The Pen Addict 624/transcript

• Welcome to The Pen Addict episode 624. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Squarespace, and Uni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by my friend and yours, Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hey, hey, Myke. How's it going? Hey, hey. What's up, friendo? What's up, what's up, buddy old boy? Speaking of buddy old boy, I'm going to get a buddy old boy hug here in about a week, right? You are. I was just thinking about that a second ago when we started chit-chatting. So next week is the London Live Show. So again, there will be no episode of The Pen Addict next week as we're going to be preparing for our largest ever live show to celebrate 10 years of Relay FM. You can find out more at relay.fm slash London if you are so inclined. I cannot wait to see everybody who's going to be around coming into town to see us perform and have a good time. And I'm really, really, really excited about it. And of course, I'm really, really excited to see you, Brad. It's been a horrifically long time. It has. It feels weird how long it's been, even though we talk a lot and I feel like we talk enough to where it's like, oh, yeah, I can just run down the street to Myke's house and say what's up. But it's really been a long time since we've seen each other. So I'm obviously looking forward. I would like to say that you sound pretty well adjusted for all of the work you're putting in, just in our little pre-show chat. I mean, at least on the outside, the inside is probably in turmoil as we careen towards the show. But I got to say, hey, I appreciate your attitude. You were crushing it. I know this is hard work and a big deal. And all of that goes unseen. And then we get two hours to execute all of the stuff. Yeah, I'm very excited about it. I feel like I am putting in an amount of work that is adequate to something that is this important to me. So it's a lot of work, but it's also very important to me. And I was saying to you before we started today, the thing that I am most looking forward to now is like basically the moment before the show begins, because then all that has to happen is the show. Everything else is done. Like good, bad, it doesn't matter. It's all about the show. And like that's what this whole thing, this whole year of work has been building towards. And so now I just can't wait for the moment when I take to the stage to welcome everybody. Like that's what I'm most excited about. I'm excited. Got a huge smile on my face. I can't wait. I can't wait to be there. So again, no episode next week in the Panatic feed. I will be posting a lot on Instagram. I'm pretty sure if you need a Panatic fix, you know, we're going to talk about stationary and packing and all that stuff later. So I'm going to try to do a bunch of Instagram stuff. I'm guessing that's probably going to be my home base next week from the socials. Just kind of sharing some of the things that I'm up to. It's going to be a good social media week next week, I think. Yeah. All the hosts are going to be in town. Yeah. So I'm going to try to do some more stories and reels and lives because people like that when I go to pen shows. So even though this is not technically a show, we can do some fun stuff. So it'll be good. It'll be good. You know what else is good, Myke? Tell me. The Sailor 2 Zoo. Okay. So this has been big news in the stationary world since it was what announced, I don't know, at least a month ago, maybe two months at this point. It's one of those products we talk about so much is like, when did it actually release? When was it mentioned or launched? And I finally got one. So I was just kind of slow playing it, just kind of seeing what other people think about the pen. I was getting one regardless because I think it's just kind of a unique pen. And I liked getting these unique stationary items. So if you're not familiar with the 2 Zoo and why Sailor created it, we have a link in the show notes to their page where it's a gigantic. They put a lot of work into what the 2 Zoo is, why they're selling it. So they have a huge page, like a large scrolling page that tells you all about it. The gist of it is the nib rotates. So it's a fountain pen. The nib can rotate at 10 degree increments, you know, around the barrel. And that is meant for people with nontraditional grips or interesting writing angles. Finding a better way to get people into fountain pens that, you know, maybe just a direct, you know, standard fountain pen may not account for. So I actually have a lot of questions about just the why does this exist? Does this need to exist? But we'll get to that in a minute. But I just want to talk about the pen first. So it's about $45 US, $44 from our good friends at Pen Chalet right now.
• Myke, if this pen was in that $30 range, you know, like that $28 to $32 range, this would be one of the best entry-level fountain pens I could recommend. Huh.
• The reason for that, so it's a plastic barrel pen with a steel nib, but it feels sturdy, right? Like when the Pilot Metropolitan came out, it was one of their, it's their pilot's idea of an entry-level pen that felt like what people would expect from a fountain pen, right? It wasn't super lightweight, it wasn't airy, like it was sturdy, like it has a brass interior barrel.
• And so that got a lot of people to pick it up because it's like, oh, this is my mental expectation of a fountain pen.
• And oh, by the way, turns out Pilot makes one of the best steel nibs ever. So that got a lot of people hooked. So I don't think this pen hooks people in that same way, especially at the price. But when I pick it up, I go, this is a rock-solid fountain pen. So it's a plastic barrel. I got the gray model with a fine nib.
• So it's a little bit wider. It's like not quite a fully chunky type of pen, but it's say like a little bit wider than if you're looking at like a Pilot Prayer barrel, which is very small. And even compared to a Lamy Safari, I'd say it's fractionally wider than a Lamy Safari. It does kind of taper away from the middle. So that's a little bit bigger in the middle. And then it tapers to the two ends of the pen. And the clip is a metal clip with a plastic sleeve over it, which I kind of like. So it has the sturdiness of a metal clip, but then it's almost like a sleeve has been pushed onto it. You know, a lot of like metal bits will have that bit of protection on there. So then you uncap it and you see a molded grip section, which I always refer to the Lamy Safari as like the classic molded grip section, where you have a fixed area where and how they want you to hold the pen. So for like your thumb and forefinger in a traditional grip. So if you have a non-traditional grip, you can feel a little bit of oddness in the grip. But what the Tuzu is telling people is you can have this, have your non-traditional grip that kind of aligns with the molded section that they have. So put your fingers in place, but then keep that grip and then turn the nib to better fit your writing style. Whether that's a grip, a non-standard grip or a lower or higher writing angle or left to right writing angle.
• It's a little bit incorrect to say twist the nib or turn the nib because what you're actually rotating is the grip. So when I opened the pen, when I opened the pen, I tried to, so there's like a section.
• When you're looking at the images, right above the nib is like a very concave little section that you grip above that. So I thought that was like the twisting area. It's not. So you take off the barrel and then there's a metal band that you see right above the grip section. You untwist that. So I twist it all the way to the back end of the section. Then I rotate the grip around the barrel. So like I slide it up and then slide it back down. And now that is, I can move it all the way around the barrel. And it has little stages where it's fixed, right? You can only put it in the stages that it allows you to, if that makes sense. So they say it's every 10 degrees around the barrel. So I'm, I'm still, most of my questions lie around the validity of using the pen in this way, right? How many people are going to buy this pen to use it at 20 degrees left? Yeah. Um, and I, I just think that's just a small, small, like the most fractional percentage ever.
