Editing The Pen Addict 29/transcript (section)

== Vanishing Point ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' The Vanishing Point is still the number three most popular fountain pen and jet pens, and I still feel like we are to blame for that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think so. I think so. Because it wasn't that high. I still get a lot of comments.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It wasn't that high before.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, and mostly because, I mean, it's a costly pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The next most expensive pen in the top ten is $55, so less than half the price.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. I've noticed at jet pens, and, you know, for those who are new to the show and happen to be picking it up today for the first time, I used to work for jet pens. And so, you know, and it's still my favorite place to shop for pens online, so I'm always on the site, but I don't really have a lot of contact with them anymore. But, you know, being behind the scenes and watching what, you know, all the new products coming in, I've noticed a lot more higher-end fountain pens coming in than in the past.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I noticed that, you know, they don't get a large quantity of them because I noticed that they sell out real quick. So that's a good sign, I think, you know, that, you know, that type of buyer is out there that's starting to get interested in fountain pens. And all of our fountain pen friends know this, the people that, you know, read and listen to fountain pen geeks. I mean, they probably, you know, would laugh at our gel pen and rollerball pens and things like that. You know, they know, they understand how great fountain pens are. But, you know, people that are more in our shoes, it's not, you know, fountain pens aren't second nature to them. It's really, I think they're really making an impression in the marketplace, at least from what I've seen just, you know, outside anecdotal evidence just from paying attention, I guess, if you will.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So what have you been using regularly during this period?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' On that same theme, I never thought I would be like a real serious fountain pen user. But I found myself using fountain pens, I'd say, 75% of the time. It's crazy. And I never in a million years would I thought I would go that direction.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, I've kind of taken a break from the vanishing point. I still bring it with me and, you know, break it out and make sure, you know, the ink's not dried up and things like that. But I've bought so many, a lot of new things that I wanted to play with. The pen I go back to time and time and time again is the Kaweco AL Sport. That's, I don't know, that's just one of my favorite all-time pens. And they came out with two new colors. Well, they came out with a bunch of new colors for it. They came out with two that I liked. Well, one is a matte blue body and one is the, do they call it chrome? What do they call it? No, glossy silver Kaweco AL Sport.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's the one that, now, this was something that we had actually been speaking about for a while. Because you saw it, didn't you, in a tweet.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. My friend Patrick Ng in Hong Kong, who writes the description blog, he's in the, you know, I don't know him. I just know him from online and sharing emails with him and chatting with him some. He's basically, he's in the stationary business. I don't know if he's on the marketing side or the purchasing side or whatever. But he gets a lot of, he gets a lot of advanced products. And I don't know, it had to have been six months ago at least. He sent out a tweet or did a blog post of this Kaweco AL and looked just like a mirror. You know, the body of the pen was just totally reflective, like shiny chrome. And I was like, holy cow, that is the coolest pen I've ever seen. And it's pretty awesome. I'm having some, I don't know if I'm going to go, I haven't reviewed it yet. Right. So I bought it a few weeks ago. It sat around for a couple of weeks, didn't ink it because I didn't. With the Kawecos, I haven't, I want to try different inks in them. Right. And there's no converter for that size pen because it's a smaller compact style pen. So I've drained a couple of cartridges and it took me a while to decide what ink I wanted to put in there. For some reason, I'm real weird about that. I won't just, I'm not the kind of guy that likes to clean a fountain pen every day and switch out the inks. You know, it's not, I want to pick something and stick with it for a while. So unfortunately for me, it takes me a week or two to decide what ink, to what ink I want to get into a committed relationship with on a pen. As silly as that may sound. But recently, the J. Herbin came out with a new anniversary ink. It's a blue ink called Blue Ocean. And I put that in a syringe refilled for the first time. One of the short international cartridges to go in the Kaweco AL. So I'm using the Blue Ocean J. Herbin Anniversary Ink in the glossy silver Kaweco AL Sport. And I've been using that religiously for probably a week now, I guess. Something like that. Maybe not even quite that long. Maybe five or six days. And it's really awesome. I mean, the pen itself is no different from any other AL Sport that I've used in the fact that it's built incredibly well. The nib is super strong and very smooth. And it's absolutely one of my favorites. This is an EF nib that I use on those.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's fine enough for me. It actually seems finer than the Lamy EF nibs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it's super smooth. Now, with the glossy silver, it may not be as good in use as it is in pictures. And you can probably imagine why. I mean, a body that shiny and that chromed out, if you will. I mean, it's going to get fingerprint-y. Yeah. Scratches. It's, I mean, nicks, dinks. You're going to see everything that touches that pen. What is it actually made out of?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I believe it's aluminum still. They must just do a different finish.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it's got more of a weight to it than the plastic one, right? Because that was my... Oh, yeah. Basically, I picked up my Kaweco today and remembered how beautiful they are and how great they feel in the hand. But it's just a bit too light.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So... The AL is actually for, stands for aluminum. Of course, yeah, because I have the sport. Or aluminum. Did I get that right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Aluminium, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, thank you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Chamfer.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I believe that's what it stands for, at least on the AL. Yeah, it's got to. Yeah, they're much... They're a much more substantial pen, which is why I have the classics. I have a few Kaweco AC classics.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're great pens. They are soup... They're like... I don't know. It's like you set them down and you think they'd float away. They're very light. These are more substantial pens without being heavy. They're very... They're sturdy and strong. You know, you can carry them around in your pocket. You can bang them around on your desk. That's why I like the build quality of this pen almost more than any pen I own. That's why I...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Have you seen them?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I now have... I mean, this is my fourth one of these. That's how much I like them. And it's the same pen. It writes the same. I just buy the different barrel colors because I love this pen so much.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Have you seen the carbon fiber ones? Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't like them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's just a lot of money.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They don't look good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The red one looks horrible, I believe. There's a champagne-looking color one that looks even worse.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because they have them in solid color, but I don't know why you would do that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. The black on black one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's even lighter, isn't it? Carbon fiber.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And I've never even held one of those. But, I mean, they're... Excuse me. They're, you know, another $50 or $60. These are... The AL sports are expensive as it is, especially when you own four of them. They're like $75 now or something like that. And the carbon fiber ones are up around $130.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, $122.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' $122?

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

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It doesn't interest me. I guess it's the easiest way to say it. I mean, the cost... The aesthetic appeal in relation to the cost doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have more of the regular AL sports than the carbon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, especially the new ones. The new ones are really ugly, in my opinion. I just don't get it. But, you know, I watched them come in at JetPens, and they sold right out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Interesting.