Editing The Pen Addict 417/transcript (section)

== Car Companies Ownership ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Reminds me of the car companies, right? That like, Ferrari is owned by Fiat, which doesn't make sense, right? Like, if you don't know enough about cars, you're like, well, but Ferrari are supercars and Fiat's are these little cars. how is this possible, right? Because like, you know, or like, is Volkswagen to own Bugatti, right? And it's just like, how is this possible, right? But it's just, it's making the nice expensive stuff doesn't necessarily mean that you make a lot of money, right? Like, there are margins and, you know, just because sailor appear to be a very well respected, reasonably priced to a very expensive price fountain pen company doesn't mean that they are more profitable than your office supply company be that you've never heard of.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Totally agree. Totally agree. All right, last point before we move on with the rest of the show. Can you think of anything in our world that would cause us to do an emergency podcast like they did?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. Agreed. We would always wait for the next episode. Yeah. Right? Like, we would always wait. Well,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' it's not that. I just don't know that, like, number one, we can't run a topic like they ran a topic for this particular thing, right? Like, that wouldn't, like, Sailor Pilot and Platinum in Japan don't have, like, we don't have the view into them necessarily being in England and being in the US. Like, what companies are, that we follow, it doesn't have to be, you know, obviously a regional company, it could be worldwide, but is there anything?

'''Myke Hurley:''' provide an element of follow-up real quick? Fiat used to own Ferrari, but I think it's been spun out as its own independent company now of which Fiat owns a large portion. But my point still stands, but I just wanted to try and save the follow-up. Yeah. So, yes, I'm completely in agreement

'''Brad Dowdy:''' with you. Yeah, I was thinking emergency podcast is like, you know, I mean, we were sad about Retro 51, but like, that is the closest,

'''Myke Hurley:''' that's the closest, but we just waited.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, but that's not, like, I feel like that's even a, that's such a smaller brand compared to something like Sailor that has a worldwide foot. Right,

'''Myke Hurley:''' but I mean, it's not about the size, it's like that our personal relationship with Retro 51 made it of high importance, but no, I don't think that there's anything that would warrant an emergency episode of The Pan Addict.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, so good job, Jacob and CY, keep doing it, and we want to hear more. Definitely, please,

'''Myke Hurley:''' even if you've listened to us discuss all this to this point, go and listen to that episode, because there's more detail in there, and they do a better job of explaining it than us two numbskulls probably did.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Totally, totally agree

'''Myke Hurley:''' with that. All right, today's episode is brought to you by Harry's. Harry's is a return to the essential, quality, durable blades at a fair price, just $2 per blade. They've cut out the middle people manufacturing blades in their German blade factory that's been honing precision blades for a century. Harry's blades are a fraction of the price of the leading brands and saving you hundreds of dollars over time. Harry's can help you save so much money that if you switch, you could save enough money every year to buy 26 cups of coffee in New York, or three deep dish pizzas in Chicago, or even pay for six months of a Netflix subscription. Harry's is super convenient. Their blade refills are delivered directly to your door on your schedule with or without a subscription, and they have all of your grooming needs covered in one stop because you can get blades, hair care products, and shower products all over on harrys.com. And just like their blades, they're committed to providing premium products without breaking the bank. What do you got to tell me, Brad?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I did a bad thing this morning, Myke. I forgot to shave. I forgot to shave. In the past, in the past, that would be an issue, but with Harry's blades and blades quality, even if it's not the blade right out of the box, I know that tomorrow, even though I'm a day later in my shaving routine, that Harry's is going to give me a nice smooth shave, where in the past with other brands, I'd be kind of cringing knowing that I'm going to have to get this little extra stubble, and I don't know how these blades are going to work, but Harry's just knocks that stuff right out. Even though I was upset, I forgot to shave this morning, I know tomorrow, Harry's is going to make it okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right now, Pen Addict listeners, we've got a great deal for you. You can go right now and redeem your trial set at harrys.com slash pen addict, and you'll get a weighted ergonomic handle for a firm grip, a five blade razor with lubricating strip and trimmer blade, a rich lathering shave gel with aloe to keep your skin hydrated, and a travel blade cover to keep your razor dry and easy to grab on the go. You can feel better about your purchases at Harry's because 1% of proceeds are set aside for non-profit organizations devoted to helping people get better access to mental health care for men and veterans, and to also help those who need it the most. Harry's is donating $1 million worth of shaving supplies to hospitals across the US right now, which is fantastic. Go to harrys.com to start shaving and saving today. Our thanks to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, Myke, let's hit a few ass TPAs before we get out of here today, and I'm going to read this first question because I want you to answer it because you know the answer and you know why it's the answer. So this is from AJ Gaming. What ink best matches the purple Pilot Metropolitan?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Oh, Pilot's Purple Ink. Pilot's Purple.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And why? It's beautiful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it's in cartridges, which I think is key for the Metropolitan. So I'm assuming that AJ Gaming, since they mentioned the purple Pilot Metropolitan, that they're wanting a purple ink. Is that how you would take this? I mean, I don't have to want it, but that's what I would recommend. Yeah, Pilot's Purple Ink is great. If you want another purple, Cross Violet is a very good purple. Make sure you have a converter for that. And if you want something besides purple, tweet at me and I'll help you pick out a new ink. All right, I'll let you take it from here.

