The Pen Addict 556/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	556
Title:	Pen Sommelier
Release Date:	March 22nd, 2023
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 556
Audio File:	Audio Episode 556
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 556
Length:	5858 min <br />0.967 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 556. Today's show is brought to you by ExpressVPN and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I'm usually waiting for a little bit more than that, but hi Myke, how are you?

Myke Hurley: Good. Was it because I didn't say, hi Brad, how are you? Was that the issue?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. We have this system, right? And you know I work well within a system. And when the system breaks, my brain typically breaks along with it. So, hi Myke, how are you?

Myke Hurley: Hi Brad, how are you?

Brad Dowdy: I'm good. We're talking about pens on a podcast for at least the 556th time. So yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to talk about what we're using, mostly because I've seen your notes in here and it's a pretty short little stretch that I have an outsized amount of commentary on, which is the norm for me. You know, all you have to do, Myke, is give me a pencil and I will talk about it for 10 minutes. And you have given me a lot to talk about just in your little list, but I'm going to go first. How about that?

Myke Hurley: I would love that.

Monthly pen usage and favorites

Brad Dowdy: So every now and then, I don't know, once a month, once every couple months, we discuss the things that are right at the, on the tips of our fingers from pens, pencils, notebooks related. What are we using the most? And one of the things I talk about whenever we do this is how I select a pen of the week type of thing for myself every week, because I want to be able to use all my things in a reasonable manner. This is, there's no official system built in, but I do pick out a pen of the week because as we'll get to on, on what I use for paper, it helps with my planning. So I pick a planning pen, Myke, if you will. And that becomes the pen that writes the notes for the week, writes the tasks list for the week, gets carried with me for the week for the most part. And it's just kind of the number one, slotted into the number one slot of my rotation for the week. And this week, it is the Spoke Pen Model 2 in Lava Crush with a 0.38 millimeter black Uniball Signo DX refill. So why this pen? This pen lives on my desk and it has my favorite refill in it, which is the 0.38 Signo DX. We sell it with the 0.5. For those who are new to the show, Spoke Pen, I am a partner in, so my company, hashtag disclosure, along with my wonderful, yeah, just wait, just wait. You want to, let's, we need a button. We need a button for this episode for what's about to happen here in a minute. But yeah, I love this pen, obviously, because I put my name on it. And I have been using a bunch of fountain pens recently, right? I've been on the huge fountain pen kick, had the Baltimore Pen Show. I'm getting ready to go to the Atlanta Pen Show, which we'll talk about next week. So I am knee-deep in fountain pens, so I tend to, when I'm working at home, if I've been using fountain pens a bunch, I will switch back into a standard pen. And this is one of my favorites, right? I just love the 0.38 line of these gel pens and having a body like the Spoke Pen, especially this fiery orange crush model with the silver trim. I don't know. It's just kind of all of it for me. So it's one of those pens that I pick up on Monday morning, and I start to write my notes. And the line that comes out of it with this refill and the feel of the pen, I just smile. I'm like, yeah, yeah, this is it. This is a pen for me, Myke. So that's my number one pen of the week is the Spoke Pen Model 2. And it's just kind of my go-to, but I'm still using plenty of fountain pens.

Brad Dowdy: There's not necessarily a ranking of my fountain pens here, but I have three. Yeah, I'd say probably three that I'm using more than most over the past week or two. Number one is the Aurora 88 Unica. This is the all-black Aurora 88 that I had gotten from Kenro Industries, which is Aurora's U.S. distributor, for a project last year for Sarah doing her Nano Rhimo project. This was the singular pen she used for the 50,000 words on that project. So now I have the pen. I'm going to review this pen I carried with me to the Baltimore Pen Show. It is an extra fine nib. It was a little bit of a wonky nib for me, the way I write. So I had our friend Annabelle look at it at the Baltimore Pen Show. She tuned it up, just got it aligned better than I had it aligned, working on it myself. And I have it inked with the Contraband in the United States ink, Myke Pelican Blue Black, which is always a top-tier ink for me that I don't use a lot. I had initially inked this pen up with Bungu Box Imperial Purple, which is one of my favorite inks. But that combination with this nib, it was just a very wet writer, right? So we talk about a lot of inks. Inks can change how a nib writes, right? Which we've discussed in the past. If you have a very wet or lubricated ink and a nib that is tuned to be a wet writer, well, my extra fine nib would turn into like a fine or a medium line, which is fine. It will look great. But I wanted to dial in the extra fineness of this Aurora nib so I could get a real test. So I went on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Pelican Blue Black ink is a very dry ink and dries quickly and is kind of an even better match for this Aurora 88. So I've been using that combination a lot because I love a good classic blue black ink like Pelican Blue Black. And I like calling it Contraband ink because it is not legal to sell this ink in the U.S. for some weird chemical composition that's like banned in California.

