The Pen Addict 666/transcript - Revision history

PencilBot: fixed spelling

2026-06-22T11:17:27Z

fixed spelling

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:17, 22 June 2026
Line 67:		Line 67:
	* It's produced by G.F. Smith here in the UK. Yeah. So I could not believe how good it was when I first used it. Yeah. Because, and I forget all the time that it is not the Munkin paper that we use. Yeah, Munkin links. Munkin links. They feel very similar to me. So no feathering, no bleed, way less ghosting than the IA Writer. It's unfair to compare the two. They're not comfortable at all. Yeah. But I was just, I happen to do them side by side, but you flip over the backside of the page and yeah, you can see the lines through the backside of the page, but it's really not that bad. You could use the backside of the page here if you wanted to. The one thing it doesn't allow for, it's a flatter page, right? It's not like a coated paper. So your inks aren't going to shade as much and you're not going to get as much sheen, but the color is good. I'm very impressed that you can tell those features. Like this really shows you're not, but yes, it's uncoated. So you can, um, you get proper color, right? Like if I used, I use like Robert Oster blue lagoon, I have an expectation of what that color is going to be when I put before I even started on the page and that expectation is met. So you get proper color range. You just don't get extras. Like if you have an extra shader or an extra sheener, like you might not, you're not going to get the full benefit of that. But that's also like a, that's a fountain pen people's paper that, you know, kind of leans into that stuff. This is not, this is a universal usage paper and it's great for fountain pens. So from the fine to like the ultra wet medium curves of a tile, like it all worked well. The, um, pencils. I always like to do a pencil test because that's also how you can tell about coating on paper. If you get some type of tactile feel from graphite and like, this was very like stable for graphite. Like it's not too smooth, not too rough. Um, it's just kind of like right in the middle. So yeah, it, um, overall super, super impressed with the paper quality. I actually used it for my show notes today, which I haven't been using. Um, like this is a good, like you and your stupid correct product names. It's a good sidekick. Like it literally fits next to my laptop and doesn't like, it's hard for me to use something like the I writer standard a five when I'm on a laptop with a microphone next to my desk and on the right side, you know, having a notebook that I have to reach over the left page, even though I don't have to, some notebooks I use both sides, you know, I'm further and further away from my writing as someone who will talk and write at the same time, like into a microphone. Um, this sits right next to my laptop and I knew it was going to be good for show notes today because now it is in the range that I need it to be, uh, in the proper area on my desk to not make me just have to fumble over trying to write something. Yeah. This was like, obviously the sidekick notepad we made to sit between you and the keyboard, right? And that was its idea. But there were a lot of people was like, I don't want that. Like I don't work like that. I want something next to, and I have an idea for a different, like a bigger notebook, which would do that kind of like a five size that I want to do someday. Um, but the, until that point, I think the pocket serves this perfectly. Um, cause also top, top bound, um, which I failed to mention that's top bound perforated pages. Yeah. Top bound perforated pages. So I will probably, I, I think about how I use products a lot. I will, I don't know that I'm going to use the backside of the page here because at some point I'll start tearing pages out right on a top bound perforated notebook. These are usually like ephemeral type pages, right? That's how I design it too. Yeah. I'm not putting something here to keep, right? So I flipped over my ink test page, right? That's around the back. But after a few pages, I'm not going to, I'm not going to keep this entire notebook intact. I will use and destroy this notebook. And you can, you can, and I do kind of, and I wouldn't do this as a sidekick notepad, but with the pocket, I keep, I, I have like taken notes like a notebook. Like I've got like four or five pages going. Like I was doing this yesterday. I was in a call and I was taking pages. I'm just flipping them over and I will eventually tear those out and take them. But it's like, you can kind of do that a little bit more. This product allows for it a little bit easier, but it's not the way it's intended to be used. It's like you write, tear out and you're onto a new page. That's like essentially the thing that is not for everyone, but it's what I want to build because there are lots of notebooks that do it the other way. So for people that want it the way that we like it, which is like you kind of, the pages are ephemeral. This product serves that purpose. Yep. So final results on the, all the ink testing, like literally no issues whatsoever. So very happy with how it performed. Ultra smooth page too. Really, really like the smoothness of the page. So it's good stuff. Well done, Michael. Thank you. You just used the grid one. I just used the grid one. I have not opened the lined and the task. What's the other one? The task. I think you're a dick to do. Oh yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I'm going to, I'll probably end up doing a review and I'll just have like each out there. Right. And I like that it comes in a two pack.		* It's produced by G.F. Smith here in the UK. Yeah. So I could not believe how good it was when I first used it. Yeah. Because, and I forget all the time that it is not the Munkin paper that we use. Yeah, Munkin links. Munkin links. They feel very similar to me. So no feathering, no bleed, way less ghosting than the IA Writer. It's unfair to compare the two. They're not comfortable at all. Yeah. But I was just, I happen to do them side by side, but you flip over the backside of the page and yeah, you can see the lines through the backside of the page, but it's really not that bad. You could use the backside of the page here if you wanted to. The one thing it doesn't allow for, it's a flatter page, right? It's not like a coated paper. So your inks aren't going to shade as much and you're not going to get as much sheen, but the color is good. I'm very impressed that you can tell those features. Like this really shows you're not, but yes, it's uncoated. So you can, um, you get proper color, right? Like if I used, I use like Robert Oster blue lagoon, I have an expectation of what that color is going to be when I put before I even started on the page and that expectation is met. So you get proper color range. You just don't get extras. Like if you have an extra shader or an extra sheener, like you might not, you're not going to get the full benefit of that. But that's also like a, that's a fountain pen people's paper that, you know, kind of leans into that stuff. This is not, this is a universal usage paper and it's great for fountain pens. So from the fine to like the ultra wet medium curves of a tile, like it all worked well. The, um, pencils. I always like to do a pencil test because that's also how you can tell about coating on paper. If you get some type of tactile feel from graphite and like, this was very like stable for graphite. Like it's not too smooth, not too rough. Um, it's just kind of like right in the middle. So yeah, it, um, overall super, super impressed with the paper quality. I actually used it for my show notes today, which I haven't been using. Um, like this is a good, like you and your stupid correct product names. It's a good sidekick. Like it literally fits next to my laptop and doesn't like, it's hard for me to use something like the I writer standard a five when I'm on a laptop with a microphone next to my desk and on the right side, you know, having a notebook that I have to reach over the left page, even though I don't have to, some notebooks I use both sides, you know, I'm further and further away from my writing as someone who will talk and write at the same time, like into a microphone. Um, this sits right next to my laptop and I knew it was going to be good for show notes today because now it is in the range that I need it to be, uh, in the proper area on my desk to not make me just have to fumble over trying to write something. Yeah. This was like, obviously the sidekick notepad we made to sit between you and the keyboard, right? And that was its idea. But there were a lot of people was like, I don't want that. Like I don't work like that. I want something next to, and I have an idea for a different, like a bigger notebook, which would do that kind of like a five size that I want to do someday. Um, but the, until that point, I think the pocket serves this perfectly. Um, cause also top, top bound, um, which I failed to mention that's top bound perforated pages. Yeah. Top bound perforated pages. So I will probably, I, I think about how I use products a lot. I will, I don't know that I'm going to use the backside of the page here because at some point I'll start tearing pages out right on a top bound perforated notebook. These are usually like ephemeral type pages, right? That's how I design it too. Yeah. I'm not putting something here to keep, right? So I flipped over my ink test page, right? That's around the back. But after a few pages, I'm not going to, I'm not going to keep this entire notebook intact. I will use and destroy this notebook. And you can, you can, and I do kind of, and I wouldn't do this as a sidekick notepad, but with the pocket, I keep, I, I have like taken notes like a notebook. Like I've got like four or five pages going. Like I was doing this yesterday. I was in a call and I was taking pages. I'm just flipping them over and I will eventually tear those out and take them. But it's like, you can kind of do that a little bit more. This product allows for it a little bit easier, but it's not the way it's intended to be used. It's like you write, tear out and you're onto a new page. That's like essentially the thing that is not for everyone, but it's what I want to build because there are lots of notebooks that do it the other way. So for people that want it the way that we like it, which is like you kind of, the pages are ephemeral. This product serves that purpose. Yep. So final results on the, all the ink testing, like literally no issues whatsoever. So very happy with how it performed. Ultra smooth page too. Really, really like the smoothness of the page. So it's good stuff. Well done, Michael. Thank you. You just used the grid one. I just used the grid one. I have not opened the lined and the task. What's the other one? The task. I think you're a dick to do. Oh yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I'm going to, I'll probably end up doing a review and I'll just have like each out there. Right. And I like that it comes in a two pack.
	* The packaging was great. When I, everyone enjoyed the packaging. We use that on all of our Sidekick products now. So I had been, this is something that changed in the last year or so. It's, we call it book wrapping. That's what the, that's what the manufacturer calls it. Um, and so we started doing that on the big guy. Uh, and then on, we do on the little guy. It's the same paper and it's got the same foil stamping on it. Uh, I liked that you kept the logo to put in your journal. I thought that was cute. But yeah, it's the same paper the cover's made from, which is all GS Smith color plan. Um, and I really like that the, the stamping is actually a pigment stamp. Um, that goes onto each of these. So it's not clear. It's actually like somewhat color matched. It's color matched best on the orange and the yellow. The blue is a little off, but I actually kind of like it cause it's different. Uh, so yeah, I'm really, you know, I'm really happy with this product and I really wasn't sure what people were going to think of it. And I think it has probably been our most positive launch. Like people are very positive about this product. Um, and the people that get it seem to really dig it. So I'm very, I feel very effused, uh, by, by how this one has gone down. Last little small detail that I mentioned when I was reviewing it, and I haven't mentioned yet today is the cover scoring is ridiculously good. Yeah. It's just so pliable. Like it's what you would, you don't want to, you don't want to have to break in your cover scoring for a top bound notebook. That was so, um, that's really noticeable. We, again, like we didn't, this is the great thing about this product is I didn't need to do a lot of development on it because we'd gone through all of these specs on the sidekick notepad. But when we were making the sidekick notepad, this was a big deal for me of like, I do not want the customer to be dealing with their own like folding in any way because I want it to be just right. And like, and I, the, the tolerances that we have on that, on the way that these covers flip is, I think is incredibly good considering what's going on. Um, and so, yeah, it was, uh, an easy thing for me. Do you like the, the thick cover, like backing on the cover? Oh yeah. No, I, I think it's mandatory. Like I wouldn't want a similar color. And I also like that, um, it's the same color match as the color. So a lot of top bound notebooks will have the front cover, um, the scoring, and then like a tape over of a standard cardboard and yours match the, um, the aesthetic of the whole thing. So that's like a noticeable point. It's like one solid unit, not like a tape over, uh, flip. And this is one of those things of like, why are our products more expensive? It's decisions like that. Yeah. It would be so much cheaper for me to use a recycled gray board, which is what was recommended to me. But instead we use the same paper. We use just a much thicker piece of color plan, um, to, to make it sturdy, but also continue to look good. Uh, so yeah, I'm really happy that you like it, Brad. Genuinely am. Because, you know, I know I'm never getting a gimme from you. And so, uh, I genuinely appreciate it when you like it. Because there's the thing where like, you can do the nice thing where you can be like, that looks really nice. Like it, and, and, you know, you've built it really nice, but to get the, this also feels nice to use like that's that one, that one can't be a gimme. So yeah. Yeah. No gimme's here.		