The Pen Addict 305/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	305
Title:	I Believe in Standards
Release Date:	April 25th, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 305
Audio File:	Audio Episode 305
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 305
Length:	6868 min <br />1.133 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 305. Today's show is brought to you by Harry's and Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sorry, I'm like giggling already, because you said 305, and I like went, wait, what? I don't know why that hit me all of a sudden. Like, we've been, you know, at high numbers for a long time. And when, I don't know, when you said that, I like, it got me a little bit. I was like, what the crap?

Myke Hurley: You know, like, it's just, this is where we are now. We're moving through.

Brad Dowdy: I went, wow. And I don't know why, you know, episode 300 didn't make me do that, but 305 for some reason got me. How are you today, Myke?

Atlanta Pen Show

Myke Hurley: I'm fine. Very fine. I'm excited, because yesterday I got to see, and I've watched the first cut of the Kickstarter video of the Atlanta Pen Show. And I'm very excited about it, because from a visual perspective, it's like, without a shadow of a doubt, just like multiples of betterness than last year. I can't think of a right way to put that. It's like, multiple times better. I think multiples of betterness. There you go. Multiple betterness than last year.

Myke Hurley: The Hackett's upgraded their camera equipment prior to doing the show, and you can tell. And there's lots of different camera angles, and there's more B-roll footage than ever, and it all looks incredible. They're kind of putting the finishing touches on it now, like color grading and stuff like that. So, basically, keep your eye on your email. If you're a Kickstarter backer, it is imminent. I would be surprised if within the next week, it wasn't out. So, make sure that you keep an eye out for that, because we'll be sending it to you, if you backed for the video. And you're going to love it. It came out really, really, really great this year. I'm very, very happy with it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'd tell you how awesome it is, except for the part where I only saw pictures in our little Slack room that we have for this show. And so, we got on the air pre-show. Myke's like, did you see the video? I'm like, no, I saw the pictures. They look great. I think it's going to be cool. He's like, wait a minute. Did you see the video? The video's in there. I'm like, oh, I missed that part.

Myke Hurley: It was shared with Brad. Brad just didn't see it. And it might have been, because after they sent it, I started sending all of my feedback. So, which was basically just like, oh, this sounds look so good. Oh, wow. The audience, because like, the audience sound is better this year as well. So, like, it's easier to hear people's reactions to stuff. But yeah, it looks really legit. Yeah. I think people are going to like this one a lot.

Brad Dowdy: What I gathered from not seeing the video is that when the two non-pin people, that being Mark and Stephen Hackett, are excited about how it turned out, it's got to be good, right? I mean, I fully intend on this being the best one ever. And I will be checking it out tonight, the first cut. And then, yeah, like Myke said, probably in the next week or two, look for an email. You'll have the access to the first of many things we are sending all of our Kickstarter backers this year. So, this gets the ball rolling. So, I'm excited.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it won't be long. Honestly, I reckon it'll be done in the next couple of days.

Brad Dowdy: Awesome. So, we do have a few, more than a few new things I wanted to touch base, check in on, get your opinion on, say a few things on from the new release product catalog, if you will, the product catalog of the internet. That's what the stationary world seems like. The RightPad Secura Edition. I swore we talked about these on the podcast before. I may have mentioned them in passing. And I went back through the notes before I wrote this down. I was like, I know we talked about this. I had to have talked about this, right? And I couldn't find that we talked about it. Have we not talked about how amazingly beautiful these are? There's no way I would forget these. When did they come out, then? Just a couple of weeks ago. So, like, maybe two weeks ago. So, it's been very, very recent.

Myke Hurley: So, it's like a cherry blossom, right, is what they're going for design-wise, and it is stunning. I love it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I am very partial to anything cherry blossom. Baltimore, obviously, being in the D.C. area, they're known for tons of cherry blossoms and cherry blossom events. Macon, Georgia, of all places, is known for its cherry blossoms. We have a cherry blossom festival every year. I have, let's see, four large cherry blossom trees in my yard that are just stunning for about one week out of the year. Then they just look like normal trees. Yeah, yeah. So, I didn't even get a picture of them this year because the blooms come and go so fast depending on the weather. And we've had very weird weather. But I love anything Sakura or cherry blossom related, and they nailed it. I mean, this is just a beautiful addition. It's kind of outside the norm for right notepads. They did a stapled addition, which they've always done, like, the perfect binding or whatever they call the flat binding on the sides, not without staples. But these have Rolls-Royce gold staples and just beautiful covers. And, heck, the belly band is awesome. Like, you know, that's the part that you throw away or keep in a drawer somewhere. I don't know. I'm fascinated by these. These are all the things I've ordered. I've ordered mine. They are on the way. I don't have them in hand yet. But I can assure you I'll be talking more about these because I love right notepads.

Myke Hurley: They're very good looking. Really, I think that this has been a consistent thing that right notepads are doing some of the most interesting design right now. And this has been, like, a consistent thing for a while. These notebooks all look amazing.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And I failed in two aspects at the Atlanta Pen Show, Myke. One, I was supposed to bring you some pencils. And two, I was going to bring you a sampling of right notepads. Oh, for two.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It didn't really work out well for me.

Myke Hurley: It's fine. Just remember it for October.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I'll see you soon enough. I'll see you many times this year. Or I could always mail somewhere in advance on your travels in the U.S. You'll be over here enough. The shipping will be easy. I'll just, you know, send something to one of your other friends that you're visiting. So, yeah, that's hilarious. But, yeah, I mean, great job, Chris and team. And I'm going to put the screws to Chris. Chris Roth, the owner, founder, creator, designer, printmaster of right notepads. I'm going to put the screws to him right here. Me and him are working on something on the back channels. I don't know if it's going to come to fruition. But if it does, it's pretty awesome. He's excited about it. I'm excited about it. We'll see if it happens. There have been designs traded amongst us. Okay. And I'm pretty pumped about it if it happens. So, there you go. There's one of my teases that may not ever happen. And you can all yell at me later. How's that?

Myke Hurley: Sounds fair.

Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: On the notebook front, let's keep it there. I got three new notebook products I want to talk about today. The right notepads being one. The Story Supply Ithaca notebooks being two. I think that was another one we failed to mention. This is a new limited edition from our good buddy Vito and Gabe over at Story Supply. We got to see this new edition. He launched it at the Atlanta Pen Show. And then we proceeded not to share it on the podcast with the rest of the world, which we always like to do. We share the awesome things from our friends. And y'all know how much I love what Story Supply does. The quality of the paper that they use. It's super fountain pen friendly. Yep. I love this cover because it's dark blue and has these orange staples that are really sweet. Yeah, it's a good color combo. And I actually have a pack of these to give away. I think he's only doing like two or three hundred, three packs maybe of the small ones, something like that. I got a pack from him at the Atlanta Pen Show. I'm giving those away on the blog this week. So we'll have the link in the show notes to go over to penaddict.com and join in on this giveaway. And it also reminded me I wanted to have a discussion about one of my least favorite topics, and that's paper sizing, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Because it's paper, actually paper weight is the worst topic. Paper sizing, I'm okay with. Okay. Paper like weights and, you know, grams and pounds and all that stuff. That's a much more painful discussion. Paper sizes. So a lot of talk happens around the A5 size. That's kind of the common, most popular, usable, standard notebook size that you see. It's kind of right in the middle. A4 is like your big, you know, eight and a half by 11 pads. And that's the wrong dimensions, which is what we're going to talk about. And then the A5 is like around your five by eight pads. That seems to be like the most portable, most useful size. So you will see a difference between makers and what they consider A5. And I have, I had a discussion with Vito about this and I yelled at him mockingly. But there's actually a reason why people like Vito and Story Supply make an A5-ish notebook. Or whatever they, whatever any company that's making notebooks in that five by seven to six by eight, five by eight range calls A5-ish. Or, you know, smart sizing. I think Barenford calls it smart sizing, maybe. Something like that. But it's all A5-ish. And they say ish because it's not a true A5. A5 is a fixed international standard measurement. And as we've gone through at NOC making our A5 notebooks, we found out why people call them go with A5-ish. Because our paper suppliers in the U.S. that our printers are buying from, you know, big pallets of paper, are not coming in these international sizes. So to make a true A5, which is what we make at NOC, you have to pay for extra paper. You have to pay for waste because you're not getting... Because you've got to cut, right? Yeah. Yeah. So we have to cut to the real A5 size. So it's really the American paper market.

Myke Hurley: So the paper is being cut out of larger sheets. And what most companies seem to be doing is making them slightly larger because then you don't waste any paper. But if you're going to cut A5s out of these larger sheets, you will have like really thin strips of waste, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And not get enough, not get the same quantities that you would get if you took the full sheet and made it into the size that you're going to make. So we actually pay more for our A5 notebooks. We pay a premium to our printer to have them the exact A5 dimensions. Why do you do that? Because I believe in standards to a degree. I mean...

Myke Hurley: So you can all suck it.

Brad Dowdy: No, because A5-ish doesn't have any meaning, right? It means something different to everyone else.

Myke Hurley: The thing is, I mean, I assume one of the reasons that you make your products A5 is so they can go in your A5 seed notebooks now, right?

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's the other way around. It's the other way around. We make A5 paper so we can make A5 cases and we can say those cases fit A5 notebooks.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but that's what I was going to say. Yes. But then because you make the cases, you have to probably make them a little bit larger to fit the A5-ish, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, and they fit... I mean, it turns out the notebook cases have more tolerance in them than the paper, right? So they fit lots of things. They fit your A5-ish stuff.

Myke Hurley: Right. But now my point is, so why don't you just go A5-ish now then? Like, because your case has to fit it anyway and you'd be saving yourself money and hassle. Like, I understand standard.

Brad Dowdy: Because I wouldn't be able to sleep at night for all the emails I would have in my inbox about what size exactly is your notebook.

Myke Hurley: Well, why don't you just do the thing where you don't say it's A3 or A4 or A5. You just say it's X.X by X.X, right? Like, which is, you know, that's what, like, all the pocket notebooks are. They aren't, like, P2 or whatever. They're not given that name. They're just like, oh, this is 3.5 by 2.5 or whatever. Right. Like, you know, and I assume that's what a lot of people do, right? Like, I'm looking on the Story Supply website and that's how Vito and Gabe, they say it is, like, 5.25 by 8. Like, they're not saying, like, oh, this is A5, even though it is. And they even say A5-ish later on. But I guess, you know, it's listing the dimensions as opposed to the standard.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, because it just opens you up to more questions.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I understand.

Brad Dowdy: And I would rather fit into the rest of the world's standards than what some random, you know, American paper mill decides.

Myke Hurley: I expect that if you put those inch sizes on there, you then just get a bunch of questions from people saying, does this mean it fits an A5 case that I have or whatever? So do you not get those questions then because you say it's A5? Like, because you're not still getting them?

Brad Dowdy: Right, no. Okay. Or if someone says, well, what size is A5? You know, I can just go to Google and there's just, like, an international chart there that says it's exactly this and that's what it is.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah, I understand. What I'm saying is I understand both parts of this. I understand your desire for conforming to the actual standard of paper sizing. It is super weird to me that those standards seem to not be built upon logic of how paper is made. That just seems like a very strange, like, thing or that, like, paper suppliers don't make rolls that can conform to international sizing standards. That just seems really strange. But hashtag business. Right. But what I'm saying is I also understand on the other side why a lot of companies don't do it because the whole industry is built around accommodating both. So why would you spend the extra money or waste the time, waste the energy, waste the resources when people like yourself who are also making cases, their cases will fit A5-ish notebook. So, like, why you don't actually have to fight for it because you're not going to have problems on that front, maybe.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And so, I mean, I think it comes down to a couple things. One, you know, if you're a notebook manufacturer, do you want to take a stand on a unique size? You know, that's cool. Like, we chose to pick a standard, you know, instead of saying our size is the best. We chose to go with a standard. And then secondly, in the U.S., it is a cost discussion to have. So when I was talking to Vito about this and, like, me and him know these things and I realized when we were having this discussion that I don't know that we ever explained why a lot of manufacturers go with A5-ish instead of, like, the pure A5. So I wanted to bring that up. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I didn't even know that this was a thing. I just assumed whenever I look at those books, like, that's an A5 book because in my brain, when I look at it, I know what that means, you know? But I actually had no idea that there was this range of what is, like, considered to be colloquially A5, right? Like, it's not accurate, but it's what we just call it A5 for the sake of it.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. We all know what that size and shape is approximately. It's A5. Like, we all point out and say, oh, that's, like, an A5 notebook, like, mentally. Yeah. Even though the dimensions can be changed on the width and height of the notebook. So, woo, that was fun, wasn't it? We all appreciate you standing for the good fight on this one. Hey, I'm all for metric system worldwide, so that's a whole other fight we can have one day, but I know I won't have to fight it with you.

Myke Hurley: Tell us yourself Fahrenheit, though.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, you know what? I am, I could be talked into anything on that one.

Myke Hurley: My feeling is, don't tell Casey Liss because he gets too excited, but I, whilst I just use Celsius, because that's just how my part of the world is built, I can understand the vast benefits of Fahrenheit. I mean, temperature control, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, but if it's a zero-based game with Celsius. The zero-based is what makes it great, right?

