The Pen Addict 90/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	90
Title:	The Perfect Pen For Now
Release Date:	January 21st, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 90
Audio File:	Audio Episode 90
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 90
Length:	5252 min <br />0.867 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 90 of The Pen Addict podcast, a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined today by a man who must, in fact, be a permanent marker because he's left a lasting impression on me, Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Myke Hurley: As we're ramping up towards Valentine's Day, I've decided to go down a more romantic route for you each week now.

Brad Dowdy: Wow. Wow. I think I might have, that's like a tattoo or something incoming, you know, for Valentine's Day for me and you, some iHeart Myke with a little quote underneath it.

Myke Hurley: We can get one of those dealios where it's like, you get half of the tattoo and then I get the other half.

Brad Dowdy: That was amazing. That was amazing. I do like that. Oh, good stuff. Man, episode 90.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, we've done quite a few of these now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. It's pretty amazing. So, they go by fast these days, it seems like. It just seems like we were in the 30s not too long ago, then boom, 90. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, we got an epic amount of feedback from last week's episode about your, not issue, but your quest. Yeah, quest is a good one. To help find someone a perfect, their perfect pin. I got loads of emails. We got loads of tweets. I'm sure you got lots of, you know, emails as well. And the, it was awesome to see all the feedback. And we got lots of good ideas and they were coming left and right. I mean, they were coming from everywhere on Twitter and app.net and our mail and our contact. So, that was pretty cool. So, did you find the perfect pin in the span of a week?

Interesting Avenues

Myke Hurley: Probably not, is the answer. Like, we've not yet been able to narrow it down to a specific pin exactly. But we have a couple of interesting avenues that we're going to go down now. So, I want to echo what Brad said. Like, the pure amount of follow-up and feedback that I've had this week has just been absolutely fantastic. Like, I want to, I think that, you know, I've kind of, I hope that I have at least thanked everybody that sent something in. I'm not sure if I've been able to. You know, sometimes you miss some people. But hopefully I've got to everybody. But, yeah, the actual scale of stuff that's come through has been incredible. So, I want to sort of give a, what you've very kindly, Brad, thrown some of the, these are like the really common suggestions that I've had. Yeah. Into the document. So, the Twisby Classic is potentially the best answer to the information that I gave last week. However, I left one very important piece of information out that I forgot about until somebody reminded me via Twitter about the fault of the Twisby Classic. Is that you can't post it.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, really?

Myke Hurley: And for this person, that is a key thing. She likes to be able to post a cap because she's worried she'll just lose the cap otherwise. Oh, yeah. Which is actually a very fair reason that a lot of people do that. So, when she's looking for a balance in weight as well, she's also looking for the ability to be able to have the weight balanced even when the cap is on.

Brad Dowdy: So, the Twisby Classic doesn't post, huh? Does not post. Huh. I did not know that.

Myke Hurley: Twisby put it in there. I think. What did you say?

Brad Dowdy: Sorry. Go ahead. You said Twisby said what?

Myke Hurley: I think I've seen Twisby have given that information. I think I've seen it on the, it might have been on the writing desk or the cold pens. Uh-huh. And they were like, yeah, it doesn't, you know, like the description is like, be aware this pen doesn't post. Really? Okay, well. And it's strange to me why, I don't know why it doesn't. I think it's something to do with the filling system and the fact that the pen is a bit thinner, I think. Might be part of it.

Myke Hurley: Now, we've got, so, yeah, aside from that, there's a couple of other, like, really sort of key suggestions and the frequent ones. Is a Metropolitan with a stub nib swap. Now, this is what you suggested. Right.

Myke Hurley: But what my friend said to me, she said, well, I've got the Pilot Metropolitan now and I like that. I want something else. Gotcha. Which definitely seems like the pen addict, you know, the call of the pen addict, I think. I found a pen that I really like, but now I want a new one. So, yeah, she's like, you know, I've got that. That's cool. I've got that down. You know, I've got, she's been using the Metropolitan. She loves the Metropolitan. You know, I've told her she can keep it, which she's very happy about because she didn't want to give it back anyway, I don't think. But, so yeah, that is a good option just to get a stub nib. So I may actually try that. If we can't come up with anything else, then I may just grab it as a Plumix, wasn't it? Yeah. And replace the nib. One suggestion, the Pilot 78. The Pilot 78 is no longer being made and I'm not really looking for vintage in this.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it might still be being made in Japan or something like that. You know, it might be available but not easy to corral, if you will.

Myke Hurley: I'm not really looking down that route. The SC Model 27 Collegia, which is new to me, which is a new Franklin Christophe pen, which is now on my list of pens to buy.

Myke Hurley: She just didn't like the design. Sure. But I'm probably going to get one.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that seems like a really good deal. Plus they have just a huge range of stock nibs that you can get for it.

