Editing The Pen Addict 20/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Which is kind of what happened to me too, you know, along the way. So, you know, I've always been a fountain pen man, you know, always. That was what I've been saying right from the very start when we did this show. And we spoke about last week's episode, the fact that I'd helped convert you a little bit over to the dark side or the messy side. But, so, you know, and considering I own now the best fountain pen I've ever used, but it's not my number one, of course. Mm-hmm. We all know what my number one pen is. You know, I don't think that there's any surprise when I say it's the Retro 51 Tornado.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. I was fairly certain that's what I was going to be, but I just wanted to see. But, yeah, that's awesome.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, I love it. You know, there is not one thing, there is not one fault I could pick with the Tornado line. I love them. I own four now. I am going to be buying more soon. After an episode, after last week's, no, sorry. After the episode a couple of weeks ago where I spoke about all of the stuff that I bought, me and Brad spent like 10 or 15 minutes after the episode had finished, where I was walking him through the Retro 51 UK site and showing him all the peculiar pens and interesting models that I'd found there. Because I'm going to put a link in his show notes to it. So it is the UK site, but they have on this site a bunch of Tornados that I've not seen for sale anywhere else. So it is very interesting. And this is one of the things that I love about the Tornado line specifically, is that there's such wide variation in the type of pen that you can get. Like, I have one that's made of bamboo. I have one that is a lacquered metal finish. I have, you know, one that's made of copper. You know, it's just fantastic. And the ink refills that they use are incredible. The build quality, the overall design, the packaging. There's just, there is no, in my opinion, this pen does not step a foot wrong in any description. And I know that a lot of our listeners think the same because every day, I feel like nearly every day or every couple of days, I'm having someone contact me, you know, mainly on Twitter, telling me that they're either going to buy a Tornado or showing me pictures of the Tornado that it just bought. And every single person tells me they love it. You know, it's an excellent pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It is. Retro 51 does an amazing job with the Tornado line and really all their product lines. Their designs are top-notch and the build quality is great and the pricing is good. I mean, like you said, you know, what's not to love about that pen? Indeed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Indeed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I just love that where I am, you know, where like most of the people listen to this show, I am a pen collector. I can actually, there are enough variations of this one pen, this one pen in this company's whole line that I can make a whole subset collection out of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, for sure. That'll keep you busy for a while.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and I think that that's awesome because this isn't the only pen that Retro 51 do, but they have so many versions of it that it's actually enough for me to start collecting on its own, which I am doing. And, you know, it is the pen I use the most. That has changed as well. So my next pen, which of course, well, maybe not of course, but my number two is the Vanishing Point. I love my Vanishing Point, but especially since I had the new additions in the Retro line for me, I have been using those more. But when it comes to fountain pens, of which as a whole I do prefer fountain pens as a writing instrument, there is no better fountain pen than the Vanishing Point.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And, you know, for me, it's not perfect. As I've said before, the clip does kind of get in my way a bit sometimes. But that is the only fault on what is otherwise a perfect writing instrument. You know, we spoke about it at length in last week's episode because it's your number one, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right, right. And, yeah, I mean, I just find it suits so many needs and does all those things well. And, yeah, it's, like I said, it's almost spoiled me, you know? It's such a good pen that you don't have a hard time, you know, switching up fountain pens just because that one's so unique and so good and so quality. It's really great.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's, there's so many great things about this pen. And for me, it's mainly just the mechanism. That's what I love the most about it. Like, it writes as well for me as a bunch of other fountain pens do. And my next pen that I will talk about in a moment. You know, the actual nib qualities, of course, it's excellent, but it doesn't stand out, you know, like far and away from the crowd in a way, I don't feel. It's a very good nib, a very, very good nib. And I use the broad and I love it. It's the perfect nib. But I have had that sort of quality from another, from other fountain pens, in my opinion. Much cheaper fountain pens. But it's the mechanism and the whole package, the weight of the pen, the pen is weighted, like, it's perfect. It is perfectly weighted. And it's the best weighting that I've had in a pen. And I would expect that from the price that I'm paying for it. Right. But it's, you know, we just, we go back to it and it's just this one little noise.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, that's fantastic, isn't it? For me, that is what makes this pen as special as it is. And every time I use it, I still get the joy out of it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The, you know, every time I pick up the vanishing point and I do that click, it feels special every time. And that's what makes this pen so awesome to me. That is why it is, you know, it is high up on my list. It is my number two.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Number three is a pen that I've used for years. And before I was a confessed pen addict, before I knew as much as I know now, which of course is nowhere near as much as my partner in crime about pens, but it is, of course, a fountain pen. And it's one that I had been using just out of chance. It's the Lamy Safari.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now, I've been using safaris for about three years. And I, you know, I just, it was one that I picked up in a mid-range stationer because it looked good. And, you know, it was a reasonable price. It was priced enough that I knew it was a good pen, but it wasn't so much that it was going to break the bank. And I've, I think I've owned three safaris. Two are currently still in use. I have one that is ink, like a cartridge, and one that I have of a converter. They both work exceptionally well. You know, with the pairing of my current safari with the Nudeless Heart of Darkness ink is incredible. I forget until every time I use the safari how great that ink is as well. It's a slight aside. Like, it is black as black can be. Like, startlingly so. But the ink distribution from the Lamy I find to be second to none. And the way the nib feels, like, from the moment you take it out of the box, it's ready to go. I don't feel like I've ever had to work a safari in. But the more that I use it, the more it becomes accustomed to me. But I never start using it and it's scratchy or difficult or I feel like, oh, no, it's not. You know, I've got to use this for a couple of weeks. Which I did feel with the Vanishing Point. I didn't feel like it. I do now, but initially it did feel like it needed some working in. And that might just be because I'm a lefty so those things can be a bit more difficult.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But, I mean, you know, it's a plastic pen but it's built nicely. It looks fantastic. I mean, I've been a fan of the safari for years. I haven't really got anything bad to say about it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it might have the best clip going on any pen. I love that clip.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A really good looking and strong, durable clip. Great. It's a very enjoyable pen and it's very, you can happily sit at my number three.