The Pen Addict 99/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	99
Title:	To The Tippy-Top
Release Date:	March 25th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 99
Audio File:	Audio Episode 99
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 99
Length:	4848 min <br />0.8 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 99 of The Pen Addict, a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley, and my guest today, well, he's got 99 pencils but a Bic ain't one, it's Mr Brad Dowdy. Yes! Thank you so much to AtCamsmith25 on Twitter for suggesting that incredible intro, maybe one of my favourites.

Brad Dowdy: That may be one, that's definitely like a top fiver, if not one of the best ever.

Myke Hurley: So good, so good! He sent me in, I was like, how can I not use that?

Brad Dowdy: Simple, clear, and just awesome.

Episode 99

Myke Hurley: This is the real episode 99, not that fake episode 99 that I mentioned last week.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, way to go, way to confuse people. I know, right? Especially the way we've been pimping the episode 100, you don't want to get people confused.

Myke Hurley: Yep, who hired this guy?

Brad Dowdy: Oh man, so yeah, one more episode until the big giveaway episode, and I try not to talk about it too much on Twitter, because then I get people going, well, how can I enter? Well, we're not there yet, it's a simmer down, so I need to not talk about it as much, right?

Myke Hurley: Huge, like, so huge. There's so much, just so much stuff happening next week, and it's going to be crazy. It's going to be crazy.

Brad Dowdy: It's going to be crazy. But we've got good stuff to cover this week before we even get there. We actually got a pretty full-up episode this time around, so let's go with some follow-up from, I don't know, maybe, I don't know, it hadn't even been 10 episodes ago. I didn't look at the old episode number where we discussed a Kickstarter project called Draft. Do you remember this? I do. Myke, they, so Draft launched on Kickstarter, you know, and Myke and I talked about it on, yeah, I forget what episode, we'll have to go back and find it, but still.

Myke Hurley: Episode 77. Was that long ago, huh? Yep.

Brad Dowdy: Wow, these things fly by. So anyway, what Draft is, if you're not familiar with it, was what they proposed to be was a notebook subscription service where they would send you X amount of notebooks over X amount of time. It was really just, you know, it was basically, I think it boiled down to what they want to do is one notebook per month. And what you got with that was a free scanning service for you to send your notebook back. You fill up, they ship you your notebook, you fill it up, you send it back, they scan it in, and it becomes available digitally in an app that they are also designing. You also get free access to that app. So, pretty good in theory.

Brad Dowdy: I kind of like the general idea of it, but they had a lot of flaws in this Kickstarter project in the way that they had set it up. There were too many, people had too many questions. It was basically too rigid of a design.

Myke Hurley: I remember we had a lot of questions.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it was too rigid of a design, right? If you're getting one notebook a month, you know, I can't fill up a notebook in a month. I don't fill up a field notes in a month, usually. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. And these notebooks are much larger. So, I think most of the questions revolved around that. And they tried to make some changes on the fly on the Kickstarter to mitigate the subscription model and where you could just buy a notebook. And when you fill that notebook, you can send it back. Anyway, it ended up, they ended up canceling the project because I think there was just, you know, it was, there were too many what ifs and how do I do that? And, you know, a little bit too many questions about it. So, what they did was they pulled that down and they went and relaunched it and called it Mod Notebooks. And it's not even a Kickstarter project. It's just basically a website now where you can go, you can order a notebook. I don't even know if you can subscribe anymore. I think you just order the notebook. And when you order the notebook, that comes with the, you're paying for the scanning service and for the digitization of it and the access in the app when you're done. So, for people who are interested in that draft Kickstarter project and were interested in something like this and thought it was a good idea, it's now back as Mod Notebooks.

Myke Hurley: Still US only.

Brad Dowdy: Is it really? Oh, they actually, they've been tweeting that like one of the top things on their, on their list is to get some European, they, I think they need a scanning partner over there. I think it's the hang up right now.

Myke Hurley: I'll just use, I'll do it. I'll just use my Doxy Flip. I'll do it for all of Europe. Just hit me up, people. Yeah. I'll do it for you. No problem.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, that's the thing. That's the things that people are trying to balance with this project is, okay, well, I can just, number one, I can just scan it myself.

Brad Dowdy: But, you know, I think the, the selling point for them scanning it is to directly put it into the app as long as the app looks good and, you know, functions well. But, you know, a lot of other people will just take, you know, like you're saying, your Doxy Flip and scan it in themselves, put it in Evernote or whatever. But, you know, their, their app is set to sync with Evernote and Dropbox and OneNote and things like that. So, they've thought about a lot of the things. I'm still, my only hang up and why I'm, I'm not, you know, a bunch of people are, are definitely into this. But, I'm not really into it because my notebook's still private to me. And I don't care about letting someone else see what's in my notebook, even though they really are not going to care. I know in my mind, you know, they're not going to care. You know, they're, someone's in there doing a job scanning the notebook. They're not going to be sitting there reading it. But still, you know, I don't want to, you know, profess my love to Myke in, in poetry form and, you know, have Joe the scanner decide, you know, that's poster material and hang it up on the wall in their shop.