Myke Hurley: The closest that we have gotten from a design perspective is the Monteverde. Monteverde? Yeah. Just in general, a selection of those pens like the Arista Crystal, the Invincia Color Fusion, the Invincia Stylus, and maybe the Deluxe. So there are a couple of different models that she quite likes to look of. The issue that I think that we're having at the moment, well, the reason that I've not gone ahead and just bought one for her or told her to buy one herself, but I'm probably going to be the one to do the buying anyway because I have a reason for that I'll come to in a moment. The reason that we haven't pulled the trigger on one of these is it's very different. You haven't tried one. I know that Jeff has, and Jeff who writes for you, Jeff Abbott, he has. So he sent me a link to his review of one, and I've had a couple, and then I sort of put the call out on Twitter for people who have tried out these pens and what are they like, what's the weight like, what are the nibs like, what are the stuff nibs like, and honestly, it's been extremely mixed. Okay. Some people are telling me they're fantastic. Some people are telling me that they're inconsistent, not worth the money. Some people are telling me they're a great investment. So we haven't bought one of those yet, even though it seems like the best thing, potentially the best route because a lot of these have stub nibs, so that works. Now, the reason that I say that I'm going to buy it was most probably because I have kind of led her down this path, so I feel like it's my responsibility. And also, if she doesn't like any of them, I'm going to keep them. Right. But I'm not really that excited by the Monteverde line. I really don't like their logo, and I really don't like that they print it on the cap.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, I've always been kind of torn. You know, Monteverde has always come up in lots of conversations, and I've just never bought one just because I've never loved how they look. I'll probably try some out at the pen show because there's always a – I don't know if the distributor is usually there, but there's usually a ton of Monteverde's there. It might be because one of the distributors comes to the show, and there's just tables and tables of Monteverde's. So maybe I'll pick one up and try it and maybe get a better idea, maybe even purchase one. But I'm kind of with you on that. They've never grabbed me from an appearance perspective, regardless of how well they may write. I've just never been enamored by the looks. Although the crystal, the clear demonstrator, does look pretty good. Do you know what?

Myke Hurley: It's the only one that doesn't come with a stub nib.

Brad Dowdy: Really? Yep.

Myke Hurley: I found it interesting that she liked that but didn't like the Twisby ones. Yeah. I guess, you know, as we know very well, this is a matter of taste. Totally. So I'll tell you where we are as well, and the reason that I haven't bought anything new, I received another email with a bunch more. This is the kind of stuff that I like, having looked around. So one that we're actually going to pursue is the Rotaring Art Pen, just as a fun little how-does-this-work project. Yep. You know, they're typically not really intended for daily use. They're more of a calligraphy item. And research online is proving that they actually clog up and stuff quite a lot, but they're £13. So I will add it to an order whenever we do buy something.

Myke Hurley: Other than that, go for it.

Lamy Stub Nibs

Brad Dowdy: If you like that one, if that's even a consideration, you should – Lamy does the same thing. Yeah. And it comes with their 1.1 and 1.5 stub nibs, and I've always wanted to buy one of those pens. I just never have because I think they look great. They come in black and white, but they look nice.

Myke Hurley: I should have mentioned, actually, that Lamy have been a consideration as well.

Myke Hurley: We're investigating that, too, as another option. Cool. Then I think the only other lines that we're going down at the moment is Kueko. We need to revisit Kueko. And I have equipped my Colt Pens Mini with a broad nib because she didn't like the nib. She didn't feel it was smooth enough. Now, I've had that problem with the medium Kueko nib and have found that the fine and the broad are much better nibs, and the medium nib is kind of not that great. Yeah. It's a bit scratchy.

Brad Dowdy: I actually found the same thing, which is kind of weird.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And I don't find the fine to be scratchy, and the broad is nice and smooth. So, we have that. And I'm also going to give her the Kueko to have another look at. But she's like – she picked up a couple of the different classic sports in their different colors and actually quite likes them. So, maybe – I think that a Kueko would be perfect.

Myke Hurley: So, we'll see where we go there. Okay. I think they do stub nibs.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think they have stock stub nibs.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they don't. They just do broad. But anyway, we're going to look at that. Okay. And we'll see again where we go from there. So, this is all a fun experiment. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with maybe another two pens in hand before we get one that's actually a stub. But, you know, and there is always the option of getting one ground. But that's kind of not – again, it's not really the rule. I want to go down this early in this experiment. I'm with you on that. I must say I am enjoying it quite a lot. It is actually quite a lot of fun to do this. And I'm happy that I have somebody who's so receptive. Oh, one other thing. Interestingly, she found that the Platinum Vibe to be quite a good-looking pen. And obviously, I have a very similar Platinum pen. So, I'm going to have another look at that. However, I don't suggest it because the nib is terrible. So, maybe I'll let her have another try at that one and see if it's a contender for her. So, as I say, I feel like we're probably going to end up with a few pens before we get a stub nib. And it may be that we never actually go down a stub nib route, but just end up with a nice medium or broad, which suits her needs on a daily basis because really, stub nib is not that practical. And if she finds something that she prefers to hold and to use on a daily basis, then maybe that's better than having a stub nib anyway.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, I think stub nibs are totally practical. I could use them all day, every day, normal writing. But it depends on your writing style too. I will say that. I have too. My writing style, it probably doesn't necessarily suit you as much.