• And would that be better than just having a standard traditional fountain pen without a molded grip section? Maybe, maybe like I'm, I'm, I don't know the answers to these questions. That's why like I haven't rushed into getting the Tuzu nor have I rushed into just getting it and pumping out a review. Because I am a very traditional pen gripper, right? I just hold the, I hold everything normal. I'm right-handed. I hold like a traditional tripod grip, you know, just like dictionary definition of a pen grip. So what benefit do I get from this? I don't know if I can find anything. I'm going to play around with the different angles and see if there's something interesting that I find, discover about myself. But this pen is, from a review perspective, it's going to take more input than from me. So like, I, I, I, like, if the pen actually is like tailored or like its feature, it's like USB, is it fits multiple writing styles and grips. You need that work to be done. Right. I understand it. And like, yeah. And I'm not going to be able to be in that position to, to do that myself or no one in my household is going to be in that position to do that. So like, I'll be asking a lot of questions to a lot of people who have the Tuzu and see if I can get some, some input when I do review this. So it, this is not going to be a quick turnaround review. No. But I, I will say just from a construction perspective, it feels really good. The nib, again, if Sailor did this $28 to $32 with this nib, like if they took the Sailor compass and made this nib, I would be recommending this pen left and right. Um, you know, this is a, this is a harder recommend just because of its price point and its oddity. But if they just did a, this nib feels great. So everyone has been raving about the nib. Um, it's just a firm steel nib. It looks like, um, it looks like a Lamy nib the way it's designed. Right. So you picture that style of nib with just, um, you know, not much going on to it, not much style to it, just a little triangular nib. And it slides on to the feed and the feed even looks like a Lamy feed.
• And yeah, it, it writes wonderfully. So the fine nib, um, on this writes like a, like a Yovo extra fine. Right. So it does have that little line fineness that the, uh, the Japanese, uh, market nibs get their, their size down or sized up from what their line actually is. Um, the barrel feels great. I think it'll be very durable. Uh, like I said, it's maybe a little wide for some people, but the grip section makes up for it.
• Overall, like the unboxing, the initial feel, the standard function, all of this is awesome. And we'll have to see the marketing of it, see how that plays out. So I'm going to take my time with this and, um, keep using it. See if I can figure it out and get some feedback. So there you go. So that's my first thoughts on the Tuzu. Um, everyone's been, I pretty much agree with everything that's come out is that the nib's great and it feels great.
• And very few people say, oh, by the way, I kicked the nib 10 degrees to the right. And now my writing has changed for the better. I haven't heard that yet. So that's what I'm waiting on. I think you got a couple of things going on there. I think you have a, uh, a very self-selecting group of people. Yes. Who have already spent the time to either a get comfortable in their grip or amend it. Right. Like you're, you know, if we're talking about the, the, us, the nerds here, right. Maybe not the right crowd. Um, I got two things in this one. I'm actually very pleased because I remember you were pretty down on this pen when it was first introduced because of the gimmick, which obviously you're still saying may just well be that a gimmick, but the overall package of the pen is clearly high quality, which is great to hear. Yes. That they are not just selling a gimmick. Like they're putting the effort in. I, so here's where I come down on the, the, the rotating thing, having never used it. So I am of the opinion that it's probably not that important, but it might be a placebo and that might be good enough. That like, sure. For the market that they're selling in, what sailor is trying to do is attract new people. And so they may be able to attract people who thought that they didn't know how to hold a fountain pen. And now there's this pen, which they're being told will help them hold it comfortably. And so they're more likely to go and buy it. Even if it really doesn't actually make that much of a difference. Ultimately, if it generates more sales for an entry level product, then it's doing its job perfectly. Yeah. So I want to know, I want to talk to the people who buy the Tuzu as their first fountain pen for the reasons that it's being sold for. Like that's the person I want to talk to. Or I want, I would like to talk to the people inside of sailor and see like, what did you do to work this out? Yeah. Where did you? What's your testing? Yeah. Like, how did you come to this? Did you, did like, what, what was that process like? I would love to know that too. Yeah. What's the white paper on this? Yeah. Like not that it needs to be that. Exactly. Right. Right. Right. Right. But like, obviously it's interesting. How did you come to this idea? And then how did you test it? The answer could honestly be, and it wouldn't really, to me, it would bother me if like we had an idea, we thought it might work and we decided to go for it. You know, like that is perfectly valid to me. Because I genuinely think that like the value of this product lies in the fact that people think that it might be better for them. So they're willing to give it a shot. Right. And like, I literally would have no problem if they said, oh, why did you, why did you come up with this pen? It's like, oh, Jane in the office has a really tough time with a traditional fountain pen. And this is how she uses it. So we built something around that because maybe other people have the same problem too. Like that's totally valid as well. Like I do that all the time. So pretty cool. I think it's good. Like I'm glad this pen exists. But yeah, we'll see just about the rest of it and how it all operates, including with my own testing. So I'll, there'll be a lot of writing samples with this when I get around to reviewing it. I'll put it in all the different stages and with my standard grip and see, you know, what I can do. So that wasn't the only Tuzu product they launched. This is the product I had a good, a good feeling about the product I didn't have a less, I had a less good feeling about was the Tuzu gel pen.
• Because it seems like you're lining up the Tuzu to be a certain thing for a fountain pen. Hey, the nib rotates. So what do you expect if you get a Tuzu gel pen, Myke?
• Am I wrong? Like I feel. It doesn't do anything. Yeah. It's, it's standard. Like there's no rotation. There's no need. It works in 360 degrees. Like there, there isn't a benefit. I can't think of anything. No, I can't think. Yeah. I'm not sure. Like, I'm not saying this pen shouldn't exist. It just shouldn't be called the Tuzu, right? Tuzu. Oh, nib rotate. That's, that's what I think of Tuzu. So the gel pen is, I would skip it completely just for the price point. So there's a, there's a lot of good going for this pen, but it's number one, it's $28 for this pen, which, you know, you can get a lot of different pens, uh, gel type pens or ball points or roller balls for this price that are gonna be better. It's an identical barrel. So as best as I can tell, the barrel shape and size looks identical to the fountain pen. It's a good feel, but the wideness actually works against this pen more than the fountain pen because they use a 0.5 millimeter needle tip gel ink refill. And I generally, and this is me, I'm talking about me specifically, the finer, the point on a ballpoint or gel ink pen, the narrower, I prefer the barrel, right? It's a control thing. So like I would have less of a problem if they sold it with a 0.7. This, this, the inclusion of this product is a weird thing that like a market or product manager did, which is like, well, we always do them in pairs.
• Yeah. Right. So like, why would we not do it in pairs? Even though it makes literally zero sense to do that. That's the other extremely odd thing. And I'm just racking my brain to figure this one out. And we mentioned this when the product first launched, they use a Pentel refill for this Pentel energy refill, which is absolutely one of the best refills on the market. But sailor, sailor makes gel ink refills and ballpoint refills. So it's like, what?
• Why? I don't know. I don't. I wish I knew the answer. It's part of the parent company, right? No. These are separate. Oh.