Myke Hurley: I was wondering what that meant. I didn't know what you meant by saying it was illegal. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, that's kind of in quotes. Like you can get it like, you know, places. But you usually can't buy it online. But like if I wanted to, I could go to like, I think I could go to like a European retailer and order it and just have it sent here. But like just as the norm, like Pelican does not distribute this ink in the U.S. So it's weird. Whatever. Next up is your favorite pen that I currently own that you do not is the Edison Stormwinds Palomino Waltz that I picked up at the Baltimore Pen Show. That has proven to be a great writer. It's proven to be exactly what I hoped it would be. Knowing that I'm a fan of the Edison Beaumont pen shape, being a smaller pen, being a cool material with some cool hardware and a nice extra fine steel nib. It's been inked up with, I'm going to go with Perfect Match, inked up with a Perfect Match in the Sailor Chushu ink, which that's one of those inks like Sailor Apricot and Sailor Sky High and Sailor Grenade that they have made, I don't know, 10 years ago, 15 years ago in some cases. That have come in and out of the ink lineup. It's back. You can get it in the Shikiori lineup now, but it's kind of this grayish purple, which, you know, trying to find a match for this Palomino Waltz pen. And that wasn't just a blue. Like, I could have picked out a blue that's gone with the blue swirls in this pen. I wanted something to go along with, like, the grays and the purples. So Chushu might be the Perfect Match for this. We'll see. The Aurora has been my most used fountain pen this week, but this Edison is right there with it. Like, I've been doing some writing with that pen, and I just really like the ink combination with that. And that comes to this third pen that is at the top of my usage charts this week because of the combination and the coolness of the pen and the coolness of the ink. It's the Enigma Stationery Novelure Brilliant Bunny, which another hashtag disclosure. Myke, they sponsored the show, what, about a month ago and sent me this pen at no charge to check out. The reason I've been using this pen is, number one, it's awesome. Right. I love the red material that is in use on this Nautilus model of the Novelure, which I don't have before. This is my only Nautilus model pen. So this is a larger piston filler with, like, kind of the porthole designed for the ink windows. Mm-hmm. And it's got this sparkly, really neat red material. But what is really has me interested in testing it and why I'm continuing to use it is because I'm going to end up reviewing this pen, which no one has asked me to do. Like, that wasn't part of the deal or anything like that. I could have done anything I wanted with this pen. But I'm going to review it because it has Narwhal's or Novelure's gold nib, which is their first kind of foray into 14-carat gold nibs. So I want to get a review out there for that. Right. And I have it paired with Robert Oster Blue Lagoon, which is a very, very bright blue, as you may imagine by the name. It's like that, you know, like the Caribbean blue waters that is just, like, clear. And having that combination of the bright blue with the bright red pen is, like, one of my favorite things to do. So I am thoroughly enjoying that setup. So that's kind of my pen setup this week. So I have my spoke pen for a standard pen. That's kind of my notebook pen and note-taking and taskless pen. And then I'm just mixing and matching these three very different fountain pens to either with the Aurora and the Enigma Novelure, trying to get a feel for them for future reviews. And then the Edison just, it's a new pen that I'm just thoroughly enjoying. So most of my writing or planning with the spoke pen is in the Plotter Narrow. That continues to be my core notebook.

Brad Dowdy: Planning mostly and taskless. Any other writing, and I didn't put this in the show notes, I am so close, Myke. I'm so close to being done with this Musubi notebook. I counted this morning. I have five pages left I need to fill. Because I'm anxious to close the book on this one, if you will. I've been writing a lot with that, with the Edison pen.

Myke Hurley: Just write some Laura Mitchell in the back. And then just get done. I know. I know. You know what I mean?

Brad Dowdy: I know. I know. It's so close. And I'm kind of, I'm really anxious to get it done. And I keep not finishing it. And I just need to just make a point to go in and finish it this week. Because I have another notebook I'm anxious to get tested. So that's my setup for this week. I do have some ancillary products that are kind of sitting within reach that I'm thinking about. So this is how, like, my mental setup is. So I have products I'm using for various reasons. And then I have products I'm testing for review reasons. So those test products, I have the Pentel Orans Nero, which is a mechanical pencil. And the Orans model of Pentel is one of these strange products that needs a review to where the lead actually doesn't come out the lead pipe visually when you're writing with it. Right? It's protected by the lead pipe. And so you think it doesn't work as, you know, like, technically this is going to be terrible. But Pentel has designed this Orans lineup to make it work. And what it's good for is for thinner lead widths. So I have a 0.3.

Myke Hurley: I'm looking at images of this thing and I don't know how it's supposed to. It feels like you would have to be gripping it in such a specific way.

Reviewing a unique pen accessory

Brad Dowdy: Nope. It works all types of ways. It's really weird. So it has to be reviewed, right? Like, this is something that's interesting enough to be reviewed. I mean, I think we've done some things in the past on it, but I've never reviewed it. But it's designed really to protect you from breaking 0.2 and 0.3 millimeter leads, right? You really don't need this for your 0.5 millimeter leads, even though they have a 0.5 model. It's really designed for these micro fine leads, 0.2 and 0.3. So you can actually get that line width without breakage. So it's a neat idea.

Brad Dowdy: The necessity of it, I'm debating. But so far, I will say technically it works. The next one, Myke, is super weird. The Lamy Encode Smart Pen. So it's, again, one of those digital, you know, hey, you know, write your words. And then they're captured digitally type of situation. So someone sent me one of those to test out. So that's on the testing queue.

Myke Hurley: Does this need like a specific book?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So it needs the book and the app. So it's like all the stuff type of situation.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: It's fine. Like, it's going to be good. But, you know, you're just so limited in how you can use it. Like, the premise of this review will be different than most reviews, right? So it's going to be good and interesting. But there's like 8 million caveats with it, right? So. And the last one is the next notebook I'm dying to get into. It's Life is a popular Japanese notebook maker. And they've always made these great softcover, reasonably priced notebooks. They made a premium hardcover notebook that's kind of expensive for what it is. So that's going to be my next notebook once I finish this, this Musubi Indigo denim notebook that I have five pages left in. So that's kind of where I'm at with all the things. So that is my thought process around what I'm using. And you have quite the list going here as well.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, mine is a little bit different to yours. Like, I'm just talking about like literally what I'm using right now. Because I don't have like a set of things. Like, I just like cycle through so much stuff on a daily basis, right? Like, I have a bunch of pens in my Sinclair. And I'm just like moving around. I use like multiple pens a day, right? So like, I don't have like a specific thing like that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I have like a literal workflow for products. Which is just different, right?

