The Pen Addict 412/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	412
Title:	Urushi Safari KOP Magnet Filler
Release Date:	May 27th, 2020
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 412
Audio File:	Audio Episode 412
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 412
Length:	7171 min <br />1.183 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Brad Dowdy: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 412. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace, ExpressVPN, and Uni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Mr. Brad Dowdy. Hello, Mr. Myke Hurley, how are you today? Great, exciting, big, action-packed show today. We've got some fun things. We're going to be talking about those Lamy Safaris and All-Stars, the Urushi ones that we spoke about last week. We've got a lot going on today. There is kind of a lot, and it's kind of all over the place, which is good. There's a lot to talk about. The first thing I want to hit real quick is follow-up on our Platinum Curios chat from last week, mainly the manufacturing issues that Platinum has seen with the cracking of the feeds on the front end of the Curios. And I think the best thing to do right now for anyone who's experienced this, and I got this from a retailer, is that Platinum has said that there was a batch that is showing this flaw, like one specific batch, one specific run of this pen, that is experiencing this, and they will be replacing them. I don't know if that replacement means full pen replacement or nib unit replacement, because they could just slot out the middle, right? Like the internals, that would be fair. But the best thing for you to do is just get in contact with your retailer and ask them how to proceed. Like just, you know, the retailers are working with the distributors, who's working with Platinum themselves, and they're going to make the pens right. So just get in touch with wherever you purchased the pen from. Ask them, you know, what the plan is, and just, you know, basically get on the list. Let them know that, hey, mine's cracked, and I would like to get on the list for a replacement when, you know, everything gets organized. And they're not finalized and finalized for when they're going to make these right. So it looks like they are, and as they should, like they've shown that it was definitely some type of flaw in the process. And hopefully it's not more widespread than what we've seen, because it was a lot right now. It was a lot.

Myke Hurley: Fair play to them, though. You know, they're doing the right thing. Companies don't have to do the right thing, right? Like they could do a different thing. They could do a wrong thing. They can say, well, I'm sorry, but that's that. Yeah. And so, like, I'm pleased that they are doing the right thing without being pressured to do so. You know, like they heard it. They're like, all right, let's go work out what this was. We've seen that there is a problem. We've identified it as an all pens, which we had kind of come to that conclusion anyway, right? Like there was.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there's definitely some timing issues, right? That we could nail.

Myke Hurley: And so it's kind of just like, well, we've taken a look at this and now what we've decided is we're going to somehow replace all of these. I mean, that is an absolute mammoth undertaking. Purely because of the distributed nature of the sales. Right? Like you've got all these different retailers in all these different markets selling these. It's going to be logistically quite complicated, I'm sure. Yeah. Fair play.

Brad Dowdy: But like you said, like, you know, they have to do it because they're planting a flag with the Kyridos product lineup, right? This is going to be a core offering. The way that they've invested and the way that they've laid out the front end of this thing, they're not just going to let the Kyridos go, oh, it didn't work, bye. Right? This is.

Myke Hurley: Like, it's not even that it didn't work. I mean, we're kind of assuming from then that like it can work, it should work, but there was a problem. And if they didn't fix it, people would write the pen off. No one would buy Kyridos again, right? Like if you bought one and it broke and Platinum didn't do the right thing about it, you wouldn't buy another Kyridos. Yes. And if they really believe in the future of this product, they have to give people the confidence that it will work, right? Or like that it's not going to be a problem for you.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So looks good. I mean, I hate that it happened to everyone, including myself. So hopefully everything will be able to get swapped out pretty easily. It seems like, you know, people are pretty understanding. Like I don't see any like really, you know, crazy objections like this is ridiculous and shouldn't happen. I think people knew kind of a little bit, you know, taking a little bit of jump with the Kyridos like we all did. For something like we spoke about that a company taking a risk like this, right? This is a huge risk product, right? You don't see this type of thing. That's why I love it so much that it exists. So, yeah, I think it'll all be hopefully worked out and then we'll just keep going and see what's next for the Kyridos because it's not even close to being done. I think that I just have a gut feeling they have a lot in store for this product over the next, you know, five to ten years.

Myke Hurley: I hope that it includes some design revisions to make it a more comfortable company.

Cancellations Update

Brad Dowdy: We'll see. We'll see. Hard transition here, Myke. We had a couple of notes over the past few days about cancellations in our realm. Number one, the Washington DC Pen Show has been canceled.

Myke Hurley: I want to give the DC Pen Show some serious props here for doing this within the time frame that they've done it. You know, it's like many months away. Like we're like two and a bit months away from the show.

Brad Dowdy: It's only like eight weeks away.

Myke Hurley: But let me continue my point of like, but this is the organizers of the Washington DC Pen Show. We have historically done a very bad job. And basically my feeling at the moment is like any company that is having to do something, is there any organization, like they are financially losing out. So there is a incentive to hold on as long as possible, hoping it's going to be all right. You know, like they really could have could have still waited like a few more weeks to cancel this event. Like I've seen this happen in many other types of events. So I'm just pleased that they gave it the amount of time they've given it. Right. Like this is kind of like the area of like, OK, if you're being responsible, this is the kind of the time frame that you would say to people that we're sorry, but we're not doing this.

Brad Dowdy: So right. Right. And your point being that DC is historically the most poorly run best pen show in the world. Right. Like and like this is hey, I'm surprised that DC got out in front of it. Right. That's not their style. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. And, you know, like you said, it is not hard. I mean, it's not easy to make these decisions. These are hard, tough decisions because you want these things to go on, not just, you know, it could be for monetary reasons, but it's really like it's part of your your being like like part of your existence. You know, Bob runs this show. So like that's what he's been working on for the past six months or whatever. So, you know, it's it's tough to see him cancel, but it's totally the right decision. And the Pelican hubs, they're a little bit even they're even earlier in the time frame. Right. Because they have to start signing up people now for events. I think they take place in September is normally when the hubs get together, but they have to start planning them now to organize all these events, ship out all the products, all these events. And just kind of the whole coordination piece is very, very long for what Pelican's trying to do. And they're just looking at the landscape and saying, hey, why are we going to ask someone to sign up to it today for an event that, you know, six weeks from now, we might just have to go ahead and cancel. So it's again, it's it's the right call because Pelican saying, hey, everyone go get together in person, you know, in a restaurant or hotel ballroom or wherever you want to meet someone's house. And we're asking you to do this when guidelines around the world are saying that's exactly what you should not be doing, even though three months from now, maybe something changes. I have a hard time believing that, you know, three months is not that far away. I don't see the change happening. So I guess that's the bigger question is like, do you think we have any pen shows the rest of the year at this rate? No.

Brad Dowdy: I don't either. I kind of agree with you. I don't want to agree with you. Right. But I'm I'm a very responsible, reasonable person. I think we've shown like by our actions, you know, with the Atlanta pen show getting out ahead of things like we take this stuff very seriously. I don't see. I think it's going to be tough for any pen show to say, yes, we're going to have our show.