Myke Hurley: I don't know. I would use my Toosby Mini for a while. I think I mean more in that they're not necessarily, you know, it's not that. We only really be doing that as just like a gimmick. This is nice. Because basically, it was like, she was just like, oh, I really like this. This is different. But I feel like maybe putting that over another pen, like if I could, the Kaweco ends up being the pen for her, then, you know, just because it's not in a stub nib, let's not say no to it. I'm with you on that. Because she's really enjoying using the Metropolitan. But I would like to get, you know, so it might end up being something along the lines of we find something a bit nicer, a bit more expensive, and then we put a stub nib on the Metropolitan or something, you know? There you go. We'll see. We'll see. But thank you so much to everybody who has sent in their suggestions. It's been really, really useful for me. And I've actually found some new stuff for me as well. So great. And, you know, if after hearing this today, if you've got any additional suggestions, because I maybe have given a bit more information than I gave last week, then please feel free to send those along because they would be greatly appreciated.

Left-Handed Writing

Brad Dowdy: Cool. Well, we got a bunch more feedback. We did a short chat about writing left-handed, left-handers switching to their right hand last week based on an email we got from Josh last week. And you weren't a big fan of the idea. Yeah, so Josh just wanted to clarify that the only reason he tried to switch is because of – he was just getting, you know, the standard left-handed ink smearing and was trying to find a way around it to fix that. But he did like my idea of just, you know, regardless of what hand you're using, it's just, you know, the constant practice of what, you know, of making yourself a better writer and, you know, finding the proper way to write and not have all these smearing problems and things is a good course to go. But it was funny that he wanted to make sure he got in there and said, you know, that people can learn to switch hands with practice and the appropriate motivation. But it was not because he is a proud left-hander, Myke, and he wanted to make sure that was clear.

Myke Hurley: I read the email and I'm happy.

Myke Hurley: I'm very happy that Josh decided to get back in contact and just make his case. That's right.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. And we got another interesting email from a topic that we beat to death and we haven't actually talked about in a while. But our friend, the Visionaire pin, we got a good email. And this was kind of what I was thinking might happen and have kind of seen happen just in ancillary reading of comments and things like that on the Visionaire project on Kickstarter ages back. But I got a good email last week. The subject is a vision and pinmanship. He said he listened to last week's episode and wanted to pass on. He sent me a link about pinmanship because we've been talking about that a lot. And that kind of goes back into the topic we were just talking about, about lefties and pinmanship and all that. But he says, now, why am I here writing this email and listening to your podcast with the very talented Mr. Myke Hurley? That's the way to get your email read. And you suck up to Myke and you get your email read. Sure, too. He says, why is he here? One word. Visionaire. Yep, that's the one. I made it work, recommended it. I jumped in. Haven't played with fountain pens since I was a kid. I've written with space pens and Waterman rollerballs for about 20 years. Now I know you guys like to hear listeners' stories, so here's mine to add to your collection. So he says, so my mate received his Visionaire and I was still waiting. So about a week before mine turned up, I started looking around to see how other people were finding the experience. Found the fountain pen network. Ouch. Met with the same disappointed as many. You said it yourself. It's fine, but it's worth a dollar and not what we all paid. So reading the fountain pen network led me here and led me to this podcast. Then a Lamy Safari and a Vista and I'm waiting for converters and fine nibs in the mail. I've pulled out my old vintage Australian made, I don't know if it's Daisy or Dossy, D-A-S-I, and inked it up. Playing with paper, building a list of ones and needs. He says, I too need a Nakaya someday. And he says, his Ink Pirate moniker is what he's going by. It's a mix of my rekindled love affair with the unique lines and shades the fountain pens leave behind on its journey. And the fact that I'm madly playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag. So he's also a video game pirate. He says, hell, I might even get that Squarespace account out and start documenting the journey and the treasure I find in this new old world of pens. So damn you, Brad, and damn that Myke too for bringing me back to something I was passionate about as a kid and enabling us all along the way.

