The Pen Addict 91/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	91
Title:	Are They Even Pen Addicts?
Release Date:	January 29th, 2014
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 91
Audio File:	Audio Episode 91
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 91
Length:	5050 min <br />0.833 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 91 of The Pen Addict podcast, a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools we love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by a man who, if he was a magician, his main trick would probably be the vanishing point. Mr. Brad Dowdy.

Philip: That was horrible.

Myke Hurley: I'm so, so bad this week. Me and Brad have been sitting here for about 10 minutes while I've been trying to think of something. I'm sorry everyone, I've let you all down.

Philip: Oh, that's alright. Funny thing on that, we've had a few listeners going back and listened through a bunch of episodes and I think it was one of our listeners, Philip, he mentioned, when did you realise, like, through the first 20 episodes there wasn't this and then all of a sudden it just, like, started, there was no, you know, title calling the name or doing any kind of nickname or anything like that, then that's about when it started. So I'd have to check, um, Kanuni, Renish, and Sheet to see if that's the case, started around episode 20 or 21. So it hasn't been from the very, very beginning, but it started quite a long time ago.

Myke Hurley: And when I find it now, I'm going to go to her site and find the first instance and try and understand why that happened. I mean, obviously a couple, obviously a couple of people have mentioned my bromance-fueled intro from last week. So I did have one today, but I felt like it was too obscure, but would you like to hear what the reject, what, off the cutting room floor? Sure. So today's was, um, he, he must surely be Stabilo Boss because he's really highlighted some things in my life. But I wasn't sure if Stabilo Boss was a big enough brand name outside of the UK.

Philip: Yeah, maybe not. I mean, I knew, I understood what it was, but yeah, that's, that's pretty obscure.

Episode Discussion

Myke Hurley: It was something like that to say, like, that you really highlighted some things in my life. That was the best. So basically it started with, um, episode, well, with episode one, I just called you my illustrious co-host, the pen addict himself. Then blogger extraordinaire over at number four. Thirteen was my partner in crime and trusty co-host. Sixteen was the pen addict himself, the man ashamed of his addiction. You see, that's where it started. Then episode 22 was the high priest of Pendham. Then it was the king of all Pendham because clearly I can't think of two things in it. And then it was 24 is where the wheels came off, the chief and the grand master, the all high wizard himself, and Khan at the pen addict, chief pen addict. And then it went on from there and then it's that, you know, that, that was where it kind of really took off.

Philip: That's too funny. Too funny. So yeah, you've had, yeah, it's hard coming up with these every week now since you've done it about 70 times or so.

Myke Hurley: The worst thing that happened was that I had like those six or seven and then just threw them all out in one episode. Like recently, that was not good.

Myke Hurley: Never mind though. I'm sure I'll come back with something amazing next week and I won't let the listeners down anymore.

Philip: That's right. That's right. So speaking of amazing, we have some amazing listeners. Did you know that? I'm pretty sure you know that.

Myke Hurley: The best, in fact.

Philip: They are. They really are. And they're from all over the world, just like this email I got from Mel, who is a Japanese American currently living in Japan. That's so amazing. I know. So, I mean, all over the place. Pen addict is worldwide.

Myke Hurley: Hi, Mel.

Philip: Hi, Mel. She's awesome. I've talked to her a bunch offline, just doing, you know, talking about different things and some of the stationery and things she does or purchases over there. But anyway, she sent us an email. The way our conversation started is a couple, two or three episodes ago, we were talking about that Pentel Orens mechanical pencil. That's the .2 millimeter. Yeah. Where you were kind of, you were tripping out over the Google Translate button.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to find it again.

Philip: So let me explain to you. She broke it down to us in an email. So she said, first, the confusing web translation of the Orens. She said, I just had to check what released from the sun was. And it's because the character that means day is the same character that means sun. So released from the sun is actually on sale from this day. So that means it's actually going on sale now. And so on an extra note, Orens, I think I'm saying that right, means to break. And the Enzu often negates verbs. So Orens is a play on words, meaning won't break, which is interesting because .2 millimeter pencils break all the time. So if that's like a feature of that pencil, that would be pretty impressive. Because I have .3 millimeter lead pencils, and they just snap constantly. So I'd be interested to try that out. And she says on a similar note to that, in case no one has mentioned this, Kuru Toga is a mix of Kuru for turn or rotate and Toga, which is short for Togaru for sharp. So rotate sharp. So anyway, I thought I would throw that out there to you. And she also mentions that she went all the way back to the episode about Japanese pins, where we're looking at the Pilot Juice site, you know, our favorite website in the world. And she says this is actually a fortune-telling site. She said not quite sure what it has to do with pins, but not quite surprised either. So anyway, I love our listeners, and they give us all this good stuff like that that I would never come across on my own. And we have, you know, our listeners from all over the world. You know, our German listeners like to correct us on our pronunciation. I'm horrible. You're pretty good at the German.

Philip: That was pretty good. Yeah. But, you know, I butcher, like, I can't even say Kaweko very well. So we get all kinds of cool pronunciation tips on the podcast. So thank you, Mel, and thank you for everyone else who helps us not butcher every word that comes out of our mouth.

Myke Hurley: As a mechanical pencil write matches the needs, I want to take clean the note of teenagers and that. I want to aim for performance up note clean. The character that was refreshing, thin, strong test and study learn day to day. Arendzu, I will continue to support.

