Editing The Pen Addict 613/transcript (section)

== Listener questions and recommendations for content creators ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Very cool. Been like any show notes as always. Yep. We have some RSTPA to finish out today's show. First comes from Minhan who asks, I was wondering if I could get some advice on the Traveler's Notebook versus the Plotter. I've used Traveler's for several years and have the standard and the passport size. I love the aesthetic and modularity, but I'm intrigued by Plotter. The price point is drastically different and I'm hesitant to make the plunge. Plotter seems like a lovely marriage between Travelers and a ring system. Any thoughts would be appreciated?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is a great question. One we get a lot. One I tackle a lot and I have used both systems. So the question you have to answer is how a ring bound system will work for you and if you will enjoy that, right? That's where you need to start because they're both beautiful. You know, they're both functional. Both systems. I'm talking about Plotter and Travelers. Both are just wonderful systems. They have wonderful accessories. They have wonderful internal options from plain papers to planning pages to calendars. They both do all of the things very, very well. It should be the shock of no one that they're owned by the same parent company, but they're completely different products, I think, in the way that they're used. So you almost need to look at this backwards, right? Don't get caught up in the visuals and, you know, the beauty or the fun that these systems look like. Like, you need to start with, hey, this book is now opened up, laying on my desk. How am I going to work with this ring bound system versus a bound notebook system inside the Travelers? And that's where you have to think about it. So, like, I can't tell you which one's better for you, right? Because there's pros and cons to each. But that's how you have to go into, if you're going to choose between one of the two, that's how you need to look at it. How is this system, how does this system work for how I do work? The reason I ended up on Plotter is because I don't, I use it more as a planner, not a journal. And therefore, I'm good with having a ring bound system where pages can move in and out. And I also don't keep the pages that were in the book. I don't say, I don't archive my pages, right? So, it's really just kind of like this ephemeral system where things are passing through. But while it's in use, it's like super handy and useful for me, the way I work. Where if I chose the Traveler style, well, I get that in just a regular notebook, right? Like a regular A5 or A6 notebook sitting on my desk or a field note sitting on my desk kind of solves what I need for what a Traveler's is. But if you use the Traveler's in a different way to where you need to have like a full big section for work and a full big section for like journaling and a full big section for, you know, tasks and to-dos and projects. Like maybe that system would work better and you need more access and retention type items at once. The Traveler's might be a better setup for that. So, you just have to think about the use case because you're going to be pleased with the style and the quality and the functionality of both systems. So, it just comes down to how you will use it, right? So, you know, think about is it a work notebook? Is it a play notebook? Is it a combination of things? And then how those would fit in those two different types of systems. Because once you open these things up, I think I do believe that they are very different in the effects that you're going to get personally from them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You have to ask me this next question. This is a question for me. Can you imagine such a thing?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, yeah. I like it. I like it. So, this is actually a good question. Via Chad. Hey, Myke. My love is fountain pens, stationery, paper, inks, and all the things you and Brad talk about here. But now I find myself needing a new keyboard for a work computer and a new job. I know that's one of your other passions and I know nothing about them. I don't have time to find out who are the right content creators to help guide me to a great keyboard. Can you give me three options for keyboards to check out and maybe buy? Like new pen lovers, what do you tell newbie keyboardists?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I'm going to start by telling you the two content creators that I recommend that you follow. Like, if you do want more info or you want to watch videos about these, actually, I'm going to recommend three people. One is Teha Types. Teha is like the guy. He's the Brad Dowdy in keyboards, right? Kind of a big deal. Yes, he is a big deal. He was like one of the first to do this kind of content. The idea of like streaming keyboard builds, like he was one of the innovators of that. And he got popular on YouTube. Alex Otofs, he is my like absolute fave. Like Alex, I've hired to take a lot of photos of the Sidekick notepad. So most of the really beautiful photos that we've had of our products, Alex has done them because his aesthetic is so good. And he's a super nice dude. And so you can go watch his stuff. And then I also want to recommend a good friend of mine, Ian of Earth. He's one of our Discord community members. And he like he's he does a good job. He did that interview with me a year or so ago where like we did like a studio tour and an interview. Yeah. Ian did those. But also he does really good content on one of the brands I'm going to mention in a minute. So like if you want reviews of these products, you can, which, by the way, I do really recommend. Like I'm going to give two brands, but they have multiple products. But these are the two brands that I recommend for different reasons. But I really do recommend like with anything, if you're going to make one of these purchases that you consider watching some reviews on them. So the easiest jumping in point, I believe, is the Keychron Q series of boards. Keychron have been around forever. Their stuff is readily available and at varying price points and functionality. So I say the Q series because there are three sets of Q boards. And this depends on whether you want wired or wireless or a combo. And wired is like a USB cable, right? Wireless is obviously Bluetooth. Bluetooth. And then within those series, you start there. Within those series, they have every possible layout of keyboard that you could imagine. And the layout basically just means how many keys are there and how are they arranged. And this can be like a visual thing. Like sometimes the keys are a little more spread out. And like your arrow keys are maybe more spread out. Or they're like right