Editing The Pen Addict 220/transcript (section)

== Kernow Bookbinding ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know. That I. That I haven't really seen on another show. Right. Pretty much everything was there. I did get to meet Steve Kernow. Of. Kernow Bookbinding. Who does. The Back Pocket Journal. Which is the. One of the first Tomoe River. Journals. He actually was out there. Um. Because he's from California. So. I got to meet him for the first time. So. That was cool. After talking to him. And. And using his. Books. And. And notebooks. And things like that. So. That was cool. And that was different. Because I got to see like his full setup. Instead of like. Just what Lisa Van Ness was carrying. So. That was kind of cool. So you get to meet people like that. Um. That. Don't travel to. A lot of other shows. That's kind of their local show. If you will. Um. So that was neat. Um. Outside of that. I'm trying to think if there were anything. Different. They're not really. Um. You know. Um. A lot of vendors. You don't normally see. But with. You know. Still kind of the same. The same setups. As you would expect. So. I didn't have anything. Like you were talking about. I didn't have much to. I certainly didn't have a shopping list. Um. After DC. I. You know. I'd. I'd spent a lot on two pens. That I really. Really. Had. Always wanted. Well. The. Omos 360. Was one I'd always wanted. The. Optima. Optima. Was new on my radar. And if I didn't buy one in DC. I would have bought one. In San Francisco. For sure. Because. I. I just kept using them. And playing with them. And I really enjoy that pen a lot. But. I had always wanted to. Purchase a pen from Ryan Krusak. Who. Is from Georgia. So. I see him at all the shows. I talk to him all the time. And he does. A few different pens. Of styles. A lot of them. Are based around wood. And then he does. Some scrimshaw pens. And then he does. Some hand painted pens. And this is all. His own artwork. You know. The scrimshaw work. He's doing himself. The hand painting work. He's doing himself. And I've always liked. The look. And aesthetic of them. But. The majority of pens. I haven't. Cared for. The grip section. That he used. He uses a thin. Thinner. Than. What I consider. A standard. Grip section. So.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know. I always. I check out his stuff. Every show. And look at his stuff. Every show. And never come away with anything. Because I don't think. I would use it. Because of the grip section. But everything else. About the pen. Really really speaks to me. So. In DC. He came up with a new model. It's called the Legend. Which is.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' More. I don't want to say standard. But it definitely has a more normal section. So. It's got an ebonite section. Of a standard width. Like you would normally see. And the shape of the pen. Is. Like the. Nakaya Piccolo. That I like so much. That standard cigar. Cigar shape. With a little bit tapering. On the end. You know. That's a very. Common design. But it's a design. That I like a lot. And. So he came. And they're clipless. Which I really enjoy. So a lot of his pens have clips. Which. I'm not opposed to clips. I'm just saying. I like that. Aesthetic. I'm good with a non-clip aesthetic. And. These are at. A lower price point. Than a lot of his stuff. Like the Scrimshaw stuff. Is beautiful. It's just expensive. Same with the hand painted stuff. It's just. Beautiful. But expensive.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Naturally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. As it should be. Right. So. I saw Ray from. Fountain Pen Quest. Pick one up. In DC. And I was just kind of too busy. I didn't get to talk to Ryan much. In DC. But. He was with an eye shot of us. In San Francisco. So I strolled over there. On Saturday. To see what he had. And he had. I don't know. About six or eight of these. Left. And. Just looking at the wood patterns. And the finishes on them. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They seem to be like. The real design. Is focused around the wood grain.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It is. And he. Prides himself on. Finding these. Exotic. Patterned woods. To really show off the wood grain. And there was one particular pen. That. Out of like the eight or so. That he had. On the. On the table. That I kept grabbing the same one. Over and over again. I was like. Well. I guess I'm buying this one. Because. I keep grabbing it. And I can't put it down. And we'll. We'll put a picture in the show notes. And I'll. I'll shoot it over to the. Chat room. But my pen is actually. The one. Two. Three. Fourth one. From the top. So. It's a. Mexican. Bocate wood.