The Pen Addict 392/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 392 |
| Title: | Knocking Knock Twist Knock |
| Release Date: | January 8th, 2020 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 392 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 392 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 392 |
| Length: | 5353 min <br />0.883 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 392. Today's show is brought to you by Warby Parga and ExpressVPN. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Myke Hurley. How are you today? Good. I'm not going to lie. I forgot what to say.
Brad Dowdy: It was a little bit... I could tell you kind of caught yourself there a little bit.
Myke Hurley: I'm not sure what was going on. I'm not sure if I forgot my own name or if I just wasn't sure where I was, but something happened and I took a momentary gap and now I've addressed it publicly.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think it was probably the latter. I'm surprised you haven't said, and then welcome to Connected or however you introduced that show or whatever. I don't know. Stephen may introduce it. I'm showing my lack of knowledge of the rest of your platform.
Myke Hurley: I used to introduce it. I think the only show that I intro now, like I intro this one, is Upgrade. Only Upgrade and The Pen Addict get these, like, from RelayFM introductions. It's my understanding. All the other shows, for my benefit, actually, from what I do, they start in different ways. Like, so I start in different ways. So I can only really confuse it with Upgrade, but it would have to be a weird day for me to think I was recording Upgrade at this time.
Brad Dowdy: True, true, true. Well, I feel either very special or very not. So one of the two.
Myke Hurley: You should feel special. Like I said this before, I'll say it again. Like, you are, like, my longest collaborator in life.
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.
Myke Hurley: Like, the longest relationship that I've had, consistent relationship with someone outside of my family is you.
Brad Dowdy: Nice. I like it. I know. I love this. I love this relationship that we have. I love the relationship we have with our listeners. I love our podcast, Myke. I love doing this every week. It's, like, my favorite. Mm-hmm. Because, Myke, I get to talk about pens and make fun of them when they do stupid things. You ready?
Myke Hurley: I'm ready.
Last Week's Discussion
Brad Dowdy: So last week, we talked about the Platinum Curidos, and that became a whole thing after the show, Myke. That was an enjoyable day for me after we discussed the Platinum Curidos, which we will follow up on momentarily. But it reminded me, and then a post this past week on the blog, Chronikos Estilophilographicos, don't quote me on that, reminded me that there is another new retractable pin coming on the market this week, and it is the Pilot Capless LS. It may sound familiar, Myke. It may look familiar to Pilot Vanishing Point and Capless users. Capless is the Japanese name for what we call the Vanishing Point here in the States.
Brad Dowdy: It's like one of the only times where there's a worse name in Japan. Right. I agree. I agree. For some reason, the Capless was, I think, the original name, and it's just kind of stuck through, but they've morphed it into a better name, as you say. The Vanishing Point is a really, really good name. But what they've done, Myke, is they've kind of mashed up the traditional Vanishing Point. I'm just going to call it that for sake of my sanity. The click mechanism of the Vanishing Point, right? You know, it's got a big thud click, click, click, click, click, which I think is a feature. And then the Fermo, which is a retractable twist mechanism pen from Pilot that really never took off, right? It's a good pen. It costs more than the Vanishing Point. How do you spell that? F-E-R-M-O.
Myke Hurley: F-E-R-M-O. Okay, cool. This one doesn't ring a bell for me at all.
Brad Dowdy: They've really never pushed it. It's a higher standard price point than the Vanishing Point. And it's a good pen. It just never got the hype that the Vanishing Point did. I know this, man.
Myke Hurley: Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so it's got the longer, extended, kind of faceted twist mechanism on the back end of the pen. Otherwise, it generally looks like the whole front end looks like a Vanishing Point for the most part. It's a little bit different shape, a little bit sleeker, but longer. So anyway, good pen. Never really hit that marketing sweet spot that the Vanishing Point did. So the new Kapless LS, I guess, is trying to be both. And I'm not sure that they have succeeded in any way, shape, or form.
Myke Hurley: Get you a pen that can do both, Brad.
Brad Dowdy: Number one, I don't know what's going on with the design. So it's basically take your existing Vanishing Point and remove the knock mechanism and integrate a twist, a different type of twist mechanism. It's almost like a lever twist. It's like a push, a tab twist, I guess, if you will, like a push tab, right? You rotate the tab, you know, a quarter or a halfway around to deploy the mechanism.
Myke Hurley: I really don't understand how the mechanism of this pen works. I've looked at this picture a bunch of times. I've read the explanation that you put in the document. I've heard what you just said. And I'm still not completely sure how you activate this pen because it looks like it has both a knock and a twisting mechanism.
Brad Dowdy: And I cannot fathom how it works. The biggest problem I have with the pen is the visual design of it. So let me read what I put in. I copied this bit from the marketing, translated, of course, through our friends at Google Translate. And I wanted to read these couple of sentences to you because it's fascinating. The new Capless LS is a fountain pen equipped with a newly developed knock and twist type that retains the features of the capless type that can be quickly written with one knock like a knock type ballpoint pen. When knocking out the pen tip and turning the knob just below the knocking part to store the pen tip, there was no knocking or knocking sound realizing a smooth and quiet operation feeling.
