or something. There's some different terms that I'm just throwing out there that I don't really know what they mean. But there's a specific use for a flex pen, and I would say everyday writing is probably not one of them.

Myke Hurley: What I know I've found in this, though, is a pen that will become my ink testing pen because it doesn't hold a lot of ink. And where the mechanism is, it was strange for me to understand how to use it.

Brad Dowdy: It's like a double screw kind of thing, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I was very confused by it. Yep. But yeah, so that's fine. I mean, it was quite cheap. I bought it because of the way it looked, really.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I'm going to get one. I don't have one right now, but I've used one. But I need to get one of those. That's something I want to have, something to play around with.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, this will be – I feel like I will get some use out of it in the future, but not for a daily use by any sense of the imagination.

Brad Dowdy: I think it would be a great ink testing pen, like you say.

Myke Hurley: And oh, Brad.

Myke Hurley: What? Oh, my. The Oto graphic liner. Oh, yeah. Oh, my word. Really? What a pen.

Myke Hurley: This blew my mind.

Brad Dowdy: Can you – yeah, I'm with you. You know where I stand on that, right?

Myke Hurley: It's like it lays water down on the page that somehow is dry. Yeah. It's incredible.

Myke Hurley: It's absolutely incredible. For a pen of this price range, how much does it cost?

Brad Dowdy: I think it's three something. It's around three. It might even be less than that. I'm not looking right at it.

Myke Hurley: $2.50. Mm-hmm. And I've never used a pen quite like it, in all honesty. It's a very strange experience. It feels like a felt tip. Like, it feels like an actual felt tip, like from when you were a kid, kind of the way, the smoothness of it. Because I guess all you're doing is just writing on an end of a silver bar, aren't you, really? Yeah. And the X is coming outside of it.

Brad Dowdy: I've had a hard time finding a comp to that pen. I can't really compare it to anything else. But like I said, everyone – the first time I tried it, it knocked my socks off. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me because I wasn't expecting it at all to work like it did. And then I started recommending it to people, and people would pick it up, and they had the same responses like, where have you been all my life kind of thing.

Myke Hurley: And this is not going to replace my daily usage pen, but this is something that I know I will always have one of these now. Yep. This is something that I will always keep a couple of. And basically what I'll say is the next time any of you listeners are at JetPens, just chuck one of these in the cart because you will be very, very pleasantly surprised with it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And be wary of the nib size, the tip size. If you want to go down a little bit from what the recommended size is, like if it says 0.5, it's going to be wider than what you would think of as like a gel 0.5. You want to go to like a 0.3.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I got a 0.5, and it's more like a 1.2. Yeah. It's ridiculous.

Brad Dowdy: It's why. It's why. I think I've ordered the smallest one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, see, I ordered the largest. And I'm happy with it, but it surprised me.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Well, good. Yeah, that pen's a real shocker. And I've definitely ordered more just so I have them handy. And I ordered one the first time. I was like, whoa, this is good. Then I always order, you know, two or three more just to have in different places for when I want to use them.

Myke Hurley: And in the same sort of vein, really, the Secura Pigma Micron.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that's right. You've never used the traditional one.

Myke Hurley: No, I've never used it. And it's very, very, very nice. Very nice pen. Yep. Again, the same sort of thing, like if you want to make some real quick notes and you don't – sometimes I don't want the hassle of a fountain pen. Sure. Because they do add something more.

Myke Hurley: I can write for a lot longer with a pen like one of these two than I can with a fountain pen.

Brad Dowdy: You just have to be more aware when you're using a fountain pen. And sometimes you don't want to be aware. You just want to go.

Myke Hurley: Exactly. You can't just pick up a fountain pen without looking and start writing because you might not have it held properly. And there are just certain considerations that you have to make when writing with a fountain pen that sometimes you can't – with it you don't have to when writing with a pen like one of these two.

Brad Dowdy: And the other thing that I like about the Secura and the Oto is they both use a pigmented ink. So it's going to be an archival quality ink that's going to be water-resistant, fade-proof, and all that good stuff. So great journaling pens, great pens for writing documents that are going to be around for a while and you want some permanency in their ink. They don't call them permanent markers, but they call it the ink pigmented ink. So it gets in the paper and it's not going to be easily removable.