Philip: That's why you're so good at the ad read. That sounded like an ad read. It was excellent.

Myke Hurley: Just straight from the terrible translation to our listeners ears.

Philip: So, my turn? Your turn. I'm interested about this next topic very much so.

Myke Hurley: So, we have reached an end to the current search for the perfect pen. Woohoo! So, basically, what I was going to do with my lady this weekend, we were going to go through a couple of things because she wanted to test out a couple of things again. She's actually been listening to the show and she's very thankful for all the suggestions that everyone's provided. So, there's a couple of things that we've been going through. She was interested in the design of Koveco. So, I had from our friends at Koveco. A bold nib that I wasn't using because she didn't like the medium nib. So, I added the bold nib to the Colt Pens Mini and also took my Koveco. And there were a couple of other smaller items like the Platinum because I needed to prove to her why it was terrible the first time. Because she'd kind of forgotten about that one. And she said, I just want to go through some of your pens again from the original lineup that I presented it with.

Myke Hurley: So, tried out the Koveco. Didn't like it. And it's interesting to see when she was using it and then when I was using it too. The lines are incredibly inconsistent. Especially when you're not writing slowly. If you write quite quickly, there's quite a lot of skipping, which I hadn't really noticed before. But I've never really used a Koveco over a long period of time. Have you found that to be the case?

Philip: Not on the EF side of the ledger, but on the bold side, I have.

Myke Hurley: And I've also found it on medium too then.

Philip: Yeah. I mean, it's almost like, for lack of a better term, a stickiness.

Myke Hurley: Okay, yeah. Does that make sense?

Philip: Like, you feel, you don't feel like the, it's not scratchy at all.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Philip: But it feels like there's a little, almost like a sticky bump. Like, you're just kind of a, I don't know how to put that in words. The feeling, sensation of that. I don't know how to say it. But it's not, yeah, I know what you're talking about. And I have experienced that on some of the wider nibs. But never with the EF or even the F nib for a Koveco. But on the bold nib, yeah, not crazy about that.

Myke Hurley: So we took a look over these. Neither of them were winners. But an order was made.

Philip: Hmm.

Pilot Metropolitan

Myke Hurley: So, basically, the Pilot Metropolitan has gone down a storm. I'd completely forgotten that that needed those special Namiki cartridges.

Philip: Uh-huh. Well, it comes with a converter, too, so.

Myke Hurley: I don't know where mine is. But it sure is around somewhere. Now you mentioned it, that's good to know. Um, I had a box of those cartridges anyway, which I've given to her. Because I don't use any pens that need them. Because I don't use a vanishing point anymore. Which is what I bought them for. I bought them when I got my vanishing point. Because I thought it would be the most perfect pen ever to have graced the planet. And it cost me a lot of money. But, turns out, I don't really like it anymore. Um, so, what we have. So, basically, you know, as I said, the Metropolitan's gone down a storm. She just loves it. She thinks, you know, it's great. Which is, again, as we said before, it's not to my tastes. But I know that it is widely accepted to be a great pen. And, you know, I actually used it a little bit more this weekend. And I was like, yeah, okay. I can see. I can see this a little bit more now, maybe. Um, when I was removed from the hype that I'd built. That we had, you know, that had been built up before me and you ordered them. Um, but yeah. So, I can see that it's a solid performer, you know. It's very, very good for its price range. I was just hoping to have my mind blown off. But I did not. In the initial term. So, what, you know, as people will know. What we were looking for was not another pen. It was for a pen that could have a stub nib.

Myke Hurley: Um, so, she was playing, you know. She was like writing out with the, with the, my, uh, Diamond Mini that I have. My Twisby Diamond Mini. She was testing that out. And I was sort of saying that it was a shame that she didn't really like the Twisby. Um, because it was kind of perfect. Or any of the Twisby's really are kind of perfect. And the one that she likes, like the look of the most. The classic, couldn't post. And as I mentioned, that was an issue. So, she said, let me have a look at the other designs. So, we went onto the writing desk. And she took a look at the, there's, they have three different Twisby minis there. They have the all black, the clear and black and the clear. And she was like, oh, I like the all black one. Um, and it was also at that point that she realized that the middle of mine wasn't blue. Because she'd only seen it with blue ink in it. Yep. So, she thought it was blue. Because obviously the ink does like, you know, it colors all of it. Even where there isn't ink inside. So, if you didn't really think about it. Or that it was a demonstrator. If you'd never really seen something like that before. Yeah, if you weren't used to that. Then you're not going to necessarily know that that's the ink inside. Um, so we have purchased a 1.1mm stub nib Twisby diamond mini black. Awesome.

Philip: I think that's a pretty great choice right there.

Myke Hurley: Because they are, I'm just, I'm really pleased. Because I think it's the, I think from, I think from the start it was the perfect pen anyway. For her. It's small, it's elegant. So, she's not a massive fan of the diamond pattern.

Philip: Yeah, I can, I can see that. Neither am I.

Myke Hurley: But, um, she says that she can overlook it. Overlook it because everything else is fantastic. But then, we realized we need ink. Ha ha ha ha. So, basically we started also looking through on the writing desk for, um, com, like, Hiroshizuku inks. Mm-hmm. We've also looked at J'ai her ma, J'ai her bon, J'ai her bon. Ha ha ha. Inks as well. Um, but we, we, she settled on the Pilot Hiroshizuku Ku Jacky, which is Peacock. Okay.

