Editing The Pen Addict 270/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' The first one we held these off because we wanted to spend some time on them. The first one is unpopular fountain pen opinions. I don't know that I have super crazy strong unpopular opinions but I have a few things that you know and they may not even go against the grain but they're just kind of my personal things. You want me to read off my list here real quick? Yeah, go for your list and we'll talk about them. Yeah, we'll go one by one. So what the first one is I don't like non-Japanese medium and broad nibs. Steel or gold doesn't matter. No Pelican, no Aurora, no European, no Western brand medium or broad nibs. I never use that size. I don't enjoy the writing experience with those. They're too broad. They're too rounded and if I've ever purchased a pen with that style of nib it was purposefully to get ground down into something else. And yeah, I just don't like the way my handwriting looks with that size nib. Now I like big wet stub nibs and huge music nibs and things like that that put down a lot of ink but they have that more squared off line which I like which is why I can't really, you know, use medium and broad nibs. They just don't make my handwriting look good enough. So if it's a European medium it's a no bueno for Brad Doughty. Yep. Okay. That's what we're, you know, Lamy, Pelican, Aurora, anything like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It doesn't surprise me though because you are a man who likes the finer things in life, right? I do. As in the fine nibs. I was pretty proud of that one actually. And so yeah, that doesn't, I'm not surprised by that one but I can see that it's unpopular because I like mediums and broads and all sorts, right, from all over the world. I mean like the mediums that I use for most of my pens these days are Japanese mediums so they're on the finer side but they're still medium, right? I think you would agree with that, right? Like most of the mediums that I use, they're not, they're closer to fine but they're not fine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I'd say for the most part I'd agree with that. They're kind of sitting in the middle

'''Myke Hurley:''' don't they really? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's my max line width right there is like a Japanese medium until you get into a stub or a talic nib. So, the second one I put in for you and I guess for the listeners too, I don't like field notes for fountain pens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, I don't think that's a real stretch. I don't think that's necessarily unpopular but, you know, being ever the field notes shills that we are, Myke, I don't think they're perfect and I use a lot of fountain pens and therefore I don't use my fountain pens in my field notes so they don't get used as much as some other things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think that's a fair criticism. They're not, I mean, like if you use a ballpoint or a pencil or a roller ball you're going to get probably a better experience than if you use a fountain pen but in my daily usage like, you can very easily use fountain pens and they work fine but there are better, there's better paper for fountain pens than what field notes put in but I think you lose a lot that I don't want to lose by going to another brand.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So this last one I think is probably my most unpopular opinion and it's that I don't care for American vintage pens. I own a few of them. I own, you know, a Parker Vacumatic, a Parker 51, a couple of Schaefer Tuckaways. In general, I find them boring. In general, they all look the same. I'd rather go into Pelican or Kaweco going back to the German side over here, you know, I'd rather try some vintage Japanese Sailors or Platinums or Pilots. They're just more interesting and unique to me than American vintage pens be it, you know, Parker, Schaefer, Waterman, you know, maybe Todd, any of the old classics. I just, I think going to pen shows, you just see hundreds and hundreds of the same pen lined up next to each other. It's really difficult for a single one to stand out. I think that's why I gravitated to the Schaefer Tuckaway because it is different, it's small. But in general, I don't really have any use or need to have a bunch of American vintage fountain pens. I definitely have more, you know, Japanese and German vintage pens on my radar than American. Does that make sense?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I could not agree with you more. This is something that I don't really talk about very much either, but vintage pens just don't do it for me. Like, they just, they don't. I mean, every now and then I'll see somebody with a Schaefer or a Parker and the colors are interesting and weird. And the Schaefer's, like, especially, is it called the Lady Schaefer? Yeah. Well,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' there's a bunch. There's several different names. Yeah,