Myke Hurley: Which is good. It's good to have.

Brad Dowdy: It's great to have.

Myke Hurley: So the Kukuyu Beetle Tip Freeway Highlighter is as delightful as I thought it would be. Good. I mean it's just – there's nothing to really write home about. It's a highlighter that you can make three different types of highlight with.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's just a great design. It's a very unique design. No one else has actually knocked it off yet, which I'm a little bit surprised. But it's – I don't know if it was one of the design award winners back when it was introduced, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. It was just a very unique highlighter. I don't use a lot of highlighters, but when I do, I use a Kukuyu Beetle Tip.

Myke Hurley: That was excellent. So the last thing that I received was a Pilot Metropolitan. Oh, okay.

Myke Hurley: It's nice.

Myke Hurley: I don't really know what more to say. Huh.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what to say there because you're the first person I've heard that's been like, huh. Everyone's usually like, oh, you've got to get this pen. I can't believe you don't have the Metropolitan yet. Why don't you have a Metropolitan? It's – okay.

Myke Hurley: So the nib and the writing quality is very nice. And you're right. It is weighted just about right. And all of the nice things that you would want in a fountain pen. But I just – I'm not excited by it.

Lamy Safari

Myke Hurley: Basically, this feels to me like we always say to people, get a Lamy Safari. But a Lamy Safari doesn't excite you. They're good pens. They're really good pens. But after you've started delving in a bit more into fountain pens, you no longer get excited to use a Lamy Safari. And this feels just like that for me. Like, that is not discounting the excellent quality of these pens. This is an excellent quality pen. Just the weighting of it alone is brilliant. But, I mean, I'm not extremely turned on by the style of it. I don't think that it is a particularly, like, striking-looking pen. It looks nice. But it –

Brad Dowdy: I agree. I actually agree with you on that.

Myke Hurley: It could cost any amount of money for the style that's gone into it.

Myke Hurley: Do you know what I mean? Like, it could cost $5 or $25. Like, there's nothing exciting about it. But the nib is very good. But I have, you know, a handful of other fountain pens that I would prefer to use just from a writing quality perspective. Even including something like the A.G. Spalding. Okay. Or Spalding. I would prefer to use that pen over this one. It's not as comfortable. Ow, there's my elbow. So, it looks for the A.G. Spalding. And, you know, but that is just a pen that gives me an element of joy but also is a very comfortable writer and lays a nice line too. I mean, it doesn't have the excellent weighting but I like that. I like this pen a lot, an awful lot because it is very exciting to me. But the Metropolitan, it just feels like a very perfect pen in that sense. But not like, oh, it's just a perfect pen. But just like a, everything here is really nice and nicely made and nicely done. And it's all good quality. But that's it. There's nothing, there doesn't really feel like there's any soul to it. Yeah. I think a lot of, once you get into the level that we are at, me and you, at this point, there has to be that something more that gives you something that this pen doesn't have.

Brad Dowdy: I think that's a real good point. And I've found that with some of the fountain pens or really any pen that I've reviewed where, you know, you've been to that rodeo before, right? And you know what fountain pens are about or you know what a gel ink pens are about or you know what a micro tip pen's about. And then you keep, now you're on your sixth or seventh example of that same thing. And you know, what's going, does this pen have something that's going to make you pick it up over one of these previous pens that you've already used? And in this case, the answer seems to be no. And I think it is that soul, you know, there's got to be something. There's got to be that soul. There's got to be just that feeling it gives you when you're writing with it that makes it different, that makes you reach for that pen, you know, out of your pen case. And use it regularly. You know, it doesn't have to be your favorite pen ever, but there's got to be something that makes you pick it up.

Myke Hurley: So what I feel like the Metropolitan is, is a second answer to a fountain pen for beginners or a fountain pen for somebody starting out or a fountain pen for anyone. But I'm kind of past that phase now. Right. So it's very, very good. You won't be, I'm not disappointed. No, certainly. But I'm just not, you know, I'm just not excited by it really.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm still going to get one. I want to get one for myself. You should.

Myke Hurley: You should.