Myke Hurley: It's brilliant. Oh, no, thanks. I'm so pleased that you read that because now it's all cleared up for me. Right. I mean, I don't know what else you need from me at this point, Myke. What about the knocking twist type? What knocks when you twist a knock type? Does that twist when you twist a type type knock? I mean, it's not fair to criticize what Google Translate is saying. Yes, it's not. Yeah, because that pilot is specifically not given an English press release yet. So, like, when they do, it will be great. But, like, that it is mind-numbingly confusing to try and work out what's happening from the translation.
Brad Dowdy: Nor is there an internal drawing of the pen, right? Yeah. We don't see the internals. We just see the externals. I don't like how it looks, right? It's fine. It's not an ugly pen. But the vanishing point is so integrated into what Pilot does. And this is so close visually with these little, you know, like the connection in the middle of the pen where you twist it apart, right? It's different. I think it's uglier, but it's different. You know, they made that design different. And then the knock twist area or the twist fake knock area is obviously visually different. But I don't think it's improved in any way, shape, or form. The biggest problem, though, Myke, is the cost. So, vanishing points generally run, your basic vanishing point runs around $150,000, I think. I hadn't even looked at them. Between $140,000 and $160,000, I think. This is not offering you very much more besides a twist. And it's $322,000, 35,000 yen. I don't understand.
Myke Hurley: Do you think it's because it's like a new thing and the mechanism is unnecessarily complicated?
Brad Dowdy: I don't. I think they've probably done something with the Firmo mechanism and maybe surely had to modify it. And the Firmo is already more expensive. But there is a price jump level that seems kind of outrageous here.
Pen Design and Pricing Issues
Myke Hurley: It just doesn't look like a $300 pen. It just doesn't. It actually looks cheaper than both of the other pens. It does. It doesn't look as good as the Firmo and it doesn't look as good as the vanishing point. Plus, nobody knows how to use it yet.
Myke Hurley: Come on, Myke.
Brad Dowdy: You just turn the knob to knock it.
Myke Hurley: Oh, right. It's a knock and twist type pen that retains the features of a capless type because it can be quickly written with one knock like a knock type ball pen. Of course.
Brad Dowdy: I mean, get it straight. What's wrong with me?
Myke Hurley: While knocking out the pen type and turning the knob just below the knocking part to store the pen tip, there is no knocking and knocking sound. It's just realizing a smooth and quiet operation feeling.
Brad Dowdy: That was totally worth reading again. So, yeah. Yeah. This is a price problem more than a design problem, I think. So, we'll see. I'll be anxious to see it in person.
Myke Hurley: Once we get the price materials, we will have a better understanding of how this pen actually works.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, I didn't check for a date in that release. There may be one in there, but I didn't think of checking for that. So, I don't know when it's coming. So, I would assume this is – if this is coming out now, I'd assume this is probably a spring type release. So, we'll see.
Myke Hurley: On our last episode, we spoke about the Platinum Curitas, right? Mm-hmm. We played a game of the pricing. I said $30. You said – what did you say? $70?
Brad Dowdy: I said between – I think I said $65. I think I said between $60. What a surprise. I said I think – I said my guess is $60. I wouldn't be surprised if it was $80. I think was my guess.
Myke Hurley: Well, the new Platinum Retractable Pen is priced at 7,000 yen, which is about $65. Mm-hmm. So, I feel like I should now buy you one as your prize. That's what I – so, when they become available, I'm going to buy you a Platinum Curitas because you are the winner. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, these started popping up on Rakuten now, which means they're really close to being sold. So, that's like the global marketplace. Yeah. You know, not – how would you describe Rakuten? I call it the global marketplace because that's their marketing. But I guess it's kind of Amazon for the rest of the world, would you say? Like outside the US? Yeah. Or like Alibaba. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Because Rakuten – I wouldn't say it's like Amazon. It's closer to Alibaba. Yeah. Yeah. Because you can just get like a bunch of weird stuff on Rakuten. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: But it's individual – it's almost storefront-ish, right, for individual sellers. And they're starting to pop up the Curitas. I think it was – I think it was maybe around $60 on Rakuten. But I didn't see the ship dates on that. But that means it's coming really, really soon if they're starting to pop up on there. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very anxious to try this pin just because like this is a whole new realm for them. I mean they've done retractable pins back in the 60s or 70s, you know, trying to get into the capless hotness, you know, that Pilot had going on. And no one's been able to compete with that at all. Yeah. Yeah. So this is good. They're not trying to compete with that. This is a completely separate, you know, it's of course competing in the retractable fountain pen, but it's not competing in the price point style design or anything. I mean, I think a lot of people will probably think this pen is ugly, but I think there's kind of a joyous thing to it. And I'm anxious to see the size of it, right? Because it's supposed to be smaller.
Real-Time Chat Follow-Up
Myke Hurley: We have some real time follow up in the chat room from Connor. There is a website, Kobe and Nagasawa is the web address. They have a video of the capitalist LS in operation. Oh God. Okay. So we can actually see how the mechanism works, I guess. So I'm looking at it right now. It is a, it looks very different. The knock is much, much larger because it really sticks out kind of like the Curidas. Honestly.
Brad Dowdy: But the knock twists in. This is, actually, this makes it worse.
Myke Hurley: What is the, what is the twisting supposed to do? So when you press the knock down, the twisting mechanism kind of spins around and then you can, but you can also use the twist to retract it.