• And I don't know. Did Pentel get bought? And I'm misremembering. Who owns sailor now? Oh, it's a brand called Plus. Okay. And they don't own Pentel. And they're not part of Pentel. Then I have no reason. Because I was going to say something like, maybe they're just consolidating. And like, you can say goodbye to the sailor rollable refill. But now you have me thinking, like, am I misremembering something? But no, I think Pentel is still a standalone company. So super, I mean, tier one refill. Like, excellent, excellent refill. Like, you will love this refill. You can also get this refill in a $3 pen. And that $3, like, retractable Energel might be a better pen than this $28 one. It's completely fine. It's just unnecessary. Pentel, parent organization, Plus Corporation. Take that, Pentel. See? Yeah. Do your research, Brad. Do your research, Brad. Jeez. Fake news. One of them got bought a few years ago. And I couldn't remember that it was Pentel. So they got picked up after. I think it was post-sailor that they got picked up into the fold. So, well, then that's, hey, if they needed Pentel to make them some refills, then they did well. So, good job. Yeah, you had me thinking there. So I'm glad you clarified that for us. But I don't see any reason for this pen to exist other than if you just really, really like the colors and the fit of the pen. There's, I mean, dozens and dozens and dozens of pens I would choose before this one. So this was a take one for the team refill. Like there's, I mean, product purchase. There's just not going to be a lot I have to say about this pen. And I might not even review it. Like this would be a great giveaway pen, honestly.
• This is one of these weird things where like the Pentel Wikipedia page doesn't say it. But like the Google search says that the parent corporation is Plus. So I'm just going to, I'm going to assume that that is the case. Yeah, it's kind of jogging my memory now. That they, that Plus went on this spree after Sailor and picked up Pentel, if I'm remembering correctly. I'm sure we even talked about it on the podcast. We definitely would have. We definitely would have. That's super interesting. I just never, so I guess since that acquisition, this is kind of the first crossover I've seen. Like I haven't seen anything Sailor X Pentel or vice versa that would make me remember that, oh yeah, they're together now. But this kind of thing is the perfect reason for why you would acquire multiple brands, right? Because this is what they call synergies. Yes. But this is a synergy. Like this is like, do you, if Pentel has a really great rollerball, does Sailor need one?
• Yeah, no. Right? And like, so then at that point, it's like the same as like, if they're doing a fountain pen for another of their brands, could they use Sailor's nibs instead? You know, like, and this is what makes sense. And then you're still using the brands for what they're best for, rather than like reinventing the wheel of each brand. Right. This is why Unuball is just like this superstar free agent. Like if some other company wanted to pick them up, right? Because there's no overlap, hardly between Sailor and Pentel. And this would be the same with Unuball. Yeah.
• Who did Unuball just buy?
• Lamy. Lamy bought Unuball. That's it. Lamy bought Unuball. That's the big synergies. Yeah. I guess they're not free agent technically, but yeah. No. Wasn't Unuball bought Lamy?
• Unuball bought Lamy. Yes. Unuball's the big part. Brad, fake news today, man. What is going on? I'm in London is calling Myke. You've got London brain. You've got London brain. You should see my desk right now. It's a complete catastrophe. You should know that I'm wrecked today by what the document looked like when you first logged in. That's true. That's true. When I woke up this morning and opened the show notes, it was just a bunch of headings. It was a shell. Uh-oh. There's nothing in here. Yeah. Brad is on one today. So yeah.
• Brad is on one. I'm going to let you take a break for like 20 seconds and I'm going to ask you to jump in. So let me first tell our friends, our listeners about Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have the products that you're looking for from the brands that you love at prices that are going to make you very happy. Whether you're looking for a new rollerball, a new fountain pen, a ballpoint, a mechanical pencil, maybe you're looking for some inks, some refills, or accessories. Maybe you're going on a trip and you need some pen carrying cases or pen holders while Pen Chalet have got you covered. They have your favorite brands and the list just goes on and on and on. Every time I go to Pen Chalet and go to their brands page, I always find new stuff. It's incredible just how many products they're adding. In fact, every month you're seeing new products being added to Pen Chalet as they continue to fill out their inventory, which makes it even better for you because they have fantastic prices. They believe in low prices on high quality pens and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. You're going to get fast and reliable customer service. And every two weeks, you're going to find some special discounts. But of course, as always, we have extra special discounts for listeners of this show. You'll get free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US with great shipping rates internationally as well. Head on over to penchalet.com slash penaddict and you'll get 10% of anything at Pen Chalet and you will see some exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What's caught your eye this week, Brad? So I'm wondering as I'm going to talk about stationary packing for London, do I need a Monteverde one-touch stylus tool fountain pen? It seems like that would be a good travel pen, like if I need to measure things or if I need a stylus tip or, you know, it seems like, you know, international, do I have international measurements on there? Yeah. Yeah. It's a multi-tool. But really, I'm interested in the Lamy Nex, which is one of the more underrated pens. Honestly, one of the weirder pens in Lamy's fountain pen lineup. But of course, I like it because I'm a Lamy stan, even though I forget they just were bought by Yenny Ball.
• They did make a couple of different color caps this year, the Azure and the Crimson. The price on these for what you get, if you need a Lamy spare nib, you just buy this pen. But I like the pen as it is. It's a aluminum barrel and a rubber grip and a plastic cap. So all kinds of different tactile feels going on there. It feels great to write with. If you like the Safari or the All-Star, this is kind of like a fun mix and match of those two products. And I like the colors. I've got an orange one from past releases. The Kaweco Original is their kind of long, skinny, standard length fountain pen. It's one of the few full length fountain pens that Kaweco makes. And I know a lot of people have used the pencil and the ballpoints in this shape before. And the fountain pen version, I don't know that I've ever seen it on sale. And it's a pretty good deal if you like Kaweco's style of pen and in a more full size, like a desk centric model. It's pretty cool. I don't even own one of these, but I do like the style and shape of those. But if you do like the Kaweco's, they have other sport editions for sale. The AL Sport Ruby, which was, I think, a special edition recently. And then also the Art Sport models are at a price that makes me want to grab one because I did get one to review and send it over to Jeff. And this is a good price to make you come back around and think about picking one up for yourself. Yeah, the acrylics are really fun. They have the integrated clip into the cap, right? So it's not that... They do. It's not the one that you snap on. Yeah, I am so happy with Kaweco's integrated clip that they went with the vintage style, given the designs of these pens and the materials that they use. So they did this on the Piston Sport as well. It's the same integrated clip. I love that Kaweco clip. So it's really cool. If you want to go and see this for yourself and get 10% off anything at Penn Chalet, please go to pennchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com slash Penn Addict. Our thanks to Penn Chalet for their continued support of this show and Relay FM. All right. We got a shout out of the week, Myke. Shout out of the week, Governor. Our friend Kelly at Mountain of Ink, who I've definitely shouted out many times, but I always like to bring this resource up for new listeners or even experienced listeners or very active hobbyists like myself who are often thinking about inks and ink comparisons and what does one ink look like compared to another. Kelly does such a great job of cataloging all of her ink reviews. I think it's just literally one of the best resources in the hobby and everyone should know who Mountain of Ink is and have that site bookmarked or saved because like when I get emails and people are talking about things, a lot of times I'll jump over to Kelly's site and just kind of poke around to like, you know, help me remember one of the inks I'm talking about or say, hey, here's a couple of comparisons you can look at and I'll point them to like the blue category or whatever particular category we're talking about. And Kelly puts a lot of work and time and effort into this. And I just want to say I appreciate it. Absolute best one. Yep.
• All right. Do you think I can get Kelly maybe to pack for me for London?
• I'm having troubles, Myke. I'm having trouble. So packing for a stationary for travel packing for a long distance trip and packing my stationary. It's it's we are on one today. So my apologies to everyone.
