Editing The Pen Addict 396/transcript (section)

== Fighter Pilot Letter ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Huh. That is one of the coolest things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It totally is, and I totally should have cleared it with him if I could read it, but I'm going to take that risk because it felt okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I cannot wait to get that pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. It's cool. So you'll see in the image, I tried to capture the logo in there just so you could see what it is. The picture has the image from the freaking cockpit of these two pens over Nevada. You know, it's on one of those, like, what are they called? The zinc? Like, is it the zero ink, you know, where you just print it out? It's probably like a sticker or something like that. And the little diagram of the spaghetti on there, all that's in the picture. Thank you, Eric. I just can't thank you enough for writing this and taking the time to do that. It's really special to us.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. That's amazing. That's really amazing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Really amazing. All right. So I do have a few other STPAs that I've promised listeners I would get to. So let me hit a few and then we'll save a few more for next week. Maybe we won't quite have time to get to them all. All this Curie Doss talk really absorbs a lot of our showtime these days. But this one from Adam says, In your 2013 review of Sailor Blue Black, you are hesitant and equivocal. But now it's number one in your top five blue black inks list, where you say that is the dictionary definition of blue black. Have your blue black tastes changed over time? Or is this the case where the top five lists are recommendations, not personal preferences? So the lead in paragraph of the top five list states that these are recommendations, not personal preferences. I've drawn a very clear line. And I saved this question for today because now I am expanding on this. And I've just updated this specific top five blue black list in a Tuesday tool set post. We'll save this conversation for next week. We don't have time to get into like the whys and how I'm doing this. It'll be a good topic for next week. The top five update. It's finally happening. And I'm going to do it section by section. And you can see the biggest change and why I wanted to bring up this question is that Sailor Blue Black is gone off this list. And we'll save that for next week because that's a longer discussion. All right. Embiro says, Embryo. Wow. I don't think that's really meant that way. What is it about Sailor nibs that make them so awesome? I'm over a year into my addiction. I've collected three Sailor Pro Gears, a Pelican M605, a Pilot Vanishing Point, some Twisbees, Kawekos, and a Y Studio. All amazing pens, but the Pro Gear nib is just head explode emoji. Why do you think that is, Myke?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Incredible Japanese engineering.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I mean, a lot of people will latch on to like a specific nib. What I've found and why I like them so much is because they match my handwriting style, right? There's a firmness that the Sailor nibs have that not all manufacturers have.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I've also personally found the consistency of those like nib to nib is almost unparalleled, right? Like I don't think that there are many companies that can give you a writing experience across multiple pens that feels so consistent. You know, like I really genuinely, it's one of the things that I love about them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. So yeah, I mean, you know, not everyone will have the same experience that you and I have, but I think it boils down to you found something that fit your style better than anything else. And you know it the moment you feel it. And for a lot of people, that is Sailor.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Without a doubt. Yep.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. So Coach Albino says, what's my best option to fix misaligned tines on my 3776 with a soft, fine nib? I live in Connecticut. I'm assuming pin shows, but not likely for me until the Commonwealth show. Should I send it to a nib repairs website? Send it to a pin shop that does repairs? So I brought up this question for a few reasons. Number one, if the tines are misaligned, I don't have a direct link, but you can search on YouTube, you can manipulate this yourself. You know, you can clean out the pin. Well, the tines are a little bit different. Like you can adjust them with your thumb very carefully and get a better, get them lined up. Now, if they're messed up, like really bad, and you don't want to deal with that, it's no problem to send it to someone who does nib work like Mark Backus at Nib Grinder, Dan Smith at Nib Smith or any host of other, you know, nib repair people or nib grinders that we have do work on our pins. This would be right up their alley. It would be a very easy fix just to realign the tines and like the turnaround on something like that. It should be, you know, it depends on their cues, but, you know, hopefully just a few weeks, maybe a month. And it's very consistent, very good service you get from anyone that we recommend doing that. So, yeah, I would consider that. But if you're feeling a little bit frisky, a tine misalignment can be done by yourself. Just go watch a video on it. It's not as intimidating as it sounds.