Myke Hurley: I also, there's still a thing for me, even though I don't do anything with them, like the notebook just being destroyed or whatever, recycled.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, now they're not doing that anymore. You're saying you want that or you don't want that?

Myke Hurley: I want it back.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so that's, that's, that, that was one of the other hangups originally. This one, you have an option to get it back.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: Do you pay for that or how does that work?

Brad Dowdy: Do you know? If you don't know, fine. I want to say it might be extra.

Myke Hurley: Which would make sense.

Brad Dowdy: I mean. To ship back. I think you just pay for the shipping to get it back.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't bug me if I had to do that. Like, cause if that's, if that's an additional thing, then fine.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So the thing before.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Have the notebook recycled or returned to you. It's your choice. That's what it says. It doesn't say that it costs any more, but whether it does or it doesn't, you can do that now. Which I think is a benefit. Like, I don't know. As well. The type of thing that there's kind of suggesting you should do in this book. Like plan your next big project. Mm-hmm. I want the book back. Yep. Because if I do plan my million dollar project in this book, I want the book. Yep. Like I still have all my notebooks from when I was planning 70 decibels. I have those. I have those. And that's important to me that I keep those. Exactly. Like I have all of the sketches of what I wanted the website to look like. And my original ideas for what I wanted all my shows to be. And my goals. Like I have some notebooks where it has some goals in them. And I look at the goals and how long ago I achieved those goals now. Like the five-year goals and I have achieved them. You know, it's just little things like that. Exactly.

Brad Dowdy: And yeah, the old draft Kickstarter project was a destructive scanning process. They took the notebook apart to scan it. Now they do not do that anymore. They've sorted that out and are not going to be essentially tearing the pages out of the notebook to get the scanning done. So they've designed the notebook to where, you know, it'll scan it. It opens flat to be scanned. It's not destructive. So, yeah, I know Patrick Roan ordered one. So we'll have to check it out. And see what he thinks when he gets it and goes through the scanning process and all that stuff. So anyway, for those who were interested in the draft Kickstarter, it's now back available with a little bit better setup, I think, if you will, for those who are interested.

New Inks

Brad Dowdy: Now last week, I was going to talk about some new inks that I got in. And we ran out of time a little bit. But that's okay because we had Ed on and it was a great episode. But I just wanted to mention that I got in some Ackerman inks. Are you familiar with these, Myke?

Myke Hurley: I think we've spoken about them before.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I've kind of spoken about them because I've had some samples in. It's a Dutch brand. I think they're out of the Hague in the Netherlands, I think, is where their shop is. It's essentially a shop, a fountain pen shop. And they have these great inks. What people like about them, well, not only are the inks awesome, but the bottles are amazing. They're these really, for lack of a better term, shapely bottles, I should say. Not boxes, bottles.

Brad Dowdy: It kind of has like a large base. And then you tip the base over into like a filling section in the top. And that top is sealed off by like a glass marble to keep the ink up at the top so where you can fill your pen without having to get way down into the bottom. Gosh, genius. It's really great. And it works awesomely.

Myke Hurley: That drives me crazy.

Brad Dowdy: It totally fills up. I mean, you can fill when you tip it over and then flip it back down and the marble seals it off. I mean, the ink level is like to the tippy top of the glass. So it's super easy to fill. It's a genius idea.

Myke Hurley: Tippy top? Is that what we're going with? Just checking.

Brad Dowdy: I guess we have our show title, huh?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Tippy top. Do the tippy top. But anyway, the ink colors are fantastic. I got the – I bought two bottles through a fountain pit. The hardest part about these inks is getting them because they really just sell them through their shop. But I think you can also order them through Van S Pens, which we can check the URL and put that in the show notes. I think that's a U.S. distributor. But in the U.K., I think you can just order straight from the Ackerman and from the Ackerman site. But shipping is obviously pretty tough for those here in the U.S. So I was actually part of a group buy on the Fountain Pen Network where I think like 10 of us went in and bought a bunch of bottles. I bought two bottles. I bought – they're tagged with a number and a name. I bought number eight. It's – oh, man, I'm going to butcher this. Diep Duinwaterblau, which is basically kind of a – Good work, buddy. Yeah. A blue-black. And then number 28, Hofquartier Grun, which is a really bright green that's excellent. It's definitely going to be my favorite green. I love the green.