* The packaging was great. When I, everyone enjoyed the packaging. We use that on all of our Sidekick products now. So I had been, this is something that changed in the last year or so. It's, we call it book wrapping. That's what the, that's what the manufacturer calls it. Um, and so we started doing that on the big guy. Uh, and then on, we do on the little guy. It's the same paper and it's got the same foil stamping on it. Uh, I liked that you kept the logo to put in your journal. I thought that was cute. But yeah, it's the same paper the cover's made from, which is all GS Smith color plan. Um, and I really like that the, the stamping is actually a pigment stamp. Um, that goes onto each of these. So it's not clear. It's actually like somewhat color matched. It's color matched best on the orange and the yellow. The blue is a little off, but I actually kind of like it cause it's different. Uh, so yeah, I'm really, you know, I'm really happy with this product and I really wasn't sure what people were going to think of it. And I think it has probably been our most positive launch. Like people are very positive about this product. Um, and the people that get it seem to really dig it. So I'm very, I feel very effused, uh, by, by how this one has gone down. Last little small detail that I mentioned when I was reviewing it, and I haven't mentioned yet today is the cover scoring is ridiculously good. Yeah. It's just so pliable. Like it's what you would, you don't want to, you don't want to have to break in your cover scoring for a top bound notebook. That was so, um, that's really noticeable. We, again, like we didn't, this is the great thing about this product is I didn't need to do a lot of development on it because we'd gone through all of these specs on the sidekick notepad. But when we were making the sidekick notepad, this was a big deal for me of like, I do not want the customer to be dealing with their own like folding in any way because I want it to be just right. And like, and I, the, the tolerances that we have on that, on the way that these covers flip is, I think is incredibly good considering what's going on. Um, and so, yeah, it was, uh, an easy thing for me. Do you like the, the thick cover, like backing on the cover? Oh yeah. No, I, I think it's mandatory. Like I wouldn't want a similar color. And I also like that, um, it's the same color match as the color. So a lot of top bound notebooks will have the front cover, um, the scoring, and then like a tape over of a standard cardboard and yours match the, um, the aesthetic of the whole thing. So that's like a noticeable point. It's like one solid unit, not like a tape over, uh, flip. And this is one of those things of like, why are our products more expensive? It's decisions like that. Yeah. It would be so much cheaper for me to use a recycled gray board, which is what was recommended to me. But instead we use the same paper. We use just a much thicker piece of color plan, um, to, to make it sturdy, but also continue to look good. Uh, so yeah, I'm really happy that you like it, Brad. Genuinely am. Because, you know, I know I'm never getting a gimme from you. And so, uh, I genuinely appreciate it when you like it. Because there's the thing where like, you can do the nice thing where you can be like, that looks really nice. Like it, and, and, you know, you've built it really nice, but to get the, this also feels nice to use like that's that one, that one can't be a gimme. So yeah. Yeah. No gimme's here.
	* This episode is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, Pilot, Namiki, or a trip. The list goes on and on and on. You, if you want a brand, they've got it. And if they don't, they're probably going to add it because they're adding new products every month, every couple of weeks of doing new deals as well. Whether you want to pick up a new rollable for yourself or a bottle of ink, wherever you're looking for a carrying case to take your pens on the road, no matter what it is, Pen Chalet have got it. And they have all the accessories you want and all the product types you're looking for. They sell international with great shipping rates and they do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. Pen Chalet has low prices and high quality pens and they give a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Take yourself to ~~PennChalet~~.com slash ~~PennAddict~~. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash ~~PennAddict~~. And you'll save 10% on anything you buy over at Pen Chalet. You get a code there. You'll also see exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What have we got, Brad? One of my favorite pens of all time is in the special section at a really, really good price. So the Kaweco Collector's Edition Perkyo in infrared. So it's this crazy red pen that I reviewed. I fell in love with this pen. And they charge, so the Perkyo lineup from Kaweco is their entry level pen and it's a full size pen. So like in the past, their product started with the sport size, which is a small pocket pen. The Perkyo is a full size plastic barrel pen. And then they made this special edition and they charge like twice. They charge like double for it, which I thought was a little bit odd. But now like this pen is at like the normal Perkyo price and it's like a must buy. This is one of my favorite pens. It's a great deal. It's so cheap. This is a very inexpensive pen. They also have a bunch of Ferris wheel press inks on sale, which I usually don't see. So those who are into ink, like Kelly from Mountain of Ink, love Ferris wheel press inks. And you can get some good deals on a lot of different bottles of Ferris wheel press. And I'm still looking at this Endless Captiva fountain pen, which they had on here before with the twist piston, kind of like a torque filler mechanism that looks really, really cool. Oh, and a bunch of Ferris wheel press pens on here too. Cool. I didn't see that. So yeah, go check them out. A lot of pens, a lot of inks and definitely some great deals over at penshalet.com.		* This episode is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, Pilot, Namiki, or a trip. The list goes on and on and on. You, if you want a brand, they've got it. And if they don't, they're probably going to add it because they're adding new products every month, every couple of weeks of doing new deals as well. Whether you want to pick up a new rollable for yourself or a bottle of ink, wherever you're looking for a carrying case to take your pens on the road, no matter what it is, Pen Chalet have got it. And they have all the accessories you want and all the product types you're looking for. They sell international with great shipping rates and they do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. Pen Chalet has low prices and high quality pens and they give a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Take yourself to PenChalet.com slash PenAddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash PenAddict. And you'll save 10% on anything you buy over at Pen Chalet. You get a code there. You'll also see exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What have we got, Brad? One of my favorite pens of all time is in the special section at a really, really good price. So the Kaweco Collector's Edition Perkyo in infrared. So it's this crazy red pen that I reviewed. I fell in love with this pen. And they charge, so the Perkyo lineup from Kaweco is their entry level pen and it's a full size pen. So like in the past, their product started with the sport size, which is a small pocket pen. The Perkyo is a full size plastic barrel pen. And then they made this special edition and they charge like twice. They charge like double for it, which I thought was a little bit odd. But now like this pen is at like the normal Perkyo price and it's like a must buy. This is one of my favorite pens. It's a great deal. It's so cheap. This is a very inexpensive pen. They also have a bunch of Ferris wheel press inks on sale, which I usually don't see. So those who are into ink, like Kelly from Mountain of Ink, love Ferris wheel press inks. And you can get some good deals on a lot of different bottles of Ferris wheel press. And I'm still looking at this Endless Captiva fountain pen, which they had on here before with the twist piston, kind of like a torque filler mechanism that looks really, really cool. Oh, and a bunch of Ferris wheel press pens on here too. Cool. I didn't see that. So yeah, go check them out. A lot of pens, a lot of inks and definitely some great deals over at penshalet.com.
	* Yeah, go take yourself there right now. Thanks to our friends over at Penshalet for their continued support of this show and all of Relay. All right. A couple of little short notes, Myke. I could have put this in the follow-up section up top, but the Ohuhu pen, which I mentioned when I was looking at the red dot winners from 2024 when we're referring to the IA writer. And this was a Copic style alcohol marker that looked really cool, but I had never heard of them, didn't know anything about it. And previous week's shout out, a friend, a June Thomas emailed me to say, hey, number one, thanks for the shout out. Thank you, June, for being awesome. She also couldn't believe that it had been like a decade since she was last on the show.		* Yeah, go take yourself there right now. Thanks to our friends over at Penshalet for their continued support of this show and all of Relay. All right. A couple of little short notes, Myke. I could have put this in the follow-up section up top, but the Ohuhu pen, which I mentioned when I was looking at the red dot winners from 2024 when we're referring to the IA writer. And this was a Copic style alcohol marker that looked really cool, but I had never heard of them, didn't know anything about it. And previous week's shout out, a friend, a June Thomas emailed me to say, hey, number one, thanks for the shout out. Thank you, June, for being awesome. She also couldn't believe that it had been like a decade since she was last on the show.
	* Said that the Ohuhu is very, very legit. And there is a video, which I have not watched because I probably just won't. I'm not into these markers. There's a video called Who Killed the Copic Marker by Jazza, who has like 6.68 million subscribers on YouTube. So they must be a very popular artist. So I went and kind of browsed around them, but they did a comparison with the Ohuhu and the Copic. And guess what? Ohuhu. Ohuhu was the winner. So if you're looking for that type of marker, alcohol-based marker, maybe something to check out. So I can't vouch for them. I haven't used them. I'm not generally an alcohol markers user. I've used Copics, like the Fineliner products, but alcohol marker hasn't something I've gotten into. But yeah, take a look if that's something you're interested in. Because like, honestly, the Copics have gotten really, really pricey. So the Ohuhus are something to look at if you're into that.		* Said that the Ohuhu is very, very legit. And there is a video, which I have not watched because I probably just won't. I'm not into these markers. There's a video called Who Killed the Copic Marker by Jazza, who has like 6.68 million subscribers on YouTube. So they must be a very popular artist. So I went and kind of browsed around them, but they did a comparison with the Ohuhu and the Copic. And guess what? Ohuhu. Ohuhu was the winner. So if you're looking for that type of marker, alcohol-based marker, maybe something to check out. So I can't vouch for them. I haven't used them. I'm not generally an alcohol markers user. I've used Copics, like the Fineliner products, but alcohol marker hasn't something I've gotten into. But yeah, take a look if that's something you're interested in. Because like, honestly, the Copics have gotten really, really pricey. So the Ohuhus are something to look at if you're into that.

