Editing The Pen Addict 151/transcript (section)

== Nakaya Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Throw it up on Instagram. Yep. So. All right. Well, let's get into some of these, some of these questions and we'll hit as many as we can. We got a huge ton of them, but I think it's all good stuff. Um, so Christine Ritter on, on Twitter asked, did the show inspire any new grail pens? And this was a, a, a really good conversation that we always have about grail pens and.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Explain what that is for people that don't know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So it's like a, the ultimate pen for you. So, you know, whether it's the design or the materials or the company or the vintage, you know, whatever this pen style that speaks to you the most. And then like something that will really fulfill your needs, um, in writing and usage and just in beauty and something that really, really speaks to you on a personal level. Um, you know, is a kind of a grail pen, you know, people search these things out. Um, it's not necessary. It can be, you know, a mainline production pen. That's completely fine for a grail pen, you know, but it's always something you're striving to obtain. And, you know, I've talked about it in the past where it, I feel like it takes a little bit of a extra to get that grail pen, you know, whether it's saving up or hunting down, or there's always going to be a story behind a grail pen. Um, so did you, did you have anything? Because I did have something.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I do. Um, and it's the, huh, we're going to do this right now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Now, now I know what it is. I didn't know what it is before I said it. Now, once you started talking, I know what it is.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Uh, I have found my Nakaya.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And who corrected us? Tell everyone who corrected us.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, Lee Ray is in Thomas Hall for sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. They really wanted to make it clear that it's not Nakaya as we've been saying for so long. And it was funny because me and you were talking and it was like, I realized that I only know these things because you tell me how to say them. Sure. So like, if you tell me them wrong, then I'll just say them wrong. Yep. Um, but yeah, I've decided on my Nakaya. This is after, uh, Lee and Thomas were basically showing us through a bunch of different things. And basically Thomas in his way that he does made me choose. Right. Cause he, and he was right in what he was saying. And I agree with him. Um, you're never going to see this many in one place at one time. So if you want to get one, choose it now. And I was like, as crazy as it is. Yeah, I will. And he made me choose everything. He made me choose the, the design, the body size and the nib as well. So I would like a Nakaya Piccolo Cigar Negoro Nuno Hon Kataji with a soft, fine nib. And that's basically, we've spoken about it on the show. That's the Nakaya that you have.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. The orange Piccolo with, it looks like it, people think it's cracked when I take a picture of it. I took a picture of it last night, not realizing we'd be talking about it today. And people on Instagram were saying, oh no. And I'm like, wait, no, it's supposed to be like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because effectively what they do is, and again, man, talking to Thomas about this stuff is just the best thing. We need to have him on the show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, we should.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I can't believe we've never done that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've talked to him about it before and we will certainly do it. He's just been gone so much that I'll get him and get him on the show for sure. And basically, what is it called?

'''Myke Hurley:''' The idea behind the pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Wabi Sabi.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. And it's effectively the idea that things get broken, but there's a beauty in it. Right. Right. Because basically this isn't like an effect. What they do is they put the material, the only thing I can think is acrylic, but it's not acrylic, but it's got a specific name. They layer it on to the pen. Arushi. Arushi. Arushi, that's it. They layer the Arushi. It's all coming back to me now, sitting in the hotel bar.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's Arushi over an ebonite core.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then they scratch the Arushi away. And every single one of these pens is different. Right. Because they're all done by hand. And I am in love with it because I love how it looks and I love the story behind it. And that's the pen that I want. But I'm not just going to buy it for myself. So I have made a decision when it comes to grail bands for me personally. I award them to myself when I achieve something. So I haven't set that achievement yet. I don't know what it's going to be. But having a pen custom made for me, which is what I did with my Edison, with my Menlo, that was going to be something that I really wanted to do one day. And I gave it to myself as a gift when we founded Relay. So that was a pen that I bought for myself because we did that. So I need to have some sort of achievement. It can be anything, but just something that I need to work towards. Then once I've achieved it, I'm going to buy myself this pen. Because it's not cheap. It's like $750. Right. I mean, that's effectively what I paid, like all in all for my Edison. So, you know, I want to wait until I get to the point where I've achieved something that I feel deemed worthy to award myself with this pen. Because, you know, for some people, grail pens are hard to find pens. They're not hard to find. You can buy them on nibs.com. Like, you can get them. Right. They're in stock. Like, you know, you can just buy them. But I don't want to yet.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Cool. No, I think that's good. I mean, it should mean something to you. You know. And, yeah. I obviously love the one that you picked out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because you, yeah. I mean, part of the reason that I want it is because I saw yours and I love it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, you know, that really helped. But there's just so much about it now that it's like, yeah, no, that's exactly what I want.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. So, I found a grail nib, actually. Which comes attached to a pen. Which also happens to be a Nakia. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I want an elastic nib on one of mine. Oh, yeah. One of mine. I never had the opportunity to choose one before. And it's a pretty expensive upgrade on an already expensive pen. So, I never was interested in it. But those elastic nibs that they make, and I got to try about three or four of them. It's really something else. And I didn't know what to expect. It's really, really cool. So, I'm going to... That's... My next grail is a new Nakia. Just what I need. And with a really, really unique special nib.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Can you explain what an elastic nib is? Because I personally never heard of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah. It's essentially their take on a flex nib. And what happens is the Nibmeisters cut notches up on the sides. Like on the... I don't know what that area of the nib. They're just like this cutout. Like probably one or two centimeters deep. And, you know, it's kind of large. And I'll see if I can find a picture we can put in the show notes just to show the picture. But that allows for that nib to have a huge amount of flex. A really wide range of flex in the nib. But what I found interesting was just for normal writing, it's not really flexing. You do have to put a little... You do have to push it a little bit to get that flex. So, you can write very well with it in its normal whatever you get. You know, if you get a fine nib, you can write very fine just like normal. And then once you push it, it really goes to town on the flex. And they call it elastic. So, you know, it definitely has some bounce back to it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I found a Vimeo video by Lee. Shocking! That I'm going to put in the show notes. Okay. I'll also put it in the chat room. So, you can see how it actually works.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I've never seen anything like it. I really liked it. And I kind of want one because the idea of it is really interesting. But I don't... It's not like enough that I would want to buy them. But like you press down and it's the softest. It's got like a bounce and a springiness to it. Almost feels like you're going to break it. You know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. But it snaps back real well. Snaps back perfectly. And I was shocked how much I liked it. So, that's at the top of my list for who knows when. You know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not in the very near term. But I've been burned saying that before. But I just don't... You know, after the pin show, I'm not shopping for pins as I was, you know, leading up to the pin show right now. So, you know, late this year, something like that. So, who knows? It's on the radar. And it's something I really want to add to the collection. So, I think that's pretty neat.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right.