The Pen Addict 696/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	696
Title:	The Secret Menu of Nib Grinders
Release Date:	December 19th, 2025
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 696
Audio File:	Audio Episode 696
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 696
Length:	7373 min <br />1.217 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 696.
Nice!
Thank you, Brad Dowdy. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, Pen Chalet, and Factor.
My name is Mike Hurley. You already know him. It's Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.
You know, I had a whole extra day this week to inject myself with caffeine, so we're fired up today.
We're fired up to podcast today, Mike.
It's like it starts off low on Monday and just builds through to Friday?
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Actually, the issue probably is, like, I didn't have as much caffeine yesterday,
so we're recovering today, and we're tying one on with the brown bean water this morning.
Damn. Love it.
Yeah, I love it. Well, I'm excited about this episode, right?
Like, you've already seen later in the show notes why I'm so excited.
Oh, yeah, I'm pretty jazzed to talk about the topic.
But before that, we have the obvious, which is a bunch of people have written in about fake gold and why maybe it can't happen.
So, even though we already got a lot of this feedback coming in while the show was recording live last week, here we are.
So, if you remember, I've said, why can't we just make fake gold?
Like, we have fake diamond and other things.
Like, I'm especially familiar with this because Idina's engagement ring is moissanite, which is, like, a lab-grown diamond.
Okay.
And so, my thought is, why can't you just do that to other things?
Sure.
Yeah.
This comes here from Greg.
Shout-out, Greg.
This one came in before the show ended.
By email.
By email.
I don't even know how that happened.
I don't even know how you do that.
I looked at the timestamp.
It was, like, literally, it had to be 10 minutes before we even ended the show.
So, yeah, shout-out, Greg, for the quick on the draw.
Gold is an element.
You can only create elements from another element or elements by bombarding the atoms with high-energy subatomic particles,
which produces very small amounts of new elements at very high production costs due to the machinery involved.
Artificial diamonds are using carbon atoms in some form, graphite, and exposing them to high heat and pressure,
which creates artificial diamonds, which are still composed of carbon.
This mimics the natural process where carbon atoms change a molecular shape into diamonds.
In the first case, you have something akin to alchemy, albeit using nuclear technology to transform one atomic element into another.
The second is simply thermodynamics, forcing a rearrangement of existing atoms into a different molecular structure.
I have greatly simplified the science involved.
I don't know about that.
Next time at a pen show, we can chat if you want to pursue.
I mean, wait.
Does Greg want us to make fake gold with me?
Is that what this is?
Like, all I hear is this is possible.
Like, this is helpful, Greg.
This is what I'm saying.
I'm saying scientists, get good.
All right?
Get good and make fake gold.
Now I know it can be done.
You've just got to get good at it.
Stefan says, gold atoms are only created in the heart of exploding stars.
I don't know about that.
Finding a different...
I don't know.
I don't buy that one.
So all I hear now is it's possible and we're going to space.
Yeah, and we know how to do it.
We know where to get the atoms now inside of exploding stars.
Finding a different, cheaper alloy that behaves a bit like gold is much more likely, but would
still require a bit of research and development, which is what I asked for.
Getting something that has both the flexibility and the right surface tension might not be straightforward.
Definitely could happen, though, and I hope it does.
See, Stefan's on my wavelength.
Yeah.
Stefan, me and Stefan are in the same space.
And this comes in from Bobby, who says, unfortunately, we do not have a means to synthesize gold as
it requires enormous amounts of energy that only happen in stars, or more specifically,
neutron star collisions, supernovae, and magnetars.
I think that last one's a Pokemon, so I don't know about that.
Given this, all of the gold on Earth was created in these events billions of years ago
and were deposited by stardust or collisions of space rocks of Earth.
But, Brad, if you ask me, the gold industrial complex has done a really good job of marketing
the product.
That's what I'm hearing.
That's what I'm hearing.
I'm just getting excited about space nuclear reactors.
Just simply for our nibs.
We don't need this to improve life on Earth.
We just need different fountain pen nibs.
What I like about this feedback is the way in which it's building each other.
You know, it's like, first one is like, it's a ton of energy.
The next one is like, that energy can only be found in stars.
And then the last one is like, also, collision, supernovae, and the Pokemon magnetar.
So, again, no one's proving me wrong in any way, really.
I don't know if anyone's trying to.
I'm still hearing that it is possible.
We just haven't worked it out yet.
Exactly.
That's where I am with this.
In a more sensical manner, maybe someone's going to try some other materials.
But, you know, between stainless steel and gold, it's kind of solved for fountain pens.
And the investment is clearly like the investment in discovering or, you know, running through the tests
and phases that need to happen to actually make something that would be profitable is pretty daunting.
You know, there's maybe a chance with titanium.
You know, maybe we can get some modifications to titanium so it's not as bouncy.
Right?
It's a titanium nibs exist.
They're bouncy.
We can see how that goes forward.
Like, I mean, we'll probably see something different, but I don't know that we're going to have just like a complete changeover.
And this, just to, if you're just picking up this episode out of the blue, this was, we were talking about this due to price increases of gold
and a lot of fountain pen prices going up because of the gold content in the nibs.
So, it's a good question.
We'll see what happens in the next like one or two years.
Like, I think that's our timeline, right?
To see like how these price increases affect everybody.
I like, I think it'll be hard to like completely determine in 2026, but I think in two years we'll have a better picture of what's actually happening.
And I think I mentioned this last week and I was asked to elaborate on it a couple of times, once in email and once in stream.
What do I think is going to happen with like these retailers?
And I think they're going to adjust their business model a little bit to where they'll have a product launch.
And in the past, a lot of, I'm specifically speaking on the Japanese brands, Pilot Sailor Platinum.
Historically, they wouldn't discount their products.
It wouldn't allow distributors to discount and who wouldn't turn wouldn't allow retailers to discount.
I think we'll see a more staged rollouts now to where you'll have the initial price.
You know, in six months, you'll see the first wave of discount in the second.
And then six months later, you'll see the second wave of large discounts, which is kind of what Sailor has been doing.
Where, you know, four or five years ago, there were zero discounts on Sailor.
And now if you're just patient, you can get them at 40% off.
So I think that's more of the cycle we're going to see now with more companies where in the past, it was pretty limited from a top-down level, from a corporate level.
So we'll see.
We'll see.
TBD.
I received the Kokoyu Suffering Notebook.
Okay.
I see why people like it.
I see why you like it.
It doesn't solve a problem for me.
And I think it's helped.
And using this product has actually helped solidify for me what that problem is.
I just don't like things under my hand while I'm writing it.
Literally anything.
Yeah.
It's like I don't like my hand being raised off the page in a way that is unintentional.
I think it's just a symptom of my, like, overhooking style.