Philip: Okay. I haven't used that one personally, but, I mean, that's a pretty popular one.

Myke Hurley: I think it was out of stock, but I remembered to get it on Amazon. I've seen those half-price deals. Well, I didn't realize, and I didn't really notice this until after I purchased mine, is it's like close to a month before they might arrive. Oh, really? Including mine, the one that I bought. I bought a green one. I can't remember what one it was now. Mm-hmm. But, like, we purchased this last weekend, and the estimated delivery date is from Friday the 7th of February to Thursday the 27th of February.

Philip: Hmm. Yeah, I guess, I guess because it's coming from Japan or Hong Kong. Yeah. And it takes some time.

Myke Hurley: They're just paying standard shipping, I think, on them. Yeah. Yeah. So, the Diamond Mini, I believe, will arrive tomorrow. I'm going to fill it up, and we'll be delivering it to her on the weekend, this weekend. It's the coming weekend.

TWSBI Mini

Philip: That's fantastic. I think that's a really just good all-around choice. You know I love that pen. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, and the interesting thing is, I have now started using my Stubnib 580 every day.

Myke Hurley: It was just something about it. I was like, let me try it. So, I've changed it over to Fuyugaki, which is my favorite Hiroshi Zuko ink, the orange one, and I'm now using it again every day, too. Would you like to know which of my Pelican and the Rotaring has been taken out of daily rotation? Ooh, yeah. Ouch. It's the Rotaring. Yeah. Nothing wrong with it at all. That would have been my guess. But I've been using the Pelican over the Rotaring recently.

Myke Hurley: I had a, I thought something went terribly wrong with my Pelican last week. So, I filled it, and it started to feel really scratchy. I was like, something's wrong here. And then, the next day, ink just all over my hands. I was like, oh my God, what is going on? Somehow, I don't know how. The nib had unscrewed a little bit. Okay. So, it was, it wasn't, the ink wasn't flowing through properly and then was spurting everywhere, basically. Yeah, that makes sense. But yeah, I was, I was, I was pretty terrified at the time. Yeah.

Philip: I had a pen failure over the weekend, too. Wow. My, my TWSBI Mini, the, it's, it's my ink testing pen. I use it primarily for that. So, I'm filling it and refilling it a lot. So, you know, ink in, ink out, clean in, you know, if, if I get in a run, you know, maybe three or four times a night, you know. So, and then just, it just depends on, you know, how often I use it. So, I noticed the, the, the piston filling mechanism was getting a little tight. Like, I needed to, you know, re-silicon grease it, you know, just for a smoother, smoother action. And I was lazy about doing it. And eventually, like, the end of the plunger, like, you know, the rubber piece that actually fits against the, you know, that seals the inside of the barrel. So, that, and pushes the ink down or draws the ink up and keeps the ink from coming out the back. Separated from actually the stem of the plunger that, you know, screws it down or back up. It's like, oh, man, what did I do? I waited too long to do this. But I went to the, I went to the Twitter and the Instagram and got some good tips on how to push it back out. And, you know, just used a tiny little bit, bent paper clip, pushed it back out and disassembled it and re-silicon greased it. Now it's back in full glory. So, that was a little, that was a little annoying. But that was a self-inflicted wound.

Myke Hurley: Before we went to the Mini, we also looked at the VAC 700. Because that's smooth all the way around.

Myke Hurley: But then realized it was going to be just ridiculously large with the cat posted.

Philip: It's a giant pen. Did I tell you I got a VAC 700? No. So, a reader slash listener sent me one. She reached out to me on Twitter, says, hey, I don't really like this pen. Do you want to try it? You know, you can have it if you want it. I was like, yeah. I mean, I've always wanted to try it and review it just to see what the deal is. To see, you know, it's got really mixed reviews, right? Some people love it. And some people just hate it and want to get rid of it. And so, I've got one. So, I'll, I need to spend some more time with it because it's an interesting pen. But it's a gigantic pen. And I would think she would not like that at all.

Myke Hurley: Did you know that Thomas sent me some pens?

Philip: More? More?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Philip: Awesome. What did you get?

Myke Hurley: It's two Edison Perlettes, but it's the nibs that you wanted me to try. Okay. So, they're both Masayama nibs. One is a 0.8 millimeter italic. The other is a 0.3 millimeter italic.

Philip: Uh-huh.

Myke Hurley: I haven't inked them up and tried them out yet.

Philip: Okay. Did he just send you the nibs or the whole barrel?

Myke Hurley: He sent me the whole barrel.

Philip: Did you get that black, purple celluloid one?

Myke Hurley: Um.

Philip: Of his?

Philip: It's got like a, it's really dark and it's got a clear ink window.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And it's kind of like.

Philip: Kind of looks like outer space.

Myke Hurley: It's kind of shimmery, right?

Philip: Yeah. That's a cool pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. I got that one.

Philip: Sorry. That was mean of me to talk about something we can't really link. But I knew which pen it was because I've had it before too.

Myke Hurley: I hadn't really paid too much attention to it. Mm-hmm. Because I kind of just.

Philip: You got to get it in the right light. Yeah. It's impossible. It's impossible to photograph and show it off any good. I've tried.