Brad Dowdy: So I thought that was an interesting email. When we talked about the Visionaire, we were like, well, if anything good will come about it, maybe some people will get into fountain pens and start to understand what makes a good pen, what the quality brands are, and how to sort these things out when they're shopping for pens. So I wanted to read that because that's not the only time I've heard this. But I thought it was a really good mail. And something good has come out of the Visionaire project, even if one person has started to find out all the good things about good pens and legitimate pens and companies out there. So I thought that was very nice.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, great. If that's what it took to bring him back, if that's what it took to bring Craig back into the pen addict fold, then I'm pleased.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Now, a random tidbit I wanted to throw out there. I ran across this last week, and I apologize. I didn't save the link. Someone didn't send it to me, but I grabbed it from somewhere, someone's post somewhere. And it was when we were talking about, you know, how Noodler's Inks, it was from the episode where, a few episodes back where we're talking about Noodler's Inks. And some of the big pen shops like Richard Bender and those guys were, you know, talking about not keeping warranties on pens that use Noodler's Inks. But regardless, I mean, I'm still a Noodler's fan. I still use their inks and all that. But I stumbled across this PDF file at Goulet Pens. It's the Noodler's Ink Properties PDF. And I just wanted to put that in the show notes for anyone who questions. The hard thing about Noodler's is Nathan is so prolific in the amount of inks he makes that sometimes the properties of each individual ink gets lost in the shuffle. So this chart tells you about all the properties of each and every ink from Noodler's. And it is fantastic. So if you're looking for a particular ink property, like is it bulletproof, which is, you know, UV resistant, you know, not washable, things like that. You know, they're marked on that. And, you know, it's got waterproof, lubricated. There's even some freezer-resistant inks and things like that. So this is a good resource for anyone. Go check out the show notes at 5x5.tv slash pen addict slash 90. Did I get that right?

Myke Hurley: You got it right. Does it have a category for destroys pens?

Brad Dowdy: No. We can make our own list for that. Let's see. What's the one that's – what's the big destroyer? It's one of the blue ones. Bay State Blue, right? Bay State Blue. Let's see what it says about Bay State Blue.

Ink Properties

Brad Dowdy: Bay State Blue just says forgery-resistant and water-resistant. It doesn't say destroy pens. There's no box for that on there. So, yeah. I'm staying away from that. There's no doubt. But I've got Apache Sunset inked up right now. And that's a keeper for me. So, anyway. I thought I'd point this out because it was cool. Actually, I think it came up on one of Jeff's review on pen addict for the Heart of Darkness ink. I think someone put this link in the comments section was what it was. And I thought it was a great resource because I'd never seen this chart before.

Myke Hurley: Cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, you have some ink.

Myke Hurley: Well, I have a quick tip too like you did. Somebody alerted this to me on Twitter. I'm terrible now because I can't remember who it was. But I'm going to find that person in a moment. And I'm going to give them props.

Myke Hurley: There is an Amazon seller.

Myke Hurley: I believe they're in the UK. They're doing this deal in the UK. I can't really put a link to them because the link isn't useful. Because they have like 250 pages of stuff. They sell like Japanese goods. It's called Santa Trading Japan. They're currently selling bottles of Hiroshizuku for like 12 or 13 pounds a bottle. Which is like half the price that you would find it elsewhere. Wow. And I've actually picked up some Hiroshizuku ink. It's been dispatched now. I bought a green one. I can't remember the name off the top of my head. But I'll tell you about it next week when it arrives. Oh, that's great. But yeah, it's definitely, definitely worth picking up. Yeah, Pilot Hiroshizuku on the writing desk is 25 pounds a bottle. Wow. So it's half price. So I sort of scanned through. I don't want to get more than one. Because I just don't need it. So I thought I would buy a different color for me. So I went with green instead. Very nice. Which is definitely different for me to the colors that I've had in the past. So I'm now going to find this person by scanning. Basically, I'm going to the Twitter website. And I'm loading back my conversations over the last few days. And then I will search Hiroshizuku. Because Twitter is quite possibly the worst system for trying to find anything. It's just so difficult. It's not easy.

Brad Dowdy: I did the same thing.

Myke Hurley: It was TonyGuntrip. Oh, excellent. So thank you very much, Tony. What I will do, so people have actually got a point of reference, I will put that tweet into the show notes. So if you need to find the name of the company, then you can do that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I don't know. On the U.S. Amazon store, there's oftentimes a retailer that sells a Hiroshizuku for cheap. And my inbox usually gets flooded at the time that they have the low pricing. It's not consistently a low price. But when it does, it's usually about $18 or $20, I think, a bottle, which is really good. And I've usually missed them by the time I've gone to do it. Either they're sold out of the colors that I want or not offering the same price anymore. But I know several people watch that on Twitter. And my email usually gets pinged in email or Twitter. So I will be sure if it comes out again, I will shoot out a link on Twitter if anyone's looking for some good prices on Hiroshizuku Inc. So that's pretty cool.

Myke Hurley: So my last piece before we take a quick break. A friend of the show, Mr. Myke Dudek, sent me a message a couple of days ago. And he was like, just keep your eye on the mail.

Myke Hurley: I was like, okay, dude, what are you up to? And he's just like, just keep your eye on the mail. And I apologize if there was any customs charges. That was basically what he said to me. And I, yesterday, received my mail. And he has mailed me his own personal prototype of the Karas Customs Inc. How cool was that? Sorry? I said, how cool was that? I'm very, yes, I'm very happy. And it's very nice of the dude to do that for me, actually, to send me his own. Oh, by the way, congratulations to Karas Customs.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they nailed the funding. It was, what, $90?

