The Pen Addict 471/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	471
Title:	I Drop Pens All The Time
Release Date:	July 21st, 2021
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 471
Audio File:	Audio Episode 471
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 471
Length:	6060 min <br />1 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 471. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace and the Canalea Pen Co. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

Brad: Hey Myke, how's it going?

Myke: Good. Are you big money Brad? Am I big money Brad? No. I'm going to go with no on that. I don't even know what you're talking about, number one. You sold all your pens, didn't you? Oh, the Jodos. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, to make money, you have to spend money, Myke.

Brad: Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Yeah.

Myke: So I would say we're far from big money Brad on a 20 pin sale. But let me say this. The feedback has been awesome on these pens. So I launched them to Pen Act members last weekend. And we're basically doing a sign up sheet so I can randomize it to give people a chance to buy in this first batch. Since I only had really in the end 18 pens because we each stole one. Thieves among us. And I wanted to do it as equitably as possible because I could not buy a billion pens up front because they're very expensive. So the first batch of winners will be selected this coming weekend. And then I've already contacted a Jodo. This also having this sign up sheet.

Brad: I would just say when you say winners, it is you win the chance to buy one.

Myke: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically you sign up and then I'll run a randomizer and pick, you know, 18 people to have the opportunity to purchase the pen. And I hate doing that. Like it's super weird, but that's kind of the only way to do this equitably. And but the whole key to this is this is not going to be the only batch of these pens. And this also gives me an idea of how many I need to follow up order on. So I've already been talking with a Jodo to get another order of probably about 50 pens going out the gate. So we're going to work on that in the coming weeks and just get everything dialed in for that. I think a Jodo was happy. They're like, hey, do you want to just like, you know, we could do stainless steel and we could do all these upgrades and all this stuff. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, let's let's stick with this one first. Yeah. Settle down. I was like, yeah, maybe later, you know, in a year or two. But like, let's let's do these. Let's enjoy. Let's take a moment to enjoy these pens and get them in people's hands. People don't even have them in their hands yet, except me and you. So I'm very happy with the feedback. People seem to like them.

Brad: And we'll get new ones coming. I can't stop using it. It's just such a joy to use. So, yeah. So and then I don't know what you want to do. Maybe you'll do preorders or you'll keep doing the raffle system or something.

Myke: But yeah, I just want to get the I just want to get them in the hands of people that want them first and just kind of, you know, and then I will eventually just kind of stock them. But the stock will be very limited just because I just can't order that many at a time. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, this is I figured, you know, maybe in the long run and, you know, a couple of years into this, if we've sold like 80 of them or maybe even 100 of them, that would be great. Like this is not a big, big productions because because of the cost. So, yeah, love the feedback. And I can't wait to get these shipped out in the coming weeks. So I look forward to other people getting to enjoy them like we have been enjoying them.

Brad: We heard from many people that keep dropping their pens and that this is a reason why a spring in the Toosby swipe that we spoke about last week could actually be a good idea because it will keep the cartridge under some tension and stop it from falling out into the barrel of the pen.

Myke: So this is a thing that I was really unaware of, Myke, that people have problems dropping their pens. One of the emails I got was basically, I'm not pulling it up right now and looking at it, but in summary, it was like, Brad, I drop my Kaweco Sport all the time. And the cartridge pops out. This is exactly what I need. And I'm just throwing my hands up in the air. Why are you dropping your Kaweco Sport all the time? When's the last time you've dropped a pen, Myke, or had one roll off your desk?

Brad: Brad, I drop pens all the time.

Myke: Okay. I guess I'm just not that. I'm not that person. So that's why this one's blind signing me.

Brad: Last week, I don't remember what pen it was, but I dropped it in such a way where I was convinced that I'd done a terrible thing. You know, maybe you don't have this feeling very much, but it was like an uncapped fountain pen. But luckily, it landed on the carpet and no damage was done. But you know what it was? It was my 3776 Galaxy.

Myke: I knew you were going to say that. I'm going to kill you.

Brad: Well, you know, I don't mean I'm not throwing it. You know, it just finds its way out of my hand at high velocity. But I have a theory. I have a theory that I've been cooking up about this. So I drop my pens. I know you do sometimes because you're a human being. Sure. And I don't ever have this problem with the cartridge popping out. But I don't use a lot of the standard international. Typically, the cartridges and fountain pen, like converters that I use are Japanese style. And they have a much stronger grip on the feed. Yeah, Platinum does for sure. Yeah. I think Sailor does as well. And also, a lot of the pens that I have used, they have screwing cartridge converters as well. Like, you know, so there are lots of different mechanisms. And I don't use international very often. Just, it just isn't, like, there's no particular reason for it. It's just most of the pens that I have don't use the standard international adapter for the cartridges. And I don't think that that is a very strong fitting. I could imagine that popping off really easily.

Myke: So the second comment I got that I think you were on the Twitter chain for was, Brad, this is a problem I have. And I already put springs in my Kaweco sport barrels for this exact reason. And, like, it's like a head explode emoji. It's like, why is this happening? To people. And I, okay, Twisby, you win. I will admit that this is genius, Twisby. You have done it. You have solved the dropping of the pen problem. And apparently, I am oblivious to this whole thing, despite being surrounded by literally 40 pens in my vision right now. None of these pens have been dropped. And I just, I'm flummoxed, Myke. Like, I'm flummoxed by the whole thing.

Brad: I mean, look, we all know that you're better than the average person. We all know this already. So you don't need to keep rubbing it in our faces.