'''Myke Hurley:''' These are the cartridges that I use and have used for a long, long, long, long time in my M90. matte.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and it's a good solid middle of the range, bright, but not overly so purple.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I really love it. It's a great color. I've been a big fan of it for years, so big thumbs up here. All right, so next up, question comes from JS Carp, who asks, is there a way to remove a hair that is stuck between the tines of a fountain pen without removing all of the ink from the pen and flushing it, otherwise making an inky mess? A fountain pen slash cat owner is curious to know. Curious? Are you curious or do you have an immediate issue that you need resolved?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I felt immediate, so I replied on Twitter already, but I wanted to leave this in here. For people to order a brass shim the next time they place an order from a pen retailer, many of them who carry repair type of goods or just like fountain pen maintenance type of goods, carry these little brass sheets, and I keep one on my desk for this exact reason, not because of necessarily the hair, but the paper fibers get stuck sometimes in the nib of your pen, and you can spread the tines out on your fingernail and get it out that way or do something, but the brass shim is very thin and it slides, you put it in the little keyhole of the nib and slide it towards the tip and it cleans it out and then you're good to go. so that's exactly what you need to do. I bet you could get a

'''Myke Hurley:''' wicked paper cut on one of those.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, like, so, yeah, you have to be a little bit careful and, you know, you, as you use them, you, like, trim up the edges to keep them sharp and things like that, so, yeah, it sits away from my hands and, but I don't know, they're so soft and flexible, it's not, it's not as, it's very flimsy, I mean, I've gotten

'''Myke Hurley:''' like bad paper cuts on tin foil, so, yeah, I wouldn't trust myself with one of those. Well, I was gonna, you have a much better suggestion, because mine was gonna be like, you want to get one of those loops, you know, like, is it called a loop, the little magnifying thing, and a set of tweezers and, like, I mean, really go at it, but that's a terrible idea compared to yours, but just be careful, I guess.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And to be perfectly honest, with your pen inked up and you have something stuck in the nib, go stick it under the faucet and just kind of spread the tines, flush it out, and then stick your nib in a paper towel, let the ink run back normal again, run the water out again, I mean, it's a tiny bit wasteful and a tiny bit annoying, but I wouldn't hesitate if I was still interested in using the pen and the ink to stick the current nib under the water, flush it out, and then just keep writing with it until the water dries out of it, I don't think that's a big deal at all.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That is a good, that's a very good call, like it's not going to harm it. No, you're just going to have

'''Brad Dowdy:''' water in the flow, but you just stick a paper towel on the nib and let it suck through some more of the ink to flush the water out and you're back to writing in no time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That was, there's something kind of funny in that for me, which is like the Incy Wincy Spider, you know, you know that one? Yeah. Like when you just said like, and like flush the water out, it's just, I don't know, there's something about it to me. I will not sing that for