Brad Dowdy: Is this necessary? Do we need this? No, because it's the same. What's happening?
Myke Hurley: It's, it's basically, why not have both? I think the idea, Brad, here is that it is a, it is a vanishing point that doesn't make a noise. Yeah. That's what they're going for. No, no, no, that's the marketing. Yeah. But like, now I see it, I get what they're doing. Like, that is all it is. And it is way thicker than it looks like than a vanishing point as well to house this mechanism. So it's effectively just as you push the knock down, this little cuff just spins around, which you can then also use to return, like, so you have a choice.
Brad Dowdy: That is wild. Yes. So we weren't clear on why this pen exists because it was just too funny to read the other things about it. It exists to make the vanishing point quiet. That is the marketing of this pen. It is the luxury silence vanishing point.
Myke Hurley: So taking away the vanishing point's best feature. Right.
Brad Dowdy: For a lot of people, which is how satisfying the knock is. It's one of the best, if not the best. So apparently this is a problem for people to thud their vanishing point in a meeting or something. So they need one that costs twice as much just so it's silent.
Marketing Critique
Myke Hurley: So, like, my feeling is, like, sure, like, people want things and they want different things and they want choice, but it's, like, two to three times more expensive. And I just don't know if it's worth that. Yep. I mean, my hope would be that Pilot know their customers better than we do. Because otherwise, this is just, like, a really weird thing to make.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Maybe this is going to be just one of those big in Japan things that just doesn't, you know, translate outside that market.
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Topic Shift: Product Promotion
Brad Dowdy: Speaking of looking good, Myke. Okay, what have we got? How about this TWSBI Eco Tee in mint blue?
Myke Hurley: Remind me, the Eco Tee.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so this is part of the conversation. So, the Eco Tee is the more molded grip TWSBI Eco model. So, the TWSBI Eco standard model has these three little nubbin plastic bits at the end of the grip section to kind of shape where you should hold the pen. But they're very kind of small, and they're out of the way. They don't really – I guess they do help because, like, when I clean my Ecos, I remove the nib and the feed, and I always have to hold it in the proper place so one of the little plastic triangles fits in between, like, my thumb and my forefinger. So, you know, it's not out of alignment when I put it back in. The Eco Tee has a little bit more of a shape. Not quite Lamy Safari molded grip shape, but it's a little bit more than the standard Eco. And I actually prefer the Tee grip style, the Eco Tee, because it's – my grip is standard, and it's not too much in the way. Right?
Myke Hurley: It's just a little bit. I haven't tried those.
Brad Dowdy: Well, they do – they don't do the same colors in the Tee's, which is why I wanted to bring this mint blue one up. As I bring up – look at all the Eco Tee's, they tend to do more of a pastel color range than the traditional, you know, color ranges that the Eco does. The Eco will have orange and green and pink and purple. The Eco Tee has mint blue and coral, so you can tell they're in a little bit different range. They also have clear, and I got in – the first one that came out was a kind of a bright blue. I don't even know the name of it. That's been my favorite one that's come out so far. But anyway, I wanted to point this out so we could talk about the second TWSBI Eco. The mint blue Eco Tee is out now, but in the standard Eco, Myke, they're just about to launch the TWSBI Eco Rolls Gold. And I wanted to get your opinion on this in a lot of aspects. Number one, the aesthetic and style of it. Number two, and I think more importantly, is the price point. So the normal Ecos run between $28 and $30. This one with the rose gold finish is $50. So what are your thoughts just overall on the white and rose gold Eco that's coming soon?
Myke Hurley: I have no problem with slapping some higher quality materials on the TWSBI Eco and selling it for more money. Like, the TWSBI Eco is a fantastic pen. I love it. So from my perspective, make a luxury version. Like, why not? Right? Like, because it's still a choice. If you don't want to pay the $50 for the rose gold one, we'll just get like the blossom red one for $29. Right. Right? Like, it's a choice. But I have no problem with this because I think it looks fantastic, especially that they put a rose gold plated nib on it. I think that that's like a great thing that they did. Like, it's a rose gold plated steel nib. So it's not a gold nib. But my point is like, they kept the design. It wouldn't have looked so good if they had a steel nib on this pen. But I think that this is like, this to me is like, that is an excellent gift. Like, I think that is a great looking pen.
Brad Dowdy: They did so well with this. I want to argue about the price, but I can't. Like, they did a good job. The thing that I always think about is like, okay, well, how does this work in the bigger picture product lineup? And what does it hold for the future of the product lineup? Right? Those are the things I can't help think about when I see this pen at this price point where you've just plated the hardware and charged me $20 more for it. So.
Myke Hurley: You pen the design premium. Like, that's what that is. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: I can't argue with it. I want to fight this pen, but I can't. I want to fight somebody about the way this pen, the style and the price point of this pen. But I just can't because I think they did a good job with it because let's face it. And the drum I've banged for years is the Eco is so far underpriced for what it is to begin with. What are you going to do?
Myke Hurley: That's what that's my feeling. Right. That like typically this pen is a lower price pen. Right. But for what is a higher quality. We said that many times. It's like the 2SB Eco sums up, it is like the culmination of a lot of work that they did. Right. You know? So I think that this is perfectly fine to, you know, you could bump the price up a little bit more and it's like a fair price for the Eco. But then you put some extra style on it, charge a little bit more. You have the option. They're not like completely changing the line. I think it's fine.