Myke Hurley: Like, it's just like a different, oh, I'm actually going to add one more product in. Because I actually do have something not too dissimilar from that. So I'll talk about it in a minute. But as you can imagine, I'm currently using a Sidekick notepad. Nice. I do all day, every day. And for a long time, when we were talking about like, when we would do this, I'd be like, I'm using something I can't talk about. It was always that, right? Like, that was always the thing that I was talking about. So that's always in front of me.

Myke Hurley: I'm using an, I'm very orange today. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: This is what I wanted to talk about.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So I've got the limited edition orange Mark 1, which is just so good. Oh, it's the best one.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I know there's purple ones. And I know there's Apollo ones. Apollo ones. This orange one's tight though.

Myke Hurley: Or actually, should I say, maybe say the blue Cortex brand.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, there's a lot of good ones.

Myke Hurley: There's a lot of best ones. Let's be honest. Yeah. I'm using my, when I picked that up today, I was like, ooh, I want to mix it up. So I'm using my Pro Gear King of Pen Tangerine today. That's like my actual pen that I'm making all my notes with as we record and stuff like that, which is always filled with rubber, oster, fire, or fire, because that's like the perfect pairing. Right?

Brad Dowdy: Let me, can I ask you a question?

Myke Hurley: Sure you can.

Brad Dowdy: Is the King of Pen Tangerine one of your most used pens? Where does that rate? Because it seems to come up a lot.

Myke Hurley: It's, well, okay. So when I'm sitting here on my recording desk, I have like a block, like a wooden block with a bunch of pens in it. And this is one of them, but there's like, there's 12 pens in there. And I use it frequently, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily one of my most, most used. Like it does not have a space in my Sinclair. Yeah. So it's not one of the six pens that really are my most used pens. But I would say it's up there.

Brad Dowdy: I think it comes up because it's in front of you when you're podcasting on this show. And it's kind of like the perfect pen for that. But maybe it's not. So that's why I see you talking about it a lot. But maybe it's not just universally the most used. It's situationally the most used.

Myke Hurley: It's a very pen addict pen.

Brad Dowdy: It is. It is. You know?

Myke Hurley: So like if I'm doing this show, maybe I gravitate towards that one. Yep. Yep. The King of Pen is in my Penwell Craftsman. So that's what I leave the pen in so I can very quickly grab it. So you don't hear me screwing and unscrewing the cap while I'm recording. And that's one of the reasons I use the Craftsman is there was a while where I was like, what is that noise on my track? And it was me screwing and unscrewing. Really? It was a pen. I think it was an aluminium, all aluminium pen of some description. Sure. And so you could hear the squeaking of the cap being put together. So that's why I like the Craftsman because I can just rest the pen inside of the cap.

Testing recycled paper for fountain pens

Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's perfect. And I am also testing something right now. So I came across a company in the UK. I think it's called Mater. M-A-T-E-R-E. I came about this on Instagram and then also through our paper supplier, a Cortex brand. They also supply paper to this company. They're based in the UK as well. And they make very attractive notebooks. But I'm currently testing out a product that they make called the Slimline, which is just like a notepad. Because they are using a paper that I'm interested in. So our paper supplier, GF Smith, has made a 100% recycled paper. Mm-hmm. And it's pretty good. So I'm testing it out.

Brad Dowdy: The recycled papers are starting to turn that corner.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Yep. Because it's... They've done a good job of trying to make a paper that performs well and looks good without too much... Like... Like... Too many flecks or anything like that. Right. You know what I mean? Yes. So... So... I'm intrigued about it. Like, it's obviously not perfect for fountain pens. But I wouldn't have expected that. And I'm kind of looking at it as a potential for something down the line, maybe.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. For things I'm seeing, it's getting there for fountain pens. Like, we're going to start to see that in the next year or two to have a good quality recycled paper that I wouldn't automatically dismiss, like, without even trying it for fountain pens. Because I know it's going to fail. I think we're... We are turning that corner to where, oh, this actually might work and work pretty well for fountain pens. So we're getting there. I'd say, like, in the next year or two, we're going to start to see more of the recycled paper quality has getting... It's getting to the point to where fountain pen people are going to be able to have that as a choice. Where in the past, it was an instant write-off.

Myke Hurley: The paper's called Accent. Okay. Crisp, white, uncoated paper is what they call it. Manufactured using 100% recycled fiber. Yep. Acid-free, carbon-balanced. It's like I'm looking into... Because obviously, it's just intriguing to me. But also, it's cheap. So I'm looking at it for a potential future cheaper product for a different thing for Cortex brand. So this is a product. The Materno book was a product that existed on the market that was using this paper. So I've been playing around with these as well.

Brad Dowdy: Looks cool. I like their design. I wouldn't follow them on Instagram. All of their design is really, really good.

