The Pen Addict 58/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	58
Title:	Dont Tell The Other Listeners
Release Date:	June 11th, 2013
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 58
Audio File:	Audio Episode 58
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 58
Length:	4242 min <br />0.7 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to The Pen Addict on 5x5, a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that you love so dearly. This is episode 58. My name is Myke Hurley and I am today joined by a man who is capable of working in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, and at temperatures from minus 30 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. That's Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: It sounds like you're reading one of my blog posts or something I'm going to talk about here in a bit. I may be, actually. I may be. So, shall we leave it there? Look at you, Master of Illusion. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Good job. How are you, sir?

Myke Hurley: I'm good, man. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I'm great. I'm great. One of the things that makes me great is the listeners of this podcast. I'm sure you've noticed it. I've noticed it, too, that ever since we moved to 5x5, we're starting to get a few more interactions with our listeners. We've got some people new to the show. We've been getting a bunch of tweets on people catching up on the podcast. A lot of people. I know I've had several. I don't know about you saying they started at episode one and they've been listening through the whole thing. Have you had seen some of those?

Myke Hurley: I have. And I think we've mentioned this before, but we kind of suggest that you do that, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. It's not a self-serving thing. It's that there is a – there's definitely a thread that runs through, you know, episode one up until now, episode 58, that, you know, you can kind of see the progression. And a lot of people that have started listening from episode one and are listening to them in a more condensed fashion, you know, one after the other, can kind of see that and have commented on that.

Myke Hurley: Especially if you're new or a little wet behind the ears when it comes to pens, you know, maybe you don't know too much. Because when we started out the show, I didn't really know anything. I feel like I've mentioned this before, but, yeah, you know, I didn't really know too much. And as time has gone on, I started to learn a bit more. And I think that we're a bit term and jargon heavy at times just because we're sort of up to our eyes in this stuff. Right. But, yeah, so I think it's good to go back from the start and catch up.

Pen Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and then when you come to, like, an episode like today where we're going to talk about some of these, the things we're going to talk about today really tie into many, many episodes that we've talked about before. And, you know, the topics we'll go through have, you know, definitely got some genesis in some of the previous episodes. So we definitely think it's a good thing. And we have one new listener that Myke and I definitely want to mention and thank for all of his interaction and his really fun tweets and posts. And that's at Camuel on Twitter. Cam's, what's it? Cam's Campbell?

Myke Hurley: I am just checking. I believe that you're, yeah, Cam's Campbell.

Brad Dowdy: Cam's Campbell. I was right. So, Cam's, we really appreciate all your tweets. And we actually want to talk about you today because you're, like, the epitome of what some of our new listeners are doing. What Cam has done is he started listening from the beginning. I think he's even mentioned he's, like, on his second run through.

Myke Hurley: He started at 50 and then went back.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so what he's been doing is as he listens to some of the episodes, he does a written review about our episode. It takes a picture of it and tweets it to me and Myke. Awesome. And it's hilarious.

Myke Hurley: I love our listeners.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's awesome. And he's done this several times now. Let me read the one from today. Okay. So, he just wrote this on a little notepad. It says, episode 50 was the first one I've listened to. I've since gone back to the beginning and I'm now at 50 again. And now it makes so much more sense. So, what's changed? Context. First time around, I had no fountain pens and no knowledge. Now I have two and a little. I recommend going back to the start.

Myke Hurley: So, that's directly from a listener. Exactly what we're talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, there is some context that's wrapped around there. And what Cam's has even done, Cam's helps run a post office. Is he in Dublin? It's in Ireland somewhere.

Myke Hurley: I thought he was from Scotland.

Brad Dowdy: Hang on.

Brad Dowdy: Sorry. We weren't totally prepped for you, Cam's. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: We should have been. This is terrible. I mean, I had thought that he was.

Myke Hurley: I'm bringing up Google Maps because I feel like this is one of those things that you have to get right.

Isle of Arran

Myke Hurley: So, it's like, yeah, he's in Scotland. Okay. Scotland. Yes. He's on an island called the Isle of Arran. Yes. Yeah. So, that's where the confusion comes up. But yes, he's in Scotland. I believe that he was. But it was one of those things you do not want to get those two mixed up.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. No, no, no, no. I will. You know him better than I have. And I don't want to cause any rift there.