Myke Hurley: Like, that's why I like it. Like, the zero to 100, like, freeze into boiling, that's what makes the sense to me. So, like, but I just mean purely from a temperature control perspective. Like, air conditioning, Fahrenheit makes a lot of sense, but in cooking and in science, Celsius makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So, aside from upsetting everyone who listens to this show, what else are you having notebooks before we take our first break?

Yamamoto Robiki Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: We're going to wreck everything I just said here about A5-ish because I want to talk. I just opened this link. What are you doing?

Brad Dowdy: Excuse me. You got me on that one.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah, I'm going to destroy the world here with the Yamamoto Robiki notebooks. So, the, I got these last year in San Francisco because I got to meet Taizo Yamamoto of Yamamoto Paper. He was the one doing the paper tasting at San Francisco Pen Show. Do you remember me talking about that last year?

Myke Hurley: I sure do because the phrase makes me laugh every time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a wonderful name, isn't it?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but I imagine people just licking notebooks.

Brad Dowdy: So, Taizo comes from a printmaking family. So, Yamamoto Paper is his family's business that's been around for however long. And he's the next generation and he's doing things differently now, which we love to see from the next generation of family businesses. And that's how you stay relevant and keep your business going. So, I got handed this Robiki notebook. 8.3 inches by 3.6 inches. It's nothing. Long, tall. Yeah, it's nothing. It's nothing. It's nothing. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Let me see if they even call it something. I don't think they call it anything. They don't.

Myke Hurley: Like, on JetPens, it's just 8.3 by 3 by 6. Like, it's nothing. It's great.

Brad Dowdy: And it's awesome. It's amazing. I'm not going to lie. So, it's thinner than what you'd say a traveler's notebook is, like the Midori's Travelers. This is taller and skinnier than that. I found myself, when I was using this notebook, I used it in landscape mode a lot because I kind of liked that look and feel of using it sideways.

Myke Hurley: Like, the design of all of these notebooks looks amazing. I think this is really good looking stuff.

Brad Dowdy: What's interesting about them is the cover material is waxed, I guess is the best way to call it.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I can see that in the images. Like, when they're opening them, there's like an almost, like, you can see it's not made of, like, traditional paper and it's also slightly translucent. They call it wax-infused craft paper.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, wax-infused, which means it's actually, the way I read that means that it's within the fibers, not an exterior coating. Yeah, like it's part of the paper. And this is just the cover, not the interior pages. That wouldn't work. So, that makes this cover insanely durable and strong and it wears awesome. It's going to wear in, like, a wax canvas, like a wallet. Like, the one I have is, you know, you start to see, like, it getting broken in a little bit. It's a really cool look. Look, I don't know, something about these notebooks I really enjoy. I enjoy the covers. I enjoy the designs. I enjoy that they're from Japan. I enjoy I got to meet the guy that makes them. And I didn't get any of the small ones from him, but they do have a 3.6x5x3 smaller, normal, more normal notebook size, even though it's a non-standard notebook size. So, yeah, I thought these were super cool. So, take everything about our A5 discussion, throw it out the window. This is the no-standards notebook. They're just making something that they want to make. And knock yourself out, Taizo. These look great. And I love them. I've had one for a while and I really enjoy using it.

Myke Hurley: All right, today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. They have all of the products that you want from all of the brands that you love. And they believe in fast, reliable, and consistent customer service. Pen Chalet sell products from Kaweco and Sailor. What about Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, and Namiki? They have fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils, and so much more, along with all of the accessories that you're going to want as well. If you're looking for ink, if you're looking for converters, maybe you're looking for carrying cases. Pen Chalet have got it. They always have got the best deals that they can possibly do. They have specials twice a month, closeouts every two weeks. They're always adding new styles of pens. Every single month, you'll find new products at Pen Chalet. They sell internationally. They have great shipping rates. And they do free shipping on orders of over $50 in the United States. Pen Chalet's thing, their whole thing, is offering low prices on high-quality pens and backing it up with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. They're also teaching us a little bit today. And you're going to find out about that in just a second. Go to penchalet.com right now and click the podcast link at the top of the website. When you're there, just enter the password, Pen Addict, and you'll be able to get your code to save 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. But there's something special I want to tell you about today. Brad, did you know that today, April 25th, is World Stationery Day? I did not know that, Myke. How did I not know that? I'm in the stationery business. We would know something like that, really, wouldn't you? But I want to wish everybody a happy World Stationery Day. And if you're in the UK, like me, it is National Stationery Week. Because we are fancy. That I did know. Like that. We don't just celebrate over one day. We celebrate over the entire week. So to celebrate this, Pen Chalet have a bunch of amazing giveaways and a bunch of amazing discounts to celebrate World Stationery Day and National Stationery Week in the UK. And I'm going to put a special link in the show notes for that. So you can go to our show notes at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 305. Or take a look in your podcast app right now. And you'll be able to see the National Stationery Week and World Stationery Day deals, sale, and discount at Pen Chalet. And you'll be able to read more about what Pen Chalet is doing to celebrate. And also what you can buy on great discounts or maybe even win. So I want to... They've got a lot of entries in their giveaway right now. Some fantastic prizes. So you want to go and check it out right now. There's some really great packs that you can possibly be in the chance to win. So just go to penchalet.com or check in our show notes and you'll be able to find that. Thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: I do love this week for all of the UK stationery people I follow on Twitter because of, you know, the... Is it London Stationery Show? Is that the official name of it?

Myke Hurley: One of them happens around now, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so it's a whole week and I always see events going on and talks and trade show. So, you know, maybe that's on the radar for one of these years. Who knows? But I always enjoy following that. You see a lot of new product releases and things like that around there. So speaking of new product releases, has anyone received a Twisby Precision yet?

Myke Hurley: Wait, the Rotary Fountain Pen, do you mean? No, I'm being silly. This is actually... There is quite a lot of... It's the hexagonal barrel, right? And we're going to talk about this... It's one part carondage.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. You know, it's one part roturing.

Y Studio Mechanical Pencil

Myke Hurley: This is going to come up next week as well because next week we're going to talk about the Y Studio Mechanical Pencil. But there is a real problem in doing hexagonal design because roturing kind of owned that, I feel. Like, just at least I think for a lot of people, especially for me, you know, like if I see something hexagonal, it has to be really, really different for it not to just scream roturing at me. And I'm sure many people have different opinions to me on that and that's totally cool. But I just feel like they really, like, perfected and owned that design in a way that I think is difficult for a mass manufacturer to come in and try and do. And then, of course, yes, when you add the carondage clip to it like Twisby did, it's kind of like this Frankenstein fountain pen. But it does look very nice, but it doesn't have the usual original flair that Twisby bring to their products, I feel like.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I think you nailed it right there. This, I don't know what to think about this pen. I don't have one yet. I don't even have one on the way. And that's kind of the problem that I see, right? If I don't have, if I'm not jumping through the screen to get this in, get it tested, see what it's all about. Like, what's the, you know, am I right or wrong on this pen? It's like, I don't know what to think about this pen yet.