PencilBot: fixed spelling

2026-06-22T09:15:24Z

fixed spelling

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:15, 22 June 2026
Line 67:		Line 67:
	* It's produced by G.F. Smith here in the UK. Yeah. So I could not believe how good it was when I first used it. Yeah. Because, and I forget all the time that it is not the Munkin paper that we use. Yeah, Munkin links. Munkin links. They feel very similar to me. So no feathering, no bleed, way less ghosting than the IA Writer. It's unfair to compare the two. They're not comfortable at all. Yeah. But I was just, I happen to do them side by side, but you flip over the backside of the page and yeah, you can see the lines through the backside of the page, but it's really not that bad. You could use the backside of the page here if you wanted to. The one thing it doesn't allow for, it's a flatter page, right? It's not like a coated paper. So your inks aren't going to shade as much and you're not going to get as much sheen, but the color is good. I'm very impressed that you can tell those features. Like this really shows you're not, but yes, it's uncoated. So you can, um, you get proper color, right? Like if I used, I use like Robert Oster blue lagoon, I have an expectation of what that color is going to be when I put before I even started on the page and that expectation is met. So you get proper color range. You just don't get extras. Like if you have an extra shader or an extra sheener, like you might not, you're not going to get the full benefit of that. But that's also like a, that's a fountain pen people's paper that, you know, kind of leans into that stuff. This is not, this is a universal usage paper and it's great for fountain pens. So from the fine to like the ultra wet medium curves of a tile, like it all worked well. The, um, pencils. I always like to do a pencil test because that's also how you can tell about coating on paper. If you get some type of tactile feel from graphite and like, this was very like stable for graphite. Like it's not too smooth, not too rough. Um, it's just kind of like right in the middle. So yeah, it, um, overall super, super impressed with the paper quality. I actually used it for my show notes today, which I haven't been using. Um, like this is a good, like you and your stupid correct product names. It's a good sidekick. Like it literally fits next to my laptop and doesn't like, it's hard for me to use something like the I writer standard a five when I'm on a laptop with a microphone next to my desk and on the right side, you know, having a notebook that I have to reach over the left page, even though I don't have to, some notebooks I use both sides, you know, I'm further and further away from my writing as someone who will talk and write at the same time, like into a microphone. Um, this sits right next to my laptop and I knew it was going to be good for show notes today because now it is in the range that I need it to be, uh, in the proper area on my desk to not make me just have to fumble over trying to write something. Yeah. This was like, obviously the sidekick notepad we made to sit between you and the keyboard, right? And that was its idea. But there were a lot of people was like, I don't want that. Like I don't work like that. I want something next to, and I have an idea for a different, like a bigger notebook, which would do that kind of like a five size that I want to do someday. Um, but the, until that point, I think the pocket serves this perfectly. Um, cause also top, top bound, um, which I failed to mention that's top bound perforated pages. Yeah. Top bound perforated pages. So I will probably, I, I think about how I use products a lot. I will, I don't know that I'm going to use the backside of the page here because at some point I'll start tearing pages out right on a top bound perforated notebook. These are usually like ephemeral type pages, right? That's how I design it too. Yeah. I'm not putting something here to keep, right? So I flipped over my ink test page, right? That's around the back. But after a few pages, I'm not going to, I'm not going to keep this entire notebook intact. I will use and destroy this notebook. And you can, you can, and I do kind of, and I wouldn't do this as a sidekick notepad, but with the pocket, I keep, I, I have like taken notes like a notebook. Like I've got like four or five pages going. Like I was doing this yesterday. I was in a call and I was taking pages. I'm just flipping them over and I will eventually tear those out and take them. But it's like, you can kind of do that a little bit more. This product allows for it a little bit easier, but it's not the way it's intended to be used. It's like you write, tear out and you're onto a new page. That's like essentially the thing that is not for everyone, but it's what I want to build because there are lots of notebooks that do it the other way. So for people that want it the way that we like it, which is like you kind of, the pages are ephemeral. This product serves that purpose. Yep. So final results on the, all the ink testing, like literally no issues whatsoever. So very happy with how it performed. Ultra smooth page too. Really, really like the smoothness of the page. So it's good stuff. Well done, Michael. Thank you. You just used the grid one. I just used the grid one. I have not opened the lined and the task. What's the other one? The task. I think you're a dick to do. Oh yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I'm going to, I'll probably end up doing a review and I'll just have like each out there. Right. And I like that it comes in a two pack.		* It's produced by G.F. Smith here in the UK. Yeah. So I could not believe how good it was when I first used it. Yeah. Because, and I forget all the time that it is not the Munkin paper that we use. Yeah, Munkin links. Munkin links. They feel very similar to me. So no feathering, no bleed, way less ghosting than the IA Writer. It's unfair to compare the two. They're not comfortable at all. Yeah. But I was just, I happen to do them side by side, but you flip over the backside of the page and yeah, you can see the lines through the backside of the page, but it's really not that bad. You could use the backside of the page here if you wanted to. The one thing it doesn't allow for, it's a flatter page, right? It's not like a coated paper. So your inks aren't going to shade as much and you're not going to get as much sheen, but the color is good. I'm very impressed that you can tell those features. Like this really shows you're not, but yes, it's uncoated. So you can, um, you get proper color, right? Like if I used, I use like Robert Oster blue lagoon, I have an expectation of what that color is going to be when I put before I even started on the page and that expectation is met. So you get proper color range. You just don't get extras. Like if you have an extra shader or an extra sheener, like you might not, you're not going to get the full benefit of that. But that's also like a, that's a fountain pen people's paper that, you know, kind of leans into that stuff. This is not, this is a universal usage paper and it's great for fountain pens. So from the fine to like the ultra wet medium curves of a tile, like it all worked well. The, um, pencils. I always like to do a pencil test because that's also how you can tell about coating on paper. If you get some type of tactile feel from graphite and like, this was very like stable for graphite. Like it's not too smooth, not too rough. Um, it's just kind of like right in the middle. So yeah, it, um, overall super, super impressed with the paper quality. I actually used it for my show notes today, which I haven't been using. Um, like this is a good, like you and your stupid correct product names. It's a good sidekick. Like it literally fits next to my laptop and doesn't like, it's hard for me to use something like the I writer standard a five when I'm on a laptop with a microphone next to my desk and on the right side, you know, having a notebook that I have to reach over the left page, even though I don't have to, some notebooks I use both sides, you know, I'm further and further away from my writing as someone who will talk and write at the same time, like into a microphone. Um, this sits right next to my laptop and I knew it was going to be good for show notes today because now it is in the range that I need it to be, uh, in the proper area on my desk to not make me just have to fumble over trying to write something. Yeah. This was like, obviously the sidekick notepad we made to sit between you and the keyboard, right? And that was its idea. But there were a lot of people was like, I don't want that. Like I don't work like that. I want something next to, and I have an idea for a different, like a bigger notebook, which would do that kind of like a five size that I want to do