Myke Hurley: He may go from being one of the most loyal to least loyal listeners in the space of 20 seconds.

Brad Dowdy: So, sorry about that, Cam. We will link to your proper location in the show notes. But he is at Brodick Post Office. So, we will put that in there. But yeah, he's been great. It's fun listening, or excuse me, reading all his reviews of our episodes. And it's Myke and I have gotten a huge kick out of talking to him. And what he's done is he's actually taken some of the information he's gained in this episode and added to the product lines that they're actually selling at the post office, which, you know, that's kind of a weight on our shoulders, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean, we're now directly contributing to this man's living, which is kind of scary a little bit.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah, so... No pressure, Cam. We appreciate that. No pressure at all.

Myke Hurley: So, we're linking to his blog because it's a really cool blog, actually. He's got a couple of posts about pens, but there's one that's just really cool. Where he talks about the show, talks about the things that he's bought, and some of the stuff that he is changing in his post office. It's just really cool. Like, I love the interaction that we have with all of our listeners. And it's just nice, you know. It's just cool to see this stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, we talk about it all the time, but it's a great community around this podcast. And we love all you guys, so we appreciate all the support, for sure.

Myke Hurley: Always continue to get in touch with us because this is the sort of stuff that I think it makes what we do feel really worthwhile for us, is to know that people listen and to know that people really enjoy it. And that, you know, for as much as we're spending your money for you, you're actually getting a kick out of the show, too. Yeah, sure. We love it. We love it. We love the listeners to the Pen Addict Podcast. Don't tell anyone, but you guys are the best listeners.

Myke Hurley: Don't tell anyone.

Brad Dowdy: I know, don't tell anyone. Keep it on the down low.

Myke Hurley: Don't tell those other guys. I don't tell them.

Pen Case Update

Brad Dowdy: Oh, man. So, you know, probably in relation to some of Cam's comments to us before, I've actually made an update on thepenaddict.com that might help him a little bit more. I keep a top five pens list. I keep a top five pens list. That's still a work. It's still a work in progress on the site. And it's kind of a living page where I keep updating my top five pens list. And after I made the first batch of, or the first list of top fives, I had a bunch of comments saying which other lists I needed to add. So it took me a while to get to some of these. And there's still a few more that I want to get to. But I've added four new lists on my top five pens page. And we'll link to this in the show notes. But I just wanted to go over them real quick because a lot of people have been asking about them. The first one I've added is the top five ballpoint pens. And we talked about it last episode. And we talked about tip sizes and things like that. And this is very relevant to ballpoint pens as much as any. And we're actually going to do part two of this nib conversation later in this episode. But my top five ballpoint pens, the Uniball Jetstream 0.5 millimeter. I know I talked last episode about how much I love the 0.38. I'm a little bit scared to put that on there just yet because I don't want people to. Sometimes people take me literally on what to purchase and have emailed me after, like, you said you like this pen. I bought it and I don't like it. And I think people know better than to do that. This is a list of what I personally use. This is not a list of what I recommend you purchase, if that makes sense. So this is just to give you an idea of what my personal favorites are, not a list you should go out and go, well, Brad says these pens are great. Let me go buy them. You've got to make sure that it's the right fit for you. So still, the Uniball Jetstream 0.5 is really kind of the sweet spot. The 0.38 is super fine. I love it. The 0.5 is kind of the sweet spot.

