The Pen Addict 519/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	519
Title:	We Tried Harder With This One
Release Date:	June 29th, 2022
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 519
Audio File:	Audio Episode 519
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 519
Length:	5353 min <br />0.883 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: Welcome to The Pen Addict. From here on out? Is that what you're leading into there? No, no, this is all good. I mean, just me, you're asking me in general how I am and I'm doing okay, you know? Like, am I happy to be here with you right now? Of course I am, you know? Okay, okay. Good, good. We should just mention up top that we recorded this episode a week in advance, when you're hearing it. Just in case, like, I don't know what's going to happen in the next seven days. It might come up from time to time. But, you know, we're recording a week in advance. We had some weird scheduling stuff and this is how it's ended up being.

Brad: Yeah, and it's literally going to affect our first topic, which I think we should just get straight into, because you were blowing up my phone about the new Tactile Turn.

Myke: I sent you one Instagram message.

EDC Knife and Pen Combo

Brad: The Tactile Turn Ultimate EDC. So let me tell you how this happened for you. I was just scrolling through Instagram and I happened to stop on this picture, this latest thing from Tactile Turn. And I don't have notifications on, like, to be notified when I'm outside of the app. Me too. But I was in the app and I got a message from you, which is jarring, right? Because that just doesn't, I don't get a lot of Instagram messages, nor do I pay attention to many Instagram messages. But Myke sends me a message. I don't even, I'm not even looking at it. It was probably just like an OMG or something like that. Yeah, it was something along those lines. Tell me what you think about this, because you actually kind of led this off and wanted to talk about this.

Myke: I kind of can't really put my finger on it. So it's a combo product, like, that they're doing. I assume they're selling them separately. I don't know.

Brad: They are. You can buy them as a set or you can buy them individually.

Myke: And it is a knife and a pen. And they're both made of that Ultem material, the kind of like, we spoke about it before with Shone pens, right? They were making some Ultem, right? Yeah. Remember that?

Brad: It's a medical grade plastic, like highly durable, you know, unbreakable type of plastic. That's known for its amber color. Yeah, amber. That's the color. Yeah. So it either comes in amber or black and that's it, right? Like, that's how it's manufactured. And we've seen pen makers turn to this as an alternate material. Yeah. Right. Like a lot of, I don't know who was the first to use it, but like I bought a Kasama pen, you know, I guess it's been a couple years ago now. And they launched before that. That's the first one I saw starting to make Ultem pens, but there was probably someone before them. You know, I just don't know all the things all the time. But a lot of the smaller...

Myke: I recently, today actually, just saw a keyboard made with it. Oh, interesting.

Brad: I would like to like get a visual of that after the show, just out of curiosity.

Myke: It's just the top piece. The rest of the keyboard is made of aluminum, but they have these like top parts that go on like accent.

Brad: Gotcha. So, yeah, it's designed to just be like this really strong plastic, right? Like very durable. It's perfect for like EDC. It's, you know, practically indestructible, but that also makes it hard to machine, right? There's a trade-off. That's why, you know, we see a lot of makers, like we've talked a million times about my Edison pen that was made in that G10 material. And it's like, well, that would be great if you could make a pen from that, except that it destroys the machines that you actually need to make the pen in the process of making the pen, right? So, it's not a great process. You know, just because you can do it doesn't mean you will make it into a product, right? So, Ultim has seemed to kind of make a little bit of a crossover into our space now, and then you get something like this. So, what are you most curious about? The looks? The feel? The look. Is this real? Like, do you like it or not like it? That's what I couldn't decide.

Myke: So, I put in the Discord and in the show notes a link to the keyboard that has the Ultim top piece on it. So, it looks similar.

Brad: Yeah. I see what you're talking about. And yeah, I could see that working.

Myke: Yep. And this is instead of like an acrylic. Like, they have a couple of options of acrylics, and one of them is Ultim.

Myke: There's just something I like about it. Honestly, I'm more drawn to the knife than the pen, I think. Mm-hmm. And I just think it looks really good. I like that you can see the knife inside. I just think that that is quite unique. I haven't seen something like that before, especially with a knife. You know, I'm very used to it with pen stuff. And there's just something about it that I like the combo. I really like the little piece of Ultim they've put on the string, right, that's on the knife. Like, I just think it looks really good in a way that I kind of don't really pay attention to. I actually did not know that they made knives, let alone that they have a whole separate company called Tactile Knife. I didn't know this about Tactile Tone. I don't know how I missed it.

Brad: I'm giggling because not only did I not know that, I didn't realize it until I was putting together the show notes. Like, I missed it in, like, all the other links and everything that they've done. And seeing all these images before, that there is actually a separate company as part of that. Yeah. I literally discovered that yesterday. So, yeah.

Myke: I'm pleased that you didn't know that as well.

Brad: Yeah. No, I didn't. It's like, you know, I can follow lots of things. I just can't follow all the things all the time. And this is one, like, I'm super glad I saw this set. So, I like you. I really like the looks of it. I know I'm going to like the knife because the reason why I'm not more of a knife person probably is because I don't like the weight of knives. And this is probably going to be, like, an ultralight type of situation. Yeah. Oh, man.

Myke: I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah. I'd be brilliant. Basically, I'm not going to, like, set an alarm for this.

