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The Pen Addict 621/transcript

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The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode: 621
Title: I Like Bananas
Release Date: June 26th, 2024
Hosts: Brad Dowdy

Myke Hurley

Guests: No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page: Episode 621
Audio File: Audio Episode 621
Podcast page: The Pen Addict 621
Length: 5555 min <br />0.917 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript Next Transcript


  • From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 621. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Enigma Stationery. My name is Myke Hurley and we're joined by Big Vacation Brad Dowdy. I am excited to be doing this, Myke. It's always, I know I don't have to record on vacation. You're always so nice. I can make arrangements. We can double record. I can get a guest. But when I do, like, we've been doing this long enough that when I do these chill family vacations, like, I actually look forward to, like, an hour sitting and talking with you. Especially when we can do an episode like this, where we can just answer listeners' questions and I don't have to prep too much. Some would say I don't prep any as it is, so this should be a normal episode. That's not true at all. I want to state for the record, Brad does an incredible job every single week on our show document. Speaking of prep. More than some of my other colleagues, Brad, but don't tell me. Yeah. We'll talk about that in person next week. We'll get a list. We'll get a ranking. I do have a lot of, like, stationery talk to have, but we're going to save that until next week. You know, like, I've actually bought something while I'm on vacation, right? And then I have all the pen addict shop stuff is happening while I'm on vacation, unfortunately. So I'm going to be a busy man between now and when I see you next. I do. The one thing I want to do before we get into the episode is give a thanks to the St. Louis Pen Show. I got a really nice email from Myke, who has been my contact there for a lot of things that were going on. He sent the longest, nicest email. I have not replied to him yet. But, again, I'm on vacation, but I did read it, and it made me happy, all the things he said. And I'll forward on to you. I'm not sure if you were copied in on that or not, but I will make sure you get it because he said thanks. And it was a really awesome event. So we have our mugs.

Introduction to listener questions and upcoming topics.[edit]

  • We have our mugs. So hopefully I will get it in time to carry to London for you. Yeah, please bring me a mug. Yep. Yep. So next week we'll have a ton to talk about. But this week we're going to get into what y'all want to talk about, and we have questions, Myke. Yeah, I appreciate everyone who sent in an Ask TPA question. Hopefully we're going to get to a bunch of them today, but we've got them in the bank. And there's also some stuff in here that we've had for a little bit but haven't gotten to. But you can always send in your questions. Maybe you hear us today and you are inspired to ask a question for Brad and me, mostly Brad, to answer in a future episode. It's very easy to do this. Just go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send in your questions or even your follow-up if there's something you want to hear us talk about more. Or maybe you've got some ideas of your own based on the questions that we have today. You can always go and send those in to us at any time. And we're going to start with a question from Lisa today who says, On a recent episode, Brad was recommending the use of a loop to check the tines of fountain pens. So these are those little magnifying things. You see those in like jewelry repair and stuff like that. Yeah, that's where you mostly see them. Lisa says, I could use some recommendation on buying and using a loop. I have an inexpensive one and I haven't found it that useful. Is it important to get a loop of a built-in light? Are they harder to use if you have glasses? Which are the best? Or am I missing something completely? Yeah, awesome question right off the jump. And I don't think I've talked specifically about which loop I have in a while. And it does matter which ones you use. And it's mostly from the glass itself. Right? So a lot of them, if you look, it's a very simple product to just have like, you know, a generic product replicated, you know, 20 different times under different names. Like if you're looking at somewhere like Amazon and they all say the same, you know, 10x magnification, blah, blah, blah. And it's kind of meaningless unless you get good glass. Right? Like think of it like a camera lens glass, like glass matters. So I have two loops. One is expensive. That was recommended to me that I'll get to in a second. And that's still going to be my recommendation. But my second one, I was like, well, let me just buy a backup loop because I was, I keep one in the shipping department when I'm doing spoke pins and, you know, need to check the nibs when we sell fountain pens and things like that. So that's where I have my nice one. And I was like, well, I wanted a backup one for my stream desk and where I do a lot of my work just in case like Lisa was talking about, you know, like if I get fibers in my tines, I kind of want to take a look at it and see. This loop, this more generic 10x loop is just garbage. And the reason why you can tell is because the sweet spot, like the clarity sweet spot is so minuscule that it's almost worthless. Like you have a hard time seeing clear through the loop unless you