Editing The Pen Addict 311/transcript (section)

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'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Since you've been so kind to join me and fill in this week for the incorrectly spelled, Myke, I'm going to pin you down with some Ask TPA questions. Is that okay? You ready to tackle some of these? Some of these are easy. Some of these, yeah, not so much. You ready to give it a go? Let's do it, man. I'm into it. All right. So I want to know this about you because I talk about it frequently enough. So Franz JPM wants to know, how does one manage pen-related item storage when space is at a premium? So how do you store your pens, Myke?

'''Myke Madison:''' Mostly just all over the top of my desk, which is not the best way. You know, the answer that I wrote down here in all caps is Ikea. I think that they've got a lot of good storage stuff. I keep a lot of pens and pads of paper and all kinds of things in these Ikea storage things called Helmers, which are pretty big in the craft and collecting communities, I think. And they are super useful. They're not terribly expensive. Little metal cabinets with drawers. That's where I keep most of my pens. Like not my fountain pens usually because I want those in front of me. But I have just, I don't know, mountains of non-fountain pens and all kinds of things stuffed into those. So, I mean, find whatever small storage works for you. But I mean, something like a container store or an Ikea or something, if you have a small space, can be a godsend, I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And Myke, with a Y, is a big fan of one of those Ikea drawer cabinet type systems. So I need to look into that myself. I think he uses the Alex, right? Which we've also got one of. And those are good. Yeah. Those are really good. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's the right path. Ikea always seems to come up for pen and stationary storage. And I think that's probably a perfect choice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Kay Grushko wants to know, does anyone make a fountain pen friendly American composition book? And the answer is no. At least not that I've found because I'm a very traditionalist for one staple signature tape binding, the proper size. And that's just something that's mass produced and cheaper paper. So you can get them in all the office supply stores, things like that. Baron Fig does like a faux cover, make it look like a composition book, but it's not quite the size you're looking for. But it does have decent fountain pen friendly paper. There was a Kickstarter project called Comp. That was another faux composition book project that did not have good paper either and actually had a very strange style. So this is something that's been on my short list for our printer to tackle at Nock for like the past two years. And the kicker with this is, you know, if we do try to mimic an American composition book and have fountain pen friendly paper, it's going to be about 10 or 15 times the cost of the one you get at Walmart. So and maybe there's a market for that. Maybe there's not. So that's kind of what you're going to fall into. I love the format. I love the style. It's just technically and price challenging. So don't give up hope, though, because if we do find one, I'd love to see one and maybe we'll just make it ourselves.

'''Myke Madison:''' Yeah. Every once in a while you hear rumors of, hey, there's this fountain pen friendly comp book and it's just like the regular comp books. But, you know, you look on the back and it's got a particular country or something. But that's sort of that's sort of hunt, I think, is I mean, you're spending a lot of time trying to get 50. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And actually, now that you say that, I'll put a link in for Kay Grushko. Les at Comfortable Shoes Studio did like a three part composition book roundup, like everything she could find in the store. So maybe one of those is a winner. I can't remember it right offhand, but I will put that in the show notes. There's like a three part article she did testing all these things out. So we'll add that in there. So my friend Bump wants to know, how important is the National Stationery Show? Is it worth attending or is it really only for retailers? It's pretty much like a wholesale trade show for any market you can think of, right?

'''Myke Madison:''' You can't even get in as a regular civilian. They won't give you a pass. And it's very expensive even if you're a wholesaler. I looked at the tickets and I was like, wow, these are very expensive. And they want four different kinds of credential to prove that you're not just some plea off the street looking at pens or something.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's so 100% right. Like I could go as not and go as an attendee. It's still, I don't know, it still might cost me like four figures to get in. I can't remember. The table spaces are very expensive. I don't think it would be like super beneficial for like where we're at as a company right now. But like a lot of large retailers and distributors go like Retro 51 had a booth there. I know Execlare does go there because they have Rody and Clairefontaine and Jay Herban and Covatus and all those things they display there for lots of retailers that come and place like their wholesale orders for the year. So it's definitely more trade wholesale businessy show than anything just like a listener of the pen addict or ink dependence would go to if you could even get in.

'''Myke Madison:''' No, I couldn't. And in fact, if you wanted to get in as an employee, so if you wanted to say, oh, yeah, no, Myke's totally an employee of mine, I would have to show, I think it said two pay stubs or something showing that I was an actual employee of the business. I had to work there for months and have like, I don't know, faked record. You'd have to pay me. I can't even go. It's crazy. And I don't really understand why they have those shows, but I guess it's...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I mean, it's just like trade shows in other industries, right? I mean, you see, you know, like outdoor retailer or E3 or, you know, even some of that's open to the public. It's still pretty much for like the wholesalers of these products to go in and make the next six to 12 months orders and see what's coming up down the line. So, yeah, nothing we really need to focus on as a hobby ourselves. So, Abbey Normal 23 loves the Pilot Juice 0.38 millimeter and the Hitec C 0.3 millimeter. I have small handwriting. I use field notes almost exclusively. Is there a fountain pen that offers comparable performance or should I buy a pen type B and stick to the Pilot refills? You probably shouldn't buy a pen type B because those are crazy nuts expensive. So, unless you really, really want to have that pen, go for it because it's amazing and it works great with field notes. I don't use fountain pens with field notes. Myke does. Myke Hurdley does. This has become a problem. I have to clarify now, Myke, during the show. But there are some fountain pens you can try that I think would work. The Pilot Metropolitan with the EF nib and they have a pen called the Penmanship that also has the EF nib in it. And the Platinum Preppy has an EF nib. And I think those would do really well in field notes. I haven't tried them exclusively, but on just the spots where I have tried them in the past, they've been perfectly fine. Do you use small gel ink pens, Myke?

'''Myke Madison:''' Or are you not really in that realm? 0.38 is definitely my floor. And even that is really too small for me most of the time. I'm usually more like a 0.5, 0.7 sort of dude. Yeah. So, not too much. Not the 0.3s. I've got like a 0.18 over here and it's just a thing for stabbing holes in paper. It doesn't even write. Chase the cat away with it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. What about fountain pens? What type of nibs do you use? Just general question.

'''Myke Madison:''' It kind of goes all over the place, but usually fine is my floor. I try not to go below that. And like a Japanese fine is pretty much, sometimes it's uncomfortably small. So, I think they've all got their uses. I generally like to use bigger nibs. So, mediums, broads, extra broads, that kind of stuff of whatever kind. But if I'm using my planner, I need a small nib because it's got small spaces. So, I'll use a fine. If I'm writing notes, I'll usually use something smaller so I can cram more on a page. All right.