Pre-order Reminders

Myke: But if it comes around on June 28th and I'm reminded about it, I'm going to buy it.

Brad: Yeah. And I wonder if this is, like, the seasonal thing to where you have, like, you know, 90 days to order it. I'm going to have had to. Right?

Myke: Remember, we're in the future past right now.

Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah. True. But still, I'm saying you may not have to set an alarm. It might just be available for the window. Like they did, you know, the GT that we bought and the other things.

Myke: I'm sure it might be, like, a pre-order type thing, right?

Brad: Yep. I'm actually more curious about the pen than the knife. I'm used to Ultem in fountain pens. I have two now. The Shone Design that you mentioned and the Kusama, which are vastly, vastly different pens. And this will be the first one that I've seen with mechanics in the barrel, right? So it's the bolt action tactile turn model as opposed to the side click. And, you know, with the hardware and the cutout of the barrel of the Ultem, like, I just want to, you know, see how that goes and see how the feel of the pen is compared. Because, again, it's going to be an ultralight compared to, like, the aluminum and steel and copper and brass barrels that they normally use for the side click. So I'm most interested in that.

Brad: It's cool looking. Like, I obviously like this design. This is not for everybody. Like, this is not everybody's thing. But this is kind of one of those cool things that I'm really into.

Brad: Seeing that this is a podcast out of time, I might actually have these in my hand before this episode publishes. So we might be, you might be retroactively seeing them on my Instagram feed. I'm hoping to get them before, before long, before I head out on vacation. So I can give them a test, a road test here pretty quickly, which then you will know from the future or the past, you know, what we're doing. So there you go. I like it. It's going to be cool.

Myke: I'm going to add to the podcast out of time this of this episode. Because I just realized kind of the day that we're recording, which is the 22nd. And remembered that the Studio Neat Mark III Kickstarter campaign launches today. Okay. And it is up now. I don't know if they've started promoting it, but I've known about this. It is a mechanical pencil version of the Mark I, Mark II aesthetic.

Brad: Right. So hang tight. I'm jamming some buttons here. You've got to go take a look at this. I've known about this. I've already looked. You knew about it? Well, I listened to the episode and I want to talk about this, but I want to order it first real quick. So I'm going to get my information in there. There's no, well, see, if I don't do it now, I'm going to forget about it. So let me do this.

Myke: So this is essentially a, imagine a Mark I. So the Studio Neat Mark I, I'm too used to saying Cortex Mark I, I'll get to that in a minute too. So Studio Neat Mark I, but slimmer. So it's about the same kind of height, but it's a little slimmer and it's a mechanical pencil. It has just a regular kind of like pipe coming out of it. The pipe isn't retractable and it's using a Schmidt kind of mechanism. But they, I'm pleased that they went this route because it has stuff that you would expect, like the ability to be able to change the refill mechanism. So you could use different lead widths with Schmidt. So 0.5 or 0.7. And it also has the inbuilt eraser. Like these were things that if they would have done what they did with the Mark I, which was completely make their own, it might have been more complicated for them to do this. Weirdly, like I've been thinking about it. I reckon a mechanical pencil mechanism more complicated than a retractable pen mechanism.

Brad: Yeah. To manufacture your own for sure. For sure. But the swapping out of the sizes, that's something that's done in other makers. Oh, I don't doubt that. I was just saying like this is a thing that they did. Yeah. It's just essentially like a refill, right? You just take the whole thing out and put the other one in.

Myke: But if they would have made custom, maybe that wouldn't have been the case, right? So that was kind of the point that I was making.

Brad: It would have cost five times as much, I'm sure. Sure. So the best thing. So I listened to the Thoroughly Considered Members episode. And once they started talking about it, I was like, please be skinnier. Please be skinnier. Please be skinnier. Because I do not like. I mean, this is personal, right? They can do whatever they want. I do not like wide body fountain pens, right? I mean, excuse me, mechanical pencils, because you have to have this tiny, you know, writing tip with a wide diameter barrel that does not work for the way that I write, right? So I think you have to like the thinner the tip size, the thinner, the more you have to manage the diameter of where you hold the pen or pencil.

Myke: Because of the rotation and stuff like that, right?

Brad: Yeah, just the level of detail. If you're telling me I'm going to write with a 0.5 millimeter tip, or in this case, 0.7 is what it ships with. Still, like, there's a level of detail that I lose the wider the diameter of the grip section is. So I'm super glad that it's going to be a more narrow diameter than the Mark 1, which is exactly what I was looking for. So I have backed it.

Myke: Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this.

Brad: Mm-hmm.

Myke: Because I think they made the right design decisions. Like, I'm happy they've gone back to the Mark 1 as, like, the design platform to build this product. I think it makes logical sense. And I liked that they have all of the same color options and stuff, which, again, is, like, a good platform to build from in the future. And I think that they've made the right considerations about having a refill and all that kind of stuff. Because I think the experience there is better than the experience they would have gotten using the Schmidt mechanism, right? I've tried what a version of the Mark 1 would have been like that, and it wasn't. It's nowhere near as good. But I think that this is, like, kind of a perfect mixture. And I agree. Like, when it's difficult to see, I like that they actually show it a lot with the Mark 1. Because if you look at it in isolation, it looks just like a Mark 1. But then when you see it next to it, like, oh, okay, the dimensions are different. So, yeah, I'm pretty into it. And it's available now. I mean, I'm going to guess they will hit the goal by the time you've heard this. But if they haven't, it will be incredibly close to be my expectation.