someday. Um, but the, until that point, I think the pocket serves this perfectly. Um, cause also top, top bound, um, which I failed to mention that's top bound perforated pages. Yeah. Top bound perforated pages. So I will probably, I, I think about how I use products a lot. I will, I don't know that I'm going to use the backside of the page here because at some point I'll start tearing pages out right on a top bound perforated notebook. These are usually like ephemeral type pages, right? That's how I design it too. Yeah. I'm not putting something here to keep, right? So I flipped over my ink test page, right? That's around the back. But after a few pages, I'm not going to, I'm not going to keep this entire notebook intact. I will use and destroy this notebook. And you can, you can, and I do kind of, and I wouldn't do this as a sidekick notepad, but with the pocket, I keep, I, I have like taken notes like a notebook. Like I've got like four or five pages going. Like I was doing this yesterday. I was in a call and I was taking pages. I'm just flipping them over and I will eventually tear those out and take them. But it's like, you can kind of do that a little bit more. This product allows for it a little bit easier, but it's not the way it's intended to be used. It's like you write, tear out and you're onto a new page. That's like essentially the thing that is not for everyone, but it's what I want to build because there are lots of notebooks that do it the other way. So for people that want it the way that we like it, which is like you kind of, the pages are ephemeral. This product serves that purpose. Yep. So final results on the, all the ink testing, like literally no issues whatsoever. So very happy with how it performed. Ultra smooth page too. Really, really like the smoothness of the page. So it's good stuff. Well done, Michael. Thank you. You just used the grid one. I just used the grid one. I have not opened the lined and the task. What's the other one? The task. I think you're a dick to do. Oh yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I'm going to, I'll probably end up doing a review and I'll just have like each out there. Right. And I like that it comes in a two pack.
	* The packaging was great. When I, everyone enjoyed the packaging. We use that on all of our Sidekick products now. So I had been, this is something that changed in the last year or so. It's, we call it book wrapping. That's what the, that's what the manufacturer calls it. Um, and so we started doing that on the big guy. Uh, and then on, we do on the little guy. It's the same paper and it's got the same foil stamping on it. Uh, I liked that you kept the logo to put in your journal. I thought that was cute. But yeah, it's the same paper the cover's made from, which is all GS Smith color plan. Um, and I really like that the, the stamping is actually a pigment stamp. Um, that goes onto each of these. So it's not clear. It's actually like somewhat color matched. It's color matched best on the orange and the yellow. The blue is a little off, but I actually kind of like it cause it's different. Uh, so yeah, I'm really, you know, I'm really happy with this product and I really wasn't sure what people were going to think of it. And I think it has probably been our most positive launch. Like people are very positive about this product. Um, and the people that get it seem to really dig it. So I'm very, I feel very effused, uh, by, by how this one has gone down. Last little small detail that I mentioned when I was reviewing it, and I haven't mentioned yet today is the cover scoring is ridiculously good. Yeah. It's just so pliable. Like it's what you would, you don't want to, you don't want to have to break in your cover scoring for a top bound notebook. That was so, um, that's really noticeable. We, again, like we didn't, this is the great thing about this product is I didn't need to do a lot of development on it because we'd gone through all of these specs on the sidekick notepad. But when we were making the sidekick notepad, this was a big deal for me of like, I do not want the customer to be dealing with their own like folding in any way because I want it to be just right. And like, and I, the, the tolerances that we have on that, on the way that these covers flip is, I think is incredibly good considering what's going on. Um, and so, yeah, it was, uh, an easy thing for me. Do you like the, the thick cover, like backing on the cover? Oh yeah. No, I, I think it's mandatory. Like I wouldn't want a similar color. And I also like that, um, it's the same color match as the color. So a lot of top bound notebooks will have the front cover, um, the scoring, and then like a tape over of a standard cardboard and yours match the, um, the aesthetic of the whole thing. So that's like a noticeable point. It's like one solid unit, not like a tape over, uh, flip. And this is one of those things of like, why are our products more expensive? It's decisions like that. Yeah. It would be so much cheaper for me to use a recycled gray board, which is what was recommended to me. But instead we use the same paper. We use just a much thicker piece of color plan, um, to, to make it sturdy, but also continue to look good. Uh, so yeah, I'm really happy that you like it, Brad. Genuinely am. Because, you know, I know I'm never getting a gimme from you. And so, uh, I genuinely appreciate it when you like it. Because there's the thing where like, you can do the nice thing where you can be like, that looks really nice. Like it, and, and, you know, you've built it really nice, but to get the, this also feels nice to use like that's that one, that one can't be a gimme. So yeah. Yeah. No gimme's here.		* The packaging was great. When I, everyone enjoyed the packaging. We use that on all of our Sidekick products now. So I had been, this is something that changed in the last year or so. It's, we call it book wrapping. That's what the, that's what the manufacturer calls it. Um, and so we started doing that on the big guy. Uh, and then on, we do on the little guy. It's the same paper and it's got the same foil stamping on it. Uh, I liked that you kept the logo to put in your journal. I thought that was cute. But yeah, it's the same paper the cover's made from, which is all GS Smith color plan. Um, and I really like that the, the stamping is actually a pigment stamp. Um, that goes onto each of these. So it's not clear. It's actually like somewhat color matched. It's color matched best on the orange and the yellow. The blue is a little off, but I actually kind of like it cause it's different. Uh, so yeah, I'm really, you know, I'm really happy with this product and I really wasn't sure what people were going to think of it. And I think it has probably been our most positive launch. Like people are very positive about this product. Um, and the people that get it seem to really dig it. So I'm very, I feel very effused, uh, by, by how this one has gone down. Last little small detail that I mentioned when I was reviewing it, and I haven't mentioned yet today is the cover scoring is ridiculously good. Yeah. It's just so pliable. Like it's what you would, you don't want to, you don't want to have to break in your cover scoring for a top bound notebook. That was so, um, that's really noticeable. We, again, like we didn't, this is the great thing about this product is I didn't need to do a lot of development on it because we'd gone through all of these specs on the sidekick notepad. But when we were making the sidekick notepad, this was a big deal for me of like, I do not want the customer to be dealing with their own like folding in any way because I want it to be just right. And like, and I, the, the tolerances that we have on that, on the way that these covers flip is, I think is incredibly good considering what's going on. Um, and so, yeah, it was, uh, an easy thing for me. Do you like the, the thick cover, like backing on the cover? Oh yeah. No, I, I think it's mandatory. Like I wouldn't want a similar color. And I also like that, um, it's the same color match as the color. So a lot of top bound notebooks will have the front cover, um, the scoring, and then like a tape over of a standard cardboard and yours match the, um, the aesthetic of the whole thing. So that's like a noticeable point. It's like one solid unit, not like a tape over, uh, flip. And this is one of those things of like, why are our products more expensive? It's decisions like that. Yeah. It would be so much cheaper for me to use a recycled gray board, which is what was recommended to me. But instead we use the same paper. We use just a much thicker piece of color plan, um, to, to make it sturdy, but also continue to look good. Uh, so yeah, I'm really happy that you like it, Brad. Genuinely am. Because, you know, I know I'm never getting a gimme from you. And so, uh, I genuinely appreciate it when you like it. Because there's the thing where like, you can do the nice thing where you can be like, that looks really nice. Like it, and, and, you know, you've built it really nice, but to get the, this also feels nice to use like that's that one, that one can't be a gimme. So yeah. Yeah. No gimme's here.
