The Pen Addict 86/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	86
Title:	We Have Bingo!
Release Date:	December 23rd, 2013
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	Mike Dudek
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 86
Audio File:	Audio Episode 86
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 86
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: Hello and welcome to episode 86 of The Pen Addict podcast, a weekly show where we discuss pens, paper, and the analogue tools that we love so dearly. My name is Myke Hurley, and in a move where I'm slightly concerned about the root of the show going forward, we have another guest this week.

Myke Hurley: My two gentlemen today would fit perfectly in a groove together. It's Mr. Brad Dowdy and Mr. Myke Dudek. Nice. So I feel like you're trying to push me out, Brad. No. Every week you're bringing guests onto the show now. What's happening? Not at all.

Brad Dowdy: Not at all. Hey, it's a credit to you that the show keeps growing, the audience is getting wider, and they want to hear more people on the show, and I think it's an only good thing. And the sooner you're off the show, the better.

Myke Hurley: I wasn't expecting you to go that way.

Brad Dowdy: Did I say that out loud?

Myke Hurley: Well, it's like in the last five episodes, three of them have had a guest.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, at least. I mean, people want to hear other voices than ours and hear good stories and cool ideas and good bloggers like we have today and Mr. Myke Dudek. So it's all good, and you're not going anywhere, Myke. Good. Good. Yeah. I'll keep you around. You're not getting rid of me. No. Seeing that the show probably wouldn't happen without you. So how are you, sir? I am very well. I'm excited for today's show. Ready for Christmas? No. No. Yeah, we are recording on a Monday, by the way, which I guess I forgot to remind people today, but we reminded them last week. Hey, it'll be a surprise. Yeah, it'll be an early Christmas present from us to the listeners.

Myke Hurley: And we're recording on Monday next week, too, because otherwise it will be an interesting episode.

Brad Dowdy: That would be an awesome episode because it would be Tuesday about an hour or two before midnight, New Year's Eve. That might have gone down as the greatest episode in Pen Addict podcast history. We'll never know, will we? Never know.

Myke Hurley: No. We're counting the New Year together.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. That would be special in its own kind of way.

Myke Hurley: Oh, I just had a terrible joke to comment about. I'm going to do it anyway. So we get ready to count in the New Year. Pen, nine. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, so let me save you. Let me save you. There's a reason you have to chop me off this show. Yeah, exactly.

Pen Addict Bingo

Brad Dowdy: It's becoming obvious. One of our listeners last week, like right after we posted last week's episode, did maybe the single most awesome thing I have seen since we've been doing this podcast. Mr. John Hume, one of your countrymen.

Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: He's at Humdini on Twitter. He sent us a link after last week's show, and I about fell out. Me too. When I saw it. He said, the tweet says, checking out episode 85 and following along with Pen Addict Podcast Bingo. And he made his own bingo card for our episode, which features blocks you can, bingo blocks you can fill out, like TWSBI 540, ROC, Visionaire, Field Notes, Retro 51, Kickstarter. And you check all these things off to make your bingo. He actually, he bingoed on, let's see, he bingoed on TWSBI 540, ROC, Vanishing Point. He got the free bingo spot, High Tech Sea, and Lamy Safari.

Myke Hurley: I like some of them. So, Brad promises to review something. That was funny. And Myke makes a lusty noise.

Myke Hurley: Oh, dear. Even Ed Jelly's got his own spot on the board.

Brad Dowdy: Ed's got his own block. Everyone should strive to have their own Pen Addict Podcast bingo block. I know. That's Moleskine paper sucks.