Brad Dowdy: I think they're going to have to redo the 580 lineup almost from scratch at this point. Because we're getting, we're creeping into it. You know, that's what I'm looking at. Right. We're creeping into the 580. And I think that needs to be moved up in conjunction with what we're starting to see from the Eco. So they're been so successful with this pen. I just think they need to, they're going to have to change the 580 somehow in the next year or two.
Brad Dowdy: So they're not cannibalizing their own product line. So I look into it a little bit like that. But this is a great looking pen. Like I'm not a rose gold person necessarily. So like I won't buy this pen, but I love it. It's fantastic looking.
New Item Discussion
Brad Dowdy: All right. There's a couple, these next couple items didn't necessarily need to make the show. Because I don't know that they're like super newsworthy type of things. But I always find the Pelican Edelstein Ink of the Year to be interesting, an interesting choice. And this came out back at like a month ago. And we just hadn't had time to speak about it. And I think if it was more interesting, I would have jammed it in a show earlier. But this year's color is Moonstone. And it's gray. It's hard to be excited about gray as a color, I think. But like this is the conversation I have with myself. I was like, well, that's boring. We don't need to discuss it. And, you know, it's been out, like the news has been out for a month. The ink hasn't come out yet. It will come out soon, the next couple months, I'm guessing. But then the more I thought about it is like, well, I haven't seen it in person. You know, I'll withhold judgment until then. And Edelstein always makes great colors. You know, the one they did a couple years ago, was it Topaz? That one wasn't so great of a color. But Moonstone kind of falls in line with that. But it's hard to top some of the best colors that they've picked recently, like Star Ruby and Aquamarine. Which, like, you just can't, sometimes you just can't beat a really nice purple or something like that. Right? A really bright blue. And then you come out with black. It's like, what are you going to do?
Brad Dowdy: So, gray is a really difficult color to do right. So, I'm kind of anxious to see how Pelican handles it. And I think what's going to be really neat is if they do a Moonstone acrylic M205 with chrome rhodium trim. Like, that might get me interested. Like, I don't know what it is about this ink. Again, like, the price point on the ink eco. It's like, I want to talk bad about this ink because it's boring. It's like, oh, come on, you know, Pelican, you can do better. It's like, well, they do really good all the time. And not every ink is, like, sky blue. Right? You have to mix it up and change things around. I'm kind of anxiously positive awaiting this ink despite my initial thoughts of, boy, this is going to be crazy boring. I think it's gray. It's never going to be Star Ruby. Like, you know, like, this is why I don't want to be a retailer. Right? Of, like, all the products. Because some products I don't like and I'm going to have to sell them. Right? That's why I don't want to sell all the things.
Myke Hurley: You're given an opportunity of, like, okay, they want to give me this to sell it. But, like, I don't know if I can. Right. Right.
Brad Dowdy: Right. So, I'm more interested in the 205 that's going to come out, hopefully, with this. I haven't bought a 205 in a long time. And if it's gray and, like, chrome trim, and, you know, we'll see. I have to see what the colors look like. I might be interested in that because I think that's a cool look. You know? So, you can get any pen in black and chrome and black and gold. But I think this is good. I am moderately anxious to see what this is in person. It could be bad. We'll see. Gray is not an easy. For all the colors that are hard to produce, gray is at the top of the list, in my opinion. It's hard to get gray right because so many other colors end up showing up in that. And if they do it right, this could do well. So, we'll see.
Myke Hurley: I think it's funny that it's, like, we start talking about the ink, but you're more, like, interested in talking about the prospect of a potential pen.
Brad Dowdy: Because they always go hand in hand, right? Those are, like, it's like a combo meal, right? Have they done an ink of the year without a pen in, like, the past five years? I don't think they have. I don't know. You know? I mean, I'm not looking at it. But almost every, like, Star Ruby, Topaz, Aquamarine. I'm trying to go back further. Aubergine. Was that one of them? I don't know. Yeah. They've all had 205s with them. And I'll, I'm anxious to see what that looks like.
Brad Dowdy: Next one, continuing our theme of maybe it should be in the document, maybe it shouldn't, is a random tweet that I saw of a product neither one of us will ever own, nor likely even want. But I thought I would put it in there for a bigger conversation around customization of pens. And I don't mean pens that manufacturers are making in very custom designs to sell on limited editions. And I don't mean people like, you know, Jonathan Brooks and Brian Gray making, you know, custom acrylics and shapes and things. I mean people taking, in this case, a Lamy Safari aftermarket and essentially airbrushing it into, like, customs that they then resell. What do you think, number one, about these pens and number two, about the idea of this type of customization?
Myke Hurley: I think they're beautiful. Right? I think they're, like, really lovely.