Brad Dowdy: Second is the Acroball, which there's some days where that's a number one for me. It's really the ballpoint. It's really one and two, the Jetstream and the Acroball. Everything else is down below that. The Pentel Vicuna is actually kind of a surprising pen to me. Every time I use it, it always writes so, so well. It doesn't quite make it into the Jetstream Acroball category, but it's a really, really great option. It's got some of the darkest black ballpoint ink that I've ever used. It's really nice. Kind of a surprising one, and one that's surprised me all along is the Pilot Dr. Grip. It's a traditional ballpoint where the other four pens on this list are hybrid ballpoint inks. You'll have to listen back to the episodes. I'm sure we've discussed those differences several times. The Dr. Grip is one of the most consistent writing traditional ballpoint ink pens that I've used. Of course, it comes with a comfortable grip. That's its whole selling point around the Dr. Grip. Then the fifth one is the Zebra Sorare. I find it to be a little more consistent than other hybrid ballpoint inks like the Vicuna Acroball and Jetstream. I do like that it comes in a .5, and it has a nice barrel. It's comfortable. I just don't think it's quite at the Acroball Jetstream level of writing consistency, but it's a really good pen.

Brad Dowdy: One of the lists that I wanted to do the most, and I think I had some people ask about it, was the top five pen and pencil cases because that's something I'm kind of passionate about. I buy a lot of pen cases. I hate to even do this, but my number one is no longer. Shouldn't be allowed.

Brad Dowdy: I use this pen case every day. No more. I mean, I don't know what to do about that. It's the Nomadic PD-04 Roller Pen Case. It's the best pen case that I've ever used. It is no longer for sale, so I don't know what to do. Do I include it in the list? I mean, I literally use this case every day. I don't know what the right thing to do is, but it's the best pen case I use. I love it. It's got a great combination of pen dividers. It's got a large pocket for just holding random stuff, and it's got some smaller pockets to hold smaller items like ink cartridges and erasers. To me, it's the best, but I'm sorry. You're not going to be able to buy one. What you can buy, though, is probably the second most pen case that I use is the Dome Paper Leather Four Barrel Holster. It will hold four pens, but it won't hold four fountain pens. I usually carry three fountain pens in it. I just don't want to jam them in there real tight, but it's just a beautifully well-made pen case that I use. I'll actually take, if I'm not going to carry the roller, which I usually carry five fountain pens in, I'll take three of them out, put them in the holster, and carry them that way.

Myke Hurley: Missing a link there, buddy.

Brad Dowdy: I know, because I don't have it reviewed. There are some you will see with not. This has been actually a good exercise for me because I've gone through, and I'm surprised at how many of these products I haven't reviewed. If there's no link, that means I owe a review for the product, even though I know I've talked about it a million times. I've given one of these away on my blog, actually, the holster when it came out. I've just never actually reviewed it, so that gives me a good reminder of some of the reviews I need to follow up on. The third one is the Alter Manufacturing Mod O2 pen case. I use this case a lot for just general storage. Probably like my – this holds a lot. So like my fountain pens go in the Nomadic and the Dome, and then like my other nice pens like the Render K and some of the other pens like that that I use very frequently go in the Alter Mod O2. It's just a very thick, durable canvas and Velcro case that I like a lot. And number four is a lot like that, too. It's the Nomadic PE10 tri-fold.

Brad Dowdy: It's an envelope style where it folds over. There's four slots. I use that one for fountain pens that are cleaned and just in storage that are not in use right now. And then the fifth one is the Kokuyu Neocrits Transformer. That case has been around since the beginning of my blog. I mean, well, it's been around before that, but I reviewed it shortly after I started Pen Addict. And it's still one of the best cases around just for portability. This is a great student workspace portable case because it's just an open concept. The pens stand vertically, and then you unzip it, stand it up on your desk, turn the flap down, and it stands up like a pen cup. And it's really cool. It's really, really well made. I'm a huge fan of that case, and I've given away a couple of them on the blog.

Brad Dowdy: So definitely check that one out if you're looking for just kind of more of a general pen storage.

Kickstarter Pens

Brad Dowdy: Top five Kickstarter pens. I got asked a bunch about this one. And this was kind of a hard list to do because I really only use a few of them regularly. But I do have some thoughts on the other ones. The one I use the most and the one we talk about the most is the Render K.

Brad Dowdy: I'm such a high-tech C fan that that's pretty much the only pen I use these days with a high-tech C. If I'm using a high-tech C, it's probably in one of my Render Ks. I think I've got three of them at this point. I'm having a hard time not buying the solid black one because it looks pretty cool. But we'll see. Karis Customs has some other stuff up their sleeve. They've been tweeting out, so I'm saving my funds for the upcoming project.