Like, it's just not comfortable.
I don't feel like I have good control of the pen, that kind of thing.
And so anything that is to the right or left of the page is really uncomfortable for me.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
Even though these rings squish and are, like, pliable, it's not a flat surface ever.
Exactly.
And they don't.
They squish, but, like, they squish with force.
So then for me, for my hand, then I'm like.
Not much benefit.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Because then I'm applying force in a way that I don't want.
To do.
Right.
But it is absolutely the best form of a ring-bound notebook that I've used because it does this.
So it's cool.
Yeah.
It's a very cool product.
Yeah.
And my overall take on it is it's extremely high quality for the price.
Yes.
Like, the paper, the build, the structure of it.
It just, it's an enjoyable product to use.
And it's like, you know, it was like 10 USD, you know, like, that's a pretty inexpensive notebook.
All things considered for something in our, like, this isn't, you know, going to show up at the grocery store.
Right.
But, like, for our specialty purposes, it's really, really high quality.
Yeah.
If you can deal with the rings.
And that's totally fair feedback on that.
And this piece of feedback came in from Glenn.
Glenn says, in episode 695, you discussed the Cortex sidekick pocket rulings, inventory, and sales.
One overlooked factor is the colors assigned to each ruling type.
I would not say it was overlooked, but sure.
So, I'm curious about how color affects sales.
My guess is dot grid orange is most appealing.
To do blue second and lined yellow least, and lined yellow, at least in my opinion.
Mike, do you think your ruling biases might have even subconsciously impacted the color choices?
All right.
So, there's a bunch of assumptions made in this and some questions.
Obviously, I'm aware of the fact that the color choices exist.
But I believe, I strongly believe, ruling comes first before color.
I don't think you would buy a notebook that was useless to you because you like the color of it the most.
Right?
Like, if you do not want a to-do layout, you would not buy this notebook just because it was blue.
Right?
Right.
The yellow, there is a reason I chose yellow.
Okay.
So, there are lots of colors.
Which we discussed.
We went through tons of color options.
And we ended up wanting to choose three papers that had some level of vibrancy that was similar to them.
Right?
Out of the paper options that we chose.
Which was just on the GS Smith color plan range.
We really narrowed it down a long way.
I put a lot of thought into it.
Like, we were going to do red, but red's not good.
And then we don't want to do green.
And I don't think green works either because, like, stop and go.
That kind of thing.
So, we ended up choosing these three colors.
The yellow, orange, and blue.
The yellow, we paired with the lined paper because it matches the Apple Notes logo, which I just thought was really funny.
Yep.
And that started from there.
Then, I like the orange the most and I like Docker the most.
So, that's why that's that.
And I also thought that to-do in the blue made the most sense because I think blue is maybe the most appealing color to most people or, like, the easiest to get on board with.
And I thought that that would pair quite nicely with the to-do notebook.
So, look, is it possible that people aren't buying the lined notebook because it's yellow?
I mean, of course, that's possible, but I really don't think that's the reason.
I think it would always just be the least popular is what I think is the situation.
Yeah.
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but, like, when you're designing products like this, you say, okay, we're going to make dot grid.
Like, you said this a second ago.
I'm going to make dot grid.
I'm going to make a to-do list.
I'm going to make lined.
Okay.
Well, okay, lined is going to be yellow.
So, we've solved that.
And then we've been looking at other colors for this.
And we start eliminating things, right?
The to-do list isn't blue because it needs to be blue.
It's blue because orange is my favorite.
So, that's going to go on dot grid and that's my favorite.
And then we've already eliminated red and green.
So, now our options are X, right?
And how does what now fits in X?
And, okay, it's blue.
So, like, and then all three, like, kind of work along, like, the same just general tone.
Yeah.
Great, great comment from Lisa in the Discord.
I would have bought the yellow but didn't because it was lined.
Now, that's me.
That's 100% me.
It's not because it's yellow.
It's because it's lined.
Yes.
But, look, I can imagine that there are some people that make-
You have to make lined.
Yes.
I imagine there are some people that make decisions in that way, but I don't think that it's the reason that yellow is sold the least.
Correct.
I think that there would be people that would be like, I wanted to get the lined one but don't want the yellow.
I don't think, like, it is, oh, I don't know if I just said what I meant, actually.
But, like, you know, my point that I'm trying to get across is I just don't think that this is the reason that lined is sold the least.
Yes.
Now, if you had three products that were all dot grid and one was orange, one was blue, and one was yellow, then you'd be able to tell.
Say that again?
Oh, yes.
If all three notebooks were dot grid, that's how you run the test.
At some point in the future, I don't know when, we're going to expand this product lineup a little bit more.
And in doing that, our plan is to add a neutral color to every version.
Oh, do I have a neutral color for you?
Well, it'll probably be gray.
But then we'll know, won't we?
Yeah.
Exactly.
And I think I already know what's going to happen.
But, like, this is, I don't know, this is hopefully something we'll do in 2026.
But because this was, doing them this way was a test, and the test has been successful.
And now it's about, like, how can we, how can we carefully increase this?
Because every time, because there are three versions of this product, adding new colors is complicated.
Like, we're adding more and more options, and that, you know, then you end up with stock for a long time or not.
And so I'm happy that we did this.
I think we've learned something, and I know that I'll be ordering a very small percentage of lined notebooks.
And then we'll see what happens.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Chad is very anxious.
My teaser about the neutral color.
Please hold.
Please hold, because we have an ad read, and then we have a shout-out of the week that might give you the answer.
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All right, Mike, we got our shout-out of the week.
Shout-out of the week.
Have I got a neutral color for you, Mike.
Okay.
Our shout-out of the week goes to Wearing Ool.
I don't always or I very infrequently shout-out brands in shout-out of the week.
You know, I like to do our smaller creators and fun stuff.
But I want to give props to Wearing Ool as a business to make a joke that could not really go against their business model.
But them, like most of the internet, took a shot at Pantone's Cloud Dancer, color of the year for 2026, which I think is kind of an embarrassment.
Wearing Ool's point in this post that I'll link.
I disagree, actually.
But we can get to that in a minute.
Yeah, we probably don't need to get to that.
But, yeah.
Wearing Ool, this past April 1st, their April Fool's joke was the Emperor's New Clothes.
So they made a bottle with like a white label and it was just clear, right?
It was just empty, which is their thoughts on Cloud Dancer.
So I wanted to give a brand shout-out to having fun with what's always a fun thing.
The Pantone color of the year is always a fun thing to talk about on the internet because it's usually just kind of off and just weird and things like that.
Every now and then, they'll just do something like completely straightforward and simple.
This was not it in the internet's opinion.
So shout-out Wearing Ool for seeing that and going, hey, look, we did this first.
We could make a clear ink, too.