• We are. We did not bring the A game today as far as knowledge. But we're we. We're OK. We flying around here. I'm just going to say Myke is helping. Myke's carrying the water this year. I'm carrying it. Look at me. I'm the pan addict now.
• So Brad is on one today and he's very thankful for his lovely co-host that he will get to hug next week. So thank you. So I'm thinking about what I bring with me next week. And I always travel with stationary and it always varies depending on the type of trip I'm I'm taking. And on this trip I'm going I guess I'll be about six days in London I think is kind of what what the math is looking like.
• And on two or three of those days I have some you know plans and events obviously I'm going for the relay relay big big event and we have some other couple things planned. But a lot of the times I'm just going to be solo hitting museums checking out the parks going maybe going to some cafe. So I want to have some good stationary options with me to carry. So the number one goal is to not bring too much and the number two goal is to bring enough. So I'm trying to thread that needle to where I'm bringing the stuff that I really want to use and enjoy but not bringing too much of it. So given my past travels and given how I've journaled on those previous travels I'm thinking about a kit along the same lines. I'm not bringing like a ton of fountain pens or like a huge sketchbook or something like I'm not overloading with stationary. So I know there's two things that always go in my kit no matter what I'm doing. Even if I'm going to a pen show where I'm bringing you know six or ten fountain pens all inked up ready to go I still am going to bring my Caran d'Ache fix pencil which has a number number two a two millimeter core and I'm going to bring some type of fine liner usually the Copic multi-liner SP I'm fine that could be switchable for a Sakura Pigma Micron Kuretaki Zig Mangaka any of those things that Statler pigment liner. I'm not totally you know particular about that but one of them will be coming.
• That's it. Those are the locks. Those are absolutely 100%. These pens or pencils do not get left at home for any trip.
• Why? I love writing with just the fine liners right like I can write journal anything like that and the same thing goes for the fixed pencil. I can write whatever I want or I can sketch or highlight or do anything I want with the fixed pencil. It's just very good options with those two pens.
• So once we get past that I throw myself for a loop.
• Recently I've thrown myself for a loop by thinking I want to bring the traveler's passport notebook. So I want to bring a small notebook like not A5. So we're thinking smaller than A5. A6 and below type of size notebooks. Are you talking like a traveler's passport size or the actual travelers? So I have an actual leather cover with two notebooks, two passport size notebooks on the interior. And it has the little Ziploc kit to hold like ephemera, you know like tickets, receipts, whatever. But this is the traveler's brand. Traveler's brand. Right. Yes. Traveler's brand passport size. So they make a full, they make a A5 slim. That's the big one. So this is the small one. It's just slightly smaller than like a field notes. Right. So if you put a field notes inside of it, the field notes sticks out the top a little bit, you know, like a quarter of an inch. So that size. And it has, like I said, two notebooks on the inside, leather cover. It's like totally, totally nice setup. Very protected. It'll, it'll carry like any, you know, like I said, accessories that I get, you know, can put in there and keep them for safekeeping. And I was pretty set on this for weeks. And then I remembered how on my trip in December to California and then a previous driving trip I did through Florida, I had a dedicated trip notebook. And both of those were field notes in that case, small notebook where that notebook existed to only capture that trip. That way, when I got done with it, it was a singular memento from that trip that contained my plans. Because you did my plans. It was actually the field notes that had the map of the place you were going to, right? The Florida one I did. The California one, I realized I had given away the last California coastline I had. So I just picked a regular one. I picked one of the elements with copper or gold or whatever, because, you know, California, gold rush, whatever. I picked it to just kind of think about that.
• So they were dedicated and now they're like a keepsake item. And I could technically do that with the travelers, like with one of the notebooks in there. That could be like my dedicated one. And if I do that, well, then I wonder, well, why do I need the extra notebook and the little carrying case? So I'm actually leaning to do the field note style to what I would do in the past is would journal in the morning and journal at night for what I had done on the previous day or what I'm going to do. But it like it can it can serve as like, OK, in the morning, I'm going to write my general plans. Like, say, I'm going to the British Museum and, you know, that's going to take up most of my day. Well, are there a couple of food places around that I should just think about, like not definitive plans, but like, hey, let's make a little reminder note. It's like, oh, this look good. This look good. Like if I'm browsing around, maybe as a reminder. So I'll put that in the notebook and then, you know, throughout the day, I'll write little notes, maybe sketch something I saw. And, you know, then I can I'll bring either a washi tape or a double sided tape that will stay in the room. I do not carry that with me, but that'll stay in the room and I can attach like any tickets or receipts, ephemera type of stuff that I get. So I'm very, very I'm 90 percent that I'm going to do that. I just don't know which notebook yet.
• Because I want to bring a fountain pen and I know you and I differ on this. I do not like using fountain pens and field notes unless I can find a good 70 pound paper one in my stash, which I'm sure I do have one. But I may not. The cover may not be a good fit. Like I'm not going to take like I can. It's not ideal, but like. Yeah, I can't. But like the way that I am, like I'm not going to take the campfire edition to London. Right. And maybe that has like 70 pound paper or whatever. Like, you know, I want it to be like a good feel and fit for my trip, even though it's like a U.S. notebook. Like and I'm not waiting to get one over over in London. That'll just be that doesn't work with my mind. I can't wait on that. So I have to pick that up ahead of time. So I'm going to work today. See if I can find something that will maybe be fountain pen friendly. But I don't need it to be fountain pen friendly. I don't need to bring a fountain pen. I want to bring a fountain pen. And in that case, I'm probably again, this is like 90 percent. Sure, I'm bringing a Lamy Safari. So I have a white one with a red clip that I bought a couple of years ago as one of the special edition. It wasn't even a special edition. It was just like a limited edition that was very accessible.
• I kind of like having like theme type pens. It's very England flag looking, you know, just red and white.
• And I bought black ink cartridges. I want black ink for my fountain pen. I don't know why. But I feel like for traveling, I really just like black ink. If you did blue, though, you know, then you would be fitting the thing. I'd be very covered. I know I'd be very covered. So I might I might change my mind to blue because I'll have like a black multiliner. Right. And then that'll give me blue. And then so if I have that's three writing instruments, the fixed pencil, the Copic multiliner and the Lamy Safari, most likely. Am I going to bring a gel rollerball or ballpoint pen? Probably.