Myke Hurley: The only option I could see impossible to social distance a pen show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like the only thing I could even remotely see is say, let's just I'm not putting anyone on the spot, but let's just say San Francisco. Let's say San Francisco and Dallas. What if they set up something smaller for local people that could drive to and they could they could set up certain type of enforcement? Right. What? No touching? No one would travel. No, I know. It's impossible. I know.

Myke Hurley: I don't really think it's possible to do any large scale events, but like I'll be happy to be proven wrong as the year goes through. But like the very particulars of what makes a pen show worth going to means that you shouldn't be hosting any of them for the time being.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. And like, have you ever been to a pen show that wasn't just like crammed into a space?

Myke Hurley: But as you said, even if they did severely limit entry, you know, like maybe, oh, you can only come between this time and this time. That's what your ticket's about or that kind of stuff. Mm hmm. So much like hand contact occurs at these things and needs to write like you kind of you don't really get the experience, which would be worthwhile. I feel like if you couldn't pick up and try and use these products and trying to keep them clean would be a nightmare. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I think DC kind of said it the best in their little note, which I, again, is just shocking.

Myke Hurley: Shockingly well written, perfectly explained, right?

Brad Dowdy: It's not the fact that they can or cannot have the show. It's that who would actually show up if we open the doors?

Myke Hurley: Let me read. Let me read this part, which is so good. Yeah. Successful pen shows are touchy feely. The attendants want to pick up each time, try out pen nibs, evaluate the weight and materials of the pens, experiment with new ink colors. Examine paper, pouches, boxes. Having the opportunity to meet and talk of other pen enthusiasts is essential to the social and business event. And that is perfect. Like, otherwise, just buy online. If you can't do any of those things, there is no point in having the show. Like, buy online.

Brad Dowdy: It's the same, except all you'd have to do is wait. Right. To the Pelican Hubs, I was a little bit surprised that they didn't, like, go ahead and start saying, hey, maybe we'll look into Zoom Hubs or something like that or, you know, whatever. Some type of online Hubs. I thought there might have been a sentence or two. Hey, virtual Hubs could be a thing because that's how a lot of pen clubs are meeting up right now.

Myke Hurley: I thought about that. But the Pelican Hubs are centered around sending product, right? And then people experience it together.

Pelican Hubs Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, but, you know, it's a different year. It'd be up for trying a thing, right? Like, all bets are off right now. And you could still have, like, a Pelican-focused online event. I think that would be pretty cool and something that'd be pretty neat. Maybe I would attend my first ever Pelican Hub if it was online, the kind of thing. So, it's crazy times that we're living in, right? Admittedly. Like, we don't know what's going on. But, you know, seeing these two, two of the bigger events on our calendar being canceled this week, I don't think that's the end. I just don't. I don't know that we're going to have any events the rest of the year. And even if we do, who would want to travel to them? Mm-hmm. So, it's difficult to talk about. It's kind of, I kind of, it makes me sad to talk about, but, like, I get it, right? It's the right thing to do.

Myke Hurley: Which, I guess, is worth mentioning the fact that we have a complete Kickstarter campaign, which is supposed to take us to another pen show this year. I think, you know, we don't have a defined plan yet because who can plan anything at the moment? But, like, I think it's pretty clear from my comments, at least, that I wouldn't feel comfortable attending a pen show at the end of September. Sure. We're not, like, we don't have an official thing to say about it yet because we want to be able to tell you what we will be doing instead. Mm-hmm. But I think it's worth bearing that in mind. And it's because I don't want to endanger anybody else or encourage that. So.

Brad Dowdy: Who knows if you'll be able to leave the country?

Myke Hurley: I mean, that's the whole thing. I won't be able to. Like, in September, I won't be able to either, A, leave the UK or, B, enter America. Right? Or, like, I have to come two and a half weeks early so I can sit in a hotel room for 15 days. Like, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I've been telling everybody, the literal last thing on Earth I want to do right now is travel through Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. Yes. I could not think of a worse place to be is to go through that airport right now.

Myke Hurley: But, you know.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah, yeah. On a normal circumstances, I couldn't care less. But that is the last place I want to be is that airport, the busiest airport in the world.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's make a pizza, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Yes, let's. That's a great thing to do. This episode is brought to you by Uni Pizza Ovens, the number one pizza oven company in the world. This is because they make surprisingly small ovens powered by your choice of either wood, charcoal, or gas, letting you make restaurant-quality pizza in your own backyard. Now, doesn't that sound like a tantalizing prospect? You're at home. You'd love a great pizza. Now you can have the oven to do it. Treat yourself to the best tool for the job. Uni Pizza Ovens are incredibly easy to use and super portable. These ovens will fit in any outside space. They can reach temperatures of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit or 500 degrees Celsius. This is important because it will enable you to cook restaurant-quality pizza in as little as 60 seconds. The high temperatures separate average pizzas that you make in a home oven from the quality that you can get from an Uni Pizza Oven. One of their newest models is the Uni Coda 16. This is a gas-powered oven that can cook up to 16-inch pizzas. It has an innovative L-shaped burner at the back that gives you even heat distribution throughout. It's going to create an excellent pizza pie. Uni's pizza ovens start from just $199 and they're free shipping in the US, the UK, and the EU. Two of their coolest models include the Uni Coda 16, which is that gas-powered oven, but also the multi-fueled Uni Caro, where you can choose to make your pizza with wood, charcoal, or gas. Uni also make an awesome app that can help you perfect your dough recipe and give you loads of pizza-making tips. Now, Mr. Brad Dowdy, my understanding is you have been making pizza in an Uni Pizza Oven.

Brad Dowdy: So, our good friend Christian, who I'm just flabbergasted that this is where we're at now. After knowing him online for, what, seven or eight years now, and to see him grow this business like this, it's just amazing. So, he sent me- It's a massive company at this point. It's a massive company. And, like, Christian hits us up on Twitter. He's like, hey, what about this pen? Like, we have a good relationship. You've been to his house. He's cooked pizza for you, right? I believe in the past. Pizza for me, yeah. And now he's, like, got this company that he built from scratch, essentially. And so, I have the code of 16. Christian was nice enough to send me one. And I just got it last week. So, over the weekend, I wanted to test this out, right? It was Memorial Day weekend. You know, me and the family aren't going anywhere. What better way to, what better thing to do than to make the pizza? And it's kind of like, I can't believe this works. It's so good, right? My wife was definitely confused about how is this going to work? What's this going to be like? And she, like, repeatedly said, like, over the weekend, like, this exceeded any expectations I had of what this could be. Yeah. Right? Because it's small. It's compact. It gets up to 900 degrees. It literally takes 60 seconds to cook the pizzas. I need to put a picture up of one of the pizzas that we cooked. I took some cool pictures. And then, like, the other thing she kept saying was, like, this was so easy. Like, it just, you don't understand, like, how good this product is until you try it. And you're, like, you're thinking, like, oh, this is going to be weird. This is going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. And it just works. It makes incredible pizza. And it was fantastic. Like, we are hooked. She liked it so much that I didn't even get to put it up after the first day. She said, just leave it out because we're going to have it again tomorrow. Because we still have dough. And we did. So, we had it for dinner one night and then lunch the next day.

