Editing The Pen Addict 583/transcript (section)

== Discussion on the Waverly Nib ==


'''Myke Madison:''' Do you want to talk about why the Waverly didn't work for you? I don't remember if I saw that in the article.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It has, it's essentially kind of an angle independent nib is the theory, right? You should be able to hold it any, no matter how you hold a pen, the line on the page, you should have a good writing experience, right? Because people with non-traditional grips will rotate or hook a pen or have a weird, you know, a more vertical angle or a lower angle. And the Waverly is designed to be at peace with however you want to hold the pen and give you a good fountain pen line. And what I found is that, okay, yes, that worked, but that's exactly why I don't really get along with just like a standard medium nib. Because it's just like round tipping and it just makes a nice line. And it would be great if I wrote cursive, but I don't. So it didn't really work for me. And I was hoping like, oh, maybe I can get a little bit of line variation or something. And like, no matter what I do, it's like, yeah, it's just the same line over and over again. And it's like, yeah, I'll just have a fine nib or a medium nib and I'll be done with it. So because I have a very traditional grip and angle that I hold the pen at. Like I don't have any problems, you know, with a fountain pen nib, you know, catching on the page or doing skipping because I hold it at a weird angle. I have no problems with it. So it's not going to be for me. What about you?

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. So the Waverly is actually the only one that I own. So that was the 912 that I bought years ago. And I've been using that Waverly for a long time. So I think the deal with the Waverly is that it's good for a whole bunch of situations. So if you're standing up at the bank and writing something or you're not in a traditional I'm sitting at a desk holding a pen. The Waverly is kind of it's meant to play anywhere, which is cool, but it is not going to give you line variation. And a lot of people expect it will because it looks a little bit like a food day. You know, it's got that upturn, but that is just not what it does. It is going to give you a bog standard line every time, which is, you know, not super exciting if what you're looking for is a cool line thing. But if you're looking for a pen that's going to write all in all the situations, that's the one. So I think like the feature that it has is exactly what you're not looking for. And I totally get it. But yeah, I think the Waverly is a really cool new, but it's not going to give you line variation. Like it's just it's not a stub and it's not a food day. It's it's going to give you a line. It's every time, but it's just going to give you a line.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I think I had I think I had false expectations for it. So I kind of set myself up to like, ah, this isn't really what I was wanting. Um, on that same front, I pretty much out of hand dismiss the broads, double broads, music course, those nibs. And I actually found myself really digging the broad nib. I could not believe how well it fit my handwriting. Do you use have you used any of any of that? You said you just have the Waverly. Is that the only kind of size you have in there? Do you like the broads and things like that?

'''Myke Madison:''' I mean, I've got a lot of pilots, so I have I have I have probably I have a lot of the standard stuff covered. Well, actually, I think I have all the standard stuff covered. I don't really have any of the soft stuff yet. I need to get some of the softs. I was surprised by how big the course nib was like that is a nice big line. And I dug it. I was kind of disappointed in the double broad on that size. I have the double broad in the 845, the big size of nib. And it's a I mean, it's massive. But the double broad, I think, compared to the course, you're like, just get a course. If you want to get you want to get big on those nibs, get yourself a course. But I like I like writing large in a lot of cases. And so the course, I really liked the course. But I get why you wouldn't. It would not match your handwriting at all.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was definitely too round for me and too bulky of tipping on the front end. But I surprised myself with the broad nib. I was like, I think that's probably the next nib I buy is a broad nib.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Speaking of next nibs we buy, we might be in trouble because you and I and I guess some few other people. And I guess it's out in the wild now. Pilot has another 15 nibs coming in the next size up. So Myke and I tested the number 10 size nib, which is in the 912. Pilot just announced that they are releasing. It's another 15, right? Like it's the same 15, I think. I'll put the link in the show notes in the size 15 nib. So one step up for that. They're going to come in the Pilot Custom 743.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I'm really interested in that. The problem is I kind of wish I had both set side by side, right? The 10s and the 15s. Because how am I going to like a posting nib that should theoretically be softer, right? The point of the PO is that it's very firm and very fine. And I think when you get a little bit bigger nib in gold, like it has to be a little softer, right? I don't know.

