Editing The Pen Addict 422/transcript (section)

== Notebook Brands ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Kikuyo is another one. Kikuyo does get to the white paper background. But has even less formats that I like than Midori and Morimon. If you're catching a theme here, it's that they're all Japanese papers. Life would be at the top of this list. But they're the yellowest page out of all of them. So I use them the least. So it's a yellower page than even Midori. But the quality and the layouts and the format are good. So if all of these companies could get together and come out with the ultimate notebook, I would appreciate that. But they all have their own taste. I think Midori is it right now. If you want something that's pretty accessible, Leuchterm comes close to being best for all things. Its only flaw is heavily inky fountain pens, right? If you're throwing a lot of ink on the page with a medium, broad nib and a lot of ink, it doesn't do great with that. It does great with standard smaller writing nibs for Leuchterm because it handles all the other pens well. So, you know, this is, like I said, we could do this. We could make this a permanent entry into Ask TPA because it's a really, really difficult question to answer. Because there's so many little, tiny, particular things that make a huge difference in what paper is right for any one single individual person. Yeah.

'''Mary:''' Myke's having flashbacks right now. He's under the desk. He's curled up in a ball going, paper, paper.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Let's do one last question. See if we can lighten the mood before we finish today's episode. Greg Co. 3 asks, what property do you think it is that makes one nib write a clean line and another write a woolly line on the same paper with the same ink? Shape, flex, flow, or something else? I'm trying to figure out if it's something that can be fixed or changed. What's a woolly line?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Feather.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Ah, okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, when you get a little runner off to the side. So, just to give you, like, you know, a quick flashback. Greg Co. says the same paper, but as you know, the same paper could be different. Stop that. But in general, let's just say, let's say the same paper is all consistent with the same ink. So, there are several different things. The nib shape design is a very particular manufacturing process that has to be really, really tight. And we see, even from same brand, same nib size, same nib material, inconsistencies between those. You don't want to have that experience, but it's kind of part and parcel to being a fountain pen user. One TWSBI extra fine steel nib could write differently than the other TWSBI extra fine steel nib. Because the tine placement is a measurement off that you cannot see with a 10x loop, right? It just happened. Like, one tine could be longer than the other ones, and you just, you can't see it. I would like to say, like, there's a perfect way to get the same experience every single time. Um, the fact is, the best you can do to get consistency is make sure your pen is clean. Like, super clean. Like, take out the nib, take out the feed. Make sure the ink is allowed to flow properly. Um, floss between the tines to make sure, like, there's no paper fibers getting stuck in there. That's, when I see, when I know a pen that I've used for quite a while and have had consistent performance with it, and then all of a sudden it's acting weird, I almost always clean out between the tines because there's something microscopic in there that I can't see that's making the ink spread wider on the page or make the ink flow more inconsistent on the page than it would if I do that. So, it tends to be cleaning, for me, that gets the most consistency. But sometimes there's just some microscopic flaw in the nib that sometimes you can get out with just, like, a little 12,000 grit sandpaper. You know, run a little circles on that. Try to smooth it out and even out the flow. So, um, other than that, you know, it's just something, like, if it's a pen you really love and really care about, you just might want to get someone else to look at it like a nibmeister. So, you know, that's probably the last resort, you know. But I would just, my answer is to lean on cleanliness of the nib, make sure the ink can flow properly, and then start looking at the physical properties of the nib and make sure everything is built as it should be to give you a consistent line.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That paper's going to get you, man. It really is. I'm feeling you over there. I felt that deep down in my heart that, that, uh...

'''Myke Hurley:''' Honestly, it's the manufacturer who I'm working with that I feel sorry for at this point.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it's like, make me a sample. Okay, did it. Don't like it. Give me another one, you know. But, you know, look, if we can, if we can work it out, if we can find something, I will order a lot of notebooks, but we just got to get there. Yep. Just got to get there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's why you keep working at it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So you can go to cortexmarch.com. At the moment, we have some theme system journals available. It's the current edition. And just to state, like, just for the record, the second edition, it's not completely upending everything. Layout's basically the same. I've changed some stuff. I don't want to get into the changes just yet, because things can still change. But it's mostly, like, just some tweaks, really. But if you want to get one, get one now, because after this current stock, I don't know when I'm going to have more, because my plan will be to, honestly, at this point, to just keep working on getting a second edition. Like, I can't imagine that I will order any more of the first editions to be produced. So if you enjoy journaling with the theme system journal, it might be prudent to get one or two now before they sell out again.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. If you want to find show notes for this week's episode, go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 422. If you want to find Brad online, he's at penaddict.com. You can find Brad. He is at dowdyism on Twitter and penaddict on Instagram. And at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Eastern Time Zone, Brad is over at twitch.tv slash penaddict where he streams live. We have lots of fun stuff. Have you got anything fun going on tomorrow?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I really don't. So this has been a light week for content on Twitch, even though I still show up and do it every day. If you want to, like, really get every... Yeah, scheduled, scheduled, scheduled. If you want to get your socks knocked off, come and watch me address envelopes on Thursday. Super cool.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sounds fantastic.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I just sold it hardcore, didn't I?

'''Myke Hurley:''' You really did. It's just a superb job there. Thanks to ExpressVPN for their support of this show. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

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

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