Myke Hurley: Like, the material looks nice. That looks kind of cool.

Brad Dowdy: It's $80 for one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, $80 is expensive. You know, and I don't really, I can't look at this pen and really understand what my $80 worth of value is going to be. Especially, I feel like it's tough for me to let this go just because I've been burned over time. I have no idea what the long-term quality of this pen is going to be like because Twisby have been notoriously difficult. And it's a new model. It's a new line. I would always with them, especially because this is a vacuum or a piston filler too, right? It's a piston. And so, I'm always going to want to wait a little bit anyway for them just to see what the deal is going to be, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm with you on this. And the reason why I put it in the show notes is because I'm not seeing any, like, hype train going on this. Like, we talked about it when we first saw the pictures. I think it's very cool looking. I don't get the pure rotary vibe like you do. I do see the cron dash clip, which is why I brought it up. So, you know, I definitely see this as a Twisby design. I see more of the rotary stuff in the hexamatics at Retro 51. Those are, like, super rotary-y. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, it's hard not to bring it up.

Retro 51

Myke Hurley: I can't remember who I was talking to about this at the pen show. But, like, I've heard from many people. I actually have them. The Retro 51 hexamatic is a great mechanical pencil. It's really nice. But they kind of ruined it by not being inventive enough with the design. Like, a company that is incredibly inventive with design. It's the same with them. Like, I feel like they could do a lot more with the hexamatic than this, like, what I think is considered to be classic mechanical pencil. But what that actually means is Rotaring 600, you know? And I feel like they could have done a lot more with it than they did. It is something that I own one of them. I think I own one of the Apple ones. And I got it because it had an Apple logo on it. But I would never buy the hexamatic because it doesn't have in it what I love about Retro 51. Like, it's not original enough. I have a question for you about the Twizby Precision. Because I don't understand this, right? It is a piston filler.

Myke Hurley: But you can unscrew the section. And I can't understand why you can do that. I don't know what that gets you. Why would you do that?

Brad Dowdy: I mean, most piston, I won't say most, like Pelicans piston fillers, you can't unscrew the section. But lots of piston fillers have sections that unscrew. All of Twizby's, all of Aurora's do. Like, all of my Aurora piston fillers, they unscrew the section. Like, what is that for? To empty it and clean it? Easy cleaning. Easy cleaning. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Okay. Yeah, because I would say all of the Precision pens that I have, I don't think, I don't have many. I don't think I can unscrew the section from them. Nor would I really want to try. Because that's going to get messy real fast, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. So, I think you kind of hit on it a little bit before. And when you were talking about other pens, like Retro 51, they fell flat, I think, Twizby, on this, on the color that they chose. For the initial launch of this pen, I wanted something that popped more. I'm used to, like, all my Twizby pens pop either by the colors that they choose or the lack of colors being a demonstrator, which you then get to see the internals of the pen and the color of the ink. And it's like, this is like a putty, brown, gray, aluminum brushed. It's pretty. Like, it's fine. I would have almost rather just seen a black or silver barrel or do something crazy colored. Regardless, yeah, I'll be interested to see how this pen does. I'll get one at some point. I'm not rushing out there to get it. Like, the Twizby Eco-T in blue, I could not reach through my computer screen fast enough to get that pen. This pen, I'm like, eh, we'll see. I'll grab one eventually. Like, that's where I'm at on this pen. Like, it's probably perfectly fine.

Myke Hurley: It is interesting to choose kind of brown as your only color. Right. You know, it's also very, like, there's just a lot of, like, we see this every now and then. You'll just get a pen and it's like, I can see you made a bunch of decisions, but none of these decisions are the decisions I would have made. Like, and that's, I think that's a lot of the time why some things, because some people and some things don't. Like, again, like, and I said this before, like, when I see, I see so many pens that are just black with gold trim. And it's like, I don't understand the decisions that led you to making this. Right. Like, why does it look that way? So, again, like, there are going to be people that love this pen, including the people that made it. And, like, that is totally cool. But, like, for me and you.

Brad Dowdy: I may love this pen. Yeah. I just don't have it yet. I mean, I might totally fall in love with this pen when I get it. Like, I'm just not, like, climbing through the screen to, like, get it today. Agreed. It's not doing that for me. And you see that the most unsuccessful Twisby line, in my opinion, was their Classic line, which they did basic solid colors in just, you know, in plastic. You know, just, you know, white, navy, green. And those, I think that product lineup just fell flat overall when you have things like the Eco and the 580 and the minis to compare it to. We'll see. I don't know. I'm anxious to get one. I'm anxious to read some reviews on this pen. There'll be probably a lot of people that review this before me because I didn't even get one yet just because I'm not super excited about it. But my opinion can definitely change when I get it in. And so we'll see. If you have one of these, definitely let me know what you're thinking about it so far because it looks interesting. So this is one to watch. So we'll keep an eye on this one for sure. You'll be hearing more about it. Another thing, Myke, you'll be hearing more about is another new podcast in the stationary realm. And we got to promote all of our friends in the stationary world because I love all of the creativity that comes out of this community. It's fantastic. This one's called The Fountain Pen Companion. And it's a European-based show, Myke. So you count as European, right? Or are you like an offshoot? Like you're not really part of the European Union. I forget these days how England's standing is. But anyway, this is Urban and Anna. And who is the third person as I don't click the link? So Urban and Anna and Daniel, who I've followed online and on Twitter. And I've definitely seen them around the community for years and in the Slack room. So Episode Zero is up. And they definitely feel like the Europeans are underrepresented if you've listened to the Episode Zero. So they're going to make this the European Fountain Pen Show. And I wish them all the best. And I'll be sharing out their links when they post new episodes. So y'all add them to your podcast listener of choice. And I look forward to Episode 1. I can't wait. It's going to be great, I think.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke. You ready to dig in a little bit? As if we haven't already on A5 and Twisbees.

Limited Editions

Brad Dowdy: We're going to get into it a little bit here. With the topic of limited editions and FOMO angst. That's what I'm calling this topic, Myke. The reason is the pen that we spoke about last week, two weeks ago. The new Retro 51 launched by our good friend Myke Dudek. And Retro 51 called The System. So first off, Myke, now that this pen has launched, what do you officially think about this pen? Because you've already seen it. You saw it before it launched. And I saw it before it launched. But now that it's public, what do you think just of the pen itself? Then we'll get into the rest of it.

Myke Hurley: I don't own it yet. You know, it's on the way. Well, no one owns it yet. Yeah, but my point is going to be that I haven't had this in my hands.