Myke Hurley: You'll never have the cool ones like me, though.

Brad Dowdy: I know. Myke still has the coolest. Myke has the Delrin. He's got some cool stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Number two is a surprise. And it's been one of the better purchases I've made through Kickstarter. It's called the Now and Then Eco Essential Pen. And there's no link for that one because I haven't reviewed it yet. But what it is, it's a bamboo. It's a high-tech C. It's for the high-tech C refill. But it's a bamboo with a silver cap. And the cap's got a stylus on it. It's a very well-balanced and comfortable pen to write with. It's not too light. It's not too heavy. Everything about it is just right. The stylus works good. I carry that in my backpack a lot just because I like the stylus to have the stylus handy. The third one is the solid titanium pen and stylus. That one's really good, too. And that one is really popular because that's the one that you can fit probably 50, 60, 70 refills in.

Brad Dowdy: So I don't use that one as much. But it does fit the Pilot high-tech C Cavalier refill, which is what I use in the solid tie pen and stylus. The fourth one is the pen type A, which is really the one that started off this whole thing.

Brad Dowdy: It's just – it would rank higher. It's just not, for me, in the design – it's not a portable pen. Like, you can't throw that pen in your pocket the way it's designed. But it's as beautiful of a design as you'll ever see. It's just really more of a desk type pen or something you keep at your office or wherever you're writing. It's just not high on the portability. So it doesn't fit that need for me like a Render K or some of these other options do. And then the fifth one is the Premiere P1. And every time I've added this, all my Kickstarter pens are sitting on my desk in the dude, the pen holder that Myke Dudek made for both you and I. And I love the looks of these Premiere Pen P1s. They're very sleek and they're very well made. And it's just a very nice, nice-looking pen. Excuse me. Oh, my. Goodness. You're okay? I don't know where. Yeah. I think I'm going to make it. Send help. Send help for my pen problem. That's what you need to send.

Extreme Weather Pens

Brad Dowdy: And the last top five that I've added, which you, I think, alluded to at the intro, is the top five extreme weather pens.

Brad Dowdy: This is a category that didn't used to be a category. It used to be one pen and it used to be the Fisher Space Pen. And there was nothing else. Well, in the past, I guess, decade or so, maybe not even that long, several other companies have started making the basis around it is the pressurized ink, ballpoint ink refill, which allows you to write upside down in extreme heat and extreme cold. Write on dirty surfaces, you know, on wood, you know, and just in all kinds of extreme conditions. The Tombow Air Press is easily my favorite just for body style and consistency of writing.

Brad Dowdy: It's handled everything I've been able to. You know, it's not like I'm, you know, on a sled going to the North Pole or something. But in what I need this pen to do, it's worked really well for me. Like I said, I keep it in my car. People, I get emails or tweets all the time. Hey, what's that pen you say you keep in your car all the time? It's the Tombow Air Press just because it can stand the Georgia heat and I can pick it up and it'll start writing. I also like the Uniball Power Tank. That's the second one on the list. There's a few different models. I like the new, the newer, the newer model, the newer barrel design of the Power Tank. And I also like the, they also make a high-end model that I like. It's really good looking. And third, I have to, I have to put it on there because I really use the refills a lot. And that's the Fisher Space pen.

Brad Dowdy: It's still a classic and it's still extremely popular. It's just that really traditional bullet style fits easily in your pocket, fits great with a memo book in your pocket. And that's what a lot of people use that as their everyday carry pen just because of its slim profile and its ability to write in pretty much any situation. The little brother to the Tombow Air Press is the Tombow Air Press A-Pro. I like it for its smaller profile. This pen was really marketed as like a, gosh, why do you say it? Not like a, I don't know, for professionals to use like waitresses, people in restaurants, people who are having to use a pen, having to use it quickly and having to use it in a lot of situations. It's a little bit cheaper than the Air Press, a little bit better looking than the Air Press. I like the more, the more serious look of the traditional Air Press. But the A-Pro is actually a really, really good option, really good pen. And then the fifth is the Pilot Downforce. I've just been using it recently and it writes really, really well. I don't like the barrel design as much as some of these other ones. But for, you know, a write anywhere type pen, it's a really good option. So I am fleshing out the top five list as we go. And I'm going in adding comments. I've started adding, you know, little blurbs on some of the other lists that I've done. And I've still got some more lists to go. Like our friend Topher, it's not Topher, as he vined me the other day on Twitter how to pronounce his name. He wants a top five inks list and that will be Fountain Pen Inks list. So that will be coming soon. So I've been working at keeping this list up to date and it'll be changing. And, you know, one of the things that's going to change is the top five pens overall. That's probably going to change pretty soon. Just got to get the time to do it. So I just wanted to let everyone know that those updates are out there. And if you have suggestions for more lists that you would like to see, definitely get in touch.