Myke Hurley: $96,930. Man, that's awesome. So that's excellent work. I was very happy to get my email to tell me that it had been backed.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah, I'm really, really pleased for those guys. It's a great, it's a really great project. And I'm happy because I think I'm really, just really pleased for them. They do great work. So, I've only been able to play around with the ink for a little bit. Because I've decided not to take it out of my home. Because it's not my pen.

Myke Hurley: I've never lost one, but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it. Especially because I can't replace it. It's not like I can just be like, oh, sorry, Dudek, I lost your pen. I'll buy you a new one. Because it's just not possible right now. So, I'm going to give a very quick rundown of my sort of feelings. And maybe I'll have some more in the near future. So, the grip section is really, really nice. It's made well. It's really, really nice to hold. The screw section where the pen screws on is far enough away from the nib. So, you get a really nice grip section. Because a lot of the time you see a pen like this where it's made especially of metals. I find that the screw section can be quite uncomfortable. And it's too close to the nib. It's definitely not the case here. It's really designed very, very well. Like, the pen itself to look at is, it looks quite like, like it's big. Right? It's just like a big pen. And I kind of like that. It's got this real distinctive style to it. Like, the way that it sort of bulges out in the middle. It's very, it reminds me of a hot rod. And I don't know why. Like, that sort of style. That, like, 50s style, I think. There's something about it that I can't quite put my finger on. But it's just got that sort of really cool look to it. The nib is excellent. This is the medium. And I do feel like the medium is nice. But a fine will be good, too. On that, you know, it's a good ink flow and stuff. The pen's weighted really well, surprisingly. I mean, I think it's a great choice to go with aluminium. Because even though, as I say, it's quite a big pen. It's definitely, you know, it's full size for sure. It doesn't feel heavy to me. It's got quite a good weight. It's definitely comfortable to write with. And my favorite thing of all is the sound it makes when you put the cap back on. So I will attempt to do that for you now.

Myke Hurley: I'll do it again. I love that noise.

Brad Dowdy: You're only going to get that on the Pen Addict podcast, folks.

Brad Dowdy: No, it's awesome. I agree with that 100%. And I can't wait to get my orange anodized ink. It's going to be pretty sweet. I'm very, very anxious to get that and get that going in the rotation. Because I think it's just a totally cool pen.

Myke Hurley: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Dudek, for sending this over for me to try out.

Brad Dowdy: He told me he was going to do that. He's like, you better not tell him. I said, okay, I'll see how it goes.

Myke Hurley: And I'm very excited to get my own now. Yep. Yep.

Break

Myke Hurley: I think it's time for a quick break. And then we have some stuff that we put off last week, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Just a few things we'll go through.

Myke Hurley: Just a big old grab bag episode today. We love doing these every now and then. So I want to take a quick moment to thank our friends over at Squarespace for sponsoring this episode. They are the all-in-one platform that make it fast and easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code TALLYHO1. Squarespace are always doing great stuff to make sure their platform is rich with new features, new designs, and more support. We spoke a little bit about their new layout engine, which is their page building system, which has recently been updated. And as Brad was saying last week, he finds it a lot easier to use. Once you got to grips with it, they have a little video to show you when you first log on to Squarespace after the update so you can just see how it works. And then once it's made very, very clear to him how to use it and to start adding new stuff to his site. And it really does more to make Squarespace even more WYSIWYG. So it's like, you know, you're basically building your pages all within your web browser. It is quite literally what you see is what you get. You get to see how your pages look live as you're building them, and that's what Layer Engine allows you to do. Squarespace have really beautiful templates that you can get started with and tons of style options that you can adjust so you can really create your own space online. They take care of hosting, SEO, and even make sure that your site looks fantastic on any device as they have mobile, responsive web design built right in. It's incredibly easy to use, but if you need any help, they have over 70 dedicated employees on their customer care team, which are based in New York City. Squarespace truly cares about design. It shows throughout their entire product, from the templates to the backend system and even their own website too. They've won loads of awards for not just their design, but also their customer support. They have two brand new iOS apps for Squarespace customers. They have Squarespace Blog, which allows you to post and manage your blog. And they also have Squarespace Metrics, which allows you to keep track of all your statistics. As I said earlier, you can try out Squarespace for free. There's no credit card required to do that. And if you decide to purchase, it starts at just $8 a month and includes a domain name if you sign up for a year. And make sure that you get 10% off and help support this show by using the code TallyHo1. That's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O, the number one. So I thank you so much to Squarespace for supporting 5x5 and especially the Pen Addict.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, thank you Squarespace.