'''Brad Dowdy:''' you because I will mess it up, but yes, there is, there is something there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' E Castillo 33 asks, which pen refills can be used in spoke pens? And I will add an addendum to like, what do you think are the best ones? Because I know there's lots that could fit, but what would you recommend as the best ones?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There's really not lots that could fit, which is the reason why we built it, right? We built it for the Uniball Signo DX refill, which is the UMR-1 and the 05 size, which is 05 UMR-1 And obviously you think

'''Myke Hurley:''' that's the best because that's what you built the pen around.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and we did that because there's not a lot of other pens that fit that refill naturally, right? It's a particularly sized and designed refill. That said, through our testing, we did find a couple of other ones that would fit in there. So two of the three other ones are the UMR-8 series, which is for the Signo 207-307s, which you find on the store shelves a lot, the Uniball SX-R, which are the long Jetstream ballpoint refills, not the SX-R 600 series, but the SX-R like 707, I think, is like the 7mm. The one non-uniball refill that fits is the Pentel LR series, which are the Energel RTX refills. So we purposefully designed this pen to use with the Signo DX refill. It just so happens that a couple other ones do, but I would be perfectly happy if you never used another refill with this because this is what it is designed for.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Via Martin, I have a couple of questions. Please explain the differences between the terms shimmer, sheen, and shading when it comes to ink.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. I can do

'''Myke Hurley:''' one of them, maybe two of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Shimmer would be, I guess, if there's some kind of element inside of the ink which creates a glittery effect, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. A physical particle will be in a shimmer ink. Think of a gold dust, like you have a red ink with a gold shimmer. It means there is a literal particle in there that when you write on the page will then show up in that ink color.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and these are typically canned B, the more dangerous two pens because, again, depends what you're buying for, depends what pen you're using. It's gotten a lot better in recent times.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You have to, as I always say, I don't think they're more dangerous. You have to be more considerate of what you're doing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think that's two ways of saying the same thing, but yes, sure. You have to be more considerate because it's exactly the same, sure. Sheen is when they're, say you have a blue ink, when it dries, it also could carry a different color inside of it. So, you may have heard us mention the ink, the Robert Oster fire and ice in the past because it is a blue ink that when it dries, has a little red in it. We call it a sheen because it looks like it lifts off the page and creates an interesting effect. If you were looking at metal that carried a different color in it, so a sheen could be like a secondary color that appears when the ink dries, which is super cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I think the key with sheen is it's generally on top of the ink, right? It's the top level of the ink when it dries on a page. Not all inks have sheen. Some inks have extreme sheen. So you could be writing your letters, say like with Myke saying with a blue ink, and if you have an ink that has a little bit of sheen, the edge of the line might show up red. Where if you get a sheening ink that is marketed as such, when you write your line, the entire line when it dries will practically be coated in this sheen. You know, I call it like 90% coverage sometimes when I'm reviewing these sheen inks. Like you lose some of the blue underneath because it has this red that you can see at different angles on the ink line.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And shading is just a similar-ish kind of result but in the same color. So you may have like an orange ink that maybe around the edges of the line gets a little darker when it dries. Is that fair to say?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So yeah, shading you see within the ink color when it dries as opposed to like on top. So the best way to kind of explain shading is that like the Huff Gordier Groen, the green ink that we like from Ackermann so much, number 28, it's a yellowish-green ink. And when you use a nib, shading is very nib particular and paper particular sometimes. A lot of these things are. And when you're writing with it, when you're writing with any fountain pen nibs, they take a steel nib, it's spreading the ink on the page, right? So when you start a line, you're actually dragging the ink downwards. So the line where you started has less ink than where you stopped because that's where you drug the ink to. So the shading is the difference in color between the top portions of that line and the bottom portions of that line. Usually, so the top portion of that line will be lighter and the bottom portion will be darker. I think shading is my favorite feature. It's the prettiest on a page when you get a really good shading ink and a shading pen nib. It's pretty cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think we did a good job answering those. And then a secondary question.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're not going to do a good job on this one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Awesome. Please explain the differences in paper. Weights, GSM, coated, non-coated, acid-free, and their relationships to absorbance and which might work best in planners and calendars. All right, so I want to say one thing. Weights and GSM, my understanding is it's exactly the same. Like, they're interchangeable terms, right? The GSM is the actual size, like the you get like 100 GSM. That is a paper weight. That is a weight of paper, which is a thickness of the paper.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Is that fair? Right. It's fair and people just translate them differently. It's the same term. So yeah, it's generally the same term, but I don't know if it's like a US uses pounds like weight, you know, like you see 60 pound paper where that GSM is, you can convert that into like 80 GSM paper. So GSM, I believe, is grams per square meter, which is a density. It's a density measurement, right? So the higher the grams per square meter, the thicker the paper is, the more dense the paper is. And without context, you can't really tell anything about the paper. If you just have the GSM, you can say, oh, it's thick, but how is it going to work with pens? Well, that's when you need all of this other stuff that you mentioned, is the paper coated. How is it finished? Acid-free, we don't really get into these days. Most notebooks are made acid-free. You just have to research and see if that's a good thing for how you want to write. But coated and non-coated, let's take those because those are what we run into the most in our world related to the previous ink conversation that we had. so a coated paper, it feels smoother on the top, almost like it's glossy, but you can't really see it. You can just kind of feel it. So what that does is allows the ink to sit up on the page and not soak into the fibers as much. That could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. If you need the paper to dry quickly, like Myke being left-handed and doesn't want to drag his hand on ink that hasn't dried yet, a coated paper like Rhodia, Rhodia is the most popular example of a coated type paper, the dry time for the same pen and ink on that page is going to be longer than on a non-coated page. The example I always use for that is Leuchtturm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's one pros and cons. The other pros and cons is since the ink does sit up on a coated paper more, you're going to see more of the sheen and probably more of the shading because the ink doesn't go straight into the page fibers like it would on a non-coated page. You get a fast dry time with non-coated page, but if I use the same Huff Guardia Groen that I was talking about for shading, it's going to look different on a coated page. It's going to be lighter colored and more shaded, where on the non-coated paper, it's going to be less shading and darker because it soaks into the page more. That's not a bad thing either because it's marginal. These are tiny, tiny differences. I always use the term because it handles that well. The ink does not get into the fibers and you have these little fiber runners of ink or it does not bleed through to the next page. Non-coated can be good. That's kind of the main thing. As far as what works best in planners' calendars, that's up to you. I would say best.