Myke Hurley: Excellent.

Brad Dowdy: So you didn't fall asleep while I was rambling there?

Myke Hurley: Not at all. I was following along. I was looking down the list and clicking links for things I was not that familiar with.

Brad Dowdy: Good, good, good. Any questions? No. No. You're too smart for me.

Myke Hurley: How could I question your top five lists?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, please. Please.

Myke Hurley: I mean, they're yours, aren't they? I can't question them.

Brad Dowdy: That's true. Fair enough.

Myke Hurley: I mean, all I would say is I don't understand how the Jetstream would be your number one of anything because I really don't like that pen, but I know I'm in the minority with that.

Brad Dowdy: Well, no, I think the Jetstream 1.0 is a really bad pen. I don't like it at all.

Myke Hurley: That would be why because that's probably, I think that's what I have.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's very, it's much more inconsistent than the smaller tip sizes, surprisingly enough. It's a little bit messier, a little bit globier. I have never had good, I used to not like the Jetstream at all because of the 1.0 millimeter size, and I wouldn't try the new ones for the longest time because I had such a bad experience with the 1.0s. But now that I've found the smaller tip sizes, I love them.

Myke Hurley: Brilliant. Yep.

Nib Sizes

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, we need to, we had a good discussion about nibs and tip sizes last episode, kind of a part one. And we'll do a part two in this episode. You want to go ahead and do our sponsor and then we'll get into more of this nib talk because I still got more, I still have plenty to talk about.

Myke Hurley: Of course. Awesome. What a great idea, sir. So, I want to just take a moment to thank our fantastic sponsor for this week's episode. And that is, of course, the fine folks over at Squarespace.com who give you absolutely everything you need to make an amazing website. Squarespace provide you with all of the tools that it takes to put your first site or a new site, any website online. It doesn't matter whether you're creating a portfolio, website, blog, site for your business. Maybe you want to start an online store of your own. Will Squarespace give you all of the tools that you need to do that? They're beautiful themes. Everything looks fantastic on Squarespace sites because they have a great gallery of templates from which you can select and you can lay out your pages however you want using the drag and drop page building system and you can make customizations like the fonts and the colors and things like that. And it's really, really easy to do in their WYSIWYG design editor, meaning whatever you see is what you get. WYSIWYG, that's awesome.

Myke Hurley: There are so many great things. There are so many things that I love about Squarespace. I love the fact that I have statistics built in. I don't need to worry about installing, finding where to insert code to install analytic systems because it's all built in. iOS and Android apps, they come straight from Squarespace. So you can manage your site on the go. If you have a blog from elsewhere, you can import it straight into Squarespace. You can easily set up sharing and syncing with your social media accounts too. If you want, you can add an integrated store right into your new or existing Squarespace website or into any Squarespace 6 site using Squarespace Commerce. You can easily add a payment solution and store inventory management and everything. Basically, a storefront for digital or physical goods. You can process your customer orders and they integrate Stripe as their payment processing system, which is very, very simple to integrate and set up. It's very cool. They have award-winning 24-7 customer support. They also have live online workshops to help walk you through step-by-step everything you need to know to build an amazing site. There's no credit card required to try out Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com slash 70decibels and you can start your free trial. Squarespace plans start at $10 a month for the standard plan, $20 a month for the unlimited plan. If you sign up for a year up front, you'll get 20% off. Sign up for two, you'll get 25% off. And don't forget to use the code 70decibels6 at 70decibels and the number 6 at checkout and you will get 10% off your first order on top of any other discounts. So go check out Squarespace, everything you need to make an amazing website.