Myke Hurley: Like, really, really good. So they're doing a good job. They do a good job. All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at ExpressVPN. Watching services like Netflix without using ExpressVPN is like paying for your favorite video game and not using all of the power-ups that are available to you. Because quite simply, why limit yourself when there's so much more fun to be had? Netflix has thousands of shows across different countries. But without VPN, you only get access to the stuff that's available in your location. With ExpressVPN, you can unblock those shows by amending where it thinks you're located. And it works with tons of other streaming services, too. And it also works in the reverse. So if you're overseas and you want to be able to watch something, carry on what you're watching at home, but it's not available on the Netflix or maybe Disney Plus or whatever when you're overseas. Like, for example, in the UK on Disney Plus, we have a bunch of shows that are on FX and Hulu because we don't get that. So they put it on Disney Plus. But if I was in America, I wouldn't be able to watch those things. So you can also, if you're away, say, like, oh, hey, I'm back at home again. So it works in both directions. But if you're, say, wherever you are, you might be able to change your Netflix location to Canada and watch the Shawshank Redemption or to Australia and watch the Wolf of Wall Street. It's as easy as just, like, one click. That's all it takes by opening the app, choosing the country that you want Netflix to think you're in, and refreshing the app, and you're good to go. There are so many reasons to choose ExpressVPN. It has blazing fast speeds. You can stream in HD with zero buffering, and it's compatible with all your devices, phones, laptops, media consoles, smart TVs, and more. They have servers in 94 countries, so you can gain access to thousands of new shows. You can stop paying full price for streaming services and only getting access to a fraction of their content. Get your money's worth at expressvpn.com slash penaddict. That is expressvpn.com slash penaddict, and you can get an extra three months of ExpressVPN for free. That's exprssvpn.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to ExpressVPN for the support of this show and RelayFM.

Discussion on portable ink cartridges

Brad Dowdy: All right, we still have a little bit of follow-up trickling in from portable ink cartridges. Myke, who knew that this was such a hot topic on the Pinterest? But this time, I got a link that was sent in, and there was a post on Reddit of someone using Pilot ink cartridges, which we have talked about is that's a proprietary ink cartridge, right? So some of the little stoppers and things that came in for the international cartridges wouldn't work for cartridges like Pilot or Platinum or Sailor, many of them who have a wider opening. And these Pilot openings, they were stoppered with erasers. So someone found some erasers that will literally stop their Pilot ink cartridges, and then they have them stashed away in the little Altoids tin, which is always one of those famously popular EDC small kit carrying things. It's kind of genius. Like, I am not that trustworthy for this product, but it appears to work, and I just don't know that that might be a bridge too far for me. You know, I would go with some of the little other, you know, brass stoppers in the Short Internationals. But erasers in your Pilot cartridges, Myke, are you going there?

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Not even for your M90, for your favorite.

Myke Hurley: I've said it before. I just don't trust it. I don't trust these, like, oh, I've just worked out this thing. Like, I wouldn't trust that and then put it in, like, a bag with myself.

Brad Dowdy: I love the picture of this. I think that's what sold me was the picture, right? Yeah, that's fine. We'll have the link in here. It's, like, the erasers and then, like, the ink kind of bleeding up the side of the erasers. But even though they're technically stopped and then the little Altoids tin, it's, like, kind of completely perfect for what we're trying to solve here. So we've gotten a lot of run out of having portable cartridges. It's, like, solving a problem that really is of our own making, right? It's not really something that needs to happen. But I get it. I get it. All right. I'm going to flip the script, Myke, and talk about one of the more popular reviews I've ever done and one of the more interesting products we've ever covered here on the podcast. And that's the Kuru Toga Dive, Myke. The Uni Kuru Toga Dive, the crazy, wild, shove all the technology, even technology you don't need, into a pencil barrel and make it this huge, gigantic, interesting release. And it just flew off the shelves, right? Like, they launched this in Japan. They launched this blue barrel Kuru Toga Dive in Japan. And it sold out pretty much the day of launch. As we mentioned in a previous episode, my friend Jacob, who lives in Japan, grabbed one of these for me, sent it my way, and I reviewed it on the blog. It's still sitting here on my desk. I like it as a product. I don't use it, like, as... It's not what I think of when I think of mechanical pencil, right? It's more of a neat thing. It's not how I want to use a mechanical pencil. But, like, I get it. So, people have always been wondering since that first sellout, and myself included, when are they going to become more available? And the answer is now, even though they've already sold out, like, a few weeks ago. But they have come to the U.S. market. You can get them at uniballco.com.

Myke Hurley: Is that the only place?

