Editing The Pen Addict 354/transcript (section)

== Listener Questions Begin ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. We got a little bit of pen addict and pen addict. We have some pen addict to discuss here on the pen addict, Myke. I'm not sure if you know about that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't know if you could have noticed, but we are just not. We're like firing at about 75 percent today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. We've got some pen addict to do here. This episode comes around quickly because even though we recorded Sunday night, I didn't get home till Monday night. You didn't get home till Tuesday. And here we go again. So how about some ask TPA, Michael? What a great idea.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The first question comes from Quentin. Any plans to cover or attend smaller pen shows which generally feature more vintage pens such as the Ohio pen show? I was wondering while planning to attend this year's show, if that's something on your radar. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's not an aversion to these shows at all or smaller pen shows. It's just time and travel, right? I mean, this stuff costs money to go to and time. Yeah. And time. So, you know, I can't do 10 shows a year, but I could maybe swing five. And sometimes those five are kind of the same I've done before because they're regionally close. They match up with the schedule, you know, and I can afford to make the trip out. So, you know, it's not any type of aversion to any show on the calendar. It's just what works. You know, I'm dying to get to Philadelphia. They've redone that show completely over the last three years and I can't make it work. Right. I would like to go to, you know, Ohio. You know, I'd like to go to St. Louis. I just sometimes just kind of how it works out. I think eventually I'll get to them all. Like I want to get to them all. So we will continue to figure out how to get to them all and hope to see you soon. One of these years, Quentin.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The Inky Side asks, I recently pulled out two bottles of Noodler's ink that are sat unused for a while. Bulletproof Black and Liberty's Elysian. Both have a layer of particles in the bottom of the bottle. What is this? Is it settled dye from saturated ink? Mold? Something else?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's most likely just pigment. This is not even a Noodler's thing. This isn't any ink thing when you're making an ink. If they sit for a while, the particles inside the bottle can settle a little bit, a little bit of just shake it up and it's going to be fine. It's not mold or anything that's going to cause a problem. This is actually a normal thing for the ink. What's not normal is if you get a layer of crud on the top of the ink layer. Or that's when you're going to have an issue and that's when you're going to consider dumping that ink out. So things settling to the bottom of the ink bottle, good. Things rising to the top of the ink bottle, bad.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Next question comes from Devin. What ink would you pair with the TWSBI Aurora?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So our friend Kat, who was behind us most of the pen show, had her TWSBI Aurora with her. Yep. And I forgot to spend some time with it on Sunday. She showed me like first thing on Friday and I was really impressed with it. It had a...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The only way to describe it is it had a firmer feel than I expected. You know, I almost felt like a soft celluloid feel based on the pictures, but it was a firmer kind of clicky acrylic. Like if you tapped your fingernails on it, it was that type of feel. It was impressive. Like the build was impressive. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I was a little bit disappointed with the nib. It's too small. The pen body is way too big and the nib looks out of proportion. And I get they're probably just like reusing some stuff like, because again, this is a pretty fair price pen for what they're offering. But that like immediately jumped out to me. It's like, well, this looks weird. Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I think overall, like just before we even get to the ink and I'm actually buying myself time because I don't have a great answer. I think this was a great first attempt from Twisby. I mean, I think they knocked out, knocked out the product and the price point. I would be shocked if they're able to keep this price point. I would be very happy if they were. And I hope that's the beginning of a great product line around there. So the ink. I don't see any way to not put a green ink in here. Have you? Do you have any thoughts with that, Myke? Like, would you put a non green ink in this pen? I'm a matchy matchy person. I know what I'm putting in there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If I had this pen, it would be Emerald or Chavreau.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Really?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hmm. Yeah. I didn't think about that. And like, I, there's no way I would put that in there just because it's blue. I don't know. This, this is just me. Green. But I don't. Hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That looks green to me. Yeah. Well, it's also called Emerald. It looks green to me. I know it's kind of like maybe on the line a little bit, but the reason I would put it in there, a couple of reasons. One, I own it. And two, I feel like this pen deserves something with a bit of shimmer and sheen to it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I get that. But this is more of a straight up green ink pen, like Mont Blanc Irish green to me, like a bright, not quite Kelly green, but almost that way. Like a very, I'm a very, I would pick a very traditional green ink for this pen. Like I would pick blue black for like some more basic pens, even though this pen has a lot of color and character. I'm picking a bright green, but not a yellow green, like a Mont Blanc Irish green. That's what I see as this. And I say this as not a big green ink fan. Like that's one of the ink colors. Like I'm trying to become more in tune with, you know, like I see bright greens in this pen's future for me. Like if I was in getting it up. So we'll see. It's a really, it's such a pretty pen. So I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll scope around, see what other people are using in, in this pen. So, um, yeah. Next one from Cameron J. I've been using a pilot Kakuna with a fine nib every day for nine months now, and I love it. And I'm looking into possible upgrades. I like the shape, size, shape and size, especially the angular barrel, but could see going with something that weighs a bit more. Do you have any recommendations sub $100? I think it's the TWSBI Eco. Like I feel guilty saying that because I say it all the time. That's that pen is so good. I would buy that pen over the TWSBI 580. I think these days, it's just that good of a pen. It's enough of an upgrade from the Kakuno to be a difference maker. Um, yeah, I mean, it's way under a hundred dollars. It's like, you know, I still, you know, have difficulty in the 70 to $100 range, finding something really, really good. Like you can get the pilot 30, 70, 70, and six with a gold nib. If you shop enough, um, in the upper and, you know, for 80 bucks or something, like if you want to do that, I think that's an option. Otherwise, I think you go with something like the TWSBI Eco. I mean, there's lots of fun pens in this price range, but as far as something better, I, I just love the Eco so much. And, uh, speaking of which we did, I meant to put it in the show notes. They have a translucent orange cap Eco coming, Myke. So that's a, that's a good one. Maybe we'll put that in the show notes for next week. Cause there's actually a topic I want to discuss around that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I agree with you on the Eco. I think the Eco is, it's my default startup pen now. Like I think that's the pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think it's that or you, I think it's that or you go up to the, um, 3776 that you can find if you look not all that hard enough. So that's my answer to that.