Brad Dowdy: Fantastic. All right. And they make keeping my top five list easy to update. It's so simple. It's not even funny. So that's why I'm able to continue to add and modify that page because they make the tools very easy to do that. So last week we talked about, we had an emailer talking about nib and tip sizes and why people choose certain things. And I wanted to elaborate on the differences between some tip sizes. I started off the conversation around, you know, why ballpoint, rollerball, and gel, while they may be marked the same or measured the same tip size, the actual line width you're going to get on the page is different. And I wanted to continue that conversation because another topic that I get emailed probably as much as any is around fountain pen nibs. And I know we've covered this before and I've made it perfectly clear that people need to be aware of the differences in fountain pen sizes, you know, an F nib on one manufacturer, you know, a fine nib from one manufacturer is not going to be the same as a fine nib from another manufacturer.

Brad Dowdy: And I just wanted to continue that conversation and just, you know, reiterate some of that discussion just because those are the questions that, you know, a lot of new listeners have and, you know, people that are just starting to get into fountain pens, which I'm seeing more and more every day, especially as my, you know, fountain pen addiction grows. I'm seeing other people starting to get the bug and they continue to have the same question. And it revolves around the basic premise is Japanese nibs, fountain pen nibs versus German fountain pen nibs. Those are the two most popular nibs, I guess, in the fountain pen world. They're both super high quality. There's no difference in quality between these nibs. The Japanese make beautiful steel nibs, beautiful gold nibs. They have some of the best nib manufacturers in the world. And the Germans the same way, the steel nibs and the gold nibs. There's no quality issues when comparing those two. They're both elite. Whether the differences lie in what they believe is the right, the sizing for the nibs. So what you'll see in general, and I'm going to make that clear, in general, a German nib will be wider than its counterpart Japanese nib. So a Lamy F nib, which is a fine nib, which is a German pen, a Lamy F nib is going to write a wider line than a Japanese, say, pilot F nib. There, you can almost take it as, in the German nibs, comparing to the Japanese nibs, if a German, if you have a German F nib, you can assume that the Japanese F nib is going to write like one step down for the German nib. It'll write like a German EF nib, if that makes sense, if I'm explaining that correctly. So people, you know, get that. A lot of people will buy, oh, I just bought this Japanese F nib. And, you know, after looking at some German, you know, writing samples, you know, someone using a Lamy F nib and the line's twice as wide or something crazy, and they don't like that fineness of it. And then conversely, someone wants an extra, extra fine nib, and they buy, you know, a German EF nib, and it's wider than, you know, a Japanese medium nib. So you have to pay attention. And, you know, there's tools out there on the web that can show you some comparisons, like Goulet. Goulet Pins has a great, I think it's called Nib Nook, where you can compare some of the line widths. And they've done a good job there, where you can actually see some visual comparisons. But I get this, this might be the most asked question, you know, which nib size should I purchase? And you just have to be aware of, you know, what the differences are and what nibs manufacturers are using. Now, some of the confusion comes into play, especially with a brand like TWSBI.

TWSBI Nibs

Brad Dowdy: TWSBI is a Taiwanese company. You would think they would use the Asian nib standard, but what they do, TWSBI buys German nibs. So you don't want, don't let TWSBI fool you in thinking that an extra fine nib is going to be something like a Japanese extra fine nib, which really light. A Japanese extra fine nib writes somewhere in the order of about 0.35 to 0.4 millimeter, like a gel ink pen would. Like a Pilot Hi-Tech C 0.4 millimeter, you're going to be close to a Japanese EF nib. I mean, they are super, super, super fine. That's what I use a lot. Um, TWSBI sources their nibs from Germany. So an extra fine TWSBI nib is going to be something along the lines of a Lamy extra fine. They're going to be very similar in, um, in line width. Maybe not exact, but it's going to be more along the lines of, uh, the German sizing because that's where they're sourcing their nibs from. So you really have to pay attention when you're getting down to spending your money on a fountain pen. If the nib is, the nib size is a concern and you're unsure about it, you need to do some research on what's going to be the proper fit for you. Cause I don't want people buying, you know, the wrong things. I just want them to be informed when they're making this type of purchasing decision. So, and, and along those lines, the differences between gold nibs, like 14 karat gold or 21 karat gold in, you know, like a pilot or a Pelican versus say a similar steel nib in the tech. I've been able to test a bunch of pens from my friend Thomas and a bunch of similar nib styles, similar nib sizes and trying to determine, okay, does a gold nib write differently? Does it write smoother? Is it softer than a corresponding steel nib? And the difference is very, very minimal.