Myke Hurley: Well, I also, like, you can, like, sear steaks and stuff in these.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, we're already looking at that and figuring out how to do that. Get a sous vide. See what's next.

Myke Hurley: Sous vide steak is the best steak. And then you've got to sear it after you sous vide it. And you can put a great sear on it in one of these almonds.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I'm very happy with it. I'm very happy with how compact it is. I'm very happy with how easy it is to use and easy it is to cook with it. And, you know, I was literally making pizzas in 60 seconds. Like, we got out all the materials, put them on the counter. We would make one pizza and I'd be back in before they're done topping the next pizza. Because we made a bunch of small pizzas. And they're like, oh, really? It's already done? I'm like, yeah. It was literally 60 seconds. So, it's great.

Myke Hurley: Listeners of this show can get 10% off their purchase of an Ooni pizza oven. Which could be up to $50 off an Ooni code of 16. Just go to Ooni.com. That's O-O-N-I.com. And use the code ThePenAddict at checkout. These things are super popular right now. Everybody wants one. Do not miss out. So, once again, that is Ooni.com. And use the code ThePenAddict for 10% off your purchase. Ooni pizza ovens are the best way to bring restaurant quality pizza to your own backyard. Thanks to Ooni pizza ovens for their support of this show. And RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. I saw a lot of pictures on Instagram today. Yeah. But there was one I want to talk about. Yep. That even I had to make a comment on. And this is from you. And literally, the comment says, swatch party. And I was like, I don't even know you anymore. So, what is happening here?

Myke Hurley: I did something I've never done before. So, you know, you remember I said I ordered all of the neon, the color neon inks, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, they arrived yesterday. And I wanted to fill some up. And I have seven bottles of ink, right? And I had no idea which one to pick. So, I thought to myself, hey, let's swatch them. And it seemed like a fun thing for me and Adina to try out. I have a coloring, which I've literally never used, but own. I've owned it for like three years. It's just been blank. Right. Because swatching is just not a thing that I've done. But I got some cotton swabs, swatched all of the inks. And now I have three pens filled with the color inks at the moment.

Brad Dowdy: Nice. Which colors? So, you have seven colors. You have everything but the yellow, which we won't go through all the colors. But what did you choose to ink up and in what pens?

Myke Hurley: Okay, I have a Lamy Petrol with the Dude, which is the blue. Yep. I have a Twisby Go with the Joy, which is the orange. And I, years ago, bought a pen by John Twiss, a twist pen. Mm-hmm. And I have that filled with Dig It, which is neon red, but really is coral. It's a coral color.

Brad Dowdy: Dig It. That's the best name. Dig It.

Myke Hurley: Can you dig it? But I have some overall comments about these inks. Yes. I'd like to hear this. They are misbehavior. Like, they misbehave. They are... Mm-hmm. This is not your average ink. No. One, they are very susceptible to that, you know, like the pollution that you get when you have an ink in a previous pen. You know, like this happens to all. You have an ink in a previous pen, it's a different color. Yes. You wash and wash and wash and wash, but you never get rid of all of it, no matter what you do, right? Yes. The water's running clear, but it's still gonna, somehow, there's something left in the feed, right? Right. So, all three of these inks at the moment aren't necessarily close to what I expect they will be after a bit more use, you know what I mean? Like, I've gotta keep running through a bit more.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Yes, you just gotta keep writing.

Myke Hurley: But they are... So, it's quite interesting, right? Like, when you're in the bottles and when you're swatching them and stuff, they seem quite viscous, right? They seem thick. Mm-hmm. But they're actually very thin and wet in the pens. Yes. So, like, when I'm using them, the lines that they lay down, it looks like there is, like, still water in the ink, but that's not the case, right? Because the pens are all dry and I've used them a bunch. But they kind of spread a little more on the page than your typical ink, right? Like, it seems like it's soaking into the pages a bit more. What type of paper are you using? The panel book. Okay. It's what I use for everything.

Inking Experiences

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah, I'd want to use Rodia for this to get a little bit more coating on the page.

Myke Hurley: Maybe I should try it out with the Tomoe, although it'll probably never dry, but...

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, number one, you said two really good things here. So, these inks, to see their real true color, they have to dry, right? I noticed that especially with the blue, when I was testing the blue out, just doing an ink swab. I was like, oh, or maybe it was the purple. It was the purple, the groovy. I was like, oh, this doesn't really look like what I expected it to look when I put the swab down. And then when it dried, I was like, oh, I see now. I get it, right? So, and you definitely want to use more of a paper that is coated like a Rodia. Okay. I'll give that more of a go. As opposed to a Pano book. Because even like the knock paper, like if I use it on the knock cards, it gets into the fibers. This pigment and ink is waterproof, right? It's going to latch onto things. So, you need to have some of that rejection on the top layer of the paper, which a coated paper does, which is Rodia. And then you're going to get that vibrancy because the ink's going to sit up and then it's going to dry and then it's going to look amazing. But like you said, it's going to take some dry time too. So, you know, I don't know that these, that they're necessarily misbehaving, but they are, there are rules for a pigment.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I'm not done with the misbehavior yet.

Brad Dowdy: Let's go. What you got?

Myke Hurley: On a couple of the pans. Every time I uncap them, there's a lot of ink on the nib. And it's like spreading, right? Like, so yeah, it's, I think that they are, they're just different. Like their chemical makeup is different to what I'm used to. So they are just acting how they are. Right. But it's, it's a very different type of ink to what I've used in the past. The colors are amazing though. Like it's worth it because the colors are just like, they blow your mind. You've never seen in colors like these. Right. And so I'm excited about kind of getting to the point with the three pens that I'm using where it's kind of more closely replicating what I've seen in the swatches. But they're super fun.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So one thing you can do to the ink pollution that you mentioned, what I do when I see that, and it's totally true. Like that's not even something I can make fun of you for, right? Because you can clean the heck out of a pen and then you put an orange ink in a pen that had blue ink in it. And you're just like, why am I getting this brown color? Or, you know, no matter how clean you got it, you stick the nib on a paper towel and that'll pull the ink through faster instead of just like constantly scribbling. Right. Okay. You can use it to draw through more ink. You've got to get out the bad ink. Right. Yeah. Okay. Right. Right. So you're essentially, you're force flushing it with the current ink. All right. I'll give that a go. So yeah, I would try that. And then I'm interested to see if the nib issue continues because I haven't inked mine up yet. And the reviewers, Jeff, Susan, and Sarah have not done their reviews yet because I sent them all these inks. So I don't know about that yet. But I'll be interesting to see if that's a continuation. So we'll see.