• I have several choices for this and I'm not going to be as particular as I'm sounding about all this other stuff about those choices. I have one of the top runners, top candidates, if you will, the Ajoto, the Ajoto pen, just because they're a Manchester company. That feels like a good fit. Pretty well thematically. Yeah. I think. Yeah. The only kicker is I just need to be a little bit careful traveling with it because it's not capped. Right. So the Schmidt P8127 is an awesome refill. Like I have no qualms with the refill, but it's an open ended pen and a rollerball ink in a non pressurized refill in an airplane. What could go wrong? Nope. No problem. Just I need to think about it. And it's like, oh, yeah, I'm going to put this upright in the seat back. Cool. Like done. And like I have no issues with that. Um, I have a Kaweco gel AL sport. So it's like a pocket size, black satiny, really great. There was a edition called the Ombre edition. It was an art like graffiti artist edition. Um, it has a gel refill, you know, just small metal pocketable pen. So that's the other thing that Ajoto is not super pocketable. I want to keep it in a case probably. Right. I'm not going to throw that in my pocket, but like this Kaweco I'd throw in my pocket or I could take something as simple as the Uniball, uh, Uniball one. Uh, one F, which has a clip. I could just clip to my shirt or my pocket. So I don't know. I'll pick one of those. Um, I, I don't know which I'm leaning, probably the Ajoto or the Kaweco and probably not the Uniball, but we'll see. Because Myke, I can pick up some other things there, which we're going to talk about here in a minute. So I'm not trying to bring too much. So that's kind of my decision so far. So I've got four writing instruments, one notebook, and then I will probably close to a hundred percent put them in a Sinclair. Um, probably my new one from the shop with the orange. Um, I don't know if I have any, something more on theme. I'll bounce around and look and see if I have something more thematically appropriate. Um, because I, that, that is important to me. Like just kind of having something like that, that, you know, makes me feel good instead of just something completely random. Now a pen addict designed pen case obviously makes me feel pretty good. But, uh, you know, if I'm going to go with a theme here, you know, let's try to dig into it a little bit more. So that's it. That is literally all I'm going to take. And the goal would be one of the other goals would be to carry as little as possible when I leave the hotel. Right. I don't want to carry a bag. You know, I don't want to carry a sling bag necessarily. I might change my mind on that. A smaller bag. Um, it just depends. So this is all pocketable stuff. Even if I carry this Sinclair, I can fit that in a pocket. So that's where I'm at. And, you know, uh, anything else I need, I will, I will pick up while I'm there. So I'm just going to pack these few things and I think I'll be pretty happy with it. So I I'm feeling content. I spent some time thinking about this yesterday and the day before I've thought about this more than what clothes I'm packing. And so that, that should tell you why we have a podcast about pens and why I'm a little bit disheveled today. A little bit out of sorts today. All right. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace, 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 with your audience and sell your products, services, even the content that you create. Squarespace truly has everything you need all in one place, all on your terms. It has never been easier to get a Squarespace website off the ground. Thanks to their new guided design system, Squarespace blueprint. You choose from professionally curated layout and styling options to build a unique online presence from the ground up tailored to your brand or business and optimized for every device. You can then easily launch your website and get discovered fast with integrated optimized SEO tools. So you show up more often to more people growing the way you want to. So these are just a couple of examples of the way in which I think Squarespace truly is that full package for whatever type of website that you want to build. If you're anything like me, if you're anything like Brad, you start a website and as you run it over time, your needs change and they adapt. And maybe you want to add this and maybe you want to add that or maybe you want to change it this way or that way. And the great thing about Squarespace is they grow with you. They provide all of this functionality. Like I already mentioned that you can have a store with them. Like so you can set up your own store and it integrates with the services that you need and you can sell your products. But you can also have email campaigns. If you want to do email marketing outreach, you can. You can encourage your visitors to sign up. You can very easily design the emails to look the way that you want to. And they have analytics that measure the impact of every send. You have tools that can help you really sell your content easily, whether it's physical or digital goods. And with some of the digital goods, you can put paywalls behind for certain content or courses. You can sell files that people can download and so much more. You can integrate flexible payments to make checkout seamless for your customers. It's simple but powerful payment tools. They give you the ability to accept credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay. And in eligible countries, you can use services like Afterpay and Clearpay to offer customers the option to buy now and pay later. These are just some examples of the features that Squarespace can give you, but you don't need to use all of them initially. All you need to do is go and check out Squarespace for yourself and you'll see how it could fit with the project that you're looking to bring to the world. Go to squarespace.com and you can sign up for a free trial. And then when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you'll save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict when you decide to sign up and you'll get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of this show and all of RelayFM.
• Special shout out to the shop feature. So I obviously had a big product launch a couple of weeks ago. We talked about it, I think, on the last ad, just how I created all the products. It did not bend, break, buckle anything during the amount of orders that I got in. Several hundred orders came through without a single email question about, hey, what's going on with the shop? You know, I can't do this with the shop. My cart is out of whack. Not one Squarespace shop support email during that whole time frame of all the orders coming in. So I appreciate that. That is just like rock solid service. Very cool. All right, Myke, if I need to pick up some stationery while I'm on the trip, which I guarantee this is also why I'm not overpacking. Like I'm going to end up with a completely new kit within a day of arrival because I didn't realize, Myke, how close I am staying to one. Well, really both of the two shops that were on my list. So first up is Present and Correct, which I'm pretty sure they have been a shout out of the week before. And there's certainly a long time miss fill, refill link because they do a good blog with a lot of the stationery finds. I don't know if you would agree with the statement as someone who's been there, but I would say this is a more highly curated specific type of stationery shop. I've never been to Present and Correct. Okay. Okay. I couldn't remember if you had it. I thought you had it one time. No. I thought you got me some pens from there one time. I don't think so. So like years ago, there was a limited edition retro Pentel sign pen set that is so cool and Present and Correct had them. So I think I just straight up ordered them from them. So they'll carry some standards, but they're like more in the curator vibe, like highly specific types of stationery, some vintage stuff. They do a lot of graphic design blog posts of like old stationery graphics and things like that. Just I love their blog. I love their products. And I'm literally like two blocks away from them, which I hadn't, like I didn't consider any of this when I was, I just want to found the area that I wanted to stay in. And it turns out, Hey, Present and Correct. I will literally probably go to them on the first day just because I need to stay awake and it's close by. So that's where I'm going to go. So second is choosing keeping, which you have been to. Have you been to the new location or they've also moved? So I don't know if you've been since they, um, I don't think they've moved. Don't think they moved. Okay. I thought they did move. Brad, what has happened to you today? Like what is happening to you today? Do you think I'm, I'm allowed this once a year. I feel to be completely off my rocker. Yeah. Um, I just have my, my brain is full, right? So my talking cannot keep up with what's in my brain right now. So yeah, it's an issue.
• I'm checking and I'm, I feel pretty confident that they're in the same place that they've been before. If they moved, they didn't move very far. I think they moved. I don't know. I'm not going to, I wouldn't die on that hill. So anyway, if long time pen addict listeners, number one will remember when I had my sanity. Uh, number two, they will remember that Myke went to, uh, choosing keeping for the platinum Kyriot launch. Um, which the, the original platinum Kyriot launch, which I thought was pretty cool. Right. Yeah. I mean, like I'm looking at Google maps. This is a store that I went to for the platinum thing. So, okay. So yeah, I mean, we can definitely chalk it up to Brad being wrong today. The episode where Brad was wrong the entire time. So that's what we're having today. Um, this is a little bit bigger inventory, traditional inventory than like present incorrect. They're going to have all the big brands, right? Your Lamy's obviously Platinum's, you know, uh, lots of unique notebooks, some, uh, local, local products. So it looks really, really amazing. I'm going to send them an email here probably today and see if I can, if the contact that we had, that was so nice to send me some stuff after that platinum event. Uh, if they're still there, I'm not sure if they're still there or not. Cause since that was several years ago, they'll be happy to host you. You know, I think you should do that because I know the folks there, they're really knowledgeable and they know all about the show. So they're going to want to meet you. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's like, I don't want to do anything. I just want to say hi to like the person that was like, Hey, like, uh, can we come have a meetup there or anything like that? That's not, that's not in my wheelhouse of things to do, but it would be cool to like at least meet the person that we've, I've talked to in the past and, uh, be fun to visit there. So again, that's not very far from where I'm staying. Um, outside of that, I don't really have any like dedicated places to go. Do you have any, uh, suggestions maybe? Yeah. I want to make two recommendations for you if you're going to choose and keeping, um, choosing keeping is in a part of London that I like quite a lot, um, called seven dials, which is just a stone's throw, I think from where you're staying. Yep. And, uh, if you're going to be in the area, I recommend just popping into the London graphic center. Um, it's essentially an art supply store, but it's just fun to look around. They have some interesting stuff. They have, they have some nice fountain pens and stuff in there. Like, uh, which is, you know, it's good, good to go check it out, but I would recommend that. And there's also a book slash magazine shop a little bit further down the street called magma, which I also love that the downstairs that they have is like lots and lots of curators. Curated like art magazines, which I think you would, you would really like. So, so I already know going into this trip, uh, books and magazines are going to be my downfall, not stationary. Magma is going to be a problem for you. I, uh, I, uh, I spent a couple of hundred pounds there recently buying. Yeah. Have you ever heard of B magazine?