Brad: Oh, I'm sure. I didn't even look at what it was. I just backed it. Yeah, it's $40,000, and it's ticking up.

Myke: I don't know if they've publicized it. Oh, it's $50,000. It was converting into pounds for me.

Brad: Gotcha. Yeah, should be no problem. Detail mechanical pencils are a good Kickstarter project, as we know, at Spoke Design.

Myke: Yeah, I'll actually be really keen to hear when you get this, how you rate this. Yeah.

Brad: Oh, I will rate this very highly. I don't, just based on the Mark 1. Sure. So, you know, I know what to expect here, which, you know, I'm, you know, in a different position than a lot of people to have to test out these things. But I didn't get a preview sample of this or anything. But I, there's no question that I'm going to like this. You know, we'll check the barrel diameter. That's what I want to see. Yeah. You know, the, the, the, how, how it holds up. That's the only question is like literally where you grip this pen, pencil. Excuse me. And yeah, that'll be it.

Myke: Yeah. And usage, these things are always different, right? Yep. Speaking of, I kind of slipped up on it a second ago. There, we have had a restock of the Cortex Mark 1 pen. By the time that you're hearing this, I reckon we'll still have a small amount left. So if you missed it or if you were looking for one previously, we have it available now. So I put a link in the show notes. You can go get it. You go to contextmerch.com. We still got some left. And I reckon if you want one, I reckon you'll be able to get one by the time you're hearing this. Man, we chose a real, a real bad week to do this. To be fair, I don't know if there's ever a good week to do what we've done, but we've done it. And now, now we'll pay the price.

Email Management

Brad: We're stuck with it. We're going to get emails. It's all right. You'll get emails. True.

Myke: Nobody emails me, which is good. That's exactly how I like it because I get so much trash email all the time.

Brad: I know. Are you saying our listeners are trash? Wow, Myke. No, no, no.

Myke: I get trash email.

Brad: That's literally what you said.

Myke: So I don't want more email. That's the problem. But what I will say, if people are writing in to complain that we recorded a week in advance, that's a trash email, Brad. I'll tell you that right now. That is a trash email that I don't want.

Brad: Well, I'll make sure to forge you any trash emails that I get.

Myke: Well, I'll just do to that email what I do to all of my trash emails is just immediately archive them and read them. We love our listeners. They're the best. Oh, I love our listeners because I don't believe that they will write in to complain that we recorded a week in advance. Exactly. But if they do, then I don't think I could love them. This episode of the pen addict is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet. Our true friends at Pen Chalet. They sell all of the best products from all of your favorite brands. Whether you're looking for a new fountain pen to add to your collection, maybe you want a new ballpoint. Maybe you're looking for a rollerball as a gift for a family member. It doesn't matter what you're looking for or for who you want it to be made by. Pen Chalet are going to have it. And because you listen to this show, you're going to get great prices, discounts. You're going to get extra special pricing. Pen Chalet always offers products at the best prices they can. They're always running sales. Every couple of weeks, you can go and find sales along with new products being added. They have fast and reliable customer service. They also do all the accessories you're going to need too. If you want some ink, carrying case, maybe a pen holder, it doesn't matter what you're looking for. Pen Chalet is going to have it. You should always go there first because Pen Chalet has low prices and high quality pens. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They offer free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US and they ship worldwide with great shipping rates. All you need to do is go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password pen addict and you will get your hands on some very special offers. Pen Addict listeners and also a code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time at Pen Chalet. This is one of those weeks where we've got some really special deals that I can't tell you the price about. So you have to go and check it out for yourself right now. Go to penchalet.com. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password pen addict. You can see these extra special deals and get a 10% code, a 10% off code on anything at Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet. Our sincere thanks to Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad: So let's continue on the path of Brad and Myke discover Instagram.

Myke: Yeah.

Brad: That's what this whole episode turned out to be, but it's cool. I've just been sending you stuff, you know? Well, and I've been saving stuff too. So like I have more stuff besides what you want to talk about here. But what did you send me now?

Myke: Toyocacraft, which is the company that made your, what do you call it? Pen Box? Pen Chest?

Brad: Yeah. Pen Box 100. Not to be confused with what you sent me, which is just complete madness. Like I bought a pen box from Toyocacraft that holds 100 pens, right? It's big. It's outrageous. It's expensive. Then Myke just up and sends me the fountain pen chest. Yes.

Brad: The construction of this, the little video slash reel, whatever you want to call this. I mean, it's flabbergasted too light of a word.

Myke: It's unbelievable. You have to, there's like a few pictures and a video in the Instagram post. You have to go take a look at the video. This is what made me send it to Brad. Like they have, it's like a chest, like a vertical chest with these like handles that you pull out. And as you pull the top handles, they kind of like open like a, like a letter box. There's like a cover over the, the, the, the, the drawer that opens up.

Brad: It's like a little trap door.

Instagram Discoveries

Myke: Yeah. It's just, it's just the way it opens and closes. It's just so visually satisfying to me. Yeah. Oh man. Following this account was bad. It was a bad idea for me. Like I know I'm going to end up with one of these.