Brad Dowdy: You're paying a premium for the gold nib. Um, yes, maybe it's a fraction softer and a fraction smoother, but in my experience, the steel nibs being made these days by German manufacturers. And then from, um, you know, in pens like the TWSBI, there's such high quality. Um, I don't sweat getting a steel nib, um, and making that choice for a steel nib over a gold nib or things like that, because the steel nibs are such high quality these days. The smoothness and softness is there, um, that people can tell, you can tell a slight difference between the two, but if people are asking me, um, if there's a huge difference in how a gold and steel nib writes, it's more of a slight difference. Um, I think, I think other people might have different opinions on that than me. Um, I'm not saying there's no difference. There's definitely some difference. Um, but it's not an extreme difference. Like I think TWSBI nibs, they're all steel and those are some of the best nibs going. I mean, they're all super smooth. I mean, you, you, you use several TWSBs, Myke. I mean, what do you, what do you think about those steel nibs?

Myke Hurley: I love them. I think that they're just excellent. Really, really excellent.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I mean, I think you'll find that, you know, the manufacturers, someone like, uh, Edison pen, who's making, manufacturing a bunch of pens and you can, that's a company where you can choose steel or gold and you know, it's a hundred or $125 premium. You might want to consider the steel in the, in the same barrel that, cause it's, I mean, it's hard to say until you've used them yourself. And I think some people will probably disagree with me on this, but I don't have a huge, I don't see a huge discrepancy. I can tell some difference. Um, but you know, in the smoothness and the quality, I mean, I think the steel nibs are, um, steel nibs are just fine. Although I have started to dabble in some gold, some gold nibs here recently with my Pelican, uh, my Pelican purchase. And of course, like the vanishing point, Myke, that you and you and I have, that's a gold nib. Um, so anyway, I just wanted to point that out that there's not, I don't find a huge, to be a huge performance difference between gold and steel. So that's, that's some of the, the discussion around fountain pen nibs that I get, um, asked about a lot. And one thing I don't get asked about a lot, but one I did want to make a point of is, um, since we're talking about nib sizes and tip sizes and measurements, you know, around those areas is in pencils. Now, a lot of us, um, you know, I'm starting to get into woodcase pencils and that's one thing that, that tip sizes, you know, depending on, on sharpeners, I'm talking more about, um, mechanical pencils, drafting pencils, things of that nature. And, um, you know, lead holders, there's a huge variety out there for lead pencils. You know, just like a ballpoint pen, you're not, you don't have to be stuck buying the 1.0 millimeter ballpoint pen. There's other options out there that might be better for you. The same thing goes with pencils. You don't have to go to the store and buy a 0.7 millimeter lead pencil. You know, there's obviously 0.5 millimeters, a very common measurement out there. You can go, they used to be, I don't think they make a 0.2 millimeter anymore. There used to be a manufacturer that made a 0.2 millimeter lead. Um, there may still be one out there. Um, 0.3 is about as small as I've seen. And this is actually, this is actually one of the truer measurements, Myke. I mean, it's based on the lead dimensions. I mean, it's just fact it's, it's a fixed measurement. This is the dimension. Obviously, as you wear the pencil, the line width changes, but it's a fixed dimension. So you'll see several manufacturers make a 0.3 lead, um, 0.5 and 0.7 are kind of the main sweet spots. I kind of like, there's a, Oto makes a 0.4, um, that I like. There's a, I don't know how many companies make a 0.4. I think I find 0.3 millimeter leads to be too fragile. While I like my 0.3 millimeter gel ink pens, 0.3 lead pencil. Pencils, mechanical pencils and drafting pencils. That gets a little bit too fragile for me. Um, and then you can go up to 0.9, um, 1.3 millimeter leads. And then you start getting into two lead holders, which a lot of artists and, and sketchers and engineers and designers use, um, where they use the real thick leads and, um, you know, a lead holder that slides out, you know, like one huge piece of lead that they continually sharpen and, and things like that goes, goes, go up to gosh, two millimeters and even larger, I think. So there's, there's lots of options out there. You got to do your research and, um, and you got to, uh, ask me and Myke questions if you have them. So we're, we're more than glad to help because I know you guys have these questions because this is what keeps hitting in my inbox.

