The Pen Addict 290/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	290
Title:	Saskatchewan Has Always Been In My Heart
Release Date:	January 10th, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 290
Audio File:	Audio Episode 290
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 290
Length:	5656 min <br />0.933 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 290. Today's show is brought to you by Harrison Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hello, Myke Hurley.

Brad Dowdy: Yo, what's up? Not much. Me. Me. I'm up. I'm active. I'm busy. I'm crazy. It's 2018. The year of Brad. But every day is like crazy in all the good ways. We're going to talk about yesterday in my life, the craziness and what it caused with my stationary work. But yeah, but all the good kinds of crazy. Like the first kind of crazy is planning this Kickstarter for this year.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: That's got me going. Yep. That's got me going crazy right now.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, we have it going. We're on the way.

Kickstarter Campaign

Brad Dowdy: We're underway in the planning. We're well along the planning phases. I have not started the campaign in Kickstarter. Like you start like a, you know, you can save your project as you go and start building out the things. I haven't, I don't have everything locked and loaded yet. But I'm shooting for the end of the month to launch this. For the Atlanta Penn Show, our stretch goal, we're going to have an official stretch goal this year. For the first time. The way last year. Yeah. For the first time, we'll have an official stretch goal. And just for you, Myke, don't tell anyone else. But I have emailed other people and they have responded. Okay. In exclamatory fashion. Excellent. Excellent. So, yep.

Myke Hurley: We have big plans. Big plans again. If we can pull it off. Yep.

Brad Dowdy: If we can pull it off. We also have a new pen case that we're going to launch as part of this project. I like doing that for the backers of the project. It gets something cool from Knock and helps support us doing this. And so, I'm working on the budget for that. I'm not ready to share it yet. The sample case, pictures I sent to Myke have one little issue. So, I'm getting them remade to have the prototype. But I'm going to have the, got to get the official colorway too. Yep. The Kickstarter only colorway.

Myke Hurley: We picked the colors though, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. The colors are done. Yep. They are in the process of being sampled out right now. So, we ordered a custom tag for them yesterday. So, like all the things are moving. All the parts, parts are rolling. Except for one thing, Myke. I don't have a name for this case yet. So. For the Myke.

Brad Dowdy: Well, if there was a region in Georgia called the Myke, I could might get behind that. I've got a lot of work in front of me then if I want to get that case named.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe start a revolution. I'm going to have to. And, you know, wherever you land on, whatever beachhead you land on, we'll call it the Myke. And we'll go from there. But, yeah. I have a bunch of names I want to use. And I shout it out to Twitter to give me, you know, kind of their highlights. Besides, you know, the number one all-time will never be named product name will never happen. But, you know, there's lots of good names. I don't have it yet, but I got a lot of feedback on the Twitter machine. And a lot of the names I'd already picked kind of rose to the top of this. So, we'll see. We'll have the name before this product launches, before this Kickstarter launches. But it's a cool case. I'm pretty happy with it. It's very neat. It's a compact case. Yeah. That I think everyone will enjoy.

Myke Hurley: So, three-hole pocket. Yeah. I think people are going to like this one.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. I think so, too. So, when I was shouting out case names, you know, people were, you know, understood the Georgia theme. But I did get, you know, some calls to branch out to other areas. Even got a call from Canada, Myke. So, I had to take this up on the podcast. This was from Kikita987. She said, if you ever need to branch out, I recommend Saskatchewan, which means fast-flowing river. Wonderful name. The South Saskatchewan River runs through Saskatoon. I dare you to say that on the podcast. Challenge accepted. Kikita, how did I do?

Myke Hurley: I think you did a great job. I want to give it a go, too. Yeah, yeah. The South Saskatchewan River, oh, man, runs through Saskatoon. Why did I struggle with runs of all the words in that sentence? Well, you said you didn't feel good today. That is true. But I think you've just proven that you are, in fact, the greater podcaster of the two of us. Because you can read.

Brad Dowdy: No. Like, product names are really hard. But I'm okay with, like, city names and, you know, surnames and things like that. I'm okay with product names. I'm not always the best with. But, you know, being the sports fan that I am, even the smaller Canadian football league I'm certainly familiar with growing up. And they have one of the most wonderful team names in the world. They're the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, which is just an amazing name for a sports team. So, Saskatchewan has always been in my heart. But it's not going to get, it's not going to jump the queue for the naming. So, sorry there, Kakita.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But we're working on that. Should launch. I'm shooting for the end of the month. I don't see any way it will not be launched by the end of the month, which will give us all a February. The timing should be perfect if we do that. So, for launch. Did I say launch? Speaking of launch.

Retro 51 Pens

Myke Hurley: Yeah, speaking of getting ready for launch.

Brad Dowdy: Retro 51, mission to Mars, go. Gone.

Brad Dowdy: That's right. It is completely gone. Yeah. Okay, so let's get to that part in a second.

Myke Hurley: This is the second space shuttle, like ship themed pen that they've done, right? Because what did they do? Is it challenge or discovery before?

Brad Dowdy: Don't know which one. Okay. It's sitting in my closet. I don't know.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah, very similar in style. The first one was a knockout. And then the mission to Mars.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know if it's better or not. It's certainly oranger, which I approve of. But it's right there, right? I mean, it's like 1 and 1A type of situation.

Brad Dowdy: These dropped on the Twitter feed yesterday. Monday? I think it was Monday. When I was sitting there with, you know, just looking on Twitter. And I see a link pop up from Retro 51. Hey, mission to Mars. I was like, oh, this looks sweet. And I retweeted it. Right after that, some of the pen stores started retweeting for their pre-orders. I mean, tweeting for their pre-orders. And I retweeted a couple of those. About five minutes later, I start getting, seeing sold out tweets. I'm like, what? And I was like, okay. I was, you know, not like mashing buttons as fast as I could to order it. But, you know, I wanted to order one. There were 730 made. And once I saw like the first, I think it was gold spot. They said, hey, pre-order. And then I think exactly five minutes later, hey, sold out. I was like, whoa. I better go mash some buttons. So I did. I went and ordered one from our good friends at Pen Chalet, which also have it gone now. So we're back to like, is it already gone? How does this work? Like I'm, Retro 51 sells out of pens all the time. Like that's pretty much their goal. You know, limited edition, frequent releases, sell them out in a quick fashion. I don't recall one going this fast. Do you?