Brad Dowdy: I feel like. I'm not in love with the barrel designs, kind of like you. They're just average. And I'm not in love with the fact that it, the only thing that's readily available is the medium nib, even though apparently there is a fine nib. Someone let me, someone did email me about that. So I'll have to see if a fine nib comes available for that. But we'll see. I'm definitely going to order one. I want to try it. And I want to review it.

Myke Hurley: I wish they didn't have that detailing in the middle.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I would buy the blank one. There's, you know, there's a blank and then there's like three different patterns for each color.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean, all I could get was the, I got a gold one with dots on it. And I think that that doesn't help the situation. Right. I just don't think it looks very nice. And I don't really like gold.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, the only choice for me will be ordering the black one with the blank section or group area, whichever part has the design on it. There's a solid. So, yeah, that's the other reason is they sold out like a jet pins. They sold out real quick and other places they sold out real quick. And, you know, so I'm just, it wasn't that enticing for me to like just buy any one of them to have it. I was going to buy one that I wanted. So I'm just waiting, waiting to see.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, see, I'm very happy it's in my collection. But it will probably just stay in my collection.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. And we all have pins like that. I mean, I've got pins like that too.

Myke Hurley: I have a whole pen pot of them over there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So, yeah, that is my order.

Brad Dowdy: Man, you did pretty good. I forgot this was the order where you ordered some of my top five pins. I forgot about that. I knew you made the order, but I forgot the content. So, yeah, I'm glad you went through that and discovered some of those other pins. That's pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. As I say, overall, it was one of my better orders, you know, the larger orders that I make. And that is, you know, thanks to you really for putting that list together.

Brad Dowdy: Sure, sure. I'm actually getting anxious to really expand that list now. It's been – I'm still getting lots of great feedback on that. I'm ready to – I need to put some time in it to go into more detail for each of those pins. So, look for that soon.

Pen Show

Myke Hurley: Sure will. So, should we take a quick break and then we'll talk about the pen show?

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely.

Myke Hurley: Well, this is a pen show, but it's a different kind of pen show. So, let's take a quick break to thank our lovely sponsors, the fine folks, the fine ladies and gentlemen over at Squarespace.com who give you everything you need to make an amazing website. Squarespace is a fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a beautiful website, blog, or portfolio. It doesn't matter how experienced you are when it comes to building websites. You can build something amazing in minutes. You don't have to worry about hosting, scaling, or integrating with social services like Twitter and Facebook. Squarespace have introduced their new Squarespace Commerce. It's never been easier to start selling online with Squarespace Commerce. You can add a fully integrated store to your website and instantly start accepting payments. You can sell absolutely anything, physical or digital goods, and you can start selling them immediately. They have painless store management, inventory management, order processing, customizable emails, multiple shipment methods, and much, much more. And as I say, all of this can be painlessly integrated into any new or existing Squarespace site. And you still get all of Squarespace's excellent existing features, including their beautiful themes, their drag-and-drop page builder called Layout Engine, the great structure that we mentioned earlier. They take care of things like SEO for you. So when we search for things that Brad writes about, he always seems to come to the top for me. You don't have to worry about what your site's going to look like on a mobile device either because they have responsive web design built in to all of their themes, 24-7 customer support, and much, much more. If you can find out more about this and sign up for a free trial at squarespace.com forward slash 70 decibels, Squarespace plans start at $10 a month for their standard plan. They also have unlimited and business plans too, and you can get discounts if you sign up for one or two years up front. When you sign up for any Squarespace plan, use the code 70DECABELS4 and you will get 10% off your first order. So go check out Squarespace, everything you need to make an amazing website. Thank you to Squarespace for their continued support.

Brad Dowdy: Awesome. Thank you, Squarespace.

Myke Hurley: So what have we got?