Myke Hurley: I think that that's very comprehensive.

Myke Hurley: In a good way. You know, I think that's the kind of stuff that people, I like to believe people are looking for.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, the, and I didn't know these things when I started doing it, you know, one of the first pens, fountain pens I bought was a, a Lamy extra fine and, you know, not knowing, you know, how it relates to other manufacturers. I was like, oh, this is a nice line. It's a fine line. I, I don't think it's as fine as something that I want. Um, is there something I can, does Lamy make an extra, extra fine? And then I find out that, oh, well, if I look at some of these Japanese manufacturers and look at their fine nibs, I'm going to have a different writing experience. And then that's when the, uh, the light bulb kind of went off and I was like, oh, that's what I need to look at. So as it turns out, I like, uh, Japanese gel ink pens and that turned into a Japanese fountain pen obsession, which I'm kind of having a little, uh, problem with right now. Definitely in the wallet. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: See, I think I'm definitely more of a German.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Cause, um, yeah. And that's what, that's why, uh, we, we make a, a good partnership for the show. Cause we, we have different writing styles. We have different needs for, you know, what we want to write with, you know, we both use different nib sizes and tip sizes every day. So it's good to be able to have that conversation around what's suiting your needs for the different situations that you're in.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. We like a lot of the same things, but we don't necessarily like them the same way or, and you know, there are some distinct differences.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. And like, but I think both of us appreciate the same products. Like we understand that, you know, the pilot vanishing point is a real marble of engineering and it's a beautiful pen. And, but we both want a different writing experience out of that.

Brad Dowdy: So the one, the one thing I have, uh, you have assimilated me on those somewhat is the retro 51. I haven't been changing out those refills. I've been using the, the wider refills. They're just, they're just so smooth and easy to write with. I, that's one of the more enjoyable wider nib pens that I use. So it's 0.7 millimeter roller ball. And, uh, I have no reason. I used to be looking for, uh, options to change that out to something finer, but I don't, I don't think I want it. I think that, I think that refill is there for a reason. It works perfectly for that pen. And, uh, I'm, that's one that I'm, I'm right there with you on, on, on that one. Um, good, good.

Nib Talk

Brad Dowdy: So I think that, uh, I think that's about a wrap for this episode. We got, I did, I wanted to break that nib talk into two parts cause I, I know how I, I know how I get sometimes I didn't want to have an hour and a half episode and then a 30 minute episode. So it kind of worked out good to split it, split it in two. So hopefully everyone has, uh, caught up to both parts and, uh, you know, as always, if you have questions, get in touch. We're, we're more than happy to help. And that's where the, you know, the topics for this, for the podcast come from is from, from you guys, from you listeners. You know, these are the questions you guys have and, you know, I want to be able to, uh, help you, uh, help you answer them. So, um, I'm glad to do it.

Myke Hurley: Cool.

Brad Dowdy: Cool.

Myke Hurley: Are we done?

Brad Dowdy: We're done, sir. Let's wrap it up.

Myke Hurley: Awesome. You can catch up with us, um, on social networks. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. Brad is, uh, at Dowdy, D-O-W-D-Y on app.net. And he is Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter. Brad also has his fantastic blog over at penaddict.com. Thank you very much for listening to this week's episode of the Pen Addict podcast. Um, and until next time, bye bye.

Brad Dowdy: Bye bye. Thank you.