'''Myke Madison:''' I don't think it's going to. I think the PO nib is so firm because of the geometry of the thing. So for those who don't know, a PO nib kind of hooks down like a bird beak just a little bit. It sort of dips down instead of dipping up like a Waverly would. And I think it's the geometry of the nib that actually makes it hard. And I don't think... Because you're writing with the very tip of the nib and not the underside. So there's no way to splay if you're writing straight down. So I think it's still going to be hard. That's true. And no one's pressing that hard with the writing to like make it split. I think you could flex it once is how that would go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of wonder about... I want to hear what happens when you use that PO nib on that 15 size. Because I think it's going to be weird having a big nib. Because the 15 is the size that's on the 823 and those other larger pens. I think it might be weird to have such a fine line coming out of such a large nib. You know, that's a mismatch in my brain.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And the problem with that, I think a lot of people don't think about. But I notice it when I write small is now I'm further away from the page, right? The nib is longer, even if it's just like these millimeters, right? I have now like trained myself to write with a PO in a certain distance from the page. And I'm not really going to change... That's not a nib where you change your handwriting style to say, Oh, now I'm going to like write really flourish my handwriting. It's like, no, it's still going to be the same and it's going to be small. But now I'm further away from the page. So that's one of the things I want to look at.

'''Myke Madison:''' Um, I think the... It is only very slightly longer. I've got a 10 and a 15, like just kind of holding them up and they are only very slightly different in terms of length. So...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, then I'm excited. I, you have, uh, you have, uh, you know, gotten rid of my worries. Uh, what I am excited to see is like the softs. Um, I really want to see the softs in there. Um, I think that's gonna be interesting. The FA is probably going to be wild. Um, I already have one, uh, an FA and a 743. And even I like love that. Like, I think that's just, that's gotta be one of the most popular nibs. So I don't know. Is there anything you're looking for in like the size 15 of those? I just think it's kind of wild. I'm going to want them all.

'''Myke Madison:''' The 15 is my favorite size of nib. It's one of my very favorite nibs. I'm, I'm trying hard to think of other nibs that are stock nibs that I like better than the number 15 pilot. And I don't, I don't know of any really like that is, it's a, I've got those in mediums and fines and they're, they're fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And yeah, I got to think about that. So hopefully, uh, you and I get our hands on them. Uh, maybe this year. I have no idea. I have no idea, but I haven't talked to him about it yet, but yeah, same. Yeah. But the announcement was cool enough. I was like, that's, uh, like it, these are the kinds of things I overly think about. I was like, oh man, that's a lot of inventory. So much inventory, right? It's all gold. It's not steel. It's all gold. It's like, it's like, I don't even have to deal with it and it keeps me up at night. So it's like, all right. So one of the notes that I had for you to talk about is what you're excited about right now. Um, what type of pens, what types of inks? So, um, if you don't know Myke, and I think probably a lot of our listeners do, but if you don't know Myke, uh, Myke's, Myke's into this stuff, like pretty hardcore. He goes to a lot of pen shows. He's obviously on the YouTube channel, creating a lot of content, content, testing a lot of things. He's streaming on Twitch. So he's doing all the things and is, um, very knee deep into the stationery realm. So what are you excited about right now on in the stationery world or say like this year, like what have you found that you, you've really latched onto?