Myke Hurley: But I think it might be one of if, well, I know it is one of, but might be the best design of any Retro 51 I've ever seen. I think that it is stunning. And it's black, like just all black. And then there are just a bunch of details, which are way more than is necessary. And that makes it so incredible. Like, for example, there are these, I think, all like black, like dark matter lines that go around the pen. It's a solar system design. So you can see like some like thin white lines to show the orbits of all of the planets, which are represented, including Pluto. But then in between the white lines, there is like black painted on very thin lines, which are being called dark matter, right? Because it's like this stuff out there in space that we can't see. And it's like, that's like one of my favorite things because it's totally not necessary. But it's amazing. And it's going to add texture to the pen. And I love the little details of the planets, like the details of Jupiter and stuff. Like it just looks so awesome.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's not like a dot of paint dropped on there. It's every planet is detailed.

Myke Hurley: And they are like recognizable as well. Right. I think that this is absolutely stunning, which I know leads into why there is the rest of this conversation today. But this is like easily one of the best designs I've ever seen. And the jury is out. But when this thing arrives, it may go to the top of my list, honestly, because it is everything I like about these.

Brad Dowdy: And then some like I'm very, very, very excited about it. So my opinion on the pen itself is no different than yours. This may be the single best design I've ever seen out of Retro 51. And that one of our friends made it makes it even more special. Right. Like I said, you know, when we were talking about it and I just seen the pictures, I was like, this is the best design I've ever seen. This blows anything else away, including the stuff that I make that I love. I'm like, this is fascinating. Fascinating. So they obviously put a lot into this because the price point is really high relative to like a lot of other limited editions, $47 pen. That's like this is one of those pens that you just go for it. Right. If you're going this far, you get everything in this pen that you want. And even if it costs more like this one does.

Myke Hurley: Mm hmm.

Brad Dowdy: So we love the pen. Neither of us have it yet. Did you order it when they went on sale? And were you able to order one at that time? Um.

Brad Dowdy: So this was Monday a week ago, I think. Yeah. I mean, OK. So like Tuesday, whatever day it went on sale.

Myke Hurley: This is all right. So like Dudek held one for me. OK, that's fair. That's fair. I mean, I feel bad saying it because like so many people were struggling. But like you shouldn't. I actually didn't hold one for me. He sent a link to me the day before and I bought it because he was showing it to me whilst it was like getting ready to be put in. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You've been long involved in this project.

Myke Hurley: Not not long, but I've known about it for a little bit. Like I've known about it for a bit. And so, you know, I think Myke knows how much I love these things and he knows probably how much it would break me if I if I didn't get one. So like he helped me out and he sent me a link and I bought one in advance. And I usually I don't care about stuff like that because it's like whatever. Right. But I know that there's so there was so much angst around this pen that it's like, yeah, OK, I did go in advance. I apologize.

Brad Dowdy: No, you shouldn't apologize. Like you're like in the retro 51 ecosystem. You're an important player. Right. Let's not let's not let's not beat around the bush. That doesn't mean I deserve anything, though. You know what? That's fine. You know. But yeah, he he took care of you. And that's awesome. So I knew they were launching. I didn't know exactly what time. And like I said, I think it was. But I correct me if my dates are wrong. I think it was last Monday or last Thursday. It was last Thursday, actually, because I was at knock. So I'm trying to get my I'm trying to get I'm trying to remember these things. There's been so much last Thursday, April 19th is when it went on sale. So I was at knock and then I was driving home. And so I didn't get home until about like one forty five in the afternoon, my time. And they had launched at noon. So I got home, sat down, started looking through Twitter. I was like, oh, they launched. And it was like right at two o'clock. I went to go order mine.

Brad Dowdy: And I couldn't like that quantity is not available. I was like, oh, that sucks. I was like, maybe there's a glitch. So I tried like two or three times. I was like, nope. So then I text texted Dudek and he's like, yeah, man, they sold out. I was like, wow, good job. You know, that's awesome. And like I made a tweet. I was like, wow, I was too slow. That's what I get for being in the car at work or something like that. And so I missed out on it. But someone jumped in, said, hey, they ordered two. They didn't have any plans for their second one. So I could buy their second one off of them. So great. So I have one coming, too, but secondarily. But that leads into the questions.

Brad Dowdy: When you. OK, this isn't fair for you because you order differently than me. So I'll say this from my perspective. I went to order, went to the order page, read what it was about, clicked my order and didn't get it. And it didn't bother me. Do you know why it didn't bother me, Myke? Because in the product description, it said it was an open numbered edition. The issue is, I know what that means. Nobody knows what that means. Not everyone knows what that means.

Myke Hurley: OK, so this is what I was going to say. Like, I love, I love Myke Dudek so much. And I, and I understand that he's struggled with this. And again, we're going to go into this a little bit more. But like that phrase, open numbered edition, you could, you could put it in the title of the thing. And it doesn't, it doesn't, I don't think that that phrase accurately explains what this is to people. I mean, honestly, my feeling is you just don't number it. If that's what you're going to do, like, just don't number it. And then you would maybe get around a lot of the problems that he did. But I also understand why you would want to number it because it's nice to number things like this. But that phrase needs to be more fully explained. And, you know, this is a learning experience for a lot of people, I think. But just putting, again, like, open numbered edition in bold in the post. Like, I just, this is one of those things where, like, in an industry, lingo becomes a thing. And this is, like, industry lingo to people that sell. I don't think it's industry lingo to people that buy.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And I think that's the issues that Dudek ran into. And I've talked to him a bunch about this. And we had a phone call about it, you know, in the aftermath. And, like, how he was going to handle it. And he wanted my opinion on a bunch of things. And the real issue is it shouldn't matter what he says.

Brad Dowdy: Because people have expectations that they should not have. And that's where I start to run into difficulty. Like, if you're complaining, there's two paths to complaint on this. One, I didn't get my pin because it sold out too fast. You didn't make enough. And two, I got my pin. And now you've ruined the value of it by making more of them. And I think both of those things are wrong.