Brad: Yeah. A lot of our listeners have cursed me out for sharing this for sure. So the way my pen box is, is I have just a horizontal drawer that I pull out and it's like completely removable and it's essentially just like a tray. It's basically a tray. And then the box houses all the trays. What this is, is there's a drawer for each tray and you can remove the tray from the drawer. And each drawer is hidden behind this little trap door. And it's just, I can't stop. I can't stop watching this.

Myke: I don't know if this is a product that they actually offer. Like I can't find it on their website. So I don't know if it's maybe a new thing. Like it's not on the site yet. I don't know.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Because I, I didn't see this. No, I mean, I have no interest in the, what I bought was the perfect thing for me that this would not work for me the way I'm storing things. But this is, this is like the showing off their craftsmanship and their ideas and the quality of the things that they make. Just seriously hit the, hit the third image on this link we'll have in the show notes and just stare at it. And I promise you, you'll have to watch it like 10 times. It's, it's madness. And it's just, it's fantastic. Like I am, I think they're going to be at the San Francisco pen show. So I'm not coming home with this. I promise you, they probably won't travel with this from Japan to San Francisco, but I wouldn't be surprised if I came home with like some small desk trays or accessories, things like that. The things I really enjoy.

Myke: You might find something to add to your box maybe.

Brad: Yeah. So I have to, we haven't, I haven't worked on the Panact 100 much more yet. I'm just like busy to, the first step is to sell things, right? So I can like, you know, get, get the box in the proper order. Um, and I'm not there yet. So probably in July, we'll start that. And then maybe by the end of July, I can kind of have like the first glance at like what has made the cut for the Panact 100. So it's going to be fun. I I'm really looking forward to this, but now I'm, now that I'm just actually just using the box and taking things in and putting things, taking things out and moving things around. I'm like, Oh, I should actually work on the intent of what I bought this for now. So it's, it's more than time. What won't be in this box, Myke, is this next pin, but that doesn't mean I'm not completely fascinated by it. And what it is again, another Instagram find this week, the Franklin Kristoff model 50 outer banks.

Myke: Yeah.

Brad: Franklin, Franklin Kristoff has done kind of these one-off annual high-end premium pin releases for the past several years. This is the coolest one yet. Like it is totally not for me, right? It is not something that I would, would buy because I would just never use it. But the way it looks and the idea behind it, it's one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. What do you think about this pen?

Myke: It's like the Franklin Kristoff chaos pen.

Brad: Yeah.

Myke: So we have skulls and we have swords and we have rod and there's a lighthouse like, and it's huge. It looks like a club, this pen.

Brad: Yeah.

Myke: You know, we're getting towards that territory. Like this is one of those things where we come across this so many times on the show. This pen couldn't be more not for me, but I can appreciate what they are going for. And I know this is very much for someone else, you know? Yeah. A hundred percent.

Brad: Like I love this. I will never own this, right? Like I absolutely love everything about this pen. It is the coolest thing. And they did just a really fantastic job. The artwork and the design and everything's great. But yeah, like, I mean, I don't need it or I have no interest in owning it. And, but that doesn't mean I'm not sitting here staring at every single picture and every little detail. Like I love the little lighthouse on there and the lighthouse has, you know, little rod and swirls, like going up the stairs. And of course, you know, I like the skulls and swords, the whole idea.

Myke: They should be making this kind of stuff, right?

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Do it once a year. Yeah. Limited to 51 pieces. They said they did 15 in their first batch. There was one left. So at a thousand, at a thousand bucks each there, there's definitely a market for that.

Myke: I mean, I understand why, but that is a high price. I didn't see the price, but I get it. Right. Like, again, it's like, if I think about pens that cost a thousand dollars, this has the hallmark of that kind of pen. What is the body made of?

Brad: I'm, let's see, does it say?

Brad: No. So I'm guessing it's just one of their traditional acrylic models, the model 50, but I don't know if it's made out of anything other than there's their normal basic acrylics.

Myke: I mean, there's a lot of work going on, right? There's a lot of McKay work going on and stuff like that. Yeah. I, for a thousand, I would love it to be made of a better material. Yeah. Like a more premium feeling material. Yeah. Just so I can at least in my mind say, oh, this is a Ebonite pen or whatever, you know?

Brad: But, you know, like the Nakayas, you know, are Ebonite based underneath, but, you know, Ebonite's, you know, pretty cheap. It's just, it's just different, right? Give me something, I guess you're saying, give me something different.

Myke: Yes. It's sometimes, it's not necessarily the price. It's like, for example, I don't know if Ultim is more expensive than acrylic, but like, it feels special for my money. I see what you're saying. I totally agree. So, like, that would be maybe my only pause on this is like, you've got to really, really appreciate the design work.

Brad: Yeah. The artwork and the story and, you know, the aesthetic of it.

Myke: To make it worth it for you.

Brad: Yep. You know? Yep. It's pretty sweet.

Myke: Because, you know, like the pens that I have that cost that much money, they're Arushi pens. Mm-hmm. And like, what, and like, you can look at them and like, just from face value, like, well, it just looks like plastic. But I know the workmanship that's gone into every single part of that pen. Right. And it's just being more hands-on. Like, for example, my pen that costs this amount of money is my 3776 Galaxy Starlight, right?

Brad: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Myke: Where not only is it beautifully adorned with Raden, I know it's Arushi too. So, like, just to get to the point where they could lay the Raden in it, it'd take however much work. So, but this one is more intricate, I bet. Like, harder to make than that one.