Myke Hurley: I, I, I, it's, I would say like the, the Twisby and the twists are both reacting differently. Like on the Twisby, there's always ink on the back of the feed because as it's, maybe it's showing up more because it's such a bright orange that, you know, like it kind of maybe stands out more on, on the feed. Right. I don't know. But yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So you see that on a sheening ink, right? If I use an ink that's sheening, my, all of a sudden my feed turns red, right? Like my feed has a red sheen to it where I wouldn't notice it if I was using like a blue black ink.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Yeah. Maybe that's it. But, but, but I will say though, that like the viscosity is different, right? Like they are, they, they seem like they are behaving differently to other inks that I've used, which I expected because they are composed differently, right? Like it's a very different thing. But I'm excited to, to, to get more use out of them. Um, but you'll notice that I didn't put these inks in any pens that, that I really like use frequently or love. Totally. Right? Yeah. I think that's totally fair. Twist pen. I really like it, but it's sat in a drawer for a while. Um, because I have other pens that are in that kind of like fun acrylic style that I like more. Um, and then the Toosby Go was just like, that is a sacrifice. That's like my sacrificial lamb, that pen. Right? Yeah. Um, I'll put anything in there and give it a go. Uh, like, you know, any, any shimmering.

Brad Dowdy: This is a great experiment for you. I think it's, it's cool that you did this. Even, you know what, even if it fails in the end and you say, you know what, I really didn't like these things. This is like, this was a leap for you to get this. I was shocked. Number one, that you bought them. And then I was shocked. Number two, to see you having a little swab party. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: It's also for me, it's like, this is part of when you're trying to encourage somebody else. Like I'm, I'm encouraging Adina too here because she really liked those, um, colors and like those inks. And I thought it would be fun to get them and then we could try them all out together and like we're swatching together and we filled them up together today and stuff like that. So there's, there's also part of that for me where it's like, we, this is just something that we're able to share in this because you want to, if, if people around you like something that you like, you want to encourage that. And it was an easy one to do.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And now I'm anxious to go ink up the one bottle I left behind. I don't even know what color I saved for myself. I think it might actually be groovy. No, it was one of the ones. It might be joy.

Myke Hurley: So can you do that before the next episode? Cause I really want to know if your experience is similar to mine. Um, yeah, I will.

Brad Dowdy: Because I think I'll have, I think I have joy. I'll put it in like a TWSBI stub nib. So I get a lot of ink going and then, uh, I'll use it on all kinds of different papers just to kind of get an idea of what if you're getting the expected results. And my guess is that you are getting the expected results.

Myke Hurley: Or at least I'm getting a consistent result. Yes. Whether it was expected or not. Yeah. Yeah. I will once again at this point just recommend the TWSBI Go to people for like these exact purposes. It is. Yeah. In my opinion, just the very best ink testing pen. Like I was able to clean this one out so easily. Like I just popped the feed out and then you just got this like empty chamber and you just fill it up and hit that spring fast and the ink is gone. Right? Like it is just gone. Like I've never cleaned a pen so fast. Like, you know, it's just because there's just nothing to it. It's so simple and it's $19. Like, and you get a great nib.

Brad Dowdy: We honestly should. Yeah. We should talk about that pen more. Honestly. It probably deserves more conversation.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like I know it sounds kind of wild, but it's just like a Hall of Fame level pen for me. Like it is just so it's the best pen at the thing that it does, in my opinion, which is like to help you quickly try out inks. Like it's just, it's my absolute favorite, which is like, yes, you could get a dip pen or whatever and that's fine. But like the, this is giving me like a design that I enjoy. I think it's fun and get a TWSBI nib out of it. And I love TWSBI nibs. So absolutely. It's great. It's great pen. I highly recommend it if you don't have.

Brad Dowdy: Well, heck now I might just have to, now I might just have to ink up one of my goes with the ink. So you're talking me into all kinds of stuff.

Unboxing Arushi Lamy Safaris

Myke Hurley: I will say as well with like the neon orange, it looks bananas in this pen because it's all clear, right? Like it looks like I have some kind of like radioactive material inside of this pen.

Myke Hurley: All right. We have a very exciting thing to talk about, which is the unboxing of the Arushi. Arushi Lamy Safaris. It's been done. We're going to talk about it. But let me take our second break first and thank Squarespace for their support of this show. You can make your next move with Squarespace and create a wonderful looking website to showcase your idea or project. Squarespace give you everything that you need to put your thing, whatever it is, online and all of the tools that you want to make it the best it can possibly be. Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that will let you enable store functionality, blog functionality, portfolio functionality, and so much more. You can create sites for your business, sites for your artwork, sites for your band. They have all of the types of functionality that you're looking for to make that website the best it can be. And they have tons of other stuff too. You can even send out email campaigns to Squarespace. When I say they're an all-in-one platform, I mean it. There's nothing to install, patch, or upgrade. They've got you covered and they back it up with award-winning 24-7 customer support. I've been a Squarespace customer for 10 years now because of this kind of stuff. When I have a project that I want to do, I just go for it, right? And I open up Squarespace, I set up a website, and then I can get going. I don't have to spend two weeks trying to get things off the ground because I'm working out how to code this or code that. I don't want to do any of that. I just use Squarespace. And you should too. Or maybe you have somebody in your life that you think could benefit from having Squarespace. And I think everybody knows people that they have a website or maybe they're using a social media company instead, right? Like, oh, my website just directs to my social media page. No, no, no. If you're trying to be professional, you've got a little business going, set up a website of your own. And it's so easy with Squarespace. You can go try it out today. Go to squarespace.com slash penaddict. And you can build your website. You don't have to give them any credit card. And you can try it all out and make sure it's right for you. Then when you're ready to set it live to the world, your plans start at just $12 a month. But you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show when using the offer code penaddict at checkout. That's squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for the continued support of this show and all of RelayFM Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

Brad Dowdy: If you think I ramble a lot as it is, like as I've done this entire show, I don't even know what to say or how to start with what Jonathan Brooks, Carolina Pen Company, did for us with these Lamy Safaris.

Myke Hurley: Yep. So in the show notes, there's going to be a bunch of things. There's going to be a YouTube video where Brad unboxes the pens and then a bunch of photos of the pens. I thoroughly recommend that before you continue listening to the show, you go and look at at least the images, but preferably the video, I feel like. So you can get an idea for what we're going to be talking about today.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So just the quick, you know, high level recap for those who might just be joining us today. A year ago or more than a year ago now at the Atlanta Pen Show, we were, Myke and I were joking with Jonathan Brooks because we had seen some pictures of a Lamy Safari that had Arushi and Rodden and all kinds of crazy stuff on it. And it's like, well, I have a Lamy Safari. I wonder if Jonathan wants it to just experiment on. Like, I couldn't care less. Like, I just wanted to give him the pen so he could go experiment on it. Right? Like, I don't ever need the pen back. I don't need anything. And he was like, well, yes, of course. And then he was like, well, Myke, do you want one too? And Myke was like, well, duh. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And then I went and found and bought a safari at the Pen Show.

Brad Dowdy: Do you know what safari did you buy? That's the one thing I don't know you're underlying.

Myke Hurley: I have literally no memory of it. Like, I just went, just the first Lamy Safari that I found, I bought it and just gave it to him.