Myke Hurley: The second one is, like, I can see nothing in that, honestly. Right. Like, I see nothing in that one. In the first one, I can see ways to be disappointed but not angry. Yeah. Right? Or, like, not angry at Myke. You can be angry. Be like, oh, man, I missed it. Right? Like, I would have been about the pink glove. But I wasn't going to be mad at Bung Box for only making the amount that they made. Like, to them. Again, like, here with you, I can be like, why didn't they make more of these? They should sell more of these. But, like, I'm not going to go to Bung Box and be like, hey, you jerks. Right? Like, make more pens. Because that's just not how it works. That's not how this type of business works. Right? I think it's fine to be frustrated about it. But it is a different thing to do what happened, which was a lot of people were aiming that frustration directly at Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, he was absolutely attacked over this. Unfairly. And that's wild to me. On every count, unfairly. That's wild. Every count. Yeah. No matter what the words in this product description. Think about what you're doing. Yeah. You're yelling at someone about a pen. Okay? Take a step back from the internet and understand. Like, I went to go order. I couldn't get it. It sucked. I want the pen. I'll figure out a way. Oh, well. I moved on with my day. People took this too far with how they were treating Myke and telling him what he should be doing. And that's just not acceptable in this community. I expect better from this community. And trust me, I don't want to put this on the community because it's no one I know that would do this. But, you know, this FOMO thing, you know, it's, I also don't want to feel like, and we're going to talk more about this later in this conversation, is I don't want to be a hypocrite either. Right? I'm in a weird position that I promote these things that are limited edition and people don't get them. And is it because I hyped it and now they're mad that they didn't get it and it causes them to be angry because they can't manage, you know, not getting a notebook, knowing good and well that a month from now there's going to be another notebook they can get. So, I have real, like, challenges with my position in this. It's not an easy thing for me because, like, I feel like I'm playing both sides a little bit because, you know, we talk about these limited things and how much we love them and, you know, make hype around things. And then, you know, people get angry when they can't get said things. So, that's a discussion we can have.

Myke Hurley: On Thursday, I was late, like, I was just looking for my Twitter feed and I had, like, hundreds of tweets in my feed, right? Like, I was looking for my timeline and I saw Myke's announcement post and I retweeted it. But by that point, it had already sold out.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: So, like, I fed it because there would have been more people that would have seen it. And, like, I had a, not many, but, like, a couple, a small handful of replies that were directed at Myke with me included because I tweeted it, right? So, like, when you press reply, it goes to everyone. And I can see, like, people weren't being crazy, but people were, like, they were mad about it. And I think that this is just one of those situations where everyone could have done things differently. Some things should have been done way better.

Myke Hurley: But it all got out of hand real fast. Yeah. It's too, it went, it's gone too far and, like, it's just really embarrassing, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, I want to talk about the second part of what I mentioned, which you think is, you felt was, like, the more minor issue. I think it's the more major issue. And that's people buying this from a collectability perspective.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no, I didn't think it was minor. What I was saying was, if you got mad about buying it as a collector and now you know there's more of them being made, you have no argument. There is no argument. Like, you're just being ridiculous. Because Retro 51s, as amazing as they are, they will hold no value. Like, you're not going to make thousands of dollars in 10 years on these pens. Like, you're just not going to do that. But, like, the abundanza, you bought for $40 and it was in perfect condition. And that is a 10-year-old pen at this point. Right? It's probably less than what it was sold for. Like, this stuff, they are collector's editions in that they are numbered. And they are numbered and limited because of the way in which the business model works. Where, like, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is, if you do this type of thing with Retro 51, you're kind of fronting up a bit of money beforehand. Oh, absolutely. So, you do a limited run because you're not going to put yourself on the hook for 2,000 pens. Right? You do, like, 300 of them. And if you love it and you think it's really cool, you number it because of, like, whatever. You want to number it. Right. But just putting, like, number four on one of these things does not make them inherently more valuable. And it's never going to be that. Like, what has, like, the only way that I can see one of these things is, like, if Myke Dudek in, like, five years becomes an international superstar, maybe, right? Like, because he starts his incredible country music career or whatever. Like, then maybe his pen is worth a little bit more because of the rub that he gives it from being a megastar. But, like, this is, again, probably the best Retro 51 ever made. It is not going to be worth $200 in three years' time. It's just not going to happen.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, there's two parts of the collecting thing. And Isaac brings it up in the chat room. It's like, you're collecting because you love Retro 51s and you want to get this Retro 51 and have it as part of your collection. Yep. There's other people that will collect it and buy all the extras that they can for resale value later. And, like, if that's your impetus, I mean, I just believe you're doing it wrong. You have every right to do it. Like, that's a thing. You know, you have every right to do that. I can't tell you not to do that and I can't tell you you're wrong in doing that. That's just not what I believe in. I'm buying this pen so I can use it at my desk. Right. So, that's why, you know, having that type of mentality going into purchasing it, I don't mind if I don't get one. Right. Because, well, I'm going to use this pen anyway. And, okay, I didn't get the chance to buy this one. There'll be another one down the line that I get. But to, like, read Myke the Riot Act because now he's making more of the pen, which he said he was making more of in the beginning, that you're ruining the resale value. I don't even want to hear that argument. Don't even put that in front of my face.

Myke Hurley: You know the thing about open numbered, right? My problem with that. It doesn't count if you're a collector. If you're buying this to collect, you should be reading that stuff. And you should know what that means. Like, if you are buying this pen as a collector, not a collector like me, but a collector that feels like value needs to be held, you should be reading the small print on these things. Right. Right. If you're a collector like me, I buy it because I want it in my personal collection. My collection of Retro 51s is never going to go anywhere. It's mine. And I use them. And none of them are in boxes. And I have them all in a drawer. They're just in a drawer. And I like to look at them. Right. Like, that's the collection. That is as far as this collection can go. They are, like, nice things that you can own. And that's yours. But, like, you know, maybe you can sell them in a lot in, like, five years' time. But they're not going to increase dramatically in value. And if that is your thing, you're thinking, like, oh, I'm going to buy this pen because I'll keep it in the box for 10 years and sell it. That is on you to read all the fine print. Like, there is no real excuse for that in any way. And I feel like no element of communication can change it. If Myke was like, oh, there's going to be 300 of these. And then he's like, JK, I'm going to sell another 600 because everyone's really excited. Sure. Right. Then you can say something. But considering you always said open numbered, if you are a collector and you don't know what that means, like, that's on you, though, really. Because, like, you are collecting for value. Like, that is collector's lingo, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, two things to wrap this up real quick. One, I know Myke, you, Myke, Myke with a Y. The way he collects retro 50 ones, I will tell you in one quick antidote. I brought him the Mission to Mars pen that he wanted, that he didn't get. So, I bought him one. So, I brought it to the Atlanta Pen Show. I handed him the pen. He ripped open the box, threw it in the trash, and put the pen in his bag. Yeah. That's how Myke collects retro 50 ones, just so you know.

Brad Dowdy: So, that's how much Myke cares about, like, right? He's like, I got this pen. It's awesome. I'm going to use it. And end of story. Second thing, the other Myke, Dudek, he didn't do anything wrong in this, in my opinion. The only thing he could have done better was double down on the open-numbered edition definition. Yes. I mean, but you don't know.

Myke Hurley: It needed to be explained for everyone.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I knew exactly what it was, you know, when I saw it, but not everyone does. And that's the conversation we had. But the only way he could have resolved that in the beginning, and he may, you know, it may not have even crossed his mind that that, not everyone knows what that means. No. Is to have, like, this is an open-numbered edition, and then have, like, a huge, bold paragraph say, this is exactly what open-numbered edition means. And that still wouldn't have stopped people from complaining, like, you're ruining the value and stuff like that.