So I thought that was funny.
So shout-out to Wearing Ool.
Also, I'm giving you my hot take about the Pantone thing.
Let me finish my Wearing Ool and then you can hot take us.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I thought we were moving on.
I was.
I was.
Then I decided I should actually give Wearing Ool a shout-out as just a great ink brand, right?
That's an ink brand that if you're not familiar with them, you can check out and buy without any research and be happy with the product.
I think they do an exceptional job.
One of my favorite ink brands.
All right.
Cloud Dance Me, Mike.
The whole point of the Pantone Color of the Year is to get you talking about Pantone.
Yes.
So the more ridiculous that they make it, the more likely you are to talk about it.
People know about Pantone.
Maybe they don't always know about Pantone.
They're not always ridiculous, but they sometimes are.
And I think that sometimes they choose the ridiculous ones because it's a marketing exercise.
They knew people weren't going to like white.
Right?
They knew that.
We're in agreement.
And so like it's a marketing exercise.
And this year has been the most I've seen people talk about Pantone in a long time.
Since they did that.
Millennial pink.
Well, no.
I was going to say since they had that thing with Photoshop where you couldn't use the colors anymore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like I said on stream, like they're a licensing company, right?
Absolutely.
They just want people to talk about this.
Have you ever bought Pantone books?
Yeah.
I haven't, but I've been offered.
I've bought some.
I'm good.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
One of the worst decisions.
Jeez.
Can we talk about one of the best decisions ever made in the history of the world?
Oh, yeah.
Let's go.
Lamy X Kuratoga.
We ride, Mike.
We got it.
We got a Kuratoga Uniball mechanism in the Lamy Safari mechanical pencil.
Let's freaking go.
So, this came up out of the blue yesterday.
Excuse me.
Yesterday, I got sent the link.
I'm so excited.
I'm choked up over this.
It's a very emotional day here on the Panale.
It's very emotional when my two goats come together and make an absolute epic product.
The Lamy Kuratoga is coming in 2026.
So, this potato quality image was found on Reddit and shared and shared around the internet.
And it looks like it's from Lamy's catalog.
This is like their catalog pages for vendors and retailers to order from.
So, there's more things we'll talk about in here.
But the lead was not buried.
Lamy Kuratoga is coming.
So, as best as I can tell in just looking at these images and figuring out the price points.
So, the standard Safari barrel, mechanical pencil barrel, is going to be slightly changed into where...
And I'll have a link into my Safari mechanical pencil review.
It's visually the same, but like the connection's a little bit different.
I'm guessing to fit the mechanism a little bit better.
The seam is above the grip instead of in the nose cone, which is fine.
It's visually the same.
There used to be like a color difference by the nose cone, which isn't there anymore.
It looks like it's now the full color of the pen.
Correct.
And then the seam is above where the grip ends.
You never really need to get inside this.
Like hole that the dive has, right?
Yes.
So, it has the porthole where normally the clear and translucent Kuratoga is like the base level.
So, on the mechanism, they put essentially an orange dot.
And you'll see that orange dot go around the dial, essentially like a watch dial.
That's how you know the mechanism is actually rotating.
So, that little porthole, it'll be like full orange and then it'll just slightly move off.
And then it'll go to white and then back to orange.
And that's how you know the rotation of the Kuratoga is happening.
I didn't know that's what that was for.
I never really put that together.
I mean, it's obvious now you say it.
But I never really feel about it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
So, it's literally on the rotation of the mechanism.
That's what will show up in that little porthole.
So, this solves a huge problem that I have with the Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil.
It doesn't make it perfect.
But the problem with the existing Lamy Safari Mechanical Pencil is they have decided that if this is a Lamy Safari, it has to have the molded grip.
Okay.
Anyway, that can work fine on pens for people who have a normal grip.
And then, you know, we've always said the Lamy Safari, take the fountain pen, for example.
The molded grip, not everyone can use it.
Yeah.
So, if you go back and read my review, I just explain how this is like a bad pencil design.
Because people rotate pencils in their hands, right?
Just by nature to continue the sharpness of the lead.
Even a wooden pencil, you're rotating the pencil to keep that sharp edge going.
If you're not an artist, like there's obviously art applications where you stay fixed and widen the tip and that's fine.
But in general writing, you rotate a pencil.
And the Safari prevented that.
Now, you get a Kuretoga Mechanical to where you can fix your grip on the Safari and never have to turn it and always have a sharp point on the lead, on the graphite.
So, it makes this infinitely better.
It makes it a hugely better product.
It still doesn't solve the problem of having the grip in the first place.
Some people are not going to be able to use this, right?
So, it doesn't fix everything about this pencil.
In that, it's not going to be for somebody.
But for people who do have a traditional grip and like the mechanical pencil.
I'm literally holding one while I'm talking to you.
It's going to work so much better.
It's actually going to be a usable product.
I didn't think the mechanical, Lamy's Mechanical Pencil was particularly a good product for the grip reason, right?
And this solves a huge, huge problem.
Doing the conversion of the price, it looks like it's going to be like $24.50 and the current one is $16.50.
I think that's a fair premium.
Even though, like, you could get a base level Kura Toga for less than that price jump, right?
You can get a base level Kura Toga for like $6 US.
So, this is like a, what, $8 price increase?
I do think that's completely fair.
I actually thought it would be more.
And I'm glad it's not.
So, it still has the molded grip issue.
And if you have a problem with Lamy's molded grips, this is not going to fix anything.
But for those who are okay with the grip, this fixes everything about the mechanical pencil that was flawed before.
So, it's kind of like a perfect pairing.
I'm surprised to see it.
Not so soon, but like...
This seems to be a little bit more of a challenge than just filling up refills with different inks, right?
Which is what the Jetstream is.
So, I'm happy.
Like, that they went this hard at it is pretty cool.
Like, that Uniball sees, like, options like this to try to improve the product.
I don't know if they're going to, like, get rid...
I don't know if this, like, usurps the existing pencil.
I don't know.
So, my theory is that I kind of doubt it because they're probably going to want, like, an entry...
More entry-level price point.
This might be a premium price product.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, they would keep the standard.
My gut tells me they keep the standard.
Especially if, you know, like in Germany, when you have, like, bulk office buyers or bulk school buyers, they want a lower price option for that.
So, my gut tells me that the traditional stays and then this is your premium option.
So, I'm...
Can you tell I'm excited?
Yeah.
They went soft on the colors.
Traditional black, traditional royal blue, traditional yellow, and then Vista, which is the translucent.
You know, I would go for the Vista because I'm, like, I've seen these other three colors for decades.
Like, I'm good.
But it's at least there.
It's got to start somewhere, right?
Yep.
So...
And then they can see if people are excited about it.
I think this is, like, a funny thing for me.