Brad: Oh, gosh, yeah.

Myke: So, yeah, yes, that would be my thing. But there's clearly a lot of material cost from the Raden. There's a lot of Raden on this pen.

Brad: And I'm sure that's going to add to it. Yeah, and a lot of just like hand, you know, hand-embellished artwork. A lot of time goes into this.

Myke: Especially, I mean, as well, like, I understand the price here. They were like, this isn't what Franklin Kristoff does, right? Right. Like, so I, as in, this is not what they're known for. So, I assume that this is probably a more time-intensive process for them. Maybe they have less people that can make them. And for that reason, again, I understand the price. And I don't think they should charge any different. But I understand, like, if I was going to buy this pen, I would maybe want it to be made out of a different material. So, it felt more special to me.

Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and that's why, like, the, like, a basic black Nakaya, you look at that, like, someone who doesn't know or is just getting into fountain pens, they look at that and it's like, why is that $600? Yeah, see, that's, I would never do that. It just doesn't work. Yeah. Right.

Myke: Like, I would never buy just a black Nakaya, right? Like, I want there to be something to it that makes it special to look at and special with the story.

Brad: Yep. Yep. Well, I have a good story pen for you next.

Myke: Yeah.

Bamboo Pen Discussion

Myke: Wow. This bums me out, this pen. This pen, talk about it and I'll talk about what bums me out about it.

Brad: The story's good. All right. I think I know what you're going to say. So, we'll see. We'll see if I'm right. The Panda Conservation pen is out from Retro 51 and they've done these in the past to where they support the Smithsonian Zoo and the Panda Conservation efforts. So, there's always kind of a Panda themed Retro 51 available. They don't do one every year, but they've done different ones in the past. I don't believe they do one every year, but they've definitely had previous versions of this pen. And see, I think this is the coolest one, coolest looking one in a while. And I want you to say what you're going to say and I'm going to see if I'm right.

Myke: The bamboo pen is killer. That's exactly what I thought you were going to say. I have it. They have a Retro 51 made of bamboo, which had a panda stamped on it. That pen is awesome. Yeah. And this one is just a Retro 51 with pandas on it, which is nice, but it's not the same for me. I feel like that one is a very, like it's one of my favorite Retro 51s and I think is a very special pen that I think does a better job of like telling the story. So, that's what I mean. Like, I like that they're continuing down this trend, but I would have liked them, I would like them to just keep pushing on, they keep making different bamboo pens. You know? I hear you. Put this panda design on a bamboo pen.

Brad: Yeah.

Myke: Right? Because the other one is like very small, the panda stamping. And I would like to see them like try and find a way to burn maybe a more of a design into the wood. That would be my idea. Ideal.

Brad: So, the original bamboo one is one of the best of all time. Yeah. Like, Retro 51s. Like, it is just known for just being awesome. It's bigger than the other ones.

Myke: It's like it's interesting in that way. It's not the big shot. Right. Like, sits in the middle because they had to use more material, I guess, to make it work properly. And it makes it, even though it's bigger, it's lighter. It's a fantastic pen.

Brad: The size is why I think this one's probably going to do better overall. Yeah, maybe. And it's just, it's, this is a very Retro 51 style. Like, it's, it's, it's not flashy or gaudy, but it's, it's bright and colorful and fun. And the hardware looks great. And the story is great. Like, I think I really, really like this one. And it is different than the bamboo one for, for a lot of reasons. And, you know, maybe they could have stayed down that path and had just like the bamboo series for the Panda conservation project. But I really, really like this one jumped off the page to me, which is pretty rare. These days, there's so many retros that kind of that come out now. It's like, okay, there, there's one. Okay, there's one. I was like, oh, this one actually made me stop for a second and go, hey, that's pretty cool. Like, I really, really kind of dug, dug this one a bunch. And I'll be interested to see what the feedback is, is like for it. I think it's, it's going to do extremely well.

Myke: It's going to do great. It's like when they do the cat ones and the dog ones and the donut one. It's going to do great. Yep. I just.

Brad: I'm here. I hate fair. I completely fair. And I'm not disagreeing with you. Again, it's like, I feel like something's lost still. Yeah. Also, if you think about the original bamboo one, and like, let's say if we, you know, do like this type of pattern on the bamboo one, well, now we're charging like 80 and $90 for it, for a pen probably. Right? Like we're getting. Right, but it's so special. Maybe. Yeah, I agree. But then. It's so special.

Brad: Is this connected?

Brad: Then, then I don't know if it does as well at the Smithsonian Zoo store. You know, like if this is on the store shelf at the zoo store, which one are the kids grabbing? I promise you they're grabbing this one.

Myke: Is this where they're making most of their sales though? At the zoo store?