Myke Hurley: No, but at least it would have been there, right? You know? Like, it would have been there. And it would have been easier, I think, for him to point at that and be like, well, I had this thing written there. Like, what more could I have done? Right. Where, like, instead we said, well, I have always said it was open-numbered. But then he, like, wrote a post, like, okay, clearly people don't know what that means. Right. So, he had to recap. And the problem with lingo is that if you're in an industry, that lingo just becomes vernacular. Like, it becomes part of your everyday speech. So, you can't escape it. Anyway, this is not in the world of the year of positivity. But I think we were both just upset because one of our friends was upset. And when he should have been able to celebrate the incredible work that he had done. And I consider it a shame that, like, he put this amazing thing out into the world. And then probably his overall feeling was a down feeling. And that made me sad. Right. So, what everybody needs to do is go and buy one of these because you won't be upset. Right? And there's a pre-order list. Join the pre-order list. And then, I guess, when more are made, I would expect that Myke is probably just going to sell these in waves now. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And then you'll get one. Yeah. It's like three to four months just for, like, a 300-unit production run. So, you know, this batch will come in. The pre-order for the next batch, you'll get notified. And you get notified and then get the opportunity to buy.

Myke Hurley: I don't think you're putting your money down. Right? Like, you're just joining a list and when there's more, Myke will email you and then you can buy one if you want to. But that's what everyone should do because, you know what? I think even if you're slightly interested in this pen, put your name on that list. Because I'm sure that when me and Brad get them, we're going to talk about them so excitedly that you're going to want it anyway. Right?

Brad Dowdy: So, it might behoove you to put your name on that list. So, really great job by Myke Dudek and Retro51 for this design. I understand how it went sideways a little bit. And, you know, Myke's better from it. You know, it was a learning experience. You know, we had a lot of conversation around it. And, like, you know, he understands some of the angst. But, you know, some of it is misguided. And I just want to make sure that, you know, as a community, we're not playing a part in that. And I don't think that we are. But it is a thing. It is an issue. I try to meter those type of things. But, you know, I also get into, you know, getting into that hypocritical realm that I have to be very, very careful about. Because I have strong beliefs in a lot of things. And attacking people for something as silly as a pen is not one of those things I can support. So, we just wanted to get that out there. All right, Myke. I shaved this morning. It was a wonderful experience. I bet it was.

Myke Hurley: You know, I bet I know why it was a wonderful experience. Because I bet you shaved with Harry's products, didn't you?

Brad Dowdy: I did.

Harry's Shave Products

Myke Hurley: I absolutely did. Harry's is all about a great shave at a fair price. And they are supporting this week's episode of The Pan Addict. Over 3 million people have switched to Harry's. And you should join them. And the reason they've done it is because their products are great at a fair price. Harry's founders decided to create this company because they were fed up with overpriced razors. And they wanted to fix it. They know that a great shave comes down to great blades made with sharp, durable steel that lasts. And they also cut out the unnecessary costs, allowing them to deliver you one perfect razor at an amazing price. You pay just $2 per blade, which is half the price for their high-quality blades of what you, you know, half of what you're going to find elsewhere above other companies and other products. Just $2 per blade. Harry's bought a factory that's been making some of the highest-quality blades in the world for over 95 years. So you know they're good. And they offer a 100% quality guarantee. If for any reason you don't love your shave, let them know in 30 days and you'll get a full refund. So tell me about what it was like shaving today, right? I want to know everything.

Brad Dowdy: It was an amazing experience, Myke. So one of the challenges with having a sensitive, you know, face or sensitive neck or cheeks is blade irritation. And for me, I've never in the entirety of my life had a blade I could shave against the grain and not be a painful experience until I found Harry's. So my neck is a very sensitive area for me. If, you know, I want to have a nice, smooth, clean shave. I don't want any stubble sticking out when I shave. And so you go. You have the upstrokes. You're going against the grain. And just habitually, all the blades in the past I've tried end up in, you know, red marks, itchy, irritated marks with Harry's blades. And shave cream, I can shave against the grain, never have any issues. And it's just a beautiful experience, Myke. And I have a beautiful neck to show for it.

Myke Hurley: Great news. Harry stands behind the quality of their blades. They know that switching braces isn't an easy decision. So they made it easy by creating a trial offer for you. You can get a $13 value trial set that comes with everything that you need for a close, comfortable shave, including a weighted ergonomic razor handle, five precision engineered blades of a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, rich lathering shave gel, and a travel blade cutter as well. Go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now to redeem your special offer and let them know that we sent you. That is H-A-R-R-Y-S dot com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke. So we're, as we normally do, we run long every episode. Like, it's just consistent. So let's run it a little bit longer and knock out some of these ass TPAs. I think these are pretty good ones, okay?

Myke Hurley: Go for it.

Brad Dowdy: All right. One of my favorite Twitter handles, adorkably, adorkable.

Brad Dowdy: Adorkable. What do you put inside the front blind pocket of your seed case? For me, it's almost universally my Apple Pencil. I'll put in another one or two pens. I've put in headphones and other cables. What I do not put in there or rarely put in there is other notebooks. It tends to be a little bit harder to get out. It's a little more of a finagling situation trying to get those other notebooks in and out there. So I'll put small accessories in there. Primarily, my Apple Pencil or headphones are the two most common things I have in my seed case.

Myke Hurley: And this is the pocket on the outside of the A5. There's like a pocket where you can kind of, it hasn't got a zip, right? You just like slip your hand up and in.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And receipts are a good place for that to go. You know, small flat items, things like that. And the Apple Pencil is not too large. It sits in there nicely.

Myke Hurley: So, you know, you were talking about the fact that you forgot to give me all the pencils that you bought me in Atlanta. I forgot to walk away with the A5C case that I wanted to buy because I actually need one. And I forgot to get one. So I've got that going.

Brad Dowdy: We did a terrible job.

Myke Hurley: Just really, really disorganized Atlanta, I think.

Brad Dowdy: It's not that. It's just the amount of busy is crazy there. And my brain just gets wiped every night. So like if you told me something the day before, then I go to bed. It's like a full system reboot. And in the morning, I don't remember anything else unless I write it down. So I'm writing this down now. All right. Seed A5 for Myke. What color do you like?

Myke Hurley: I think I'm a purple guy.