Brad Dowdy: We'll have to ask Jonathan what's the underlying pin on that. He's going to do some things with this too. So, and then, well, if it's me and you, we had to get Anna in on the action, right? You know, because, you know, Jonathan's been a live guest at the Atlanta Pen Show podcast with the three of us. And Anna always has her competition with me about the Lamy Safari versus the Lamy All-Star. So we got, Jonathan got an All-Star for her. And so we had these three pins that Jonathan had and to experiment on and see if he could apply Arushi lacquering techniques and Rodden to these safaris. I'm going to keep calling them safaris, even though it's a safari and an All-Star. I will mess that up plenty of times. But I just thought it would be an experiment if he was up for it, like in his spare time. And you know Jonathan and I know Jonathan. Nana knows Jonathan. He takes his craft very seriously, right? Like the expectations I had for this pin was almost that I would come back in parts in a box saying, F this, it can't be done. Right? That was my going expectation.

Myke Hurley: No, I expected that he was going to make it work. Like that, for very similar reasons to what you're saying, like I know how serious he takes it. This was a challenge. And I knew he would find a way to do it.

Brad Dowdy: He fought and fought and fought with these pins to get them right because it's like he didn't want to let us down.

Myke Hurley: I have so many questions about how he got these to work. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And we'll talk with Jonathan more about this. We'll have to get him on or do a video or something. He's going to share a bunch of the behind the scenes pictures on making them. But in talking with him on the phone, these were extraordinarily challenging to make. Like he doesn't want to do these again because it was so difficult. He had to get parts remade for these pins because they were that difficult to work with. Like removing the parts so he could lacquer them properly and not being able to put them back on. Like it took him like forever and a day to put these, put these pins together and the results, they exceed any expectation. Like I could have had, like, there's no, there's no way to describe what Jonathan did with these pins without handling them yourself. And luckily for me, Myke, I have all three of them sitting right here in front of me. I hate you so much. So that was the impetus.

Myke Hurley: So the three different pins themselves, do you want to try and describe the look of each of them?

Brad Dowdy: Sure. So I provided much to some of my friends consternation, a Lamy gray safari, I guess it's Griso. It's what our friend Ink Dependence Myke is saying in the chat. It was a limited edition way back in the day. It's a light gray barrel with black clips.

Myke Hurley: I still hate that you did that.

Brad Dowdy: I'm super, super, super fan that I did that.

Myke Hurley: You took a, I mean, limited edition Lamy safari, which was a great safari, the gray one, and you just like cover it up.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that's pretty fun. I didn't mind. So mine, so what Jonathan has to do is he has to disassemble these pins completely and his real difficulties were with the clip and then the top finial on the safari caps and the all-star caps. They were just very, very difficult to get off, remove, and replace in a completed fashion. So he had to actually remake the top caps on all these safaris. So mine, I'm calling it, I don't know, well, I'll have to think of a name for like the color of it, but it's basically like the dark lilac of colors for the Lamy safari. It's almost like a Lamy safari, dark lilac, a rushi. The thing that amazes me the most, Myke, and the thing that I think you will get, the most joy out of and Anna will get the most joy out of is that when you pick up this pen, you know it's a Lamy safari. Like I didn't expect that feel when I got this pen back. I thought it might feel like a different pen with a Lamy safari as a base.

Myke Hurley: I was wondering if he would end up observing the design of what the pen is, right? Like maybe he would fill the hole, right? Like somehow, or maybe it would be round when it came back and not having the flat sides anymore. Like I was really intrigued to see what the process of a rushi lacquering acrylic, especially, which seems difficult.

Myke Hurley: The, I was wondering how it would end up shaping out, you know?

Brad Dowdy: It's a hundred percent a Lamy safari. That's my favorite thing about this because I love the safari as it is, right? So it's already one of my favorite types of pens and then to have basically a piece of art Lamy safari now, it's just, it's crazy. He kept everything that makes the safari a safari. So the clip is there. The ink window is there. Even the Lamy etching in the barrel, which on the safari is basically like in your printing terms, debossed, right? It's sunk into, it's stamped into the barrel. So he took out that part, he had a real difficult time doing that. He's thought he might just cover it up, right? And just, you know, make it a flat side, like the backside of the pen would be. But he thought, no, that wouldn't make it a safari. So he figured out how to do that and then put like this powder, this black powder. I don't have the note in front of me of what exactly he called it. So he could keep the Lamy stamping on the barrel to make it a safari. Right. It's, it's fascinating. And then, you know, the end, the top cap and the barrel end have, you know, big hunks of rotten in there for like their, their finial designs, if you will. And the grip sections done in the same material, like, you know, but it's still got the, the Lamy rubber ring across the middle of the pen because you can't really lacquer over that. And, um, you know, that would change how the pen fit into the cap. Like if you change that, so like the cap has, I don't know, some kind of coating in here. I don't know what he's done inside the cap. So like even the inside of the cap is done. Everything about this just fascinates me. I don't get it. Um, but I love it and it's completely, completely a Lamy safari. So I'm looking at mine. So it's like purple. Uh, it's like a deep purple. It's a, if you get it in the right lighting, it's got this real kind of, um, space cloud kind of look to it. Like it looks solid in one aspect. Then if you tilt it, you can see there's almost like a, a darker purple underneath it. And then it's got a rotten flake, uh, all scattered throughout. So that's mine. So it's basically like the, the dark lilac. It's funny that you inked up a Lamy petrol because yours, which I now have in my hand, Myke is very much a Lamy petrol blue color, which I found, found kind of funny when you mentioned that. So yours is a little bit different. And then yours has, in that yours has larger circles of Rodden. And this looks like he's something he's like cut out or done. Um, it even has, I'll have to get you a better picture of the grip. It even has a set of, uh, Rodden shapes down the, the raised part of the grip section, you know, the middle part of the grip section, it goes from bigger, big to smaller, to smaller, to smallest. Oh, I can see it in one of the pictures. There's like four dots. I didn't, yeah, I didn't notice that until just now. So that's like on purpose.

Myke Hurley: I noticed that a moment ago and it's set my mind on fire how like good that is. Like, I am so, I cannot tell you how happy I am with this design. Like, they're all amazing. I got my favorite of the three. Uh, this, I cannot believe what he has done here. I feel like, I feel like for mine, especially just from the way it looks, it looks like he's gone way above and beyond with the amount of work that I assume it takes. Because my assumption is with yours and Anna's with like the fleck that's in the body, it's part of the material that is, I don't know how it's made. I don't know. But like, it's, it, it feels like at least for what he's done with mine that some manual placement was needed. Yes. Yes. And that's what I'm so like, can't believe, like so freaking excited about.

Brad Dowdy: Um, so like the flat sides of your safari have the large discs of rotten in a more dense pattern than the rounded sides. They're more spread out. And all of ours kind of have this under layer of the primary color and then like a kind of like a darker color underneath, which is hard to show up in the pictures, but you can really see it in the light. So like there's blue, then there's like a deep blue kind of like cloud cover or fog going through there. So yeah, it's really pretty. Um, and yours has the same Lamy, um, you know, where the stamping is and the, the black powder coating in there as well. And then Anna's, Anna's is so stunning to look at hers is different because it's on the AL star barrel. It actually feels different than both of ours. And it honestly, I'm going to say this, and this is not a negative. It feels nicer. I don't know, but that does, that's not a fair term to use, right? They're all incredible, but it feels like maybe like the finish applied to this in a more consistent manner. We'll have to ask Jonathan if it's different on an aluminum barrel than our plastic barrels. Um, maybe it's just because they feel different for me weight wise or something like that, but we'll have to ask him if somehow the lacquering process, um, was performed differently. So Anna's is very similar to mine. It's kind of a peachy pink color, same type of rod and flakes kind of, uh, scattered all over the barrel and really cool finials. And the only difference between hers and ours being the all-star model is the Lamy stamp on the all-star models is not stamped in. It's basically like a, um, I don't know. It's like, uh, it's basically just an outer border. So that he did have to cover. So hers does not have the Lamy on there. Interesting. And I would bet she likes that better because it looks really, really good. It came out really well.