	* This episode is brought to you by our friends at ~~Penn~~ Chalet. ~~Penn~~ Chalet have your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, Pilot, Namiki, or a trip. The list goes on and on and on. You, if you want a brand, they've got it. And if they don't, they're probably going to add it because they're adding new products every month, every couple of weeks of doing new deals as well. Whether you want to pick up a new rollable for yourself or a bottle of ink, wherever you're looking for a carrying case to take your pens on the road, no matter what it is, ~~Penn~~ Chalet have got it. And they have all the accessories you want and all the product types you're looking for. They sell international with great shipping rates and they do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. ~~Penn~~ Chalet has low prices and high quality pens and they give a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Take yourself to PennChalet.com slash PennAddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash PennAddict. And you'll save 10% on anything you buy over at ~~Penn~~ Chalet. You get a code there. You'll also see exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What have we got, Brad? One of my favorite pens of all time is in the special section at a really, really good price. So the Kaweco Collector's Edition Perkyo in infrared. So it's this crazy red pen that I reviewed. I fell in love with this pen. And they charge, so the Perkyo lineup from Kaweco is their entry level pen and it's a full size pen. So like in the past, their product started with the sport size, which is a small pocket pen. The Perkyo is a full size plastic barrel pen. And then they made this special edition and they charge like twice. They charge like double for it, which I thought was a little bit odd. But now like this pen is at like the normal Perkyo price and it's like a must buy. This is one of my favorite pens. It's a great deal. It's so cheap. This is a very inexpensive pen. They also have a bunch of Ferris wheel press inks on sale, which I usually don't see. So those who are into ink, like Kelly from Mountain of Ink, love Ferris wheel press inks. And you can get some good deals on a lot of different bottles of Ferris wheel press. And I'm still looking at this Endless Captiva fountain pen, which they had on here before with the twist piston, kind of like a torque filler mechanism that looks really, really cool. Oh, and a bunch of Ferris wheel press pens on here too. Cool. I didn't see that. So yeah, go check them out. A lot of pens, a lot of inks and definitely some great deals over at penshalet.com.		* This episode is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have your favorite brands like Pelican, Lamy, Sailor, Kaweco, Pilot, Namiki, or a trip. The list goes on and on and on. You, if you want a brand, they've got it. And if they don't, they're probably going to add it because they're adding new products every month, every couple of weeks of doing new deals as well. Whether you want to pick up a new rollable for yourself or a bottle of ink, wherever you're looking for a carrying case to take your pens on the road, no matter what it is, Pen Chalet have got it. And they have all the accessories you want and all the product types you're looking for. They sell international with great shipping rates and they do free shipping on orders of over $75 in the US. Pen Chalet has low prices and high quality pens and they give a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Take yourself to PennChalet.com slash PennAddict. That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash PennAddict. And you'll save 10% on anything you buy over at Pen Chalet. You get a code there. You'll also see exclusive offers for listeners of this show. What have we got, Brad? One of my favorite pens of all time is in the special section at a really, really good price. So the Kaweco Collector's Edition Perkyo in infrared. So it's this crazy red pen that I reviewed. I fell in love with this pen. And they charge, so the Perkyo lineup from Kaweco is their entry level pen and it's a full size pen. So like in the past, their product started with the sport size, which is a small pocket pen. The Perkyo is a full size plastic barrel pen. And then they made this special edition and they charge like twice. They charge like double for it, which I thought was a little bit odd. But now like this pen is at like the normal Perkyo price and it's like a must buy. This is one of my favorite pens. It's a great deal. It's so cheap. This is a very inexpensive pen. They also have a bunch of Ferris wheel press inks on sale, which I usually don't see. So those who are into ink, like Kelly from Mountain of Ink, love Ferris wheel press inks. And you can get some good deals on a lot of different bottles of Ferris wheel press. And I'm still looking at this Endless Captiva fountain pen, which they had on here before with the twist piston, kind of like a torque filler mechanism that looks really, really cool. Oh, and a bunch of Ferris wheel press pens on here too. Cool. I didn't see that. So yeah, go check them out. A lot of pens, a lot of inks and definitely some great deals over at penshalet.com.
	* Yeah, go take yourself there right now. Thanks to our friends over at Penshalet for their continued support of this show and all of Relay. All right. A couple of little short notes, Myke. I could have put this in the follow-up section up top, but the Ohuhu pen, which I mentioned when I was looking at the red dot winners from 2024 when we're referring to the IA writer. And this was a Copic style alcohol marker that looked really cool, but I had never heard of them, didn't know anything about it. And previous week's shout out, a friend, a June Thomas emailed me to say, hey, number one, thanks for the shout out. Thank you, June, for being awesome. She also couldn't believe that it had been like a decade since she was last on the show.		* Yeah, go take yourself there right now. Thanks to our friends over at Penshalet for their continued support of this show and all of Relay. All right. A couple of little short notes, Myke. I could have put this in the follow-up section up top, but the Ohuhu pen, which I mentioned when I was looking at the red dot winners from 2024 when we're referring to the IA writer. And this was a Copic style alcohol marker that looked really cool, but I had never heard of them, didn't know anything about it. And previous week's shout out, a friend, a June Thomas emailed me to say, hey, number one, thanks for the shout out. Thank you, June, for being awesome. She also couldn't believe that it had been like a decade since she was last on the show.
	* Said that the Ohuhu is very, very legit. And there is a video, which I have not watched because I probably just won't. I'm not into these markers. There's a video called Who Killed the Copic Marker by Jazza, who has like 6.68 million subscribers on YouTube. So they must be a very popular artist. So I went and kind of browsed around them, but they did a comparison with the Ohuhu and the Copic. And guess what? Ohuhu. Ohuhu was the winner. So if you're looking for that type of marker, alcohol-based marker, maybe something to check out. So I can't vouch for them. I haven't used them. I'm not generally an alcohol markers user. I've used Copics, like the Fineliner products, but alcohol marker hasn't something I've gotten into. But yeah, take a look if that's something you're interested in. Because like, honestly, the Copics have gotten really, really pricey. So the Ohuhus are something to look at if you're into that.		* Said that the Ohuhu is very, very legit. And there is a video, which I have not watched because I probably just won't. I'm not into these markers. There's a video called Who Killed the Copic Marker by Jazza, who has like 6.68 million subscribers on YouTube. So they must be a very popular artist. So I went and kind of browsed around them, but they did a comparison with the Ohuhu and the Copic. And guess what? Ohuhu. Ohuhu was the winner. So if you're looking for that type of marker, alcohol-based marker, maybe something to check out. So I can't vouch for them. I haven't used them. I'm not generally an alcohol markers user. I've used Copics, like the Fineliner products, but alcohol marker hasn't something I've gotten into. But yeah, take a look if that's something you're interested in. Because like, honestly, the Copics have gotten really, really pricey. So the Ohuhus are something to look at if you're into that.

