Editing The Pen Addict 470/transcript (section)

== Nakaya Pen Review ==


'''Brad:''' All right. Look, these are very beautiful.

'''Myke:''' It's the engineering

'''Brad:''' in the nib. I have no, look, I understand it but that was just, when you said it's expensive I had a number in my mind and we're past that number.

'''Myke:''' It's the engineering in the nib I think is very costly and then they do a very nice job on the barrels, right? So they're, everything, craftsmanship wise and machining wise is perfect. Like I have no, no knock on any machining or fabrication of these pens but they're very expensive so like the early bird price is like $220-ish and like the full, full freight price is like more like $280. That gets you one nib and then one standard barrel. The bigger consideration is that this is a short pen and on the Kickstarter that it fits my hand fine but it's close to being almost too short because you don't grip on the nib, right? So if you look at the pictures we'll share, you have to grip above where the nib attaches to the barrel and you lose a lot of length. I would like almost another, I would like at least, I'd love at least a quarter inch more on here and maybe more. Do you have anything

'''Brad:''' you could give me as a comparison?

'''Myke:''' So when I looked at them on stream, hang on, I'm gonna, my voice is gonna vanish real quick while I reach.

'''Brad:''' Okay. Because I'm thinking like are we talking like Kaweco Sport size? Yes.

'''Myke:''' So I grabbed, so let's see. How's the best way to do it? So a Kaweco Sport that is not capped, right? You're not putting the barrel on the back of the pen to make it the full length pen, right? So an uncapped, it is about a centimeter shorter than the drill log. It's about the same difference between the Mark 1 and the Ejodo for your specific purposes.

'''Brad:''' So for me, if I'm holding the drill log where I'm supposed to hold it, that's like a centimeter longer than if I held the Kaweco Sport uncapped with the... Yes. So that's basically, that's like a little bit smaller than a capped Kaweco Sport then, right? Because that doesn't add a lot of size when you cap it.

'''Myke:''' Well, I'm measuring it now. Capped, it's almost two centimeters longer. That's a big difference.

'''Myke:''' So capped, it clears like the back of my hand, right?

'''Brad:''' So it's in between those basically.

'''Myke:''' So the drill log, when I grip it, it's like in the middle of the cusp of my hand. It does not clear my hand. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. So basically... And I do not, just for the record, I do not have big hands. I'd say it's just a standard medium-sized hand.

'''Brad:''' So it seems like really, if you can use an uncapped Kaweco, you'll be fine, which I can and do, actually. I don't cap whenever I use a Kaweco Sport, I don't cap, but that's much smaller than I thought. That is much smaller than I thought. And I get why, right? Because it would be super long. It might be weird, but I mean, and I understand that like you're not holding it in the same place. I remember when we came to this discovery, when we first looked at these things, like, oh no, the grip section is way higher, right? Which is also a thing of like, you might not like the way this works, right? like, I think I would, I will struggle a little bit with where I need to hold it in relation to how far my fingers are away. Like, I'm going to feel like I'm using a paintbrush rather than a pen. Right. But I'm still into it because I just think it's a beautiful thing. It's the same, it's like that price, it's expensive, but I do, I want one of these. It's like a piece of jewelry.

'''Myke:''' Right. So like, I was concerned about the distance from my grip to the nib on the page, right? Yep. And I was actually, I was okay with that. The bigger issue is going to be just the barrel length. And what's funny to me in their design choices, so they have this double-ended one, right, that they sent me, right? So you can actually, this is not, so what the pen I was talking about is the Kickstarter pen. This is the only model on the Kickstarter pen. It's called the Classic. So outside of that on the regular drill log site, so they sent me one called the Twin Spiral, right? And it's where you could put like the 0.5 nib on one side of the pen and the 0.8 nib on the other side of the pen. So if you look at that barrel closely, they actually allow for a posting on the back side of the pen and it makes it the perfect length. And I don't know why that didn't convert over into this Classic barrel because it's the same barrel shape. If they had that, it would be like, for me, we're getting into like no-brainer territory because it's a good length. Without that posting, so the cap does not post anywhere at all. It doesn't screw on, there's no magnet, nothing. It's short and I think that's going to be an issue for some people.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I don't know why they didn't do posting. Yeah,

'''Myke:''' so if you look at the pictures of the Twin Spiral, it's like a two-line groove on the back. I'm a little bit confused of why that didn't translate into this pen knowing that it's definitively short.

'''Brad:''' I mean, the only thing I can imagine for why they might not have done it is it doesn't look as nice.

'''Myke:''' I agree. I mean, I agree completely. But I think you're going to get more pushback on the length than you would say, hey, that doesn't really look great. that balance of feedback I think is different. But again, it fits for me. I think it's not going to fit for a lot of people until they make a longer barrel.