Brad Dowdy: All right. So I've been looking forward to the Atlanta Pen Show pretty much probably since January. It's this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Atlanta. I will be going on Saturday. I'm going to try to spend most of the morning and probably on into the early afternoon there. So I'll be there for several hours if anyone, if any listeners, I don't know if we have any listeners in Atlanta. If they want to meet up, shoot me an email or a tweet. I'd love to meet anyone in person there at the Pen Show. But I alluded to it a little bit on the post I made this morning about the Pelican M405 to where last year was my first ever Pen Show. I went to the Atlanta Pen Show. And I was marginally into fountain pens. I didn't really know what to expect going into a show like that. And I was honestly, one, unprepared and two, overwhelmed. I mean, I felt I was a little bit shy. I wasn't really willing to get in there and discuss with the dealers about their pens and things like that. I felt like I was too inexperienced to ask the proper questions. And basically, I was kind of like a deer in the headlights. I bought some things. I had fun. I totally enjoyed it and came home with some new pens. That's actually where I bought my black matte vanishing point. This year, I think, for me, is going to be very different in the fact that I know a lot more about fountain pens. It's called the Atlanta Pen Show, but it might as well just be called the Atlanta Fountain Pen Show. That's probably, I would say, 80%, 85% of the products are fountain pens, fountain pen related. There's certainly some other things, other pens and paper there too and inks and things like that. But it's mostly fountain pens.

Myke Hurley: I feel like when you get to this sort of level that you're at a pen show, it's going to be fountain pens. Yeah, definitely. Because that's the real enthusiast stuff. Exactly. Because you can only go so far of a ballpoint.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it. It's the enthusiasts that are looking for either old vintage stuff or new limited rare type stuff or new to market products. Those type of things that aren't the easiest to come by. And it's a couple ballrooms worth of dealers. It was a pretty decent sized show. I don't have any other show to compare it to. I don't think it's gigantic by any means. But there was dozens and dozens of dealers and lots of tables. And this year, I think over the past year, I've really kind of grown my knowledge base of fountain pens, know the things that I like, know the things that I dislike. And, you know, fortunately working with Thomas to be able to try out a bunch of pens I've never tried before, I kind of have a really good idea of what I'm shopping for.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912

Brad Dowdy: Prior to me purchasing this Pilot Custom Heritage 912 PO nib, that would have been at the top of my shopping list. But I would have fully expected, that would have been the number one item on my shopping list. I would have fully expected not to find it there. I would have expected that I would have had to order that online just because it's really kind of a strictly Japanese pen. It's not really readily available to a lot of vendors unless they're dealing in that type of thing in the U.S. But what I do have on my show shopping list is the number one thing and the thing I'm going for the most and that I will absolutely come home with is nib adjustments to two pens. Thomas works with a gentleman named Myke Masayama. And we've mentioned him once on the show because you enjoyed his website. Name is Myke at Work.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I remember you talking about him. I can't remember why we'd brought it up.

Brad Dowdy: Probably because I mentioned it in one of the reviews I did a few months ago about one of Thomas's fountain pens that I borrowed that had nib work done by him. But Myke Masayama is basically a nibmeister. He repairs nibs, grind nibs, reshapes nibs. And I've got two nibs that I want him to work on. Number one, my Lamy 2000 that I've grown more and more fond of over the years and still haven't reviewed on the blog, which I need to do.

Myke Hurley: You've mentioned it a couple of times, but we've never really spoken about it too much.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I plan on reviewing it after I get a nib adjustment because I've had some problems. It's a notorious...

Myke Hurley: That's all we've spoken about, actually. I remember you saying you were... I think you'd recently got it. Yeah. And you were unhappy with it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm having some start and stop problems with the nib. Put it this way. It's so notorious that if you order one from Goulet pens, they will actually test out the nib before sending it to you and make any adjustments if they feel that they're warranted.

Myke Hurley: Oh, my word. That doesn't sound like a good pen at all. I'd be very intrigued to hear why you like this pen at the time when... Maybe after we've had it done. So I was reading your post this morning about the Pelican M405, which you mentioned, and I think we're going to talk about it in a bit more detail in a minute. And I made a mental note to ask you about this. So you're going there and you're going to get Myke Masayama to work on these nibs. Have you had to put time in with him?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's one thing I'm actually worried about. That's why I'm going to get there early Saturday so I can get in the queue. When I was there last year, I saw him working, and I never saw him not working on pens. So I think I'm going to have to go. You go sit with him. You talk about what you want. He looks at your writing style, and then he makes the adjustments accordingly. I just don't know how long that's going to take. But also, I would be willing to have him take the pens and ship them back to me. I wouldn't have a problem with that because I was going to ship them to him anyway, but I figured I'd just wait until the pen show since he was going to be there. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So another question. Do you not worry? Am I getting it wrong?

Brad Dowdy: Zero.