compacted with the rest of the keys. Maybe you don't want arrow keys at all or you don't need them because you want a small keyboard. Maybe you want an ergonomic layout. Like my recommendation is if you look at these and see something you want, because for whatever reason, you should get it. Otherwise, I believe you should look at the Q1, which is what is called a 75% layout. Don't worry about that. It's just like that's what it's called. But you get all of that, the keys that you're going to expect, the arrow keys. You get some function keys. Like that is my typical recommendation. Or what's called a 65% and they have products in that range too. I think the Q... Basically, they have so many. This is unbelievable. I always forget how many they made. They made one and it was very successful. And then they made like a thousand. A 65% layout is basically all of the keys, all of the number row, the arrow keys, no function keys. So just depends on how many keys you think you might want. But my recommendation, their website, while it's a little bit complicated, just go through and you can take a look at what they have. But this is not my recommendation, really. Like this is a you want to get started. Here's a great place to get started. They have varying price points and lots of flexibility. My recommendation is Mode Keyboards. Their website is modedesigns.com. They have a selection of keyboards that are all available now. They have one that's on pre-order right now, but like pre-order with shipping very soon. But the rest of them, they're all in stock now. This is one of the things that's changed in the last year. You can actually buy stuff. Mode's keyboards are more expensive, but they're incredible. They are the keyboards that I use every day. I particularly like the Sonnet, the Tempo and the Envoy. The Sonnet is my absolute favorite keyboard. It is a 75%. So it's the one that's got the arrow keys and the function row. The Tempo is a 60% where it's just the letters and the modifiers, no arrow keys. Like I don't gravitate towards that layout personally because you need to use like a function key and then WASD is your arrows. But I don't really tend to like that. But they have it. They also have the Envoy, which is their cheaper board, like of all of the ones that they offer. But they're still not cheap, which is a 65% layout. And then they also have two products that I've not tried, but they're available. The Loop is a bigger keyboard. And then they currently have the 65 on pre-order, which is a really high-end version of the same kind of layout as the Envoy. Lots of options. What I like about Mode, you can go to their website. You start with like a starting point and you can customize it with all the materials that you might want to look at.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm literally clicking all the buttons while you're talking.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. And they also do a good job. There are some things where it's like, hey, choose a plate. And if you don't know what that means, they have videos to explain to you what you might want to do. So this company, they do everything right, in my opinion, from the way the boards are presented on their website, to the offerings that they have, to the explanations that they give. And they even will build the whole thing for you if you want. So you can pay a little extra and they'll build it, which is also very helpful. So, yeah, you can also buy everything you need from Mode. So, yeah, they are absolutely my recommendation. But these are the two companies that I'd recommend that you do look at. The building a keyboard, though, from what they have, is so easy. Like, trust me. Like, if you buy everything from them, and I recommend building it yourself, they have great guides in video and written form. What you'd be building from them if you got what's called a hot swap keyboard, which is there's no slaughtering needed. You're just pushing things into place. Like, it's not very hard and will be a fun time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Is there a difference between that hot swap and the soldering type, like, in, like, the long-term functionality of the keys?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No. I mean, if you really know what you like, you can get some slight differences in the typing feel. I can't tell a difference. For me, the soldering of switches to a board is just a fun thing to do. It's like a little project.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would say for the majority of people, there is functionally no difference. And I would recommend hot swap because then you get the opportunity to change the switches for a different switch later on if you want to try a different feel. Or maybe you want to go from clicky or tactile to silent or linear. You know, you have options because the switches can even make sound or not make sound. They can have a different feel to them. And so I recommend hot swap. That's what I always do. I just go hot swap all the way now because then I have the opportunity to truly configure things the way that I want to. Gotcha.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Super cool. Yeah, this mode design site is a problem. Like, I'm just fascinated.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I could not recommend their products enough. They're really nice people too. I've had very good experiences with them. They deliver things on time and right, which unbelievably is not as simple as you'd think. Yep. I like what they do. They're my recommendation.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Brent asks, I'm an industrial chemist and a fountain pen user for over 30 years. One thing I've not figured out though, when I use conventional pens and I need to draw a straight line, I just use a ruler. What about if I'm using a fountain pen?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Really good question. You're going to use a ruler, but you're going to be very careful.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would say you want to start probably plastic, right? Plastic ruler.