Pen Review

Brad Dowdy: All right. So I did a review. This has been about two weeks ago now that I really didn't think twice about posting. It's a pen I've had probably since last summer. I had it. Thomas Hall sent it to me to review. I'd sent it back and I've just kind of been sitting on the review waiting for a good time to post it. And it's for the Platinum 3776 Century UEF Ultra Extra Fine Nib Fountain Pen. And what's special about this pen is one is the first, I think, first gold nib Platinum Pen I've reviewed for one. But secondly, Platinum is one, this nib, the UEF, is a 0.1 millimeter nib. Stupid. With. Just stupid. Yeah, it's stupid fine. And that's the stock width. That's, I don't even. Yeah, it ships that way. So there's a chart in the post to the, on nibs.com. It's got a tipping size comparison chart. And only, this pen, the UEF, Platinum UEF nib, and then there's one Sailor nib that I've never even heard of. Also comes with a stock 0.1 millimeter. But that's it. Everything else starts at least 0.2 millimeters and higher on the Japanese nibs. And when I reviewed this pen, like when I was testing it out and actually had the pen in hand, I liked it. It felt really awesome when you, when you wrote with it. And it was just very delicate. You couldn't even tell that the nib was hitting the page. But it was like just a completely consistent line. There was no, it was basically flawless. So I posted this, this pen, and, you know, just went on about my day. And then the feedback I got on this post was amazing how many other people had this pen and say, this is one of the best pens they own. And it just kind of knocked my socks off. I didn't expect that at all. Like I didn't even have this on my shopping list because I was, even 0.1 millimeters may be a little much for me. You know how I like the fine, the fine nibs, but I thought this was maybe even a little extreme for me. And the amount of praise this pen got from other people has ramped this way up my shopping list. I think I'm going to have to break down before too long and get the UEF nib. The only, the only thing that's holding me back right now is I don't want the gold, the gold furniture. I want to find a rhodium one, which is proving difficult. But, and it may not be the 3776 model platinum, but there's other platinum models that carry it that I can get something that I will like to look at as well as use. But I couldn't believe, I thought people would say, this is crazy, this is crazy. But it was basically a list, a long list of people saying, I have this pen and it's amazing. Or, I've never seen this pen and I'm buying it. I think two or three people went out and bought this pen just from this review. Wow. It's, it's, I got feedback from that saying, I ordered this now or I got it in and I'm trying it out now. And it's unbelievable. So, I, it just kind of took me aback, the, took me back the response that I got for this review. So, if you haven't seen this pen and more importantly this nib, because honestly, the barrel is nothing special. And actually, that's what a lot of people say. And that's the few detractors, you know, of this model say, you know, the barrel's kind of, you know, no big deal. But it is kind of an entry level platinum pen anyway. So, with the gold nib, I think it's probably in the $150 range. I'm not sure. Entry level, yeah. Yeah, gold nib for 14K nib, it is kind of entry level.

Brad Dowdy: Because you figure the nib was probably $100, $125 of that anyway. So, that's, that's, that's what I mean by, by entry level. So, yeah, anyway, check this review out if you haven't already. Because I was surprised at the feedback I got on it. And it's really interesting. And now I have this, I have this on my shopping list. And it's, it's on the radar for things for me to look at. And if I run across a good one, I'm going to, I'm going to jump on the UEF 0.1 millimeter stock fountain pen nib. And I'll get you one too, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, okay.

Myke Hurley: Could you use a pen that fine? Um, I don't know, you know, I, I feel like I probably couldn't. Yeah. In all honesty, I feel like it would, it would be very uncomfortable for me.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: But you never know. Yeah, you never know. I mean, I'm not going to go out and buy one to try it. But, you know, I would try somebody else's.

Brad Dowdy: So after I got all these rave reviews about this, I was like, screw it. I'm going to buy it right now. And I could never find the perfect one for me or, you know, that I was willing to, willing to pony up the money for. But it led me down the path that we've all gone down before. I just went down the rabbit hole of looking at new things. Because, um, we've talked about Nakaya's, how that's on my wish list to buy one this year. And Platinum and Nakaya are related. Nakaya came from, um, the Platinum company originally. Um, I guess it's still affiliated with Platinum. And their nibs are somewhat similar. Like, you can kind of get a little bit of a similar feel. So, as I couldn't find a Platinum that I wanted to spring for. I just happened to run across a Nakaya that I hadn't seen before. And I didn't want to do anything with this pen other than put it in the show notes.

Brad Dowdy: Because in the show notes, in Myke and I's notes, I put this in as the holy crap Nakaya. I have never seen this model before. And I will never own this model. Because the price is ridiculous. This would be like the ultimate pen. For me. I would probably never use it. It's called the... It's the Seru Blue Dragon fountain pen. It's one of the most beautiful pens I've ever seen. And I usually don't like a lot of embellishments on my pens. Or a lot of artwork. Or anything crazy like that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's Blue Dragon, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Blue Dragon. This pen's a stunner. So I just wanted to throw that in the show notes for people to go drool over. And then they also have a different model where you can actually see the dragon pattern better. But I like the subtlety of the Blue Dragon.

Myke Hurley: I feel like if you're going to have a dragon pattern on your pen, it should be subtle.

