Editing The Pen Addict 156/transcript (section)

== Mechanical Pencils ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So let me, let me rehash this a little bit from my experience. Fountain, uh, fountain pens. Jeez. Mechanical pencils were my gateway drug into micro-tipped gel ink pens because back in the late 70s and early 80s, you could not get pens that could write very fine. You know, you were lucky if you ever saw a 0.5 millimeter in your life. Everything was, you know, 1.0 millimeter ball points or 0.7 millimeter rollerball ink pens. But if you shopped at the right places, you know, 30 years ago, you could find 0.5 millimeter leads, which are even finer than, um, you know, the, the line with, they write a very fine line in the mechanical pencils. So that's all I use for years and years and years was mechanical pencils because I couldn't get anything to write with. And ever since we did the mechanical pencil episode, what, like five episodes ago, I've been carrying one with me all the time. I'm like, I've missed using them. You know, I always have them. I have so much stuff laying around. I go in cycles, right? Like I might forget about mechanical pencils for months and months and months and not use it. And then, you know, just talking about them. And when I was getting ready for that episode, I had all my pencils out and I was using them and testing them out. And now I'm carrying like one or two with me all the time now, just because you realize you miss these things or it's a different feel than you get with these, you know, with like your medium nib fountain pen. Right. It's such a different experience that it's kind of cool to experiment with that from time to time. And that's kind of what I think you're, you know, you're seeing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, definitely.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And it's a, it's a very enjoyable experience. And, uh, I love me some, uh, drafting style mechanical pencils. And that's what this is. The, uh, the cult pencil. So very cool. Hopefully mine will show up this week or next week. Um, it's supposedly on the way. And, uh, I will say some things once I, uh, once I get mine and, uh, give it a test run.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'll review it on the blog too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I, there's just something about all of this, like the design, the way it feels like all of it is it's come together to actually make a product that I thoroughly recommend.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. And it's fairly priced. What's it? 20 pounds, I believe.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Something like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' 1999, something like that. Yeah. So good price. Um, you know, good pencil. And I, I can't wait to get mine to, uh, to try it out. So, yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Um, I actually, we have a couple more things that we want to talk about. We do have one more sponsor and this actually ties in so perfectly. I need to do it now. Okay. And you'll see why that is in a moment. This episode of the pen addict is brought to you by master up an online community for enthusiasts of all kinds from audio and electronics to quilting and cooking. And of course, pens as well. It's a place for you to connect with people like you to discuss your favorite products and your activities that you love about them. And you, but you can also really importantly buy them together as well. Master up represents a whole new type of online experience that combines community content and commerce. Master up offers a place where enthusiasts can meet and connect over the stuff that they love. A forum where you can vote on and discuss the products that you're passionate about and also connect directly with manufacturers to buy products together to get bulk pricing. These aren't flash deals or anything like that. They work directly with people to make this stuff happen. The thing that is the most important to the guys and girls over at master up is that they want to build communities around things that people love. That's what they are passionate about. Ultimately, they're here to help you by making the products that you care about more affordable and accessible and provide you with a platform to connect with other like minded enthusiasts. I know that group buys is something that's really important to the people of this community. And this is something that master up can help out with. Like, for example, do you know what I just found, Brad? As I was sent this one day over day, they currently have the Rotaring Rapid Pro mechanical pencil.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay, I see that now. I just got the site.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's on master up right now. It's, you know, MSRP is $4255. It's currently at $3099. And there's 14 committed. If they get 30, it goes to $2899. If they get 40, it goes to $2699. So this is just an example of just a great deal, right? That you can, that this is the sort of stuff that you can get. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I haven't used the, I haven't used the Rapid Pro, but it's very similar to the Rotaring 600 that we always talk about. It's got a little bit different shape tip, but it also has the double knock mechanism that you were just talking about, right? Where the, you can retract the pipe, which the 600s don't do. So yeah, that's pretty cool. That's a good deal.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So there you go. It's just a great, the one great example of master up and, you know, why I wanted to mention now. So all of this stuff is totally worth checking out. If you want to go and find out more about master up for yourself and sign up, go to this address, DRO.PS slash the pen addict. That's DRO.PS slash the pen addict. Of course, that'll be in the show notes and you can sign up right there. Thank you so much to master up for supporting this show and all of relay FM.