Myke Hurley: No, this seemed, I was able to see it in my timeline and wasn't able to buy it within a couple of hours. And that is not how these things usually go. Like they're usually some somewhere. I didn't find any of them. But I do know that Brad was looking out for me. He's got a hookup for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what's, yeah, you replied like two hours later. You were like, wait, what? They're gone.

Myke Hurley: All gone everywhere.

Brad Dowdy: But I'm sure maybe some people, I think some vendors did pre-order. Some will probably do release once they get them in. But I think this window is minuscule to order them, which always causes a problem. And, you know, but what are you going to do? It's one of those things I love, one of those things you love, one of our podcast favorite pens. And then when they combine it with something as cool as this, I mean, we can't help just kind of falling over it. And, you know, I can't wait to get it. But it definitely, definitely went fast. So we'll see. I'll think about coming through for you. I'll think about it. Thank you. You got a new notebook. I wanted to bring this up because I find I've been finding this notebook very interesting. It's a Blackwing Summit notebook. So Blackwing had launched notebooks, hardcover notebooks last year sometime, I think. And they're nice. They're fine. Great notebooks, you know, solid. You know, can't say anything bad about them. Great notebooks. Just do I need, you know, a regular black notebook or whatever they were offering. Then they added a couple of size ranges. They did the standard A5-ish size. Then they did a smaller one. And then they did a larger one. Well, I was super interested in the large one once I saw it came in a white cover. I don't know if that one launched in the beginning or not. I didn't go back and check. But I remember there was a black one. Well, they came out with this white one that's really pretty. It's called the Pearl Summit.

Brad Dowdy: And I just kind of had to order one. Now, white notebooks in general are a bad idea because of how we use notebooks, right? They're usually, they're not sitting at a desk. They're going to get beat up, which is cool. Like, that's part of the gig, right? You buy these things. They get that wabi-sabi look. And you like them. White's a little bit of a special case because it gets more grimy and dirty. But I didn't care, especially once I got it in. I ordered it going, oh, this looks really cool. Let me see if I like the paper. But then I got it in. I was like, whoa, this white cover is awesome. And what it's awesome for is stickers, Myke. So you got to be all over this thing. It's like that soft, it's a hard bound-ish. Like, it's not a firm, firm cover. It's got some flex in it, but it's not, like, super firm cover. It's somewhere in between a soft bound and a hard bound. It's got that feel of, like, the pano book cover. That, whatever you want to call that, soft, leathery. I don't know, faux leather. I don't know what it is. It feels real nice. The size is weird. 7 1⁄2 by 10 inches is a really nice size to write in. But it's not going to fit anything except, you know, your backpack. You know, it's not going to fit any notebook cases or anything like that. Unless you can get something custom made, which I'm sure you can. Or if Blackwing's going to make something. But I'm just covering mine with stickers. And I've had more fun doing that than writing in the notebook so far. But I wanted to try it out because as much as I'm using my Hobo Cousin, I need another, I need lots of things on my desk to just write notes in and write reviews in. So I usually use the NotCo A5 Spiral Pad. That's like my desk pad. And then I've added this one in to do some more reviews in. Because I also wanted to review it, see how the paper was. The paper's average. Like, if I had to give it a comparison, I'd say it's close to the Leuch term, but worse for fountain pens. Okay. Like, it's a little feathery. Like, I don't get any feathering in Leuch term. But it has that feel and look. But I used a fine steel German nib and Sailor Epinart ink for my first review. And at first glance, you can't really see the feathering. But if you look at the edge of the lettering, you can see it a little bit. So you can kind of tell it's there. Like with a Leuch term, you can't really tell it's there. It's not a coated paper like Rhodia or Tomoe. So it dries quickly. It's really nice. It's just a kind of a fun notebook I wanted to have laying around. So I wanted to bring that up because it's an interesting size. It's bigger than A5, but it's not like some of the really huge A4 stuff that, you know, you can really take up some desk space in.

Brad Dowdy: Soft cover, fair price, good quality paper. It's something I think, you know, I'll probably use. And I'll keep putting stickers on it too. So did you ever kind of settle on a notebook? I was going to ask you this later. But are you, did we, I know we've talked about like what we're doing and what we're going to use for this year, but you kind of settled on just like the pocket notebooks for what you're using on a daily basis?

Myke Hurley: Oh, I'm not using anything on a daily kind of journaling basis yet. Right, right.

Brad Dowdy: So what's on your desk right now?

Myke Hurley: Pano book. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I use every day to take my show notes with, right? Like probably will forever. I mean, well, forever is a long time. But it's, I think someone's going to be hard pressed to make something better to fulfill what I need, which is a notebook that sits underneath my keyboard, right? Like it's kind of perfect for that. So I probably will stick with this for the foreseeable future. In regards to a daily notebook. No, I've not. Not only have I not gotten an idea, I haven't really put a ton of thought more into it, honestly. Okay. Because I don't really know what I want, which is the problem. And or what I want to use it for. I just know I want to do it. So I'm struggling with it, honestly. What I want, what I think I want is something that I can, that can be like travelable. What a terrible word. Travelable? I don't know what the actual phrase I should be using for this would be. Let's go with portable. Portable. There you go. I like travelable though. Travelable is better. And so, you know, I mean, because all of these, every problem can be solved by the new thing that you need. I'm thinking that, as I said before, something like traveler's notebook sized in your seed case for that. Yeah. I think is, it's the only thing in my mind right now, which makes sense, like as a, how will I use this on a daily basis? Well, like this little self-contained unit that is that, right? Like it is the place where I know I'm going to be writing something every day. It has the tool in it already. You know, like there's just something about that, which feels nice to me, which is the same reason that you probably are making the thing because like there is this niceness to this overall little package. So I'm, I'm waiting for something like that to strike in my mind.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's sorry. I keep bringing this up, but I think it's because maybe you haven't decided on anything. I keep having this idea on my head on what's Myke using and I forget like it's the panel book on the desk and then maybe something else if it kind of works out. So yeah, I keep bringing that up.