Brad Dowdy: I know. That's why I don't... That's why I always... Like, you look at my... I did that weekly loadout for Ed Jelly. And, you know, like all my pens are black, pretty much. Black or clear demonstrators. I like basic pens. But if there was one pen that really kind of stunned me for how beautiful it is. And subtly beautiful. It was that one. And speaking of Ed, he had a Nakaya on his wish list for 2014. And he's marked it off.

Brad Dowdy: He's gone and done it.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So he went and he created a... This was a good idea. And I might eventually do this on my blog. He went and created like a for sale page on his blog. So he was raising funds, selling some of his other pens so he could go and buy this Nakaya. And we got a link to the show notes. He bought the Nakaya Neo Standard in the Kuro Tamanuri finish with a 14K soft medium nib. So that escalated quickly.

Myke Hurley: I keep looking at it. And I can't justify that. But I want to be able to.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I really... I would implore you to try at any cost or any means necessary. Try one before you buy one. Oh, yeah. Because the feel is different than most pens. It's an extremely lightweight pen. So it's not for every... Like the pictures, you can't really tell the weight by the pictures. But these pens, the way they're made, they are very, very, very lightweight. I can't stress that enough. So it's something you need to feel for yourself before plopping down all that money. Which is, you know, what I did. Well, I haven't bought one yet. And it'll be a while before I do. But, you know, this year, I'm feeling it. This year will be the year I get the Nakaya.

Myke Hurley: So there's no way that I would spend that sort of money without trying it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's the thing. It's hard to find a place to try it. You just got to find a friend or someone at a pen show. Or, you know, that's what happened. You know, luckily, you know, Thomas had someone locally to him that was about 20 minutes away that had five of them. So he went to... He went and tested them all out and figured out which one he liked the best and ordered it. So, yeah, it's definitely a try-before-you-buy thing.

Brad Dowdy: And one other review I did recently was actually for a pretty basic pen, the Pilot Acroball, which I always rave about. And they came out with some color series a few months ago on JetPens, 0.5 millimeter. I did a review of the light blue and orange. But what struck me as interesting when I was doing this review, I went back and looked at the first time I reviewed the Pilot Acroball. And I had a friend, a blog reader, that went to Japan. And they picked me up some pens. And this was one that they sent back to me when they returned from their trip. They sent me a package. And it had an Acroball in it. And this was in 2009. It took, from 2009 when this pen was introduced in Japan, it took four years for it to show up in the U.S.

Brad Dowdy: It's a slow boat.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what to make of that. I didn't plan on focusing on that when I was writing this review. But I was like, I've reviewed this pen for the first time in 2009. And you're telling me Pilot USA just put it on their store shelves in 2013? I don't understand these things about pen companies. And I've gone on my rants and raves before about the Japanese market versus the American market and why we can't have nice things and things like that. But four years for a very – this is – I mean, the Acroball is a basic pen. And it happens to be a great basic pen, which is why I wanted to see it in the U.S. And in retrospect, that it took four years to get here is kind of mind-boggling in a not good way. So I don't know. That was weird. I just wanted to point that out because I didn't expect to – that wasn't the focus of the review. But it kind of caught me off guard once I actually looked it up. Yeah. So regardless, definitely try out the Acroball, though. I don't know if they have them in the U.K. yet on the store shelves. But it's become a popular brand here in the U.S. Pilot's marketing it heavily. Pilot goes to all these big events like in Hollywood and, you know, where they have like the swag rooms, the gift rooms and things like that for all the gift bags and for the stars and stuff. They always have – pilot's always there and they're giving out pens. And they actually have the Acroball there, a bunch of people taking pictures with the Acroball. So I know it's a pen they're pushing. I just – they could have pushed it three or four years ago. That would have been pretty cool. But whatever. That's just me griping.

Myke Hurley: I love how – I love how you recognize the pilot Acroball during award ceremonies.

Brad Dowdy: It's not award ceremonies. It's the pregame like a couple of days before where all the celebs get to walk through and pick up all their gift goodie bags. I just happen to see it on – I see it on Pilot's Instagram feed and stuff like that. I see.

Myke Hurley: Is this one of your celebrity friends that sends these to you? Shoot, no.

Brad Dowdy: Nope, nope, nope.

Brad Dowdy: And one final review that I just did today, and I didn't know I was going to do it today, so I didn't have it in the show notes until just now. But the Tactile Turn Mover – it's actually the Tactile Turn Mover and Shaker. There's two pens. A guy named Will Hodges is a Kickstarter project for a machine pen, like the steel or aluminum in this case, just like Keras Customs or Big Eye Design or all these guys that do the machine pens on Kickstarter. Will sent me a review model of the one called the Mover. The Mover fits the Pilot G2 style refills, and the Shaker fits the Fisher Space Pen refills. And this is – I said it in my review, and we'll have it in the show notes if you haven't seen it on the blog. This is one of the best machine pens I own and have ever reviewed. It feels amazing. It looks amazing.