Myke Hurley: I don't know this guy. Only through you mentioning him. So I'm sure that there are people that listen to the show right now that have just screamed in horror when I asked that question because this guy is so good. But you're giving him this expensive thing. Mm-hmm. And especially because you – did you say the other pen that you're going to have him work on?

Brad Dowdy: No. I bought that old-school Pilot Vanishing Point, the faceted one, that all-black, black clip, solid black everything. It came with a medium nib. And I want to get that – I want to see if it's possible to grind that into a stub nib. So I'm going to see. That one I have more question about than the Lamy going from like an EF nib to like an EEF nib. And plus I think it needs a little smoothing to the Lamy 2000. But to answer your question about do I worry about someone working on my pens and them not being to my liking, that's not even on the radar. I'd say 0% worried.

Myke Hurley: For this guy.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And even some of the other ones there, he's not going to be the only one there working. There's another gentleman named Pendleton Brown that does a lot of work like this and a lot of people will be getting him to work on his pens too. I mean this is what these guys do for a living. So if I can't trust them, I can't trust anybody. And I've used some of the Masuyama nibs that Thomas has had adjusted and they're flawless. I mean he does what seems to be a great job.

Myke Hurley: Is it expensive?

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. Looking at the prices on his website, like if I was to ship to him, not counting the shipping, I think it's probably going to cost me somewhere around $40 a pen.

Myke Hurley: Okay. That's not as much as I thought it was going to cost.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah, I'm hoping. We'll see. You know, I'll have quotes. And I think that seems pretty fair, you know, $40 per pen. But I don't even know if that's what it's going to cost. So it's going to be, I think, in that ballpark, you know, give or take $10 or $20.

Myke Hurley: It would be kind of awesome to see him do it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's cool. I mean he sits right there. I mean he's just going to town, you know, while you're walking around the pen show. He's just got all his gear. He's got, you know, ink all over his hands. I mean he's just – I watched him work a little bit last year and I was like, I can't even talk to this guy. I would be so embarrassed of what would come out of my mouth. But this year I feel like I'm good to go. I'm going to go have a chat and get some nib work done. And that's my number one priority at the pen show. Anything else is going to be gravy.

Myke Hurley: So what are the lower priorities then?

Brad Dowdy: A Parker 51 is pretty much guaranteed to come home with me only because at a show like this I'm going to have hundreds to choose from.

Myke Hurley: Oh, really?

Sailor Pens

Brad Dowdy: That's one pen that I'm not going to have any trouble finding. Hopefully I can find one that matches me style-wise.

Brad Dowdy: We've talked about or I've mentioned it somewhere in passing that I don't really like gold anything on my pens. I don't like gold trim. I don't like gold nibs. And I don't like gold caps, whatever. So there's plenty of Parker 51s. I'd say the majority of Parker 51s have gold accents. But there's plenty that have silver. So that'll be how I narrow down the Parker 51s. And then I'll just have to look at the quality and the nib. Hopefully I can get a fine nib. I don't think it's going to be too big of a challenge to find a good quality Parker 51 that fits my style. I don't have a great idea on what that's going to cost me. I'm budgeting hope. I'm budgeting like $100 for that. And hopefully I can get it for less. I don't know if I can or not. I don't know if I'm delusional or not. But I'll know more once I get there and start poking around. Because that should be something where I should have, even narrowing it down to just the silver options, no gold trim. I should have dozens of choices, I believe. So I think I should be able to find something there.

Brad Dowdy: Next on the list is a Sailor Sapporo or Progear. I don't own a Sailor. I don't own a good quality Sailor fountain pen. And I don't own one with a gold nib. And I've tested some of Thomas' out. I haven't posted the reviews yet. It's the best nib I've ever used. It's as far as smoothness goes. They're really, really nice nibs. And that's actually what Sailor is known for. Their nibs are extremely, extremely well respected. And that's something I want to pick up. My issue with that's kind of a 50-50 thing on whether I'm going to get one or not. Just because that's going to come down to price. The Progear is the more expensive of the two. We're talking probably over $200 for one of those. With the Sapporo, probably in the low $100s. I don't know what I'm going to do yet on that. It just depends.

Myke Hurley: That's really expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't have... Especially when you start adding all the other prices that you've been... I know.