It's, like, an example of when mergers and acquisitions are good for the customer.
Like...
Yeah.
This is a scenario where these two companies coming together, they're able to produce a better product because they can...
This is a thing that never could have happened, right?
Right.
Like, Uni would never have licensed the Kuru Toga mechanism to anybody.
Absolutely not.
There is no world...
Because there's no point.
Why would they do that?
Like, it benefits M-Zero to do that.
Yeah.
Especially when that product sells so well on its own, right?
Like, if the product was a bit of a dud, but somebody else could maybe sell some, you'd maybe do it.
But they absolutely...
I mean, we've seen that in the last couple of years.
They've struggled to keep some of these models on the shelf.
So, this is a thing that Lamy never would have had access to, and now they do, which I think in this scenario is good for the consumer because now they have different options for products.
Yeah.
Which they might want.
Yeah.
And just, like, the vault of ink formulations that Uniball has, I was like, I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more than the singular Jetstream refill yet.
Like, I want the rollerball replaced.
This stuff takes time.
Yeah.
It does.
Like, that's why I was actually surprised to see this instead of, like, a new round of, like, refills for the rollerball or something like that.
So, there's some other things.
Maybe the pencil team has just really been on it, you know?
Yeah.
This pencil product needed to be fixed, right?
Yeah.
This pencil was a problem.
Yeah.
So, you know, Lamy has a few, like, items like that in their lineup that just need to be better.
And my gosh, this is, like, a perfect pairing, right?
You could not draw it up any better if you're Lamy.
There's some other products linked in this catalog coming next year.
Orange Translucent Kuretogo.
This is a Uniball catalog picture.
Orange Translucent Uniball, excuse me, Kuretogo.
There is, interestingly, the Uniball 1, the small one, the small pocket size one, they're making a multi-pin version out of this, which is interesting.
So, there's the little chunky small one.
I think it's called the P.
The Uni 1P, I think.
Easy, easy.
So, this will be the Uni 1P.
Oh, Uniball.
Oh, you'll love this name.
I did see this.
This is the Uniball 1-3.
Oof.
Because it's three refills.
It's a three refill multi-pin.
It's called the 1-3.
So, it's going to be a twist mechanism, small pocketable pin.
I'm more interested now in this.
When I first saw this, I was like, what are they doing with this?
And it took me a bit to sort it out.
I hadn't scrolled down far enough.
Then I saw the 1-3 next to the StyleFit refills, which is their full-size gel ink multi-pin.
So, the 1-3 is going to fit a lot of different colors and stuff.
That is an abysmal name.
Yeah.
That's a little rough.
Just call it multi.
Just something.
Yeah.
You know, one multi, I think, is better than 1-3.
Then there's new Zentos coming out, Mike.
Hot Fire Zentos.
The signature Zento is in this documentation.
And they call it stone brass.
And I think it's just the color.
So, I wouldn't get people all hyped up thinking this is a brass barrel Zento signature.
They couldn't even keep up with the signatures they made last year.
So, this is the last thing they're doing.
Plus, the price that they listed at is the same as the current Zento signature.
So, there's no way this would be a brass one.
I think it's just in color.
But they do actually give themselves a problem with color and naming for people thinking this is brass.
There's no way this is going to be brass.
It'll be brass colored painted aluminum.
So, the Zento continues to jam.
And it's a good one.
There is a sprinkles one.
Zento X1P.
Mike, that I will definitely be grabbing.
So, y'all know I love Uniball.
I love Lamy.
So, I could not have had a more exciting link in my messages this week than seeing this.
So, super excited.
That sprinkles one is funny.
Yeah, I like it.
So, they've done with that model.
So, the Shorty 1P.
They like to play around with that one.
And like the one I have on my desk right now.
It's called Bath Bomb.
Bath Bomb, which is a stupid name for just – it's a swirl material, right?
It's like a lavender and white swirl.
But they call it Bath Bomb.
Like, for some reason, they've really like latched onto this as like a little playground for styles and materials.
And that makes me want – like, this is not a cheap pen.
It's like a $6 pen or maybe $4.50.
I could be getting that wrong.
But still, for a singular gel ink pen, it's not that cheap.
It's not like $2.50.
And they just go to town playing with different colors and styles of these.
I love them.
And they'll change the clip colors on some of them.
They have fun with that product.
So, you know, like seeing Uniball have like a stock office pen like the Signo 207 is one thing.
That's just not going to change.
And then having a little playground in the Uniball 1 series.
And I think it's fun.
So, I love seeing this.
All right.
That is not the only news that came out.
This week, the MD Paper brand is rebranding to MD Products.
And this is a less drastic change.
MD Product.
Product.
Product.
MD Product.
Got it.
Which –
So, we have –
Yeah.
I can see why you would call it MD Products.
Yeah.
Actually, I think – but I think MD Product is probably the better name.
No.
Well, I wonder what the aversion design field has to pluralizing.
I mean, they have travelers.
Because they didn't do it with MD Paper either.
I think MD Papers would be a horrible name.
I agree.
But –
Luckily, we don't have to deal with that.
They went with the right version of MD Paper, but it should be MD Products.
MD Products is odd to me.
Yeah.
I'm okay with it.
Now that you've said that, I didn't realize I'd type that.
Now that I just read MD Product, like, I'm actually good with that.
And if you'll check the last link I added, which you may not have caught before the show
because I just added it.
It shows some of the product planned.
So this is a rebrand.
So this is one of those posts where I need a family tree to be able to link to people
because this is all under the Design Fill brand, which we talk about a lot.
And Design Fill, their popular product lineups that are familiar with most listeners to this show
are the Traveler's Notebook and Plotter and MD Paper, formerly MD Paper.
So those are all under the same parent company.
And the MD Paper was part of Midori, Midori Paper Products.
And they're now taking that product and moving it to MD Product.
The paper is going to stay the same, a lot of the same four nights.
Everything that you know and love right now about MD Paper is going to be the same in MD Product, right?
The paper's not changing.
None of that's changing.
Like, I'm a super fan of that paper, right?
Like, it's one of my highest rated, best papers out there for anyone.
And I love the design.
So what this is doing is giving them the Traveler's Notebook and the Plotter treatment
to where now MD Product is going to have, like, their own platform within the Design Fill company
to expand further.
And they wanted to do that because they want to do more accessories.
They wanted to do more products alongside the paper.
And, like, I'm making this more confusing than it actually is, right?
It's literally just going to a product brand to better, like, tell the story of what they're trying to create.
I think it's just simple, like, we're called MD Paper.
We want to sell more than paper.
It'd be weird if we were called MD Paper and we sold, what is this, incense?
Yeah.
So we're going to talk about that.
So, yeah, they're doing some lifestyle stuff.
They're doing some pens.
