Editing The Pen Addict 7/transcript (section)

== Fountain Pen Usage ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, this is a seriously awesome pen. This is my favorite fountain pen that I own right now. And that's kind of what we're going to talk about today is just some fountain pens that you and I use on a, I won't say daily basis because I honestly don't use a fountain pen every day. But when I do, there's a handful that I use. And we've covered them on other episodes, but we wanted to dedicate an episode just to talk about the fountain pens that we use.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, in my general everyday usage, I have never made it to the point yet in my fountain pen habit to where I've gotten into, say, like the old classics or the very expensive styles or any, you know, really super fancy, unique pens. And I kind of go for the more utilitarian brands, if you will, and looks and feels, you know, something, something I can throw in a pen cup, throw in a pocket, throw in a backpack, not have to worry about, you know, dinging it up or losing it. You know, heaven forbid I drop, you know, $200 on a fountain pen and, you know, lose it. You know, that pen's going to stay at my desk. Every fountain pen I own is, I consider it portable. Yeah. And that's a big deal for me because, you know, I'm not always a sit at my desk writer. And not only is the AL Sport extremely portable, just like the classic, it might be my favorite fountain pen that I own just because the build is so, so nice. I mean, it's an aluminum barrel. It's the exact same design as the classic that you have. But just imagine a fully aluminum barrel, a little more weight. Like the one thing I was surprised, I owned the AL Sport before I owned a classic. Okay. So I'm used to that weight and then I get in a classic and I'm like, holy cow, is this thing light? I mean, were you shocked at how light it is, your classic?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I was actually because even the other plastic pens I have have more heft. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So that's kind of where the AL Sport comes in. You pay a price for it. It's, what, three, three and a half times more expensive, about three times more expensive than the classic. But I've never, this is the best feeling fountain pen in my hand. The nib is super smooth. The looks are killer. And, you know, let's be honest, that's important to me. You know, some of these, some of these pens are kind of funky looking and, and maybe that's why I don't like, I call them traditional fountain pens. I'm not knocking them. I'm not knocking a traditional style fountain pen. But, you know, that, that whole saying, look good, feel good, feel good, play good. Right. If it, if it looks good, I think it's going to make a difference.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do you hear that sound? Yeah, it's a phone call, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a phone ringing somewhere. Yeah. It's like the, the bat phone.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sorry. What the heck is going on? Anyway, sorry about that. We always have some phone related issues. I tried to be good this time and at least have vibrate on and the other phone out. But, um, I did get a lot of comments about, uh, my R2-D2 ringtone last episode. They thought that, people thought that was hilarious. But anyway, I'm totally off subject now. The AL Sport, um, the other cool thing, which the, the classic is the same way in, as the AL Sport is, what we're talking about, you can just throw it in a, in a front pocket and go. It's because the cap threads onto the barrel, right? It does not snap on or click on. It's, there's actually threading there. So it screws on and all the times I've carried it, you know, I've never, it's never budged, you know, in my pocket. And I literally carry this in my front pocket of my jeans. I carried it around, I carried it, this in a field notes notebook around in my pocket today on some errands I had to run. Um, it's the ultimate portable fountain pen. At the same time, it's a beautiful desk pen just because it's so cool looking and it, it writes like a champ. Um, you know, I have, I have an F nib in both my AL Sports. Um, I bought the first one, which was the gray one, which I actually prefer out of the two. Um, and then I got the second one as a sample from jet pins. So I couldn't really pick up the nib on that sample one. They both happen to be F nibs. I really want to try an EF nib. So one of these days I'm going to get a, uh, Kaweco EF nib pen because everyone keeps asking me how that compares to everything else. And unfortunately I do not have one handy. So I'm going to have to rectify that one of these days.

'''Myke Hurley:''' EF just terrifies me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It, it shouldn't extra fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I assume, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. But not in the, I mean, in the, you know, in the German brands like the, um, Kaweco, it shouldn't terrify you at all. In a Prera, it should. I mean, that's a really, really different. Well, and it's not even an EF, it's an F. Then the F is so narrow on the Prera. They don't even do an EF. At least not that I've seen. I, you know, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there's an EF Prera.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But that, as you said before, that thing, that sort of size is just going to start cutting through stuff.