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, just that line, the Lady Schaefer line, they tend to be more interesting to me because they're more delicate, they're more intricate, right? Well, they're more colorful, they're more unique. But that whole thing is more interesting. But every now and then I'm like, I'm at a pen show, right? And somebody is like, oh, this is what I bought today. And they hand me a pen that's all black, right? With a gold clip on it. And I don't understand it. Yeah. And it's like, this is this vintage blah, blah, blah that I bought. And like, I take off and then I uncap it and I look at the nib and I'm like, I can't see what you see. Right? Like, because it just, it's an old pen that to me just looks so boring and I'm like, I don't know why you bought this. But that's, but I find that interesting, right? Because that person is really excited about that pen and that's awesome for them. And that's kind of one of the great things about our hobby is that there are so many different things that you can enjoy. But like, I look at the stuff and I'm like, I don't, I don't know why you bought this. I can't get it, right? And that's an interesting thing to me because, you know, look at something like the M90 that it could be classed as a vintage pen and I think it's one of the most beautiful pens I've ever owned.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So there are things there but there is just so much of the vintage pen market that I can't get my head around.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so like, I have the Parker Vacumatic Golden Web that you bought me and I absolutely adore that pen. It's one of my favorite pens. I don't need any more of them. You know, I have a regular striped Parker Vacumatic. You go to a table you see 200 of them. I don't need one of each size and each color and each cap. I'd rather go buy my fifth vintage vanishing point. It's just me. It's just, you know, these are personal opinions, personal taste things and, you know, we were asked, you know, what are our unpopular opinions, you know, in this market and, you know, so that's just kind of something I've noticed and I think it's a little bit of burnout of seeing them all the time. Yeah. Like you see hundreds of the same pen all the time so it makes you not pick one up and grab it and kind of figure out what's going on, what makes this pen special even though they're certainly special and people love them. How do I find that out for me and, you know, why do I need 10 of them? Because that's kind of where I'm at, right? All right, so what do you have on your list? So I love your first one. It's very much in line with my first one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' In general, I do not like fine, extra fine or architect grinds. I find architect grinds to be unusable for my writing style because I am a lefty overhooker. So I just don't work. very frequently someone will go check out this amazing architect grind and I put the pen to the paper and I can't make any ink come out. It's just my, it's just the way that I write means that those types of grinds just don't work for me. And just in general, I don't like fine or extra fine. Like, I find, I don't really like to kind of straddle the line between writing on the page and cutting through it, right? And I feel like so many, especially extra fines, like I don't even, I can't understand why people want to use them. Like, I like to see the ink on the page, right? Like, I like to see a big effect when I use a fountain pen. I like the feeling of something grand and bold and that's why mediums and broads and stub nibs and music nibs all work for me because that's what I want, you know? I want there to be a big effect left on the page when I'm done with it. And just for me, fines and extra fines don't give that and I also most of the time find them uncomfortable.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that makes sense. You know, it's definitely a writing style thing and a visual thing. For me, I get the satisfaction of seeing a lot of ink and a stub nib, but I like how my handwriting looks in an extra fine nib and it's because we have different styles, right? That's why there's so many options out there. There's more than one fountain pen in the world. There's something for all of us, Myke, but I can understand that where you're coming from.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, remind me, Brad, your Aurora Optima, which is one of your very favorite pens, which went back to the Shoptima, if I remember correctly. Yes. What nib is in that? Well, extra fine, of course. I hate that pen. So, I tried Brad's Aurora Optima for the first time in DC, which, by the way, every time I've been talking about DC over the last week, I keep calling it Atlanta. Just like it, just in my mind, it's Atlanta, because that's where the pen show is. Right, that's where the pen show is. That's what I do. Yep. Which I just, I found that to be really funny. I just keep calling it Atlanta, and Stephen's like, what are you, what, no, you're in DC. Oh, yeah. I used Brad's Aurora, and I, I really hated it. Like, honestly, Brad, I couldn't even get ink to come out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, like, he legitimately, like, ew, like, there was bad faces and all kinds of stuff. Did not,

'''Myke Hurley:''' like, it was a real kind of visceral reaction for me. It was not a pen I enjoyed.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I get it. Their nibs are very firm, very fine, and very dry, and if I'm looking for qualities I like in a fountain pen, they're going to be very firm, very dry, and very fine, so it makes sense that you do not like that pen, and my Nebulosa also has an extra fine nib in it, and you didn't like that either, because they, they wrote very, pretty much identically, right? I mean, for all intents and purposes, they were the same pen, didn't matter.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep, yeah, just not, not a fan of those.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, understand, fair, tight. It's your opinion, it doesn't mean it's right, but it's your opinion. Mm-hmm,

'''Myke Hurley:''' and there aren't popular ones, is what we're saying.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I agree with you, I mean, I agree where you're coming from.