They're doing some fineliners, which I'm all about, right?
You know I love a fineliner.
But it'd be funny to have MD Paper on the side of the pen barrel, right?
So it says MD Product.
So we have a link to show, like, the launch products.
There's some fineliners, which I'm all about.
The dot grid ruling is going to be a standard, which they would only do that sparingly.
It was normally strictly graph and then some plain in the cotton lineup, the MD Cotton.
The incense is like, yeah, I'm good on that.
But if you read it, it's actually super smart.
Some people are going to love this.
The incense is designed to be a one-hour burn.
So it's a timer.
So it's a circular timer on a one-hour.
Mike's like, I have a phone for that.
Like, you're good.
No, it's not that.
It's not that.
It's like, okay.
You know, like, I get it.
You know what I mean?
Like, I get it.
But it's like, you know.
Yeah, I'm good.
I'm good.
Then they're doing, like, the other launch products, like Penrest, right?
So they're doing wood, glass, and, like, a concrete, like a mortar type of thing.
So, you know, I'm interested in, like, the glass Penrest.
So that's it.
Like, it's just kind of a redefining of the brand without changing what we love about the brand,
just doing more about the brand, right?
I think it's, like, really simple.
Like, they're just changing the name.
They're not changing the paper.
They're not doing anything silly with what people already love.
So I think we can all be, like, content in that decision.
And then we'll see what else they make, right?
Like, they're launching some stuff.
This is all, like, end of January type of time frame for the rollover to MD product.
So, yeah.
I'll be looking forward to seeing what they have.
I definitely need that, need those pens, like, ASAP.
And, like, I don't necessarily need the paper because I already have some and use some.
And it's not changing other than the little logo on the front.
So I think it's great.
I look forward to seeing what they do.
I agree.
I mean, I think it's a good thing for them to do if they feel like it will allow them to more confidently stretch their wings into new spots.
And maybe it's just getting awkward and weird for them to be refined to themselves as the paper company when they're selling other things.
Right.
And it's worked well, like, for Traveler's Notebook and Plotter.
And in Japan, there's a sub-brand called Knox, right?
These sub-brands kind of get their own, like, leash to just run with, right?
And it's fun to see a parent company allow this and want to, not allow this, but want to build their brands like this.
Give them, like, a full support of an individual brand as opposed to, like, oh, this is just a sub-company of Design Phil as a whole.
Like, most people don't know what Design Phil is because they've done such a good job with Traveler's Notebook and Plotter and Knox and all these things.
So I'm interested.
This is one I'm always interested to watch, right?
Because of their history of making great products.
So we'll see.
We'll see.
All right.
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All right, Mike.
We missed this one.
Not necessarily, like, missed it, but, like, I honestly didn't think there was a lot to talk about.
The new Field Notes Winter Quarterly Edition, I guess, launched about a month ago.
Yeah.
And they did top-bound notebooks.
And I got a lot of messages about this.
Are they top-bound, though?
They are.
I mean, that's the feature, right?
Is there switchable?
I don't know if that's the way to describe it.
But it's two staples on the short side, right, of the notebook, which is what we used to make at Knock.
Which I love for, like, notes and quick notes.
I prefer the three staple long side-bound field notes for, like, travel and stuff.
Because, like, it's easier for me to stick stuff in, like, those notebooks and have them stay in there as opposed to, like, a two staple.
But, again, the Winter Edition is the most giftable edition.
So, they do a pretty straightforward release every winter.
If you go look at, historically, at the Winter Edition, they're pretty, like, I don't want to say basic.
Like, they obviously put a lot into these.
But they're giftable to people who don't know what field notes are, right?
Hey, look at these cool notebooks.
They're red, yellow, and blue.
You know, they have just the standard graph grid.
I mean, I think they're great.
They're just, like, you know, for someone like myself, like, they would be, like, a mid-range overall in the canon of field notes.
But, importantly, this is field notes number 69, which is nice.
That's always great to see that they've done 69 of these editions, which is, again, nice.
But, like, that's pretty cool.
Like, they've been doing this quite a while.
Four a year.
That's hard to do is making four of these a year.
Yeah, it is incredible.
I would say I do not like this edition at all.
Yeah, it's mid.
It really doesn't tick any of the boxes that field notes usually ticks for me.
Right.
Yeah.
Like, I'm not going to buy these.
Like, I have zero interest.
Yeah, I don't understand it.
Like, I've read where their inspiration is coming from, and I still don't understand it.
Like, it doesn't really make sense to me.
To your point, I did the same thing.
I was like, do I need to read this again?
Yeah.
Because I'm trying to figure out what we're trying to, what's our story here?
Yeah.
And I really never got it, but maybe, which means it's not for me.
But, yeah, you're going to see a lot of these because they're the perfect gift.
I think just the story isn't as well realized as it usually is, where really it's like the
thing that they're interested in is just the format size of these books that they found.
Yeah.
But that, to me, just doesn't feel like enough of a reason to do it.
That's why you slot it into winter.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
Usually, it just feels like they go way harder in realizing the inspiration.
I mean, look, if you're a subscriber, they actually send you a version of one of the
books.
Yeah.
So, that's pretty cool, right?
Right.
But, yeah, this one isn't from me.
Yep.
Agree.
Agree.
It's fine.
I would use them if I had them.
I don't need to add these to their collection because I'm not going to use them.
I'd rather use just...
I use field notes pretty regularly, but I use them for specific reasons, and one of the
reasons is I do need to throw things in the back cover temporarily while they're in my
pocket until I can get them home, and this wouldn't work as well for me.
But when we made them for Knock, I used them just consistently for notes.
They're a perfect note-taking notebook.
I like top-bound, especially on my desk.
It's a great note-taking notebook.
I use the heck out of them.
But for a travel notebook, I would use something different.
So, anyway.
All right.
Let's hit some Ask TPA.
Did we mention we're off next week, Mike?
Maybe, but, yeah, we're off next week.
If you've made it this far, you will not hear our lovely voices next week.
Yeah.
But we will be back on the first week of January.
Yep.
Yeah, but we're not going to be – we are not planning to record or release on Christmas.
Correct.
The next episode of the show.
Correct.
This question comes from Caroline, who says,
My neighbor was complaining today that she started to write her Christmas cards and can
hardly do it because her hand hurts to write.
She's someone who never admits she's aging, so the fact that she has laid that out loud
is a big deal, and I want to help.
I told her she ought to try a thicker pen because writing of a skinny ballpoint pen is hard of arthritis.
But what pen should I suggest of a thicker grip area that takes an easy-to-find gel refill?
Pentel Energel.
You can find those at the grocery store.
You can find them in big-box retailers.
They have a really easy-to-find refill.
It's probably too late listening to this to, like, really dial in the colors, but they come
in a bunch of colors.