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	* On the other hand, is how do I choose, right? So someone linked last week, Rattler Jen, shout out to Rattler Jen last week. And I meant, I meant to mention this, like the paradox of choice, like this is like a more is less situation. It was like, you stare at that rack. And at some point, your eyes just glaze over. And it's like, okay, I'm just going to go now. Right? It's like, how do you grab one? How do you make a decision standing in front of that? And what is uni doing to help, you know, help you make a decision? Like, are they doing anything? And that's what, that's all I would like to see is uni to help you make a decision when you're staring at 50 hooks of not just the singular, like take the, the vision elite, for example, but vision elite also comes in BLX, right? Which is the black ink formula. So there's just infinite depth below the, the main line of uni's products. And yeah, at some point you just go, wow, that's a lot. How do I make a decision? And that's what I'm trying to figure out. It's one of those things where I tend to try and have faith that the people making these decisions know what they're doing.		* On the other hand, is how do I choose, right? So someone linked last week, Rattler Jen, shout out to Rattler Jen last week. And I meant, I meant to mention this, like the paradox of choice, like this is like a more is less situation. It was like, you stare at that rack. And at some point, your eyes just glaze over. And it's like, okay, I'm just going to go now. Right? It's like, how do you grab one? How do you make a decision standing in front of that? And what is uni doing to help, you know, help you make a decision? Like, are they doing anything? And that's what, that's all I would like to see is uni to help you make a decision when you're staring at 50 hooks of not just the singular, like take the, the vision elite, for example, but vision elite also comes in BLX, right? Which is the black ink formula. So there's just infinite depth below the, the main line of uni's products. And yeah, at some point you just go, wow, that's a lot. How do I make a decision? And that's what I'm trying to figure out. It's one of those things where I tend to try and have faith that the people making these decisions know what they're doing.
	* And that, that often, not often, that often enough, I'll say is, is becomes clear is not the case, right? With like, there are, there are other corporate things going on that makes people, that incentivizes bad decision making. But I like to try and assume that the people making the decisions have more information than me. Like I try and take that as my starting point. Yes. I generally do that too. And so if I assume that, then the assumption I'll make here is the same assumption I made last time, is that uni believe that by having so many models, they are essentially like capturing all of the business, right? Like I think that in so much as like, they don't even, maybe, I don't know about this case, but I can imagine a lot of ~~stationary~~ stores, they don't even really care if you know it's them.		* And that, that often, not often, that often enough, I'll say is, is becomes clear is not the case, right? With like, there are, there are other corporate things going on that makes people, that incentivizes bad decision making. But I like to try and assume that the people making the decisions have more information than me. Like I try and take that as my starting point. Yes. I generally do that too. And so if I assume that, then the assumption I'll make here is the same assumption I made last time, is that uni believe that by having so many models, they are essentially like capturing all of the business, right? Like I think that in so much as like, they don't even, maybe, I don't know about this case, but I can imagine a lot of stationery stores, they don't even really care if you know it's them.
	* Right. That like, they look at all of these products that, you know, they expect somebody looks at all of these products and they're like, look at all these pens, like all these different names of pens. And I'll choose the one that I want. And they just have something at every price point, like Samsung, right? They do this, that there is a Samsung phone at like every price point possible, but you just don't know about them. Right. Because they have the ones that they show you the big flashy ones, but then they have them at like, every like $50 or even closer price point, all the way down to like $200 or something. And they just offer like everything. And yeah. So I think that's what some, that is the strategy of some companies. And if you've got your logistics right, you can manage it. That would be my assumption. Cause I don't know. Cause basically my thinking is why would you keep doing it? Right. Right. Why would you have all of these? And then like, as we were talking about last week's show, here's more sub brands. Like I figure there has to be some reasoning for why they would do that. But maybe I'm wrong and I'm being too kind. I don't think so. I think you're right. And like at a minimum it's marketing, right? It's base level marketing that this exists, even if I'm not making a purchase today, this now exists and maybe I'll go look at it some more. So, yeah. So it's good. I want, you need to continue down this path. I'm just looking for a little bit of guidance for someone who's staring at this for the first time or second time, you know, someone who's been in someone who found an Onyx at the office, because that's a kind of, kind of a classic office pen and then figuring out where do they go next? Because I think there is like a line there. There's like a progression in their products. So anyway, good stuff. This thing that Nathan has suggested like shouldn't be happening. Right. There shouldn't be like a uni display with like 40 pen models. Like it should be a little bit smarter than that. But that's that is a very complicated thing to do. It's like offering the right products in the right places is what I'm saying. Right. Yes. Because they're not selling the same amount of all of these things in this one location. So like being a bit smarter with that. But maybe they are. Maybe I have to stumble. Maybe they are. Yeah. Qelpenguino wrote in and says for the question about reducing a stock stub nib. I can't give a nib mice this perspective, but I can say that I have had it done and was happy with the result. I bought a used Franklin Kristoff that shipped of 1.5 stub and brought it down to about 0.9 line and have had no problems. Okay. Yeah. That's good feedback. And like I, my observation or comment on this was it's absolutely possible to do. Am I going to be happy with the visual of it? Right. I think it will work. Like I have no doubt that it will work and that a nib meister can do it and it's no issue at all. Am I going to be, and this is, and I'm just only talking about me personally. Am I going to be happy with the visual of that? And if they can shave that down and manage the feed size and everything and get it down to the proper thing. And that's good. I, I would actually like to see this in person. So, you know, maybe that's something I explore the next time I've been at a pen show. Maybe I get this done myself and see if I'm happy with the results because going from 1.5 to one is a big, big jump for me visually. So I want to see, I want to see how that, how that goes. So yeah. But that's good. So I would like to see this. If you have this done, if you see me in a pen show, and then maybe I will explore getting this done for myself because I have plenty of 1.5 stubs that I would like to be narrower. So there we go. All right. You want me to handle this last one? Yeah, go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Cause this is something I emailed directly. I got on this. So via Matt. So Matt said, I was asking about the Conklin EF nib issue on the last episode. I was thinking along the same lines as there being an issue with the nib. I did a little bit of self-testing because I noted with the Perkyo. So this was a comparison between the Kaweco Perkyo and the Conklin EF and only having problems with the Conklin EF. So I noted with the Perkyo that the ink was extremely wet as well. So I did the following, the original inking. So in the Perkyo, Matt used Private Reserve Infinity Violet. Seemed very wet in this pen. And then on the Conklin, Matt used Organic Studio Nitrogen. So immediately my red flag went up right here. So this is why, where ink matters and information matters when we're talking about things. Organic Studio Nitrogen, while it is a great ink, it is highly aggressively super sheeny. This is an extreme ink. And testing this in a Conklin EF nib is probably going to give you a problem. Or I won't say probably. It is a huge variable that can go a lot of different ways in this. And I would immediately take this ink out and clean it out and try it again. So guess what? Matt did. So she said, this is the one I struggled to write with the Conklin with the Organic Studio Nitrogen. It seemed to snag the paper. We're seeing what type seemed like an unnatural amount of pressure to lay any ink on the page. I tried switching inks and that seemed to have helped the issue. So there you go. So, and I basically replied back to Matt as like, boom, there's your answer. Like nothing wrong with Organic Studio Nitrogen other than that is an ink that requires properly set expectations. Right? So we can use all the extreme inks we want. We can use all the shimmer ink we want. We can use all the pigmented ink we want. But you need to change your baseline expectation of what could happen with this ink and this nib combination and this paper combination. And if you're having a problem like out the blue, like from the first fill with Organic Studio Nitrogen in a pen, I'm looking directly at the ink. But you also have to have that information going ahead. Maybe, you know, Matt was not aware that like nitrogen could be like really extreme and tough and challenging for some nibs. Right? Maybe people, you know, just read how great this ink is and it is. But not aware of the downsides. Some inks have downsides. Like if you're buying, you know, Diamine Meadow, you're not going to have a lot of downsides. Right? Just a basic standard straightforward ink. You know, if you're buying Pilot Blue, you're not going to have a lot of downsides. There's a certain level of ink where you just have to be aware of it. Like nothing wrong with the ink, but now you've introduced more challenges into play when you're testing and trying out ink. So there you go. I thought that was good feedback from Matt because as soon as he said that, I was like, well, that's it. Well, that's your problem. Yeah. Like, and again, nothing wrong with the ink, but it's not going to work anywhere, everywhere with every nib. And you need to just, it's an awareness thing that is hopefully something we can help out with here on the podcast. All right. You ready to get into it, Myke? Oh, I am. I tested a lot of paper this week. Okay. I was a very, very fortunate boy to get in several new paper goods. After last week's episode, I said I had ordered the iWriter notebook, so let's tackle those first. Okay.		