Brad Dowdy: I know. And I'm not taking that. I'm not made of money. My list is bigger than my budget, I'm pretty sure. That's why I don't think I'm going to come home with everything. But I need something to focus on while I'm there or else I'll really get lost. But if anything, that's probably the one that doesn't come home with me. Mostly because of cost. And I hate to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I can order both of those pens cheaper from a Japanese vendor by about a third of what it would cost from another vendor. And I hate to say that because I really want to support the folks that are at these pen shows. So I would pay more just to support them. But the price is going to be the issue with these sailors. So we'll see. We'll see how that plays out.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but the thing is, I mean, you can only support to a point. I mean, if it's a third of the price, that's a huge...

Brad Dowdy: Yep. I'd say it's a third less. Say like, you know, if the Pro Gear is, you know, $250, I could probably order it. Or $225, I could probably order it from Japan, from one of the Japanese vendors for like $150. I mean, that's a big nut. So we'll see. We'll see. Next on the list is I want a vintage Estabrook pen. And the king of all things Estabrook, Mr. Brian Anderson, him and his wife Lisa are going to be there. They run AndersonPens.net, which is a really nice fountain pen retailer online. I want to meet them and hopefully take home an Estabrook from Brian. I've also been testing out one of those that I haven't posted in my review yet. But this is the pen we talked about with Patrick Rohn, where they have, you know, a few different pen barrels, but several dozen different nibs that you can put in these pens. I don't know if you remember that conversation, but he linked us to a blog where it just listed. I mean, it must have been 50 different nibs you could put in these pens, you know, with the accountant nib and all kinds of stub nibs and crazy things like that. So I definitely want to come home with a vintage Estabrook from the Andersons and I look forward to meeting them at the pen show.

Myke Hurley: But do you know what sort of nib you want then?

Brad Dowdy: Actually, I'm going to work on that here in the next day or two and kind of narrow it down to a handful because I think some of them are rarer than others. Like you wouldn't be able to just go to a show and pick one up even from someone who collects them like Brian. So I'm going to kind of get a grasp of the there's a numbering system to them. So I'm going to write down the numbers that I'd be interested in trying.

Myke Hurley: They have one on their site, Brad, for one thousand three hundred and fifty dollars.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm hoping to get one for about fifty, maybe sixty dollars there. They're from a for a vintage pen. They're very reasonably priced less than the Parker's, actually. But yeah, Brian. Brian is known as Mr. Estabrook or something like that. He's got a whole site dedicated to Estabrook. So he knows everything about these pens and probably has some really rare, rare versions that he that he sells. So that that doesn't surprise me at all. But I will not be in that price range for an Estabrook. I can promise you that.

Myke Hurley: I'm pleased.

Brad Dowdy: No, we're looking at we're looking at around fifty or sixty dollars for an Estabrook.

Myke Hurley: Digging around now to see if I can find a more expensive one.

Brad Dowdy: That's why actually that's why people enjoy these Estabrooks because they're nice. They're relatively inexpensive and they're hugely customizable from the amount of nibs that are just available for these pens.

Brad Dowdy: So the last thing on my shopping list, you want me to go on or are you still having Estabrook fascination?

Myke Hurley: I'm just digging around now. But yeah, please.

Pelican M405

Brad Dowdy: The last thing on my list is actually the pen I reviewed this morning and which is the Pelican M405. And it doesn't it doesn't have to be that exact pen. But I want to become more aware of what Pelicans are out there and available. I think like the Parker 51, there's going to be dozens, if not hundreds of Pelicans that I should be able to look at. I may come home with one. I may not, depending on what I've spent on this other stuff.

Brad Dowdy: But that's going to it's going to be on the radar. I don't know if I'm going to come home with one, but I was really impressed with this Pelican more so than probably I even came off in the review this morning or yesterday. Excuse me.

Brad Dowdy: That was a really impressive pen. That was the first Pelican I've used. It was like I kind of said in the review. It just everything was right about the pen. It felt like it was made for my hand and for my writing. So it was it was it was a very cool pen. So that's I want to I may not come home with a Pelican, but I want to try that the Pelican, the the range of Pelicans available is going to be massive. They just they make lots of pens and they have lots of different styles and price ranges from, you know, under a hundred just under a hundred dollars to who knows how much. I mean, just lots of money. So that's going to be more of a trial run thing. So that's that's that's the main things on my list right now. And it's it's subject to change and we'll be anxious to see what I come home with. I know I'll be getting the network done and I'm pretty certain I'll come home with a with a Parker 51 after that. We'll see.