Brad: No, no. They're retail. Straight up retail. Yeah. So, just a point. But I get what you're saying. But this one, this is the first time in a while that I've actually, one has really stuck out to me. And I think it's a cool design. Cool. There you go. Still, I will ride with you on the OG Bamboo style though. It's a great pen. Great pen. I did a finally mic. Yeah. On the blog, which is what I do pretty frequently. It's kind of how I roll on product reviews. Especially on like super ultra. Not popular, but super. I don't know. Kind of things that people want to know about. You know, I'm not going to rush into something like the Kaweco premium steel nib review until I get some time to spend with the Kaweco premium steel nib. Like we've talked about this when it launched last year. And I got one, I don't know, earlier this year. At the beginning of the year. So, news has been out on this a while. The product has been out on this for a while. And just to recap what it is, is Kaweco makes a nib that fits into their sports series. The number five size Kaweco nib that they're calling the premium nib. And I had a whole bunch of commentary on that. I'll even have to, we'll have to find the episode number that we first talked about this in. Trying to sort this out. Why are they making this? What is Kaweco telling me? Because generally, they do have a bit of a stigma on their stock nibs. That it's, you know, kind of a roll of the dice. As I said in this review of the premium nib. That, hey, it's kind of a dice roll. Am I going to get a good nib or not? And I was like, well, is the solution to charge me more for a better nib? Maybe? Yeah, I don't know. It's like I'm delimited on the existence.

Myke: It's 481 is where we spoke about it.

Brad: Gotcha. Thank you. So, like, I'm delimited on is this a good thing? Is this ridiculous? It's like, why are they doing this? And my conclusion after using this for months, like, I've been actively using this, is that I adore this nib. It's an awesome nib.

Myke: Mm-hmm.

Brad: I don't know that anyone needs it. Like, if you're a Kaweco superfan like me, you buy one and you move it around to different Kawecos you like. Like, I think that's good. How much does it cost? It's $45?

Myke: Yes, that's ridiculous. Honestly, it's ridiculous to me.

Brad: Yeah. And I get that. Like, I totally buy that argument. Like, if I think about it, like, they're telling me that their Kaweco sports, like all the classics, you know, the basic plastic models, which is Ice Sport, Classic, you know, there's a million, Skyline, there's a million different names for the same type of pen. And they all run about $25, right? And they ship with a steel nib. And generally speaking, those nibs are okay. Right.

Myke: They're fine. The pen you're using, the Kaweco Steel Sport, is $111.

Brad: Mm-hmm.

Myke: That pen should come with one of these, in my opinion. Right. It shouldn't cost $45 for me to buy another steel nib. Like, this wouldn't be a problem, I feel like, if Kaweco's nib experience was perfect. Mm-hmm. If you, like, because this is like a thing you talk about in the review, we spoke about it a bunch of times. Kaweco is one of those pen brands where you have to hope you get a good one. Mm-hmm. Like, you don't always. Twisby used to be more like that. I feel like they're not like that so much anymore. Or, and, you know, we talk about the Lamy 2000 as being a particular pen model where it can be complicated. But Kaweco's in general, like, if I'm spending $111 on a pen, right, with a steel nib, I don't then want to spend it over $45 to get a nib that I know is going to be great. Right. Because now we're into $170. I mean, that's just not for me, you know.

Brad: Yeah. I thought there should be a delineation from the pen product side, not just the nib side. Kind of, I'm basically agreeing with you that, okay, we have these Kaweco Sports and they come with these nibs. And now we have the Kaweco Premium lineup, which are all the metal barrel nibs should all come with the premium nibs. Right. And, I mean, charge me, you know, requisite pricing for it. You know, I'm not saying sell it to me at the same price. You know, there's going to be some premium to what they cost now. But I guess they're just so dialed into those product lineups. Like, a lot of these product lineups have existed for five and ten years, right? The Kaweco Brass. Yep. Like, if you're all of a sudden just going to, you would have to say, okay, we're winding this product down and we're replacing it. And they're all going to ship with premium nibs and we're going to charge 25% more or whatever the price is.

Myke: I hope they are planning on doing that.

Brad: Yeah, I would be into that. Like, yes, that's the decision. Not saying, hey, our base level pen, we're not sure if the nib's good enough. So here's, spend $45 and we're going to sell you that one that we tried harder on.

Myke: Honestly, it's just wild to me that a pen brand that ships steel nibs has a premium steel nib. Like, that just doesn't make any sense to me. Like, it really doesn't. It's like, I don't get it. I can't think of this existing before. Like, premium steel, right? Yeah. I've never known of a steel nib upgrade. Like, that's wild to me. It's like, no, that's the standard. That's what I'm, that should be in my purchase. If I want to upgrade, then I'm going to a different material. Like, I'm not sticking around at steel. That's crazy.

Brad: Or a grind, right? Like, Estabrook offers upgrades, but they're special. Yeah, but that's a different feature, right? I agree. I agree.

Myke: I find this really, honestly, I find it quite disappointing that it exists as an option. Like, it feels a bit, I don't know. I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't sit right with me at all.

Brad: Yeah. To me, the marketing is, we tried harder with this one. That's not the marketing I want.

Myke: We actually sat down and made it work.

Brad: And I will tell you, the nib is awesome. Like, so that's the dilemma. It is, what they built is great. Just in general, a good Kaweco is awesome too, right?

Myke: You get a good Kaweco nib and you're having a great time.

Brad: So, yeah, it's very, very interesting. It's an interesting skew in a product lineup that I am very, very curious. I'm very, very curious on how this is going.

Myke: My feelings about Kaweco as a brand has changed so much in the last 18 months.

Brad: Yeah. Is it the sunglasses?

Myke: No, that's like whatever, right? Because that's just like an ego thing, which I don't have a problem with. But it's like the special editions that they've been doing, the way they've been marketing them, like the way they are treating the visual design of their products with these very strange fonts that they're putting on them when they've previously been so consistent and so like perfect, you know?