Myke Hurley: Like, this is good work. You're not losing the Lamy Safari-ness of the Lamy Safari. Right. It still looks like one. But it's doing some custom work that, like, Lamy should do stuff that looks like this.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like, I love the aftermarket-ness of it. Like, Bung Bucks was selling, I forget who was making the Kakunos, which is one of Pilot's entry-level pens. They have a clear barrel Kakuno, and they were putting, like, little topiary scenes in the bottom of them. Like, little grass, little mushroom, you know, that kind of sit in there. And then, like, painting on the barrel. I love this stuff. Like, I don't want any of these pens, right? I have no desire to, like, jump through the hoops to try to acquire one of these pens. But, like, if I ran across a shop that had one of these, maybe I'd check them out and maybe pick one up just to have this type of custom artwork. And I think we're going to see, not that we're not seeing enough of this already, but I think we're just continuing to see more of this, like, in the market, right? Like, I think it's cool. I have no idea how much one of these would cost. What would you guess one of these costs? It had to be over, like, 100 USD, right? 100, 150? That's what I would assume.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, about 150. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Just because it's not just, like, your basic slap-it-on artwork. There's, like, gradients and finishes on there. The funniest thing, which was pointed out to me on Twitter after I retweeted this, why do they take all the pictures with the safety cardboard in the middle of the barrel every time?
Myke Hurley: Maybe my thought was if you're trying to sell these, it's to show that no one's used them. I guess. So it shows that they're, like, unused still?
Brad Dowdy: I don't know. I guess. But, like, in the product photography?
Myke Hurley: I don't know, man.
Brad Dowdy: I didn't even notice it until Evan pointed that out. And I was like, oh, yeah, they're all in there, aren't they? That's kind of weird. But, yeah, it's got to be to show that, hey, these are new pens that we have placed this artwork on. And, yeah, there's that. So, anyway, I just thought that was interesting to talk about because the quality is pretty high. Like, that's what caught my eye the most is that the quality, without seeing it in person, you never know what it looks like. But just these pictures make them look, the quality look pretty high. So, very interesting.
Personal Update
Brad Dowdy: Going on a trip next week, Myke.
Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah?
Brad Dowdy: You want to go?
Myke Hurley: Where are you going?
Brad Dowdy: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. You want to go? That's not a far flight for you.
Myke Hurley: Just come on. I'm otherwise engaged, but it sounds like a fun time.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. Philly Pen Show next week, January 17th through 19th. I will be there, and I will be doing nothing, mostly. This is my goal. One of my goals I set last year was in 2020 to go to a pen show just to go, like, without working, without, you know, having to, you know, do different things, be responsible for different things. And just go to a show, take the show in, you know, hang out with friends, you know, look at the classes, look at, you know, spend time with the vendors, and just see what going to a show is all about. So, I'm finally, I made that happen with the first pen show of the year, and a pen show that I've never been to that I've always wanted to go to. So, it's like a double whammy of goodness, Myke. I cannot wait to get to the show. So, if you're going to be in Philly, definitely say hi if you see me. I won't be in any particular place. I won't have a not-co table to come say hi, but I'll be around Friday and Saturday. I'll leave pretty early Sunday. Like, I won't be going to the show Sunday. But Friday, Saturday, I'll be around. I am, I did commit to one event, Myke, already. I'm going to do the pen mixers, which I have hosted many times in the past. I will be actually a table host this time, so I'll get to sit and hang out at a table Saturday night. So, that should be fun, new experience for me. So, I'm just looking forward to going to a pen show to go to a pen show. It's going to be kind of weird, I think. I don't know if you've had a chance to poke through any of the Philly pen show links, but the classes that they're offering, the seminars, are pretty much all run by Aziza and Salman from the Toronto Pen Company. And they are wild, awesome classes. Like, three-hour calligraphy classes and pilot parallel, you know, customization classes. Like, it's some really cool stuff. So, definitely check those out if you're going.
Myke Hurley: Oh, there's some different things in there, which is nice. So, like, even if you have been to pen show classes before, there's probably going to be something different. Totally, totally.
Brad Dowdy: And I love seeing that, like, they're bringing, like, the Toronto Pen Company, which is their company, like, they're just for education. Like, it's an education type of thing, like, where they're committing to, like, all these classes, like, throughout the weekend. It's pretty wild. I've never seen, like, the full scope of classes that I've seen anyone put on like this. So, I think it's really neat. So, y'all look at that, and I'm definitely going to look at that and see if I can figure out which one of these might be good for me to take. So, it'll be cool. So, yeah, it's pen show season, Myke. So, it's starting next week, and it's going to be a good year, 2020. I'm feeling it.
Myke Hurley: Atlanta's just, like, approaching. It's too soon. I feel the pressure of the pen at the Kickstarter campaign already. Yeah. And we haven't even spoken about it yet.
Brad Dowdy: Nope, nope. I actually have a note here that it's like, oh, yeah, I need to follow up on that thing and do that thing. So, I will be actively pursuing that the rest of the week because we need to move on that, like, yesterday. It's like, we can't do it in December. Like, we can't start it before January, but then it just has to happen. Well, we can, but we just don't. I mean, we have the idea. We know where we're going and doing.
Myke Hurley: Yep, yep.
Brad Dowdy: But, like, the technical aspects of it.
Myke Hurley: Yes, we've picked the shows. Or the show. We've picked them. The show. We know the benefits.
Brad Dowdy: Atlanta is one of them.
Myke Hurley: Always. We know the benefits, the goals and stuff. So, we've got the component pieces are all out in the ether. We're just going to bring them all together.