Myke Hurley: There are going to be differences because it was a, uh, different base material, right? Right. Right. So that's what I want to change.

Brad Dowdy: So like, I can look at the, look, if I look at the finials, like her cap is much thicker, uh, around than, than the safari cap on the all-star. So it's, it feels different in the hand in a good way. Not that ours feel any way bad. They're fricking amazing, but I can tell it, it feels more refined on her pin. And I think it's maybe because of the, the way the barrel is, but I'm also holding mine. That's got an ink cartridge full, a converter full of ink and hers is empty. So it feels, you know, the weight is different as well, but it's just spectacular. I, I, I pretty much just giggled every time I opened one of these and, um, they're, they're just fascinating. I, I, thank you, Jonathan. I don't know. I like, we can't thank you enough, um, other than to tell people, don't ask him to do this for, for you because he's going to tell you to go jump in a lake because they were so difficult. Um, and there was something else in the box, Myke, that, uh, I did, do we want to talk about that? I like, I don't know what to do.

Myke Hurley: I opened this box on the video.

Brad Dowdy: I opened the box on the video thinking I'm going to open my pin, Myke's pin, Anna's pin. And there was a fourth pin in there. Um, we each had our names on the box and then there was a fourth box with a question mark. And Jonathan failed to mention that to me, that there was a little something extra in there. And, um, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to give away one of these pins. I didn't take a picture of it yet just because I want to check with him. It might be my favorite of all of them. Like, but that's like picking between like one, a one B one C one D, right? It's pretty amazing. I haven't even showed it to you yet. I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but you saw it in the video, right? I think it's pretty amazing. Um, yeah. So yeah, we're going to talk to Jonathan, see what he wants to do with that. I'm assuming it's to give away. We have some ideas already that we're talking about, but, um, it's pretty great. I love it. It's a, it's a black and Brown. Um, you know, how I was trying to explain how yours and our three pins have this kind of cloud cover, like feel like the dark purple, light purple than dark purple. It's like, that's the two different colors on the black and Brown of, of that Safari. It's that same effect on ours, except with the same color, if that makes sense. Right. So you can see how it's kind of in the video, it's all kind of, uh, weaving through there, almost like a cloud or a fog. Ours are like that, except with just the similar colors where those are two completely different colors. So it's pretty wild.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I, I, I, I'm blown away by these pens. They're incredible. I can't wait to get mine. You've got to put it in the post.

Challenge Question Introduction

Brad Dowdy: Like, yeah, that's what we got to figure out. Like you're ready for me to, to mail this. I'm sure it's me getting on a hers is pretty easy. So I'll just mail it to her. Uh, you will, we'll have to talk about it. See if you want me to go ahead and send this. Cause I have other things to send to you as well that delivered in Atlanta. So, so I think I've already inked mine up last night with Lamy dark lilac. Like as you do, like that's the perfect thing for this. So, um, it's pretty great. It's pretty great. Um, thank you, Jonathan. I, I, I really can't thank you enough. This is like far beyond any expectation that I had of, of what these pens could even be. You know, I wasn't even sure it could be done. And, and you've just, uh, like once again, like exceeded like what my brain could process as, uh, as what the results of this would be.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I, I, I'm very intrigued to, uh, see more about the process and what made it so difficult, that kind of stuff. Like, I think, I think that will be really, really interesting to see unfold.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So we'll talk to him more about it. See if we can maybe get him on the show or do something to where he can talk about making these pens because it's wild.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. And he said, you, you said that, uh, he'll have some posts as well, right? Like some Instagram posts.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. He said it was going to wait till we shared the unboxing and then he's going to just like release his, uh, release all his, his pictures that he had of, of making it. So, yeah. So hopefully we'll get to see some process shots of these.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I hope so too.

Myke Hurley: All right. We have a, we have an interesting challenge from our friend Glenn and then maybe we'll round out the episode of some Ask TPA questions. Yeah. Sounds perfect. All right. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. You may think that nobody wants your data, but when you browse the web without anything to protect your privacy, you are at risk from ad companies and more collecting your information. It does happen to people like us, which is why I recommend ExpressVPN. It will run in the background of your computer or phone, encrypting your data, hiding your IP address. You can just download the app, click to connect, and you're protected. ExpressVPN is rated the number one VPN service by TechRadar. It uses cutting edge technology called Trusted Server, which makes sure that no logs of what you do online are saved because it's all stored in RAM. ExpressVPN costs less than $7 a month and comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. One of my favorite things about ExpressVPN is I can have it on all of my devices, so I can have it on my Mac, on my iPhone, on my iPad, right? Like it's shared amongst all of them and makes it really easy for me to move from one to the other. Protect your online activity today and find out how you can get three months free at expressvpn.com slash penaddict. That's e-x-p-r-e-s-s-v-p-n dot com slash penaddict for three months free with a one-year package. Take back your online privacy at expressvpn.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to ExpressVPN for their support of this show and all of RelayFM. All right, should we talk about what Glenn has sent in to us?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, definitely.

Transition to Ask TPA Questions

Myke Hurley: All right, so he sent us a question. Challenge, you have to get out as soon as possible. You can only take one Brasstown and one bottle of ink. What are you taking?

Brad Dowdy: So unfortunately, Myke, the context of this is our good friend Glenn lives in Hong Kong and he's thinking about if he has to evacuate quickly because, you know, lots of issues going on in Hong Kong right now. He's like, you know, if I have to come up with this, you know, what would I take? So let me pose the question to y'all. What would you take if you had to, you know, the fire alarms going off of the house, but you actually have time where, you know, you would actually pick up some pens. You know, normally you just run out the door. Let's be clear, you know, the first thing you should be doing is getting your significant other and vacating, not grabbing a set of pens. Purely fictitious. Purely fictitious. Purely fictitious. If you could grab Notco Brasstown, which he purposely chose because it has six pen slots. Which I knew from memory.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely. No, I did. Absolutely. I would assume you did. I knew you knew that. You were always a good Notco employee, Myke, when you were behind the table. So, and what would you fill it with? And what bottle of ink would you take?