absolutely nail this little pinpoint area in the loop. So otherwise it's just like, you know, it reminds me actually when I was a kid, I had a telescope, but it wasn't a very good one. And it was similar where like most of the time I couldn't even see the moon with this thing. But if I got it in just the right angle, you could get it to work. Yeah. So that's what you get with an inexpensive loop. So the expensive one I bought is from Bellomo. And that was one recommended to me way back in the day, I think by nib grinders or other fountain pen, you know, people that work on fountain pens. And I looked at, I ordered it on Amazon in 2013 and it's, it's still going strong. And it was like 30, I think they're around between 30 and $40 now. It has been more, this is one of those times where the added cost has been worth every penny and having used an inexpensive one. Um, it, it's very clear that it was worth to spend the money on a nice one. So this one, you, you put it up in front of your eye and it's, you can just kind of see everything you have to, you know, kind of twist, you know, to get in, in the right spot, but everything's clear. The glass is so much better and it's, it's a real durable one. I've carried this one to pen shows, you know, I've used it, you know, for over a decade at this point and it's, it's just been great. So that's one that's been well worth the money. Um, it's not a lot of money though.
  • Overall, I mean, for the way you were setting it up, I thought you were going to say that this is quite expensive, you know? I mean, you can buy like a hundred dollar loops and things like that, but I don't think that's, that's worth it, you know, for what we need. Right. We're not, I'm not in front of the loop all day. Right. I'm not a nib grinder and they might have some different questions. So the other part of the question was, should I get one with a built-in light?
  • Um, I've never had that need. Never have I put the loop up to my eye and looked at a nib and gone, boy, I wish I had more light blazing on this thing. So now if I was a nib grinder or something like that, um, it might come into, um, better use, but if it comes down to it, I'll just use a lamp on my desk or the natural lighting. I've never found the need to have a built-in light. There are other ways to generate more light. Like you could use a flashlight on your phone. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then are they harder to use if they have glasses? I obviously wear glasses. Um, it is not harder to use. I, you basically, once you use a loop a lot, you, you basically have a loop stance, right? You have this repeated move that you do with the loop, flipping it up. And then like, I'm, I'm probably coming off the mic here because I'm putting my hand up to my face. I kind of like my thumb kind of leans on my nose and the, and the loop is just out in front of my lens. Like, I don't think I've ever touched the loop to my lens. If I have, it's been an accident. That's what I was going to ask. You're leaving your glasses on. Glasses are on. Right. And like my, my thumb rests on my nose and that's the enough distance buffer and the right depth buffer for the lens to actually pick up the nib. And, um, and you, you keep both eyes open, right? Like it's, um, it's like, you know, like if you're shooting a camera, you want, you generally, I think the advice is to keep both of your eyes open. Like I'm not closing one of my eye, but then I just focus, you know, use your dominant eye and, and bring it up there. And it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's a really valuable tool and something I use weekly. And, uh, if, if not daily, if I was in certain situations. So yeah, it was, it's, uh, that's the one that was recommended to me and it has stood the test of time and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, uh, picking one of those Bell Omos up.
  • Sam writes in and says, I love, I love this question, by the way. This is a, I mean, we're like, I started scrolling through these questions and I just had to stop. I was like, yep, that's a good one. Yep. These are great, great questions. Everyone. I pulled this one to the top because I really wanted to, I really wanted to answer it. I don't think we've ever, I don't think we've ever explained it like this before. Sam says, how representative are the entry-level pens in a company's product line? When I first got into fountain pens, I bought all of the common starter options, Metropolitan, Preppy, Eco, Safari, et cetera. By the way, this has just made me think of something I can't believe I've never thought of before when Sam says starter. It's like in Pokemon. Pokemon. So when you, when you begin the game, you choose your starter Pokemon, like the originals are like, you know, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle. You could have like starter fountain pen, right? Like you choose, like, do you get like, are you going Metropolitan, Preppy, Safari, right? Like, and you choose and then you evolve that pen into the other pens. This is awesome. Someone needs to do something with this. Right. So like you would have like a Safari, which would evolve into a studio, like an AL star, which would then evolve into a, like into a 2000, right? Or, you know, that kind of thing. Anyway, going back to the actual question at hand, Sam says, I liked the Safari the least and not just because of the molded grip. Since then, I have expanded my collection with more expensive options, but completely avoided Lamy because of this. Should I give them another try at a higher price point or did I learn all I needed to know from the Safari?