Myke Hurley: This is excellent. Like, not only do I encourage people to go and check it out, because we've got it in the show notes. You can get those at 5by5.tv slash Pen Addict slash, what episode are we on? 86. 86. But also, you know, so yeah, please go and find it for yourself. Play along for yourself. I encourage John to continue making more. And all of you guys as well. Like, if this is something that you enjoy, maybe make your own boards and send them in. I think it's very funny. Or I would love people to send in pictures of their bingo boards after they listen to the show.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and John didn't just handwrite it. This is like, he laid this out, you know, in a document, like a PDF. Like, you know, it's got squares. It's all printed out. It's all computerized. It's not, like, handwritten. He did a good job. This thing, it looks pretty legit. Yeah. It's like, we should do something. We should work with John to provide the file to listeners or something like that on the, like a downloads page or something like that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I have a PDF. Okay, cool. He sent me a PDF, so it's in the show notes. That's awesome. That's awesome.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so print it out and play along. And then we'll have to update it as we go. But this is pretty solid. I don't know if I would add anything to it. I'll have to think of something. But yeah, Myke makes a lusty noise. God, that's great.

Myke Hurley: Talk about lusty noises. I made a mistake last week with the show notes. I didn't include a link to the Rotofaden Tashkinderberg lighter.

Myke Hurley: The case that I have for my iPad that I spoke about for a bit. I forgot to include a link. So I've updated last week's show notes. But I'll also include a link to the Rotofaden website in this week's show notes as well. In case you wanted to check out the case I was talking about. Because I had a couple of people that wanted to look at it or buy one for themselves. And I forgot to include the link to the Tashkinderberg lighter. And apparently I pronounced that pretty well, I've been told.

Brad Dowdy: Good. Good job. Yeah, and it's well worth checking out. So it's a pretty unique thing that they're doing. So, cool.

Pelican Nib

Myke Hurley: And I mentioned last week that I bought a medium gold nib for my Pelican. Yes, sir. And I couldn't be happier. Good. It's fantastic. I've been enjoying. It's the only pen I've used since I received the nib. And I received the nib like the day after the show last week.

Myke Hurley: It's really, really smooth. I haven't had a lot of problem with ink drying times because it's a medium nib. And I've been using the Hiroshizuku. There's another check on the board for you. Interestingly, I don't really know what this says about me and you. But other podcasts have drinking games, but we have bingo. I don't know.

Myke Hurley: I don't know what that says about us.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I mean, it's a podcast about pens, all right? So, I mean, we're already one foot into the grave.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, so I've been using the Hiroshizuku Fuyugaki ink, which is the orange one that I've spoken about a bunch of times. So, the ink drying is fine. There's actually no more bleed through, really, than there was using the extra fine nib, which is interesting. There is one thing that I've noticed, and I know that there's a technical term for this that I don't know. But on the nib itself, like, not at the point, like, higher up towards, like, where it meets the pen, there's, like, ink there, like, spotted on there. Quite a lot. What is that called?

Brad Dowdy: That's a good question. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, like, on the front of the nib. Yeah. Nib creep. Nib creep, that's it.

Myke Hurley: That's what I was talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, creep, like, it comes in, like, along, like, the tine line. Yeah. Is that what you're talking about?

Myke Hurley: But it goes up a little bit further, too.

Brad Dowdy: Hmm.

Myke Hurley: I don't know. Maybe it's quite long.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: And it tends to be, there tends to be some ink on there. It's never so much that it's a problem, but it's just not all of, like, for example, the TWSBI 540 ROC doesn't, it doesn't. We need a bell. Ding! I think I can play, I can play some noises like that, but.

Myke Hurley: Let me see it happen again. It doesn't happen on most of my other pants, but it does on this one. And is it also happening on the extra fine nib as well? I don't know if it's just something that, I don't know if it's a Pelican thing. I mean, it's not an issue, but it's just something that I've noticed.

Brad Dowdy: My Pelicans don't do that, but, I mean, I have some nibs that are more prone to doing that than others, just out of nature. I don't know the exact reason why. I don't have that issue with the Pelicans, though. But I do notice on, some are definitely more prone to having that creep, or, you know, I mean, if, you know, fountain pens can be so delicate, even, like, the slightest little bump or anything will, you know, throw a spot of ink out on the nib sometimes. So, you know, it could be anything. But, you know, I just make sure the Pelicans are really, really simply made. So, I just make sure that the, you know, the nib screwed in, screwed in firmly, and that, you know, the piston's fully closed and tightened, and you should be in good shape. Yeah. I don't know that it's too much.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, it could be that I'm throwing it in a bag and stuff like that. It could be a combination with the ink as well. Maybe the ink is, I don't know. Yeah. It's not an issue, but it's just an observation. Sure. But overall, I'm really, really happy with it. Have you tried the Cold Horizons yet?

