Editing The Pen Addict 207/transcript (section)

== Ask TPA ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So let's fire through these last couple. How's that sound, Myke? Sounds good. Let's do it. All right. So this is over on the Ask TPA hashtag on the Twitterverse. Necker Red wants to know some notebook recommendations for pencil users. I can't give you the best because I'm not the most qualified to answer that question. I can give you two options that seem to be very popular for pencils. One is the Baron Fig that we've talked about before. They work very well with pencils. Second is Write Notepads, which I have not personally used, but they get rave reviews for their quality with pencils. What I can recommend you not using is Rhodia. You don't want anything with a coated paper to use pencil on. It can be done just like I can use a fountain pen on a Moleskine, but I'm not making the best choice when I do that. So, you know, those would be my recommendations. Those seem to be the ones that get very well respected for using pencils, pencils constantly and field notes. I should say field notes as well. So they're very good for that. So, Myke, what is your daily carry look like these days? Do you have when you when you're packing up your Restretto? Are you taking any pens and paper with you?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, if it's leaving the house kind of daily carry, it's always a retro 51 and it's always a field notes because they can be banged up. I can lose them. They can get smashed about and it's not going to kill me. But if I'm talking like, what am I using every day? It is a combo right now of the Pilot M90 and today the Baron Fig Squire. Cool. And the Knock Co Spiral Bound. Nice. Nice, nice.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I like those guys. They do good stuff.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, they're pretty good. Pretty good. I carry the Knock Co. They get on the limited edition bandwagon every now and then. I don't like.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' They're kind of bad that way.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I'm carrying a Knock Co Sinclair, which is limiting me to three inked fountain pens, which is a big change for me. I've been doing it about a month. I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a little bit shaky. Like I want to use some more pens, some more, some more inks and things like that. But I'm carrying the pens I've talked about already in the show. The Pilot Custom 823. That seems to always find its way into my rotation. I'm carrying a Pelican M205 Blue Demonstrator because I'm working on a review for it. And I'm carrying the Edison G10 because I just got it. And I want to enjoy it for a little while before I ink it up and swap it out with something else. In my Sinclair, two Knock Co. Dot Dash notebooks. One black, one Nico Blue because I love our paper. And I have in the middle of it, I have Knock Co. Dot Dash Index cards and my business cards. And I'm carrying a new notebook to test out that I've been really impressed with. It's an Apica CD notebook. I'll have to get the exact name because I just brought the notebook in and it's just all black. It has very minimal branding so I can't get you the exact name of it. But I got it from JetPens. It's exceeding like every expectation I've had of this A5 style hardbound notebook. It's spectacular so far. So I'm going to review it and I think people are going to love it. So that's what I'm carrying. Oh, I've also been carrying my shown design pens around the shop in my pocket at Knock. So that's what I'm going with. Sounds good, man. I didn't have to put this question in, but I did because something came up yesterday. So Snamelit on Twitter. Nice work.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's like a Harry Potter name. Has NotCo plans for a big bag-in-a-bag product. Hashtag STPA. Okay. So like I've alluded to, we're working on things at Knock. Getting things refined. Getting our inventory ramped up. And yesterday when we got caught up on our orders, Jeff and I had a little brainstorming session. And we came up with something that both got us kind of worked up about something that we would like to carry. It's not a big bag-in-a-bag per se, but we'll just go with ish.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's very useful for everyone.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Hey, the question was asked. I'm answering the STPAs, Myke. Do we have plans for a big bag-in-a-bag product? Yeah, kind of, sort of, ish. We're working on something. We threw out, we broke out the shears and the chalk, and Jeff put together a couple of testers yesterday. We've already failed both of them, but we're right on the, we're on track. We're messing around with something. So you never know, but maybe.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. The Daniel wants to know, why is it so difficult to find Noodlers in the UK? No clue. I don't even know who distributes Noodlers in the U.S. anymore, so I certainly don't know who does it in the UK.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I got nothing. I know it's a one-man show, so I don't know if he runs in and out of stock more frequently and just can't get with the distributor. But I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it's also, could also be, you know, ink properties should be, could be an issue with various countries have various restrictions on various chemicals. And he uses so many different things, it's kind of hard to maybe narrow it down. That's just me speculating. I don't know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Todd Pedrick wants to know, any updated thoughts on the Traveler's Notebook? I don't, because it seems pretty much the same to me. What did they do? Added a color, changed the name. Same system. I love the system. It's awesome. It's wonderful. It's beautiful. It's functional. So, my thoughts are always super positive on it. So, my thoughts are still super positive on their rebranding efforts, which are underway right now. Wazed wants to know, what are some non-Hobonichi planners that have a weekly layout and are fountain pen friendly? So, I don't have an exact one to give you, but I would look at Rhodia and QuoVatis. They make fountain pen friendly planners, and I believe both of them have a weekly layout option. So, those are the ones I would check with. This was a good question that I was having a hard time coming up with an answer with, Myke. So, maybe you can help me. This is Todd from That One Pen. Wants to know, what brand style of pen paper that you have little or no experience with are you most interested in exploring?