Myke: Look, I've dropped pens. Like, I famously dropped my Sailor fifth anniversary bung box, the black and gold one. And I didn't drop it. I was photographing it. And then it rolled off the, you know, the photography table. And landed nib down. And I had to get that repaired. Like, that's a one-off. And I could see why that happened. And I get the fact that these Kaweco AL Sports, notably, both of these comments were for the Kaweco Sports, either like the Classic or the AL Sport. And that is the pocket carry pen. Like, that one is going to be banged around. That one is going to be dropped. And, you know, it's just the way that pen is used, these problems are going to creep up more. I was just completely unaware.

Brad: I think that you're, I just think the mindset is wrong. I don't think people are like, this is my beat-em-up pen, right? Like, it's not what I'm like. But it doesn't matter how much I care about the pen. I'm going to drop it. It's not a thing I have control over, you know?

Myke: Yeah, see, I'm not going to drop it. I know you're not like that.

Brad: I know you're struggling with this one.

Myke: And I carry my pens around all the time. Like, I do not take it easy on my pens. We talk about this. Like, I'll throw a Nakaya in my pocket. You were a professional athlete.

Brad: Maybe you just have better reflexes than everybody else.

Myke: Oh, man, that's a scary thought looking at me now.

Brad: I love that sentence that I can say to you. And it's true. I love that. The history of Brad Dowdy is just beautiful. And you know what? If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm going to leave it there for today. I'm not going to tell you what that means.

Myke: It's in a podcast somewhere. I just don't know where.

Myke: So there you go. Tuesday swipe.

Brad: Springs. All springs. All the time.

Pen Drop Issues

Myke: So this next topic is kind of related.

Brad: I need to talk you through my experience this morning of looking through our links. Okay. Let's go. Let's go. So what typically happens is most days, Brad will work on the show document, like most weeks, on Tuesday night. And then on Wednesday morning, one of my first jobs on a Wednesday morning is I open the show document. I add in anything I want to add in if I've got it. But most of the time, Brad's already got it in there. And he also will put in all the links and things that he's found and wants to talk about. And I came across, we have a little heading called new. And this is like new products. One of them is Sailor KOP, King of Pen, bulk converter. And then it says, interesting idea I was told about. I've ordered one. And I thought, hmm, I wonder what that could be. Bulk converter. That sounds interesting. There's an eBay link that I clicked. So I clicked on the link and I looked at the images and I do not. I mean, maybe I understand what's going on here, but I also kind of don't understand what's going on here. So I would like if you could explain this to me and why on earth this is on eBay. eBay.

Myke: So let me start with my initial reaction upon clicking that link. That is so ugly. Yeah. I don't want this in my really exquisitely designed Sailor King of Pen. Now, obviously, that's a personal opinion.

Brad: It also looks a little janky and maybe homemade. And again, not going to put that in the King of Pen.

Myke: So it is, Myke. This is someone, a person who is trying to solve the capacity issue for what is a large pen and the terrible ink capacity of Sailor's terrible converters, right? They are terrible. Like that is just what they are. Sailor's converters are probably some of the worst converters on the market in quality and in capacity. And then we have these $800 pens that we're having to use this really, really terrible and low capacity converter. So what this is, is basically this guy done in Australia designed and has made these converters that you add in to. It's basically a replacement for the Sailor converter designed to hold as much ink as possible. Now, in the images, he smartly uses an all black King of Pen. So you can't see the innards of the pen in the demonstrators that I love so much to where you'll be able to see this. But you know, it's not that much different than, you know, looking at the Sailor, the metal and the plastic from the Sailor converter through my, you know, clear King of Pen. But it's, it's designed to fit. I wouldn't have bought this without two or three other people saying, yes, they bought it. And yes, it works, right? I wouldn't have bought this blind without recommendations from other people who have used them. So I thought I would try one, right? Like it's worth trying one to see. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get past the aesthetic of it. I just generally don't like the aesthetic, but I haven't seen it in my pen. I also have two solid barrel King of Pens that, hey, if it's in there and just works, it'll work fine. So it's a risk. We'll see.

Brad: With this though. Like what is that little bulb at the end?

Myke: I guess it's a way you can just manually fill.

Brad: Okay. It's kind of like a tube with like a pipette ending to it. Like you familiar with pipette? Is that with America? That's the correct term. Okay, cool. I wasn't sure if there was like, I don't know, it's got some wild American word. Yeah. It's like a freedom tube or something.

Myke: The freedom sucker upper. Yeah.

Brad: But so it's a very strange looking kind of cylinder with this little end, which looks like it's kind of got something that resembles a spring on it, which is funny. Yeah. I mean, I encourage you to try it. I won't be.

Myke: This is not a mic thing. No. This is, I like the thought process behind this is where I'm at. Right. So I like the idea and the concept.

Myke: And then we'll see when I get it if I like the execution and design. Right. So those are two different things. So it's expensive. Yeah. As well. Oh, so like a chat is reminding me, the back actually unscrews so you can keep the cartridge engaged to the nib section and then fill it from the back if you want to. So the back piece. So there you go. It's interesting. If it works, I think it's going to be pretty cool. And I think I might twist your arm to get one. But this is definitely a to-be-determined product. But you know what? I use the King of Pens all the time. I would enjoy having them to have a larger ink capacity. And we'll see. It's cool to have this little bit of innovation for a product that I love. So we'll see. To be determined.

Brad: You know you were saying earlier about you don't have the issue of dropping pens? Yeah. I don't feel like I have the issue of, oh darn, this Zaylor converter is just not enough. I know. I agree. Like I don't think I have that. And it might because I'm sure if I used just my King of Pens every day, I'm sure I would feel it. But I rotate so much. Yep.

Myke: I agree. That's why I didn't rush out to buy this. This is the second or third time this has cropped up for me, for people asking me to go check it out.

Brad: There was something I think noticeably absent from our show document today. And I was reminded in the members' Discord by Ryan, the Sailor Pro Gear Go USA.