Myke Hurley: No, no, it's because it's good. It's a good thing to discuss because I'm sure many people can sympathize with my indecision. Sure.

Toronto Case

Brad Dowdy: I'm right there with you, except I might've found the thing and we'll, we'll talk about that in a little bit. I did find it. I did find another thing though, Myke, and that's the, that's the Mandarin orange Brasstown. We launched it. Knock. I got to pimp this out because the color is amazing. They are heading out to retailers. As we speak, we shipped a batch yesterday. We shipped the rest of them today. All your favorite retailers should be getting the Brasstown this week or next week. We'll have them on our site next week and the Sinclair matching color, Mandarin and steel Sinclair in about two to three weeks, maybe something like that.

Myke Hurley: Have you ever made a case of this color, this exact color?

Brad Dowdy: The exact outside? Yes. The inside? No. Right. Okay. But it's a very traditional, something we would have done like from the very beginning. Like it's a very classic knock case. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I like this colorway. It's like construction is what I think when I look at it, you know, it's like safety. Like I like it. It's kind of like a cool, cool mix.

Brad Dowdy: What I told Jeff is this one looks so good. It's probably like the next Raven Aqua, like the Raven Aqua colorway we doubled up on because it was so popular. I think this might be the next one. Like it's just to be like the kind of a really stock type color color. Like this is a, it's kind of a throwback because we've used the exterior before, but the interior, we always did bright ones. We did a dark interior this time and I think it came out better than I even expected. So very happy with that on a side, semi related note to this. I got an email from one of the pen addict members this week. They said, Hey, have you seen this Yendrings pen case? I'm like, no, I don't know what you're talking about. It's like, yeah, I just bought one and it's really great. So I looked them up. It's a Canadian brand that's doing hand stitched fabric and leather pen cases. They just have two designs right now, but they're really nice.

Myke Hurley: So I wanted to throw like wraps in cases, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Okay. Yes. I think it's fair to call it a wrap, but the, the Toronto is the wrap or the roll. It's a six pin roll. And what they did that was very smart is split up the roll. I have a gap in three and three. So it's basically three pin slots, solid gap, three pin slots to help it fold and roll better. So I thought that was a good job. When you have that flap over the top of the pens, it gets bulky. I don't know. It looks like they, they designed it really well. I like the fabrics they use and the accents and highlights they use. And then the one called the London actually looks like it holds a notebook on top of the wrap. Oh, I'm sorry. It's more of like a full 12 pin wrap. It's just kind of really large. They use custom fabrics and some really neat stuff.

Myke Hurley: You can throw a notebook in there as well. Like it's got these two little over like hook things. You can slide a notebook cover into. It looks like A5-ish. It's really functional. Like the most functional pen wraps that I've ever seen. Right. Because I still think about, I mean, they even call the Londoner wrap. Like they totally look like pen wraps to me, even in just like style. Right. That it's like you have this, like a, like a string that you tie around the front of it. Right. Like they're very nice looking, but I like that they, that they're functional. It looks like that. It seems like that they maybe have a few different options for it. Cause there seems to be a lot going on. Like the London also has like a little zip pocket in it. Right. Like this is like a whole little system going on over here. It's very cool looking.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's a big honking case and the fabrics are really cool. So I'm, I'm liking the way these look and we'll, I'll probably, or at least I hope to see some at a pen shows this year and see, but they're a made, made in Canada. So we'll, we'll see if, you know, I, I came close to ordering one yesterday. I couldn't quite decide on what I wanted, but I'll probably end up getting one, one of these days. Very nice to see some new, new manufacturer like that out there. It's very cool. Now this one slipped under my radar last week, Myke, I had it jotted down, then forgot to put it in the show notes, but I'm glad I waited because now it's officially open. Did you know there is a Lamy boutique now in San Francisco? I didn't even know that Lamy boutiques were a thing. Do they not have any in London? I honestly thought they might have had some. I don't think so.

Myke Hurley: I mean, cause Lamy is so well represented in stationary stores. Yeah, just in the regular high street stores. It would surprise me. I'm going to look it up now, but. Mm-hmm. Yeah, maybe they don't. I doubt it.

Lamy Outlook

Brad Dowdy: So this is interesting for a couple of things. A couple of reasons.

Myke Hurley: No, it doesn't look like they do. In searching that, it just brings up all of the stores that sell Lamy. Gotcha.

Brad Dowdy: Gotcha. So I find it interesting because number one, they, Lamy as a brand, had a negative outlook for the United States market. At least in my opinion, by their actions. I don't know that they come out and said that, but they basically took away the United States market extra fine nibs because they sell more in Asia. I was like, well, I mean, that doesn't seem right. And they switched up distributorship and they'd done some weird things recently. So to see like a boutique pop up seems to be kind of against what they were doing. But if you're going to put it anywhere, I mean, there's two places. It's San Francisco or New York. So it kind of makes sense. And Lamy's style and aesthetic is perfect for a small boutique like this. We'll have a link in the show notes. I couldn't find any official documents or articles. Like I looked in the San Francisco Chronicle. I looked on Lamy press releases. I couldn't find anything. But there's an article on the Fountain Pen Network where someone went to the opening and took a bunch of pictures. I mean, Lamy's perfect for this small boutique, right? I mean, the way their design is, don't you think? I think it looks beautiful.