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. So I'm just looking at my, my currently inked book, which is just, you know, chock full of inks and stuff like that right now. And just thinking about the inks that I've gotten recently that have been really amazing. And there are a few brands that are just kind of, um, either new to me or are doing a new thing. So both DC and the San Francisco show had Nagasawa come out from Japan and they have, of course, the Kobe inks, which are just, I mean, from beginning to end of that series, just awesome ink. And so I picked up maybe too many of those recently, but they also have these inks called Automatopoeia and they're not labeled under Kobe. They're Nagasawa Automatopoeia inks. And they're, I think kind of a new series from them. And there are some of them that are just super fun. So I've got this one that I, it's spelled Fuku Fuku. Um, but I think you say it Fufu and it's supposed to be like the sound of like soft things falling over or something like that. And like, I love the idea and I love that. I can't tell what color this ink is. I have, it's, it's super weird. It's kind of a, I don't know, uh, uh, like a mauvey brown taupe maroon thing. It's like, I don't know, prune colored almost kind of, it's very strange. And I love that. I can't quite nail it down. Uh, so I'm really liking those inks. I bought several of them. There's one of them that's a super pale, like yellow. And I'm like, yeah, I'm a little dubious on this one, but we'll see how it goes. Um, I recently got into color traveler inks. Have you tried any of these color travelers yet? No, no, not yet. Um, yeah. What do you like in there? Lisa over at Van S, Lisa Van S at Van S gave me this one called, um, Saizhou red brick chimney. And it is just a gorgeous kind of like a, like a, a light ketchup red kind of color. So it's bricky, but it's also kind of soft. Uh, and I've, I've really been enjoying that one. It's got an amazing flow. The color looks really good. Uh, there's so many good shimmers coming out right now. I mean, ever since Diamine's, uh, ink event last year with the chameleon shimmer and that sort of thing, I've been rocking some of those chameleons since last December. Like I just won't take them out of pens. I just keep refilling them, which is maybe unwise. I have a lot of pens in it, but I just keep going. I'm not going to take it out. So, uh, I've got a bunch of those that I've really, really enjoy. And, uh, you know, of course I, I really like getting the exclusive inks for shops or sort of small maker stuff. I've really loved the Anderillium inks recently. I've got a bunch of those in pens that are just, I I'm just kind of blown away every time I use them. Uh, I've got, um, uh, this one from Enigma stationers, the, they're light blue. It's like, it's called Enigma. I think it's at Vinta Vinta Enigma has got, you know, I got to get that one. Yeah. It's light blue. It's like light blue shimmer in there. It's really, it's pretty neat. Um, so yeah, I've been using a lot of fun inks for sure. And there's a lot of cool pens out there that I've just gotten my hands on. Uh, I know, you know, Bennu. I, uh, yeah. Would you believe I just got my first Bennu?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like we got it like a month ago, maybe. Hey, I was very late on that bandwagon. Like I didn't think it was for me for the longest time, but then I found one that fits.

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. It's that Sunday by the pool and from, uh, from Eric Gamma that he did with Endless. It's such a good pen. It's way bigger than I thought it was. It writes super well. I have nothing but praise for that pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm really liking that pen a lot. Yeah. That, that, those Bennus were a huge surprise for me. It's like, I was like, Hey, yeah, they're, they're fine. They're, they're good for somebody, you know, not necessarily for me. And I would try and try and try. And then they finally came out with like the Euphoria model, which I've just really latched on to. So yeah. And, uh, Eric's, Eric's is so good. We'll put a link in the show notes to that. What other, any other pens, uh, you, you've been liking recently?

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've got a, I've got a few that I pulled out here when you told me we were doing this segment. I was like, yeah, all right. I got a few pens I should probably talk about. Um, so I was talking about, uh, Nagasawa earlier and they have this, um, platinum three, seven, seven, six called the silhouette. It's just like soft dove gray and kind of like off white with a matte finish. And it's, I mean, it writes like a three, seven, seven, six, and I've got a bunch of these and I love them, but this is this colorway was just an insta buy. So many people were showing me that pen. It is really sharp. Yeah. Audrey was telling me, oh, you should probably check out this thing. And I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever. I've got a bunch of platinums. I'll definitely check it out. But then when I was on Sunday at DC, you know, getting the, hitting the, uh, two for the price of one, uh, Kobe inks, I was just like, oh, it's this one. I'm like, put that on the bill. So it was just kind of an insta buy. And I mean, it feels great in the hand. It looks awesome. I, I really liked this pen a lot. Um, I also just got my hands on a, uh, a diplomat excellence, a plus, which I love diplomat pens. I've got a ton of the arrow models and I've got, um, I've got an excellence and some travelers and stuff like that. But the a plus just feels like kind of, it feels like kind of an executive sort of pen. It feels fancy and high end. It's got this, uh, like sort of, I don't know, wavy silver engraving in the barrel. This is kind of fools the eye and sparkles. It's actually got a, uh, uh, twist off cap. It's got a very satisfying twist to it. Great nib. Really? I like this pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I was kind of surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Diplomat does such high quality work. Like they're the pins, like the, the results of their pens, whether you like the styles or not, they're always just like a plus like construction, right? They're really, really good.