Brad: You're not into this?

Sailor Go USA Release

Myke: Was it in the show notes? No. Is it in the show notes now? Yes. And who put it there? Me. So you have to talk about it, not me.

Brad: Okay. This is a North America exclusive limited edition to 1,200 pens of both the slim and standard Pro Gear size. It is a North American exclusive, as you would naturally assume, because it is called the Go USA edition. It is white finials, red body, blue grip section with some sparkles in it.

Brad: You're not into this then? You don't like this? What do you not like about this? Do you think it's a low effort pen? Or what is going on with you?

Myke: I'm having a physical adverse reaction to looking at this.

Brad: It's a bit cringy, isn't it?

Myke: Mm-hmm. I think. And I just can't say more because it's not going to be good. Yeah. So this one's a little bit- That's where I'm at. That's it.

Brad: I don't know. It feels like a bit of a grab to me, you know? Like a bit of a cash grab type of model.

Brad: I don't know. It is Olympic season. I mean, Apple just did all those, like, bans. I mean, but the Olympics are also its own set of problems right now.

Myke: Yeah. Right, right, right. Okay. So, yeah. I mean, I didn't put it in the show notes for a reason. Like, sometimes when things are bad, they're, like, really good to talk about, right? Mm-hmm. And I enjoy talking about it. And let's figure this out. Let's figure it out. Like, what happened here? Let's figure this out. This, I had no desire to even bring it up. Like, that's my thoughts on that.

Brad: I saw it, and I wanted to like it, right?

Myke: Like, I get it, but I, at the same time, don't.

Brad: Like, I saw it, and I was like, let me look at the pictures, and I felt like I want to like this, but I don't. Like, the pen that I love in this colorway is the Twisby.

Myke: Yeah, they did the 580 Taiwan. I forget. They called it the ROC.

Brad: ROC, right? And that is a beautiful colorway, and they re-released it in the American market under a different name.

Myke: Right. And then they added an American finial to it. They put the U.S. flag on it. Yeah, which I did not order that when I ordered the Taiwanese finial.

Brad: Well, because that was because we had that from ages ago. It was also first. It was also first, yes.

Myke: It was also, it was a 540, it was a 540 on the initial one, then I think they might have redid them for the 580.

Brad: It was a diamond 580 for the USA market. Right. And I liked, I love the colorway there. Yes. And that is, like, red, white, and blue. Mm-hmm. And I think it looks great. This doesn't do it for me, and I don't know why.

Tombow Monograph Lite Review

Myke: Oh, I know why. I mean, for me, I'm speaking for me. Uh-huh. But, yeah. I just, I think, so here's what I think about this. You see, you're going to get me into this. And the thing is that it's not about this pin on itself, right? It's not singularly about this pin. I think it's a bigger, broader picture of Sailor in this market right now that is starting to confuse me greatly.

Brad: I feel like the problems we are having are with Sailor of North America.

Myke: Right, right, right. Right? Right. And it's, like, it's even unfair to say that, but, like, there's something weird. It's hard to put my finger on it.

Brad: This episode is brought to you by our friends over at the Canalea Pen Company. I can relax now. This is, like, breath of fresh air. This is a happy maker.

Myke: This is a happy maker.

Brad: Canalea Pen Co. make the most stunning, beautiful pens inspired by images of Hawaii. Canalea's founders, Hugh and Carol, believe that these locations can help recharge our spirit, help us connect with nature, and they imbue all of that in their entire product line. While the story behind these pens is really wonderful, honestly, it's the execution is what sets them apart. You can have a great story and great marketing, but the product has to be there, and they've got it. Every single Canalea pen is handmade in a process that means that no pens will ever look alike, so it's truly unique for you, and every nib is tuned by hand before it ships to customers. If you've been waiting, you've been hearing us talk about Canalea, and you're like, I want to see one of these things in person. Well, you're in luck, because the Canalea Pen Co. will be attending. The DC Pen Show and San Francisco Pen Show in August, as well as the Chicago Pen Show in October. So if you're going to be there, if you're making the plans to be at one of these shows, make sure to fight your way through the crowds to get to this table, because there's always a crowd around the Canalea Pen Co. table, so you can find the perfect Canalea for you. I want to take a moment to remind you about the Honakalani Collection. It is a truly stunning pen available in three design profiles, a fountain pen and a ballpoint. It is a beautiful, stunning, swirled blue with white and black elements. It evokes a beach and crystal clear ocean view. It is top two, top three of Canalea pens for me of all time. I absolutely love the design of this pen, which you can also take a step further with the Honakalani Mailei Lei version, which features the Mailei Lei 5th Anniversary Band, celebrating Canalea's recent milestone. It's a model I have, and I absolutely adore it. It is in my Notco Sinclair. It's one of the six pens that I carry around with me every day. It's an absolutely stunning pen. All of Canalea's pens feature Yogo No. 6 nibs, and you can buy steel or 18-karat gold nibs direct from Canalea. They offer sizes from extra fine to 1.1mm stub. And Hugh himself smooths and tunes each nib before it leaves the shop so that your Canalea pen is going to write perfectly straight out of their lovely black walnut keepsake box. Go and see them for yourself right now at CanaleaPenCo.com. That's K-A-N-I-L-E-A-P-N-C-O.com. CanaleaPenCo.com.

Myke: You can find the link in the show notes too, and you can choose your aloha today. A thanks to Canalea Penco for their support of this show and Relay FM. So y'all have to see them in person. Like, they do a wonderful job with the photography and the presentation of the pens, but to get to see them and feel them in person at these shows, and if you're going to be attending these shows, you definitely want to make the effort to check them out. Plus, they go the extra mile with the design of their tables. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how they travel with some of the things.