Myke Hurley: Oh, they look great. Like showing all the colors and stuff. They've done a great job. I think it looks very nice.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm interested to see if this sticks. I'm interested to see if they bring another one. I can't imagine this is going to be a widespread thing. It might be a one-off or two-off type of thing. I'm certainly glad to see it anytime any brand or store opens in our realm. I think it's pretty awesome. So we'll keep an eye on this. And when you go to San Francisco the next time, you'll have to make a trip over and take some pictures. But you can also get everything for that online pretty easily as well. So maybe we'll see what they do. So I'm excited about it. I think it's good for the market. And we'll see what happens from there.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we take a break? We should. All right. Today's show is brought to you.

Brad Dowdy: Because I have a confession to make. Uh-oh.

Myke Hurley: Well, he's jumping in. He's got some important stuff to talk about. Well, we're going to get to that after we talk about Squarespace. Use the offer code INK at checkout. And you will get 10% off your first purchase at Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace. They let you easily create the website that you want to make for your next idea. Or maybe you have a website somewhere else and you're unhappy with the way it's working. Or you're fed up of trying to manage it on your own and have to take care of patches and upgrades and all that kind of stuff. Squarespace will take care of all of that stuff for you. They're an all-in-one platform. There's nothing to install. There are no patches or upgrades to worry about. Squarespace have got it all covered for you. And they even let you grab a unique domain name so you can give your website the brand that it deserves. Award-winning templates which you can customize and make super beautiful. And so much more. If you need any help, they have 24-7 customer support. If you want to add an online store to your site, you can do it. And you can take payments and everything. They integrate with Stripe. It's a wonderful system. No matter what type of website you want to make, Squarespace have the tools for you. Whether it's a blog, a portfolio, a site for your business, a site for your restaurant, a site for your band. They've got it all. Their plans start at just $12 a month. But you can start a trial today with no credit card required just by going to Squarespace.com. Then, when you decide to sign up, use the offer code INK at checkout. You'll get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for this show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their continued support of the Pen Addict and Relay FM. Squarespace. Make your next move. Make your next website.

Brad Dowdy: So my next Squarespace website should be Stationary Confessional. So that'll be the title of it. So I can confess to all the mistakes I've made in my stationary commitments.

Brad Dowdy: Including my first missed day in my Hobonichi Cousin. Which is a huge letdown for someone trying to integrate this into every day of their life. But I made up for it. But this is getting into the planning and journaling types, daily journaling type stuff. Where sometimes you're going to miss. And I got to figure out how to handle that appropriately. So yesterday was a crazy day for me. Like right from the jump. You know. Get up. Six o'clock. Get the kids ready for school. Take them to school. Drive to Atlanta. Work at NOC for a few hours. Get everything done. Grab lunch. Drive back. Pick up the kids from school. Take them home. Get a shower. Head back to the school for a spelling bee. And like I was gone all day until pretty much about seven o'clock at night. So at no point did I have any time to write anything down. Much less in my Hobonichi Cousin.

Brad Dowdy: So that was like weighing on me last night. It's like I've got a blank page. And I've been gone all day. And I'm going to miss this day. Like I'm tired. I don't feel like writing in it. So I skipped it until this morning. And it was weighing on me so much. I was like I went in and filled it back in. And I was like you know what? Yesterday I was so busy. Let's just write all the busy down. So I wrote down my schedule yesterday. Like what I did. You know they have the little time column on the left. So I just like went down on that day. And wrote down all the things I did. Basically my excuses for not writing in my cousin. I wrote in my cousin. So I felt pretty good about that. In the end I kept you know my pen of the day going on. You know I wrote my little pen review. Drew my little pen in there. Yesterday it was the shown pen I've used. So I've done nine days in my Tetra. I've used a different pen for each day. And write a little review. Draw the pen at the end of that. I'll take a picture of that. I did one. There's one on my Instagram right now. From like the first day I did it I think. And you know I wrote my song of the day. In there. And like I felt pretty good about it. But it's a slippery slope right. If you start missing days. And having to catch up on subsequent days. You're going to find yourself in a bad spot right. Like it's going to. It's going to go south quickly. So I actually had guilt. And wanted to write in here. Which I felt pretty good about. Like I committed to this. And I want to keep it going. So I made it happen. Even though I technically. Didn't write in it yesterday. I got yesterday's page. You know. Down with some information. It doesn't have to be a full page. It could just be a few things. And you know got my pen review in. And I feel pretty good about it in the end. But I do understand how slippery that slope is. Once you start mentioning two or three days. And try to catch up on that. That's what would get me on the techo. Right. It would be like. Well I skip these days. And you know. Well just do I start on a random Wednesday. And pick it back up again. Well of course you do. But you're always hesitant to. The other thing I found. Was the weekend. So.

Brad Dowdy: I wasn't quite as sure what to write. On the weekend days. And I'm not going to take them. As. Like seriously. As I take Monday through Friday. But I'm going to write things down. You know. Every. Every weekend. Maybe I do. Like a weekly recap. On Saturday. And a weekly planning on Sunday. I haven't totally figured them out. But they did get their own pen reviews. They got a bunch of notes. That I wrote in there. And just more. They got more. Life stuff. In there. Like what we did this weekend. Things like that. Whereas the weekday stuff. Talks more about like. Stationary stuff. And you know. Work stuff. And pen addict stuff. And blog stuff. Things like that. So. Do you feel.

Myke Hurley: Like. You're having to force it.

Brad Dowdy: Not yet. No. But yesterday. I panicked a little bit. Like. I've got to make myself. Go do this. Things. But the thing is. I wanted to. Right. I didn't feel. Forced to do it. Because I wanted to do it. I just couldn't find time yesterday. So I circled back this morning. So. You know. I.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sure I'll miss days. At some point. It's just going to happen. So I just want to. Not get bogged down. In doing that. And just pick right back up. And keep going. So. You know. We'll see. But. I feel really good about it.