Brad Dowdy: All right. I like that. All right. So, yeah. So I have a lot of things to ship you. I'm just making a list. So you'll see them next year or maybe in New York. All right. So speaking of New York, Van the Sword wants to know any word on an NYC Panatic meetup. We will do something. We do not know what it is yet. We'll probably start planning on that in the next couple of months. And no worries. You will absolutely know everything about all the details of what we're going to do on that trip, both in New York and Toronto. I've been asked a lot about the meetup type of situations that we're going to have. So you will absolutely have all the information ahead of time. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Ample warning. We will know way in advance, but we've got quite a bit of time between now and then.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And we have a lot of things going on that week in New York. So it should be no issues.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Lamy AL Star Nib

Brad Dowdy: All right. Pastoral Urbanite wants to know, what's the significance of a pen that will write with a nib upside down? Feed up position. My Lamy AL star with a broad nib will do it. Could I use it for superscript or subscript? Will I hurt my pen? So answer the second question first. You will absolutely not hurt your pen. And you can do it. You can do it with any nibs. Some nibs you can actually get a grind where they have an extra writing surface on the top of the nib. Some nibs are better than others out the box in doing that. That subscript is a great idea to use the opposite side of your nib. I'm using my Micro Architect grind that Mark Backus did for me today. And I found out that that actually has a really good upside down nib writing experience. So you can either use them for super fine lines. Some people will use them for large wide lines, like the lower angle upside down. You get the wider line. You'll have almost like a highlighter type of line. So, yeah, that's a good question. And a lot of people do do that on occasion. Me, it drives me crazy to write with the pen in that position for more than a second or two. Just it's a mental block type of thing. I don't like seeing that visually. So where did Sam go? Says, I like to write in books as I read. But I find when I underline passages, gel and ballpoint ink tend to gloop up, which leaves a blob of ink. At the same time, felt tip pens tend to feather on book pages with toothier or rougher paper. Same with fountain pens. Any suggestions or recommendations on what to use here? Pens or pencils, welcome. So pencils you're not going to have a problem with. They will smudge if you're going back on the same pages a lot and your hands get on there. So what I always recommend in this situation is the Uniball Jetstream in .38. It's not the best like all day writer because it is so fine. But for the exact answer for what you need to do, I recommend this pen all the time. It is so fine and writes a really clean line. And it has, you know, a few different colors you can choose from. Like I recommend the red one a lot for underlining. So that's pretty much the only answer that I'd go for for this detailed of a question. And it's a really amazing pen once you use it. Now, if you're trying to write with this pen, like write a novel, I wouldn't recommend it. But for underlining, this is exactly what I would use. So Isaac Vining says, the last episode convicted me a little bit. I definitely need to sell some pens as I've narrowed down my favorites to the Lamy 2000, Pilot Custom 74, and TWSBI EcoT. Pretty much everything else just sits. Tips on where or how to sell fountain pens. I'm glad to hear that. Like I need to do this myself. I've been talking about it too long. I need to have round two of the clean out. It's probably about time. Right about now, I'm in a big, big break. From going to shows and things like that. And I've picked up more pens than any normal human being should have this year. So I need to clean some out. So the best places to sell them, one is the Pen Addict Slack Room, which is very active, has a very active cell trade channel. How do people join the Pen Addict Slack? So they will email me, hello at penaddict.com. And I'll send you the link to create your account and join that. That's a great place. Otherwise, the FP Geeks message board, fpgeeks.com. They have a great classified section over there. That's very good. So those are kind of the primary ones. And then I'll have to figure out the exact name on Instagram. Virtual Pen Show, maybe. We'll have to look this up. And I'll put it in the show notes or I'll tweet you, Isaac. There's actually a really good Instagram channel that you go fill out a form, submit your pen and the price. They'll put it on the Instagram channel. And they sell really fast. So that's a good place to do it too. Virtual Pen Show.

Myke Hurley: That's the one.

Brad Dowdy: Virtual Pen Show. All right. So, yes. All right. So, Althaven, Juni. She has a Nakaya with an M nib, which I found to be meh. Yoshida San of Nakaya is coming to Singapore this year. I intend to grind it to a right foot oblique. Is that a bad idea? Absolutely not. So, number one. So, number one, you could not have, you know, a more better person to work on the Nakaya nibs. Number two, the Nakaya pens are very personal. So, like, those pens, you know, have a lot more meaning than just a writing implement. And getting it ground into something that's going to change the stock medium nib from meh to something that's awesome that suits you, that's a great idea. I don't think that's a bad idea even remotely. So, yeah. Absolutely.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Last one. And we're going to open this one up to the crowd, which is why I put it last, because I don't have a very perfect answer for this. And I think it's a question without a perfect answer, but we're going to give it a shot. So, this is from my good friend Michelle. She says, hey, Brad and Myke. I think most of us experience the weird ink crystallization, clumpy, gunky nib thing at one point or another. I most often hear this phenomenon blamed on orange and red inks, but I'm just not buying it. I use lots of different orange and red inks, mostly without problems. I've had it happen twice. Once with Montblanc Lucky Orange and once with Akramon number 28. I used Akramon 28 in many pens, and this only happened once in my brand new Nemisu Ixion. My assumption is that it's some combination of the ink, nib, and pen causes this issue. Do you know why this happens? I'm sure there's some clear science here, but I'm not sure what it is. Given my experience, it's clearly not specifically an orange-red issue. Many thanks. So, I don't have a great answer. I do see it more in red and orange inks, like you say. I don't know why. I mean, I don't know if it's just the randomness of your Akramon 28 and the Ixion and the, you know, atmospheric conditions. Is it more humid? You know, the week that you use that pen, I don't know if that causes...

Myke Hurley: Would that be a thing with nib material?

Brad Dowdy: It could be an immaterial versus the ink. You know, this is one of those things where it's not a definitive answer, and I don't know that I have a great one. So, I want to hear from the chat room and from the listeners. You can tweet at me at Dowdyism. I'll send these on to Michelle. I just want to read more about this, and if anyone has any kind of definitive do's and don'ts, Tony mentions in the chat room the one I always have heard about and the one Tony mentions is Diamine Ancient Copper. That seems to be one of the most popular inks, yet one of the most gunkified inks. Like, it tends to, like, grow in your nib, and I don't know why. I don't know if it's pen-specific. I don't know if these are more on steel nibs than gold nibs. I don't know what the exact science is to answer this question perfectly, but it's definitely a thing, and I got a different email in my inbox this week. And it was, I think there were, one of them was a pink ink, and the other one was a blue ink in lammies. So, yeah, it's a weird phenomenon. I don't know exactly what the causes are, so if you have any information, definitely get in touch.

Myke Hurley: All right, I think that wraps it up for this week. If you want to find our show notes, go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 305. Thanks to Harry's and Penn Chalet for their support of this episode. If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com and knock.co. You can also find him at penaddict on Instagram and dowdyism on Twitter. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E, and we'll be back next week for another episode of The Pen Addict. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye, Brad.