Brad: Yeah, they have a lot of check-in bags, I'm sure. But yeah, really great.

Myke: All right. I want to, like, the ad's over, but I want to continue to talk about the Sailor Go USA in relation to... Uh-oh. No, no, no, no. I just want to say, I just want to say in relation to Canalea and how I think about pens, and this is going to come up later in the show when we talk about the show design. Ultim, I don't have a Canalea pen inked right now. And reading, like, talking about them makes me want to go ink up a Canalea pen. And why is that? Because I can feel what that pen feels like in my hand and how it writes without having it inked up. And right now, I don't get that from Sailor. Right? I don't say, I am dying to use a 1911 L because I miss that in use. Right? Like, it doesn't inspire me to go enjoy that pen on a personal level right now. And seeing things, like, I literally was tense when we were talking about the Sailor Go USA. That's how it made me feel. I've never felt like that about, like, a main brand pen that we generally love so much. Right? Like, I understand, like, some weird, you know, like, the Visionaire or something. That's like, that doesn't make me feel weird. It just makes me laugh. Right? But, like, I had, like, as soon as we stopped talking about that, I was like, okay, cool. I can relax now. It was really making me tense. Because, like, I feel these things, like, about some of these pens. And why I want to use this pen is because of how they make me feel. And what that writing experience is like. And what story the pen is telling me. And now, not every pen. Of course, not every pen has, like, the perfect story and the perfect feel. And, you know, Brad getting all hippie on us like that. But a lot of it is that way. And I can feel a Canalea pen in my hand and understand, like, I miss that feeling if I don't have one inked up. So, like, I don't know. That's just something I wanted to mention about how I think about products. Because that's going to come up again here in a minute. But first, we've got to talk about a $3 ballpoint, Myke.

Brad: Of course.

Myke: I love this Stinkin' Tombow Monograph Lite ballpoint. Okay. I just reviewed it on the blog on Monday. I've had them, I don't know, for maybe a month or so using them. It's a 0.38mm ballpoint, which you don't get a lot of on the market. Because, like, it's very aggressive tip size. Right? Ballpoints write even finer than gel ink pens. Like, a 0.38 ballpoint is going to write like a 0.28 gel ink pen and finer. But I wanted to bring this up because I've gotten questions about how does the Tombow Monograph Lite relate to Uniball's Jetstream Edge? You know, not necessarily the Jetstream in particular. But the Jetstream Edge is Uniball's very upgraded barrel design for their 0.28 and 0.38mm ballpoints. Which, for a ballpoint refill to be 0.28mm, this is the writing on rice level of tip size. Right? This is like a sub 0.2 line. Like a 0.15mm line. Like, it's hair thin lines. So, you have to like that type of writing. First off, right? If you're used to, like, your 0.7mm inner gels with just a glassy, smooth, gel, vibrant ink color. And that's what you like. You're going to hate these pens. Like, completely.

Myke: But I love these pens. Like, this is like my favorite category of pen. I was mentioning that in the review. Like, this is my favorite category of pen. The sub 0.5mm pen. It could be ballpoint, rollerball, gel, anything. But these pens stack up. And I'm surprised. Right? Like, I'm surprised at how good the Tombow Monograph Lite ballpoint is in relation to something like a Jetstream. So, that's the question I've gotten the most is, well, how would you compare them to a Jetstream? Well, the Jetstream has technically the better ink, right? It has an ink formulation that's designed to be smoother. And it has archival properties. As far as I can tell, the Tombow Mono is just a basic ballpoint ink. But it writes, if I did a blind test of just the refill, I wouldn't be able to tell a difference in smoothness and quality between the Tombow refill and the Uni refill. And that's what I wanted to point up about these. Right. And it's like a $3 pen. This is a pen that's not for everybody. But my goodness, like, it lives on my desk now. I just grab it. And it's just, you know, the easy, simple, click, retractable, plastic barrel, rubber grip type of pen. But in the, of course, I love the Tombow flag colors, right? The royal blue, white, and black logo is just my favorite stationary logo. So, I'm a big fan of these pens. And if you're looking for something, like, so you can write, like, all your secrets, little tiny notes, this is the pen to go. I prefer the blue ballpoint. I will almost universally always take blue ballpoints over any other color. But black is a good choice as well. So, I just wanted to talk about that. Tell people that these are actually as good as the Jetstream Edge.

Brad: I don't, one, the Jetstream Edge, they may as well call it the Jetstream 500.

Myke: Right. Right. It's fine. It's shameless. Well, I mean, and it's got some lamy in there, too, with the clip. Like, it's, they leaned in to the German engineering design.

Brad: I don't understand why they finally made a good-looking barrel for the Jetstream, but it's only available in this ridiculous .28.

Myke: I'm a little bit confused on that myself.

Brad: Because my main problem with the Jetstream is I hate how it looks. It is like...

Myke: The basic one.

Brad: Yeah, the regular one. The regular Jetstream. It's like, couldn't be more like Office Max. You know, and it's just, put it on the shelf next to every single pen that looks just like this one. Whether it's go fast, the stripes, and all that kind of nonsense. Right, right. Right? And the Jetstream Edge is like a good-looking pen. Just looks nice. The white one, super good. Right? Looks great. And then they just put the .28 in it. And I don't understand.

Myke: It is very... I'm surprised that they did that because you could just sell so many more if you had a .7 refill in it.

Brad: I know that, like, you know, you can buy a pack of six for the price of the Edge. Right? Yeah. But there's a middle ground, at least, surely, where you can make a cheaper pen and make it look better than the current. Right, right. And just... The Tombow's look so much better than the Jetstream.

Myke: Even the standard color barrels, they have, like, a standard solid metallic color barrel.