Brad Dowdy: I haven't. I'm kind of scared.

Myke Hurley: I want you to, because I know. I'm not, I don't know what's happening. It feels like this paper's very different to me.

Brad Dowdy: All right, so you're still having issues. And I saw Ed Jelly was posted a pic today where his cover's, like, totally mangled, like cracking and... That sort of stuff doesn't bother me. In all kinds of weird ways.

Myke Hurley: I haven't got that at all, but... Okay. All right. I'm just seeing more. I'm sure that the paper's bleeding through more than previous editions.

New Notebook

Brad Dowdy: I will break it out today. Thank you. Because I am... I wonder if I'm going mad or not. No, I'm due for a new notebook. Right.

Myke Hurley: Shall we... Shall we take a quick break and then talk to the dude?

Brad Dowdy: Let's dude. Let's dude it. Oh, dear lord.

Myke Hurley: This episode of the Panatic Podcast is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code TALLYHO12. Squarespace are constantly updating their platform with new features, designs, and more support. They have beautiful templates for you to start with and tons of style options to adjust, craft, and tweak so you can really create your own space online. They take care of hosting, SEO, and even make your site automatically look fantastic on any device. It's incredibly easy to use, but if you need any help, they have over 70 dedicated employees that are on their customer care team, which are based in New York City. Squarespace truly cares about design and it shows throughout their whole website from the way that their public website looks to the way that your websites will look and to the way that they look on the back end as well when you're updating posts and making changes to your site. Last week, we spoke about people trying to set up blogs for themselves. You know, when we were talking a lot about that, we've had people get in contact with us and say that they're going to be signing their own pen blogs, which is awesome. Personally, I suggest and recommend Squarespace. I personally recommend them. I've been using them for years. I have mikehurley.net there. I even updated my field notes page today with some of my additions that I've got recently. I have a special field notes page that I do and it takes minutes for me to just take the photos, drag and drop them into a new block and then I can resize them and add a little caption as well. It's very easy for me to do and I can just drag and drop them around the page. I build my pages in Squarespace the way that I would want to. I don't need any coding knowledge or anything like that. It's literally dragging and dropping stuff around in the web browser, which is awesome. I use them, Brad uses them, and the dude uses them too. So we're going to talk about his blog in a bit. So Myke Dudek is also a Squarespace customer. And I would hazard to say we're all very happy. As I said earlier, you can try Squarespace for free. There's no credit card required to do it. And if you decide to purchase, their plans start at just $8 a month and include a domain name if you sign up for a year. So you really get the whole package. Don't forget that you're going to get 10% off and support The Pen Addict if you use the code Tallyho12. That's T-A-L-L-Y-H-O-1-2. So thank you to Squarespace for supporting 5x5, The Pen Addict, and me and Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Thank you. Awesome. Thank you, Squarespace. And one quick thing before we move on to Myke. Since we did the blogging episode with Ed, I've had at least two or three people flat out start blogs since that episode and email me to say, hey, thanks for doing that. That really helped out a lot. Here's the link to my new blog. And that's been some pretty cool feedback that I don't think was necessarily expected by me.

Brad Dowdy: I wasn't sure about that episode to begin with, if it kind of fit in with everything else. But I think it's turned out to be a pretty good resource for people. And I've gotten lots of really good feedback from that. So keep those questions coming in if people still have questions about starting a blog and things like that.

Myke Hurley: I mean, I had no doubt that it would fit in because this show came from a blog. A blog was what started it. And this is basically the audio version of the Pen Addict blog with a British person.