Myke Hurley: Oh, man. Look at this thing. But it's a wicked pen. Yeah. Guys, just imagine something that looks amazing. I haven't inked them up yet. I'm a little bit intimidated by them both. Nah. Don't be. But I'm going to. I'm going to. It's like the same that, you know, I've got the ink that was sent to us by Dudak. Mm-hmm. What it was sent to me. And he just sent me this message. And he was like, just do whatever you want with the thing, man. Just use it. But I'm still scared. Right. You know. Because they're other people's pens. I'm really like, oh, about it.

Philip: Oh, trust me. I'm very much the same way. I have a few from other listeners. So I don't want to spoil that surprise. Those surprises for future episodes. But I have. Yeah. I have a couple other ones as well on my desk right now. And that always makes me nervous when I'm borrowing other people's pens. So. But I did make a new purchase this week. You did? Or late last week since the last episode.

Sailor 1911

Philip: Kind of going through that wish list in a rapid pace so far earlier. Early in the year. It's still only January. And I've scratched another thing off my list. I wanted to buy another Sailor pen this year. A more full size one. And I happened to stumble across one I could not pass up. And it's actually a brand new model. But I found it on the Fountain Pen Network Classifieds. And the guy was selling it. That he did not like the nib with. And I was able to pick up the Sailor 1911 Black Luster Fountain Pen. Which is a new release for Sailor. I guess they introduced it back in the fall. Maybe something like that.

Myke Hurley: It's a new release called the 1911.

Philip: Yeah.

Philip: That's their main line. One of their main line names. I'm assuming that's when the company started. Yeah. That makes sense. But what's interesting about this pen. Is one. It's beautiful. It's got all the. It's basically black on black. For lack of a better term. It's a black resin barrel. Normal black. And then every other. Where all the chrome pieces would be. Or in the nib. The silver rhodium plated nib. It's all this black ion plating. So it's this really dark shaded.

Philip: Finish on all the. What you would normally think of the chrome parts of the pen. But what sets this pen apart. From other Sailor 1911s. And other Sailor models period. Is it has a metallic grip section. So I don't know if you're. Seeing the pictures that I put in the link. Myke. Like the whole section is metal. So what that does. Is it changes the balance of the pen. When you're writing. You know it's a more. More heavy. I don't want to say heavy. Because you can't really feel it. But it's more. Weighted towards the nib of the pen. Which is supposed to make. Supposed to make for an easier. Writing experience. You know moving the nib across the page. Help you out a little bit easier. I think it kind of goes along the lines of.

Philip: Engineering pencils. Engineering and drafting pencils. They're very. Bottom weighted if you will. Or I guess they're. They're more weighted towards the. The tip of the pencil. And that's for balance. And control. And you know. To help with the writing. And help. Help you control your lines. A little bit better. So I'm really pleased with this so far. I got it for a really good price.

Philip: You can feel the weight. In the pen. When you're holding it. And not writing it. Like if I. If I gave you the pen. Capped. And. Told you to hold it. I don't know that you necessarily. Know that it was heavy. But if you uncap it. You can feel the weight.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Philip: In the grip section. When you're just holding it. But when you write with it. You don't feel it at all. It just feels like any other pen.

Myke Hurley: Medium nib.

Philip: Medium nib.

Myke Hurley: Hmm.

Philip: Because that's what he had. And that's what he didn't like. Because it was too fine for him. Which is why he was selling it. But it was. He had only inked it up twice. So it was essentially brand new. And. Yeah. I am. I am super pleased with this. And we'll be reviewing it soon. And this is going to be. A heavy rotation pen. Just because. The nib is excellent. It's a. 21 karat gold. Nib. Super. Ridiculously smooth. And fine enough. For me to use. Without any. You know. Any desire to change. Change it into something smaller. You know. Like a fine. Or an extra fine. It's. It's fantastic. Really happy with it. Just got it. A few days ago. So I haven't spent too much time with it. As a matter of fact. Just inked it up last night. For the first time. So. Yeah. Check it out. It's a. It's a really neat pen. And. It's. Pretty much designed for me. You know. It's everything I want. In just a design. Of a pen. And. I'm real happy with it.

Myke Hurley: Good stuff man. Yeah. I hope that you got a good discount. Because. Boy. I think it's expensive.

Philip: Yeah. No. I did. I mean. I'll tell you. I paid. $240. For it.

Myke Hurley: Hey. That's. Really good. It's like. Half price nearly.

Philip: Yeah. So. I mean. If you order it from Japan. And. The reason. I actually negotiated the price. And. Because if you order it from Japan. Like one of the vendors that I use over there. Sometimes. It's. New over there. Is like. $234. So. It's in the ballpark. Of what I should have paid. So. I was good with that.

Philip: It's a good deal.

Philip: Good deal. Glad to have it.

Myke Hurley: Should we take a quick break?

Philip: Yeah. Let's do that.