Brad Dowdy: So. On that note. There was a. Link. That was shared. By our good friend. Chad Doan. At Doan Paper. He was in the. Seven journals. For keeping tabs. On 2018. On cool material. Which they all. They've always been. Into stationery. Pretty much. So we're going to put this link. In the show notes. They have a. They do a good job. Of staying on top of things. Like what's current. Like this was a really good list. Like. The word notebook. Standard memorandum. Which I tried once. That is just way too small. For me. To write down. On any of those. Little. Little dates. That they have in there. But it's beautiful. And John Contino. Does the covers. And he's awesome. Then they had the. Doan Paper. Utility notebook. Which is just a basic notebook. They had the. Write notepads. Pocket ledger. Which is just a fantastic. I got to get one of these. Black cover. Ones. I really like. Their pocket ledger. They had the. Baron Fig Vanguard. Which is probably. Their single best product. The soft cover. Notebook. That and the confident. Or like. The top two products. That they have. The Vanguard. Being the smaller. Softer. Pocketable one. The only one. I didn't. Think was a great. Addition to this list. Was the right. In the rain. Pocket. Which. That's an awesome. Notebook. But. I wouldn't recommend. Anyone doing their. Yearly planning. You put that in your.

Myke Hurley: Swimming bag. Or in the shower. Yeah. That's all it's for. Like. You don't sit and use that thing every day.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And then the. Leuchtturm. White lines combo. Which I've seen. I haven't bought that one yet. I don't really have any. Interest in buying that one. It's Leuchtturm. With the white lines. And there's an app. And digitizing. And things like that. Maybe it's something to play with. Around with. Then the last one was the. Moleskine. Kaya journal. Which I wouldn't recommend those at all. Those are. Small. I'd get. You know. Field notes. Write notepads. Story supply. I'd get 800 things. Before I bought that one. But overall. This was a pretty good list. From. From cool material. I just wanted to point that out. If anyone's still looking for. Any journals to use. For the upcoming year.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Idina wanted a planner. Oh. Okay. Like a new weekly. Planner dealio. And I went with.

Myke Hurley: Leuchtturm 1917's. Weekly planner. Oh cool. I figured that might be a good. Option for her. She. I bought that one last year. That was that Kickstarter project. From the. I think it's a lady in Australia. Who makes them. Yeah. What are they called? It's like plants. Yeah. I can't remember the name of it. Off the top of my head. I'll find it. I know what you're talking about. Right. She liked that book. But found it to be too big. It is like. Like. A peculiar. Square size. Like it's. It's. Rather large. So. We were kind of looking through some stuff. And I was like. Well this is a more standard size. It's an A5 size. So. She's going to try that out for a bit.

Brad Dowdy: Cool. Cool. I'll be interested. We'll have to get some feedback. And see if it sticks. If it's got some stick-to-itiveness.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Rotaring Pencils

Brad Dowdy: All right. So I wanted to. Go back to a topic. That we have discussed. Primarily.

Brad Dowdy: Around. What you were using. At some point last year. You were a. Heavy. Rotaring 600 user. And that got me to thinking. Were you still using. That pencil. Like you were on a hardcore. Kick. That was the only thing you were using for a while. Right. Am I. I'm not misremembering that. Am I. No.

Myke Hurley: That was.

Brad Dowdy: That was correct. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And has that kick continued.

Myke Hurley: No. I mean. I don't use it every day. But I do use it. Quite frequently. And it is. If I was ever going to use a pencil. I go for the Rotaring 600. Because I think it's the best one.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I. I don't argue with that. But I've gotten into this. Whole. Kickstarter. Mechanical pencil world. The. You know. Custom makers. Machined. Pencil bodies. And. I've. I've got. A couple new ones here. One. Is the. Urban survival gear. TI scribe. Pencil. Which. Kelvin. At. Urban survival gear. Makes some really. Cool. Quality stuff. And this is a nice. Titanium. Barreled. Pen. That I. I supported on Kickstarter. And I like it. It's got a nice build. It's not really. You know. You know. Rotaring 600 ish. But. It's comfortable. It feels good. It's got a good clicking mechanism. That he. Kind of. Integrated into. The. Pencil barrel. Himself. So it's got like a Schmidt. Internals. But it doesn't use the standard. Clicking cap mechanism. It has a clip. Click. That he designed. And it's a fully. Titanium. It's really nice. And then I saw. Mr. Dudek. Over at. The Clicky Post. Reviewed one. Called the spoke mechanical pencil. And I remember seeing these for a while. And they didn't really speak to me. They've gone through a few different iterations. Design iterations. But this latest one. I was like. That's the one. I was like. That's the one I need. So. I was actually writing up. Myke's review. Of his spoke pencil model for. For. Refill. A couple weeks ago. And. I just stopped in the middle of it. And went and ordered one. So what this pencil is. Is. And I didn't even realize it at the time. I was just so fascinated with. By how it looked. It's built around the Pentel P series. Mechanical pencil. Which is one of the classic. Mechanical pencil designs ever. Like. If you. Just do a Google search for. Pentel P205. Or 207. You'll go. Oh. I know that pencil. Like. Everyone knows that pencil. But. You don't see that in the spoke pencil. Except in the. Nose cone. In the click mechanism. He's wrapped it.

Brad Dowdy: You know. With the. Different design. And. Different grip section. It's just. Really cool. Really lightweight. It's. This is something. I'm going to get. A heck of a lot. Of use. Out of. And I was wondering. What you think. Of either of these. Like. Types of pencils. Would you. Even consider something. Over the roturing. Like. These two pencils. This not your thing at all. You're good with the roturing. And that's it. And then. Second to that. Do you use a retro 51 pencil. Because those. I do not like. So. I don't like. That's a lot of questions. For you.