Like, they would have red and green.
Like, points – they have a wide gel refill, 0.7 millimeter.
They have a wider-than-standard barrel with a rubberized grip.
It's not a squishy grip, but it's a lightweight pen, and it's wider.
And it would definitely be an improvement over a thin-barrel ballpoint for pain.
After that, like, that's your number one with a bullet choice, and everything else is there's
not a number two.
The change would be, well, then I could get a little bit fancier pen with a squishy grip
that's still wide and then has a squishier grip.
So, the Uniball Alpha Gel, you can get that one.
That's more like a $10 pen where the Energel is like a $2.50 pen.
And the Alpha Gel, it's just – it's going to write just as nice, but it's a little bit
more expensive to get into.
I'd almost – I would prefer just the Energel anyway over that.
But if you need a really much more comfortable grip, you want to look at Uniball's Alpha Gel
lineup, but you're going to have to order those online.
You're rarely going to find those.
I've found them in the store every once in a while, just sold as a single pen, like
around $8 or $10.
But most likely, you're going to have to find it online.
But anything with the Alpha Grip, which is how they market it, it'll say Uniball Alpha
Gel or Uniball Alpha Mechanical Pencil, things like that.
The Alpha is the gel grip.
And that would be a good choice.
But I'm 100% choosing the Energel and not looking back.
I think it would just be – it would solve maybe not 100% of the issues because even
though it's a rubberized grip, it's firm, right?
It's not a squishy grip.
What about the Uniball One?
It's wide.
So the problem with the One, especially in this particular scenario, is they only make
the wide ones in a short barrel.
They don't make them in a full-size barrel.
If they made the wide barrel in the full-length size, I think it would be a contender.
The other thing is they also don't do a .7 refill with this.
And you want to – if you're having pain in your hand, you want to combine wide line
with wide barrel.
You don't want to go wide barrel with fine line.
Yep.
That – because you would have to be like – it's a little bit more focused when you're
writing with the fine line.
So the Energel kind of solves both of those problems at once.
Tomas just writes in and says something wild to me.
I've just finished listening to the entire back catalog of the podcast.
Episode 0 to 691 since February.
I drive a lot.
Yeah, no kidding.
I do suggest people listen to the early episodes despite the sound quality being poorer because
the journey you both go on is something every new listener can relate to.
My question to you is what next?
Obviously, I'll listen to the new episodes as they come in.
But what other podcasts should I listen to as I drive?
Stationary or stationery adjacent primarily?
Oh, I thought Tomas was going to ask what's next for us.
I can answer both those questions.
What's next, Brad?
Is that about 697?
True, true.
Just before I answer the rest of the question, I do think like a continued focus on this podcast
to like the new user.
Like I always appreciate like our new listeners and like talking about the Pentel Energel and
things like that.
That's going to be that's always something I focus on, even though like, you know, we'll
go for a month or two where I'm just like going off about like crazy fountain pens and things
like that, which is fine.
It is a really, really hard problem to solve because I've said I spend a lot of time thinking
about this kind of stuff.
You can.
You can re-describe things every episode, right?
Like give context to things every episode, not make too many inside jokes, that kind of
stuff.
And that way you'll be making sure that everybody's first episode is a good experience.
Right.
The problem is then you're underserving the people who are listening every week and have
been for a long time where they have a better show.
If you trust that they know what you're talking about and make like jokes and references that
make them feel like a part of the show.
So like it is a it is a really hard problem to solve.
I tend to lean on the latter camp at this part of my career because we're definitely retaining
more people than we're gaining.
Sure.
And but one of the good things in relation to what you're saying is that we generally
don't have a singular topic that runs from zero to 60 minutes.
Right.
Sure.
Is we can break this up and do the complex, very experience level type of talk while also
talking about a big ballpoint.
Right.
Like which makes me happy.
Right.
Like I am I'm equally as happy talking about both products in both areas.
So I think that's one good thing about our show that is we can cover them both in the
same episode.
Right.
Instead of having a singular focus for the entirety of the episode.
Tomos for other podcasts, especially with like a large back catalog, erasable podcast
for sure.
They have over 200 episodes.
I'm looking in my my feed here.
232.
Also Penguins Creative.
Excuse me.
The Stationery Cafe done by Penguins Creative and Kelly Kelly Kelly.
They only have only 138 episodes, but they're always like two and three hours long each.
So that's a really, really great amount of content.
And then, yeah, that's where I'd start.
And you also have Gourmet Pens Club, which, you know, I love Aziza and Candice.
They're they're great people.
So those those are you're making me pick my favorites and I'm going to leave someone out.
So I at least start with those.
And then I have a list of plenty more you could pick up from there.
Yeah.
I'm going to.
So I'm going to use it.
Stationery Cafe, Gourmet Penguins Club.
I'm adding them all to the show notes.
OK.
And then erasable.
Yeah, I already had erasable.
OK.
I'm also going to recommend another podcast that I do go Thoroughly Considered.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
For sure.
There's a somewhat of an overlap there that I think I think in general listeners of this show would probably enjoy anyway.
So that would be good because there is a story through line from that, too.
Right.
Yes.
Actually, maybe of all of the shows that I do, that one might be the best to listen to from the beginning.
Because the show had a very specific thing that it was going to do.
And that did not come to fruition.
No spoilers.
Well, I kind of did spoil it a little bit.
But still, it's got a proper through line.
Like you could get somewhere from the beginning all the way to the end.
Yes.
Very much so.
Aaron asks, how long does a bottle of fountain pen ink stay good for once it is opened?
Is there any kind of time frame before it may go bad in some way?
It varies.
The short answer is it will last a very long time if you store it in a cool, dry, dark place.
So my inks, some I've had for more than a decade, have never gone bad.
And I store them in a closet with the door shut in, you know, temperature controlled house.
Right.
You know, so I have never had an ink go bad over the long term.
What I have had is ink go bad quickly because there was something wrong with the ink.
Right.
So I've had it, I can't even remember like specifics, but if you open an ink, if you have bought an ink and you've been using it,
and then like in a few months you see like some kind of stuff on the top, you know, whether it's mold or something looks different on the top,
something's like coagulating, you just chunk it.
Right.
So you can never tell.
And that's more of a formulation issue than something you're doing wrong issue or how long the ink should last issue.
Um, I wouldn't hesitate to use a 10 year, as a matter of fact, I just inked up over 10 year old bottle of ink and it's perfectly fine,
but it's because I store it correctly.
So, and the, the other smaller caveat is that you're careful to not mix.
You don't want to, um, get anything else in the ink bottle other than that specific ink.
Right.
So like if you've cleaned your pen or maybe in this case, not cleaned your pen well enough and you go to reink it in a bottle or pick another bottle
and there's actually still like ink in the feed or something, and you're actually getting something else in there that shouldn't be there.