'''Brad:''' Visually, of all the ones that you have, my favorite is the double. I think that that is like spot on visually for me.

'''Myke:''' Yep. That is the best one. Because what I also like,

'''Brad:''' it shows you exactly where to hold it.

'''Myke:''' Right. And that spiral is actually a pretty decent grip. I have a traditional grip. My fingers fit in those grooves to where it doesn't feel weird. It feels normal. That's the one I recommend. It would end up being the most expensive because you'd have to double up on the nibs, right? And the nibs are expensive on their own. So, that's my favorite out of the bunch. If we're going to talk about the standard drill log offerings, I wanted to like the Mirage so much. That's the blue kind of disc one. It's just not comfortable to write with. I couldn't recommend this to almost anyone. You would have to be really, really particularly in love with this barrel because it's not comfortable to write with, with those grooves. It looks so cool. I want it to be the best. It is not. It's got to feel

'''Brad:''' terrible. It looks so cool. It's going to look great on a desk, but I can't imagine there being an uncomfortable way to hold that pen. No. It's like,

'''Myke:''' the disc edges aren't rounded. I don't want to say they're sharp, but they're sharp-ish.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah. That one doesn't look so good to me in that sense. It looks great, but like, yeah.

'''Myke:''' I still have a lot more testing. I'll post some more Instagram pictures if y'all want to see something in particular about these drill logs. I mean, it's going to launch, did we even mention that? So it launches tomorrow. So at 2100 Tokyo time, which if my math is correct, that's 8 a.m. Eastern U.S. time. So that'll be a little afternoon your time, Myke, and then pretty early for our West Coast listeners in the U.S. 15th of July. So tomorrow, yes. So it is launching tomorrow. The early, this is one of those times where the early birds actually does make a pretty significant price difference based on what I can see in the preview of the campaign. I'm going to back it. I'm going to support them and get another one because I want this to continue to grow, right? They're just starting. And even though they've sent me five barrels and two nibs, I'm totally giving them my money for another one because I want them to succeed. Like, I want this to be a thing. And it's just going to be a very particular product. Like, I think people will get them and go, oh, you know what? That didn't really work for me or, oh, I didn't like it. And then there's going to be some people like myself that now have an 05 millimeter dip nib that's just fascinating for me. And I just, I just adore it.

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'''Myke:''' I feel like we're about to start the show at the beginning all over again.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, so you bought a pen, huh?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, and there's like two huge topics we haven't covered and we've covered some huge topics today. Yeah, I did a thing, Myke. What happened here?

'''Myke:''' So many justifications are about to happen, Myke, to tell you, to explain to you what happened. Into it. I love Nakias, right? Oh, okay. I am in the stage of my pen library of refinement and really narrowing down the most favorite pens that I want to use on a regular basis because I have too many pens to use them all in any type of reasonable time frame based on how I write and how I use products. So, and I do not like having products sitting unused that I've spent money on, right? I use everything I get.

'''Myke:''' You know, price doesn't matter on, you know, whether I'm deciding to use a pen or not. I don't have a museum. I have a library where I check things out and I ink them up and I use them.

'''Brad:''' Oh, I love that analogy, Brad. That's good.

'''Myke:''' That's what I've been using for a while. I settled on that like a while ago. I don't, I don't, you don't say it out loud because it sounds kind of weird when you say it out loud, but yeah, that's my term as opposed to collection. I don't feel like I have a collection.

'''Brad:''' Yeah.

'''Myke:''' I feel like I have a library. I may have stolen that from Anthony at UK Fountain Pens. I'll have to remember when I wrote it up one time for the members. It's been well over a year ago, but anyway, library is the phrase that I stuck on. I like it. And right now, there are books in the library that need to be sold. Like they're just, you know, it's time to have the library sale because when I stumble across a pen like this Nakaya, which I'll explain in just a second, I want to be able to purchase it. I don't want to say guilt-free, but like you just can't spend this type of money for this type of pen. At least I can't. I can't spend this type of money on this type of pen on a regular basis. This is a very expensive pen. This is the second most expensive pen I bought, but it is a perfect pen for me. So this is like, what is the... So this is a Nakaya Decapod. No, the other one, it's that one with all the Makai, right? The Milky Way. So that's the Miki, right? Yes. Yeah. That's the only pen I've spent over $1,000 on. This one did not crack that threshold, but it was pretty darn close.

'''Myke:''' So when I see like this little bit of perfection and I say that for me, right, it's perfect for me, I want to be able to buy it and add it to the library. So this is a Nakaya Decapod in Midori Taminuri. And Midori is a bright green. And if you're not familiar with the Decapod, it is one of the pens that shows the most underlying colors of a Rushi because it's a faceted barrel. Right? So you get these ridges all down the barrel with all this green poking through. And it's impossible for me to just not go, oh my gosh.

