Editing The Pen Addict 12/transcript (section)

== New Purchases ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. Well, good luck with that. Well, I was a, I was a busy boy while you were gone. Um, you know, I've, uh, what picked up a couple of new pins. One we talked about, I think on our last episode, uh, we kind of mentioned it in passing and I've been peppered on Twitter ever since. Are you going to review it? Are you going to review it? And that's the, uh, the, the TWSBI Diamond 540 fountain pen that I ordered. Um, you familiar with this brand? Other than us just kind of mentioning it in the past?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'd never heard of them until you mentioned them a couple of weeks ago.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And, uh, I, I've never seen one in person, so I was pretty anxious to get it because the, the price point's pretty, um, reasonable. I think I paid $55 for mine, um, for something that's, seems to be so far in, in my, my first go around with it is seems to be very well made. It's very good looking. I'm a, I'm a big fan of the, uh, the pins you can see through that, the translucent, lucent barrel in the, in the fountain pen world. It's called a demonstrator because I guess it's the, the theory is you're demonstrating the inner workings of the pin. Um, you can see the ink, you can see the, the refill mechanism, which in this case is a plunger that's built in. Um, I, I've never had a pin like this at all. So I was kind of, uh, excited to get it. Um, I've had a few people on Twitter keep asking me, when are you going to review it? When are you going to review it? Well, I need some time with this one. Um, I've had, uh, good experiences with it so far. Um, I haven't had great experiences with it so far. Um, that that's not a knock on it. I think I just need some more time. I'm having some weird, um, you know, one of the things we might talk about later if we get to it today. If not, we'll do it another episode is how to store your fountain pens. And I came home to find this. I just had this pen laying horizontally on my desk. I came home to find it, um, with like a little pool of ink in the tip area of the cap. Like it doesn't sound good. Yeah. So the cap screws on, right. And you know, I probably hadn't used it for a day or two and I picked it up. And since it's a clear barrel, well, this, this is a red, white, and blue, uh, barrel, but it's, it's still, I can see through the red, um, cap, um, it's still translucent. I saw this kind of black looking blob there and I couldn't figure out what it was. And I finally unscrewed it and, uh, and it actually rolled around inside the cap there. I was like, that's a big old blob of ink. And it was, it was kind of, it was more large than just like a speck of ink. I, I'm going to chalk it up as a one-off experience. You know, maybe I jostled the pen wrong. You know, I certainly didn't drop it, but maybe I moved it wrong, banged it somehow on the table or whatever and caused it. Ever since I've cleaned it out, it hasn't happened again, but, um, it's something I want to keep an eye on, um, just from a storage perspective. And like I said, maybe we'll talk about later, but this is a, I'm so overall, I'm very happy with the purchase. It's a super quality built pin for the price for, like I said, I think I paid 55 for it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I've got it on the list.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh yeah. They're great looking. Um, one of the things I, I was kind of quick draw the, the purchase cause I knew I wanted one and I saw this one and I just went for it. Um, the barrel, I think it's called a faceted barrel. It's like at the diamond kind of, you know, it's not a smooth round barrel, right? It's kind of got a diamond, I won't say carving, but it's just, you know, the, the shape of the barrel, um, is not smooth. Um, I think just from an aesthetic standpoint, I would prefer a smooth barrel, but it's by no means any kind of deal breaker or anything like that. Um, like I said, I'm generally very happy with this, with this pin. And we'll have to see where it slots into the rotation. That's kind of the biggest thing, right? I mean, how much I'm happy I bought it. How much am I going to use it kind of thing? So that's, that's what I'm still trying to figure out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But how are you getting on with the vanishing point?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, I love it. I use it a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much so. Um, that's the pin I reach for now. Um, you know, it, I'm getting ready to hopefully start a new job here in the next week or two, and I'm going to do my best for that to be my main pin. So that's going to be the real test for it. Um, I haven't reviewed it yet on the pin addict because I felt like my, um, my reviews are pretty consistent style on the pin addict. And I almost feel like that's doing a disservice to this pin. So I think I'm going to kind of take it in stages. I've recorded a video for it. Um, I've done the standard review that I always do on the pin addict for it. I haven't posted any of this yet. So look for those in the, in the coming weeks. But I think after that, I think it's going to be kind of, I'm so happy with that pin. I think it's going to be kind of a recurring theme on the blog as far as, you know, how, how I use it on a, on a daily basis, you know, after, you know, three months of, of heavy use, how's it holding up? You know, am I getting tired of filling it from a bottle? Have I, you know, switched over to cartridge and using a syringe to fill the cartridge, that kind of thing. So that, that pin deserves a little more than a whole series. Yeah, I think so. Number one, uh, it's, I paid a lot for that pin. So it, it deserves more than just the standard, uh, you know, one-off written, um, written review, which I'm going to do that, but I think that's more of a, uh, you know, phase one type of review of that pin. I think, I think it's got a lot to offer and, and I want to put it through the ringer more than I do some of my other pins just because if you're spending that kind of money on a, on a pin, you want it to be well worth it not to, not to sit and collect dust.