Editing The Pen Addict 621/transcript (section)

== Introduction to listener questions and upcoming topics. ==

* We have our mugs. So hopefully I will get it in time to carry to London for you. Yeah, please bring me a mug. Yep. Yep. So next week we'll have a ton to talk about. But this week we're going to get into what y'all want to talk about, and we have questions, Myke. Yeah, I appreciate everyone who sent in an Ask TPA question. Hopefully we're going to get to a bunch of them today, but we've got them in the bank. And there's also some stuff in here that we've had for a little bit but haven't gotten to. But you can always send in your questions. Maybe you hear us today and you are inspired to ask a question for Brad and me, mostly Brad, to answer in a future episode. It's very easy to do this. Just go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send in your questions or even your follow-up if there's something you want to hear us talk about more. Or maybe you've got some ideas of your own based on the questions that we have today. You can always go and send those in to us at any time. And we're going to start with a question from Lisa today who says, On a recent episode, Brad was recommending the use of a loop to check the tines of fountain pens. So these are those little magnifying things. You see those in like jewelry repair and stuff like that. Yeah, that's where you mostly see them. Lisa says, I could use some recommendation on buying and using a loop. I have an inexpensive one and I haven't found it that useful. Is it important to get a loop of a built-in light? Are they harder to use if you have glasses? Which are the best? Or am I missing something completely? Yeah, awesome question right off the jump. And I don't think I've talked specifically about which loop I have in a while. And it does matter which ones you use. And it's mostly from the glass itself. Right? So a lot of them, if you look, it's a very simple product to just have like, you know, a generic product replicated, you know, 20 different times under different names. Like if you're looking at somewhere like Amazon and they all say the same, you know, 10x magnification, blah, blah, blah. And it's kind of meaningless unless you get good glass. Right? Like think of it like a camera lens glass, like glass matters. So I have two loops. One is expensive. That was recommended to me that I'll get to in a second. And that's still going to be my recommendation. But my second one, I was like, well, let me just buy a backup loop because I was, I keep one in the shipping department when I'm doing spoke pins and, you know, need to check the nibs when we sell fountain pens and things like that. So that's where I have my nice one. And I was like, well, I wanted a backup one for my stream desk and where I do a lot of my work just in case like Lisa was talking about, you know, like if I get fibers in my tines, I kind of want to take a look at it and see. This loop, this more generic 10x loop is just garbage. And the reason why you can tell is because the sweet spot, like the clarity sweet spot is so minuscule that it's almost worthless. Like you have a hard time seeing clear through the loop unless you absolutely nail this little pinpoint area in the loop. So otherwise it's just like, you know, it reminds me actually when I was a kid, I had a telescope, but it wasn't a very good one. And it was similar where like most of the time I couldn't even see the moon with this thing. But if I got it in just the right angle, you could get it to work. Yeah. So that's what you get with an inexpensive loop. So the expensive one I bought is from Bellomo. And that was one recommended to me way back in the day, I think by nib grinders or other fountain pen, you know, people that work on fountain pens. And I looked at, I ordered it on Amazon in 2013 and it's, it's still going strong. And it was like 30, I think they're around between 30 and $40 now. It has been more, this is one of those times where the added cost has been worth every penny and having used an inexpensive one. Um, it, it's very clear that it was worth to spend the money on a nice one. So this one, you, you put it up in front of your eye and it's, you can just kind of see everything you have to, you know, kind of twist, you know, to get in, in the right spot, but everything's clear. The glass is so much better and it's, it's a real durable one. I've carried this one to pen shows, you know, I've used it, you know, for over a decade at this point and it's, it's just been great. So that's one that's been well worth the money. Um, it's not a lot of money though.
* Overall, I mean, for the way you were setting it up, I thought you were going to say that this is quite expensive, you know? I mean, you can buy like a hundred dollar loops and things like that, but I don't think that's, that's worth it, you know, for what we need. Right. We're not, I'm not in front of the loop all day. Right. I'm not a nib grinder and they might have some different questions. So the other part of the question was, should I get one with a built-in light?
* Um, I've never had that need. Never have I put the loop up to my eye and looked at a nib and gone, boy, I wish I had more light blazing on this thing. So now if I was a nib grinder or something like that, um, it might come into, um, better use, but if it comes down to it, I'll just use a lamp on my desk or the natural lighting. I've never found the need to have a built-in light. There are other ways to generate more light. Like you could use a flashlight on your phone. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then are they harder to use if they have glasses? I obviously wear glasses. Um, it is not harder to use. I, you basically, once you use a loop a lot, you, you basically have a loop stance, right? You have this repeated move that you do with the loop, flipping it up. And then like, I'm, I'm probably coming off the mic here because I'm putting my hand up to my face. I kind of like my thumb kind of leans on my nose and the, and the loop is just out in front of my lens. Like, I don't think I've ever touched the loop to my lens. If I have, it's been an accident. That's what I was going to ask. You're leaving your glasses on. Glasses are on. Right. And like my, my thumb rests on my nose and that's the enough distance buffer and the right depth buffer for the lens to actually pick up the nib. And, um, and you, you keep both eyes open, right? Like it's, um, it's like, you know, like if you're shooting a camera, you want, you generally, I think the advice is to keep both of your eyes open. Like I'm not closing one of my eye, but then I just focus, you know, use your dominant eye and, and bring it up there. And it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's a really valuable tool and something I use weekly. And, uh, if, if not daily, if I was in certain situations. So yeah, it was, it's, uh, that's the one that was recommended to me and it has stood the test of time and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, uh, picking one of those Bell Omos up.
* Sam writes in and says, I love, I love this question, by the way. This is a, I mean, we're like, I started scrolling through these questions and I just had to stop. I was like, yep, that's a good one. Yep. These are great, great questions. Everyone. I pulled this one to the top because I really wanted to, I really wanted to answer it. I don't think we've ever, I don't think we've ever explained it like this before. Sam says, how representative are the entry-level pens in a company's product line? When I first got into fountain pens, I bought all of the common starter options, Metropolitan, Preppy, Eco, Safari, et cetera. By the way, this has just made me think of something I can't believe I've never thought of before when Sam says starter. It's like in Pokemon. Pokemon. So when you, when you begin the game, you choose your starter Pokemon, like the originals are like, you know, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle. You could have like starter fountain pen, right? Like you choose, like, do you get like, are you going Metropolitan, Preppy, Safari, right? Like, and you choose and then you evolve that pen into the other pens. This is awesome. Someone needs to do something with this. Right. So like you would have like a Safari, which would evolve into a studio, like an AL star, which would then evolve into a, like into a 2000, right? Or, you know, that kind of thing. Anyway, going back to the actual question at hand, Sam says, I liked the Safari the least and not just because of the molded grip. Since then, I have expanded my collection with more expensive options, but completely avoided Lamy because of this. Should I give them another try at a higher price point or did I learn all I needed to know from the Safari?