Myke Hurley: We need the Urban inks.

Brad Dowdy: I know. They need to – Ackerman needs to come up with a video, a pronunciation video like J-Urban to come up with this. So anyway, I'll be doing some reviews of these inks on the blog coming up soon. And I just wanted to mention that because they're really sought after in the right word because pretty much anyone can get them. But they're not the easiest thing to get. So it's something I want to have out there for people to see if, you know, it's worth researching for themselves and getting some of the inks. One of the theories, though, Myke, behind this ink, which I find interesting, is that these are actually just diamine inks repackaged and renamed. Ooh, it's a conspiracy.

Myke Hurley: Oh, really?

Brad Dowdy: That's the theory. There's all kinds of articles written about how these are – these match exactly to certain diamine colors or diamine colors. So, yeah, I don't have the full listing, but that's the theory.

Myke Hurley: What did you say you could get them from? Where did you say that they were?

Brad Dowdy: Van Ness pens, V-A-N-E-S-S. Okay. So I could put them in the show. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. I don't know if they always have them in stock, but they're one of the only places I know, at least in the U.S.

Myke Hurley: V-A-N-N-E-S-S.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Something like that.

Myke Hurley: Okay, cool. Van Ness 1938.com.

Brad Dowdy: There you go. That's them. So sometimes they have those inks in, and you can get them from them, so check them out. But the colors are great so far. Loving them, and I will do some reviews soon. But the bottle is awesome. I mean, this is one of those that you'll definitely keep the bottle when you're done with it just because it's so cool.

Myke Hurley: You could refill it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Fountain Pen Cake

Myke Hurley: Cool.

Brad Dowdy: Now, did you see this next link I put in the show notes? Nope. Have you clicked on it yet? I'm about to do it right now. Click on it, and I know you're not necessarily a big Vanishing Point guy, but someone sent me this link earlier this week, and I'm sorry I didn't write down who. Someone tweeted it to me. There's apparently new Vanishing Points coming out in May. It's called the Vanishing Point Metallic. These are pretty slick.

Myke Hurley: I don't like it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, you're not necessarily a hugest fan of the Vanishing Point either anymore. That's true. Right? I mean, you would never order this pen.

Myke Hurley: Maybe that's why.

Brad Dowdy: Right. But I like the metallic. I like the blue, actually. Some of the other colors I don't like. But what it is is I think most people are familiar with the gunmetal model that they came out with a year or two ago where it's a gray body, but it's got the black accessories. It's, you know, the black knock and the black seams and the black clip. Basically like the black clip. It's basically like the matte black parts, except the barrel, in this case, has metallic finishes. They have a blue, orange, green, purple, and red. I think they're pretty good looking. I actually still like the one I've been thinking about buying is actually the one I call the Stormtrooper one. It's got the black accessories, but it's an all-white body with the black clip and knock and things like that. I think it looks pretty cool. I would probably order that before this. And despite the fact there is an orange one, I think the blue one looks really good. I think that might be a consideration. So we'll see. This is one I'd have to see in person, I think, because they actually photograph really well. This is on – I'm looking at this on goldspot.com. I didn't really look around. This is the link someone sent me. I haven't seen any pictures or links of them before this was sent to me a couple days ago. But it looks – I think they look great, and they're going to do – these are going to sell really well, I'm pretty sure. So I'll be interested to see these when I can actually get one in my hands and check it out. But I wanted to mention that for anyone who is looking for a vanishing point. There might be some new options coming out there pretty soon.

Brad Dowdy: When's your birthday, Myke? January the 31st. Oh, so we just missed it.

Myke Hurley: Just missed it, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Man, that's unfortunate. That's unfortunate because – When's your birthday, Brad?

Myke Hurley: When is your birthday?

Brad Dowdy: August 21st.

Myke Hurley: So there's still time for you.

Brad Dowdy: There's still time for me to get the fountain pen and ink cake. Did you see this thing?

Myke Hurley: I did, too.

Brad Dowdy: So Stephen Owen, at Stephen Owen on Twitter, sent Myke and I a picture of his birthday cake. And we will have this in the show notes, and you have to check it out because it's a birthday cake. And on the top of the birthday cake is a platinum 3776 and a bottle of Orochizuku Yamabudo in whatever cake – what's the sugar material called that they form some of these shapes out of? Icing. I know it's the icing, but there's actually material to get these shapes. But it's basically – yes, they're basically icing, a pen, a fountain pen, and a bottle of ink. And it's not just – it's very well done. It's extremely well done, actually. It surprised me at first. I thought this was just a picture of someone's idea or so he found it at some cake shop or something. But this is actually his birthday cake, and it's really cool. It's really well done.

Brad Dowdy: What pen and ink would you have on your birthday cake, Myke?