Brad Dowdy: I wouldn't have it any other way. All right, Mr. Myke Dudek, how are you, sir? Excellent. How are you guys? Good, good. Glad to get you on the podcast. Myke talks about how I've had so many guests recently, but it's because I like talking to interesting people and people that make me think and people that do good work. And I couldn't imagine having on a better guy than yourself. So thanks for being on today.

Mike Dudek: Well, thanks. I appreciate it. You got it. This isn't a... Definitely to go back from before, we're not trying to interview for Myke's job or anything.

Myke Hurley: Guys, lay off. Yeah. Back off. So Dudek, where do people... I mean, listeners to the show, I reckon, will be familiar with your work. Like, what do you do online that people will know?

Mike Dudek: Well, I started the ClickyPost blog, pen blog, I guess you could say, back... It's only been probably since... I think I officially started that blog in March and then just barely started sort of really getting heavy into it in May, kind of around the same time that you and I, I guess both of you and I got acquainted, I don't know, initially. So it's just kind of interesting how the timing all sort of fell together. But yeah, ClickyPost.com is my blog. I'm definitely a pen addict. So to say the least, yeah.

Myke Hurley: You're one of those guys, like you're like a typical listener at the show where you start listening and you kind of like this sort of stuff. And then as time goes on, you've just become like totally obsessed like the rest of us.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Did you see the picture of his office on Instagram?

Myke Hurley: No, I'll go on it and I'll take a look.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's like loaded up with the... Oh, look at that one. How has your office space changed in the past nine months or whatever? Oh, it's...

Mike Dudek: I mean, I guess we could kind of go back to... Like when I started the blog, I mean, I maybe had a handful of decent pens. You know, I'd always liked pens. Like any other real pen. I love that. Everyone says that.

Myke Hurley: I kind of like pens.

Mike Dudek: I kind of like them.

Myke Hurley: I used to like them a little bit

Mike Dudek: and now they've ruined my life.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Mike Dudek: It's like my marriage is in jeopardy. No. No, but I mean, like most probably pen addict people, you just enjoy certain types of pens and you try different types of pens. And then you end up, you know, on your lunch break sort of perusing pen aisles. And I mean, it starts getting bad. And so you have to either get some intervention or just go straight for it, you know. But that's... No, but my little office area, yeah. I'm even still trying to figure out new solutions for storage. And, you know, Brad, you and I, I think have exchanged some emails or texts about long-term storage. So if you notice in that picture, I have probably like six or seven, you know, cubes and blocks and grooves just going all at the same time for, to just store my own stuff, let alone, you know. So it's, it's, it's madness. It pretty much is.

Myke Hurley: What are, what are cubes and blocks and grooves?

Pen Blogging

Mike Dudek: Oh, I didn't mean to segue. Is that...

Myke Hurley: No, I wanted you to. So this is good.

Mike Dudek: Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, I, as sort of a byproduct of the blog, it gives me a place to kind of record what I'm doing or what I'm up to. And one thing I really like about it is it's kind of like an ongoing journal, I guess you could say, of my pen fanaticism and also little projects that I'm doing along the way. And if you guys, I mean, I guess I, I think back to episode, I was looking it up. It's episode 55 of the podcast when we first kind of connected, I guess you could say. And I sent you guys a couple things. I sent you a, an iPhone speaker, an acoustic iPhone speaker, which I was, I was playing around and tinkering with those for a while and then a little pen holder. But I guess where the cubes and blocks and grooves started is I just found like a scrap piece of walnut at a local lumber yard that I was going to when I was buying some plywood to make some more iPhone speakers. And I thought to myself, well, I could make something kind of cool out of this. And so I took it home and, you know, I went out in the garage in the shop and, and I ended up, you know, kind of making these small little minimalist cubes. And I was looking back, like I said, as a diary on the, on the, the clicky posts. And I noticed that my first presentation of those to the world was on, I think, May 29th, where I just had mentioned, you know, and posted some pictures that, yeah, I was out in the shop working and I put together these little things. And then I, I noticed that by June 10th, which is less than two weeks, I had the clicky trading post, which is my little shop on there up and running. And it, it honestly, like when I initially made those, it didn't even cross my mind necessarily to, to start, I guess you could say my little side business making pen holders. It, it just kind of all flew together really fast. And now it's a big part of kind of who I am and the persona behind the blog. And I don't know, it's just, it's turned out really cool, but I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: So what, what made you like, wake up one day and start this blog to begin with? Like what, um, you know, what was the impetus behind, you know, I'm going to start writing about pens today. You know, I'm going to go buy a domain name and, and see about doing this. Like, how does that, how does that happen? I mean, I know how it happened for me, but like, you know, tell us, tell me about like, just kind of the genesis