'''Myke Hurley:''' As a person who needs to make these decisions like you, in my products that I would make, I would go non-coated because a coated paper can give you a better result depending on what you're looking for. We talk about Tomoe River paper which is an incredible paper but it's a coated paper. Even though one of the most popular journal products is made out of Tomoe River paper, the Hobonichi journals, I think that it is not a good choice to make in most instances because you are making things more difficult for people in certain ways, I feel, right? When you've got to consider dry time and smudging, which is why I, in the product that I have made so far, went with a non-coated paper and will plan to continue to do so because the theme system journal, I'm selling that to a wider audience than the pen addict listeners. So I would want to be able to give them a paper with properties that I think most people would look for. But at the same time, I do all my testing with fountain pens. So if the ink is getting into the fibers and spidering, I'm not going to use that. So I find what I think is a happy medium between the two.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, and to elaborate on that, I think a lot of the Japanese brands hit that happy medium. That's why I tend to use Apica, Kukuyo, Moromon, Midori, Life. They're kind of all the best of both worlds as far as ink characteristics and dry time and quality, right? So that's kind of what Myke's alluding to there. So you can kind of get that good middle ground, but it's going to really depend on your writing, the type of pens you use. Like so many little tiny things matter about when you're using paper that it's an entire show. And I think we've done entire shows on paper before. So yeah, it's great questions. These are questions we need to explore from time to time because it's hard to learn how all these little decisions make a huge difference in your writing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right, should we stop there for today?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Let's wrap

'''Myke Hurley:''' it up. All right, if you want to find our show notes for this episode, you can go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 417. I want to thank Pen Chalet and Harry's for their support of this week's episode. And of course, thank you for listening. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com and knock.co. Brad is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter and penaddict on Instagram. And you can hang out with Brad on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. Eastern over on Twitch at twitch.tv slash penaddict. You can find me online. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. The Pen Addict is a part of Relay.fm. Go to relay.fm slash shows where you can maybe find another new podcast to add to your rotation. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict and we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Goodbye, Brad.

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[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]