Brad: Yeah, they had a real design shakeup.

Myke: In a bad way. Well, they made mistakes.

Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Like they had to correct. Yes. Like they made a decision, say this is our decision, and then six months later go, oh, no, we are not doing that anymore. We're going to do this now.

Myke: And then stuff like this, it's like, I don't know, there's something weird going on over there if you ask me.

Brad: All right. All right. Yeah. No. But, you know, technically, to wrap this up, awesome nib. I shouldn't have to discuss. It should not exist. Right. It should not exist. Well, it should, just not as a separate product. Right. Right. So, interesting stuff from Kaweco. Hey, they keep it interesting. They keep the content coffers full here. Yeah, we appreciate that.

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Vacation Kit Review

Brad: I'm on vacation, Myke. Did you know that?

Myke: Mm-hmm.

Brad: I'm on vacation right now. Yes. And I brought a kit with me, which it's been a while since I've actually gotten to build my little vacation kit of stationery that I want to bring on a trip. Yeah. Wow, vacationary.

Myke: I've definitely made that joke before. There's no way that that's the first time I've done that. I don't remember doing it, but I know me.

Brad: I think that's a first. I think, mm, interesting, interesting. But in my vacationary kit, now I have to use it.

Brad: I'm going to have some time to write on this trip. I'm going on a trip where I'm doing nothing for a lot of days, right? Like going to the beach, chilling and relaxing. Well, I still like to write and have my things. So I put together a little kit here. As I was getting ready for vacation, I realized I had too many fountain pens inked up. And when I go on a trip, I kind of just don't want to take what I've had inked up for, you know, weeks or months at a time. In some cases, I want kind of a reboot. I want some fresh, fresh pens, some fresh ink, and some fun stuff to try out. So I picked out three fountain pens to take, which for a short trip, that's a lot for me. I really only need one. But I picked out three kind of different pens with some different inks in each. First one, Nakaya Portable, which is one of my favorite writing pens. It's the basic Kuro Tamanuri finish, which is the black with the red undertones. It has a stock fine nib, which is just, this is like the most glorious writing pen. This pen makes me smile so much. It's one of my favorites. And I have it inked with Platinum's Mount Fuji blue-black ink cartridge. I tend to use that ink in this pen pretty consistently. I have bottles of this ink, but the cartridges are so easy to use. I do appreciate a good fountain pen cartridge ink. Speaking of which, related side note here, people have been asking me about the Pilot Orochizuku cartridges. When are they coming? We don't know. I heard there was a delay, but hopefully we'll get them this year sometime. So, all right, back to the kit. Second pen. That one was already inked. So, I cleaned 12 pens. I had 13 inked up. The Nakaya stayed because it was my most recently inked, and it's such a joy. It's a great kind of trip pen. Second pen, freshly inked, is the Sailor 1911. L, Wicked Witch. That's the purple one with the black ion-plated hardware, Myke. Yeah, I have that one. It has, yep, it has a medium-fine nib. It's a really, really, really great color. It's like a deep, deep purple.

Myke: I don't have the large one, but I have this one.

Brad: So, yeah. Okay. So, I have the large size, which I really like. I like both the sizes of the 1911. Yeah. Which we've talked about. And then I have this inked up with a new ink from the Czech Republic. It is, the brand is called Inkibara, and it's, the color is crimson, which is a pinkish red, right? It's not a red-red or burgundy red. It's kind of got a little hint of pink in it, which I really like. So, that's a good match for the Wicked Witch. Third pen is a pen I have not inked up in a long time, but it is a personal favorite of mine. It's the Faginato PKS. It's a pen I bought at the Atlanta Pen Show years and years ago from Papier Plume. Faginato is no longer made because the maker actually, unfortunately, passed several years ago. So, this is just kind of a pen you can no longer get, and it's got this really cool orange celluloid, and it has a really strange nib, one which I rarely see elsewhere. It is a Bach titanium nib, which Bach is known for, that titanium nib that they produce. It's the popular titanium nib, but it's rhodium-plated, right? So, it looks like a silvery steel nib, but it's actually the bouncy titanium Bach nib underneath this plating. So, it looks really, really cool. And I've inked it up with a very rare ink sample that was sent to me. It is the Bangukan Kobayashi Shizuoka Orange. Great name. So, yeah. My friend Kelly, who is the co-host of the Stationery Cafe podcast with April, who was on the show recently, and also Kelly also works at Oblation Papers, sent me this ink from a trip. This is the ink I call the Bullet Train ink because she wrote me in this letter about how difficult it is to get to the store where this ink is located. She said it was two hours by Bullet Train from Tokyo. So, I call this my Bullet Train ink. And it feels very unique and valuable because it was so hard to get. And it doesn't completely match the brightness of the orange, but it's got this... I need to put an ink sample up. And I'll put a link into the show notes so y'all can see what it looks like. It's kind of this burnt orange. You know what it looks like, Myke? And you will appreciate this as a purveyor of a good old-fashioned. You know when the bartenders use the orange peel and then they might flame the orange peel, then they throw it in the drink? It looks like the orange peel inside the drink.

Myke: Because it's a little burnt. It's a little burnt. I like that. It's like a burnt orange. So, yeah.

