Editing The Pen Addict 210/transcript (section)

== Nakaya Pens ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. In the hand, Nakai's are hard to explain verbally until you get the chance to hold one. First, you're shocked by how light it is. It's a very lightweight pen, even if the shape might be large, like in the case of the Piccolo Long. Then you grab the pen and it feels very firm. Like, you feel like if you drop it, it would shatter into 8,000 pieces. But it's actually very solid. At the same time, and the most interesting thing I find about it is it is very warm. Like, you were talking about how titanium is a warm metal. Yeah. It's nothing compared to what the Arushi over the Ebonite feels like when you write with it. It's like those little heat pads, almost, that you see. Like, if you put your fingers down on a pad and you see the colors come through, you can feel the warmth already. And it's just very enjoyable to write with. It melts into your hand when you're writing. Like, you don't notice it. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And so, I'm very confident in the fact that I think an Akaya is a pen that I would enjoy now. And I feel like I know his size. But I have a problem with what I was sent from Thomas. He sent me an elastic fine nib. And this is easily one of the most beautiful nibs I've ever seen. Like, I've seen elastic nibs before at the pen shows. And I want one because they're so stunning, right? Because the Akaya nibs have the little heart in them, which warms my heart every time I see it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The little breather hole on the nib.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's just the fact that it's shaped like a heart is like, yes, I'm all for that. And then the elastic nibs have the big cuts out of the side, right? Which makes the nib bouncy. Right. But I just cannot find a way to get this pen to feel comfortable for me. I can see that. The nib is very scratchy. Like, very scratchy. One of the scratchiest nibs I've ever used. And I'm not sure why. Like, if it's fine or because it's elastic or because it's something to do with my left-handed style. Like, when I try and use this pen normally, like, with my kind of overhooking upside down, a lot of the time ink just doesn't come out of it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I think it's probably all the above, but it's mostly the elasticity of it. It's splitting the tines at an angle you can't deliver ink to the page at, right? There's not an even angle for the ink to be delivered properly. Like, one tine is probably higher to the right and one tine is probably lower to the left. So, one, that's causing the scratchiness. Two, that's causing the ink not to be delivered. But it's mostly because it's elastic and your writing angle. If it was a stock fine, you could probably get closer to a good feel from it. And you still may want to go with, like, a medium. This makes me very sad.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, like, if I slow down and write in a different style, maybe if I hold it on the side, which is not very comfortable for me, it's less scratchy and the flex is really interesting, like the elasticity. But I guess what this process has shown me is that, one, I shouldn't get an elastic nib. And, two, that I have to go for a medium. I think I always would have gone for a medium, but I probably would have gone for an elastic nib. So, Thomas has done exactly what he's so good at doing and showing my way. But I've got to say this time, it's made me very sad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You just wanted to like the elastic nibs because they look cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They look so amazing. And even using them, like, when I could get it to work, it was like, oh, man, this is so cool, right? Like, the way it, like, bounces and stuff. Right. You know, and, you know, I wasn't being, Thomas, like, explicitly told me to use it, really use it. Like, I was going at this thing, you know? Sure. And I was really trying to have fun with it and, like, pressing it and doing crazy stuff with it. But, yeah, it just wouldn't work for me. And I'm very, very sad about it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, you should be happy. I mean, it's... Well, happy that I haven't wasted the money, right? Right. There's resolution on one part of the puzzle. One part of the puzzle has been solved. Actually, two parts have been solved. One, the shape and size is great for you. Two, the nib is not. So, the puzzle's coming together, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. So, I know what I'm looking for now. Now I need to just bring myself to the point of ordering it. And I know that there's some... I'm really being pushed to and will buy from Aesthetic Bay. Um, and can get help with that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, that's the only place... Yeah, that's the only place you can get that shape.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, exactly. I mean, so that's one of the reasons I'm being pushed there. But, um... So, I'm definitely going to go for it. I don't know. I feel like I know the setup that I'm looking for now. Uh, I'm just hoping now that a medium nib will be right for me. Like, I'm concerned now, you know? Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, in your, um... Your pro gear is a medium? Yep. It's going to be very similar to that. Okay. Maybe not quite as firm. But it's... I mean, it's essentially... You don't own a platinum, do you? No, I don't. Yeah. Oh, I don't think I have a platinum medium I could send you. But if you like your Sailor medium nib, you will be just fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. Well, my Sailor medium nib is one of the best nibs I've ever used in my entire life, right? That's the reason that I love that pen so much. It's because the nib is unlike anything I've ever used before. Like, it's so smooth and delivers ink so beautifully. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's why I love it, right? The one Nakaya I sold had a stock medium nib, and it was wonderful. I loved writing with it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What is the... Just a straight up... Straight up medium. What is the cheapest platinum that I could get which would maybe have a similar nib? Is there such a thing?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, because it's the gold nib. You got to get the gold nib, so it's going to be the 3776, probably from our good friends at Pen Chalet. They always have good deals on that pen. It's an awesome... It's a pen worth owning regardless. It's great. And the nib is going to be exactly like it. We get... So many people have that pen. We can find one to get you on loan. Or heck, even a Nakaya with a stock medium nib. I just don't happen to have one anymore. I used to.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I think it's because I'm not in a position immediately right now where I want to purchase the Nakaya, so maybe I have a little bit longer. But I think it's going to be soon. And I'm willing to... So my feeling about this is I'm willing to pull the trigger on a medium because I could get work done on it. Sure. So people are sending me, including Punky, are sending me messages now saying that they will send me one. Yeah. It's fine. I think I'm pretty resolute in what I will go for because I wouldn't want to get abroad. I wouldn't want to get any other kind of crazy nibs. Medium is kind of what I think I would go for anyway. And as I say, I can get some work done on it if it doesn't fit me exactly. So now it's just a case of buying it. Yep. Which I don't think is a media thing. That's going to happen. But soon. I know I'm soon. I'm set now. So Thomas, thank you as always for helping me along my path as chief enabler. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we have another thing that I forgot to put in the show notes, Myke. And this is since it's related to Thomas as well. I wanted to go ahead and put it in there. He's been sending us images via Myke Masuyama, who has a friend that's doing. I'm going to butcher this. So y'all in the chat room, tell me this because I never get it right. I always want to call it Mackie E, but it's Mackie A work, like the painted work on the pens. And at the Atlanta pen show, Myke was showing some pictures of his friend that does work. He's painted a koi, a snake and a frog, rodden, and different rodden work on these pens. I'm going to put these pictures in the show notes because Myke Masuyama asked me, told me I sent him a pen to get this done. He's sending off a batch to his friend in Japan this week. And he wanted me to mention on the show that if anyone's interested in this work, it's $150. You send a pen, preferably a black pen, a large barrel black pen. Like I sent my Pilot Custom Heritage 912, which is a large pen. And it turns out Thomas sent the same exact pen. We kind of think alike. And I'm going to get the koi finish on it. And it looks amazing. I'm going to put all these photos in the show notes. I'll get that to you, Myke, when we're done. And we can put that photo from Fountain Pen Day. And Kerry already has his return because he ordered one in Atlanta with the rodden work on it. Did you see that one, Myke? Yeah, I did. That's pretty crazy, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, these are stunning. I don't think I have a pen that fits the bill to have this work done on. I don't have a black barreled pen that I love so much that I want this work done on, you know? Yeah. But if you do, like if you own something like a 3776 or something like that, yeah, this is a no-brainer.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so what you want to do is you want to reach out to Myke Masayama via his website, mikeatwork.com. Hit him up on the email. Say you're interested and tell him that you're sending the pen. And he'll coordinate because he wants to ship all these out in a batch. And, you know, this will get you in on that. But it's $150. You can choose from one of the four designs. And this is kind of a test run to see and to see if this is like a viable thing for his friend to do. His friend lives in Japan, so he wants to send these all at once. And it's just really fascinating work. The price is very, very fair, I feel. I don't own anything like this, and I think it would just be stunning looking. So I'm all about getting that koi done. Again, it looks amazing. And we'll have some more pictures in the show notes than the Instagram one I just put in the chat room. So we'll list them all in the show notes. You can, if you're interested, you can see what the designs look like.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, we'll do that. Yeah, the one that Carrie from Phantom Pen Day had.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of amazing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. All right. So should we take a break now? Yeah, sure. That sounds good. That might be a good idea. Because I guess if you want to get in on this, you probably want to get yourself a pen to put it on.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a good call. Look at you. You're a professional podcaster.

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