Myke Hurley: I would definitely have Hiroshizuku Fuyugaki and maybe – I'll probably go with my Pelican just because they're my favorites. What about you? What would you have?

Brad Dowdy: I'd probably have to have my Edison Menlo, my 3D Menlo, just because I think it would look cool.

Myke Hurley: Different colors, different flavors.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, different colors. Red and blue. Ink. Yeah, I'd probably have to have a bottle of a Roshizuku. It's filled with Roshizuku Shinkai as it is right now. So that's pretty much my go-to setup, the Menlo and the Shinkai. So yeah, I think that's what I'd go with. So that's pretty cool. Thanks for sending that, Steven. I was kind of taken aback about it. It's really neat. So I wouldn't have thought of doing that. But someone did a good job for him there.

Brad Dowdy: All right, so we've got a lot more to talk about. And a pretty sizable topic that I want to discuss this week in the new Field Notes release.

Myke Hurley: Oh, you would like to talk about it, would you? Ha ha ha.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't even mean that.

Myke Hurley: No.

Brad Dowdy: But I'll do better next time. Let's talk about our friends at Squarespace.

Myke Hurley: I want to take a quick moment to thank our friends at Squarespace, as Brett mentioned, for sponsoring this week's episode of The Pen Addict. Squarespace are the all-in-one platform to make it fast and easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com. And when you're there, you want to use the offer code Tallyho3. It's going to get you 10% off. And that's what you want, right? 10% off. That's awesome. Squarespace is constantly making sure that their platform is up to date. To do this, they add new features all the time. They're always adding new and improved designs and templates. And they're making sure that their support is always rock solid. Hey, Brad, you okay, buddy? I think Brad got... Did you get your mute?

Brad Dowdy: You got it the wrong way around, didn't you? Yeah, I hit the mute button once, and then I accidentally hit it again, and it came off, and I didn't notice that. Sorry.

Myke Hurley: Squarespace makes Brad really emotional. And the reason is because their templates are so beautiful. They bring tears to his eyes. And these templates are so fantastic. And what also makes Brad super happy that he gets a little bit teary is that they have so many style options that you can adjust. So it allows him and me to create our own space on the internet. It makes us individual, like little snowflakes, and these things make Brad an emotional guy. Everything on Squarespace's platform is drag and drop, so it's really easy to add content from your desktop, and you can easily rearrange elements of content within a page. Squarespace makes sure that your site looks fantastic on any and every device, because all Squarespace websites and templates come with their own unique mobile design, too. You can easily connect with your favorite web and social services, like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many, many more. And you can also set up Squarespace Commerce. So you can have a shop that you can sell things, like physical or digital goods. Maybe you make pen cases. I don't know, like Tok Co. or something. You can sell those in just a few minutes if you want to do that.

Myke Hurley: I've mentioned this many times, but I feel like I need to iterate it again and again and again, because I think it's so important. Squarespace is really easy to use. But if you have any problems, they have an incredible support team that are ready. There aren't many products where you can set up a website and then have a 24-7 support team there. Well, Squarespace will give you that. They have a whole team of employees, over 70 at the moment, dedicated to customer support. And they're all based in New York City. They're available for live chat during the week, which is really cool for me. Live chat is the way that I always want to interact with customer service reps. But they also have super fast email support throughout the day and night. And they're also really active on Twitter, too. So if you have any problems, they're there for you. Got any questions, they're there for you. As I said earlier, you can try out Squarespace for free. There's no credit card required to do this. And if you decide to purchase, it starts at just $8 a month. And this also includes a free domain name if you sign up for a year. Make sure that you get 10% off and support this show by using the offer code Tallyho3. It's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O and the number three. Thanks so much to Squarespace for the support of 5x5 and the pen addict.

Brad Dowdy: So that reminds me, I was asked to give a NotCo shipping update.

Brad Dowdy: And we're down to like, I say less than 400 orders left to ship.

Brad Dowdy: With about 100 and something going out today. So we're getting there. I shipped a bunch today. A bunch of people got shipping notifications actually right before the podcast. The end is in sight, man.

Myke Hurley: The end is in sight.

Brad Dowdy: I know. Then we'll have some more going out Thursday. Have a big batch going out on Thursday. So look for some more shipping notifications. And then by that point, we should be at around, I don't know, under 400. Probably 300 and something orders left to ship. So not too much longer. But we're getting there. We are getting it.

