Editing The Pen Addict 454/transcript (section)

== TPA Mass List ==


'''Myke:''' It's actually been so long. I haven't updated the list. Because I knew we had so many already. That we're just going to keep adding in the list. You know, down at the bottom. And kind of roll through them. But we've got plenty.

'''Brad:''' At Embryo asks. Platinum Galaxy Starlight on the Kaya Portable Cigar. If I were looking to sink that money into a pen. Which one?

'''Myke:''' I wonder if Embryo has already jumped on this. And made a decision. We have not discussed it. We talk on Twitter frequently. We have not discussed this specifically. I've been holding off on this. I want. As someone who does not own a Nikaya.

'''Myke:''' But owns a high-end Platinum. Is yours this exact Platinum?

'''Brad:''' This is the interesting part about this question.

'''Myke:''' Right.

'''Brad:''' Is we both own only one of these. Right. Right. Because you have a Portable Cigar Nakaya. Don't you?

'''Myke:''' Correct.

'''Brad:''' Right.

'''Myke:''' That's my main. That's my main. That's my literal. In my pen rankings. Literal number one pen. But what number two. Would probably be my Namiki.

'''Myke:''' That kind of. Looks like your Galaxy Starlight. Right. It's the Namiki Milky Way. You know. It has that same kind of rotten. Glittery. Black. Kind of gold looking thing. Right. So. I'm. I'm close to having both of them. But I only have one of them. Are you going to just straight up pick the Platinum?

'''Brad:''' It's tricky. I mean like. I can't argue against it. For me personally. My personal taste. I would pick my Platinum over your Nakaya. Because. Like. I know that. Depends on the finishes and stuff. Right. The Nakaya. That you have. Which is like that dark one. With the slight green. It's nice. But. But. But. If I put. The. The Galaxy Starlight. And the Nakaya. Next to each other. Visually. I'm going for the Platinum. Every single time. Because this thing is stunning. Like. It's just so beautiful. But. The Nakaya nibs are amazing. I don't own one.

'''Brad:''' But I.

'''Myke:''' Theoretically.

'''Brad:''' Almost the same nib. Though. Yep. I mean. Look. For me. For my taste. I'm going with the. With the Platinum. Every time. Which is why I did.

'''Myke:''' Right. So. Mine. Mine. I'm going to go with the Nakaya. Portable cigar. So. I'm going to have to talk to him. After this. And we're going to have to narrow this down. And figure out. Like. What. What is. The answer. We're trying to. To get to. With this decision.

'''Brad:''' We need more detail. About. What you. Value.

'''Myke:''' In your experience. Right. So. If I can. Compare. The Nakaya. To my pilot. Namiki. That is. Similar to the Starlight. I would still. That's. Those are my number one. And number two. Pens. Right. Like. There's no wrong answer. To that. But. I. Thoroughly.

'''Myke:''' Enjoy. This Nakaya. Every time I pick it up. It's inked up right now. I keep it. Pretty much inked up. All the time.

'''Myke:''' And it's hard to explain. Why. They kind of. Don't compare. In style. And feel. Right. But. In usage. They. Man. It's hard. I'm still going to stick with the Nakaya. Just because. That's the feel. That I like from a pen. But. There. There's no wrong answer. It's just. What you're. What you're looking. At the end game is here. So. It's a shockingly hard question. For two very expensive pens. But. It's like. I don't know. I don't know what the perfect answer is. Because. That's how good both of these pens are.

'''Brad:''' But it's just tricky. Because. Because they are so expensive. You typically make a decision. And we both just made decisions. And. It's kind of hard to compare the two of them.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Brad:''' They're up in the upper echelon.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. The. Nakaya. Portable. It was my dream pen. Back in the day. When I bought it. That's. I have to go look and see. When I wrote the review. Of it. But. Like. I basically shopped for it. For like a year or two. Right. To make a decision. On it. So it holds. A different type of importance. For me as well. Right. It was. It's definitely more of a signifier. Pen. Um. Than the Milky Way. Which is something like. Than I was able to do later. I still.

'''Brad:''' Feel weirdly intimidated. Uh. To buy. Anakaya. I think a lot of people do.

'''Myke:''' That's fair. I mean. It's. It's such. It is a very interesting pen. To. Have to try to describe. Without someone trying it out. That's why I always. Effort to bring. One or two with me. Whenever I go to a pen show. Because people have never felt. A pen. Like that. Probably. You know. It's very. Very unique.

'''Brad:''' Namiki. Yakuri. Milky. Yakuri Milky Way. Mm-hmm. That's what you have.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. And that's. That's kind of not in this category. Because it's double the price of both of these pens. It's different. It's a different class. The portable. And the Galaxy Starlight. Are equivalents. Right. They're. Right there. Together.

'''Myke:''' Price point. The. The Namiki. Is. Is double that.