Discussion on entry-level pens and their representation of brand quality.[edit]

  • So, yeah, great question. It's basically, you know, how representative, you know, are these entry level pens for each of these product lines to what you're going to experience in the future? The clear answer is it depends, right? Because I'm going to talk about different brands here that I think are more representative and different brands that I think are less representative. So, Pilot is the standout entry level performance superstar. I believe they have the most consistent representation of a nib on the page from everything from like the Cocuno or the Penmanship or Plumix through the Preras on up into their gold nibs. The gold nibs, their steel nibs feel the most like their gold nibs. And that's where you're going to run into the biggest differentiation, Sam, is once you flip over into steel to gold, you're going to run into some more differences than normal. But I think Pilot is the most consistent. You kind of, the difference between a steel and a gold nib is notable, but it still feels like a Pilot to me when you go from a Metropolitan to say like a custom 91 or 912, something like that. So, and then you get into, we'll get into, we're not going to get into like all the different options you get when you go into a gold nib, but just the representation of the entry level versus like the more advanced levels. Platinum is an interesting one because they're both elite on both fronts. Their entry level pens are pretty consistent with each other from the Preppy up to, is it the Plaisir? That's like the $50 or $60 one, I think. They have so many P names, I get them confused. Plaisir, Prefonte. Prefonte is like a $10 or $15 one. But basically that whole run from like $5 to $50, I'll use the same nib. So that's going to be consistent. And then you have to pretty much go from there into like their gold nib options. And their gold, their steel nibs are so good and their gold nibs are better. Like it's, it's crazy in that aspect. Lamy's the interesting one.
  • So they don't have many nib options like all these other companies. So that kind of, let's just call it a triangular shape nib for lack of a better term of what the Lamy's shape is. Their, most of their steel nibs are that exact nib. And then the gold nib is the exact same shape. And they perform line width. Consistency is similar between the two, like the gold and the steel. So I guess they're similar. Like you're going to have the similar experience with those. Like I don't, Lamy's gold nibs are tough. This is why I'm having a tough time answering this question. Because I have one that I love, but I've had it modified. I think they are, I prefer Lamy's steel nibs. The long and the short of it is that. The gold nibs tend to have a stickiness, which is an incorrect term, but I don't know what that, the proper terminology is when you almost feel like the nib is very smooth, but at the same time it grabs the page a little bit. Not in a destructive way, but just in a non-flowing kind of way. Where if I put a pilot nib onto the page, it's more glassy and smooth and it just writes. I think the Lamy's, I'd say they're representative, but I just, I just prefer the steel Lamy's over the gold.
  • Now I'm, I don't know, I'm thinking about this. I think for me, the brand of the ones that Sam mentioned, especially, but just the only one, like I've been wrecking my brain here. Cause what I've been trying to think of is like, for, from my experience, what pens were that I started with, like they inform accurately the pens that come afterwards. And, and I think for me, Twisby is maybe the most consistent of all of the brands that I can, that I can think of, of like, once you get one of those, how, how much is it like the ones that come afterwards. And I think that that is an effect of having very good starter products. But from my perspective, not having any pen that is just like blows me away. Yeah. Because I find it complicated to say, well, like the Sailor Compass, I don't like that pen. Right. Well, I was going to give, that's the, Sailor's the one example of the reverse. Yeah. Where their, their entry level nibs are nowhere representative to their upper end nibs, in my opinion. And. Their works, they're far, the Sailor's entry level nibs are, they're just a complete pass for me. They don't, they don't have the scale. Like the scale from their nibs upwards would result in a very different product than the more expensive Sailor's. But something like the Platinum Preppy is really fun. Mm-hmm. But the 3776 is like different stratosphere levels of good, in my opinion.
  • So. I agree. Like, that's what, like, I find it complicated to find a brand where the difference between their entry level products and their higher end products is as linear as Twisby. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're all steel. Now they're different shapes, right? They use a couple different fittings, but you're gonna, they're consistent because you're generally getting consistent shape nibs where there's limited choice. Limited choice. The materials, like the overall kind of like feeling and ethos of what the products are doing. Yeah. The out of the box QC is always pretty, pretty tight. Yeah. They do a good job. They do. But like, I think that I just, you know, but the part of that is I don't think that they have a product that is like, compared to some of the other brands that we're mentioning here. And I don't, I think they probably know this, but I don't think Twisby has that like super high end product. No, they don't. No. There's a ceiling, which they understand. Like, what they do, they do well. Yep. So, it's a complex question, Sam. If you have specifics, I would be happy to answer them more in an email. But yeah, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
  • I mean, honestly, my question, my answer to this question, just if I was, if I had to give an answer is in general, I don't think that entry-level products are that representative of pen brands overall. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I just think, I mean, I would argue that Pilot is the exception. I just hold them to a really, really high standard, and they always deliver no matter the price level. Yeah, okay. So, we're saying the Prara, right? Mm-hmm. Or the Metro or anything. Yeah, the Metro, yeah. I always figured they have two. Oh, they have, we didn't even mention the Explorer. It's the same, but. Yeah, I mean.
  • I think that's a good pen that if you really like that steel nib, you're going to like that gold nib. And then I think everything else is more, lots more questions to be asked.
  • I think it's like, for me, with Pilot, they're just, the reason I don't really think of them is they don't make a pen that is that exciting for me or works for me. Sure. Yeah, that's a different STPA. But that's why I'm saying of like the kind of, I'm more excited by Pilot's cheaper pens than the more expensive pens. Sure. Right? So, I mean, like that scaling thing, again, I think it comes back to that again. Right? Like, I just really think that TWSBI do such a good job of it. And like, to me, they are the one where you get the most consistent experience. Mm-hmm. But I understand what you're saying of like, if you get a entry-level Pilot and you like that, you're going to like the more expensive stuff. Yes. Yeah. Something like Lamy is not necessarily the case one way or another. Correct. Platinum, not necessarily one way or another. Put it a different way. But in the opposite. Very strange. Yeah. So, that's why I'm saying of like, in general, I think the answer to this question is no. Like, it is not able to, you're not able to like easily draw a line between a company, like from all of, through a company's products and feel like, yeah, if I understand any point on this scale, I'll understand the rest of them in context. I don't think it works like that. Correct. So, the answer to the question, how representative are the entry-level pens in a company's product line to the rest of their product line? Not very. No.

Travel tips and experiences with the Plotter binder.[edit]