Myke Hurley: Very much. I don't know why. I would use that. Over a roturing. When like. They effectively. Ape the design. Right. Like it's. Right. It is. It is. A very. Very similar design. And. I don't know. Why. I would want to use that. When the roturing. Is superior for me. It's just nicer. It just feels. I can't explain it. It just feels. Nicer. I'm ordering. One of these. Spoke pencils. Because it looks incredible.

Brad Dowdy: It looks so good. Are you familiar. With the Pentel P series. Like when I say that. I don't think so. If you looked it up. Okay. You'd probably know it. It's the pencil. I used to steal from my dad's office. When I was a kid. Right. That was what they stocked. And they still make them. They're still popular in Japan. They do custom barrels. And I've gotten a couple of them. Over the years. Because they make really neat colors. But the design and shape. Doesn't change. It's a. Complete classic. And. I think these. This spoke one. Did a really. Really good job. Of wrapping that around. I tend to find myself. Carrying the. The TI Scribe. A little bit more. Because it feels. You know. It's that titanium barrel. It feels. Like I can just throw it in a. Pocket or a bag. And you know. Nothing's gonna. Affect this at all. And I have the mechanical pencil. With me. But even. Out of those two. The one. Pencil I use the most. Is kind of. A. I don't know. If you even call. Clutch pencils. Mechanical pencils. You know. They have mechanics. But it's just. Because it opens up. And then clutches onto the lead. It's closer to a. A wood case pencil. In tip size. Right. You use like a 2.0 millimeter lead. But I. The most. Mechanical type. Pencil. I use. Is the cron dash. Fix pencil. Like. It's beautiful. That I think. I think you would actually. Enjoy. Yeah. I think you would enjoy. One of those. You know. They're not. They start about 20 bucks. Like the one I got. Was a limited edition one. I think I paid about 40 bucks for it. But it was worth every penny. And it's probably. One of my most carried. Products. All across the board. Pen. Pencil. Paper. Anything. It's just one of those pencils. I always have with me. Because. It has the little sharpener. Built into the cap. So you don't have to take anything with you. If you need to sharpen it. So. Anyway. I. You know. We have these. Dalliances. Outside of the. Fountain pen world. Quite often. And mechanical pencils. Of. Or one of my. First fascinations. When I was a kid. Because you could actually get some. Really cool stuff. You know. In the 70s and 80s. When. You know. Pens were kind of lame. You could get some pretty awesome. Engineering mechanical pencils. Right. That was super common. So I've always had a soft spot. For mechanical pencils. In my life. And. These new designs. Like we see from. Urban survival gear. Or spoke. Or anyone else. Making mechanical pencils. Are kind of. Right up my alley. And I'm going to keep. I'm going to keep buying these. Because. I like them.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. This. I like this. I like the fact. That it has the little. Stand. And it. I like that you can customize. What you want it to look like. I chose. Stainless steel grip. And black. Anodized body. Because I think. Yeah. So I have. Very cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I have stainless. And red. It was actually. Kind of a hard decision. Because they all look really good. So. There's probably more than one. In my future. We'll see.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we take a break?

Harry's Products

Brad Dowdy: We should. Because there's more than one. Harry's product. In my future. Myke. I just placed an order. This morning.

Myke Hurley: Well look at you. It's a new year. So it's time for some changes. In our lives. So why not. Get started. Using Harry's. Be smarter with your finances. Frequent shavers. Can save up to a hundred dollars a year. Using Harry's. And why not. Take care of yourself better as well. Harry's have won countless awards. Because they make you feel. Look. And stay awesome. Every day. Harry's founders. Jeff and Andy. Decided to create Harry's. Because they were fed up. Overpriced razors. And they wanted to fix it. They stripped out. All the unnecessary features. There's no vibrating handle. There's no heating blades. And they also cut. The unnecessary costs. Allowing them to deliver. One perfect razor. At an amazing price. They offer high quality blades. At half the price. You pay just two dollars. Per blade. With Harry's. And all of their products. Are backed. With a 100% quality guarantee. So what is in your future Brad?

Brad Dowdy: Underwear Myke.

Myke Hurley: Interesting. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: They have boxer shorts. So I went on. I was doing the show notes. This morning. And you had already put the sponsors in. And I saw Harry's. And I remembered. I forgot to go order. The travel stuff. That I needed. From Harry's. So I said. Oh. Let me go do this right now. So I went and ordered. The travel size. Shave cream. That I. That I get. And an extra pack of blades. And then I'm clicking through. And I see. Boxer shorts. And I was. I saw the pattern. And I'm like. I'm all in. So I ordered Harry's. Underwear. Myke.

Myke Hurley: This is a new one. I didn't know about this. I don't see it on the. On the UK website. So it must just be. A US thing. But I'm. Yeah. Very pleased. That as long. As well as having your face smell real good. And all that stuff that you love. Yeah. That you're going to get some nice boxes out of this too.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I have a confession to make too. I thought their mascot was an elephant. But it's actually a woolly mammoth. Yeah. Of course it is. Because a woolly mammoth is so hairy. Right? Well. Yeah. I mean. I'm just stupid. And what elephant do you know that has tusks? I don't know. Like that. An elephant has tusks. You know. They can get like the pointy. Well. I saw him this morning. But this is significant. I know. It was a confession. See. This is confessional. Myke. And I confess that I thought it was an elephant. Until I saw. Wow. That elephant on the boxer shorts. Sure is aggressive looking. Well. There you go. And I was like. Oh. It's a woolly mammoth. You're an idiot.

Harry's Sponsor

Myke Hurley: So. There you go. That's what we found out today. Over at harrys.com. Where you should go as well. Because if you go to harrys.com. Slash pen addict. Right now. You're going to get. Harry's free trial set. For free. You just need to cover the shipping. They're so confident. That you're going to love their stuff. They're going to give you $13 worth of Harry's gear. For free. You just pay the shipping. Go to harrys.com. Slash pen addict. Right now. And get started. And thanks to Harry's. For their continued support. Of this show. And Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: Alright. We got some good ass TPA. This week. First one from Paper Amour.