Brad Dowdy: That's the only place I've seen. But I imagine if the distributor is starting to get them in, like the mothership in the U.S., that they're going to start getting sent out to stores probably this year sometime, maybe by this summer. I don't know. That's me guesstimating. But now that you could actually go buy them from Uniball directly, they're going to eventually, once inventory catches up, they'll be able to get them out. Because they launched two new colors, Myke. They launched a green one and an orange one. Yeah. And they're pretty fire. Yeah, they're nice. I'm way in on the colors. And the price. The price. When they launched in Japan, I think the conversion rate for the U.S. market, it would have been over $50 at the time. And this was last fall, I guess, maybe. Last summer. This was a while ago. So, the U.S. dollar price directly in the U.S. market is $40. Which, that's still, like when you say it out loud, that's really expensive for a mechanical pencil market. But for what this is, I mean, that's a pretty good price. Like, I would be, if I'm interested in this type of product, like I wouldn't hesitate to spend $40 on it. But again, it's like also not a product for everybody. But I might have to get one of these orange ones. But it was funny right after the original one was blue, which is also now still available. So, blue, green, and orange are the three colors. Again, sold out at this level we're going to have in the show notes. But I would be watching. They'll be coming back. I think $40 is pretty good. Yeah. Like, what I was going to say is the blue one, once it went on sale, then immediately sold out, they were on eBay for over $200, right? Yeah. Which is just ridiculous. Yeah. I think $40, like, I think $50. It's funny, like, how we talk about this stuff. Like, I think $50 to $55 is like, well, it's getting to be like a little bit too much for this pen. But like $40, or this pencil, the $40, $40 seems about right. $40 seems where this should be. Feels like a good feeling. Yeah. And I like the green and orange. So keep an eye out on this link. They have a notification button for restock. But I'd also start looking. If you're in the U.S. market, I don't know about European markets or the rest of Asia outside of Japan when these are going to return. But we're starting to see some things, like, especially when this pops up on this type of site and that you could buy it directly. I think we're going to start seeing them a little bit more widespread. So long story short, don't go buy one on eBay. eBay. Just wait. They'll be ready soon enough. So I had friends that ordered these from Uniball and have already received them. So should be good. Should be good. All right. Real quick. Let me hit that shout out of the week, Myke. So now that it is pen show season for me, I'm getting to see a lot of my maker friends at pen shows. And did you know that there is a maker pen podcast? It's called As the Pen Turns. It's with Brad Owens from Mythic Pens, Jason Miller from Jason Neal Penworks, and our good friend Jonathan Brooks from Carolina Pen Co. They have a podcast. And they talk about making stuff, right? Like pouring resins, making pens, all the tools and taps and dyes, all that technical stuff about making pens. They talk to other pen makers. Like if you like the meet your maker posts that Caroline does for the pen addict, this is that in podcast form, right? So hopefully I'll get to see Brad soon at the Atlanta Pen Show. Get to see Jonathan again. I just saw him in Baltimore. And I know Jason just did his first ever pen show at the Arkansas Pen Show last week. So I imagine they're going to have a lot of fun content here coming up soon on the podcast. And I hope to see them soon. And we'll see. I just love hearing about the making of stuff. And they really get into it. So talking about their shop setups, talking to other makers, how they do things, and like really nerd out over a very specific part of the business that we're in. And I think it's really, really cool. So y'all should go check them out if you're looking for a new podcast. And that doesn't necessarily talk about the things we talk about. But it's still, you know, talking about things that, hey, you might be interested in buying. And how does this stuff happen? And how does one make a blank? And all this stuff. Definitely check out As the Pen Turns. Add it to your podcast listening list. So it's great. Very cool. I made a post this week that I really need to do more of. And I call it a pairings party because I did a review where I paired up a pen I needed to review with an ink I needed to review and kind of did it together. One of the things that I'm not going to say I don't like doing it, but ink reviews are always just kind of, are they necessary for me? Right? There's a lot of great people who just review inks and they do a really good job. And the way I think about inks are, yeah, I like it. It works pretty good. It's got some cool features. And, you know, the end. Like, here's the dry time. Here's the shading. You know, here's how it works on this paper and that paper. And this is what it looks like. And I guess that's my short version of saying I don't super love doing ink reviews. Very rarely do I. Like, I recently did a pigmented ink review for Octopus Fluids. I love doing that one because it was new, unique. It was pigmented. I could test the waterproofness of it and all these things. Like, that's cool. But, like, doing, like, an ink a day or an ink a week, you know, like, every week. Like, I don't really get excited about that. So, but I do have a lot of inks on hand that I would like to review. Well, let's find a pen I need to review and match those inks and pens up together. And that's what I did this week with the Onodo Scholar. The material is called Highland. It's kind of this green, mossy green and gray acrylic that's really kind of neat looking. And I hadn't tried an Onodo recently. I had seen them before they launched the Scholar. And part of this review was discussing how Onodo, which you should be looking into, Myke, if you ever need a purely British pen maker, they make some great, great pens. But they're reasonably expensive. Like, when I was looking at them and finding some that I really enjoyed, they started at, like, $400 or $500. And, like, that's fine. Like, I just wasn't in the position to buy one at the time. And that was with a steel nib, which is also fine. But, you know, I was just like, okay, let's see, you know, how this goes. So Onodo kind of realized that, I think. And they made... Entry level isn't the right terminology for, you know, a $250 pen. But they kind of readjusted their access point into the lineup.

Myke Hurley: It's like an entry to their brand.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Right. Not everyone has to have, like, a $25 pen to start into their brand to get people learning about it. You know, Onodo has done this thing where they've made an insanely high-quality pen. They've charged a fair price for it. But it's also kind of their entryway into learning about Onodo pens, right? This was a $270 pen. And it's totally worth $270. But I hesitate to call it an entry-level pen. It's an entry-point pen, as you said. So the pen itself is great. It has a steel nib. It writes amazingly. I love the color. I love the style. I love Onodo's graphics. I love their logos. I love, you know, all the little bits and bobs they include in their packaging. This is a detailed entry point to a brand that would like you to explore their higher-end pens eventually, right? So this one's cool. I reviewed it. I have... I reviewed it very highly. I thought it was a very great pen. And then I matched it with a Ferris Wheel Press ink, which I have never reviewed. And Ferris Wheel Press has been around for years. I don't know, five years, maybe more. Beautiful packaging. Less than functional ink bottle. Great ink. So great packaging. Great ink. Bottle is not my platonic ideal of what a fountain pen ink bottle should be. It's, you know, it's basically a form over function bottle, which is fine. You just have to manage that differently. Like, I just was able to put the converter of the pen and draw ink into the converter to fill this pen. Like, I was not comfortable sticking the pen into the ink bottle if it would even fit through the opening in the top. Or I would tip it over because it is really not balanced for that. Not all of their ink bottles are like this, which I find interesting. But this more... Their most current ink bottles are this kind of perfume bottle shape that is very kind of tipsy and has a small opening, which is just... That's like two things I look for in a good ink bottle design is, hey, can I get the pen in here easy to fill while not knocking it over the bottle? And Ferris Wheel Press is 0 for 2 on that. Luckily, the ink is pretty good. So I used Central Park Greens just to kind of draw out some of the color in this pen, the Highland material from this Onodo. And I like kind of mixing in my ink review into a pen review. It's kind of a two-for-one type of deal to where I feel better about the review instead of just reviewing the ink, mixing it in with a pen review. So I think I'm going to do more of these because I have, I don't know, probably eight or ten inks sitting here and a decent amount of fountain pens that I can match them. It's not going to preclude me from doing like individual ink reviews, but this Ferris Wheel Press is pretty much just a standard ink, right? I like to review non-standard inks. So like I mentioned the pigmented ink from Octopus Fluids, the shimmer ink, the Shogun ink, which I reviewed last year from Shea Herbaugh, like those kind of really, really, hey, the ink is like a real interesting product on its own, real standalone. It's not just necessarily a standard product line ink, right? So that's the way I think about those things. And a lot of standard inks are really good, like this Ferris Wheel Press one, but I don't necessarily want to spend that individual time doing it. So I'm going to try to mix and match in these reviews a little bit more. So just kind of like a combo review. And I felt better or I felt good about the review setup for this to where I could do both of those things instead of breaking them out separately. So anyway, that's just me talking about doing me things. And I had fun doing it. So I'm going to do it some more. I think people liked it. So it should be fun.

