Editing The Pen Addict 611/transcript (section)

== Elements of a comfortable pen ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I have a question from Mark who says, would you be able to list the elements that make a pen comfortable for you for longer writing sessions? Is it pen weight, length, section diameter, section length, balance? How many of those elements need to be included to make a pen that you'll reach for over and over?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's such a good question, especially for today, right? Again, like, I could spend hours. And what Mark's asking, you know, the way I read the question being posed is he's talking about me, right? How, what do I think works for me? Well, guess what? It may not work at all for you, Mark, right? That's what makes this so challenging in having these discussions, right? So, for me, which is the only way I can answer this, and maybe, and then, and Myke, you can answer it too, because you'll have some different answers than I do, and we will all have different, different answers. So, elements that make a pen comfortable for longer writing sessions. So, we're also going to say fountain pens, right? So, Mark didn't say specifically fountain pens, but talking about section diameter and section length and balance, I'm assuming fountain pens. So, and how many of these elements need to be included to make a pen that you will reach for over and over? So, my, one of my core preferences in a pen starts with diameter. And that section diameter and barrel diameter, and separate from that, the combination of the two, right? So, you can have narrow sections, wide barrels, wide sections, narrow barrels, or somewhere in between. And so, those are actually two separate diameters considerations, but they have to work together. I'm generally prefer, and there's exceptions to all these rules, right? But in general, I prefer a narrow section.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sometimes it doesn't have to be tapered or concave in the middle, right? It could be straight or flat or just have a taper and not a concave, and that's fine, but generally narrower. And then that should lead into a not overly wide diameter barrel, because those are the parts that are going to guide my writing the most, right? That's the part that I'm actually putting between my fingers and resting in my hand, and now all of my movements are going to come from those things. So, if it doesn't feel right in the diameter of those two things, that's the first thing I look at. Then, I'm taking the balance next, right? So, if I like the diameter of the section in the barrel, where's the balance? Is it completely neutral, like a lightweight pin? Like, I find lightweight pins to be very neutral. That's fine. Is it forward towards the nib? That's fine. Is it somewhere in the middle? That could be okay. Or is it somewhere towards the back, and then that's when it's a no, right? And this is non-posted, right? So, I don't generally post my pins when I'm writing. So, when I'm thinking about that, I was like, what's the... Okay, we have the diameters we're handling, and then where's the balance at? And then, I'll look at weight. And that kind of... You can put that in like an A and B category with the balance, because you can have a lightweight pin that doesn't have like many balance issues or balance changes, or you can have a heavy pin that's just like consistently heavy from throughout the barrel. As long as the weight's not too heavy, because when I'm using a thinner diameter section and a thinner diameter barrel, the heavier it gets, the more challenging it is for that design to work in its total design, right? The AutoHoot 03 is a pin that shouldn't necessarily work because of the weight. Like, it fits all the other aspects. Somehow, it does. Like, that's such an outlier pin for me that I talk about a lot because I feel like it should not work how it's designed, but it does. And I think only because the diameter's thin enough to manage the weight of the pin. But anyway.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, so how many of those elements need to be included? The ones I just talked about, probably all of them in that order with weight probably being the least significant because if I'm checking the boxes for the things that I require that are more important, I'm not even going to get to the weight discussion because the type of pins I like will never hit a certain mark to where that's going to be a problem. So, this is also for longer writing sessions. I have wide diameter section, wide diameter barrel, and heavy pins, right? And I can use those for longer writing sessions, but in general, I'm going to choose something else. And yeah, that's kind of my how to fit a pin to Brad's hand for a long writing session. Those are the kind of things. Like, I will call out a specific design if you want to go look at all of this in one single pin. The Edison Beaumont is a pin that I talk about a lot. It's a very small pin, but a full-length pin, and it's not for everyone because it's a smaller size, but it hits all of the dimensions right for me. And if I wanted a longer writing session with that pin, it just locks into my hand and we just go to town.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, for me, kind of the most important thing, I would say, is balance in the pin with it not being too long. So the weight isn't necessarily a thing. The pen just needs to feel balanced, right? And then there is how comfortable the grip is, like, you know, the section, like, how comfortable is it to actually hold the fountain pen in my hand. Those are my most important parts from a physical perspective, but the visuals are very important to me too. True. But I know that that's not for comfort, but obviously the visuals are important, but for comfort, it is about balance and it's about how the pen feels in my hand. I can't have something getting in the way, right? The vanishing point, for example, because that doesn't make it very comfortable to use for a long time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. So, like, just in general, like, our one singular base difference is if we could just pick, like, a style, my style would end up being a little bit smaller than yours, just in general use. And it's funny, like, these things translate a lot of times to the nib, right? Why do you think I like smaller pens? Well, it's because I use smaller nibs and there's a control aspect to it, right? A line control aspect. Well, why do people who prefer larger nibs prefer wider nibs? It's like, well, they have a handwriting style that can handle the bigger pen and it works better for a wider nib. So, a lot of times those things go hand in hand, which is cool. Which is cool to think about that we all have these little differences that make the perfect writing instruments for us.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode of the show, all you need to do is go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send in an ask TPA question or follow up or other questions for us there. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com He's at penaddict P-E-N-A-D-D-I-C-T On social media, you can also find Brad over at twitch.tv slash penaddict and over at products at spokedesign.com You can find my products at cortexbrand.com You can also find me online I'm at I-M-Y-K-E Thank you to Enigma Stationery and Squarespace for their support of this episode but as always, thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye Brad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Goodbye Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]