Brad: Yeah, and I bet that is a cheaper pen to produce than the Jetstream.

Myke: Oh, I guarantee it. Right? And just to save some emails, the Jetstream refills are not swappable with the Edge. Yeah, because it's the needlepoint, right? Yeah. You have to buy Edge refills. It physically wouldn't fit inside the Edge. Right. So, that is a non-starter there.

Brad: You know what's kind of funny? What? We got mono and the Edge. Mm-hmm. It's U2 up in here, baby.

Myke: LOL. Come on. See what you did there.

Brad: Yep.

Myke: Mono and the Edge. All right. I like it. That will not be a show title. So, our show title is going to be Go USA.

Brad: Talk to me about the Shone Design Ultem Pen. Can you remind everybody what this project is about?

Shone Design Ultem Pen Discussion

Myke: Yeah. So, our good friend Ian Shone of Shone Design. Long time friend of the show. Long time personal friend of mine. Long time awesome, awesome pen maker. Very innovative pen maker. He has a great, great design eye and great thought process in his designs. He made his first kind of full-length fountain pen. So, he's been known for like the pocket pens, right? The ballpoint pocket pen that launched him. And then the pocket six fountain pen. That has done very well. So, this is the first kind of traditionally full-length barrel pen. And he chose a material called Ultem, which we have discussed before. It's a medical-grade plastic. Very durable. It comes in this amber, translucent amber color. And it's able to be machined well enough for fountain pen barrels, right? Think of it as your, like, an acrylic option, right? Instead of your acrylic plastics, it's Ultem, right? And it's just very, I don't know, it's a firm material, right? But it's strong and durable. So, what Ian decided to do was take this material, machine pens from this material, but make kind of the ultimate eyedropper pen. So, he is, I forget his exact quote, he has aggressively O-ringed this pen. If you're not familiar with O-rings, they're basically like a little rubber ring that seals off different sections of different materials. In this case, it's a pen.

Brad: If you look at the images, you can see them. They're like little red lines, right? They're the O-rings.

Myke: Yep. So, I see there's like four in the barrel and one in the cap. And what this does is allows you to fill the barrel of the Ultem pen with ink without using a converter and also not use silicone grease. So, eyedropping of fountain pens is a popular pastime for many, many fountain pen users and many writers because you get a much larger capacity of ink in the barrel. So, people enjoy that who write a lot. And I traditionally, like I will eyedropper a pen here and there, but I generally just don't like putting silicone grease on the threads. I don't like it on my fingers. Like, I'm way obsessing over something that's really not that big a deal, to be perfectly honest. But I just prefer, like, you know what? I'm just going to throw a converter in here and be done. I don't need the huge ink capacity like I'm about to get in the Sailor King of Pen converter. You know, in general, in general terms, I don't worry about how much ink I have because, you know, I'll just change out using another ink. Like, this pen is awesome.

Brad: Can I ask you a question? Yeah. The color? Yeah. Is that the color of Ultem or is that just the color that's been chosen?

Myke: Nope. It's the color of Ultem. So, I have a second Ultem pen from a different maker called Kasama. It's the same kind of amber-ish orange color. Like, not everyone likes the color. Like, that's the color it comes in.

Brad: Can it be changed? Not that I've seen it. Okay. They're all this kind of color.

Myke: So, that's kind of the thing, Myke, is this is why it's the ultimate eyedropper is it's stain-proof.

Brad: Yes.

Myke: So, the ink is not going to stain the barrel. Yeah. Ian ran weeks-long tests with Noodler's Baystate Blue, historically the most staining ink on the market, right? You put it in your pen and you empty out the ink and your pen is now blue. And it didn't leave a mark in this barrel. So, again, it's really, really good for eyedropping. What I'm finding the most interesting about this pen so far in my limited use, again, I just inked it up yesterday. It is lightweight. Very lightweight, actually. But it feels like an awesome pocket portable pen. Like, I want to do everything with this pen, right? It's, you know, where you have, at least I have, like, pens that stay on the desk and, you know, don't, you know, they might move around the house or something like that. This one, I'd be happy, like, standing up from the desk, throwing in my pocket and just doing whatever. And I have this awesome pen at hand that's not going to leak. It's got cool ink capacity. I love the light feel of it, right? Not everyone's going to like the lightness of it. So, you'll have to check on the page, the product page for the weight. It is very, very light. But, you know, I like a smaller, lighter pen to begin with is my style. So, it fits my hand so, so well. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this pen or I should say love this pen. I knew I would probably like it, but I actually love it, I guess is a better way to say it. I've been sloshing the ink around in the barrel this whole time we've been talking. I love looking at it on my desk. I filled it with an interesting ink, Platinum Classic Citrus Black, which is just kind of this cool setup that I now have in this pen. I am short of words for how much I like this pen.

Myke: It's a little bit hard to explain. And that's kind of what I was saying earlier about how I can feel without even having it at hand. I know what a Canalea pen feels like in my hand. And sometimes I miss having that. That's how I feel about this Ultem pen. It feels different than my other pens. And I want to grab it and continue to learn about why I like this so much because it's going to be one of those pens that when I don't have it in use, I'm going to be going, oh, yeah, I know how that pen felt and how it made me feel. And then how I wrote with it and how much I enjoyed it that, hey, I want to ink it up again and use it again. And not every pen feels that way. So the recently purchased Mr. Cypress G10 fountain pen, that black and blue swirl G10 fountain pen, I thought I was going to feel the same way about it as I do about this Shown Ultem. But it's just okay, right? It just feels regular and normal and fine, right? And therefore, I don't reach for it as much as I do some of the other pens that make me have a different reaction when I actually have them in hand or I'm writing with them. And, you know, there's groups of pens that give me that feeling. And those are the ones that end up lasting the longest in the library. And, you know, like I'm not disappointed in the Mr. Cypress G10, but it feels normal to me. And like, that's cool, except I'm a guy who has a hundred other normal pens, right? But some of these other pens, like this Ultem or, you know, I'm looking at a Leonardo Mento Zero in Mango, they're special. They make me feel a little bit different. And I think that's kind of the goal when we're looking at products to buy and to purchase is how they make you feel, not just, oh, I have a thing. At least that's how I look at it.