Retro 51 Tornado

Brad Dowdy: One more bit of follow-up real quick before we get into these new field notes. We talked about the Retro 51 Tornado Touch last week and how much we enjoyed that pen. And I didn't realize it until I was doing the written review, which I did on my blog on Monday. And Retro 51 had actually done a video on how to change the refill. And I didn't notice this when I was taking my pen apart. And now looking back to the pictures, it's actually easily apparent. But the refill that screws into the back of the Retro 51 Tornado Touch I thought was all one unit. Like it was one long refill with the screw-in bit at the end. But what it actually is, is it takes a D1 refill insert, which is kind of a big deal because there's so many D1 refill options on the market. The one that it comes with, the Schmidt, is excellent. I love that refill. But now that I know I can just pull that refill out from its little extension and use any D1 refill, that really changes the game. You can use all kinds of different refills. Like I always talk about the Charro X gel refills that I like to use. You can use Jetstream refills. And these, they make a Jetstream D1. There's all kinds of different D1 style refills. For those of you who like this Tornado Touch idea and the small, pocketable Tornado, you can actually switch out this refill much, much easier than I thought when we first talked about it on the podcast.

Myke Hurley: You forgot something.

Brad Dowdy: What?

Myke Hurley: Pen Blog of the Week. Pen Blog of the Week!

Brad Dowdy: Oh, it's sitting there on my notes, isn't it? Pen Blog of the Week, Pen Blog of the Week.

Brad Dowdy: All right. This is a Hide Your Wallets Pen Blog of the Week. Because I've been following Lee Reyes as long as I've been doing my blog. She has been out there doing just awesome pen reviews, artwork, ink reviews, photography. Pretty much everything that Lee does, I'm a fan of. She's an amazing blogger, an amazing photographer, amazing writer.

Brad Dowdy: She's got, I want to say, a handful of Nakayas. If you scroll back through her, somewhere between 5 and 10, I'm guessing.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. If you scroll back through her blog, she's taken pictures of all of them and reviewed all of them. She also did a great thing back during the hurricane relief efforts to the Typhoon Haiyan Philippine Hurricane. She did a huge auction that ran on her site forever with all the proceeds going to the relief efforts. Because that's where she's based in that area of the world. So, if you haven't heard, most people who follow me have probably heard of Lee Reyes and have followed her blog. But if you haven't, this is something where you can just take the time and sift through the archives. And pretty much every post she does, you will learn something. And your mind will be blown at just the visual greatness that she puts on the page. So, thank you, Lee, for being awesome. And definitely, definitely check this blog out. And like I said, Hydro Wallets, because she's got some stuff on here that's just off the charts amazing. So, I'm glad you said that, Myke, because I really wanted to talk about that blog.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, did I cover the Retro 51 Touch? Did I get everything? So, will you switch out to a different D1 refill? Or are you sticking with the Schmidt?

Myke Hurley: It's fine for me. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It's a really good refill. That was one of the things that really kind of hooked me on that pin was that refill was pretty darn good.

Brad Dowdy: All right. News of the week.

Brad Dowdy: This is kind of a big deal. The new Field Notes.

Myke Hurley: This is always a big deal.

Brad Dowdy: It's always a big deal.

Myke Hurley: But this is a big, big deal.

Brad Dowdy: This one's a big, big deal.

Myke Hurley: It's like a forest side. I don't know. Just bad puns now.

Field Notes Edition

Brad Dowdy: It's called the Shelterwood Edition. And in case you're living under a rock, you're well aware of what this is. And just in general, what Field Notes has done for this colors release, I'm going to fail at totally describing this. But basically, what they've done is the covers of the Field Notes are made out of wood. Yeah. So what they've done is, and you have to watch the video to appreciate this.

Myke Hurley: Oh, the video is so good.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The video is amazing. To understand how they came about this and how they actually. This is easily the most technically advanced Field Notes they've done.

Myke Hurley: I had a very quick exchange with Jim Kudor. We just exchanged a couple of messages. As I do every time now that the new Field Notes comes out, I just, you know, I feel like I have to personally congratulate him. He said this. He said it was really, really hard to do. Like, but it was well worth the effort. But I feel like, I don't know this, I feel like they've been working on this for longer than just the gap between editions. Like, I feel like this is one that they've been trying to do for a while.

Brad Dowdy: There is no way that they completed this between Cold Horizons and this. I mean, this is like a six month or more project, I would imagine. It's insane. So what they've done is they found this wood, this American cherry wood, and it's sliced so thin. You have to watch the video to get a grasp of what they accomplished here. They sliced it so thin it's able to be used as – it's able to be glued to – it's glued to a paper like cover stock on the inside. But the exterior is the thinnest sheet of cherry wood, and it's bound to the craft paper.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it's bound to craft, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, the craft paper covers. But what's funny is it doesn't feel much thicker than a standard cover. It obviously is. And you can hear me flicking it there.

Myke Hurley: So here's – I don't have mine yet. They'll be here before next week, but that's not the point. Question number one, what happens if you bend it, the book?