* Right. That like, they look at all of these products that, you know, they expect somebody looks at all of these products and they're like, look at all these pens, like all these different names of pens. And I'll choose the one that I want. And they just have something at every price point, like Samsung, right? They do this, that there is a Samsung phone at like every price point possible, but you just don't know about them. Right. Because they have the ones that they show you the big flashy ones, but then they have them at like, every like $50 or even closer price point, all the way down to like $200 or something. And they just offer like everything. And yeah. So I think that's what some, that is the strategy of some companies. And if you've got your logistics right, you can manage it. That would be my assumption. Cause I don't know. Cause basically my thinking is why would you keep doing it? Right. Right. Why would you have all of these? And then like, as we were talking about last week's show, here's more sub brands. Like I figure there has to be some reasoning for why they would do that. But maybe I'm wrong and I'm being too kind. I don't think so. I think you're right. And like at a minimum it's marketing, right? It's base level marketing that this exists, even if I'm not making a purchase today, this now exists and maybe I'll go look at it some more. So, yeah. So it's good. I want, you need to continue down this path. I'm just looking for a little bit of guidance for someone who's staring at this for the first time or second time, you know, someone who's been in someone who found an Onyx at the office, because that's a kind of, kind of a classic office pen and then figuring out where do they go next? Because I think there is like a line there. There's like a progression in their products. So anyway, good stuff. This thing that Nathan has suggested like shouldn't be happening. Right. There shouldn't be like a uni display with like 40 pen models. Like it should be a little bit smarter than that. But that's that is a very complicated thing to do. It's like offering the right products in the right places is what I'm saying. Right. Yes. Because they're not selling the same amount of all of these things in this one location. So like being a bit smarter with that. But maybe they are. Maybe I have to stumble. Maybe they are. Yeah. Qelpenguino wrote in and says for the question about reducing a stock stub nib. I can't give a nib mice this perspective, but I can say that I have had it done and was happy with the result. I bought a used Franklin Kristoff that shipped of 1.5 stub and brought it down to about 0.9 line and have had no problems. Okay. Yeah. That's good feedback. And like I, my observation or comment on this was it's absolutely possible to do. Am I going to be happy with the visual of it? Right. I think it will work. Like I have no doubt that it will work and that a nib meister can do it and it's no issue at all. Am I going to be, and this is, and I'm just only talking about me personally. Am I going to be happy with the visual of that? And if they can shave that down and manage the feed size and everything and get it down to the proper thing. And that's good. I, I would actually like to see this in person. So, you know, maybe that's something I explore the next time I've been at a pen show. Maybe I get this done myself and see if I'm happy with the results because going from 1.5 to one is a big, big jump for me visually. So I want to see, I want to see how that, how that goes. So yeah. But that's good. So I would like to see this. If you have this done, if you see me in a pen show, and then maybe I will explore getting this done for myself because I have plenty of 1.5 stubs that I would like to be narrower. So there we go. All right. You want me to handle this last one? Yeah, go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Cause this is something I emailed directly. I got on this. So via Matt. So Matt said, I was asking about the Conklin EF nib issue on the last episode. I was thinking along the same lines as there being an issue with the nib. I did a little bit of self-testing because I noted with the Perkyo. So this was a comparison between the Kaweco Perkyo and the Conklin EF and only having problems with the Conklin EF. So I noted with the Perkyo that the ink was extremely wet as well. So I did the following, the original inking. So in the Perkyo, Matt used Private Reserve Infinity Violet. Seemed very wet in this pen. And then on the Conklin, Matt used Organic Studio Nitrogen. So immediately my red flag went up right here. So this is why, where ink matters and information matters when we're talking about things. Organic Studio Nitrogen, while it is a great ink, it is highly aggressively super sheeny. This is an extreme ink. And testing this in a Conklin EF nib is probably going to give you a problem. Or I won't say probably. It is a huge variable that can go a lot of different ways in this. And I would immediately take this ink out and clean it out and try it again. So guess what? Matt did. So she said, this is the one I struggled to write with the Conklin with the Organic Studio Nitrogen. It seemed to snag the paper. We're seeing what type seemed like an unnatural amount of pressure to lay any ink on the page. I tried switching inks and that seemed to have helped the issue. So there you go. So, and I basically replied back to Matt as like, boom, there's your answer. Like nothing wrong with Organic Studio Nitrogen other than that is an ink that requires properly set expectations. Right? So we can use all the extreme inks we want. We can use all the shimmer ink we want. We can use all the pigmented ink we want. But you need to change your baseline expectation of what could happen with this ink and this nib combination and this paper combination. And if you're having a problem like out the blue, like from the first fill with Organic Studio Nitrogen in a pen, I'm looking directly at the ink. But you also have to have that information going ahead. Maybe, you know, Matt was not aware that like nitrogen could be like really extreme and tough and challenging for some nibs. Right? Maybe people, you know, just read how great this ink is and it is. But not aware of the downsides. Some inks have downsides. Like if you're buying, you know, Diamine Meadow, you're not going to have a lot of downsides. Right? Just a basic standard straightforward ink. You know, if you're buying Pilot Blue, you're not going to have a lot of downsides. There's a certain level of ink where you just have to be aware of it. Like nothing wrong with the ink, but now you've introduced more challenges into play when you're testing and trying out ink. So there you go. I thought that was good feedback from Matt because as soon as he said that, I was like, well, that's it. Well, that's your problem. Yeah. Like, and again, nothing wrong with the ink, but it's not going to work anywhere, everywhere with every nib. And you need to just, it's an awareness thing that is hopefully something we can help out with here on the podcast. All right. You ready to get into it, Myke? Oh, I am. I tested a lot of paper this week. Okay. I was a very, very fortunate boy to get in several new paper goods. After last week's episode, I said I had ordered the iWriter notebook, so let's tackle those first. Okay.
	* Number one, shout out on the shipping. These came from Japan. And what did it take? A week, maybe? You know, I paid for it, right? You know, it was 30, 40 bucks in shipping, which is my expectation. Like, it's the proper shipping, but I still would have expected two, three weeks. Am I going to get dinged for something else? You know, some tariff or something. To tariff. I'll just say the word. I don't care. Like, it's, there's no beating around the bush. Am I going to get dinged? Like, you know, the total price was low enough. It should fly under whatever thresholds, but you know, you still never know. You just don't. Who knows today? Right. Who knows? Yeah.		* Number one, shout out on the shipping. These came from Japan. And what did it take? A week, maybe? You know, I paid for it, right? You know, it was 30, 40 bucks in shipping, which is my expectation. Like, it's the proper shipping, but I still would have expected two, three weeks. Am I going to get dinged for something else? You know, some tariff or something. To tariff. I'll just say the word. I don't care. Like, it's, there's no beating around the bush. Am I going to get dinged? Like, you know, the total price was low enough. It should fly under whatever thresholds, but you know, you still never know. You just don't. Who knows today? Right. Who knows? Yeah.