Brad: Yeah, there's an interesting point about this pen. If like one of the reasons that you like it, I know you compared it to G10 because it's the material, right? One of the reasons you like it is the Ultem, right? As well as the construction, but it's like the Ultem that you like, like the way that material feels. Right. It's limiting. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Right? Like this can't be in its current state, like a new pen material en masse because then every pen is going to be the same color. And that's not what people want.

Myke: And it's also cost prohibitive as well. Yeah, I know. It is not inexpensive.

Brad: It seems to have been expensive and difficult to work with, right? Yes, right.

Myke: So, yeah. Like, but like part of this whole thing we do and part of the reasons why we're on episode 471 is I just have this never ending discovery process in my brain. And even if you give me something today that I saw 10 years ago, like I can figure out why I like it and what kind of evokes those memories from all these years ago. And is it the same? And how does it line up? And what's better? What's worse? And like that's something like I kind of can't help doing. So, a lot of this, as weird as it sounds, it comes on feel right now. And, you know, there's some products like I just like they could be just genuinely awesome and perfect for you. But they may not be perfect for me. And that's what's cool about this whole thing is like, you know, a lot of people are going to love the Sailor Go USA and rightfully so. You know, I'm. Yeah, Go USA. Like, I'm just not like super into it. I think, you know what, that pen. Gosh, why did you put that?

Brad: No, I'm so pleased I brought it up. This has now been a thread throughout the entire episode.

Myke: If, I'll tell you this, if you and I showed up at the San Francisco pen show and someone had that pen on a table, we would both absolutely like it.

Brad: Oh, for sure.

Myke: I think it's just like the, that the imagery of it is just like, ah, it's like. The patriotism. It's tense. It's tense.

Brad: It's difficult to accept that sometimes.

Myke: Right, right. So, anyway, yeah, this, but the, the shown design Ultim is like one of those unique products that is a hundred percent not for everyone.

Brad: You know what it is, Brad? I think it's maybe just doesn't feel authentic.

Myke: I don't, I would, can you define that a little bit better in that, in that way?

Brad: There is something about it that I, we can't. Wait, what are you talking about? What are you talking about? Go USA.

Myke: Okay, yeah, okay. I was on the shown design, yes. Sorry.

Brad: I've gone back to it. Like, the, there is something about the Go USA that feels inauthentic because it's, at least for the market, I think it's the marketing materials that we've seen, right? Mm-hmm. It's just like, hey, here's the flag. Go USA.

Myke: Yeah, it's the timing and the presentation.

Brad: And it's also complicated. And I know, and I actually think part of the problem here is they want this to be the Olympic pen, but they can't legally say that. Right. So, like, we were just making fun of Apple, right? Because they put out this big press release of all of their bans that they did. And they're just like, to celebrate sports around the world. And it's like, it's because they can't, they don't have the right, they haven't paid to say Olympics, right? Right. And I think that might be part of the problem. This is an Olympics-focused pen, which is why they've released it now. But you can't say that. So, you kind of just have to be like, flag. And that doesn't, it just, there's just something about it. It feels like it's, like, wasted.

Myke: It's a try hard.

Brad: Yeah. Or not hard enough.

Myke: Or not hard enough. Yeah. Like, independently, this pen on a table with no marketing, I would pick this up and go, ooh, check this out. Like, I wouldn't buy it because it's, like, it's kind of not, like, everything that I want in a pen. But, like, oh, yeah, that's kind of cool. Like, I get it. But, like, right now, it's just yelling at me. And it's bothersome. And it makes me feel bad.

Myke: Sorry.

Brad: It just does. This episode of The Pen Addicts is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform to help you build your online presence and run your business. From websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics, Squarespace have got you covered. Because they combine cutting-edge design with world-class engineering to make it easier than ever to establish your home online and make your ideas a reality. Squarespace has literally everything that you're going to need to build a beautiful and modern website. They have professionally designed templates that you can customize to make your own with drag-and-drop tools. You can get the look and feel just how you want. You can even, you know, choose what products you want to sell if you want to have an online store. It's so easy in just a few clicks. All of their sites are optimized for mobile. So it's going to look fantastic on every single device, no matter where your visitors are looking from. You get free unlimited hosting, top-of-the-line security, 24-7 customer support, dependable resources. You can get SEO and email marketing tools. You can register a domain name. You don't need to worry about patching or upgrading anything. It really is so easy and so awesome. You can use Squarespace to turn your big idea into a new website, showcase your work with their incredible portfolio designs, publish a blog post, promote your business, announce an upcoming event, and so much more. Over the 10 years that I've been your Squarespace customer, I think I've done pretty much all of those things. Continue to for the next 10 years because I really love what they do. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required. And then when you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict and you will save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict. And then when you decide to sign up, use the offer code penaddict to get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of the penaddict from RelayFM.

Field Notes Trailhead Edition Guessing Game

Myke: Myke, we get to play a game we haven't played in a while. Okay. The Field Notes Trailhead Edition has launched mere weeks after the 50th anniversary delay. They have to get back on schedule somehow, right?

Brad: Uh-huh.

Myke: And so what we do is we have to pick or we have to guess what the other host thinks about this edition, like the pros and cons. What do you think I will think about this edition and what do I think you will think about this edition? So who do you want to go first? Do you want me to tell about you? I'm going to start. You're going to tell me.