'''Brad:''' Is it blue with green?

'''Myke:''' It's green. It's green.

'''Brad:''' It's all green, right?

'''Myke:''' Oh, no, no. I'm sorry. It's black. That's black. Okay. With green. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know what you're asking me. Yes, the base is black

'''Brad:''' with a green undertones of green. Okay.

'''Myke:''' And the green is bright, right? The green is not like a dark green or forest green. It's a bright green. It stands out. Mm-hmm. And so, like, I've seen dozens of Decapods over my years and have never bought one because, like, the setup hasn't been perfect. That's the thing with Nakaya is they're not mass-produced. So you don't always get, like, the perfect setup unless you're ordering one brand new from someone who sells them. And by setup, I mean, does it have a clip or not a clip? Is it a gold clip or a rhodium-plated trip? Is the nib gold in color or is it rhodium-plated gold? What size is the nib? Is it broad or is it extra fine? So there's lots of questions I have to ask myself when I'm buying an Nakaya. This pen happened to have, the first thing that caught my eye is it's a rhodium-plated nib. I was like, well, that's the only nibs I like on my Nakayas is that silver look. I don't like the gold nibs. And on top of that, it had a grind on it which I had to actually research. So, it has a fine nib and it's got an extra fine flex nib grind. And that sounds kind of simple. I mean, in the scheme of nib things. But, I hadn't, I thought this was like the elastic nib, which the elastic nib is the cutouts on the side of the nib. And what this is, and I'll have to find a better picture and I'll have to do it myself, is this nib is basically ground into a needle point and then the underside of the nib is shaved down a little bit. You can barely see it visually to allow for a little bit of flex in the nib. So, it's designed for Spenserian handwriting, which I don't do, but the fine lines and the slight flex lines, the slight width you gain, fits my style of handwriting perfectly, right? It's basically writing with like a soft needle point, which, if you've heard me talk for 470 episodes, it's like, well, that's, that's a Brad pen. And I, I, it took me about 5 minutes to decide to buy this pen. That's how perfect it was for me, right? For me personally. Um, that the decision when I saw it was like, oh, okay, I don't need to spend, I'll say it, $950 on a pen. And then, I was like, hmm, that is an exact, and once I researched the nib, like, that is exactly, perfectly, this is exactly the pen I should buy if I'm gonna spend that kind of money to get the most value for it, and the most use for it, from my, from my personal usage. It's like, exactly the pen setup that I want, the color, and the nib. And, um, so yeah, it's like, like, it's, it's great. This is my first Decapod. I love it. It's, I'm just using it religiously. I have it inked up with the, the Mount Fuji blue-black ink cartridges, which I'm actually going, I just wanted to get that in there to get it tested out. Um, I always use blue-black inks in my, uh, Nakaya, but I'm gonna eventually use a color that will shade a little bit more when I flex the nib, the, the small amount that it does flex. So, yeah, like, this is a super Brad pen, like, if there was one, like, we talk about those things that, like, really, really speak to me. So, in the end, which we mentioned earlier, is I can't buy this pen and sleep at night and not have to sell, like, other pens to pay for it. So, that's what I'm working on. We'll cover that next week on, finally, the push for me to, to sell some other pens to be able to pay for this one and to just clear out some of the library, right? So, um, yeah, it's great. I'm thrilled with it. I, I'm very happy with it.

'''Brad:''' I think that you really have something that's very Brad here. Honestly, when I saw it, I kind of thought, well, surely you already owned that pen. It just feels like you would have had that.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that's, that's exactly right. But, like, with the Decapod, it's like, okay, maybe the color wasn't right, you know, the, whichever type of finish wasn't right, or it had a gold nib and, like, I'm just not going to deal with that. um, at the time. So, yeah, it's, uh, it's one of those things where I am fortunate enough to, that it fit me perfectly and I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford it at the time it was available and now I have to make up for that by, you know, selling a bunch of pens to, to feel good about spending that kind of money on a single pen. So, that's what I'm working on.

'''Brad:''' Last thing today, by the way, congratulations, this is a beautiful pen. I'm so happy that you love it and I can't wait to see it because it really does look stunning. Yeah. It's very, um, refined.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm. What's funny is it's, it's kind of loud for a Nakaya and I mean that in the best way possible. In the color? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it's, it's a strong finish on there. Like, it's really sharp definition between the black and the green, which I love. It's not, for a Nakaya, it's, it's subtle, but not, right? Like, that's just how Nakaya, um, makes their pens, right? It's subtle, but in this one is, it's also very not subtle. So, yeah, I like it.

'''Myke:''' Twisby. Oh boy.

'''Brad:''' I can't work out what this product is.

'''Brad:''' Are you sure, Myke? Twisby swipe.

'''Brad:''' It's a,

'''Myke:''' pen, it's a pen.