Editing The Pen Addict 125/transcript (section)

== Dan Designs ==


'''Mike Dudek:''' But I think in, I don't know, in my opinion, with Dan's designs of all the pens, you know, the Render K, the Bolt, the Retract, and the ink, I think the aluminum, just the plain aluminum for some reason in my mind, just sort of showcases the simplicity. Yet, you know, just how clean and sleek the designs are. I don't know. So I went with that one for my first one. And then of course, I'll probably end up with half a dozen of the colors over time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I've got, I ordered the orange with the aluminum section for my reward. And like you said, and like all of their products before, the build quality is top notch. It's actually better than it's ever been before, I think, to be perfectly honest.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The lines are so clean. The tolerances are spot on. Every little bit of it is perfect, really. I mean, as far as the build goes. I mean, it's one of those pens I end up just fooling around with when I'm not writing with it, you know, taking the cap on and off and unscrewing it just because it looks so good. And it's really nice to hold and use. And, you know, I inked mine up finally yesterday. And, you know, it writes really well. It's got the Schmidt fine nib. But I will definitely be swapping out nibs yet. I mean, with this, I haven't done it yet. But I like to play around with different nibs. And I'm glad they went with this nib unit because there's a few different things you can do. I haven't played around with it and gotten, you know, what all is going to fit in there properly yet. Have you done any of that, Myke?

'''Mike Dudek:''' I haven't, no. But I, in reading kind of Thomas's recent Twizbee review where he talks about, like, nib swapping, I'd imagine this unit takes probably a lot of different types. And so you could probably do a lot of really cool stuff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And this one's real easy to swap, even for me. And I'm always hesitant about doing that kind of stuff. This is a super simple one, which I'm glad they went with this choice because it's a fine nib on its own. I mean, it's a smooth writer, real clean, good nib. And I'm actually, you know, might use it in a different pen. But if I'm going to use this pen a lot, I'm going to switch it out to probably something with a stub or a cursive italic nib that I have laying around. I've got a bunch of extra nibs laying around all of a sudden. So, yeah, I mean, I can't say enough about this pen. I will say the orange anodization is lighter than the Render K, my orange Render K. I talked to Dan about it. They're using a different anodizing company. So the colors are a little bit different. It still looks good. It leans a little bit more yellowy gold orange than just like pure orange. But it looks so good. I mean, I'm really, really happy with it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I love it. What about what about yours, Mr. Hurley? What did what did you end up going with?