Brad: I'm going to guess for you. I know that you're going to love this edition because you're going to love the green. You're going to love the orange. You're going to love the linen cover. You're super into it. And also, you know, like... It's got orange staples. Yeah. Orange staples and Merica. So I'm sure you're into it.

Myke: Yeah. And I'm sure you're not, right? This is against everything you want in the product. This is too much Merica.

Brad: Let me say something. I love the cover, right? I love the design. I love the green. The orange is so good. I also really like the way that they've drawn the trails over the maps. It reminds me of the coastal one, which is one of my favorite designs. Two things for me. One, I'm not going to go on a big hike through America. That would be a very big hike for me.

Myke: Two, it's lined. So that's the biggest problem. Yeah. I don't know as a design choice why you would ever use lined paper in a field notebook, right? This is a, theoretically, a hiking notebook. It has to be graph or grid of some sort. Never, ever in a million years would I have chosen lined to represent this edition.

Brad: I love the little double orange line at the top of the page, but yeah.

Myke: Aesthetically, it looks great. It looks great. They're just assuming like no one's going to be hiking with these additions and they're just going to be writing it.

Brad: That's actually the music of the regular notebook, which honestly, like that's the way that they're always used. And I think that's a fine assumption to make. Sure. Because as well, it's like if they really wanted to make a notebook for hikers, it wouldn't be one of these ones. They would do it as a separate thing, which is something they've done in the past, right? Right.

Myke: So like Expedition was dot grid and Coastal was reticle.

Brad: Also, I mean like they have created specific field notes additions that are not in the limited editions because they're purposeful. So like the drone one and they have the D&D one. Right, right. You know, like they create these specific ones. You know, like the only time I actually feel like lined was right was in the Reporter Notebook.

Myke: I thought the America the Beautiful was pretty good. I like the lined in that one. So that one I do remember being a decent lined edition. But yeah, Reporter's Notebook's great. Byline was that one. Byline. One of my favorites. It was the original name.

Brad: Oh, such a good edition. Oh my God, that's so good. Byline. One of the rare ones that they ended up just turning into a standardized product. Because it was so good.

Myke: Yeah. And then they changed the name. Like that's what the Reporter comes from. Yeah. Then they changed that. Yeah. So yeah, I think that I just think I just think it's a miss on the the internal lines from a hey, this is our idea of what this notebook should be. Lined doesn't fit that to me. But otherwise, I mean, I just, you know, I mean, orange and green and like the colors. It's beautiful. Like it's set up really well. Really beautiful edition. Did the pathing and all that stuff. But yeah.

Brad: We're just not lined paper people. Yeah. Yeah. But there are people that are into that.

Myke: And so this is like a plus. Probably the majority. I'd say majority of Field Notes customers are happiest with lined. Which is which is fine. It's just what I'm saying is like not this edition. Like, I mean, they have a compass in, you know, the marketing of it. And like. Like they're trying to make it this hiking thing and topography maps and like none of that says line to me. But whatever. Whatever. It looks good.

Brad: There's got to be a bit of a gritted teeth. Like inhale through gritted teeth with this one though. Right. Right. Because like they even mention it, right? There's fires everywhere in a lot of places in America right now where these kind of trails would be. And the patch says blaze your trail.

Myke: I didn't see that. I didn't.

Brad: I know that there's like this is just one of those things, right? They've been in the works for ages. How were they going to know? Right.

Myke: Go USA.

Brad: Oh, God. Yeah.

Myke: Let's do some Ask TPA, Myke. I don't think we got any last week.

Ultra Fine Parker Style Refills

Brad: No, we're busy. Cole asks, what is a good ultra fine Parker style refill? For example, 0.38.

Myke: I will almost always answer this question even though we get it very, very frequently. Because there's really, it's hard for someone to find a good Parker style refill. I am all about the jet pans. Jet pans. Go USA. Jet pans. What have we done, Myke? What have we done? Why did you put that in the show notes? You slipped. You slipped.

Myke: The Uniball SXR jet stream refills, the Parker style jet streams. And you can get it in 0.38.

Myke: A 0.38 line. Or a 0.38 tip size, I should say. Which will leave a little bit finer line with that. That's 100% what I'd go for, Cole. The problem is if you're asking, really, what's the best gel ink refill? And then you have a harder problem. Then I'm going with the Oto Flash Dry. But it's only in 0.5. And it's a needle tip. But it's a very, very nice writer. And it writes small enough for me. Outside of that, you're just in trouble. There's nothing great there. I've tried recently the KACO. K-A-C-O. K-A-C-O. K-A-C-O. However you want to say it. 0.4 millimeter blue black gel ink refill. And I did not like it. It wrote too wide and too scratchy for me. So I would stick with a known quantity like the Jetstream or the Oto Flash Dry.

Brad: I have three questions from Frame Sessions. Finally. What stationary product is making you the happiest right now? Golly.

Myke: That's a loaded question. Because I'm using the Shown Ultim to do notes while I'm talking to you. But I've only had a day. Right? I love it. So here's this. I'm staring at four pens that are close to me right now. Like my hand is covering them right now. And that means that I'm using them frequently. So it's the Shown Design Ultim. It's a Leonardo Memento Zero in Mango. The orange with the black trim one. The Tombow Mono .38 ballpoint in blue. And the Ajoto Pen Addict Pen in orange and black. I am having a renewed love affair with the Leonardo right now because of the extra fine nib. Right. On it. Is so good. That one's probably making me singularly the happiest right now. That when I pick it up and write with it I'm like dang this is good. Like every time even though I know what it's going to do when I pick it up to write with it I'm still like dang this is good. So let's go with Leonardo Memento Zero Mango extra fine nib.