  • Ben asks, late last year, I started using the Bible-sized Plotter binder and I'm loving it. I use it with the Weekly Planner inserts and take notes on blank paper. Brad, how do you travel with your Plotter? I recently traveled and felt I needed to protect the binder rings from getting smashed in my bag. Do you put the binder back in the box that it came in? Do you pack it in a certain area of your bag? Maybe I'm overthinking this.
  • Welcome, Ben.
  • So, yeah, I use the Plotter similar to Ben in that I have a Weekly Planner inserts and then I have a notes section, basically. I have a couple other smaller sections, but those are the two. Those take up probably 80 or 90% of how my Plotter is set up. So, how do I travel with my Plotter? And it's, again, it depends, right? I'm on vacation right now. I purposely didn't bring my Plotter this time on this trip because my Plotter is essentially a work device, is how I treat it. And I wasn't planning on doing much work this week. Turns out that was a wrong assumption, which we will very much talk about next week, Myke. You will enjoy next week's episode.
  • So, I didn't have my Plotter. But normally, when I do take it, I'm not concerned about the binder rings. And so far, I have not had any issue with the binder rings. What my concern with traveling the Plotter is the exterior metal bar and the sharp edges. Because that's what I don't want anywhere near, you know, anything it can damage. So, that's my scenario of, you know, thinking about how to protect the Plotter when I carry it. Because the binder, the backing of the binder is a steel rod and the steel rod is exterior to the Plotter. If you're not familiar with that, we can put a link in the show notes. You can go just visualize what this is. Well, the edges of that are sharp. Sharp metal. So, I'll put them in my back. I'll put it in my backpack. But I kind of don't put it around other stuff if I'm carrying it in my backpack. But I don't think about protecting it for the rings. Maybe by protecting it from the sharp edges, I'm by default protecting it from the ring. So, maybe we're doing the same thing. When I'm at a pen show, I always carry my Plotter. And I just carried it in, like, my pocket of my jeans or my shorts. Or I'll carry it in a small bag and I'll just throw it in with other things. If I know, like, it's going to be around, like, another pen case that's, like, nylon or something like that where I'm not worried. But I will orient it so the edges don't poke into anything I don't want it to. So, I am conscious about the exterior edges. But I never, I haven't thought about the internal binder rings. Which I guess is good quality covers. They're thick enough to wear. They're thick enough and the bar provides enough rigidity to protect the rings. Because they're small, right? If we had, like, an inch and a half ring binder, we're going to have much more trouble with the rings bending out of shape or things knocking it. But I think due to the size, it kind of works as a design to protect itself. So, I guess my end thought is that, like, I'm protecting the corner, exterior corners. And by default, I'm protecting everything else that I need to with that. So, slightly overthinking it, Ben. But I would just, you know, just make sure the exterior is not going to, you know, scrape up a laptop cover or something like that. And I think you're going to be good to go. Like, and I haven't even heard of many people having much damage with the rings either. So, that's not something that crosses my desk very often. So, I wouldn't mind hearing if people did have trouble and how those, how you go about it getting fixed. But I'm sure it's just, they can replace those things if necessary. So, good question.
  • All right. Let's take our first break and thank Squarespace for the support of this episode. They are the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just getting started or managing a growing brand, you can stand out from the crowd of a beautiful website, engage directly over your audience and sell anything, your products, services, even the content that you create. Squarespace has everything you need, all in one place, all on your terms.
  • Squarespace has a new design system called Squarespace Blueprint. It is an upgraded, enhanced version of their guided tools. You choose from professionally curated layout and styling options and build a unique presence from the ground up, tailored to your brand or business, optimized for every device, and it's even easier than ever before. And then, once you've launched your website, you'll be able to get discovered fast. You've integrated, optimized SEO tools. You'll be showing up more often in searches to more people, allowing you to grow the way that you want to. Squarespace has a commerce platform. You can sell your content. You can sell your goods, physical goods, digital goods. They have all of the tools that you need. And some of the more recent additions to the platform is if you want to sell content on your site, it's super easy to add a paywall to select content or courses. And you can even sell files that your customers can download like PDFs, music, or e-books. You can integrate flexible payments into your store with Squarespace to make checkouts seamless for your customers using simple but powerful payment tools. You can accept credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay. And in eligible countries, you can offer customers the option to buy now and pay later with Afterpay and Clearpay. It's super simple to get started with Squarespace using their tools like Fluid Engine. This is their website design editor. It's never been easier for anyone to unlock their creativity. You choose a website starting point. You customize every design detail with their reimagined drag-and-drop technology available on desktop or mobile. So you can design your site wherever you are, whatever platform you want to use. And you can stretch your imagination online. It's included with any new Squarespace site. And you can go and try it out for yourself today for free. Just go to squarespace.com. You can sign up for a free trial. Build your entire website and see how Squarespace is going to work for you. Then when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com. You'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com. When you decide to sign up and you will get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the support of this show and all of RelayFM. Myke, over at the Squarespace hosted site, penaddict.com. I'm not familiar. I would like to give a shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week to yourself. Not to me. It's to your blog. But to my blog. To Caroline Foti, who did an interview with Nick Pasquale from Pens by Pasquale on our Meet Your Maker series. So this was June's post. And Nick spent some great time with Caroline talking about his start in fountain pens, making pens. I got to meet Nick at the Atlanta Pen Show. He's doing some really, really cool stuff. And y'all should all go check out this article and check out Pens by Pasquale. So go give Nick a follow. And yeah, definitely take a look at what he's done. If you're knee-deep into the stationery world like I am, you might have seen his most recent collaboration with our friend Eric over at Amario Stationery with a really unique pen that I know did really, really well. And I love that design. So yeah, go check them out.

Listener question about dipping bananas in coffee.[edit]