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Added transcript template box

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			{{Infobox podcast transcript
			\| name = The Pen Addict
			\| number = 666
			\| title = Diametrically Opposed
			\| date = May 21st, 2025
			\| hosts = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
			[[Myke Hurley]]
			\| guests =
			\| link = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/666 Episode 666]
			\| audiolink = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/613/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_666.mp3 Audio Episode 666]
			\| length = 59
			}}

	* From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 666. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I have the pleasure of being joined by Brad Dowdy. So we talked about this before the show. We went about this in two different ways. So Myke clearly went about it in this way, which I was unaware was about to happen. This way!		* From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 666. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I have the pleasure of being joined by Brad Dowdy. So we talked about this before the show. We went about this in two different ways. So Myke clearly went about it in this way, which I was unaware was about to happen. This way!
	* I went about it a completely different way where I got all this out of my system before we started. I told Myke that I've ruined my YouTube algorithm with Motley Crue searches. And if you know, you know. But I was just blasting, blasting Motley Crue before the show just to get this out of my way. Out of my system. And then Myke comes in with that. It could not have been better. Myke was sitting on that. Look, I have to represent my adopted family in Romania. True, true. Right? And like, I have to rep the daddy, you know?		* I went about it a completely different way where I got all this out of my system before we started. I told Myke that I've ruined my YouTube algorithm with Motley Crue searches. And if you know, you know. But I was just blasting, blasting Motley Crue before the show just to get this out of my way. Out of my system. And then Myke comes in with that. It could not have been better. Myke was sitting on that. Look, I have to represent my adopted family in Romania. True, true. Right? And like, I have to rep the daddy, you know?

PencilBot: Add The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript category to TPA transcripts

2026-06-08T08:51:31Z

Add The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript category to TPA transcripts

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

PencilBot: Initital transcript

2026-06-02T13:47:32Z

Initital transcript

Show changes