Editing The Pen Addict 542/transcript (section)

== Discussion of Ian's blog post and design work ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I hadn't seen it before, but I read the blog post that was on the shown design website that Ian put together. And I would say that I am curiously, cautiously optimistic about this product. Because this is, so, shown design have designed and manufactured a nib of their own, right? That's kind of the situation here. The whole nib unit, including the feed, everything. This is a very complicated thing to do and get right. So, like, I am very intrigued to know about the performance of this product and the reliability of it. If there's anyone that could do it, Ian could do it. But I still remain, like, intrigued about it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So, having talked to Ian, obviously, for years and years, probably well on a decade at this point, he has always wanted to make his own nib. Once he started making fountain pens, he's always said, like, the dream scenario is I make my own nibs, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's the ultimate design challenge.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. And I think for a time, he was testing out and trying to make essentially a stamped nib, right? Something that comes off a flat sheet and he turned it into a traditional nib shape, right? And, like, I don't know all the ins and outs of the pros and cons and the good parts and the bad parts of trying to make that. Right. And until he ended up, you know, scrapping that idea. This is, like, literally years in the making. Right. He scrapped that idea. And now we're on to this is what comes out. And he showed this to me at the San Francisco Pen Show. And I got to test around, like, a very early prototype. And, like, it's just, like, so cool. Like, these tubular nibs are great. And you've seen manufacturers make a tubular nib before, but not a fully integrated nib unit.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What is tubular? What does that mean?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, circular, round. So, Visconti Typhoon, if we'll look. I didn't put it in the show notes. So, if you go look at a pen called Visconti Typhoon, and you will see essentially a circular tubular nib.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now you're saying that, like, I've been looking at this picture today, and I'm like, what is it about this that doesn't look normal? And that's it. It's that the nib unit forms a circle around the body and, like, is curved, right? Like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So, even the Visconti that we'll reference in the show notes is still more of a bent or formed nib material. This is a drilled nib from a singular rod of metal or, you know, a singular piece of metal, which is completely different, completely unique. And it kind of breaks my brain a little bit, even getting to test this in person. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Seeing him come up with this and knowing the years of work that have led into this, I know he's excited. I'm excited to see this final version in person.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, obviously, visually, it's stunning, right? Like, it's just not something you see done a lot. And, you know, technically, we'll see, right? Like, he's not going to put something out unless he feels, like, technically competent in the performance of it, right? So, we'll have to get this in hand, see how it is. It's a titanium barrel. Excuse me, a titanium material nib. Thoughts on titanium? As the choice, it's great. Because I think there is, with the titanium, you get a little bit of give. But the way that this nib is designed to have these thick walls, it's going to be a very firm nib, which you know that I prefer. Like, this is my preference. And again, like, let me just jump completely, you know, off topic right here. This is not going to be for everybody, right? This is not a universal nib application that you're just going to start finding in fountain pens. And, hey, this is, like, a new standard. Like, this is a very unique, almost, like, bespoke couture type of situation nib, which are the things that I always talk about wanting to see from these manufacturers, right? Like, he is putting a lot on the line to create something like this. And I, like, fully support that. Yeah. You know, getting it in hand and testing out. I mean, I'm 100% getting one of these, right, whenever they become available. We don't know availability and we don't know price yet. So, this is just the, essentially, the notification of launch coming soon and the details behind it and kind of all the specs and, you know, what you can expect from the nib, you know, as far as what the tipping looks like, right? It's a singular tipping design. It's not a traditional tipping like you would find on a fountain pen. It essentially has to come to a point. And I can't wrap my head around how this is manufactured by a machine, even, you know, even though machines make all kinds of complex parts. But, you know, just the slit for the tines as part of this whole thing, I don't understand it in the best way possible. Like, it's really cool. And I can't wait to get my hands on one. I will be in line whenever they come up. No matter the cost, I imagine it's going to be very expensive, right? This is not a cheap product to make. The work that went into the years of work going into this and the final, getting to this final version, I'm sure it's going to be very expensive. But, like, I'm in. Like, I'm going to get one. And they fit into Yovo, like, threadings into other pens. I thought that was a smart choice. Yeah, yeah. So you can buy this nib and put it into, like, an existing pen that you have. It should be a shown pen or any other pen that takes Yovo fittings. But, like, yeah. I am anxious to try this. Yeah. Right? No matter the cost. And just to get, we don't get new technology very often in our little world, right? We might get some weird filling system or some unique material, right? The materials have been on a big run, you know, with the machine plastics here the last three, four years. You know, that's been, like, a new technology, if you will, for, like, technology is a little bit of a stretch for a word. But, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So getting something new like this to test out, I'm in. Like, I want to support this type of creativity in our industry. And, yeah, I'm completely excited. And I'm thrilled for Ian to get to this point because I know how hard it's been and I know how long it's taken him. And for him to put, for knowing Ian like I do, for him to put a product on the market means he's super proud of it. Like, he just doesn't throw stuff up there. I mean, no one does, you know. I mean, I think we would all say that we don't do that. But, like, I know my expectations are high for this because I know how Ian makes products, right? It's his own fault. Yeah. Because I know he's going to deliver the goods because he always has. So, yeah, I can't wait. So we'll have more on this whenever I'm able to order one and get one to test out. So I just wanted to bring this up because it's been a topic here in the last couple weeks while we haven't talked. And I'm actually kind of glad we waited a little bit because he just came out with this post like a day or two ago. Or a few days ago to kind of lay out all the details of the Monarch nib. And, yeah, I'm ready. Give it to me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm very intrigued. Yeah. Very intrigued.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Like I said, like, this is not going to be for everybody. Like, I totally get that. But, like, this is the kind of things, like, I want to see. Yeah. Like, in our little world.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I like, you know what you said about the couture-ness of it? I like the idea of that because, like you say, just naturally this product is not going to be for everyone. Titanium is odd and interesting. You know, I've only ever used one titanium nib with any frequency. It was, like, very squeaky. But I loved the feeling of it. But it was peculiar in its own way.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. This is not going to feel like any titanium nib you've ever used. No, no.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't think it will. My point is, like, I have no doubt that this is going to have its own interesting quirks and features. And I, like, you want more products like that? Like, this is, the fountain pen hobby is, like, so particular, right? Like, we want the certain shape that we want, the certain filling system that we want, the material. But there's so few nib choices. I want there to be more particular nib choices that people can make, even if it's aftermarket.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Like, even though, like, I still, to a degree, even though I'm not new to fountain pens by no stretch of the imagination, I'm not, like, the most experienced, and I never will be. But now I'm at the point where, if I'm buying a pen, I have to do something to the nib, usually, to where it's not a stock nib. Like, that's why we talk about nib grinds so much and have a bunch of nib grinder friends, because we can get these customizations and these changes. And, oh, someone came up with something new. Or, oh, someone reimagined, you know, a traditional shape. And, like, what are these things? Like, that's what gets me going, is how can I make different lines on my page? And not as much of, hey, great, it's another medium gold nib. It's like, okay, yeah, I mean, that's cool. It's like, I've got five. Like, I'm covered. Right. Let's try something else. And maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But I want people to keep trying. Right.

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