Myke Hurley: It made me think like Brad Dowdy, Pen Sommelier.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: You're like finding the perfect pairings, you know?

Brad Dowdy: I like doing that.

Myke Hurley: I love the sharp flavor of this ink.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, it's already something we think about all the time, right? And some people do not care about it. Some people will say, this is my favorite ink. It's going to go in any pen. Or this is my favorite pen. I'll use any ink in it. And a lot of us are considerate, like thinking about, hey, I need to get the right match for this pen and this ink. And that's kind of how I was thinking about this review because so many of us do it already. So it's fun. I think you will start to see me mix in a few more of these reviews just to have a little bit fun with the pairings and how I like to use and review products.

Myke Hurley: Talking about products. If you want to get yourself a new product, you should go to Pen Chalet because they have all of your favorite brands and all the products that you're looking for. Whether you want a new Sailor or a new Kaweco. Maybe you want a new rollerball, a fountain pen, a ballpoint. Maybe you're looking for some ink. Maybe you want a fountain pen converter. You want some little accessories. Maybe you're going to a pen show and you need a carrying case. Pen Chalet's got all of it. They have fast and reliable customer service. Every couple of weeks, you're going to find new products added to the store and also new discounts, new sales. There's always something to go look at over at Pen Chalet. They do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the U.S. and they sell internationally with great shipping rates. Pen Chalet believe in low prices on high quality pens and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They want you to be happy with your purchases. So, 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, and you will be able to get a code to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet and also to see some very special offers available just to Pen Addict listeners.

Brad Dowdy: So, again, there is a mix and match of products on our page at Pen Chalet. And Ron has done the thing where he puts like some feature products on top and then does the sneaky thing down at the bottom. One thing up top that I got to see some people use at the Baltimore Pen Show, the Conklin Endura Deco Crest Fountain Pens. They are kind of like an entry point into overlay fountain pens. If you like that style and aesthetic, it's a very vintage look, but it's a style of pen that I appreciate. These are like crazy inexpensive and they have some really good looking patterns. They have a billion different nib choices, including flex nibs. And at the price point, it's super tempting to check those out if you're looking for that style of pen to add to your collection. Then, Myke, you scroll down and you keep going and you keep going. And then all of a sudden, I don't think he's done this before, but I know I've talked about some other pens before. Leonardo, their Messenger fountain pen, that's their entry level pen.

Brad Dowdy: It's positioned to be a little bit less expensive than the Memento Zero. And at this price point, it's one of the most no-brainer purchases you can make if you're a fountain pen fan for like a high quality fountain pen. Great nib, great design. I've reviewed these on the blog. I think Jeff did our review of the Messenger. It's just a fantastic pen. And then one random thing, which y'all should check out, which I haven't noticed on here before. The Platinum Mixable Fountain Pen Inks, they're 20 milliliter bottles. They're small. They're inexpensive. And Platinum doesn't make a lot of ink colors on their own. But this set is designed in these individual colors. Their individual colors are excellent. And then you can mix and match them together to make your own colors.

Myke Hurley: And the price point is really, really good. Like, the colors are great. Mixing the inks is a terrifying prospect to me.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, it's good. It's good stuff. And the Platinum is designed to do that. And you can make some cool inks. And I would just buy them. Like, if you want a good Platinum ink, then in just a solid color, like the Platinum Orange ink, just buy that. Like, I use a lot of just the standalone inks for these. That's why I recommend them a knot. So, the mixing is ancillary to just, hey, getting a cool purple Platinum ink. And they're really good quality. So, there's a bunch of other stuff in here. The Pelican M205 Demonstrator is a great price. The Montegrappa Elmo 02 I need to look at because that's a pen that I like. So, yeah, it's a bunch of good stuff in here.

Myke Hurley: So, go check them out at pencholet.com. I'm going to put a link in the show notes to the 60ml page because the 60ml page for Platinum Mixable, which is not in the deal, you should go get the ones in the deal. It has a color chart, which makes you feel more comfortable. It's like if you mix this color and this color together, you get this. My concern would be like, is it all just going to end up black? You know what I mean?

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, yeah, I like these inks just as standalone inks, but you can definitely go mix some stuff.

Myke Hurley: So, go to pencholet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com, click the podcast link at the top of the website, and enter the password penaddict. Our thanks to Pencholet for their continued support of this show and RelayFM. Do you want to finish out on some Ask TPA questions, Brad? Yeah, let's do a few. Don't forget, if you have a question you would like us to answer, go to penaddictfeedback.com, and you can leave it there. Just like Callum did, who said, my partner and I are looking to try out some varying nib sizes on a new fountain pen, and we came across the TWSBI Eco White Rose Gold Fine Nib on Pencholet. Hashtag sponsor. There you go. But, okay, we didn't put that in Callum's mouth. No, we did not. Callum, if you do buy it, don't forget to use the 10% code. Callum says, is this a good option to purchase along the medium and broad nib as extras? Thank you for awakening the pen out, Robin.