Squarespace Sponsorship

Myke Hurley: I want to thank our sponsor. For this week's episode. Of the pen addict. And that is the fine folks over at Squarespace.com. They are the all-in-one platform. That makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial. And 10% off. Go to Squarespace.com. And use the offer code. Tallyho1. Squarespace are always doing great stuff. They're always making sure that their platform is up to date. With new features. Designs. And making their support team. Even better. Every day. They have beautiful templates. That you can get started with over at Squarespace. Squarespace. So you can really create a blog that looks unique and fantastic. What I love about Squarespace sites is that they don't look like they've just been from 123blogger.com. You know. They all look very, very professional. So much so. And they're very clean. They're not really in your face. So they look great enough that you go to a Squarespace site. And it just looks like a well-designed website. And you can go in and you can tweak things yourself. To make sure that it looks fantastic. So you can change some of the fonts. To the fonts that you want. You can change colors and widths. And some of the layout stuff as well. So the site really has your own taste and flavor on it as well. Which is really cool. Because you want it to look good. And to have that great design direction. But you want it to be like your own place online as well. And that's what Squarespace gives you the ability to do. Squarespace take care of all of the nasty stuff too. They take care of hosting. They take care of SEO. It's really difficult things to do. If you like someone like me. You don't really know what to do in those areas. But they take care of it for you. And they make sure that your site looks fantastic on any device. As they feature responsive web design from right out of the box. All of their themes look fantastic on all manner of devices. Squarespace is super easy to use. But if you need any help. They have over 70 dedicated employers. And their customer care team. Which are based in New York City. They are there for you 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. You can get them on Twitter. You can get them via email. They have great knowledge base articles. And tutorial videos. And stuff like that too. Squarespace have two really cool iOS apps. That you can use. They have Squarespace blog. Which allows you to post to your blog on the go. And it's all integrated with their layout engine. So you can tap and drag images. All around in your posts and stuff. You can write in Markdown if that's your bag. And they have Squarespace metrics. Which allows you to view all of your website analytics and stuff on the go too. As I said earlier. You can try out Squarespace for free. There's no credit card needed to do this. And if you decide to purchase. It starts at just $8 a month. And includes a free domain name. If you sign up for a year or more. It really is the whole package over at Squarespace. And don't forget that you're going to get 10% off. And show your support for this show. By using the offer code Tallyho1. That's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O and the number 1. Thank you so much to Squarespace. For the continued support of The Pen Addict. And all of 5x5.

Philip: Awesome. Thank you Squarespace.

Philip: So I got an interesting email. About two weeks ago. And I wanted to share that with you. Real quick. And share that with the listeners. Because I think it was a really good idea. And it's something I've talked about. In the past. With some things I do on my blog. So let me read this real quick. This is from Bob. He says. Really been enjoying catching up on the podcast. I've missed over your past two year run. Learning a lot. And expending much funds as a result. You guys do a great job. With all the pen blogs starting to pop up. Including mine. Have you ever thought about. Maybe giving a short plug. To a different pen blog each week. Maybe right after the Squarespace dad. Real short plug. And maybe mention in the show notes. You know. Not a full review or anything big. You know. Our pen blog of the week is. Blah blah blah dot com. You know. Be sure to go and check them out. Now back to our show. I said. I can appreciate you guys. Wanting to drive traffic to penaddict dot com. But you're so far and away. More popular than any of us little guys will ever be. I doubt it would have a negative effect on your hit count. Bob. Just a mention on the penaddict website. Got me nearly 400 hits in a day. So you're reaching the pen community is huge. Just an idea to consider. Thanks for all your hard work in the pen community. It shows you love what you do. Bob. I thought that was a great idea. Yeah. You know. We've noticed. Kind of. I mean. It was. It's been happening for the past year. But you know. When we did our. Our blogging episode. It was back in the 80 something. You know. About getting started in pen blogging. Even since then. There's just been a huge increase. Of. Not just. Pen blogs. But really. Really. Good. Pen blogs. I mean. These guys and girls. Are doing articles. And reviews. And. You know. Things that. You know. Put me to shame. And it's really awesome. And you know. I enjoy spreading the word. About these things. And I think Bob has. A great idea. That you know. I can share this. This type of information. You know. Maybe not every week. But I think having just. You know. A focus on. You know. Some of the great pen bloggers. Out there. And some of the new pen bloggers. Out there. Because some of this new stuff. Like I said just a second ago. Is awesome. And you know. Like. I've linked to Bob. I don't know. Once or twice on ink links. He's done some good. Good reviews. He did a pilot. Kakuno review. Not too long ago. That was really good. And a. A write code notepads review. That I enjoyed. Then he also did a review. Or. Or did a post. Just a general post. Talking about. Do you keep your pen boxes. Do you keep your pen boxes Myke?

Myke Hurley: Yes.

Philip: Yeah. I used to not do that.

Myke Hurley: I keep boxes for most things. That I buy. Weird.

Philip: No. I don't think that's weird. But I keep my. I now keep my pen boxes. But it's kind of. A thing where I realized. After the fact. That. I might need them to ship them. Like if I trade a pen. Or something like that. That's a. That's a perfect. Shipping vessel for the pen. So I keep them more for that. Than anything else.

Philip: But anyway. Bob. Bob's blog. Will be in our show notes. It's called. My pen. Needs ink. Which is a great. Great name. And I think. I think this could be. A recurring theme. What do you. What do you think about this. For. For the show Myke. I think. I think shedding light. On. You know. New bloggers. And bloggers of old. As well. I think. It's only a good thing.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. There's one thing. I want to make clear though. That. I don't. I don't want it to be. Part of the ad. So I don't want people. To think that they have to have. A Squarespace blog. To. To be spoken about. So. Absolutely. It doesn't matter if. I mean. If you have a Squarespace blog. Excellent. And more power to you. And thank you. If you signed up. Using our code. Feel free to tell us that. I mean. Because you know. You will get the extra big thumbs up. From us. But. That's. Not a prerequisite. Of us talking about your site.