Myke Hurley: Oh wow. Did I say that?

Brad Dowdy: Did you like how I said that?

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Well I would have just said Ama.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah. Giyosh.

Brad Dowdy: That's for Robo Jim in the chat room. He knows. He knows what's up. Alright. So Paper Amour says. I love the nib on my Kaweco Lily put. But it's too small for me to write comfortably. And requires a significant number of turns. To uncap and post. Does the Kaweco nib swap. And or is there a different body you'd recommend based on those issues? Hashtag ass TPA. So. The Lily put nib does swap into the classic sport. AL sport. Any of those different models. It's the same size nib. Same nib unit. Same threading. You just literally unscrew the whole thing out. And put it in one of your other Kawecos. It doesn't swap super easily. Into other pens. Like you could swap it into like a Franklin Kristoff. But that's. Imagine that's not what you're going. Going for here. But you can get the bigger barrel Kawecos. Like I would try the classic. Or the sport. They have about half the amount of thread turns. As the Lily put does. I think. It's still a little bit. But it's not quite as many as the Lily put. It's definitely wider. It's essentially a full size pin. When it's uncapped and posted. You know. The grip section's wide. The barrel's wide. The barrel's long. It's just pocketable when it's closed. So it's a very traditional. Writing instrument. When the cap is posted. So. And if you like that nib. And Paper Moore sent another tweet saying. I must be one of the lucky ones. I got a good Kaweco nib. So I want to keep the nib going. But. Try a different barrel. Yes. You can swap that nib. Into different barrels. Which is what I do for all my Kawecos. I have two or three nibs. That I know. Are the best. And I never have more than one Kaweco inked up. So I'll just decide which one I'm going to ink up. Move a nib over. It's literally as much as unscrewing. The entire nib section. Right from the front of the pen. I actually had. One of my favorite posts I ever did. On the Pen Attic blog. We'll have to go look this up. Was how to change a Kaweco nib. Because I didn't know. At the time. Right. When you're new to fountain pens. All of it's scary. Just popping an ink cartridge in. To a pen is scary. I had no idea. That the Kaweco.

Brad Dowdy: Nibs. You could just unscrew them from the barrel. And move them into another one. So yeah. You can swap those around pretty easily. It's what I do. And it should work out well for you.

Brad Dowdy: So Kim N21 on Twitter asks. I seem to recall that the Pilot Juice refills. And the G2 refills are the same. Well either of those work in the Ink Joy gel pens. I like the barrels on the Ink Joy. But really want the extra fine tips from the G2 pens. And the color selection from the Juice. I need to test this out. First I'm going to have to steal an Ink Joy from my wife. She hoards them. I buy them for her. And then they vanish. Like I don't. I couldn't tell you where a single one of these are. I don't know if she keeps them in the car. Keeps them at work. You know. Keeps them in her desk. Like hidden away from me. I don't. I've probably bought her a dozen in the past couple of months. I don't know where a single one of those are. So I looked for it today before the show. Couldn't find one to see if they swapped in. So I will find one this afternoon and get back to you on Twitter. And see if that swaps in. It'd be nice if they did. The Ink Joy does a very good job. The first Paper Mate product in years. The Ink Joy gel. That is. The Ink Joy ballpoints are not good. The first iteration of the Ink Joys were not good. So we'll see. Supernat had a panic attack mic. She wants to know. Is it hard to get shimmer out of a vanishing point? I recently inked mine with. I recently inked mine with G. Herbon Amethyst Lural. Without thinking. And now I'm terrified.

Myke Hurley: I've done it. I've done it. I've done it. Like I've put it in to silly pens. I've done it. So don't feel bad Supernat. We've all made this mistake I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And honestly. The vanishing point nib units. Are pretty easy to clean. I don't know that they're. Something I would want to leave in there very long. Because they're very tiny. I don't know what gets stuck in there. But I've never had an issue cleaning normal ink out of there. But it is small. So I wonder a little bit. But I would go. Go ahead and kind of. Maybe clean that out. It's not going to do any damage or anything like that. And I think the G. Airborne inks. Clean out pretty well. You're not going to really have any issue. Getting it fully clean. But this is one. Pen that I clean. That is almost mandatory aspirator. Right. Like get. Add nasal aspirators. To your ink cleaning kit. If not. If you own a pilot vanishing point. Because of the way. That nib units designed. It's hard to flush water. In there very forcefully. Without shoving down. Like a nasal aspirator in there. To really pressure it through. And then it's very easy. So. If you don't have one already. Get one. So this one's for you Myke. This is from Ari Thornton. Have you tried the Sailor 1911 lefty? Any noticeable difference in writing from a regular? So. You don't have the 1911. But you got the. You got a lefty grind. On your recent bung box pen. And I don't know that we covered that. You mentioned it. That you had it. But I don't know that we talked about. You actually using it. And could you tell a difference. As a lefty. With that type of grind. I couldn't tell any difference.

Myke Hurley: Okay. The grind. I don't know if it was like specific. For Haki. Who I bought it from. But it doesn't feel. And I don't really feel any difference to it. Specifically. Okay. I didn't know the Sailor 1911 lefty. existed until DC. And I wanted to try it. But that booth at DC. Is just felt way too professional. And I was like. Apprehensive of going over. And trying stuff out. It was like way too. They had. You know. They had all the signs. And the glass cases. And it was just all felt too aggressive.

Brad Dowdy: Hold that thought.

Myke Hurley: We're going to talk about that next. Okay. It was a bit like. I don't. I didn't. You know. And so. I just never got around to it. Because. It was never like. Empty when I wanted it to be. So. I've never tried it. Um.

Myke Hurley: The problem with being left handed. Is there are many different types of being left handed. And so I. Yes. I am. I raise an eyebrow. A left handed pen. Because it's like. Well. How do you write. Like. There seems to be a lot more variation. In left handed people. Than right handed people. About the way that you hold. And drag the pen. So. I don't know. I mean. I would be more inclined. To say to you. To like. Buy a Sailor 1911. Take it to a show. Go to somebody. Who grinds a pen. Who's good. Show them how you write. And let them do it for you. Yeah. That would be my advice.