Brad Dowdy: Nothing really. They're stiffer than any other field notes just in general. But, you know, I can curl it back, you know, and touch the right side to the binding, you know, no problem at all. And it bounces back. It keeps a little bit of curvature in it. So, like, if you keep it in your back pocket, I imagine it's going to mold a little bit.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've heard that these ones, they kind of keep that.

Brad Dowdy: And also, if you're not using them, like, if you just unpackage them and unband them, they kind of pop open. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like, they don't sit flat closed. I think just the wood is something about them, the way it's made. It doesn't allow it necessarily to lay flat. But obviously, when you press something on it, it does. And, you know, just when you hold it, it stays closed. But when they're sitting there individually, they kind of – the covers pop open, if you will. I don't know a good way to describe that. But it's crazy because it totally feels like wood because it is wood. And you see all the – what's the word I'm looking for? All the lines in the wood. What's that word? Yes, all the wood grain. Like, each book is different, right? All the grain waves. Just look.

Brad Dowdy: Each book is its own individual design, if you will. And then how they put the field notes stamping on there, it's like it's integrated straight into the wood. It doesn't feel like it's going to scrape off or anything like that, which is an impressive feat in itself. They must have used some kind of special ink for that. But – and it's also got – they use the American – America is Beautiful paper.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: That heavier weight paper, soft white with the green lined.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so it's Finch Fine Soft White 70-pound tech stock, the same beefy stock you loved in our America, the beautiful edition. So, like I was saying in the very beginning, this is – technically, this has to be the hardest edition that they've ever put out. I can't even think of one that's close. That would be half as difficult as this to put out.

Myke Hurley: And what's your thinking? Do you like them?

Brad Dowdy: This is one of my least favorite editions they've ever released.

Myke Hurley: Oh.

Brad Dowdy: I will never use this book.

Myke Hurley: Why?

Brad Dowdy: You just wanted me to jump to the chase, didn't you? Yeah. You couldn't stand it anymore. I actually wouldn't have even opened it if we weren't doing this podcast.

Brad Dowdy: So, a few things.

Brad Dowdy: Where to begin? It's not visually appealing to me.

Myke Hurley: Okay. So, okay. Point one. Brad's crazy. Carry on.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: It's – I'm very old school field notes. I like my solid colors and my basic prints and simple grids and things like that and variations within. Now, that's not field notes' fault. I mean, they have to do this. I mean, they're not making notebooks for me. They're making notebooks for everybody. But, you know, the proof in the pudding for me is if I line up ten editions across the table here, which one am I going to pick up and use? I'm going to pick up America is Beautiful before I pick up this edition to use. And I wasn't a fan of America – America the Beautiful edition. And I've come to respect that edition more after this edition. I seem to be, from everything I'm reading, like so far in the minority, it's not even close. Like the amount of praise I've seen heaped on this edition is more than I've seen on maybe every other edition combined. Maybe outside of Night Sky. Night Sky people went nuts over.

Brad Dowdy: But for me personally, it's not going to be one that I use, so therefore it's not one of my favorites. Like I'll use – you name it. I'll use almost any edition ahead of using this. I'm just not interested. The wood thing doesn't speak to me personally. Like I said, it doesn't mean it's not off the charts amazing. Like I said, it's easily the most impressive – it might be – it's the most impressive edition they've ever done.

Brad Dowdy: Also the largest. And the largest. And it's not even close. 75,000. They almost ought to not put limited edition in here. They just should say edition of 75,000. You start losing that whole limited cachet when the numbers are 75,000. Well, no.

Myke Hurley: I don't know if I – unless you're joking, I don't know if I agree with that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, I know. I can understand that.

Myke Hurley: Because it's limited because they'll make it once.

Brad Dowdy: Right. I agree. I agree. But I imagine it's that large because I don't understand how they can do this for the cost that they provide these.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I imagine that went into the edition size. They have to make such a huge edition run just because this has to be cost prohibitive, which is a huge compliment to Field Notes that they're able to do this for that price. But for me personally, I will never – I won't say never. But I don't see me ever writing in one of these books just because I'm not interested in it. I'd rather write and drink local. I wasn't a fan of Cold Horizons at all, but I would totally grab my Cold Horizons before using one of these.

Myke Hurley: Brad, you surprised me so much. Seriously. I'm very genuinely very, very surprised about that.

Brad Dowdy: Let me ask you a question.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Journal Writing

Brad Dowdy: And maybe it's fair. Maybe it's an unfair question. So in a world where Field Notes doesn't exist, okay, and you write. You write in journals. You use paper. You use different types of journals. And you're out. You're out. You need a new journal. You walk into the store, your local stationery store, and you see a whole shelf full of journals. You've got your black journals, blue journals, graph paper, dot paper, whatever. And then all the way on the shelf, you see, oh, my God, there's a journal with a wood cover. Is that the one you're picking out?