Brad Dowdy: So, this is a really interesting and good question. Number one, hey, we want to test out this pen. It seems like reasonably priced. It seems like it looks pretty cool, right? The TWSBI Eco White Rose Gold. Also, let's do something smart and just buy a couple of other nibs to test to see what we really like. I mean, yes, you're having to outlay a little bit more money, but you're not necessarily buying three pens for three different nib size. This is 100% a good option, and it's something I have done before. However, I'm at the point now where I do have, like, all the pens with all the nibs, so I can just swap or pull out a nib and try something somewhere else. But at the point, when I was in the beginning of this, I would really want to decide, what do I really like for nib sizes? Not just pen styles, but what nibs work well for me? And I would have extra nib units for other pens. But, like, Lamy, Kaweco, and TWSBI are all good at having easily accessible nib units to try, where you could buy one pen and have a couple of extra nibs to swap into. I think it's a great pen. Number one, the TWSBI Eco is one of my favorite pens, personally. It's one of my most recommended pens. And then trying a fine nib, a medium nib, and a broad nib. I, yeah, no-brainer. 100% approve. Good job, Callum.

Myke Hurley: I will reiterate what I said before, though. Just understand that, like, it's a scary prospect to change nibs, just going confidently. You know what I mean?

Brad Dowdy: I'll disagree slightly, only because in this situation, TWSBI actually does make it easy. It's probably more... TWSBI and Kaweco do it very easily. They have to screw in ones, right? Well, the TWSBI Eco is just a slide-in nib now. So Kaweco does just have the screw in one. Kaweco slides in. Lamy is actually a little bit more difficult because you kind of have to pull it off the feed. But it's really simple once you do it once. Just think about what you're doing. It's not intimidating. But you do have to put the slightest bit of thought that Myke is not capable of into doing this.

Myke Hurley: That is completely unfair. I don't know why you would come at me like that. It's just unnecessary. John asks...

Brad Dowdy: There are exceptions. There are exceptions. So you are right in some areas. Whatever. Whatever.

Pens for desk use while working

Myke Hurley: John asks, I've got a couple of pens I keep handy while I'm working on my computer in case I need to scribble down notes throughout the day. I keep them off to the side but find I'm always bumping into them or shuffling them around the desk. I'd love some kind of low-profile pen tray that I could put out on my desk during the day and stash away when I'm done working. Could be fancy, but doesn't have to be. Do you have any suggestions?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. There's several different ways you can go here. And I'm looking at... Let's see. I got one here on my desk. Where's my other one? Oh, it's right behind me. So I have two things within Sight. One is a Toyocacraft six-pin tray. Right? It's a small, low-profile tray. It is obviously wonderfully made. It's very simple looking. It's not overly big. It's lightweight. It's lined. It's got the notches so the pens aren't rolling around in there so they stay separate. And you could just slide that in your desk drawer when you're done at the end of the day. The second one, it's not as self-contained. But the Yoseka walnut pen tray, it doesn't have sides. Right? It's more... That's one I'd probably leave on my desk. So maybe it's not the best choice if you want to put it into your tray, into your desk drawer at the end of the day. Because the pens might slide around a little bit. Right? It doesn't have sides on it. But it's a beautiful, functional, low-profile tray you could use. The third one is Rickshaw makes the fun, plush, little pen. I don't even know what they're called. But they hold like a single pen, maybe two pens. So if you needed something for just one or two pens, they make these plush varieties of pen trays that they just started making here in the last month or so. So I'm blanking on the name. Plush valet tray? Yes. There you go. And it holds... It doesn't hold like as many pens as the ones I'm talking about, like with the one from Yoseko or the one from Toyococraft. But it's just kind of a fun, neat desk accessory. And then like, I don't know. I'm really into pen trays and stuff. Like I have some from Bungu Box. What do you mean the pillows? Oh, the pillow. The pillow is what I'm talking about. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. I didn't have the link pulled up. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: And then I've had like a Lucren leather pen tray that holds like... It's got four slots. Again, it's like the Yoseko where it doesn't have sides. I like the Toyocraft for moving around a lot because it does have sides, right? In case you just accidentally, you know, like tip the tray like at an angle, the pens are going to stay in the tray. So maybe that's my first choice because it does have small sides and is just a really, really functional tray. And yeah. And I mean, you have to order it from Japan, you know, from Toyococraft, but it's pretty easy to do. They make it pretty easy. And I don't know if other people are starting to carry those single trays yet, but they're really neat. So that's my number one recommendation. But the other stuff is maybe more accessible.

Myke Hurley: I think the one thing I'll say about the wooden ones more than the leather one and the plush one. If you work in an office with other people, the wooden ones are very conspicuous. Like they're just big, right? And like it will catch people's attention where I feel like even though the rickshaw one is soft, like people might just think it's something else rather than this is a very specific wooden box for my pens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You know? Like as simple as the Yoseika tray is, if you put that on a desk at work and it's a seven slot tray, I believe, it's kind of ostentatious sitting out on your desk loaded with your pens, right? While being a completely simple and innocent product.

Myke Hurley: Beautiful thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The end result in the context of your desk, it's going to really stand out.