Philip: Absolutely not. Totally. 100% unrelated. He was just mentioning. You know. Hey. Maybe this is a good spot. In the. In the format. Before you get into a topic. Or something like that.

Myke Hurley: It's the perfect place. It's definitely the perfect place for it. It'd either be then. Or right at the end of the show. But sometimes. I get all emotional. Yep. You know.

Pen Design

Philip: Well. Let's get into something. I want to talk about. Real quick. And then. If we have time. I have a few. Twitter questions. That. I want to rapid fire. And get through. Because there's some good stuff out there. But. I did a review. Last week. And. On a pen. That. I've been wanting to review. For a long time. And I'm anxious. To get your feedback. On this. But. Jet. JetPens started carrying. The Retro 51. Tornado. Fountain pens. And I got the black. Acrylic model. They also have the. The bigger models. The Lincoln. And. I forget what the other one's called. Maybe white gold. I'm not looking at it. Anyway. You've had a Retro 51. Fountain pen. For probably more than a year now. At this point. Or at least a year. And they've been on the market. For a while. And I've just never ordered one. You know. To. To get. I've. Just had other things. To purchase at the time. Is never. Totally chomping at the bit. To order one. But. Since JetPens got them. I finally got one to review. And I got to say. Just cut straight to the chase. I'm not impressed.

Philip: The design. Of the pen. Is beautiful. It looks like a Retro 51. Should look. You know. The black. Black. Black acrylic. And chrome. Exterior. Is. Really. Really. It's a super attractive pen. The nib.

Philip: Was an eye opener. It's shockingly good. Like. Off the charts. Awesome. Nib. Like I said. I think I said in the article. It's like a 10 out of 10 nib. They use Schmidt nibs. This is a medium.

Philip: Is this a fine. What did I get. I can't even remember. It's a fine. Fine nib. But they do offer medium. The nib is amazing. But there was two. Gigantic flaws. That. Make me.

Philip: Never. I'm never going to use this pen. Just because it's not comfortable. To write. Write with. One. Is the section. Is completely.

Philip: Cheap. If you will. Cheap feeling. Cheap looking. Um. It's this cheap. Cheap kind of satiny plastic. Um. It doesn't fit in. The design. With the design. Of the rest of the pen. In my opinion. It's not. Comfortable to hold. Because my fingers slide around. Constantly on it. It's that slick. Um. And it's not. And it's. It's just not enjoyable. To hold. And related to that. It is. A poorly. Balanced pen. So with the cap. Unposted. It's a small. Lightweight pen. I liken it to. The Pilot Pereira. Which a lot of people have. And everyone knows. That's a short pen. And with that cap. Unposted. It's very light. And you know. People don't necessarily. Like to write it with that. But unlike the Pereira. When you. On the Pereira. When you post the cap. The pen's balanced. And perfect. Perfectly able to write. This one. You can't write. In a balanced situation. With the cap. Posted. Or unposted. Unposted. It's too light. And too short. Posted. It's too top heavy. And unbalanced. So I had a real struggle. Getting comfortable. With this pen. Despite how good it looks. And despite how great. The nib looks.

Philip: So I. I was disappointed. Obviously. Because it looks good. And. I wish it were. I wish it was. Better designed. And. It gets me to thinking. Like. You know. What. What goes into the design process here. To where they can't spend. You know. Two or three more dollars. To improve the section. You know. This pen was $43. On jet pens.

Philip: I'd rather pay $50. For a pen. That I'm going to use. Than $40. For a pen. That's going to collect dust. That makes sense.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Philip: You know. Do a better job. Charge me more. And make a better product. It. It. It's like they phoned in the section. Completely. I hate it.

Myke Hurley: When you say the section. Do you mean the grip?

Philip: Yeah. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So. Here's an interesting thing. Mm-hmm. Remember. I. Always put this one on my. Most favorite pens of all time. I haven't used it in a long time.

Myke Hurley: And. I think. A few days before you posted your review. I didn't even know you had it. Just while I was going through. Finding. You know. With the perfect pen quest.

Myke Hurley: I realized how cheap this pen feels.

Myke Hurley: Exact same deal to you. From the time. Of having bought and used this pen. Frequently. To now. I've had such different experiences. Going back to it. So I've not used it. Since. For a long time. Really. It's just sat in my pen case. Um. I realize how light feeling it is. But not in a good way. It is cheap and slippery. Um. Yeah. And. And. It's too short. For the size of the nib. Um. I think that. The. Maybe the. Lincoln. Or the white nickel. Might be better feeling. Because I have more weight to them. Because they're made of metal. Rather than acrylic plastic. Obviously. This won't address the grip issue. That you had Brad. But I feel. It will at least make the overall feeling. Of the pen a lot better.

Philip: Yeah. Those are a little bit heavier. Obviously. And they're just a little bit longer too. So. Yeah. I think. I agree with you on that. Not having used one. But looking at them. Yeah. They would be much. Better balanced. And feel better in the hand. Despite having. Still having the section issue.

Myke Hurley: So I think that. That would go. To fix in 50% of your problem. Yep. But obviously. The grip is an issue.

Philip: Yeah. So. That's. My.

Myke Hurley: This. This does fill me. With a lot of.

Myke Hurley: Excitement. For the. Carous Customs Inc.