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Makes perfect sense. I've got one sitting in a JetPens basket at the moment and I'm probably going to pull the trigger end of this week, start them next week. Nice. I, I've got no complaints so far with that pin.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I really love it. Actually, I wrote today's show notes out with it. Um, and it's, you know, even if I let it sit for a day or two, it just writes right away. It's smooth. It's really, it's a really smooth nib actually. Um, I don't know. It's, it's, it's for me, it's a really good pen, uh, for what I look for in a pin and how I want to use a pin.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It fits me very well. See, I'm going to, um, I'm probably as well, I'm definitely going to get the expensive shipping on it as well from JetPens. Yeah. Just to be able to track it. I mean, and even then, even with like the $40 shipping, it's still cheaper for me to buy it from JetPens than from a UK supplier.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's crazy. Yep. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. So another pin that I picked up that I haven't really talked about, um, that I'm actually very happy with is called the Sailor Hiace Neo. Um, that's a big, it's, they classify it as a beginner's fountain pen. Um, Sailor makes all kinds of levels of fountain pen and it's a company that's been around for a hundred years and, you know, they're really well known for their nibs. And, um, our friend, Sean Blanc, uh, tweeted me one day, said, Hey, you know, I like the platinum preppy that you guys, that you've, you know, talked about and reviewed, you know, but I want something, you know, maybe a step up from that, but still a real entry level fountain pen. So I said, and he said, you know, should I look at the Sailor or the Lamy? And I actually told him, I said, you should look at the Lamy just because it's a little more flexible as far as your options go. You know, there's more barrel styles. Um, you know, it takes a converter. You can swap out the nibs if you want. It's, it's a more, you have more options with that pen and more flexibility. He replied right back to me. He's like, I don't want any flexibility. I don't care about that. I just want to know which pen writes with the finest line out of, you know, that's still, you know, a reasonably low priced pen. And I said, well, then it's a no brainer. You want the Sailor high ice Neo. This, this pen writes like the pilot Pereira. Um, it's not, the Pereira is really smooth. Um, the Sailor is smooth, but not as smooth as the Pereira, but the Sailor high ice Neo is also about $16. I think while the Pereira runs you upwards of 50. Um, and, and this is a true entry level fountain pen. I mean, it looks like, you know, a student's pen to be honest with you. Um, it's just a standard plastic barrel, um, in one of, I think five or so just, you know, main colors. I got the orange one. Um, I guess I have a thing for orange. I seem to, between my retro 51 and a few other pens, I like orange pens. I guess I like the contrast with the black. Um, and then, uh, an aluminum cap. Um, it, it takes cartridges, but it does also take a converter. I just stuck with the cartridges. I think for this type of pen, I'm not going to get too crazy with it and worry about doing a converter and things like that. Plus I had a, I don't know, six or so extra Sailor cartridges laying around this pen. I love the nib on this pen. It's very firm in a very fine line. Um, I bought the, uh, F nib. Um, and it's actually finer than my vanishing point by just a tick. Um, it writes a thinner line and you, you know, that's what I like. So this pen probably wouldn't be for you, Myke, just because, um, it's, it's super fine. So for all those people, I get a lot of questions. Um, and I've talked about this before. I want to try a fountain pen, but I want it to write as fine as my gel ink pen. Well, the Sailor High Ace Neo. Um, if you want to step up from the Pereira, which, you know, the, the Pereira can, you know, you may not want to take that one out in public. It's not as good looking. It's kind of a, you know, uh, with the translucent barrel and the, the bright colors, it kind of stands out a little bit. This pen just looks, uh, it's a little bit more sleek and classy in its design. And, you know, people wouldn't know you're carrying a fountain pen until you, until you broke it out and started writing with it. But, uh, I am very, very happy with this pen. I surprisingly so because I tried the Sailor Clear Candy. I reviewed it on the blog maybe a month ago. Yeah. And I just thought it was average. Um, the nib was really rough. I thought I needed to break it in some, um, it never got much better. Uh, so I was actually hesitant to, to try the High Ace. Um, it's much, much better in my opinion. So cool. Those are, those are my new acquisitions. And it's funny, I've got this fountain pen bug apparently. And, uh, yeah, some of the readers have been, have been commenting on that. And, you know, some of the, uh, guys on, there's a forum called, uh, uh, fountain pen geeks. They have a forum over there. They were actually saying they're turning into a fountain pen podcast. And, you know, I've got the bug. What can I say? I've got the bug. So, you know, that won't be the only thing we talk about, but, um, it's kind of, kind of what's happening now in my, in my pen arsenal, um, looking at all the different options for fountain pens. And actually I don't see an end to it anytime soon, but, uh, I'm really happy that this has happened