Atlanta's Pen Addict Show Planning
Brad Dowdy: The execution has to go. Has to get ramped up. I did ramp up the purge and update of the Pen Friends page on the Pen Addict website this past week. Along with the top five list, it's been a page that's needed updating. What I try to do with this list is just share everybody who wants to be shared on this list. There's blogs. There's retailers. There's YouTubers. There's makers. And it's gotten, like, I could add so much more stuff to this. It's making me think I want to break it down into those types of categories instead of just having, like, a full running alphabetical list where, like, you know, Pen Chalet sits next to, you know, Penquisition or something like that. You know, it's, like, we can break out the blogs from the retailers and the YouTubers, you know, from the custom makers and things like that. And, like, I added all the podcasts on there, right? Like, I never had links to any of the other podcasts. Like, those are all on there now. But they're intermixed into the thing. So, I think that's the next step is to break it out a little bit more because there's a lot more that needs to be added to the list. And I'm pointing this out because if you want to be added to the list, if you have a Pen blog, a Pen business, a Pen anything, I want to put you on the list. So, tweet at me. Email me. I'm easy to get. You can find me. Send me your info. I'll add it to the list because I just want to spread as much. I don't want it to be, like, the go-to cataloging of all the pen content out there in the world. But I just want it to be, like, a cool place to say, hey, I want to find something new today. Go find something on this list and click it and see what you find.
Brad Dowdy: Last bit of tidbit before we have a slew of Ask TBA to get to. Myke, the Stationery Wiki, our friends Matias and Alexander, who do such a good job over there, they have extended their Mechanical Pencil Day contest, which started at the end of 2019. It's running through the end of January 2020. And there is a package of mechanical pencils that Cult Pens has offered as a winner to this contest. In this contest, all you have to do is go update or create a wiki page on the wonderful Stationery Wiki, which is a great resource out there for all of your stationary needs. And it's a great collaborative effort. You know, it takes the community to update wiki pages. If you're not familiar or don't know how to do it, they explain that on the site on how to update or create any new wiki pages you wanted. And I think I'm going to go do something for Mechanical Pencil Day myself, Myke. I think I have some entries.
Myke Hurley: To win the competition, the page that you have to update or create has to be related to Mechanical Pencils in some way.
Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. And it's easy. Like, you don't have to create all new content. You can find a product you like and add a tidbit to that page and make it better. So it'd be very cool for you to go check that out and check out and use and be a part of Stationery Wiki. And it's very cool. So thanks to them for doing this. Just it's a great resource. And I'd love to help continue building it out.
Myke Hurley: All right. Today's episode is also brought to you by ExpressVPN. We know that a VPN can protect your privacy and security online, but it can also help out with your TV watching as well by helping to unlock movies and shows that are maybe available in other countries on the services that you use. So, for example, you could use ExpressVPN to binge on Doctor Who or Star Trek. It's on UK Netflix. It's super simple. Just fire up the ExpressVPN app, change your location to the UK, refresh Netflix, and that's it. Because ExpressVPN hides your IP address so you can control where you want sites to think that you're located. And you can choose from almost 100 different countries. So just think about all of the stuff that is blocked for you that you might be able to get to. You know, services you pay for. Maybe even this is a thing with GDPR, right? So like a bunch of websites, instead of like actually going with GDPR guidelines, the European privacy guidelines, they just cut off access to Europe. So it's just like, that's great. It's an article that I want to read and I can't read it because I'm located in Europe. So great. I have a story. I have a story. I'm raising my hand. I'm raising my hand.
Brad Dowdy: So I was thinking about this last time, right? So I'm into the football now, right, Myke? Big soccer fan into the footy. And so I subscribe to like the packages in the US to watch all the games that I can for the Premier League, which is on NBC Sports. Well, sometimes I'm not home or some of the matches aren't available or there's something crazy going on. So I was like, oh, there's got to be like in the US, like you can get the foot, the NFL, the American football feeds on the radio, right? There's radio channels that have, you know, local games, whatever. That's like there has to be soccer radio available. And I downloaded the BBC app for BBC radio.
Brad Dowdy: Channel 5 is their sports channel. So I started listening to like the pregame of one of the matches because I don't have always a TV screen in front of me. And they're doing all the pregame. And then the match starts and it goes, and I was like, this content is not available in your region. I was like, I have an idea. So then I just fired up my ExpressVPN on the phone, reset the app, boom, footy coverage right there on my phone.
Myke Hurley: There are hundreds of VPNs out there. ExpressVPN is ridiculously fast. So when you want to watch the footy, you get no buffering, no lag, and you can stream in HD. And ExpressVPN is compatible with all of your devices, phones, media consoles, smart TVs, and more. So you can watch what you want, wherever you want. If you go to expressvpn.com slash penaddict, you can get three extra months of ExpressVPN for free. Support this show, watch what you want, and protect yourself at expressvpn.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to ExpressVPN for their support of this show and all of RelayFM.
Myke Hurley: All right, ready for some RSTPA?
RSTPA Preparation
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, let's see what we got here. I was very prepared for these last week. As in, I had read them all and kind of had an idea for the answers. Because I don't always write down the answers for the RSTPA ahead of time. But I was prepared last week. And then we didn't have time to get to them. And so I don't know how I'm going to answer them this week. So let's see what we got.