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You definitely don't want a metal ruler. Yeah. You go plastic ruler. The problem you're going to run into is the tines on a ruler. Given the angle and the amount of pressure that you're going to have drawing a straight line with a ruler with a fountain pen, you're still adding variability into the mix because those tines, at the angle you have to write the line with, I think you're going to have some inconsistency issues with the tines. Because I'm thinking through this out loud and thinking through a feel in my head. Because you're not going to, you're generally going to grip the pen the same, even though you could do a more horizontal angle. But you're not going to get the ink flow that the nibs are designed to have when you're holding the pen in your normal writing angle. Maybe you need to get a Sailor 2 Zoo for this. I would use a steel nib pen for sure. Steel nib fountain pen, right? Because the gold is even going to be more flexible and the tines are going to split even more. However, you're just adding in a variable that I think is pretty tough. But if you do a steel nib on a plastic ruler, you could probably find the sweet spot to do consistent lines. The other issue is the ink is generally a lot wetter. So when you remove the ruler, if you don't lift it and you slide it, you're probably going to get some strays. Because, right, as opposed to using a pencil or a ballpoint or a fineliner, that edge is going to be much, much cleaner than if you get ink on the edge of the ruler with a fountain pen, it's just going to be wet. So there's a lot of variables you're putting in play with that. I'm not saying you can't figure out the perfect setup, but I don't know that you're going to enjoy the results as much than using a more traditional pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I wouldn't do it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, like I've done some small little lines where I'm really careful, but it's not a repeated consistent task that I do because it's not fun.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think for me, the way in which I would have to be and do have to be extra careful means I'm inevitably not going to get the line the way I want it. Right. And so if I'm going for precision, which would be my expectation if I'm using a ruler, I just would not use a fountain pen to draw that particular line.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Yep. So as long as your expectations are set going in, you might be okay. But in general, it's going to be a mixed bag experience.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm going to bookend today's show with this question from Leslie who says, so you've done reviews of fine liner pens before, but I was wondering if you know anything about a new type of felt tip pen that I've seen flooding my social media. I'm talking about the refillable pens of replaceable tips. There are two main brands that I'm seeing, Tom's Studio and Yuka's. Have you tested either of them? I'd be interested to know what you think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Ralph Nader approves of the question, Leslie. So I would not recommend these pens to Mr. Nader.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' These are a tough sell for me. And like, I don't want to knock these pens necessarily. And it's not brand specific, right? It's a tip that you can get, say, from Krataki maybe.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'll have to find, you can buy these parts essentially, right? And then there's companies that have built pens around these parts, which is what we all do. It's like, hey, here's a refill. Let me build a pen around this. That'll make it better. So what these companies have done has have taken these like refillable marker cartridges and these tips kind of stick in. I'm outside of the internals of these pen barrels. So I'm not talking about like the pen barrels themselves. So the internals are basically just like an absorbent cartridge that you drop ink in and you can use fountain pen ink. So you're saturating this tube, right? That's filled with like felt or whatever this material is. And then the tip of this pen has like a pointer in like an arrow tip that sticks up into this refill cartridge. And then the ink flows down into the tip, which is where these companies are, what they're building around and making you a pen to do this. So they're fine. I think they're a little fidgety. The tips I don't find to be as long lasting as if I just went for like a straight up Secura Pigma Micron 03, right? That tip's going to last longer. But what the Secura Pigma Micron 03 doesn't offer is the ability to fill one of these pens with Pilot Orochizuku Shinkai. And if you want that, they work well. They work well enough for that. I don't think they're going to replace like your standard black fineliners, right? Which is the most popular type of fineliner. But they're going to give you these options and they do work with other types of fountain pens and fountain pen inks. They're good for pigmented fountain pen inks too, right? To where you don't have to worry about your feeds getting clogged. Now, they're not hot swappable, right? You just have to, you can use one barrel and have different internals that you just need to swap in. And you'd have to swap out the tip and you'd have to swap out the refill cartridge like each time you could use the same pen barrel. But then you have to do something with like the ink that's in these other barrels. So I think personally, and this is just me, they're over fidgety for the performance that you get. But they're also kind of cool for the options that they provide. So kind of like with rulers and fountain pens, set your expectations accordingly and you'll be happy. Don't think they're going to change the game for, for you. Right. So, um, I've used, uh, Kuretake. So I've used the, you can buy, I don't have a link, but I believe it's Kuretake. You can buy a set of all the parts that you need and just some standard plastic barrels and you can get that for cheap and decide if you like that style of pen and how they operate. And I did, but like, I didn't want to go past that and get my one fancy barrel to use with these types of cartridges and parts. So I'll have to see if I can find the link and we can put it in the show notes. Um, but, uh, Kuretake sells like a little five pen kit and gives you like a marker tip, a fine liner tip, a brush tip, and then all the barrels and cartridges to use your own inks with these types of pens. So I'll, I'll find that and we'll put that in the show notes, but, uh, yeah, I think they're cool. Just set your expectations accordingly and, uh, have fun with them. Like I do think they're fun.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. If you would like to send us a question for a future episode of the show, or you have any follow-up or feedback about today's show, go to penaddictfeedback.com or you can click the link in the show notes and go right there and leave us a note. We'd really appreciate it. And thank you to everybody that does. In the meantime, if you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com, at penaddict, and over on twitch.tv slash penaddicts as well. I'm at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. My shows are here on Relay FM and you can find my products at cortexbrand.com. Thanks so much to Enigma Stationery and Squarespace for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. you

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