Brad Dowdy: Wonderful. Advice. I have one. Oblique nib. For a right hander. A right handed oblique nib. I completely enjoy. Writing with it. If you gave me. Some kind of blind test. With. A traditional stub nib. That I write with. I'm not going to notice. Like. It's not. Required. By any stretch. Of the imagination. It's. A nice. Neat thing. I love. This oblique nib. That I have. But. You know. Any. It's. I bought it. Because I. I love the pen. That it came in. And it was a good deal. If it didn't have an oblique nib. I still would have bought the pen. Right. And gotten it stubbed. Or something like that. So. It was kind of a nice to have. But. It doesn't. Completely change your writing. Or anything like that. I guess is the best way to put it.

Pen Show Advice

Brad Dowdy: Alright. So you had. Some intimidation. At a pen show. And. This question. From. Joe Casabona. Says. I know you've probably covered this before. But I think I'm going to go to the Philly pen show. Any tips for making the most out of it. And not breaking the bank. So Joe. I would. Just a little quick shout out. I'm going to be on Joe's. How it's built. Podcast. Here soon. We've already recorded. Like a month ago. He's starting to roll some out. He had one recently. With Myke Rohde. That I have queued up. And I will be listening to that. Pretty soon. But. Philly pen show. Is. Without being there. But just hearing from. All of my friends. Who go to that show. Has to be one of the most. Newbie friendly shows. To go to. Like the crowd is younger. The promoters are younger. The promoters. You know. Kind of. You know. Know what's going on. In the social media world. And there's always lots of help there. There's always people. Available to ask questions to. It's very very neat. To see that at a show. And. The tips. Are pretty standard. You know. I. We haven't gone through. Like our. Our pen show. You know. Tips before. For this year. We've done it in previous shows. I know with Anna. On. We've done like. You know. Pen show 101. Type of stuff. But. Basically. It boils down to. Ask before you touch. You know. Everyone is very. Happy to let you. Hold the pens. You know. Take a look at the pens. Take a close look at the pens. But ask. Say. Hey. Can I pick this pen up. And take a look at it. And they're sure. If you have any question. On how to open it. Say. Hey. Is this a twist. Or a pull. And they'll tell you. It's a twist. You know. Or whatever. How to get it open. Don't go crazy. Don't go. You know. You know.

Brad Dowdy: Pressing the pen down. On. You know. Pages. And things like that. You know. Right out. Right out the gate. But you know. Inquire about the pen. It's. Everyone's always happy to help. You know. New vendors. Old vendors. Everyone there. You know. Wants to talk about pens. So don't hesitate to ask questions. And.

Brad Dowdy: Remember to eat. And drink. That's one that we always get caught up on. Even attending the show. You kind of get overwhelmed. Even if it's a small show. You get overwhelmed. And you lose track of time and hours. And realize you've been standing for a while. And haven't ate or drank anything. You're going to feel bad in the afternoon. Um. That's. Top. You know. One or two pieces of information. For attending a pen show. If you're. Especially if you're going to be there all day. Um. And just have fun. Like. Take it all in. Right. Don't go with the intention of. Spending money. Or I have to get this. Go in the door. Walk around. Take it all in. For the first hour or so. And. Just kind of get the lay of the land. Feel the show. You know. Talk to a few people. You know. Check out something. You know. On your wish list. That you might. Be looking for. And. Just have fun. And be sure to talk to people. And. Take a peek at the bar. There are always people hanging around the bar. You know. Looking at pens. Um. Trying things out. So. Think of it as more of a social event. And. You'll have a real good time. I think. Couldn't agree more with that. There's lots of little things. You know. You can. You can do. And. We'll. We'll find the link in the show notes too. Um. You know. Doing. Uh. The pen show 101. And our friends at the BYOB podcast. I think episode number eight. Kind of covered there. You know. What to do with a fountain pen show. We'll put a link in the show notes to that. Um. So you can get a listen. Because. Phillies this week. Man. I'm anxious to see. All of the. Uh. The Instagram. Action on that. And hear about it in the. Uh. The slack room. This last one. This week. Cy. Rose. Has a really awesome question. That I can't answer. But. This is for the listeners. And I want y'all to bring it in. And. You know. Get us some answers for this. Because I know. The answer is yes. I'm curious if any pen addict service members. Have taken a fountain pen. And paper combo. On a deployment. If so. What did you bring? So. So. Let us know. Get in touch with me on Twitter. Um. I know. A couple. Of. Good friends and followers. Are in the servers. I know. Several of them have been deployed. Because I've watched them go from. Here to there. Many times. And continue to. Um. Write with fountain pens. Uh. You know. Our. Our good friend. Austin. At Farrell's Barkley. On Instagram. You can follow him. He's a. One I know. That's very. Very much. Into. Pens. And writing. And has been all over the world. So. Get in touch with me. Hello. At penaddict.com. Reach out on Twitter. I'd be curious. To know. What you took. What your loadout was like. Because I'm sure you can't bring too much. But. Can you. Get in some pen and paper. And some stationary goods. Uh. Especially fountain pens. And what did you bring? I'd love to hear it.

Myke Hurley: Alright. If you want to submit a question. For. The show. Just tweet with the hashtag. Ask TPA. And you can do that. They go into a document. And we'll pick them out. For later episodes. If you want to find the show notes. For this week. Go to relay.fm. Slash penaddict. Slash 290. Brad is over at penaddict.com. And knock.co. He is dowdyism on Twitter. Penaddict on Instagram. I am imike. I am yke. Thanks again. To Squarespace. And Harry's. For supporting the show. But most of all. Thank you. For tuning in. And we'll be back. Next week. Until then. Say goodbye Brad. Goodbye Brad. Let's go.