Philip: Yeah. Why? Well it's the same nib. You can use the nib. Yeah. I was going to say. You can use the nib. Because I mean.

Myke Hurley: I've had them. I've got the. Still got that medium prototype one here. As I mentioned earlier. And I was just writing. I was just playing around with it. While you were talking. And it does. It feels really good to hold. And obviously. This has a medium nib. But you've got the fine nib. And you say the fine nib is awesome as well. So. It's really awesome.

Philip: I was very impressed with the nib.

Myke Hurley: So I mean. I think that. Because this is a much. More quality feeling. Body.

Myke Hurley: Than that of the. The Retro 51. It's a shame. Because I did love this. And I remember. What I obviously loved. What I was blown away with. Was the nib. Because. When I wrote with it. I was like. Wow. This is a. This is a good nib.

Myke Hurley: But I'd forgotten. You know. Kind of. How kind of. It isn't great feeling.

Philip: Yeah. So what makes. I guess what really got me riled up. Was. I know they can do. Better than this. And I don't understand. Why they didn't. You know. And those are things. That we'll never understand. Right. I mean. I just feel. That they could have spent. A little bit more money. And charged a little bit more. For a better product.

Myke Hurley: So this is something. That I think about. Quite a lot. In regards to pen manufacturers.

Myke Hurley: Are they pen addicts?

Philip: Yeah. I think about that all the time too.

Myke Hurley: Because. It's perfectly fine.

Myke Hurley: For the average person. I don't even think anybody would notice that. We will. Right. But I don't necessarily know if. Perfect example. He who shall not be named. With product that should not be named. Right. You know. Perfectly fine for him. Perfectly fine for other people. But for pen addicts. Doesn't cut the mustard. Right. Because we hold these things. To a much higher level of scrutiny.

Myke Hurley: And I think we said that at the time. So maybe that's simply the case here. Yeah. It was. It was fine. Yeah. And I did before I got really deep into this. Sure. Sure. Part of the journey. Right. It actually is. And I feel like this is a good.

Myke Hurley: Example of that. Because. This is a pen that. Now. You don't like. Now. I don't. Really holding his high esteem. But at the time. I was like. This is the best pen ever.

Philip: Right. Right.

Twitter Questions

Philip: Right. All right. So I got. Let's. Let's wrap it up. With. A bunch of Twitter questions. I reached out for. Well. I hadn't done this in a while. So I got. Got a few quick hits on Twitter. I'm going to go through.

Philip: Father Myke Gossett. Who's been a follower. Forever.

Philip: Really good supporter. He says. Ever have any problems. With a retro 51. Rattling when you write. I love the pen. But the noise and movement. Drives me crazy. The retro 51. Tornado. Roller balls. No. Never. But the snappers. The retractable ones. Always. They rattle. So I don't know. Specifically which. One. You were talking about. Father Myke. But. With the tornado. Roller balls. I don't have any issues. How about you Myke?

Myke Hurley: No. Not at all.

Philip: Yeah. Not. The tornado. Roller ball. I think. One of the reasons. Why we. Enjoy it. Not just for the refill. Is it's. It's just dead solid. I mean. It's. It's no sound. No movement. No nothing. So. Something's up. If it's. If it's the roller ball. And not the snapper. Isn't that what the retractable one's called? I think it's called the snapper. Something like that. Horrible name. Do you remember? We do this every time.

Myke Hurley: Whatever. Yeah. I don't. I don't know. Yeah.

Philip: We'll go with snapper. Just because it sounds stupid. All right. Tim. Who. Who writes the Daily Carry blog. He says. I would like to hear some strategies. Working through. Goulet pens. Ink drops. And recording impressions. Hard to. Hard not to keep switching. He says. Or just ink samples in general. What kind of stuff do you record for the future. When you're looking to buy. An ink you've tried. I've always had. I've had trouble with this. And. I got so many samples. That I was trying to keep up with. And one thing. That I always wanted to do. And never do. Did. Was either get. It was get some kind of dip pen. To do testing. To where you didn't have to ink up a pen. And clean it. Just to try a sample. Of an ink that you may not like. So. My friend Thomas. He sent me a link. He knows. I've talked about this a lot. Just buying a glass. Dip pen. Or something like that. He sent me a link. To something called a Morisset. It's. M-O-R-I-S-S-E-T. Dip nib. They're not easy to find. They're old. But what it is. It's a traditional fountain pen nib. With a glass feed. And it holds the ink really well. And it's like. Perfect for testing. But you kind of got to. There's no real. Place to purchase them. So you just kind of got to stumble them. On eBay. Or. There have been people. Make some. And you need a holder for it too. Right. It's just a nib. With a screw on section. So. But it's. It's worth looking for. Because they're not very expensive. I mean like. We're talking like five dollars. For a nib. And then you got to find something. To hold it in. I haven't bought that yet. But I'm going to. In the near future. And that's how I'm going to do. Some of my ink sampling. Now. And that's just how I get a good feel. I try to use. Try to get them all on the same paper. You know. Keep them all on the same notebook. Or. You know. I use the. Mimasign.

Philip: What's it called? The word cards. You know. To do all my ink samples. So I can pull them out. And check them out later. Things like that. So. But. I'd get a dip nib. Or. A glass dip pen. Something like that. That you can do. That you can test a lot of inks. Quickly with. And that's something. I'm working on myself.

