Editing The Pen Addict 228/transcript (section)

== Cursive Writing ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' I think it links back to the cursive discussion, right? Not letting these things go away just because there's other things that you can do. They're still valuable.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. Speaking of which, I'm about three quarters of the way through the book. So, I'll get that done and get Mr. Trebek scheduled. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Now, I have one more. Do you want to go and then I'll do my last one?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I have a short one reel here. This one came on like a little card. Some of these came in cards. And I love this one because it has stickers all over it. It's got like a little spaceship and it's got an ATPA and a sticker. And the card says, you are my favorite, which I mean, duh. And then I open it up and there was a sticker, like a spaceship rocket taken off.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That one must have been meant to be sent to me, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nope. Nope. That's fine for me. So, it's from Carrie. She says, hi, Myke and Brad. Love your podcast. I look forward to it each week. I've only used my, I've used my Lamy Safari broad nib for years, but I like to venture out and try some other pens. What pens would you recommend I try next? Thanks so much and take care. So, that's actually a question we get a lot. And our question, our answer is generally the same. It's generally one of the Twisby's, either the Eco or the 580. 100%. I would hold off on the 580 right now because it looks like they're getting ready to change it again. So, I'd wait and see what they have next. But the Eco is such a fun pen and it's right in the price point of the Safari. I would go for that. It's a piston filling fountain pen. So, you have to have a bottle of ink to use with it. If you're not, I know Lamy makes the turquoise cartridges, which looks like what you're using now. So, if you don't have a bottle of ink, you need to buy a bottle of ink. And that's always fun to get into your first bottle of ink. Yeah. So, I would totally do that. So, thanks so much for the stickers and the cool letter. All right. Hit it, Myke.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Dear Brad. Dan wants nothing to do with me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' He knows I have no help for him. And it's true. The cap threads of my Noodler's Ahab and a few other pens are very stiff and make it difficult to unscrew the cap. Any suggestions on how to make the threads smoother? From Dan.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Some people, and I say that because I haven't done it, some people will add the smallest amount of silicone grease to their threads. No way. I would never do that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not dealing with the greasiness on my hands.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't either. But I've heard people doing that. Otherwise, it's just an effect of the material used for that pen. So, the threading's not clean on that. You're barely even going to have the time to even wear it down to wear it smooth. I have some pens like that. And that's just, unfortunately, part of the materials used in the finishing process for that pen. There's nothing you can really do. I've heard people adding that on there. But I wouldn't do it. I'm not interested in that. I hate doing eyedroppers as much as I love using and filling eyedroppers. I hate silicone grease because I feel like I can never get it off my fingers. It bugs me. So, there's that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's one thing that I will add to this. See, I hope I can provide some good advice here. Make sure you've soaked the pen just in case you've gotten any ink in there. It happens. It's happened to me. You know, you might have had a small ink explosion at some point. And there might be some dried ink in the threads. Make sure you've given it a good clean. Look at that. Look at me. Fair enough. I'm adding value. I know you're just brushing that off. But... No, you've got some smarts.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm not just a pretty face. All right. Let's hit one more. And then we'll wrap it up for today. I think we maybe got through half of them, which I'm surprised. I thought we'd get through more. So, I apologize if I didn't get to you today. And I feel guilty about it. So, I promise you we're going to get to them all soon. You're like at the front of the line. All these handwritten-ass TPAs. That I can guarantee you. All right. Brad and Myke. First off, thank you for the excellent podcast. I'm not much of a pen addict myself. I found everything I need in the Muji 0.38 gel ink pen. That's a good pen. I thoroughly enjoy hearing two gents talking about them so passionately. I'm more of a stationary fan, as you can probably see. My ask TPA is this. Do you think the current fascination with analog tools, snail mail, stationary, is due to people's tendency to take a step back? Remember the Polaroid surge when digital cameras became a thing? Or do you think it's more deeply rooted than that? Thanks, Brittany.