• It's a, I think a Korean, uh, magazine and it's just called B and the B stands for brand and every issue. They just do a full like dissection of a specific brand from its design to its like it really, I love B magazine and I wanted to buy a bunch of them. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's really cool. Like really, really cool. Okay. Yeah. So that's what, um, I, I am thinking about, uh, the suitcase size and it's like, I might just go with the large, even if I don't fill it because literally like the, the heavy stuff like books and magazines are going to be my biggest flaw when I go on like trips away from home. Like that's what I come home with usually.
• Well, you're going to have a good time. Okay. Well, that's great. And that's all in that, that choosing keeping area. It's all in like the seven dials area. Um, which is kind of like around where all of that stuff is. So there's lots of nice and interesting shops there. There's a little, uh, food hall there that I really like too, which I recommend, but I've forgotten the name of, but it's right there. And it's like, I think it's called pickle something or something like, but they got like lots, there's like a pizza place downstairs in there that I like called bad boy pizza society. Um, so someone actually recommended a pizza place in that seven dials area, Neil's backyard or something like that. I don't have to look it up. It's in Neil's yard. Don't go there. Neil's yard. Okay. Skip. Go to bad boy pizza society. Cause they're probably recommending to you.
• Um, not pizza pilgrims. I like pizza pilgrims. Home slice. Home slice. Yeah. Home. Okay. Here we go. Hot take home slice sucks. Like they try to make like, look at our pizza. We don't use tomato sauce. We use corn. It's like, what are you doing? Nobody wants this. Maybe I want it. So have you not had corn pizza? Home slice sucks. Home slice sucks. You can go there if you want to, but like, just if you walk like 30 seconds further, you can go to bad boy. Home slice is a society. They have a pizza called the Notorious P.I.G., which is like, uh, pepperoni and do you? Yeah. Honey. So good. And they do slices too. It's a slice place. All right. A couple of different things. I do not like home slice. This is a, this is a contentious issue in my household. Ooh. Because one member of my household does like home slice. I do not like home slice. Oh, it sounds like home slice is on my list then. You can go there. Like lots of people really like it. I do not like it. Shout out Adina. I do not like it. Team Adina. I've been there a couple of times and I've never had a good time. And that should not be the way that you feel going to a pizza place. I just, I just don't. And like, it's just more than you need. Like it's just more, it's in my opinion. It's just more than you need. Fair enough. Like I'm looking at it now. Uh, chorizo, corn and coriander, cream corn base. Why? I'm in. Why? Why would you do this? Just make pizza.
• People don't, people don't need curried mince lamb, smoked burrata, tarragon, pesto, wild spinach, pickled chilies and crispy broad beans on their pizza. People just want like pepperoni. Yeah. That one, that one was a lot. Yeah. That's what their pieces are like, man. It's like people just want like, I don't know. Maybe it's my ingredients. All right. So it sounds like I have a task. Yeah. It sounds like both. And then I will settle the debate. Yes. You can. Well, it's, it's, this sounds like, cause this is literally like 10 minutes from where I'm saying. You're not settling anything. I can tell you that right now. This is, this is settled. If you come in and be like, oh, I'm slices the way it doesn't change me in any way. I know. At all. I'm already on team Adina anyway. So like. But I read, I read a pizza to you and you were not excited about it. So like what now? But the first one I could get down with the second one. Yeah. Not so much. But why? But it's not. But like, why?
• Yeah. You know? Maybe Myke, maybe it's the chameleon of pizzas. Maybe. Have you ever thought about that? I have not. You know what, Brad? I've not thought about that.
• So let's think about the Studio Neat Chameleon. That was one of the greatest segues in the history of this show. As bad as I've been this episode, I feel pretty good about that. Okay. Studio Neat Chameleon, Myke, is this their best Mark I release ever?
• For a certain person, yes. I don't think they'll ever top the orange one, but that's just my own personal taste. But this pen, the design of it, like the execution, it rules. And so it's essentially a color-changing material that they're using. And so as light shines on it, it changes color from like green to red to orange. It's really, really amazing.
• Yeah. This is super cool. I love it. Definitely not the best ever. I might go, Myke, Enigma, the sparkly teal one with the black knock. But I'm kind of partial to the orange as well. I think I might go the Enigma special, though. That might be my favorite. This is so cool, though. This is going to just kick butt. That one kind of doesn't count because it's not... I know. It's not from them. It's not from them. And also, we can never forget the steel gold one that they did for St. Jude. Yeah. Yeah, that's like the special one-off. Okay, so in the limited editions, I'm going to go back to orange then. I do think the orange might be good. And then I might go purple next. I think that was a standard edition. Then I might go Chameleon. They did the iridescent purple. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I really just like the plain cerakots. And the orange one is just like so sick. Yeah. But this one is really very, very cool looking. Like, what I like about this is for a certain customer, this is like everything they've ever wanted. And that's what I like. I like that they are mixing it up and doing different looks, different styles. What I think... I don't remember if they did this before, like with their last one. But you can get this finish in the steel pen now.
• That's my favorite is the steel. Yeah. I only have the Apollo and the steel, I think. Yeah. That's all I got. But like, you know, I like the stainless steel as a barrel material. I bet this pen looks even better in person, as good as these photographs are. I bet this pen just crushes in person. So really great job on this one, Studio Neat. I love it. I know it's going to do extremely well. This might be their bestseller, just from the aesthetic aspect of it. Yeah. This feels like a good... Like, I know they switched this at some point where they originally just made them all and sold them all. Yeah. And now they do like a timed release and they ship within eight weeks. And I think that maybe especially for this pen, that might be a better thing for them to do. Yeah. I think just in the broader FOMO limited edition discussion, I'm more of a fan of Windows than numbers if the number's low. Like, I did 500 retro 50 ones. Like, I've got like 100 and something left. So if you wanted one, you got one, right? Yeah. That's fine. In general, like if I was making a thing, I prefer Windows to decide if I wanted like a month or something. I think, you know, Tactical Turn, I think does like a month where you can order the edition and get it if you want it. So yeah, I like that.