Myke Hurley: I don't know. I don't know. Maybe. I might look at it and think that looks cool. I probably wouldn't buy it. And I'll tell you the reason that I think it's different for Field Notes. One, I know that I love the product. All right. Two, I watch the video, see what goes into that production.

Myke Hurley: I don't know. Maybe not. But, so I haven't got mine yet.

Myke Hurley: However, from a design perspective, I think it may be one of my favorites. The way they look. I mean, obviously, every single one's different, so, because of the wood grain. But the idea of a wood, just, I think it looks really, really nice to me.

Myke Hurley: I appreciate the technical.

Myke Hurley: I'll tell you why I think that all around it's going to be my favorite edition. Now, it's hard to say without actually having them, but I really love the way it looks. And it has that paper. Yeah. That paper, and the way that this looks, I honestly feel like it will be my favorite Field Notes edition. Now, let me tell you what I've done. So, it came out. I'm a color subscriber. I was like, okay, here it goes. I've been waiting for it. Video. I looked at the images like, oh, my God, that's amazing. Watch the video. Oh, my God, that's amazing. When I bought another pack. Instantly bought another pack. Gone on the rest of my day.

Myke Hurley: Later on in the evening, I was reading the page. Saw the paper. Bought another two packs.

Myke Hurley: So, I will have five, three packs of this. I know I'm going to love this edition. Because the things that people are saying that are the downsides, which is that they don't close as much, is not an issue for me. It won't bother me. It's just not going to be a problem. The combination of the way this looks, the technical achievement and the respect and appreciation I have for that and that paper. I know this is going to be a massive, massive one for me. Because I know that Cold Horizon would have been one of my top, but something weird happened with the paper.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And I think it might have been the coloring. But the way they look, I love the way they look, but I just don't really like using it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, see, okay. With Cold Horizons, you know what would be a perfect addition for me? Maybe this is one of those, you know, get off my lawn moments. Because I'm old and stuck in my ways or something like that. But the Cold Horizons edition, instead of making that addition, you know what would have been my perfect addition, and I would have bought 10 three-packs of them, is if they took that same blue color and just did like a solid turquoise, like one of the lighter blue shades that they used. A white field notes, you know, logo on the front, white print, and then just had a grid with the same turquoise graph lines in there. That would have been, that's like my ultimate addition. So I don't need the fancy-smancy edition.

Myke Hurley: You're not going to get what you want, Brad, because.

Brad Dowdy: I know, but I think there's some field notes. I think there's some field notes fever blindness going on with this edition.

Myke Hurley: I feel like there's an expectation now that they have to create something that is visually or from a production perspective striking. And so they have to continue to one-up themselves now. Which I, as a purchaser, devout, fanatical purchaser, love. Because I get out of it what I consider to be an incredible, unique product.

Myke Hurley: And in all honesty, buddy, if they were selling these as one-offs, probably wouldn't care so much. Because I subscribe, sight unseen, I kind of want a special product. If I just had a, I think that you may not be a color subscriber if you got a single block color every three months.

Brad Dowdy: No, I agree with that. And like I said, the technical part of it and the design part of it, this run will get more press than any other run ever. I mean, for a lot of reasons. Number one, they're bigger than they, field notes is bigger than they've ever been. But to the technical achievement and the design achievement that they did for this, it may go down as one of the greatest product designs of all time. It doesn't mean I'm going to use it. I will never use this book. I just won't.

Myke Hurley: I'm so surprised that we have come to a head on this. Seriously, I'm genuinely very surprised. I had absolutely no idea that was what you were going to say. I thought that we were going to run off skipping hand in hand towards episode 100, waving around our Shelterwood together.

Brad Dowdy: Hopping through Shelterwood on our way.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know what to say. I mean, I'm definitely in the minority on this one. But the way I look at it is, you know, I have stacks of field notes. There's a dozen, if not more. This is the 22nd release. There's probably 15 of them I would pick up to use before this one. Just off the top of my head. Easily. And it's not close.

Brad Dowdy: So that doesn't mean, you know, but on the, if I was ranking them by design scale and beautifulness, this one might be number one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Functionality for me, it's at the bottom. And that's what it's about for me. You know, for the functionality aspect, I'm not going to use this book.

Brad Dowdy: I'm not crazy about the cover stiffness.

Brad Dowdy: I'm obviously don't, I'm not a fan of lined paper. You know, I don't know what to say. If I, it will be a long time before I put the first spot of ink in one of these books just because I'm going to pick something else ahead of it because I'll enjoy it more than I will enjoy this edition.