  • All right. This next question comes from a listener. I dip bananas in coffee.
  • And they said, for all of the banana mentions in the last episode, which I don't remember all, by the way. Do you remember talking about bananas?
  • Not exactly. You see, this is a funny thing that I think,
  • I just kind of want to get across to people.
  • Because it comes up a lot that people reference something that I said. I remember barely anything from these shows. Like I'm just saying things and then they're out of my brain and they're gone.
  • I'm the opposite. Where it's like, I know, as a listener of podcasts myself, I know that I retain more information about those shows and what was said than the person who said it. So I don't remember talking about bananas at all. But nevertheless, this person has written in to say, I have never heard if Myke has dipped any bananas into coffee. This feels like an attack. I'm not really, I don't understand why anyone would do this and no one is ever going to get me to do this because there is none, there is nothing in me that wants to do this. And I think it's honestly kind of gross. But anyway, this person actually has a question. The new vanishing point, the ocean to the beach ratio that we were talking about, is slightly underwhelming to me. We don't even call it by the real name. What's the point? You know, everyone, if I say, but this is the right way to say it. I don't remember the name of that pen. And this is an easier way for me to remember it. So, you know, that's how it was written in. If a pilot, if pilot would make a vanishing point in a greenish yellow to brown gradient, I'd be over the moon. If you could choose a color gradient of your own, what would it be?
  • So, I have so much to say about this. So, number one, I dip bananas in coffee is a friend of mine that I've met several times at the Orlando Pen Show. I know. They rule. They rule. And, you know, for this vacation, like, all I brought was coffee and bananas. And, like, that's what I've been existing on these past few days. Yeah, but you're not.
  • You're not, like.
  • You're not, like, dipping it, though, are you? I mean, just when I see you, we're going to have a moment together, Myke. I feel. Do you actually do this, Brad? Yeah. We're going to have this opportunity. I'm not doing it. I like bananas.
  • And I love coffee. I don't need to combine them.
  • Okay.
  • What is your preferred gradient here? I'm going to make you go first because I have a caveat to mine. All right. It's very simple for me. It's like a pink to a green. Pink and green are just like a classic combo. They just look so good together. The more that you. It's one of those things that the more that you know that, the more you see it in so many places. And I just think a really nice pink to a green would look really good. And I would pass. That is what I would personally like to see them do. So I have a gradient that I want to do, but I'm going to hold it close to the vest because it might be something I want to do in the future. And someone's already done something very, very close to what I imagined. So if I exclude the one I'm not going to tell you all about, I know that's really mean of me, but I feel like I need to. There will be. There's a very clear reason why. If it ever comes out, it'll be clear.
  • Mine would involve pink also because I just think pink gradients work so well. I just don't know what the second color would be. And my choice would not have been green, even though I love pink and green together.
  • I would probably do something more sky bluey. I'm a very, I do like the 3D glasses idea, like the red and blue. Oh, that's fun. If I can get the right shade of red and the right shade of blue into a gradient, I would probably do that as opposed to pink. I think that would probably be my answer. I think I would actually just kind of dig one half red, one half blue. Like if you linked into the 3D glasses of it all. Yeah. That's one of my favorite like color combinations is, or those two colors.
  • All right. Next comes from Felicity. This is, there are two questions here and they're both long. So we're going to do one at a time. All right. And so before you do that, there was a part three that I left out where Felicity said, thanks for doing the podcast so much. So I really appreciate your kind words, Felicity. I did reply and told them that. And they said you were pretty okay too, Myke. That's fine. This is probably worth mentioning at this point. I don't think this is a thing I've ever told you. I don't know if you've ever noticed it or not. I always remove that from the feedback. Yeah. So the vast majority of feedback that we receive, people have some kind of like, you know, love the show. I always remove it because I feel like it's kind of wasting the listener's time. Like that is for me and you. And I always read it and I always appreciate it. And we share it amongst each other. Exactly. It never really feels like it's something worth including. And I know when I listen to podcasts where they have feedback and they do that, I'm like, I don't need to hear that other people like you. Like this is, you don't need to tell me that. It's fine. Like I can assume that they like the show because they're writing in. Or if they sound angry with you, they probably didn't say that. Or maybe they said other things. Anyway. Oh, no. You can write it in in your email. We're just probably not going to put that part in the show. Yeah. I just, I don't, I don't really feel like it's, it makes sense to include that in the questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because literally every question would say how great we are at the end. Indeed. They always do. Question number one, pen storage. Do you have any pen storage recommendations? I have 20, I have a 20 pen case for my fountain pens. So I'm referring more to my other gel pens, ballpoint pens, and the like. I currently have a three and a half year old daughter. About two years ago, I removed my pens off my desk and put them into pencil cases and then put them in a shoebox style box and put them on the highest shelf on top of my desk. It's probably for the best.
  • So it's out of reach for my daughter, but it's not easy and accessible for me. I find that I choose few pens to keep in my handy pencil case and I write with them all the time, but end up forgetting about the many other pens I have available to me simply because they're tucked away. And I have to rifle through them every single time I want to find something I want to look for. Do you have any pen storage recommendations that will allow me to still keep them away from my kid, but also in sight and easy enough for me to retrieve so that I may use them more often? Yeah, so there's stages of storage, right? So you have your quick access, you know, like your fountain pens, things you're having on your desk that are useful. You have your bulk storage, which I literally use shoeboxes for some of that, right? Things that are more out of sight and stored away.
  • I will put in literal shoeboxes and stick them in the corner. And then there's this in-between phase where it's like I need this stuff sometimes. There's a lot of it.
  • And, you know, I don't need it living on my desk, but when I want it, I need to find it and be able to access it. So I do kind of segment out some of my storage. I'm going to put a link in the show to these PENCO storage containers. You can find much cheaper containers out there, but I have these little boxes that come in like a stack set and, you know, just like a, you know, like a nesting doll type of situation with like three boxes, small, medium and large. And I use those to categorize, say like a gel pen. Like if I'm going to put all my gel pens and I have the most gel pens, they'll go in the large box. And then if I have ballpoint pens, I'll grab them all. They'll put them in the medium box and I'll put my mechanical pencils in the small box. That way they're somewhat organized, but also easy to put away.
  • And, but when I do need them, I can go and say, oh, I need a ballpoint. Let me grab this medium box. And you could put a label on the outside of it or whatever. Um, that's what I've found to have, um, these smaller plastic bins, but you can get, I mean, you can get plastic bins in this shape or size, uh, uh, anywhere. Like you don't have to get these PENCO ones, but I like them cause they're a stationery brand and I could get them in orange. So that was cool.
  • Yeah. I mean, the part of the question about kind of like helping you find and think about them doesn't necessarily do that, but I don't know how you would manage that. Without making them too enticing to your child. Oh, I mean, you can put these, they're in like easily like, I, my new or like stashed away in a closet shelf. Like, not that I have this problem now, but like these boxes, like just go away and put them in a closet. And then I know which box things are in.
  • Right. Yeah. But I mean like the idea of being reminded to use the things that are in them, that feels like too complicated a task. Cause I really, that means you've got to see them. And if you can see them, then that doesn't necessarily solve your problem. But like, I think that this is the right way to do it. Just having like nice arranged storage that is easily accessible. And like, you know, like the pencil cases, it's hard to find stuff in pencil cases. Yep. Cause everything's kind of like smushed together, but in a box like this stuff is going to be more laid out. Right. So it might be easy to see.