• We fought about pizza a minute ago, Myke. Like, let's make up about pizza. Yeah. Let's really, really have a nice conversation about our good friends at Uni. What's great about Uni is you don't have to like settle for what is available at the pizzeria. You can just choose whatever you want to make because they make it easy for you to make restaurant quality pizza in your own home. Uni is the world's number one pizza oven company. Their ovens reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit, cooking pizza in as little as 60 seconds. This high temperature and speed is what you will, what really sets the Uni ovens apart from what you can make in a conventional oven. They just can't reach that heat. And it is that heat where you get the right effects. You get the quality and you get like, they have the stones right in the ovens as well, which just make it even better. It's incredible that their ovens heat up incredibly fast too. You're ready to go in just 20 minutes. It's enough time to start getting your toppings ready and start rolling, you know, like start getting your dough right. Whether you love the authentic wood-fired flavor, the convenience of cooking with gas or electricity, or whether you're looking to have options with maybe wood, charcoal or gas, there is an Uni oven that fits your needs and lifestyle. They have smaller ovens that are maximized for portability, like the Fyra 12 and the Multi-Fu Karu 12G. Maybe you want to do some cooking on the go or getting out in the wilderness. Maybe you have a small outdoor space and you want something small, you can go for that. But if you want the convenience of gas but love the flavor of wood-fired cooking, Uni's Karu line has you covered because you can use a combination of wood, charcoal or gas right out of the box. Then there is an optional gas burner that you can get for that oven. They actually just introduced in this line, I think it is the Karu line, they have like a big boy. Oh no, it's the Coda. They have another line called the Coda. I think this is what you have, Brad, is one of the Codas. Yeah, the 16? Yeah, they just introduced the Coda to Max where you can cook two pizzas next to each other. It's huge! Yeah, so the Coda is an L-shaped burner, so this is probably more just like, you know, hooking up the L's and making like a U or a half square type of situation. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, so yeah, your one is full gas, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, I use gas on this one. And now they've made a big boy, the Coda 2 Max. And I have and love the Volt 12, which is an electric oven, so it lets you make pizzas indoors as well as outdoors, which I love because it means I don't have to wait for weather. I can just make them whenever I want to. But uni ovens, they're more than just for pizza. You can cook anything with them. You can cook burgers, fajitas, buffalo wings, desserts even. In the uni app, they have tons of recipes for pizza, but also for other items as well. I love that app, by the way. It's really helpful. They have lots of really good tips and videos. I also love the uni YouTube channel as well. Like when we got our oven, we watched a few of the YouTube videos just to help us like understand how to roll out dough correctly and all that kind of stuff. They really take care of everything. That is including as well selling accessories. So you can get cookware, pizza peels, thermometers. You can even buy your groceries and your dough from uni and they will take care of that for you. Uni pizza ovens start from just $299 of free shipping to the US, UK and EU. Listeners of this show can get 10% off their purchase of an uni pizza oven by going to uni.com and using the code penaddict2024 at checkout. Uni pizza ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your home. So go to ooni.com and use the code penaddict2024 for 10% off. A thanks to uni pizza ovens for their support of this show and RelayFM.
• All right. We're going to round it out with some STPA and then I'm going to figure out more about what pens I'm going to pack and maybe which stationary company owns which other stationary company. Matt asks, I recently got hold of a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with an FA nib and I absolutely love the nib. I'm thinking about replacing the feed of an ebonite feed to further increase ink flow when I flex the nib. Is this a good idea? And if so, how would I do it? I want to make sure I order the right part and don't ruin the pen.
• So we start with our disclaimer.
• Please do not ruin your pen. Do not take my advice.
• Especially if you like the pen. Yeah. If you like the pen, I have never done this, right? So I can't completely speak to it. But I do think it's a good idea from what I hear from a lot of other people who do this. So what you want to do is head over to FlexNib Factory. So I think it's FlexibleNib.com. And for example, they have a dedicated product for the Pilot 912. And I'm sure this is what Matt's looking at. And I don't know if Matt didn't see this here, but it's really, really cool. And I assumed they had it before I even looked. They have a PDF that you can download on how to make the swap. This is a pretty common thing. I don't think it will be that difficult. The challenge is with Pilot, right? Pilot, Sailor, and Platinum generally make a little bit more difficult nibs to get out. You can get them out. They're mostly just friction fit.
• But they're in there usually a little bit more tighter than, you know, if you're disassembling like Yoga No. 6s all the time, you're like, oh, this is pretty easy. But, you know, the Pilots and Sailors and Platinums make it a little bit tougher. But it can be done. So I would recommend that you do it if you want more flow, especially from the FA nib, because that will put out a lot of ink. And this will give you more ink on the page, which is what you're looking for. And be sure to follow their directions. And yeah, I would imagine there's probably some YouTubes out there that you can look at. This is a common thing for people to do. And I think you should go for it, Matt. And just follow the directions and have a good time.
• Andrew asks, and this is relevant for you right now, I'm sure. What are you both using for bags and pen carrying cases?
• All right, you go first. I'm going to grab a couple links. Okay. So I use two bags of both Bellroy bags. My daily bag is called the Tokyo Tote Pack. And it's a combination of the backpack and a tote bag. And I really like it. It's like a smaller bag that I have my laptop in and a few essentials and stuff like that. And it does what I need. I like having, considering I'm commuting, I like having the option of just being able to grab the tote handles rather than putting it on my back. So I really like it. I found this bag because I was looking for something like this. Like I wanted like a tote style backpack. Because I'd previously used the Topo Designs briefcase thing and liked its kind of tote. The mountain bag. It's called the mountain bag. Mountain briefcase. Mountain briefcase. I was looking for something that was vertical, not horizontal in its kind of usage. Sure. And so I found that. And then I used to have the Peak Design Everyday backpack. And over time, I found myself really frustrated by the way that that bag wanted me to live my life. Like it has like opinions about the way it should be used.
• And I wanted something that was a bit more like, I will choose how to use my bag. And so I was looking for something that was essentially just open in the middle and expandable in a way. And I settled on another Bellroy bag, the Venture Ready Pack. 26 liters is the one that I have. And this is my, I'm going on vacation. This is the bag that's coming on the plane with me. It's like big bag, you know. But I adore this bag. I really, really, really like it a lot. Very, very happy with it. And they actually just updated it. I just realized now going on their page. And they have done, they've made a couple of changes that I kind of wished my bag had. But I'm not going to upgrade. But they've added one of those straps that you can put the, like, put the bag over a wheel. Like, you know, like a suitcase of wheels. You know that you can, like, put the bag over the handle. And then just drag them around together. Yep. Luggage pass-through. That's the new thing that they've added. That's what it's called. My bag doesn't have that. And I kind of wish that it did. But I love this bag. Big fan. And then for pen carrying cases, you know, I'm still using, at the moment, the OG Nox Sinclair. But I think I'm going to be getting one of the Rickshaw ones soon, which I'm excited about. Already set aside for you. Yeah, baby. Let's go. So we'll cut to the chase on that one. I, too, for my stationery, use the Sinclair Model R from Rickshaw or any of the Sinclairs that I have from Nox. I'm spoiled for choice there. That is my go-to pen and stationery kit that's going to be going with me to London. It's something I use around the house. It's something I throw in my backpack, which is currently the Evergoods Civic Half Zip. So I've been wanting an Evergoods bag for a while.