Myke Hurley: So interestingly, so I'm going to call you out now. OK, so I'm on your site. And in in a comment that you left to Thomas, you said that you were certain on the sailor.

Brad Dowdy: I'm certain that I want one. Ah, right. You know, he asked me what my wish list is.

Myke Hurley: I see. Yes.

Brad Dowdy: Not for not for the pin show that overall. Yeah, that's my that's the number one pin that I want. Right. Right. To buy. Now, knowing that at the pin show, it's not number one on my list because I don't know that I'm going to be able to get one there for a price that I want to pay. Does that make sense?

Myke Hurley: Yes. No, I understand.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I have an overall wish list. My overall wish list now that I have this PO Nib Pilot is a sailor pro gear for sure. But it's not high on my pin show list because I think my options are going to be limited and I think the price might be too high. But it's absolutely the number one pin. The pin that I want more than anything right now is a sailor pro gear.

Myke Hurley: And so you can get one of these for an OK price, but maybe it's just not on the show. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. We'll just have to see. I mean, I'm willing to buy one that's used or is lightly used. It doesn't have to be brand new. And, you know, we'll see. I saw a few of them last year, but I wasn't looking that hard either. So I'm anxious to see. I very well may come home with like with a Sapporo, which would be, you know, a less expensive version of the pro gear. But it will still have a nice, I think, 14 karat gold nib on the Sapporos. I'll have to double check that.

Myke Hurley: But the only other thing that you have to consider is you need to come home to Mrs. Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: Trust me. This is. Yeah. That's why I've been prepping her for months. I was like, you know, I'm going to need some money for the show up here. I've been laying that groundwork to not to not get sent to the doghouse when I get home. So, yeah, she is. She is well aware of what is coming up next Saturday.

Myke Hurley: One of those things where it's best if she just doesn't ask.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely. Absolutely. She knows I'm going and she won't ask questions when I get home. She can probably tell by the look on my face.

Myke Hurley: The happier you look, the sadder she'll be. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Awesome. I'm very excited to hear about what you come away with and I guess just stories of the show in general.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll try to take some pictures. I was too shy and too nervous last year. I felt out of my element without question. This year, I think I'll be right in there. So, I'm looking forward to it.

Myke Hurley: Good stuff. Cool, man. Yep. I'm very excited to hear about it because, yes, last year's Brad Dowdy is very different to this year's Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: It really is. It's been quite a change and it's only been a year. So, we shall see. It's all good stuff.

Myke Hurley: Do you think, when you go to these places, does anybody know who you are? No, I don't think so. No.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, last year, definitely not. This year, I have no idea.

Brad Dowdy: I doubt it. I'd say for the most part, no.

Myke Hurley: You are a rock star there.

Brad Dowdy: Highly unlikely.

Myke Hurley: Anything else you want to add today?

Brad Dowdy: I think I'm good. I need to go do some writing with this PO nib. I don't want to make too much racket, but I can't put that pen down.

Myke Hurley: Well, I'm pleased. I'm pleased you're happy with it.

Myke Hurley: Cool.

Brad Dowdy: I need a disclaimer on that pen. This pen is not for everybody.

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think I would. I don't want anyone else going out and buying this pen and think I'm going to buy it off of them when they don't like it. I've already done that and I only need one of them. They're too expensive for me to buy the next person's pen that buys it on mistake.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that that would be something that I would want. It doesn't look like it. It looks like something I would be quite intimidated by. Mm-hmm. You know. Yep. Righty-ho. So you can keep up with Brad and the things that he is up to when it comes to the pen show over on Twitter and app.net. And he is dowdy, D-O-W-D-Y on app.net. And dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter. And Brad also writes for penaddict.com, which is his blog. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E, on both Twitter and app.net. Thank you very much for listening to this week's episode of the Pen Addict podcast. Next week, episode 50, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Wow. I'm looking forward to that.

Myke Hurley: So we'll be back then. Thank you very much for listening. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.