Editing The Pen Addict 10/transcript (section)

== CON20 Converter ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I have the CON20 in my Pereira, which will fit the, uh, vanishing point also, which is supposed to be better for the vanishing point even than the, the CON50 converter that it came with. Based on what I was reading, I haven't tried it out for myself. It should hold a little bit more ink and should be a little bit easier to fill and suck in the ink. So, yeah, I have, I'm going to try that converter probably next and then I'll probably think about doing the, the cartridge, uh, the cartridge dance with it and see. But I mean, a lot of people do the cartridge method, but still use whichever ink they prefer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is it because the cartridges can take more ink than the converter?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. That explains it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'm, I'm recalling this off of something I read off the top of my head. But I think the cartridge holds about 1.1 milliliters and the CON50 about 0.7. Right. So, so there's almost a 50% difference in, in actual, that doesn't sound like a large number, but in actual ink, it's about 50% more.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So do you just use a standard syringe for that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I was, the ones I read were using like a, a wide gauge needle, like a 18 gauge, which is a really wide needle. And they even had some of them with like, you can buy some with like ink refilling kits.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, I, I started looking at that. I didn't get too deep into it, but there's like a 18 gauge needle with like a blunt nose, you know, so you're not stabbing yourself. You know, that sucks it up, um, pretty easily. And then people also use, um, like the ink jet cartridge refill kits. There's a syringe that comes with those to fill your little, your little printer cartridges. And people say, you know, they use those with, without, uh, any trouble. So I was watching videos on how to clean out ink cartridges with syringes and refill them and all that stuff. That's what I was doing all day, all yesterday afternoon. I haven't done any of that yet, but I'm just trying to get some ideas here because, uh, this, this might be my go-to pen. This might be, this might be the one for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What, like out of everything?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Maybe. I mean, still to be determined, to be determined. Well, so far I'm really pleased with it. I like the feel and I like the build. You know, when I first saw this pen years and years ago, not necessarily the black mat, just the vanishing point, I was like, there is no way I'm going to buy a pen or use a pen where I'm gripping it in where the clip of the pen is in between my fingers. But, you know, the way I grip the pen, you don't even notice it's there. And everything else about the pen outweighs, weighs that, you know, I, I, when I first started the pen act, I would never imagined I would have enjoyed a pen like this and now it might be my favorite pen, but we got to give that some time before I'm ready to proclaim that. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You're aware of what you've just done to me, right? You know what I've done. Yeah, I know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know, I know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because I've been talking about this pen for a while. I know. And now, I, I, I may just buy one like very soon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm really going to get in trouble after this episode.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because I've been holding off, right? Because it's, it's, it's like five times the amount of my most expensive pen that I've purchased, right? It took. This is something that, I mean, Sammy doesn't listen to this show, my other half, because she's not a pen addict. Right. And I would never tell her how much it's been cost.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because that's expensive. It's expensive. You know. It is. It's very expensive. And when you're looking at those sort of prices, people are expecting to see a Mont Blanc or something like that, right? They're expecting to see a name that they know, not Pilot. Right. You know? Like, I'm going to talk in a bit about a Pilot that I'm using that cost me £2.50 today. Right. I think that's what people assume Pilot to be. But it's because of the Namiki brand that you mentioned, right? Which Pilot seems to have taken.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, that's exactly right. And I don't, I don't know the whole lineage there, but that's, that's exactly right. And, you know, I mean.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's a great looking box as well.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's really cool. And it actually, it kind of floats there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' In the middle of the box. And it's like this cellophane, it's not really cellophane. It's like a thicker cellophane. So actually, when you open it, when you separate the two sides, the pen like rolls out. But when you close it, it kind of just grabs it and holds it and floats it there in the middle. It's not like a molded insert.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, awesome.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It was kind of different. I don't know how to explain that. But, but yeah, back to the cost of this pen, it, it took me over a year, maybe a year and a half to finally pull the trigger on this pen because it's very expensive. And the scariest part about it is relative to a lot of the other pens at the pen show, this was probably on the lower end.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not surprised.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And which is why, you know, I only spent a couple hours there and, you know, kind of looking through everything and getting it just because, you know, the rest of the stuff's not really in my price range or in my, or on my wish list or one list. It's not something I would enjoy writing with, you know, the three or $400, you know, gold plated gold nib pens are not my thing. This is a, you know, despite the cost, it's a more practical pen. And, you know, it's, it's going to go in my pocket or in my shirt or, you know, in my backpack to work whenever I find a job.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's, it's going to leave. It's, I've said it a hundred times probably already on the show. I'm, I'm 99% of the time. The pens that I purchase are pens that I will feel comfortable leaving the house with. You know, I'm not a collector of pens. I'm not starting a pen museum in my home. I'm using these instruments and I want to use them. And, um, you know, so there is a, a line of demarcation there that, you know, is probably not going to be crossed for a very, very long time and without very good reason.