Myke Hurley: So the bottle of ink for me is easy. I will always want an orange ink if I can only have one ink. And my favorite orange ink is Brad's ink, Pen Addict Fire on Fire. So if I can only have one orange, that's the one that I'm going to take. If I can only have one ink, it's going to be an orange ink. That's kind of just the way it goes for me. Mm-hmm. Then I have six pens, right? And what I decided to do was to try and go for six pens that provide me with different experiences rather than like my six favorite or my six most valuable or whatever, right? Because if I figure then the rest of my pens are gone, I would maybe want six pens that are all kind of different to me for different reasons. So one is the Platinum 3776 Galaxy Starlight. Mm-hmm. Love that pen. It was an expensive pen and it's a beautiful pen. I love the nib in it. I love the way it looks. It's wonderful. The Sailor 1911 Tangerine King of Pen. It's my favorite Sailor that I own, I think. I love the color of it and it's got a wonderful nib in it and it's just a beautiful pen. If I could only have one Sailor, I think I would want it to be one of my king of pens and that's the one that I would choose. The Pilot M90, which I think I will often say this and I feel like it now, is the best pen that I own. Just from a design performance spectacle type of aspect, it does that. I would take the Brooks Urushi Pen Addict Pen. So the pen that Jonathan Brooks made for us, because it's got a lot of sentimental value in it and I just adore that pen. The Canalea Haleakala Silhouette. I would have to take a Canalea pen and the Haleakala Silhouette is my favorite. This is the yellow one. And then I figured, let's also take one non-Fountain pen, the Mark I Apollo edition.

Brad Dowdy: That's a really good list. And I look at this list and I realize how impossible it is to answer this question, right? Because you have to leave something off. And when I wrote this up, it was good timing for Glenn's question because I wrote this up for the Pen Addict members, my top three pens. Like literally, if I could only have three pens out of my entire collection of pens, what were those three pens? So they're easily the three that I pick to get this list started. And that's the Namiki Yukari Milky Way. The very, very beautiful, stunning Namiki Pilot pen that I have that I bought last fall. It's continually inked and in use on my desk. It's probably, it's easily my favorite pen. Second is the Nakaya Portable Ayo Tamanuri. So this was my first Nakaya, still my favorite Nakaya. I just love the black ebonite barrel. It's clean, no clip. And the light blue-green undertones of the Ayo Tamanuri finish, which is pretty uncommon to see these days. It was only available at nibs.com. It wasn't like a regular color and they only did a certain amount of them. And then I picked the Edison Pearl G10, which is definitely the most Brad pen of all the pens that I have. It's this beautiful, bright orange material that is, you know, never going to be made again because it's just, I've told the story a million times how it tore up Brian Gray's machines and making it. It was an experiment. And the experiment worked in that it made it clear that he could no longer use that material in any of his machinery. But it's just kind of the perfect shape pen and the perfect color for me being orange. And I just love everything about that pen. So those three I had down, those were locks. Picking the next three, anytime you have to like in the, you know, there's an end point on the list. It's just, it's such a struggle. So I went, I also went with the King of Pen and I went with the King of Pen Sky. So this is the Pro Gear model. This was my first King of Pen. It's my favorite King of Pen to this day. It's just got a stock medium nib. It writes amazingly. I just love the color. I love, you know, the trim. It's everything about that pen is, is really good. The next one is kind of along the lines of your M90, but I'm taking the Pilot Murex because I prefer the Murex over the M90. And this pen, again, it's got its sentimental value to me. Thomas Hall gave me this pen way back in the day. And, you know, his generosity all these years ago has helped guide me in how I like to do things for other people in this community and give back as much as I can. And that's, that's kind of like the, the pen I hold up, you know, for myself to, to remember like how lucky I am and how, you know, great someone else was to me. And I want to, you know, remind myself to pay that forward at all times. It's definitely like a core pen for me. Kind of related. Thomas also loaned me at one point a Pilot 912 with a posting nib. Right. And I have that pen. That is going to be my sixth pen because not only is it this great pen that's like perfect for my writing, it also has special artwork that I sent off for years ago to Japan to get some maki artwork done on it. It's affectionately known now as the Mango Pen, but it's got this great koi design on there. It's one of my most used pens. It's one of my, yeah, it's one of my most special pens. And I just love it. So if I'm filling, filling up the brass town and just getting it and going, those are probably the six. And like, it's super unfair to have to leave all the other ones behind. Right.

Myke Hurley: Mm hmm.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Good call on the Mark one Apollo to bring something besides a fountain pen. Oh, I got to pick a bottle of ink. I, yeah. The bottle of ink, uh, the chat already picked it out immediately. So three cheers or I owe Patrick a high five in the chat. He said, I'll bet anyone a high five that, uh, Brad picks pilot of Roshizuku Shinkai and Patrick is correct. That is the ink bottle I would pick. It's my favorite ink.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I figured like, I, I love fountain pens, but I wouldn't want all fountain pens. And also, you know, I just have something else there. Right. It's like, it's also just a very different pen. And I love it. I love the Apollo, like the Mark one Apollo. If I didn't have the Mark one Apollo though, I would still pick the regular Mark one, you know, cause it cannot be understated how much I love that Schmidt refill. Um, so, so yeah, I think that's what I would choose on my list. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I, I might have to rethink like if it was a real emergency, I might not pick the Roshizuku, uh, Shinkai just because that bottle is like less than half full. So I might want some more ink than that. If I was going to worry about that part too much.

Brad Dowdy: Gotta go.

Myke Hurley: I don't even think if in those situations I would even consider pens really.

Brad Dowdy: No, I wouldn't. I honestly, I would, I would like, I'd get my phone in my wallet. Out after I got my family, my family and my pet, I'd get my phone in my wallet because I can access everything I need on my phone and have my IDs. And that was, that was about it.

Myke Hurley: Should we do some hashtag ask TPA questions?

Brad Dowdy: We should do a few. Like these have been building up slowly over the weeks and people are waiting on these answers. And I think I even have a couple more that I didn't put in here. So let's knock out a few. Oh, we still need more. So we can start to make, oh, we, we need more. We're probably at the point where we're just going to have to turn on a full ass TPA show, right? Like they're building up here. So let's knock out, let's, you know, let's hit, let's hit a few and see where we get to. And then we'll take on some more for next week.

Myke Hurley: Side Rose asks, how many pens is too many to bring to work? I usually have three on my person and between nine to 13 in my bag stored in various not co cases. My job does not involve handwriting multiple copies of war and peace in case that was a question. So I would say you've already exceeded. I feel the amount of pens that are too many. I think the three on your person is probably enough. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: I think you've hit the max, but not exceeded, right? I like the three on your person. And then I'd probably have like another six in my bag is I'm thinking back to when I was at my IT job. I easily had that many pens with me at all times. They would live in the bag.

Myke Hurley: That stayed at the office in a locked drawer. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, I rarely did that even if the drawer was locked. So, right. I had, I had my, um, I had my bait cup, right. With all of the pens that I, that was on the desk that stayed out there for people could steal if they wanted that I didn't care about. And then anything I cared about like side Rose, I'd have, you know, one or two on my person. And then I'd have a pen case that I would take in and out of my backpack. And then I'd probably have another pen case. I'd taken it out of my backpack as I, as I needed things because I use gel pens. A lot. And I use, I wanted my fountain pens for other things. So I bet I, at any time I had probably six to 10 with me every single day, um, because I would, I would kind of run the gamut, right. I'd have mechanical pencil and I have highlighter and I'd have marker and then I'd have like whatever my favorites I'm using at the time. So I just had all my bases covered. So I side Rose, I think you're in the range. That's, that's the range I'm at.