Philip: Josh. On Twitter. Says. What makes a good bullet journal. And what pen works good. On the paper. He says. Man. I love this show. Appreciate it. Josh. That's how you get your tweet read.

Philip: I've always thought. The. The Leuch term. 1917. Was a good bullet journal. If you like grid. Paper. But really anything. I mean. The field notes is good. The word. Notebooks. Is practically. Set up for you already. For bullet journaling. So that may be. Something you look at. Is the word. Notebooks. They. And. They handle inks. Really well. Pretty much. Across the board. Fountain pen. Gel. Roller ball. Ballpoint. So. Take a look at the word. Notebooks. Our friend. Taufer. This is. This is for you Myke. You ready? This is for both of us. If you had to fight. Myke to the death. What pens. Would you both choose. As your weapon. Who would. Who would win. And why.

Philip: So we're going to. We're going to fight. To the death.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to maybe.

Myke Hurley: I'm probably going to go. With. Hmm. Hmm.

Myke Hurley: I'll definitely take one of yours. Actually I think. Because you have those like. Razor sharp nibs. Yeah. Um. What's yours?

Philip: I think I'm going to go with the. The. The black matte vanishing point. With the extra fine nib.

Myke Hurley: Oh yeah. It's like. Yeah.

Philip: I mean. It's very slicey. And stabby. I mean. I think. You know. First. I would probably poke your eye out.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Philip: And then while you're like. Leaning over crying. I'd probably slice your Achilles. Right. Okay. This is good to know.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Philip: Carry on. And then. You know. We would just. You know. Complete the evisceration. From there.

Myke Hurley: See. Here's the thing though. This is why I'm going to win. Because you're going to go. Like. You know. You're going to do something. You're going to try and blind me or something. I found my new pen for this. The copper. Karas customs bolt. One club. You're down. Down and out. It's the heaviest pen known to man.

Philip: Yep. I would reach in for the eyeball. And you would just. Bonk me on the head. And I'd be done. That's it. That's a good one.

Ultrasonic Cleaners

Philip: All right. Danny Roll. On Twitter. This is. This is a hilarious question. In. In its simplicity. Do you own an ultrasonic cleaner now? And. He probably didn't think it was funny. But I think it's funny. Because. I'm. Having a lot of people going back throughout. Old episodes now. Calling me out on things. I said I would or wouldn't have. Or. You know. Completely dogging something out. Way back when. And loving it now. But I do not own an ultrasonic cleaner now. That's one of those things. I said I would never own. Right now. I don't. But. I'm never going to say never again. On that one. Sure. John Mayhem wants to know, Myke, if you're going to the Bristol Pen Show on Sunday, February the 2nd.

Myke Hurley: I didn't know about it, but I'm going to be on a train Sunday going to Glasgow.

Philip: All right. Awesome.

Philip: Curly McD on Twitter wants to know where to buy UEF Nib for Platinum 3776 in Europe. That's a good question. I didn't look it up. I don't know if Colt Pens has them or the writing desk. We'd have to sort that out.

Philip: Adam Blaine. Adam's a new follower. He's been very active on Twitter and Instagram. He says, can you calm down on the enabling? I'm holding you responsible for a Twisby Mini EF heading my way. We will not calm down on the enabling, Adam. Sorry for the hit to your wallet, but good choice in pens, as you can tell by earlier in the episode. We highly approve of that purchase. Have you seen the movie Gravity, Myke? No, I haven't. Okay. So we're not going to know the answer to this question. Craig wants to know what's the pen floating around in the movie Gravity. I guess our guess would be it's a Fisher Space pen, but we sure don't know. All right. That concludes our Twitter blast for the day, and I think that's all I got this week, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Hey, that sounds pretty good. Yeah. I'm trying to see if I can find the pen, a ballpoint pen.

Myke Hurley: I'm now looking at it. Gravity? Uh-huh.

Philip: Yeah. Yeah. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know.

Myke Hurley: I'm doing some Googling. Yeah, there was a ballpoint pen floating around with Sandra Bullock, but that's all I've got so far. It was a ballpoint pen. Well, that could mean anything. Yeah. Cool. Okay. So if you want to catch some show notes for this week's episode, there's a great place to do that. Go to 5by5.tv slash penaddict slash 91. That's where you're going to find all that fun stuff. If you want to keep up with me and Brad, you can do that on Twitter. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and Brad is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. If you want to submit a blog of your own or just get in touch with us, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Probably the easiest is if you go to 5by5.tv slash penaddict or go to the show, show notes page, hit the button that says contact in the masthead at the top. That's going to send an email directly to us. It's the easiest way rather than trying to remember an email address. Go to 5by5.tv slash penaddict and just hit the contact button that's right there.

Myke Hurley: Did I say pad? Pad? Brad's blog? Pen blog? Prad's Ben blog, which is over at penaddict.com. I don't know if I mentioned that already, but you get another plug. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. If you'd like to submit the pens that you think could beat us both in a fight, feel free to do that on Twitter.

Philip: Ooh, yeah. Good idea. Good idea. Bring it. And tell us how you're going to take care of business. You know, I just don't want to hear the pen, but give us some details.

Myke Hurley: Exactly. And we'll be back next week. It's going to be on Thursday next week, so I'm going to be away for a couple of days. But you will have another episode, but it'll be coming to you just a little later than usual. So thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict Podcast. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad.

Philip: Goodbye, Brad. Bye.