Mike Dudek: of the clicky post. It, uh, it's, to be honest with my first, my first go around with pen blogging to honestly wasn't, oddly enough, wasn't the clicky post. I, I had actually played around with a blogger, like a blogger blog, I guess. Yeah. Sorry, that sounded really intelligent. Um, but, uh, no, I had, I had started something a couple of years ago and I think I threw out maybe a post or two, but I, and I can't even recall what I named it. I probably had some interesting name that I had put on it, but it just didn't feel like it was the right time. You know, it didn't feel like I was quite deep enough into it to really, to really start blogging. But, you know, as then I, then I started getting into it more, I would have to say in listening to what you guys do. And I mean, Brad, I've been following penaddict.com for, I don't know, probably four years at least, you know, just kind of keeping, keeping tabs on what you're doing. And it turns into where you, you feel like you need an outlet, I guess you could say, to, to talk about pens, because you can try and do it in the workplace or you can try and do it with family and friends. And you get these like, you know, frilled brows and weird looks from people that, you know, you start going into, into, you know, line widths and, you know, bleeding and, you know, nib sizes and stuff. And you completely lose people and they think you need to check into some sort of institution. But it's, you know, so that's really kind of where it started is I, I just thought to myself, you know, maybe I should really pursue this and, and, and just find a place to just let it out, you know, and talk about it and, and share with other people that I know are kind of like-minded with what I am. So.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I can't believe it's been less than a year. I didn't look back at the, at the dates, but I swear it's, it seems like it's, I don't know, maybe that's, that's testament to how, good of a job I think you do. It feels like it's been around for years, to be honest with you. And, you know, I just, I, how did we even first start talking? I don't even remember. I just, I think I must have stumbled across your blog somehow. And, and then we started talking and I don't know, it's kind of gone on from there.

Mike Dudek: Yeah. Oddly enough, I think it was just, it was when I, I think in April, I reached out to both you and Myke about making you a pen holder just because, as a, I guess you could say as just a means of saying thanks and I appreciate the time that you guys put in to, because this is a huge commitment that you guys do every single week, you know, to put this together and I know lots of people enjoy it. so I had, I guess, some woodworking skills to where I could, I could actually put together something for you guys just to kind of, as like a token of appreciation and that really is kind of what started the dialogue and then, yeah, really from there, it just, you know, episode 55, I guess it was sort of a, a changing direction for the Clicky Post because you guys gave a lot of, a lot of shout out to it, particularly the Delrin Render K that Myke and I get.

Mike Dudek: So it just, I don't know, from there, it just sort of, I think we've just continued on since then. It's been a wild ride ever since, so.

Brad Dowdy: I know Myke, I don't want to speak for Myke, but I think it's fair to say that we were impressed from the get-go with the quality of the cubes and the blocks we got. They're just, they're so cool. I mean, they fit right in with my desk, their style that I like. So yeah, it was, it was easy to share those when it's something so cool and something, you know, handmade, you know, by a reader and listener and now a blogger.

Myke Hurley: Yep, I've got mine here. There it is.

Brad Dowdy: Yes, sir. They're great. They're super fantastic. So you like have a, I mean, essentially a full bore woodworking shop in your garage, I'm guessing, or something like that?