It's going to last shorter.
You'll, you'll end up seeing something down the line where it may react differently than if you you're using nice, clean, you know, perfectly clean fountain pen and inking it in the bottle like that.
Right.
You don't want to introduce any, any bad agents into the ink.
So as long as you have good like maintenance and are taking care of them, um, not leaving in the mountain, the sun, for example, um, like they'll last a long time.
I would, I have tons of decade plus ink bottles that I use regularly and I've had no issue.
So it's, it's, it's up to you to just like help maintain them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think if anything, just keeping them in a box, right?
Like in a cardboard box and somewhere or something.
Put them in a drawer.
Yeah.
Put them in a drawer.
Like it's just coolish dark.
Yeah.
Kind of no exposure.
Yep.
Away from the elements and don't introduce anything funky accidentally.
Yeah.
Which like, you just don't, that's not something you think about all the time.
Like, especially when you're new to the hobby, you might clean your pen, but it still might have like some residue.
Like you, maybe you haven't cleaned it well, or you hadn't thought about that.
Like, I'm just going to reink the same ink over and over again.
Well, you've probably added like some paper fibers, you know, to the bottle and that's not going to instantly turn it, but it may last three years instead of 10.
Don't eat like a cheese sandwich at the same time.
True.
Cheetos.
Cheetos.
Don't get Cheeto dust on the bottle opening.
Don't do that.
Mm-mm.
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So let's go back to our Ask TPA questions.
And then you said the wrong show name.
And then couldn't remember what show I was doing.
I got hybrid.
Nice to speak to you.
You're a little bit distracted.
I can see this.
Yes.
Daniel says, have you by chance tried the 90 GSM sugar cane paper from Franklin Kristoff or the 109 GSM paper found in Romeo notebooks?
Apparently, you can only purchase the Romeo notebooks in Japan or from Top Drawer.
I'm a sucker for notebooks and have both arriving soon.
I just wanted to get your thoughts on them, especially for fountain pen usage.
Yeah, I have tried the sugar cane paper from Franklin Kristoff and it's good.
It is definitely good from like a fountain pen perspective.
I haven't tried it in a few years.
They've had these for a while and they've done a few different formats of those.
I've always enjoyed them and they've always been good.
The Romeo notebooks, I am not familiar with at all.
So that would be something I would be interested to hear your feedback, Daniel, when you do get them.
If that's something like worth checking out, like that would be a great follow up for a listener because I'm not familiar with them.
I'm familiar with Top Drawer, but not Romeo as a paper brand.
So, yeah, I'd be interested to hear what your feedback, but the sugar cane paper is good.
Like it's historically been a good quality paper for fountain pens.
So, yeah, good luck and enjoy those.
Enjoy those new notebooks.
They sound great.
I'm intrigued like what the properties of sugar cane paper would be.
Like I don't really feel like I have any kind of conception as to what that would be like or what would make that different.
Sure.
It's just like the glutinous structure of the paper.
You know, it's made similarly to like any paper like historically is made, right?
Where you just have like the fibers that, you know, are then then smashed and then dried and then made into a paper.
So they just have a different, you know, molecular property that it tended to be not as absorbent.
Right.
Like, you know, you're putting it on like a paper towel.
Right.
So it's just, you know, a fibrous plant with a lot of different molecular structure that ended up working well as kind of like just, you know, an accidental, accidental thing that tended to work.
So they were popular probably like seven or eight years ago.
We see a lot of the sugar cane come out and they were pretty good.
Like you could, you used to be able to get it like Office Max and like some of their stock pads.
There was a term called bag ass.
Excuse me?
That if you saw that, that was basically sugar cane paper.
So yeah.
Have you ever written on papyrus?
Yes, but not, I mean, probably a long time ago.
It's not recommended.
No, I wouldn't expect that it was.
I just wanted to read.
I mean, like that'd be where I was like at a place and getting to test a thing, right?
Yeah.
It's not something I've ever had in my house.
No, you kind of.
But I was like, oh yeah.
It's like, I understand and this is horrible.
Makes sense.
Brad Rice in and says, I tried to travel as.
No, I didn't.
Did not.
Maybe they spell Bradley and it's an EY, you know, maybe that's this person.
I tried to travel as A5 Slim and Sir and really loved the feel of the paper.
However, I wanted an actual A5 dot grid notebook that lays flat.
It was my understanding that traveler's paper is the same as the Midori MD notebook paper,
but I find my A5 Midori to be more toothy.
Was I wrong about them having the same paper?
Did I get a bad batch?
Do you have any recommendations for a full-sized A5 notebook dot grid or graph for someone who loves the paper that you find in the traveler's refills?
I would have to get clarification.
My assumption was they're different paper because travelers would make notebook inserts and then they would make almost like a specialty insert that would say Midori on it, which tells me that they're different.
So you could buy the Midori specific insert for traveler's notebook, but the stock traveler's notebook was different.
I could be wrong on that.
I'm not saying this with 100% confidence.
So I would have to follow up myself on that and get some clarification.
My past experience tells me that they're different.
And with the A5 Midori being more toothy, maybe.
I'm not sure about that.
I find them both to be smooth.
The Midori cotton is a little bit more toothy, but the regular MD, I find it to be pretty smooth.
Do you have any recommendations for a full-size A5 notebook dot grid or graph?
I'm not sure about that.
Someone who loves paper in the traveler's refill.
So Midori MD product in January was coming out with a dot grid.
But if you didn't like that paper before, maybe not that one.
But Life notebooks do a great grid that is smooth and close to traveler's paper.
So that would be the next place that I look.
So I rate Midori MD product.
It's going to take me a while to get this.
Give me a few months.
The new MD product, Midori MD notebooks, I think are great paper.
Life is great paper.
Morimon is great paper.
And Kukuyo is great paper.
If you can find any format you like in any of those brands, I think you'll be happy with the paper quality and smoothness close to the traveler's paper.
I would try Life next.
And they don't have dot grid that I've seen, but they do graph pretty regularly and consistently.
And that's what I literally have that on my desk right now.
So it's great.
So try that.
And it's the Life notebooks are soft bound, right?
So they just have like the tape binding.
So they will lay pretty flat.
They're not going to be like a completely flat.
Like when you throw it down on your desk and pop it open, it just lays flat right in the middle.
But they're at least soft bound and pliable.
So give that a shot.
Close to like the MD style of binding.
Brad, can I give you a hot take?
Sure.
A spicy one.
Yeah, let's go.
I don't like when brands lay flat notebooks and the way they do it is by not having a spine.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
We could do a whole episode on lay flat.
It's like flex nibs.
It's just not lay flat, nor is it a flex nib.
You can make notebooks lay flat.