'''Brad:''' All right. I have a longer one here. Because this is a horror story. We haven't had one of these in a while.

'''Brad:''' This comes from Josh. Who has a minor horror story for us. That does also raise some questions. So this is from Josh. I almost have a pen in my pocket while I'm working. And one of the pens that I use a lot is the Pelican M205. Because it is a great lightweight pen that fits easily into my shirt pocket. Last week I was doing laundry. And when I opened the dryer. Something dropped out onto the floor. It was too small to be a coin. And when I bent down to pick it up. It was a black. It was black on one side. As I started to pick it up. Realization swept over me as I recognized what it was. A nib unit. Sure enough I checked the lint trap. And there was the body of my M205. Surprisingly the cap was still on the shirt pocket. But the pen body and nib had worked themselves loose in the dryer. I don't understand how the cap stayed connected. But nib unit came off the pen. Because the nib unit coming off is such an aggressive thing.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. And to make it all the way into the lint trap. From just floating around. In like the pants and shirts in the dryer. Which is what would normally happen. Normally you take a load out of the dryer. And the pen just goes flying. Right? If you've ever done this. You know speaking from experience. But to actually make it into the lint trap. This is all kinds of aggression. In this dryer.

'''Myke:''' You should be very proud of your dryer. I bet it gets your clothes dry. In like 10 minutes flat. With that level of aggression.

'''Brad:''' Honestly I lucked out. Because the one shirt. That the pen was attached to. Took most of the damage. So we're forgetting this is inked. Yeah. And there are a few other stray spots of ink. On other items of laundry. Wasn't conspicuous enough to ruin anything. It does leave me with a few questions though. The nib seems like it's toast. The tines are bent over one another. But with the interchangeable nature of pelican nibs. It's easy to buy a replacement. The question is. Did the trip through the washer and dryer. Do any damage to the body of the pen. Like the heat of the dryer. Damaging the seal of the piston. Such that I shouldn't throw money. At a new nib for this pen body. If it's worth salvaging. Is there any sort of maintenance I should do? Do I need to use silicone grease. On the inside of the barrel. Before inking it up again. Is there anything else I should do to this pen. After it's unexpected cleaning adventure.

'''Myke:''' Alright. So there's a couple things to address. The future of this pen. I am not a scientist. I don't know how the heat in the dryer. Would affect this pen. My gut feeling tells me. There's no lasting damage. From temperature. Right. I don't know if there's any lasting damage. From agitation. Right. That I can't speak to. My gut tells me that. The heat is probably not enough. But I would silicone grease. The piston. That's removable from the back of the pen. And you just. You don't lubricate the barrel itself. You take that part out. Lubricate around the piston seal. You're probably good to go. But here's the thing. The M205 replacement nib. Is going to cost almost as much as the pen itself.

'''Myke:''' So that's the consideration. Right. Do you want to pay. 80, 90 bucks. Or maybe more. For a nib unit. When you can get the M205. For like 125. Mm-hmm. And knowing that it's gone through. This dance. Right. Because it's not. It's not usable right now. Because the. The nib is destroyed. Right. You can get the nib repaired. For cheaper than replacing the nib. You could probably get the nib repaired. And that's a route. I would consider. Probably like in the 40 to 50 dollar range. Right. To save the pen. But the whole pen itself. Is like 125. So. You just got to think about that balance. Like. I would not. I would buy a new pen. Before I bought a nib unit. But if I'm convinced. The pen barrel itself. Is okay. I'd maybe just send the nib off. To get fixed. And. That would be. You know. The. The most efficient price way. To. To go with it. If you're convinced. That the barrel is okay.

'''Myke:''' You can. Go ahead. And put the nib unit in. And test all the seals. Right. You're not going to be able to write with it. But. Put the nib unit in. Fill it with water. And see. If you have any issues. You know. Leave it. You know. Overnight. Or a couple days. Give it a shake. Fill it with water. I mean. Yeah. Give it a shake.

'''Brad:''' Take it a few. See if any ink comes out. You might as well. Nothing else you can do to it.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Because that. That nib. Threading. Should still thread normally. Into the barrel. If it doesn't. Then. Then you've solved. All your problems. Right. Um. That it. It's just broken. And it's done. Um. You're not going to be able to repair. The barrel. In any kind of efficient. Fashion. Um. So that's what I would do. Because the nib unit. Should screw it. Screw in just fine. Fill it with water. See what type of leaks you have. And then decide. If that's good. Maybe you get the nib. Repaired.

'''Brad:''' All right. Workbench Johnny asks. At this point of pen collecting. If you and Myke. Could have only one fountain pen each. Which would it be. Including nib type. And why?

'''Myke:''' Should refer back to the. The first question. Of the ask TPA section. Those are contenders right?

'''Brad:''' Yeah.