Brad: When I started writing with this, I was like, that's the color of this ink. So, it's not orangey orange and it's not brown or caramelly. It's like this kind of burnt orange and that's what it reminded me of. So, those are the pens, the fountain pens. I'm bringing one notebook, Myke. I'm leaving my planner.

Myke: Before we move away from the pens, I just want a larger complaint. I think you're using the wrong color ink in your 1911 Wicked Witch. Okay. I think green is the only option for that pen. Okay.

Brad: That is historically, that ink, that color ink has been the only ink in that pen. I purposely chose something different. Okay. Historically, I use Ackerman number 28. Me too. That's what I use. It is the perfect ink.

Myke: It's perfect. Yeah. Okay. I appreciate that you are on my side, even though you've changed it this time.

Brad: I am. Because I wanted to test out this brand. So, this brand is new to me. So, this is a good chance for me to test out that ink. It was purposely done to be complimentary, even though I know that number 28 is the ink for that pen. It's the go ink for this pen. Yeah.

Myke: It just fits so well. By the way, that sailor, underrated, I think. Excellent sailor edition. Like, truly excellent edition. The fact that I was able, like I was putting it in the show notes, and I could see that pen chalet still have some. That's wild to me. I can't believe that hasn't sold out.

Brad: Yep. And it's at the old price. It was pre-price increase. Huh. So, yeah. It's really, really good. And I actually, I didn't buy it when it came out. I bought mine secondhand. So, like, that's a good thing to do when you're looking at expensive pens. If you buy a good one, you can feel free to shop use. Shop secondhand. It's really, save a few bucks and still get a really awesome pen that you're going to use and love. All right. So, fountain pens, it's going to be most of, that's going to be most of my writing. But I have to pack a few other things. Like, I'm packing a spoke roadie, right? You just do. That's a great travel pen. Black wing 530. I'm using this pencil right now, trying to see how long it's going to take me to write a pencil all the way down to the nub. It's not going well. It's not going well. I've, you know, sharpened it maybe five times, five, six times. So, I'm getting there. But I have a lot of writing to do if I'm going to work this pencil all the way down to the end. I'm taking my Misubi Indigo Denim Journal, which I am desperate to finish before the San Francisco Pen Show. So, I'll be focusing on that. That's just kind of my goal to start a new journal after the San Francisco Pen Show because I'll probably end up buying something there that I'll want to use. I'm using the Foglietto note cards. That's something I've been testing. I haven't done a review on them yet. That's a note card that I'm really enjoying. They're fountain pen friendly and they have some unique, fun design. So, I'm going to take those as well. I'm not taking my planner, which I mentioned before, the Hobonichi planner. I'm going to probably, before vacation, since this is a podcast out of time, going to mark off those days with vacation, Myke, so we don't run into a situation like I ran into earlier this year.

Myke: Oh, my God.

Myke: Oh, no. Not again.

Brad: Yeah. We don't need to do that. We don't need to do that. So, consider these pages marked. And I'm putting all of this in a singular pen case, the Notco Lanier Wax Canvas, the 2019 Kickstarter campaign case, which is just a sweet case. And it will carry everything that I just mentioned all in one. And we'll all just like slide in a backpack and I'll be good to go. I'll be super, super happy with this kit.

Brad: On this little short vacation, I got planned. So, yeah.

Myke: You pack well.

Brad: I'm excited. I'm excited to do a packing post again. Recently on the blog, Kimberly did a huge packing post.

Myke: Oh, these memo cards are really cute.

Brad: They're different. Yeah. Right? They are specifically sized, right? It's not a traditional size in the note card, index card sense. But they are an international standard size being that they're A7. There are many different colors of them and there's many different layouts of them. Like they have gone all in. They didn't make a note card and then later on kind of expand on it. They just said, we're going to make all of the note cards right now. And that's what they've done. I've been very happy with them so far. They are fountain pen friendly from my testing. And I'll have a review up of them sometime this summer. Or Kimberly, I think I sent Kimberly some. She might review them as well. So, yeah. But I will tell people in advance, thumbs up on the Fogli Eto cards.

Myke: Very cool.

Brad: And that's it. That's it. That's it. I will bring in the note cards because I'll be reading a bunch and that's going to be like my note taking kind of thing. You know, I'll use the journal just for writing and exploration. But I don't write like book notes in my journal, which is a whole other conversation.

Myke: All right. I think we're done for today. Whew.

Brad: Good vacation, Myke. Yeah.

Myke: Well, we'll be back next week.

Brad: Allegedly.

Myke: Yes. We'll be back next week. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. Thank you to Pen Chalet and Squarespace for their support. I guess thank you for giving us a week off. We didn't really mention that. But, of course, we were off. Right? Really. We haven't benefited from that yet.

Brad: Yeah. That's a good point. That I really do want to thank y'all for, you know, we get to take a week off sometimes and y'all are cool with that. We need to see.

Myke: We don't know they've been cool with it yet, Brad.

Brad: They are so – our listeners are the best. But we don't know.

Myke: They might have revolted. We haven't gotten to that week yet.

Brad: Yeah. True. I'll have to send you those emails.

Myke: Uh-huh. I look forward to receiving them. All right. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, at penaddict on Instagram, Dowdy is on Twitter. I'm iMike. I am YKE.

Myke: Thanks so much for listening, and we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.