Editing The Pen Addict 7/transcript (section)

== EF Lamy Safari ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. The F Nib Prera is infinitely finer than my EF Lamy Safari. There's no comparison. No comparison. EF Lamy, this is a question I get a lot for people that are new into fountain pens. They want to know, you know, they're used to writing with gel ink pens or ballpoint pens. They want to know, okay, I like writing with a 0.5 millimeter pen or a 0.7 millimeter pen. What nib should I get in a fountain pen? And that's just, that's a super, super hard question to answer. But I would say, in general, the Lamy EF Safari is going to be somewhere around a 0.7 millimeter gel ink pen. While the Prera is going to be a 0.5 millimeter gel ink pen, if not finer.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And to me, the difference between a 0.5 gel and a 0.7 gel is very large. I mean, that's a big difference to me. You know, not everyone, everyone might not see it that way, but that's a pretty big jump to me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, anyway, that's the Kaweco AL Sport Black Body. That's what I've been using. It's stealth. I look like I'm in the CIA when I carry this around.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's my stealth pocket fountain pen. I'm really just a stealth nerd. It's all it means. That's the only thing stealth I am.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So, but, um, that, you know, we kind of jumped to the end there. That's probably my number one favorite fountain pen right now. Um, bar none, just because it does, it does everything well, which includes leaving the house with it, you know, and, and that's, that's kind of a big deal to me. But, you know, I want to tell people, go through some other fountain pens that we have, um, between you and I that a lot of people ask how to get into fountain pens, what should they start with? And, you know, I've got a couple of recommendations. You've got some too that, that you, so let me, let me start off with one real quick. Um, and it's the Platinum Preppy. When people talk about a disposable fountain pen, they're talking about a lot of times, um, you, you, you can find fountain pens if you go to, you know, a re you know, a big box retailer, you know, big, make some, um, pilot, make some, uh, pintel makes, they make, they make some that are generally disposable, maybe a little bit more fancy, but you know, they'll just be like a look kind of like a marker pen type body with, you know, an ink reservoir and a nib on it. And those, I really don't have a lot of good luck with, but when I do have good luck with is the Platinum Preppy and people who have used this pen and have never used a fountain pen before are usually kind of fascinated by it because it's a very simple plastic barrel, see-through barrel, um, with a fountain pen nib comes in a lot of colors and it's only like $3 or so, um, to get in and test out a fountain pen. It's kind of a no brainer just to see if you're going to like writing with a nib. Some people, some people probably can't handle writing with a nib with their style. Um, you being left-handed, it's not the nibs as much as it is the ink probably. Um, that that's a challenge, but you know, some people maybe twist their hand, uh, too much. Some people might have too firm a pressure. Um, there is a little bit of a learning curve when you're first starting to learn how to write with a nib, but this says if I can interject, it's a really high quality cheap pen, if you put it that way.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. With the, with the left-handed thing. So yeah, ink is an issue, um, because obviously left-handed people drag across pages unless you are, you know, well-versed that doesn't, that never happens to me because I know how to use a fountain pen as a lefty. Um, so really the, the nib is also a very important part of it. Um, because you have to, because of the way that you're then positioning your hand, you have to hold the pen in very specific ways and the slightest change, um, in that. So like, you know, I know a lot of left-handed people like me will tend to curl their hand around and right from the top. Mm-hmm. So the slightest change in angle, the fountain pen can completely change it from smooth writing to scratching. Yes. Um, and that, that is a big, that is a big hurdle as a left-handed person. Um, and I know that it would turn a lot of people off sort of instantly when trying to, to, to use a fountain pen as a lefty. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I, I could imagine that that's a pretty big challenge.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because also you're writing in the wrong direction as well.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, we're going from down to up. Yep. Sorry, up to down, which is exactly how you should not be doing it. So you have to, there's a lot of, there's a lot of learning that is involved in using it, but, um, I personally feel like it's worth it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, there, there is definitely in, so a learning curve to it. And actually I think the preppy might've been the, one of the first fountain pens that I tried because I've never used a fountain pen growing up or, you know, really in my whole life. And, and actually I didn't like it at first. I was like, you know, I'm not sure that, you know, it feels scratchy to me. And I'm not sure that this, the, you know, the feedback, you know, the nib on the page feedback was enjoyable for me, the whole writing experience. But, you know, I kept trying a few different things and then I moved, you know, I said, well, let me take a chance on another pen, which I love and you love. And that's the Lamy Safari. So you were talking about your Safari earlier that it is now your favorite fountain pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I've, um, I spoke last week about the Noodlers Inc. Um, and I received the converters for both the Pereira and the, uh, and the Lamy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um, and the, the, the Lamy's just taken on a whole new world.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Um. And that was the Heart of Darkness Inc., I believe, right? Yeah, the Heart of Darkness, yeah. Now, um, you know, we all know that I like, I like medium nibs, um, and, and the Lamy's medium is a very generous medium. Um. Yes. It's very thick. But, uh, what's great about the Heart of Darkness is it dries so fast. Uh-huh. It's, it's crazy that, that, that a lot of ink is being dispersed, but it dries very quickly. Um, which is, I know that's one of the things that people would say about Noodlers Inc., I believe, is that it does dry quite well. Okay. Um, and I've been having a lot, it's not really, it's not seeping through my pages, it's been fantastic, and since using the converter, the Prera has become quite mischievous. Um, I'm gonna include a link in the show notes to what it did to me. Um, it exploded over, over one of my pages. Oh, no. A couple of days ago. Yeah, it was a, it was a shame. Just write out the nib? Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was pretty bad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Wow. Um, but. Because actually, I have a converter in my Prera. I haven't, I haven't had that happen yet, but I just noticed that I've, I've run it dry, so I need to refill it, so we'll see what happens.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It may have just been, you know, it may have been a user error, I might have done something a bit funky with it, um, and, and I'm, the Prera is still sitting in my pocket, and I want to get back to using it again. So I do go through this with pens. I, I will sometimes retire them for a short period of time before bringing them back as the daily use, as most people would, I'm sure.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep, I absolutely do the same thing. I've talked about how, I'm usually kind of on about, it seems like it's about a two-week cycle for me. You know, I'll, one pen's the best, best pen in the world for about two weeks, and then I have a new best pen in the world.