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So. It's like the yellow and black one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And it's got all the swirls in it. He was.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know. He talked this one up a bunch. You know. About how he got this wood. And he. You know. He's got a friend in Atlanta. That has a wood shop. And when he gets rare. Unique stuff. That he can't use. Even if it's small pieces. He'll get this guy. To give him a call. And he'll run down. And pick it up. So. We got these two. So. The top one was already gone. Out of these two. So. The third one down. With the. Smaller swirls in the cap. Mine has the swirls in the barrel. So. Mine. It's. It's just really cool. It's very. Very light. And it has an ebonite section. And a steel nib. And it's got Ryan's stamp on the nib. Which is. Which is very cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Everything about this. Pen is like. Right up my alley. I. It is a little light. But I think that's good. Because I'll be able to. Pocket it. And carry it easily. Like. It's not heavy. It's not going to get in the way. And I've really enjoyed. Using it. And the. The feel of it. Is. Is really. Really cool. And. You know. The set. And the sections. Right on the money. So. I inked this up. When I got home. And. And. I've been using it. A bunch actually. So. I'm very happy. With this pen. And one thing. One thing Ryan does. Which every time I screw it on. Like. He really focuses on. With these patterns. You can tell he lines them up. Right. You can even see it in the picture. Of the one. That I've got. Like. The swirls. And the. The knots. And the wood. Line up when you close the pen. Which is really. Really cool. You don't want to see that stuff. You know. All. All misaligned. So. He. He definitely takes the care to. Turn them in the right way. So they. They end up. Lining up when you. Screw on the cap. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's nice. I'm pretty. That's attention to detail. My friend. I like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That is. And everything. And even. So not just that lines up. But also. The. Most.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um. What would you say? Almost like the most showy part of the pen. Like. The. The prettiest part of the pen. Where. All the swirls are. Like. The barrel side. That's also lined up. To where you grip the pen. So that's on the top. Right. So. That's not the part hidden underneath. On the cusp of your hand. When you're writing. You get to see the fancy. So you get to see the real benefit. Yeah. You get to see the fancy. When you're writing. So. Like. It's. Uh. Everything about it. It's like. Set up perfectly. So like. Like. That's. Those are the things he considers. When he's. When he's making these pens. And. Um. You just. Can't help but be. Impressed with. With that work. And. I was impressed enough to. Uh. To buy this one. And take it home. So I finally got my first. Ryan Krusak pen. After about. I don't know. Two or three years of. Of talking with Ryan. Huh. So. And these are. These are cheaper than most of his pens. Right. But it's. Yeah. I think this one's $295. So. I mean. I say cheap. But it's relative. I mean. He has pens that. You know. Run a thousand dollars or more. Um. So. This was. You know. It didn't really matter. The price. You know. It was just whether a pen. Was going to fit my style. My needs. My aesthetic. The way I write. What I look for in a pen. And this just happened to be the one. So. I was super excited to get him. And I think he. He sold most of this model. While. While he was there at the show. Talking for him. I didn't get to talk to him when he left. But. I know at one point. He just had a few of them left.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Looks like a nice buy. What. What's. What nib is in there?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Uh. A steel. Extra fine nib. And they look like just. Uh. The Joe. Nibs. And this one is hard as a nail. Which I. I really like. So. I'm digging it so far. And I inked it up with Pilot Orochizuku Sukiyo. Which is kind of a. A bluish. Bluish ink. And uh. Actually I wasn't sure. What I was going to ink this one up with. You know. I usually get a little bit matchy. With my pen barrels. But I didn't want. Uh. A brown or sepia ink in this. Or black. You can have a good yellow in there though.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. That could be. That could work. Nicely.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I could definitely see that. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Good looking man. Anything else?