Mike Dudek: Yeah, I've actually, I'd have to say the shop, I don't know, it maybe isn't as sexy as it seems, you know? Sure.

Brad Dowdy: The picture's always sexy. Yeah,

Mike Dudek: I know. Yeah, I try and have some appeal with my shop, but no, it's, I've converted kind of half of my garage into just my woodworking space and my shop space, and I've kind of built all my own sort of portable workbenches to hold my tools and it's been something that's developed over time, but, you know, it didn't come overnight, but it's just a place that I can go out and tinker and kind of have, I don't know, ideas come into reality. I don't know. I've always been kind of a hands-on guy as far as creating things. It's like I moved from what, like the iPhone speakers or I did coin rings for a while, which people thought were pretty cool, and then now into these sort of pen holders, which, it's just fun. I mean, I don't know. It's therapeutic, definitely, to say the least, but it's just, I enjoy it. There's an artistic side of it as well that when I create each individual piece, I mean, it's all hand done. You know, I mean, it's me out there working and, you know, every brand that's put on it is hand-branded. Every sand is hand-sanded, and so when I send them out to people, there's kind of like, I don't know, I'm kind of parting with a gift. I know that they've bought them from me, but it's like I'm exchanging, I don't know, it's like a little piece of artwork every time I send it out, which is, it's kind of a neat experience.

Brad Dowdy: Now, is there a pottery wheel stuck over there in the corner?

Mike Dudek: There's not.

Mike Dudek: Hold the ghost jokes, everybody. Patrick Swayze. But, no, Brad, that's really funny. Brad and I were texting yesterday, and we were talking about kind of show topics and things, and I said, oh, my history as a potter, which is real, actually. So, I know, right? I'm a man of surprises. And, no, I, for actually, all through, all through high school and into college, I took a lot of ceramics classes and ended up, actually, I thought I wanted to go into education and teach ceramics. So, I was pretty deep into it. So, won some awards, got some of my pieces shown. What's kind of neat, I guess you could say, what sort of started my path of where I could create something and have people appreciate it and either, A, want it, or B, want to buy it from me, actually started in high school with my ceramics. I had lots of people that, that's where I sold my, I guess you could say, like my first commission pieces, you know, to make certain vases or water pitchers or things like that that people wanted. And so, it just kind of, maybe you could say it was a time in my life that it built a little bit of confidence around my abilities to sort of create things and have them be, you know, meaningful, meaningful, pieces for people. yeah, it's kind of fun.

Brad Dowdy: I think that background actually shows in making things, you know, like your pen holders because they're, I don't know, they're very well designed and well thought out and, I don't know, it's just the simplistic style of them is, I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain. It's not like a basic wood block, but it's just, it's really cool. It's got a lot to it. So, they're, I don't know, I guess I'm just really impressed that someone, you know, can go out to the garage and end up shipping things like this that they, you know, they've done completely, you know, by themselves. It's a very impressive thing.

Mike Dudek: Well, thanks. Yeah, it's, I don't know if I would call, I'd probably call the style that, that the, the Dudek Modern Goods style is kind of a minimalist because they're all one solid piece, which is a little bit different than the pen holders that I sent you and Myke back in May. Those were pieces that I, I cut angles and they have like a little window inside. And so, I'm not making those, but the ones I have now, all of them through the cube, the block, the groove to the new display that was just, I just released that one just within the last month. What's kind of cool about it and what I like is they all sort of fit in the same family because they're made from, in essence, the same stock of wood. They'll, they'll start from the exact same size and if they're all one solid piece. So, I take the one piece of wood and then you just subtract material to where you end up with, with kind of these different shapes and, and it's, it's fun to work through the process of kind of engineering them and, and coming, coming up with the designs. So, I don't know. I, I enjoy, likewise, it's like they're kind of a modern look because they're very angular and square but at the same time the dark walnut and the sort of satiny finish gives them sort of a timeless look a little bit. Like kind of, it's, it's a piece you could have you know, 50 years from now and it would probably still sort of fit in no matter where you're at. So, it's kind of fun. I don't know. It's, it is hard to explain.