Pen Review

Brad Dowdy: Everything about it is spot on. All the tolerances, the finish of the pen, the way the refills fit, it's tight. Everything about this pen is really, really good. It's up on Kickstarter right now, and you can read my review on the blog today. It's got a really interesting feature. The grip design is this – it's kind of this circular pattern around the grip area, and it feels great. Like, your fingers just kind of lock into place, but it's not uncomfortable. It's not jamming you in the fingers necessarily like a rough knurling pattern. It's just really, really good grip design. And it's a pleasure to hold and to write with. I'm extremely happy with this pen. Will sent this one to me for free, but I've gone ahead and backed this pen because I want to get another one. I like it that much. So, like I said, I put my money where my mouth is. I really, really like this pen. And he did a cool thing. He's got free international shipping. So, I didn't mention that in my review. But I wanted to throw that out there, Myke, just saying.

Myke Hurley: It's not – the refills aren't really my style.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, that's why I like it because I can use .38 Pilot Juice refills, which is blue-black, which is what I use. And I can use the Pilot Hi-Tech C Cavalier. So, those are my two – people always ask what's my favorite refill for these type of pens that take all the refills. Those are the two that I usually go for, the .38 Pilot G2 and the .3 or .4 millimeter Pilot Hi-Tech C Cavalier refills.

Myke Hurley: So, it's the G2 because – okay. I thought you said Juice.

Brad Dowdy: I do. I use the Juice. The Juice refill is the same design as the G2.

Myke Hurley: Oh, okay. You use the blue-black. I use the blue-black Juice. This is for the show notes. And then you use the Cavalier. What size Cavalier do you use? .4 usually. .4. Cool. I'll make sure they're in the show notes. Yeah, they're just – you know. It's just not my – they're just not really –

Brad Dowdy: It's not your everyday writing experience.

Myke Hurley: Sure, buddy. Yeah?

Pen Names

Myke Hurley: At least, you know, I feel like you chose a much better name for this pen than the last one. Was it E-I-M-I-M? Yeah. And Bingo was his name or something?

Brad Dowdy: I think even he was making fun of his name and the former name of his company and the pen designs. It was – I think he said something like, if my mother can't remember the name, you know, it's probably a bad name. So, that's why he changed the name into Tactile Turn, which is much better. Much better. You should – Myke, even if you don't back this project, it's worth going to watch the video.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: As a matter of fact, why don't you pull that up right now as we wrap up this episode. And I think you will fully enjoy it. But are you using – you're pretty much just using – if you're not using a fountain pen, you're using Retro 51. And that's probably about it, right? Is that fair?

Myke Hurley: Do you know what? I don't even use the 51 anymore, really. I mean, I – Sure, just fountain pens. I have so many good fountain pens. Like, at this point, like, my fountain pen collection is so good. And so, this is something – when I was talking to my lady friend about this, finding her the perfect pen, right?

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: So, we – I was talking to her about this a couple of days ago. And she was saying, you know, if you found the perfect pen yet – this is actually quite a nice way to wrap up the show – have you found the perfect pen yet? And I was like, I haven't. I haven't found the perfect pen. But the two pens that I've got here – and I kind of have my Tashenberg Leiter with me, naturally. These two pens that I've got here are about as close as I've ever gotten. But really, in all honesty, there is no such thing for me as the perfect pen because it's just not possible. Like, there will always be something more. There will always be a next – and there will always be a next pen because they'll always – because like pens – let's say, for example, I find the perfect refill or the perfect nib. Well, one day, there's going to be a nicer design in another pen, another model, another make. So, then if I like that design more than the design of my pen, my pen's no longer perfect anymore. And so, you know, I think once you really start getting into this, like with many, many hobbies like this, there is no such thing as the perfect one. But there is as close to perfect as you can get. And I think that currently my mix, my two favorite pens of the Rotaring Lava 600 fountain pen and the Pilot – I've got the M2 – help me, Brad. Pelican. Pelican, sorry. 2-1-5. 2-1-5, yeah. I got the number right, the brand name wrong. The Pelican M2-1-5, which I'm actually using the M2-1-5 more than the Lava now. I just switch between them. Between those two pens, I mean, they're perfect, like for me right now. But I've always got my eye on the next thing.

Myke Hurley: Good.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I agree 100%. You know, there's a – I can have the perfect pen for now, but it's not the perfect pen forever probably.

Myke Hurley: The perfect pen for now. That's what we're after.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: Yep. Excellent stuff. So, if you'd like to catch up with us online, there's a few ways you can do that. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E on Twitter. Brad is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. If you would like to find Brad's writing, go to penaddict.com. And if you'd like to get in touch with us by email, go to 5x5.tv slash thepenaddict and hit the contact button up on the top in the little masthead that we've got there. So, thanks so much for listening to this week's episode. As Brad mentioned earlier, you can grab the show notes at 5x5.tv slash penaddict slash 90. And we'll be back next week for another episode of the Pen Addict Podcast. Until then, bye-bye. Bye.