• They did an orange model, I don't know, a year, year and a half ago. So I'm putting a link in. It only shows the black model, but mine's in orange and it's killer.
• So this is a 22-liter backpack, which is a good size for me. It fits me well without being too big. You don't have to, like, fill space. Like, that's one of my big challenges with backpacks is getting the size right. I don't want them too empty to where I feel like I have to just throw stuff in it to fill it up. This one is very – I won't call it slimline, but it's got enough space to hold my laptop, my iPad, my headphones. Like, in a case, like my – like, I have some over-the-ear travel headphones, noise-canceling. Like, in that case, fits in there. Like, I can fit a switch in there. I've been using this a lot for travel for that type of thing, for those accessories. And then it has some smaller compartments that fit some smaller things.
• So, yeah, that's my go-to backpack. That's coming with me on this trip. The next piece before – I'm going to just stop you. I already know. I already know. All right, cool. I'm not going to do it to you. Call these sling bags. I've had a bad show. I'm not going to make it worse.
• I'm way ahead of you. So, I have the Hyperlite Mountain Gear sling bag. It's called the Versa. And it's a smaller bag. And what I use this for, I actually use it in conjunction with this Civic Half Zip from Evergoods. This is my cable and cord bag. So, all of my cables and cords, it's got kind of like three separate spaces in this bag to use for that. So, that's everything that goes in there when I travel. And then when I arrive, this can also be used as like my day bag if I want something a little bit more. So, it's multitask. Like, it doesn't need to be my cabling cord bag like as a job, right? It's not necessarily designed for that. But I have just the right amount of stuff to put that in there and have it fit in my backpack and have it when I arrive to use for other things once I've taken all the cords out. So, when I travel, I want to have like multi-purpose type of stuff. So, that's how that fits in. I should mention, actually, I forgot about this. I also have one of Bellroy's slings. I got the Venture Ready Sling or the Venture Sling, they call it.
• When we went to Disneyland, I got one. Okay. I'm never looking back now. Gotcha. For a trip like that, like just perfect to have like a little sling bag as well. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. And then I carry, so those are probably like my three main things. Like all of those work in conjunction with each other, right? The Evergoods big backpack will contain the Sinclair and then the Hyper Light Sling bag. Then I have one specialty bag that is my Pen Show bag. I picked up a Rickshaw Bonsai bag at the Orlando Pen Show last year and it turns out that it's kind of the exact size I want for a Pen Show. So I don't really carry this, like I wouldn't carry this around town. Like in London, it's a little bit too big for me, but it's not that big of a bag. It's a reasonably small bag, but it's perfect for stationery where like if you're carrying like some A5 notebooks or some ink, like you can fit a lot, a lot of things in there. And it's got handles, but it's got a shoulder strap. So that's my Pen Show specific carry bag. So there's a model called the Matrix. I have that one in purple, which it doesn't look like it's on the site right now, but they have some cool ones there. So yeah, it's, that's, I'd say that's my core four, if you will.
• Three of them work together. And then when I go to Pen Shows, I'll throw the Bonsai bag. I will just throw it in my suitcase and then just use it when I'm at the show. And then on the return trip, like I'll pack all my stationery in there and throw it back in my suitcase. So it's not something I carry just like around an airport or anything like that, but it kind of travels with me for Pen Shows.
• Very cool.
• I'll put links for these in the show notes.
• Kristen says, I purchased a Schaefer Targa Slim 1005F1005S from 1982 at the California Pen Show. I had the fine nib ground into an italic. Thanks to Matthew Chen. It's everything I've ever wanted. However, I've found that the filled converter with Diamine Onyx Black will only last about four regular traveler's notebooks insert pages. Am I not filling it fully or is the capacity really just that tiny? There seems to be vintage cartridges for this pen, but are there contemporary ones I should use instead? So let's answer the second part first. I believe, and we can double check me, which you might have to email me or I might have to email them, that Schaefer cartridges that fit this pen are not compatible with the modern cartridges that Schaefer sells now. I think they might have a little bit different connection. So that's something to consider, right? So maybe the cartridge is available, but it might not fit that. So that's something we'll need to research. What is interesting to me is the filling system. Is it a converter in this pen? That's what I'm trying to decipher. Or is it some other filling system? Because it seems like it should be a converter, and you should be getting more than four pages of a traveler's notebook. Even a small Kaweco-sized converter that holds hardly any ink should write more than four pages of a traveler's notebook. So I have a feeling that it may not be getting filled fully. So I would take it out, clean it, make sure it's seated well inside the pen if it is a converter.
• Oh, yeah. Yeah, they said, Kristen did say it is a converter. So, yeah, I would check the seating of where the converter actually connects to the pen and make sure that it's grabbing on there really solidly. And there's no gaps, no air that could be causing ink to disappear or flow too heavy and then run out faster or evaporate when not using it, right? You want to have an airtight seal there. So that would be my first choice. Secondly, one thing you can do to assure that you get a full converter is fill the converter directly in the ink bottle, right? Either dipping the converter in the ink bottle, drawing up ink, and then putting the converter into the pen nib, or using a syringe to put ink into the converter and then putting the converter into the pen. So that's a very common thing to do, especially if you want to be sure that you're getting a full converter, because it sounds like there might be some type of gapping that is causing air to get in there, either when you're filling it attached to the nib or it's escaping somehow because of that air gap. So fill the converter outside of the pen. That way you'll get the most full ink capacity in there. And I think you should be in good shape. I'm not sure that you need to find any cartridges. That's kind of where I would start.
• Man, vintage pens, right? Okay.
• Vintage pens, they're great. They're great. I just don't need a lot of them, because I don't want to deal with this all the time.
• And they're all so different. I have some really wonderful vintage pens. I love vintage pens. I don't shop for vintage pens. I'm pretty happy with what I have. I've got some corv ones, and I'll break them out every now and then. I have some amazing ones that I'm actually thinking about inking up. So I need to do a vintage pen gathering here pretty soon. But I do love vintage pens. I just don't own many of them for a lot of reasons like this.
• All right. If you would like to send in questions, follow up, or ask TPA, no matter what, always go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send us in there. There's a link in the show notes to that too. If you want to find Brad online, you can find him. He's at penaddict and at penaddict.com. Brad also streams at twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can find his products over at spokedesign.com. I was going to say Knocko. I got like Sinclair peeled, and I was going to give the Knock website out there.
• But Sinclair cases are available at Rickshaw and also at penaddict.com where you have the special cool one, which I love the look of, right? Yep. Yeah, it's really cool. You can also find me online. I'm at imyke. You can find my products at cortexbrand.com and hear me on many shows here on RelayFM, where you'll find this show too. For those of you that are going to be in London, we hope you have a good time. We really hope you enjoy the show and make as much noise as you can for your favorite Brad.
• And we'll be back in two weeks. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Call Blimey, Governor. Hello, Governor. Governor.