Myke Hurley: Similarly, like my favorite is the Toyoka tray. But it looks like a cigar tray. Yeah. And again, that's not a problem. But like it just depends. If you're in mixed company, sometimes, I don't know, different people, like different strokes with different folks. I don't like to have to answer questions about my pens. You know what I mean? Like I just. Yeah. It's just like, no, this is just a thing for me. I don't have to explain it to you. But like people always want to know, like, why are you doing this? It's just like, why not? Uh, Josh asks, I purchased a pile at Metropolitan to begin my fountain pen journey. I've had it for about a week and I love it. There's just one snag. I recently filled the pen with the included Con B converter. But since then, a huge pool of ink will come out of the feed all at once sporadically as I write with it. Am I doing something wrong? Are there air pockets in the converter? Your ideas would be greatly appreciated. For context, I'm using Diamine Oxford Blue for the ink.

Brad Dowdy: The Pilot Con B converter sucks. I, but surely this is weird what it's doing though, right? It is weird. So one of the difficulties with the Con B is you might have to force seat it onto the back of the feed and the housing, right? It is a very tight fit. So you might think you have it on there. You have to shove it on there to get a good seal. Because it's like plastic lined at that connection point.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And it has to be tight, right? For the linking, for the leaking purposes, right? Which Josh is running into. So that's my first guess is that it might not be pushed down enough. And that's an unnatural feel to actually literally force that thing down in there. Yeah. Because it's not just like, you know, a very easy to remove and to pop back on. I hate this converter. You want to force that converter. It sucks. Everyone hates that converter. It sucks. You can swap into a Con 40, which isn't much better. But for some reason. It's better. It just doesn't hold a lot of ink. It slides on. It's better. It doesn't hold a lot of ink. But it will slide on the back of that feed a little bit better. Honestly, I think, Josh, you probably just need to force it. And then be careful when you pull it off that you're not throwing it across the room because you forced it on. So it's going to be hard to remove as well. So should you have to do this? No. Is that the likely issue for this? Yeah, probably. Just because it's not a great design.

Myke Hurley: I really would recommend getting the Con 40. I think it's just more comforting to use.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's got the twist filler.

Brad Dowdy: Filling the Con B is impossible. Everything about the Con B is bad. It's a sacrifice that I almost wish they would include. Yeah, I don't know what they do. It causes more problems than it's worth. I would just include converters and just be, I mean, include cartridges and be done. And if someone wants a converter later, they can get it. They're not doing anyone any favors with this Con B. Side note, the Diamine Oxford blue ink is completely fine. Like, it's not an ink issue. That's a great ink. That's an ink you should be using with that pen. So just put the converter on more forcefully, unfortunately.

Myke Hurley: Or swap it.

Brad Dowdy: Or swap it.

Recommendations for an everyday fountain pen with a fine nib

Myke Hurley: Charlie asks, I'm looking for an everyday fountain pen with a Japanese extra fine-esque nib. Preferably nicer than a Preppy or Kakuno, but not more than $50. I bought a Curidass at 50% off on Amazon, and the nib is excellent, but the grip is challenging. Is there anything out there in the Safari, Eco, or Kaweco Sport kind of class, but with a finer nib than a Western extra fine? Oddly enough, while the Preppy and Kakuno come in extra fine, as far as I can tell, the Plazier, Procyon, Pereira, Cavalier, and Metropolitan do not.

Brad Dowdy: So, there's a couple different ways we can go with this. What I would do if I was in Charlie's situation, reading this email, they know enough to do this, is you buy a Plazier. Excuse me. You buy a Pilot Penmanship, okay? So the Pilot Penmanship is an inexpensive kind of dip-style pen. It comes with Pilot's extra fine nib. And then you take that nib off of there, because you've only spent like $7 or $8 on the pen. That's like, you couldn't buy that nib alone by itself. And then you put that in the Platinum Prera fountain pen, which is a more traditionally styled fountain pen. You can get them translucent barrels. You can get them solid barrels. But you use that.

Brad Dowdy: The Pilot Prera. Yes, the Pilot Prera. You use that. Or in the Metropolitan, that nib is swappable. So, if you're looking for something finer than a Western EF, you're not going to find that in the Safari, Eco, or Sport, okay? So, you have to buy the... You can buy a cheap Japanese EF in the Pilot Penmanship and steal that nib and put it in... It won't fit in the Cavalier. The Cavalier is a different nib. But the Metropolitan and the Prera bodies, I have done this many times. It is the best solution to this problem to get like a cooler looking pen or a more traditional looking pen with a Japanese EF nib. And that's kind of the only way to do it. Every now and then, you'll find the Metropolitan with the EF or the Prera with some options. Someone might sell them with options. It's rare. You have to buy two pens and steal the nib. It's worth the price because it's less than $10, I'm pretty sure the penmanship is. And you just get it with an EF nib and you put it into the Prera or Metrobali that you like and go to town. That is the answer. And I think looking at this email, Charlie, you can handle it.

Myke Hurley: I think that's a really good one. I think all in you probably be around $60 to get for this. Yeah, less. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Even if you bought like the most expensive Prera and the penmanship, you're still probably less than 50, honestly. And if you do the Metropolitan, you're probably like less than 35. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Cool project. You can do it. Yep. Do it. If you would like to send in a question of your own or you have some follow-up or feedback about the show, just go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send it in to us there or you can click the link in your show notes. You can find those in your podcast app of choice or you can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 556 to get that. If you want to catch up with us in the meantime, there's a few ways you can do it. You can find Brad. He's over at penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, streaming three times a week over on twitch.tv slash penaddict. He is penaddict on Instagram and you can find Brad on Mastodon. He is at mastodon.social and is at penaddict. I am on mike.social and I'm at imike there. So you can come and hang out with us, see what we're up to. You can also find my products at cortexbrand.com and my other podcasts here on RelayFM. Thank you to Pen Chalet and ExpressVPN for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. And we'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.