Myke Hurley: Let's see. The first one comes from Jonathan. I was listening to you both give advice about nibs on a recent episode when it occurred to me that Japanese pens are designed to write for Japanese script. As are German pens for German script. The Japanese government reformed the Japanese writing system in 1900. And many pen companies were founded soon after this date. So are Pilot, Sailor, and Platinum nibs designed for Japanese writing only? Or does a fountain pen nib serve many languages?
Brad Dowdy: This is a very good observation, Myke.
Myke Hurley: And also, like, a thing that I didn't know and now makes perfect sense. I just thought it was a preference thing. But no, it's actually to aid in the representation of the characters of the language.
Nib Design for Script Types
Brad Dowdy: Exactly. So the Japanese characters are oftentimes small and intricate. So therefore you need a small and intricate nib to write those characters. And therefore the Japanese manufacturers made pens accordingly. Like the posting nib that I use that Pilot makes is one of those results of, you know, making a nib for a need. Even though nowadays it's not very useful in a wide-ranging manner at the time, like in the 1930s, it was. So yes, at the time, that was exactly why these nibs were made. And these days, the way that Jonathan puts it at the end, does a fountain pen nib serve many languages, of course. Like you can use any nib for anything. You know, you don't have to buy a German nib to write script, right? You can write script with your extra fine Japanese. You just have to, extra fine Japanese nib, you just have to understand the expectation of what that nib was mostly made for. Which is tiny, finer writing. But there's no regional preference to nibs these days. You just have to find something that's based on your handwriting style. But that is why they were made in the first place.
Myke Hurley: Ryan asks, do you have a pen that you'd call a problem child? Something that you love to use but causes some issues?
Brad Dowdy: Currently, I do not. But if you go back, I don't know, 200, 250 episodes, I had a problem with my Lamy 2000. That was a problem child nib for me that I took to, that I had the nib worked on twice just to get it into a place that I liked. So that was a problem for me at the time. And, you know, that's one of those things, like, there's two schools of thought with that. That is like, one, I bought a pen, I paid a lot of money for it, it should work perfectly to my expectations from the beginning. And that's a totally valid point of view. The second is, fountain pens are the most customizable writing instrument on the market. If it's not perfect, right out the box, I can get it that way by, well, paying more money, to be perfectly clear. And that's a perfectly valid thing, too. So, I was not, I knew going into buying a Lamy 2000 that I was, the nib was going to be too wide for me. And then I got it ground down and it still wasn't good enough and I got it ground down some more. So, that was a problem in that I felt like I couldn't get it right to fit me. But I was aware of what I was getting into, right? I don't have one now that I use regularly that I know is going to hard start or the nib's going to skip or the ink flow is, you know, too wet or too dry. I guess I've probably natural selection those pens out. Do you have anything that you have, a pen that you love that you just consistently have an issue with?
Myke Hurley: My Aurora Flex. Really? You know, I said this on the show before. Yeah. I think that the Flex nib just sometimes doesn't work with my handwriting style. That's right. So, it takes a little time to get it going.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's probably an angle thing, right? Yeah. That's a very particular, but yeah, that's a good thing to bring up is, you know, when you get into different styles of nibs, and I actually have a question, I think, towards the end here, if we'll get to it, about different styles of nibs for particular types of handwriting. That changes everything, right? Like, the angle you hold the pen for a Flex nib is going to change how that pen operates on the page. Yep.
Myke Hurley: Adam asks, I'm heading to the Philly Pen Show, just like Brad, and wanted some advice. In the past year, I've built out a pretty solid set of fountain pens that include three large Sailor 1911s of medium nibs, one standard 1911 of a medium nib, a Pilot Vanishing Point of a fine stub nib by Mark Bacchus, a Lamy 2000 Extra Fine, a handful of 2SB Ecos of multiple sizes, and a Retro 51 of a Franklin Christoph EF Signature nib. Oh, interesting. I'm trying to decide what my next pen purchase should be. I want to try to find it at the pen show. Any recommendation on a brand that I should check out or a different nib size or style. I write mostly in field notes, tomorrow paper, and on rodeo paper. I tend to prefer fine to medium in my nibs.
Brad Dowdy: So this is very much my cataloging of pen styles and shapes and models. And if I like all of these pens, what other pens do I like that kind of complement the things I already have? And there's two that stand out to me. It would be a Pelican M600 or 800 with an extra fine nib. Anything wider than that will have to be modified for me. I'm saying this for me because this is a very much me list. So maybe you'll like the same types of things. So I would look at that because the fit and feel of a Pelican is unlike any other. It's just a really unique set of circumstances that came together to make a really excellent, excellent quality pen. And the second thing would probably be like an Aurora Optima, also with an extra fine nib. Their nibs are a little bit different. They're very firm. It depends if you like a firm nib. It might be too firm for you, but I like the style. Both of those are piston fillers, which, you know, it doesn't look in checking back through the list. Yeah, the Eco and the Lamy 2000 are both piston fillers.