Myke Hurley: Uh, paper airplane 09 asks, if you have an old pilot custom 74 roller ball, can I convert it to a fountain pen by swapping sections with a modern custom 74 nib? And they've included a picture, uh, of a, of a set here.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I don't think so. Um, this section is a little bit off for swapping a nib into it. Like you have to have the, the whole nib unit to be able to screw in there and you know, the back end of the feed, the way it works in there. I don't think that front end is fully swappable with a 74, but I don't have one to test, right? Like, could you just swap the whole front end of the 74 into the pen? Yeah. I don't know. The more I think about it, I wonder if you could.

Myke Hurley: I would, I mean, I would be surprised if they were built the same.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, companies didn't really think about that at the time, right? There are companies now that say, Hey, we're going to make one barrel and we can manufacture more efficiently, efficiently. If we can just swap these front ends, right? The section on down to have to, to where you could use a roller ball or fountain pen, but there's usually some sacrifices you had to make in that case, right? To fit one or the other, like you couldn't fit the refill correctly, you know, on, you know, a roller ball refill, you know, if you were swapping it in to the fountain pen barrel, things like that. So I would go with, I would assume not, but boy, I sure would like to test it. Now I'm curious.

Myke Hurley: All right. Our next question comes from the ink sampler. Do you have any tips on what stationery to use to start a gardening journal, paper, pen, journal organization? I would wonder if you would want one of those like indestructible paper journals for a gardening journal, right?

Brad Dowdy: A hundred percent what you want. You want the right in the rain products. And they, what they have is they've really expanded the range from just kind of standard spiral bound notebooks to really not custom type of, of journals, but they have so many layouts. Right. So not only like with your garden journaling journal, you could have like a grid in the right in the rain notebook to where you could lay out where your rows are and where your spaces are and, you know, keep notes on, you know, the planting and the rotations and the watering and the fertilizing. And it's going to be able to handle any dirt you have. It's going to be handled, be able to handle getting wet. It's going to reject both of those things like the dirt and, and the, um, the water you can just wipe right off because the paper is essentially a plastic paper. So you'll have to use a ballpoint or a roller ball, um, excuse me, a ballpoint or a pencil is going to be your best bet for that. But that's what you want to choose anyway. If you're outside getting those pens dirty, something that's more disposable. Um, you can, you can find, so I would use right in the rain. You could go just straight into like a Fisher space pen, which is going to handle like that dirt and things like that, uh, easier and pressurized. Like it'll write, like if you have to write on a post that's vertical, like the Fisher space pen can handle that, but right in the rain notebook of any format of your choosing, because you'll be able to find one that meets your needs. And then any type of ballpoint or pencil, you're not going to want to use that. You can use roller ball gel or fountain pen inks in a right in the rain notebook.

Myke Hurley: B.D. Bombs asks, what are your thoughts on different and distinct filling signal, filling systems like the magnet filler from pen BBS? I don't even know what that is. Also, if you could have one pen that could work over any filling system, what would your pairing be? Mine would be a piston filling 3776. What is the magnet filler?

Brad Dowdy: So imagine you've seen, like if you take, um, it's basically like a drag system, right? So there's a, there's a seal and a metal ring around the seal. And then the exterior, you have a magnet that will pull up, say a disc, right? To suck in ink. Like it's, it's, it's. Oh, okay.

Myke Hurley: These are like these super high capacity, um, filling pens, right? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't even know if it's, I don't even know it's that, but it's kind of like an unnecessary. I won't say it's gimmicky. I guess it kind of works, but it was like, why would you, why would you want that? It seems more of a hassle than, than a cool thing to, to have. So yeah, like, I mean, piston, piston fillers are the best in general. I think, I don't think that's, yeah, I think that's a pretty fair statement that probably everyone would agree with. If everyone could have every pen with a filling, with a piston filling system, I think everyone would agree to that. Um, what pen that's not a piston filler, what I want a piston filler in, I would say Lamy King of pen. That would be dope. That pen deserves a piston.

Myke Hurley: Hmm. Wait, Lamy King of pen?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, so did I say Lamy King of pen? Yeah, you got Lamy on the brain today. I'm staring, I'm staring at these pens, Myke. Pro gear? Pro gear King of pen? I have three of them. Yes, I would love a clear. Sailor, sailor pro gear King of pen.

Myke Hurley: A clear pro gear King of pen with a piston filling, a piston filling system. That would be incredible.

Brad Dowdy: We'll get Jonathan to just handcraft us a Lamy King of pen. Yeah, I'm sure he could do it. Next time.

Myke Hurley: How hard could it be? Just keep putting the Urushi on until it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And then there you go.

Brad Dowdy: I've done it. He hasn't let us down yet. So, uh, Lamy, Safari, King of pen, Jonathan's coming at you.

Myke Hurley: And finally today from Trevor Newberry, looking for a new fountain pen to lift my spirits and reward myself for some work accomplishments. I have a $200 budget. Prefer piston or eyedropper. Looking for something as unique as I can get at that price point. What would you suggest?

Brad Dowdy: So, number one, congratulations, Trevor. Um, and number two, to answer your question, I think it's kind of easier than I thought it would be seeing that you're okay with eyedropping and want something unique. I think you just have to find something at Frank and Kristoff, like a, um, like a model O2 or a pocket 20 in one of the really unique colors or pocket 66 or a 31. Any of just those really cool shapes. You can get them for like 170, 180 bucks. The colors are awesome. The nib choices are spectacular. You can even get like a custom nib grind on there. And you can eyedropper all of those pens, which the Franklin Kristoffs are my favorite pens to eyedropper mainly because I have all kinds of translucent barrels from them. So, cause I like to see the ink sloshing around and that's totally what I would do in this price point because there's not a lot of piston options in this price point, right? You can get your, you know, your Lamy 2000s or your Pelicans, you know, M205s with steel nibs or something like that with piston fillers in that price range. But I think I would go eyedropper Franklin Kristoff with a very neat nib, right? You can get, you know, all kinds of different stub grinds, cursive italic grinds, sig grinds. So that's kind of the path I would go to get something very special for your reward.

Myke Hurley: All right. If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode of the show, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA, or you can email them to hello at penaddict.fm. F-M, right? No, .com. Hello at penaddict.com. That's it. I did it. You can find Brad streaming live on Twitch every Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern at twitch.tv slash penaddict. And obviously you can find Brad's work at penaddict.com. I am at imike, I-M-Y-K-E. Brad is at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-S-M, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter, penaddict on Instagram. So I'm all over the place today. Well, because I'm all over the place.

Brad Dowdy: I know.

Myke Hurley: All right. Thanks so much to our fine sponsors. For this week's episode, Uni Pizza Ovens, ExpressVPN, and Squarespace. And thank you so much if you have become a Real AFM member and support this show. We really appreciate it. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.