Myke Hurley: Our listeners are really, really lucky that next week's episode 100. Mm-hmm. Because otherwise, the podcast would be over forever.

Brad Dowdy: Well, we'll see when you get them. I'm sure you're going to love them. I mean, you, you know what? You ordered five packs of these. I ordered five packs of the Night Sky edition.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I wish I had more of those.

Brad Dowdy: I ordered five packs of the Drink Local edition.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I ordered, I ordered some extra Drink Local. I ordered like another pack of each, like one ales, one. Yep. And I'm happy I did that. I really wish I got more Night Sky. Yep.

Drink Local Editions

Brad Dowdy: I ordered, I ordered no extra Cold Horizon and I ordered no extra Shelterwood.

Myke Hurley: I really wish I had more of those Night Sky. They've got to be available somewhere, right?

Brad Dowdy: I would imagine. It was a, it was a decent size run. It was at least 25,000, if not 40. I don't know. Let me see if one of these. They just went so, they just went so fast. Someone will have them somewhere.

Myke Hurley: Let's see if one of these UK suppliers has them. I'll order a couple of packs.

Brad Dowdy: But now I'm anxious for you to get yours in. I'm sure you're going to love them. Everyone else has. One of the coolest things I've seen about these editions is the way the covers are. They're much more acceptable to ink than a lot of the other covers. Then just like, you know, like Standard Craft really accepts ink. So I've seen a lot of people drawing on these covers. I've already seen someone stain the wood on these covers. So it's pretty cool how people are using them. And, you know, I'm not knocking that at all. I'm just saying for me, if I'm reaching for a Field Notes notebook to go in my back pocket, it's not going to be this one.

Brad Dowdy: And that's okay. I'm good with it.

Myke Hurley: Well, you say it's okay. It's okay for me. I don't think it's okay. I think it's just great.

Brad Dowdy: Do you want me to lie to you, Myke?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I think I'll prefer that at this point. You know I don't do that. You just generally surprise me.

Brad Dowdy: I'm a surprising individual.

Myke Hurley: You are, aren't you? You're an enigma. I can't find any nights, guy. What's happening here? Come on, guys. Help me out.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Someone help out, Myke, with some nights, guy, additions. Tell him where you can buy them.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Amazon.

Myke Hurley: No, I'm paying 25 pounds. That's not even nights, guy. They're showing. That's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot. Anyway.

Brad Dowdy: Anyway. That's my thoughts. I don't know what else to tell you, buddy. Except that I keep wanting to call him Sherwood. Addition. Instead of Shelterwood.

Myke Hurley: Like Sherwood Forest?

Brad Dowdy: Yep.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Yeah, it's fine. It's wrong, like your opinions, but... Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: I love that. Your opinions are wrong.

Email Correspondence

Myke Hurley: They are.

Brad Dowdy: They are. They are. I got one of those emails this week. It was awesome.

Myke Hurley: I've worked with you for long enough now to know that your opinions are wrong. Mm-hmm. It's just a... Sorry to break the bubble, everyone, but Brad Dowdy's very rarely right about anything. I'm going to leave you alone now. All right. Yes, I will take... Of course you're entitled to your own opinion, and I love that. Do you know what one of the things I love about you is that you are, and you are very opinionated, and it makes this show so interesting, because if me and you did just sit here and spoke about how much we loved this edition, I don't know if it would be that exciting for people to listen to, so...

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, like, drink locals in stock in a bunch of places. Night Sky, not so much. I think you were right. Mm-hmm. I should have gone on top of that, so now I'm just never going to be able to use one of them, so... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Such is life. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the Pen Addict Podcast. If you'd like to catch the show notes for today's episode, go to 5x5.tv slash Pen Addict slash 99. That's where you're going to find everything you need. If you want to follow Brad on Twitter, he is at Dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. And Brad also writes at PenAddict.com. Next week, ladies and gentlemen of the Pen Podcast Listening Community, we will embark on the 100th episode of this fine show. Some say it could never be done, and we've done 100 episodes, and we have a mega community, and I don't want to spoil probably the tears that I will drop all over my desk next week as I talk about how much I love you all. But we will be back for episode 100. It's going to be massive.

Myke Hurley: Me and Brad will obviously have a bunch of things that we want to say, and it's going to be one of those episodes. Basically, if you're starting at episode 100, I don't know how much you're going to get out of it. We are making something happen, which will be for the listeners, for the fans, the real PenAddict fans. And I won't say any more than that. We've teased you enough. Next week's show, all will be unveiled. Until then, thank you so much for listening. Say goodbye until next time, Bradley.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye until next time, Bradley, with no E.

Brad Dowdy: See you later. Bye.

Brad Dowdy: Bye.