Myke Hurley: So I would have said maybe to give Frank and Christophe a look.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And so those are good. And then like the third thing I'd look at is when you're starting to get into your custom makers. You know, you can find some really pretty hand-turned acrylics that, you know, complement the style that you find in your other pens. You know, like your, I don't know who else. I haven't even looked at the vendor list in Philly, but I'll certainly be there to help you out. If you want to hunt me down and corral me, we can go shopping.
Myke Hurley: All right. Our next question comes from Zach. I've been considering getting a Japanese gold nib pen, and I was wondering which of the major brands you'd recommend. I'm an extra fine nib person, and I have a Franklin Christophe Model 2 in extra fine that I use as my everyday pen, which I like quite a bit. And I also have a Metropolitan, a Pilot Metropolitan fine that I like as well. I do really like fine lines. Ideally, a bit finer than both of the previous pens even, but I also really dislike scratchiness. Oh, boy, Zach, you're getting into interesting territory here. I would rather it be a touch too broad to get some smoothness if that's necessary. That makes me assume that I should typically go for an F nib in whatever I get as opposed to an EF, an extra fine, though I'd love your thoughts here. I've considered the Sailor Pro Gear Slim, the Platinum 3776, and some Pilot models. Which model or brand would you recommend based on that, and what nib size would you recommend? Can I give this one a shot, Brad?
Brad Dowdy: You can, because I think there's only one answer for this.
Myke Hurley: Platinum 3776 and an extra fine. If you're going to like any of them, I feel like that's probably going to be the best one. Like, I think that, because Platinum nibs are so freaking fantastic, that if you want to try, go for the extra fine there. But I would also say, as an owner of a fine Sailor Pro Gear Slim, like, that is a super fine line and it's smooth. I can tell you that from my own personal experience. But if you want to give the extra fine a go, I would say the 3776. Tell me if I'm wrong.
Brad Dowdy: Well, we're just going to make it hard for Zach, because I think the only answer here is a Pilot Fine nib.
Myke Hurley: Okay. Sorry.
Brad Dowdy: I love how the Platinum 3776 nibs feel on the page. They are not scratchy by any stretch, but there is feedback on the page. I don't know how to describe it in words, but it feels very different than a Pilot Fine nib, where a Pilot Fine nib just is like glass across the page. Platinum 3776 is like a very nice, high-quality lead pencil across the page. People should listen to you more. There's a feel difference.
Myke Hurley: You know the fine nibs. I'm just going to, like, if you were going to give it a go, that's where I'd feel safer, but I get you. You should follow up. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: I mean, if the question was posed differently, the Pilot wouldn't be in the consideration, right? But if you're very concerned about how the scratchiness is going to be, like, Sailor Extra Fines can get scratchy, but they're also smooth and firm. The Pilot has kind of the best of all worlds for this particular question, and I think the Pilot 14K F nibs in whichever model you want to get is the nib answer to this question.
Myke Hurley: All right, and our final question today comes from Martin. Over the holiday season, I saw something from Lama on Instagram about the left-handed nib. As a lefty, I have wondered if left-handed nibs really make a difference. In the Lama note, they talk about how lefties have a tendency to turn their grips slightly, which turns the nib and lessens ink flow. This has happened to me for a while now, especially when I write with some of my pens. I thought it was just me and my writing style, and I am an underwriter. Do you know if this is a thing common among lefties? Do the lefty nibs make a difference, or should I get my nibs adjusted to account for my grip? I think, like, the answer is, like, yes to all of it. But, so, left-handed people, I think, do have much more of a variance in the way that they hold their pens, right? Like, it seems to be a thing.
Myke Hurley: I don't, I have a Lama left-handed nib, but I have yet to use it. There is a pen coming into my life at some point that I will be trying it with, and I haven't done that yet. But my feeling should be, get your pens adjusted. Get the nibs adjusted. Like, that's just a good piece of advice for anyone when you get to a certain point. But my feeling is, especially if you're left-handed, because you can end up with some weird inconsistencies.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think adjusting them is fine based on how you hold and write the pen, because I do agree with you that there just has to be more angle variance with left-handed riders. But I don't necessarily think you have to get them ground into, like, the oblique style to have a great riding experience. No, they sometimes just need a little tuning. They need adjustment and tuning, but you don't have to necessarily go as far. Like, I think you will probably enjoy the Lamy left-handed grip, but, I mean, the left-handed nib, but you're not going to say, oh, this is a lifesaver, and I need all my nibs to feel like this now, from now on, henceforth. I just don't think those nibs work in that manner. They provide something different, and it may be perfect for you, but I think standard nibs with a slight modifications, adjustments, and tuning is probably the way to go.
Myke Hurley: All right, if you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA, or you can email them to hello at penaddict.com. On our next episode, Adina's going to be back to the joy of our listeners, and to us too as well. We love having Adina, my wife, on the show, and she's going to be going over what's been happening in her pen and paper life since we last had her on the show after the San Francisco pen show. So I know from being in the same home as her that she uses her stuff a lot, so I'm sure that we're going to be hearing a lot about what that's like.
Myke Hurley: So you can look out for that next time. If you want to find our show notes for this week, go to relay.fm.penaddict.392. You can find Brad online at penaddict.com and noc.co. Go ahead over there now and buy your wonderful pen cases to put all your pens in. Thanks to our friends over at Warby Parker and ExpressVPN for the support of this episode, and thank you for listening, and we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.