Challenges and strategies for organizing and using notebooks.[edit]

  • The next question is about notebooks.
  • Felicity says, I have lots of notebooks. Some are half used, some aren't used at all. I feel that I struggle to use them as I only have boring and mundane things to write in them, which of course is fine as that is better than not using them at all. But then I feel I have a bunch of note, I've used notebooks with random stuff in them. Do I keep them? Do I throw them away? But that seems a waste since it's such a beautiful paper and writing. But then do I plan to keep every single notebook? I write every single thing in. How do you decide what to keep and what to throw away?
  • Notebook audits. So let me tell you what I do. And this is especially handy for like using, I guess, really any style notebook. I was going to say smaller notebooks, but I've done it for larger notebooks too. Because notebook storage is pretty much like the bane of everyone's stationery existence. I think that's the single hardest thing to store, even more so than inks, which are odd shapes and sizes. They take up so much more space. They're inconsistent sizes and shapes. They don't stack or do anything unless you're using one singular kind of notebook. Like anyone in this space is going to run into this problem. So when I found I've had notebooks, when I've completed a notebook that is more just randomness in it, as opposed to like a specific journal that I know I'm going to keep, right? So there's stuff that notebooks full, like A5 size notebooks that I'm going to keep that just goes back on the shelf somewhere. The other stuff that's more random, I will, when I finish one of those notebooks or I'm done with the notebook, I will literally go through that notebook page by page, cut things out of that notebook, and paste them into a larger notebook. And it sounds ridiculous, but like I will take one large notebook and put all of these clippings in. I mean, it's, it's honestly, it's fun for me to do, right?
  • To go back and see and be reminded. And then whatever's left gets thrown away. That eliminates some of the madness that notebooks can cause. It doesn't get rid of everything, but if I know this is not a journal type notebook that I'm not going to keep forever, I will go back through it. It's especially good for like my plotter refills, for traveler's diary inserts, for field notes. These smaller things that may not be, you know, go into your archives.
  • To go back through them, pick out the stuff you want to keep. Even if it's a dude, I'll keep doodles, I'll keep ideas, whatever. Cut them out, put them in another notebook, and then throw away the remnants. And that'll, you can at least go from like three or four notebooks to one by doing something like this, if space is a real issue. But that's how I do it. And it also just kind of like helps, you know, clear your thoughts and maybe refine some things or remember some things. And that's why I like doing it is go back, hey, what did I, oh, what was this idea that I had that I just randomly wrote in a notebook and then forgot about? So it's good to go back and do this anyway. But to clear some space, I cut them up and trash whatever's not left. I do this all the time. Kola asks, I have a Montegrappa Venetia fountain pen that has a leaky cap. I first noticed the problem when the pen would dry out and hard start after a day of sitting at my desk when it was a very wet right of the day before. When I fill the cap with water during a wash, there were droplets of water coming out of the part where the clip connects to the cap. This is a lovely pen that was gifted to me, so I don't necessarily want to go to the return to retailer route. Is there something I can do to fix up my own or someone I can send the pen to for help with that? I do want to ask a question of you before we get into this question. Okay.
  • Is this the problem?
  • Probably, yes. Okay. So what's happening is there's probably an air gap where the clip hardware gets to the internal cap area.
  • Depending on how this is designed, I would have to look. I actually have a couple of these pens. I haven't noticed that. But you'd have to look at the inside of the cap. And if you see the metal coming through on the inside of the cap where the cap is not one flush piece of plastic or acrylic or whatever material, right? Some hardware goes internal. And there's a chance that it's maybe not sealed well and air can get through there. Or however, whatever hardware that's attached to the cap is causing some type of air gap in there. So I would say that it's probably pretty easy to fix, but I would let someone do it. I would almost guess that someone could, and I am not a pen repair person. So y'all can, if any pen repair people out there have any ideas or tell me my idea is not a good idea. But I'm thinking I would, number one, not do it myself. Because I would send it to a pen repair person, have them seal that with whatever, I don't know if it's epoxy or whatever they would use on the inside. And they're going to be able to polish that down. They're going to be able to seal it and polish it, right? I could probably put something in there to seal it. But then I run the risk of my nib when I put it in the cap hitting that spot, right? These are very, very fine, finely engineered spaces to where you don't want to damage your nib putting it back in the cap. That's why I wouldn't do it myself. But someone who does know what they're doing will be able to repair that inside, kind of seal it off a little bit better. And then ensure after the fact that no damage is going to be caused to the nib on the inside, which is the key here. So any pen repair people that you can find at a pen show or if you were not able to get to a pen show, look at a pen show website. And you can see which people are doing repairs. Reach out to them, email them, something like that. And they should be able to do it. It shouldn't be like major surgery type of deal, right? I don't think it's a major expense to get this fixed. But I would certainly go that route instead of trying to do it myself.