Brad: I'm going to shill. It's the pen adding to Joto. Yeah. I love it. I love it. I love it too. I love it. There's also I'm having like a you know like a good bad you know like a good bad reaction. I have just a ton of that cast stone paper here. Oh. What are you doing? Well I'm not using it. Okay. We have amassed just an absolutely obscene amount of notebooks. Okay. As like a competitor research type thing. Like I tasked Idina to basically buy every journal she could find that had interesting marketing attached to it. Oh. Because I just want that. And we were going through them all yesterday. I'll send you a picture. Brad. I'll put it. I'll put it in the show notes too. Okay. So people can see because it is funny. And I just have we have like a bunch of the cast products. K-A-R-S-T by the way in case you're wondering. And the reason is because their marketing is so good. And I figure it must be good because the product is like it makes me feel physically ill to use it. And everybody that I've ever shown it to feels the same. So they must be doing something to sell these products. It's like the rocket book. Yeah. But the rocket book is just that annoys me. Right. But at least the product works. And like here's the thing. The stone paper. It does feel if the right pen. It does feel really nice to write on. But to touch it makes me feel really uncomfortable. So I don't know exactly what it is that they're doing. But they're doing something. And so did you see all the notebooks that we have?

Myke: No, no. Not yet.

Brad: I've sent it to you in Slack I think.

Myke: Okay. Let me open that up. Yeah. But yeah. There's nothing good that comes from stone paper. Oh my God. Okay. I see the picture now.

Brad: I wasn't joking.

Myke: No, you're not joking. We have a lot. We have a lot of notebooks. Not as a situation.

Brad: A lot of notebooks. I'm trying to understand what the market looks like. And so we have a lot of notebooks. And we have a bunch of the K-A-R-S-T cost products. And every time I pick one up it makes me feel really uncomfortable inside. And there's something kind of funny about that to me.

Myke: I'm glad we went from the products that make you the happiest to the make that make you the least happy.

Brad: It makes me happy in its own way. Right?

Myke: That so many people are getting suckered into buying this terrible notebook.

Brad: I don't want to call it terrible, right? Because like I've read reviews. People like it. Yes. But I don't know anybody that does.

Brad: I love it. Got a lot of notebooks. Yep. Frames also wants to know, Brad, why do you write in all caps?

Myke: I don't know why I started, right? Because I used cursive mostly through high school, upper levels of high school. Then at some point just converted into printing for no good reason. And then I took a construction sales job where I had to do hand drafting. And I learned how to write in that engineering architecture style. And then that style just turned into my normal handwriting. So that's why I write in all caps now. I could make other letter shapes. But I would have to practice them to change all of my lettering to a different style. So I like this style and I'll just stick with it. It works well for me. Yeah, like it just how it happened initially, I don't know. But how it got to be permanent was a job that I had that required me to write in a very specific fashion. And then that stuck. And then I was good at it and it stuck.

Brad: And how do you rotate through your currently inked pens?

Myke: That's a great question. I don't know. When I miss using one, I'll just go ink it up. And we've talked about how I kind of have to have two groups of pens going. Like I'll have kind of a review set of pens and then a personal set of pens, right? So the review set of pens, I don't necessarily worry about any type of rotation, right? I just want them inked up if it's a fountain pen or in use if it's a ballpoint pen and available at all times for me to test, get some ideas, kind of feel them out, make some thoughts on the product if they're going to be reviewed. Then you have the personal pens, which is the hardest to kind of keep in a kind of efficient rotation. So I will take kind of what I've been discussing this whole time. It's like, oh, I miss using X pen. Let me go get it. And then I just put it in, like right now I have a Brasstown case sitting right in front of me with all of these pens. I mean, it's got six slots, but I probably have 10 pens in it because I have pens in single sleeves stuffed in there too. It's a whole situation I have. But it's like, oh, I'm misusing this. Like say the Canalea, like I'm missing using the Canalea pen. And I'm going to ink up my Kona Cherry with Fire on Fire and the extra fine nib. Because I don't have something like that inked up right now. You know, I will just go do it. It's not efficient in being able to use all the pens and write them all dry. And then when I reach a certain point of just having too many pens inked up, I'll a lot of times just go in and clean, you know, a big batch of pens. Like I've already set three pens to the side right now that like, okay, I'm done using these for now. They're going to sit here and then I'm going to collect a group of those pens that are sitting there to go clean. And then I just kind of pick pens as I go. You know, you could use things like the Fountain Pen Companion to like actually manage some of this stuff and rotate through and have an official tracking. I just, I don't do that because I'm, I end up trying and testing so many random things. And I, sometimes I just get a feel for something and want to use it and we'll go ink it up. So it's nothing official and it can be a little out of hand sometimes.

Myke: But yeah, I just, I want to use the things I want to use when I want to use them. And then I'll pay the piper later.

Brad: If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode of the show, you could just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA or use question mark AskTPA in the RelayFM members discord. You can also email them to hello at penaddict.com. At penaddict.com, you'll also find Brad's wonderful writing along with many wonderful contributors. You can go to notco, spokedesign.com.

Brad: And do you have a third place?

Myke: Twitch.tv slash penaddict.

Brad: I was thinking, I got lost about all the places you sell things, but you also do sell things in the penaddict. That's what it is. I wouldn't listen to you. They were the three places. Twitch.tv slash penaddict is where you can go to find Brad streaming many days a week. And you can also catch the video on demand of those on Brad's YouTube channel as well. If you want to do that, you search for the penaddict on YouTube and you'll find those if you miss the streams. Brad is penaddict on Instagram, Dowdyism on Twitter, and Brad on micro.blog. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. Thank you to Squarespace and the Canalea Pen Co. for their support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.