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. And then, and the nibs are always great. Just, I mean, the steel nibs are fantastic. I've like, I've got one of the gold nibs and I don't really feel like I need to upgrade any of the rest. I really like the way the steel writes. It's very good. Yeah. Same here. I guess one more is, um, I got this one from Estherbrook. This is the, the new, uh, model J.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And I, I was, yeah, I've, I've, I've, I've picked, pick it up, put it down, pick it up just recently with the Orlando show. I think I like it. And then I was like, I couldn't pull the trigger on it, but yeah. What tell me about it and what do you like?

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. I was kind of dubious. Um, when I opened it up out of the package, uh, they sent it to me for some, you know, product stuff. And I was like, yeah, okay, let's see what this J is about. Cause I really liked the SD. That's a great model. I've got a few of those and got some JRs and that sort of thing. Um, and I didn't, I kind of looked at the J and went, it doesn't really look like a J, you know, it's big, it's kind of a chunky pen. It's got, it's very, it's kind of a bold color on this one. I got the, I don't know what they call it. Lotus, I think is the pattern, but I really, I like the ebonite feel of it. I really liked the pattern of it. I like the weight of it when I'm writing with it. It's got a, it's got a very nice section to it. Um, I like how the clip is kind of a, is a, an Estherbrook, you know, J homage with the grooves and something about the gold bands does kind of call back to the way that they did the bands on the, on the cap of that pen. But I think just on its own, it's a very nice ebonite pen. So yeah, I've been enjoying it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I, I think I'm going to end up with one of those. There were, so there were, I think there's two colors out now, the green one that you have and the call at Lotus. And then there's a Brown kind of like a Brown and black swirl ebonite. And they were both really, really good looking. I definitely prefer the green. I like, I really like green ebonite. I have a couple of green ebonite pens that I've been enjoying. Um, but yeah, that one is on the short list of something I'm probably going to end up with. At least I want to test it out and kind of give it a good look and, and see. So it's very cool. Um, one thing I don't, I don't want to, uh, I don't want you to be the only one to have to play this game. There's one thing that I've been enjoying a bunch and it's right up your alley. And I'm assuming you have this, uh, and you may have even done a video on it and I missed it, but the poppy a plume rebirth from the DC pen show that has become quickly. Um, I mean, it's definitely my favorite thing to use right now. It's just a fun kind of brownish orange, maybe a little bit more red than orange. Um, and you were talking about like the couple of different like brickish red colors that you've had recently. And there's some that's used to be like a color range. I would just kind of skip and just kind of, it's like, yeah, I'm, I'm fine. I'll stick with my purples and greens and oranges and whatever. And I started to get into those brownish oranges and this one's a little bit darker and it's more copper based, I guess. It's awesome. Like I am, I, I will not shut up about this ink and I don't know why.

'''Myke Madison:''' I've got it in a pen right now too. I have it in this pen right here. And yeah, I mean, it's almost empty. You can see, I've been using this one a lot too. It's a great color and they have another ink coming out for Halloween.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ooh, nice. Do you have, do you have a sneak sneak preview that you can't share with us? Yes. Or yet are you on an embargo? Yeah. We have an embargo video here. Uh, I don't know if you're allowed to talk about that.

'''Myke Madison:''' I think I can talk about it. I, yeah, I'm pretty sure I can talk. I can talk about it. It'll be fine. Um, hit me up. Yeah. So they have this whole like set coming out and I'm holding it up. And Brad is like, it's a coffin. It's a coffin. Yeah. I mean, it's like made of like paper. Somebody has glued all this together to make a coffin. It's pretty wild, but, um, it's an ink and they also have a, like a wax seal and that sort of thing in a set. And these will be going up for sale. Let's see, uh, the end of this week when this podcast airs. So like the end of September 29th or something like that. Okay. Uh, but it's called the count and this is their Halloween set. And it's got a, it's got like vampire fangs and a glass of, you know, a glass of wine and a bottle of wine there. And that's kind of the perfect representation. Cause it is a super, uh, it's, it's exactly the color you expect between like dried blood and wine. Like it's, it's, it's not quite just a wine color and it's not quite just a red it's, it's somewhere in between. Um, and I've only had it a pin for a couple of days cause I just got it recently, but it's, it's actually very good.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So yeah, that's coming out soon. Vampires, man. It's, it's what's in. Yeah. That is apparently the, the ink flavor du jour is vampire. So do you have, do you have, you have to have all the vampire inks? So we got Pannonio, we got Wearing Ool. Um, we got this one now and I feel like I'm missing. Robert Oster, Vampire Pigeon. Robert. Yep. There we go. Vampire Pigeon, the Atlas Stationers Inc, which looks amazing story behind that one.