  • That's a good call. And I think it's a good idea to do this if it was a gift, you know? Yeah. Try and get it resolved somehow so you won't stop using it, you know? Yeah. So like just one last thing. If you do try to go to the return to retailer route, that means it's going to be return to manufacturer route. And you're probably looking at a three to six month process where if you just went to someone whose job is to repair pens, you could probably have it turned around in less than a month. And I know that pain. Mm-hmm. Myke knows that pain well. Yeah. Oh, boy, do I. Boy, do I. That was rough. That was rough. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Enigma Stationery who offer unique items made from in-house designs along with top brands and hard-to-find imported products. We can now introduce a special edition number 10 fizzy pink lemonade. Ben at Mayfair Pens made these in his stunning vanule model. Oh, I saw this. That combines a unique profile with all the practicality of a full-size converter. Are you okay over there, Brad? I forgot that I'm ruining your ad read because I forgot about this pen and I saw it and it's awesome. Sorry. No. Continue. Look, one of the best things you can do during an ad read is involuntarily exclaim. Oh, this is sick. About the quality of a product, you know? Yeah. So, this product, the fizzy pink lemonade, the opaque citrus swirls on both ends of the pen combine with a unique version of Enigma's fairy dust, leaving the impression of a fresh fizzy drink on a hot summer's day. Only 17 pens are available in this edition. Each comes with a numbered and signed certificate of authenticity. Grab yours now for just $200 with your choice of a Yovo No. 6 steel nib. Other new in items at Enigma Stationery include the pen desk select summer vibes box. There's only a couple. There's only three left of these. Three brand new shading inks from Troublemaker in Golden Orchid, Rodeo, and Sepia Hour. And new Benno Astrogen pens and also some new Laban inks. If you want to grab any of these editions or go take a look, you can get free US shipping or discounted international shipping on orders of $50 or more. Plus a free gift for you for doing so. All you need to do is go to enigmastationery.com slash penaddict and use the code penaddict24 at checkout. That is enigmastationery.com slash penaddict to get your hands on the limited edition summer vibes box. Plus a free gift and free US shipping on orders of $50 or more. And of course to check out the special edition 10 fizzy pink lemonade. Just use the code penaddict24 at checkout. Our thanks to Enigma Stationery for their support of this show and Relay FM. I rarely get jealous of what other people make, but I wish I made this. This is so cool. Good, man. I love this one. It's just really like it fits the name, right? Yeah. Like it fits the name and it evokes the name and like summertime and the colors. That's just rad. Love it. Good job, guys. It's a good kind of like execution of idea and in the product itself. So I think it's really, really nice. People should go check it out. All right. Next up, we have a question from, I accidentally closed my show notes document. So the question is from Griffin, who says, I'm relatively new to the stationery world and have amassed a small collection of gel pens that I enjoy using, but I'm not a fan of the bodies that they come in. My hands are too big for most of them. How do you suggest I go about looking for pen bodies to put my favorite refills in? As a college student, I don't really have the funds to buy a bunch of pen bodies that I might not like. Can you point me in the right direction? I can point you to the one pen that you need if I can get the website to come up. No one can love web pages today. Yeah. Big Eye Design, Myke, you can go to their website. They make a pen, a singular pen. I believe it's a titanium barrel. And the way it's designed, it is designed to fit probably like 200 and something refills. But I forget the name of it and the site is not coming up here. So, but I forget the name of the exact model. You should find it very, very easy. TI Pocket Pro, the auto adjusting EDC pen? That's the small pocket one. You want the traditional one. Okay. So, yeah, I'll find it. Yeah, you'll find it. The TI Auto. Arto, yeah. The ultimate refill friendly everyday carry pen. So, this gives you a larger size barrel, which is a lot of the problem with a lot of pens, which a lot of people are looking for, like an option. It's like, hey, I love this refill, but I'm not enjoying the writing experience because the barrel doesn't fit my hands or doesn't fit my style, anything like that. And what Big Eye Design did was they made this pen that has kind of like a telescoping little bit on the front end that adjusts to the pen size, the refill length, and the refill shape to where you can try all of these different refills and use all of these different refills with one pen barrel. And it works, right? We've, I've had these, reviewed them over the years, given some away. They've been making this pen for, I don't know, five or six years now, if not longer. It's really good. Because the problem that they solved with this design is what Griffin will run up into is that a lot of pens are made for specific refills, right? That's what we do at Spoke Design. When we make a pen, we have to build it around a specific refill. And each refill can be a little bit different. There's some that are cross-compatible with bodies, but that's when you get into this rabbit hole that you'll never find a barrel that's going to fit all the refills, because each refill manufacturer does something a little bit different. So check out that Arto from Big Eye Design. Go from there. And if you, if that's not your style, shoot me an email, and I'd be happy to help you narrow something down that could maybe fit, you know, like two or three of your favorite refills in a single body or something like that. But that's going to be the challenge. This is the only pen that I know that does it really, really well. So definitely recommend that one.