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nakaya.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Tomoe River paper.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What's funny is I was going to say, the only thing I can come up with is like a really expensive thing too, and that's Visconti. You know, I just wanted to like, all their high-end pens look really nice, like up in that 500 and more price range. They look really nice and really beautiful. And, you know, the Homo Sapiens is one I've been looking at. I'm kind of off that bandwagon now, but that's the only one I can come up with. I'm sure there's more, but Visconti seems to make, every time I see a picture of Visconti, I'm like, wow, that looks really good. Kind of like Omos was. Omos, I was late, too late to the bandwagon to get into Omos, but that's how they were. And I think Visconti's kind of that same way with me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Omos, name lit. Let's get to another question, because this is actually a good question. I have a Schmidt P8126, which writes, uneven, dark words, light words, then dark again. Normal, empty, or dud. This is a dud. This happens with this refill from time to time. I don't know how often you experience it, Myke. I do get mentions on... It's happened.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Not often, but it has happened. And I've had other people ask me this question. They say, like, I don't think it's that great. What's the issue? If you use a P8126, in my opinion, and think that it's not good, you have a bad one getting you getting your refill.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Unfortunately, it's a dud, and you're just going to have to pitch it and pay for a new one. They're not very expensive.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You get them a pack of three. And also, if you buy the pack of three, you can get them in different colors. I have blue right now. So, you know, usually they ship in black with Retro 51s and most pens. But they do make other colors of them, so at least you get that luxury.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So, it's a dud. And that just... It's one of those refills that it's so popular and used so frequently. It's just going to happen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, now this is a different question, and we're going to end it on this, Myke. Different question than our Desert Island pen, I think. Although, the answer could be the same. Nibin Muck, who is one of my new favorite bloggers. She wants to know, if you had to save one of your pens from a burning building started by pencil shavings, no less, which one would it be? I think this is a different question, a different answer from me than my Desert Island pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm struggling. I really am struggling with this one. Because I have three pens right now that I would immediately jump to mind, and I just can't decide between them. So, it would either be the M90, my Edison, my custom-made Edison, or my Sky at Night. I'm really struggling to decide between the three of them. Let's say, if you had to put me right on the spot right now, that I, again, would probably go with the M90. Just because it's a pen that I've wanted for so long. And I finally got it, and it's the hardest one for me to replace. I could get another Edison made. You know, it might be difficult for me to get the material, but it's not like I used a material that couldn't be bought anymore. The Sky at Night, I could get another one made, right? Because they're being made, the Canon Pen Company are making them, so you can buy them. You can at least try and get one made. I don't know what the status of that material is, but I assume it can be made.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But that Edison was mine, and I spent a lot of money on it. So, it's difficult, but I think I would have to go M90. Just because I've wanted that pen for so long, and it would be really difficult to try and get another one in the condition that I have this one in.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And so, my answer is actually awfully similar to yours. It would be my Pilot Murex.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because it means a lot to me. Because Thomas Hall gave it to me. When, you know, I was just getting started in this, and, you know, we were going through pens, trying to find out things that I liked and didn't like. And, you know, it's a pen that I've latched onto, and I don't ink it up that frequently. But it's one of my favorites, and it has that special extra meaning. Like, I can replace my Nakaya portable, right? You know? And I can replace a lot of these other pens. That one, I can't. And so, that would be the one that I grab. My Murex. My black Murex from Thomas. That's just one of my all-time favorite pens. And it has that little extra meaning, you know, the story behind it. So, yeah. I think that's it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Cool. Does that wrap it up? That wraps it up. I think we have, like, I've seen more questions come flying in through the slacks and through the Twitters. But we'll just have to get to those in a couple of weeks, I believe.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Cool. If you want to go and find our show notes for this week, head on over to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 207. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com and knock.co. He's at Dowdyers on Twitter, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And he's penaddict on Instagram. I am at imyke on Twitter and Instagram. And we'll be back next time with another episode. We have a great guest next time, Desc of Adam. So make sure you tune in. There's another beautiful British accent on this show. Thanks so much for listening. Thanks to Harry's for supporting the show. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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