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This question comes from Evan. My first question, in all my years as a listener, and it's mostly an ask for Myke. My son is left-handed and I have brought him into the pen fold. He is ready for his first fountain pen and he is left-handed. I know that Lamy has left-handed nibs, but I really wanted to get him a sailor pen. So, Myke, you're the sailor expert. Is this a reasonable choice? And if so, what nib works for you in a sailor pen? I mean, yes, I don't get any of my sailors adjusted for my left-handedness. You know, again, it does. Things get a little bit more complicated as a left-handed person and a right-handed person about like the way you hold a pen. But I think one of the reasons that sailor nibs work so well for me is because of how well they're made and like the ink flow and stuff. I think ink flow is really important when you're left-handed. And like pressure and stuff like that, these things can actually really affect the experience. I would say to go with a medium sailor and I reckon that it would be just fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. I think it's... So, they do make left-handed nibs, but I think it's a misconception that a left-handed fountain pen user requires a specialty nib.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've never used one. I own one. I've never put it in a pen. Right. So, like, my entire collection of fountain pens is full of just right-handed nibs if such a thing was to exist. So, I don't think it's necessary, but I do think thicker is better because it requires less like specific contact. Right. Because there's like a larger surface area of the nib that you can use and the ink will flow more easily. These are the things that I've personally found can be helpful to me and I think is why I tend to prefer mediums. Because, you know, like I talk about like fines and extra fines being super scratchy to me. It's because I just don't hold them at the right orientation for them to work effectively. And they catch, like, on the paper. So, I would say to go with a medium and I reckon you'll be great. Or, I mean, broad will also be great. I guess it depends on what he likes. If he's not used Japanese pens before and has maybe used European mediums, then go with a broad. But I would typically recommend a medium.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep. I agree with that. All right. Last one for today. Storm Gorelli. Do you look out for pens in TV series and movies? If so, what have you spotted? So, I absolutely do. Right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If I notice them, I don't seek them out. But, like, if I see something that I recognize, it will, like, spark in my mind.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. And I don't always see them myself. But I get a lot of them on Twitter. So, a lot of people will say, hey, I saw this pen in X show. I remember, what was it? There was an Amazon space series last year or something. Yeah, the Expanse. And I think it ended up being a sailor pro gear that they were using on there, which was pretty cool. So, you know, I get a lot of screencaps from political situations, you know, where we avoid the politics, but we still want to know what pen is this that this person's waving around maniacally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just a sharpie, I think, is the typical span of use these days.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah, we got into, like, a pelican conversation last week. And I think this guy might have been using, like, it almost looked like a knockoff type pen. It was funny. Like, we drug in Joshua from the Pelican's Purge trying to sort this pen out. But, yeah, so I love seeing that type of stuff. I'm watching Peaky Blinders right now. So, they just, you know, this is in the right after World War I. So, they're starting to use a few interesting things that I haven't quite pinpoint down yet. So, I'll keep my eyes out. But, yeah, I love that stuff. And I mostly get them sent to me on Twitter. And I think it's pretty cool.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. If you want to send in a question for a future episode, you can email them to hello at penaddict.com. Or you can just tweet them with the hashtag AskTPA. And they will be included in a future episode. If you want to find Brad online, go to penaddict.com. He's at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter. You can also find him. He is penaddict on Instagram. And Brad streams live on Twitch at twitch.tv slash penaddict. At 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You should go and check that out as well. Or go to knock.co for Brad's wonderful works. Or spokedesign.com.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That did it. I'm at imyke. I-M-Y-K-E. We'll be back next week with even more Curidas. I'm going to go back to Curidas Corner. Talk about that for a bit. But I'm going to be having one in hand. So I will have a lot to say, I'm sure. So, yeah, I look forward to that next time, I guess. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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