Comparison of the Parker Jotter and Jotter XL pens.[edit]

  • Bill said, you mentioned loving a simple pen and use the Pilot G2 as your personal example. I also love the Pilot G2. And I'm wondering your thoughts on the Parker Jota or Jota XL. It's more expensive than a G2. So curious on your thoughts of the value of that pen as compared to less expensive options.
  • Yeah. So the Jota is great. I don't like the Jota XL, generally speaking, because its competition is the Parker Jota, which is one of the greatest pen designs of all time. Now, if we rewind back to Griffin, right before he was saying, hey, most of these pens are too small. Well, that's where the Jota and the Jota XL can come in for this particular brand, right? The Jota is a small pen. The XL, shockingly, is bigger. And it fits their larger gel ink refills. I prefer the smaller Jota with the ballpoint pen refill. You can swap a gel ink refill into that. But I think the Jota is a great pen. It is very durable.
  • The click is one of the best in the game.
  • And it's only like the basic Jotters are only about $6, which all things considered, that's pretty cheap for a pen of this quality. I mean, it's been around for 50, 60, 70 years. And it hasn't changed its design very much. I think very highly of the Jotter as a pen, but I don't use the Jotter XL. And that's more of a personal thing. It's just too big for me, right? Like, you know, if you like a smaller pen, like I love the Jotter, but like your G2, Pilot G2 refills are not going to fit in the Jotter. But they might fit in the XL. I'm curious. But yeah, the Jotter would be a go-to pen for me. It's great. Dawn writes in and says, I was lucky to be gifted a Pilot Vanishing Point for my 60th birthday as the Vanishing Point and I celebrate the same birth year. I'm fairly new to the fountain pen world and wondered, do I need to clean out my pen if I always ink with the same ink? I'm using Pilot Uroshizuku Kurosami. Kurosami.
  • Yes, but not as frequently. Yeah. Right? So if you're going to use the same ink in a pen, and this goes for any pen, not just the Vanishing Point and Dawn's example. If you're using the same ink, there is one caveat I'm having in my head here.
  • I'm okay with filling it two or three times between cleanings. Mm-hmm. The caveat is, if we go all the way back to the first question, talking about the loop, make sure your nib is not gunked up with paper fibers that you're putting back into an ink bottle. If you're using cartridges, hot swap it all day long. Just pop in a cartridge, like the Vanishing Point takes cartridges. It uses, you know, the Uroshizuku cartridges. Pop them out, change them, just go to town. If you're going to put that nib back into the bottle, I don't have a problem with that. But I would perform a little bit of nib hygiene before I did. You know, make sure that nib is clean and, you know, nothing's stuck in the tines because you don't want to be contaminating your ink bottle. That's my only caveat to doing this. And then after about every second or third fill, I'm going to clean it anyway because you just have buildup of ink on the feed and things like that. Your writing performance is going to degrade over time, no matter if you're using the same ink, if you never clean it. I wouldn't go more than like two or three fills without cleaning it fully. And an anonymous questioner writes in to say, Midori MD paper is the number one in your top five fountain pen and paper brands. However, there is Midori MD and Midori MD cotton and they differ. MD cotton is supposed to be the paper used in the traveler's notebook inserts, but it doesn't look and feel the same. And then we have the MD 15th anniversary LE limited edition notebooks and loose leaf A5 paper pack, which says MD cotton. Which one do you prefer and which one you're referencing in your top five?
  • Every word of this is accurate.
  • There is a difference between the two. The travelers standard travelers notebook inserts are not MD cotton, but they make MD cotton travelers notebook inserts. I know that doesn't help. So referenced in my list is the standard Midori MD paper, which I think is one of my favorites, if not my the favorite for fountain pens. Cotton was a newer release in the past, I don't know, five years or so. And it's not always available.
  • And I had therefore I haven't spent as much time using cotton, but I did just order. I finally saw where they got some in stock. Someone got someone in stock. I can't even remember who I ordered it from. Um, so I ordered some to test. They're still in the packaging. So I have not test to do the, a comparison between the standard Midori MD and Midori MD cotton. But the Midori MD, the standard lineup is what I prefer for fountain pens, but I'm going to review the cotton and see how it compares. So I will do a comparison of those. That's in the review queue, you know, like in the next month or two. Um, I do have a cotton, um, insert in my traveler's passport, which I haven't used yet. So yeah, I'll be able to explain the differences more. I'm pretty sure Anna at the well-appointed desk has done a comparison of the MD versus the cotton. So maybe, uh, we can find a link for that or you can take a look at that. But, um, yeah, what's referenced in my top five is the standard MD. Cotton's more of a specialty paper, but I just don't have enough experience with it yet. But that's about to change because I now have cotton notebooks in hand and we'll be working on them. Sounds good. All right. I think that we definitely did not get to all the questions. I think we got... Yeah, I talk way too much. Well, you know, that's the way these things always go. I think we got most of the way through, but we have, I think, have run our time for today. So if you have a question that you would like to ask us in a future episode, just go to penaddictfeedback.com. Penaddictfeedback.com. I'll click the link in the show notes and you can leave us a question to answer in a future episode. If you'd like to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com. He is at penaddict, P-E-N-A-D-D-I-C-T, and is at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E.
  • And you can find me at cortexbrown.com and here on RelayFM. Thank you to Squarespace and Enigma Stationery for their support of this episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. Hope you have a great rest of your vacation, Brad. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.
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