It's really hard to do it.
Lots of people say they do it, but don't do it.
Correct.
I tend to ignore any marketing of lay flat.
Yeah.
Because it traditionally is not.
Yeah.
I think it's a style.
They're going in as a style of binding as a theory.
Yeah.
Because let me tell you.
Let me tell you.
As someone who has been trying to develop a luxury lay flat notebook for the last two years,
it's really hard to do.
I think I have done it and hope to have this product on the market in 2026.
Okay.
Well, if you haven't done it, you will get emails.
Yeah, but I think I have done it.
Okay.
Good.
I like it.
It frustrates me when people say that it lays flat and it just doesn't.
We should do a whole marketing episode on lay flat.
I don't want to.
Lay flat, flex nib.
What else would be in that category?
The reason this is.
Those are the ones that bother me.
This is a hot take is I don't want to take shots at people.
No, no, no.
I don't.
But I.
So like.
So yours.
Your bugaboo is lay flat minus flex nib.
There's literally no modern flex nib.
Yeah.
Do not call any nib made recently a flex nib.
It's a soft nib or a bouncy nib.
It is not a flex nib.
That's mine.
So something funny to me.
So I just was Googling lay flat notebook to try and find images of what I was looking for.
And I was taken to a brand called Mark and Fold.
They're like a very stylish brand that I see.
And their image of a lay flat notebook.
Like.
Yeah.
I don't even know.
This gives me shivers.
I don't even know how to describe this.
It's like, yes, the pages are flat.
But in order to do this, the spine has raised the notebook off of the table by like a centimeter
in the middle.
That is not flat.
That's like two centimeters.
There's a world in which that is flat.
You know what I mean?
You're being generous.
Yeah.
That is aggressively bad.
Yeah.
I, I, this, this image gives me like the shakes.
I do not like this.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's get a couple more.
The aforementioned Tomos.
This, when, when was this message from?
Tomos has already finished the whole, the whole run of shows.
Now we're talking about episode 415.
Somebody's been in there earlier.
But to be honest, Tomos, that could have been a week.
A week ago.
True.
I want to see what this is.
I haven't read this question.
You read it.
Just listen to episode 415 where Mike had a question about whether or not he'll be leaving
all of his pens at a new office or taking them back and forth every day.
Oh, okay.
Maybe you'll address this later, but if not, I'd be interested to know, do you keep them
there?
Are there any that you keep safely locked up?
So for a while, I was taking some products backwards and forwards.
And there was like some of my favorite pens, Kenneth Dennis Sinclair.
Now, pretty much all of my nice pens are here at the studio.
Yeah, because you're, you can answer this more than me, but are you, you're there more,
right?
Like, I'm actually here less now than I was.
I mean, I eventually became more and now less.
But anytime I'm writing, by and large, I'm doing it here.
Like if I'm journaling or whatever, I'm doing it here.
I mean, you know, I've spoken about this, right?
Where I keep a day one journal and then copy it into my journal instead.
Right.
Right.
Because I don't want to be carrying my journal around all the time.
Yep.
Like personally, it's just not something I want to be doing.
And so I do that here.
But then also most of the notes that I'll take, any products I'm testing, like I want
to have my full suite of pens here.
This has led to a situation where sometimes, or once every week or two weeks, I take a meeting
at home.
And I'm therefore beholden to the stationery on my wife's desk, which is often not filled.
Yeah.
This is how I ended up using the, the, wait, what am I using?
Secure a pick of Micron.
That's it.
I just had another meeting earlier this week on Wednesday that I took from home and I used
the pick of Micron again.
It was a good time.
I like using that pen.
I might just keep doing that.
Actually, it's fun.
But yeah, so to answer it for a while, I was moving stuff backwards and forwards and
keeping some things at home.
And I have since brought most of those things from home, including all of my inks and stuff
here to the studio.
Gotcha.
They get better.
Do you have a cleaning operation at your studio?
Have you ever cleaned there?
I have, but I wouldn't say I have a cleaning operation.
I'm using a public sink in a public box.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Okay.
Great.
Right.
Great.
No, I understand.
No, I understand.
Not great.
Yeah.
And Gregory asks, is there any way to add feedback to a fountain pen nib?
This is wild to me.
Nibmeisters offer nib smoothing, but I haven't seen adding feedback as an offering.
The more I use fountain pens, the more I like nibs with some element of feedback.
The easy solution seems to be using drier inks or a toothier paper.
But if that's not enough, how can I modify the tipping material to add feedback without
damaging the pen?
Mike, I believe the answer is yes.
No way.
Yeah, I do believe that.
I will need clarification.
I will get emails for this.
I would appreciate it if any of y'all have dealt with this.
I believe that nibmeisters can.
So let's take, for example, a pilot nib.
Pilots are traditionally very glassy, right?
It's very unbelievably smooth, which some people do not like, which I can absolutely see that.
So is there a way for a nibmeister to say, take a very glassy pilot nib and have some way to modify this nib to give it a little bit more of a, say, platinum feedback, which has, you know, just a little bit of, you can almost like, it's still smooth, but you can feel it like a pencil.
Right?
And I do believe, like, this is not like an on the menu option.
And this is like a, like a, the secret menu, you know, that you get at the restaurants.
I think if you just ask, I do believe there is a conversation to be had around adding feedback to the nibs.
It is my understanding.
I've never had this done.
This is a thing that you as a nibmeister would necessarily want to, like, outwardly promote, because I just don't think it's a thing most people would understand.
Yeah.
This is a thing you know you want, and maybe we'll ask to get it.
Right.
That's why the secret menu of nib grinders are built on trust.
They trust that you know what you want, and you're not going to complain when you get exactly what you want.
Because what you are.
I've had this, like, so with me personally, like, they will do a couple of things for me on finer nibs that they wouldn't do for anyone that they're worried about, you know, not really understanding what they're asking for kind of thing.
Yeah.
I guess this is like a, yeah, like what you are doing is just something that most people would say is ruining the pen.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
And so, like, yeah, you've got to come explicitly with that request to get that done.
Yeah.
The mouse is not going to be like, hey, would you like me to do this to your pen?
Right.
Exactly.
Yep.
If you would like to send in a question for us to answer in a future episode of the show, just go to penaddictfeedback.com.
You can also email those questions over to hello at penaddict.com.
If you'd like to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, or twitch.tv slash penaddict, where Brad streams three times a week on a regular week.
You can find me here on Relay.
You can find my writing over at theenthusiast.net and also my products at cortexbrand.com.
Thank you to our wonderful sponsors, Squarespace, Penchalet, and Factor for their support of this episode.
For now, we'll say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you out there.
We'll be back in the very beginning of January in 2026.
Can you believe it?
No.
Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
Goodbye, Brad.