'''Myke Madison:''' I have all four of those in pins right now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Exactly. So the, the year of the vampire, that's, that's an article I need to write later in the year, the year of the vampire ink. So yeah, I, but I'm for it. Like all the colors have been great. The stories are fun. The execution is always good. So yeah, I really liked that. All right. So a lot of these products you have picked up at pin shows throughout the year, and I've seen you in a couple of pin shows this, this year. So I want to talk about pin shows and our current, uh, thoughts on pin shows. Before we do that, let me thank our second sponsor this week, which is factor. This episode of the pin addict is brought to you by factor with the busy fall season already in swing. You might be looking for wholesome, convenient meals for jam packed days. Factor is America's number one, ready to eat meal kit, and it can help you fuel up fast with chef prepared dietitian approved, ready to eat meals delivered straight to your door. You'll save time, eat well, and stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. Wow. So I have been a factor customer for probably the last month or maybe six weeks or so. And I love the convenience of them, especially working from home. I can have a great meal for lunch is what I use them for. Um, you know, I'll have, you know, our family meals at night with my wife and kids, but during the day when the kids are at school or my wife's at work, I can just grab a factor to throw it in the microwave in two minutes and have like a fresh, awesome meal. Um, and then just get back to it. So they're really good. My biggest challenge with them right now is my son keeps stealing them. Um, he will come home from school. He's in that growth spurt phase where school lunch is not enough. So he backs that up with a factor when he gets home and I'm like, settle down on the factors. Like these are for me during the week. So with factor, you can skip the extra trip to the grocery store. They're fresh, never frozen meals are ready in just two minutes. And you have more than 34 flavor packed options to choose from every week. Do you want something special level up with gourmet plus options prepared to perfection by chefs and ready to eat in record time. So you can treat yourself to upscale meals with premium ingredients like broccolini, leeks, truffle butter, and asparagus. Plus you can keep your energy up with lunch to go factors, effortless, wholesome meals like grain bowls and salad toppers, no microwave required. Then to finish your order, choose from 45 add-ons including breakfast items like apple cinnamon pancakes, bacon and cheddar egg bites, and smoothies. My son is especially fond of the smoothies. And you can rest assured you're making a sustainable choice because factor offset 100% of their delivery emissions to your door along with sourcing renewable electricity and featuring sustainably sourced seafood. This September get factor and enjoy eating well without the hassle. Simply choose your meals and enjoy fresh flavor packed meals delivered to your door. Ready in just two minutes. No prep, no mess. Head to factormeals.com slash penaddict50 and use the code penaddict50, that's 50, to get 50% off your first box. That's code penaddict50 to get 50% off your first box. Just go to factormeals.com slash penaddict50. Our thanks to Factor for their support of this show and all of Real FM. All right, speaking of shows, Myke, I backed down on this topic a little bit in what I originally thought maybe me and you could hash out. But I'll get to later why I kind of wound this down. So my big idea was, hey, I'm going to have Myke on and we're going to sit here and we're going to create the perfect pen show. Right? You and I, we're going to design the perfect pen show.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know that's the right way to look at it.

'''Myke Madison:''' Oh, no. That's what my notes are about.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. But no, I think it is, right? But I think there's just a huge challenge. But I think what we can offer today is what would we like to see that constitutes a current pen show? And are there things we could take from what's currently out there, add it to a singular show? Or what does no show do that we would like to see? So you have been to how many shows this year? Like I don't like five, six shows, something like that. I mean, at least I haven't counted. Yeah. Same here. And I'm probably like around more like the four or five range. So you were in DC and San Francisco. I was in DC. Those are two of the big ones. And then we mix in some of the smaller ones. Like I was in Orlando. I did Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore. So I think that was my list this year. So trying to get a range. Yeah, I did.