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I went with I went with two. And the reason that I went with two is, I mean, I'm I'm convinced to this day that the Dan and the guys at Karras Customs, they made this pen for me because there's there are two configurations of the ink. There's the fountain pen version, which you guys have been talking about. But there's also a version which takes the Schmidt P8126 capsules rollable refill. Now, this is important because it's the same refill as the Retro 51, which I maintain is the best rollable refill that money can buy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And you can. So I have two of them. So I went with a blue one and an orange one. So I got I got a fountain pen version and I got a and I got the rollable version. So I have a blue one and an orange one. I swapped the caps over. So I have two half and halves. And I'm so happy I did that. I come so happy I bought two in two different colors because now I have these two pens and they're half and half. And I posted them to Instagram yesterday and people have been going crazy for it because it looks so cool to have these two different pens. Like I have them like sitting opposite each other and they're like half and half. And I'm really pleased with the colors that I chose, like a really bright blue and a really bright orange. They're just fantastic. And there's just all these little details about them. Like Karras Customs pens are always really well made, as we said before. But they were always like there's just a thing about them where I always wanted to own them, but I never used them like on a daily basis because they they didn't necessarily make the type of pen that I use. Like what they didn't have a fountain pen and they didn't have one where I could use the Retro 51 because it's pretty much the only non fountain pen pen that I use on a daily basis. They use different gel inks and, you know, we've been through this and I tried them all out and I have some render case that has some cool refills in them. But it was this one specific refill was the one that I wanted to use. So, I mean, I've been using both of these for the last couple of days and I'm just I'm just blown away by it. I'm just so happy. The Schmidt fountain pen nib is really cool. I've used the medium before and I wasn't sure because they changed it originally with the Kickstarter from medium to fine because basically they did a vote and it's what most people wanted by quite a big majority. But I love the fine. It's not fine, fine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, not at all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's got it's it definitely lays down a good line. And I've been I've been using the fountain pen at work and the rollerball at home. And I I'm just I'm so happy with this with these pens and they make really cool noises. Just in general. So like, for example, like when you take the caps off.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Those noises and the clips. I discovered this and found out that you guys have both discovered this before we started make like a musical noise. So would we like to play some sort of like symphony orchestra right now?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Jay Robert Lennon on Twitter. It was the first one. I when I saw it, he said, hey, it cares customs. I didn't I realized today that your clip could be used as a tuning fork. That was the official lamest, lamest part of the podcast ever. That's pretty good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It was just nice. I caught it on a notebook earlier. It went ding.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, hello. Hello. No, I just these I can't stop fiddling with their pens. And it's from the render K to this one. I just always have them with me. I just I just enjoy using them. I enjoy looking at them. I enjoy, you know, monkeying around with them and fidgeting with them. I don't know. It's like you said that you feel like it's made for you, Myke. It's just such a good fit for me. And I just yeah, I can't say enough about it. Enough good things about it. And, you know, it took a little bit of extra time, but they nailed it on the on the back end. And that's what it's all about.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't mind waiting as long as what I get is a quality product at the end of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no. And I shoot. I certainly can't complain. I've been there. Yeah, you've actually done it. Yeah, I've been late.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now, it just so happens that we had arranged with Krauss Customs and they were going to be sponsoring this week's episode. They're going to be sponsoring a few episodes now coming up over the next few months. And our inks both arrived and it was kind of lucky. So this episode is also brought to you by our friends at Krauss Customs. Now, me, Brad and Myke have been telling you about how much we love the ink. It is fully machined. It's an aluminium pen. Aluminium. OK, so an aluminium fountain pen that features an interchangeable grip section, which allows you to change it from a fountain pen to a rollable pen in a matter of seconds. Now, I own two of them, but you can actually buy the extra parts at the Krauss Customs store. So you can buy one pen and you could buy like the fountain pen nib or you could buy like you could buy the fountain pen. You could get the rollable parts that you need, which is really cool. So you can basically buy one body of a pen and you can swap it out as you see fit. But it's available to buy directly now because we're talking about our Kickstarter editions. But Krauss Customs now have the ink for sale. It was an absolutely runaway success at Kickstarter. And it's so clear to see why. And I really think that you all pen addicts should own one of these. Both versions of the grip section come in anodized aluminium, brass or copper to further customize the look and feel of your pen. I didn't mention, but I have aluminium on mine on both because I like the aluminium finish. And the pen body can be purchased in a rainbow of anodized colors and features a hand polished stainless steel musical clip. All made with love in the USA. I love the guys at Krauss Customs. I think they do such fantastic stuff. And, you know, we've spoken about these guys so much and you should help support them. They are a great part of this little community that we have. They kind of came out of nowhere. They got involved in pens and now they're making some of the best stuff around. So, Krauss Customs are offering you a fantastic 15% off the ink. You want to enter the code KARAUSINK, all one word. That's K-A-R-A-S-I-N-K, before you check out. So, you add the items to your shopping cart. You can add the coupon code there before you check out. Do this between today, October 20th and November 3rd and you'll get a fantastic 15% off. So, thank you so much to Krauss Customs for supporting this week's episode of the Pen Addict and Relay FM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Thanks so much, Dan and Krauss Customs and Bill. We appreciate your guys' support. And we're definitely huge fans here. And I'm glad you mentioned the different section materials, Myke, because I forgot all about that. I was feeling kind of guilty looking through all the Twitter pictures and Instagram pictures of everyone's ink that we were receiving. And almost no one went with the aluminum. I saw brass and copper everywhere for our grip sections. But the three of us went with aluminum. So, I felt justified then. But I was like, should I have ordered the copper? Should I have gotten the brass? Because everyone had them. And they look so good. You know, like the copper. You can get the copper with like the black anodized barrel. Yeah, that's a sweet one. That was really, really good looking. So, anyway. Thanks, Krauss Customs. And definitely check that out and get your 15% off your orders. And it's cool that you can just order the parts for the rollerball or fountain pen and swap them out in a single barrel, too. So, definitely check that out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Hey, Mr. Dudek. Hey. How's it going?

'''Mike Dudek:''' It's good. Along the lines of the Karis, it's still a little bit enigmatic right now as far as details. But there may be a little something coming up within the next month with Dudek and Karis.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I like how you say, oh, it's a little. Two of you can't stop posting pictures.