Rotring Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, there's no doubt that it's definitely kind of a, a timeless piece and that, that kind of leads me into my, the, the next path I want to take. One of the things that is a recurring theme on your blog that just makes me drool and, you know, you know, I get called, you know, an enabler for making people spend their money but you have this thing with the road trains where you've gone off the, you've gone off the deep end from, I don't know, how did this road train obsession start and how out of hand is it right now because I, I gotta admit it looks completely out of hand. Yeah,

Mike Dudek: yeah, you're, you're probably spot on with that. I, I'd probably say it's like a borderline rotring sort of illness now, like a, like if there's a syndrome around rotring obsessions ! and purchases, I, I'm definitely affected by it but it's, I, I don't know if I would consider myself with all pen brands to be like a collector of sorts and I know that Brad, you've, you've definitely talked about you don't really feel like you're necessarily a collector. Myke, we know, collects the, the Retro 51. That's a bingo slot by the way. And, so, but, with the rotring, I guess there's a certain side of it that they don't really, there's not really anything like it on the market right now. There's some, some pen companies that try. They really do to sort of capture what some of the vintage rotrings used to be, you know, I mean, they're, they have kind of a, they're like a futuristic but kind of a timeless piece at the same time, particularly the, the 600 series. But, I, yeah, I mean, I look back, I think my first, my first post on Clicky Post was back in May, actually. I think when I posted about the lava ballpoint that I got for a really good deal.

Myke Hurley: I just did it, didn't I? I did it. I made the noise. I want, so bad, I want the fountain pen version of that. Ed Gillian has one. Mm-hmm.

Mike Dudek: I want it so bad. Yeah. I, I have to admit, I ended up getting one of those too. Oh,

Myke Hurley: come on,

Mike Dudek: man. Yeah. We, we can talk, Myke. I can, I can help you come to the decision to buy one. I will help you do that. but,

Myke Hurley: I don't want to have that conversation. They're on eBay.

Mike Dudek: They are. Yeah. And you can find them for pretty good deals. With, with Rotring, the thing is, it's like anything. I, I would even relate it to, okay, go, sorry, going back to the idea of collecting pens. They're really the only brand that I've now sort of found myself collecting is Rotring because, like I said, they don't, most of them are all discontinued models. Like, Rotring ended up being sold to Newell Rubbermaid, which owns brands like Sanford. So, like, Paper Mate. Paper Mate and Rotring are technically under the same umbrella now. Which, you kind of think of the, you look back at those vintage Rotrings and you think like there's sort of a, there's kind of a romanticism to them because they're just so cool and they're so iconic and they're, they look like, you know, an engineer spent hours just drawing and designing them and, you know, they're just, they're really cool pieces and so, not to discount Paper Mate, but to sort of throw them in the same bucket nowadays, kind of, you know, it doesn't have the same savor, I guess you could say, as the previous ones, but there's just a lot of different older models that they, they used to make, particularly the, the 600s. I, I ended up correcting myself because there actually are two different models that people call the 600. I guess if we're going to go into a little Rotring education, is that okay? Yeah,

Brad Dowdy: please. Yeah, I need that education.

Mike Dudek: Yeah, because it's, there's the 600 series, which is the hexagonal barrel, metal barrel, all brass, and they have the knurled ends and the knurled grip and a little twisty top thing to change the, you know, the nib size or the color indicator. And then there's the, the next step after that, which it almost looks identical. Like, if you were to kind of, if like you, you were looking at a glance, you may, you know, you may not be able to tell the difference, but they switched to a model called the Newton, like Isaac Newton, to where it still shared the same hexagonal barrel, but they lost the knurling. The pens were a little bit smaller. And then they eventually, even after the complete takeover by No Rubbermaid, they introduced an additional Newton line that had more rounded edges and like an angled clip. Not clip, cap and barrel connection. So, but yeah, so there's, I mean, the two that get interchanged is the 600 and the first Newton, which Brad, you used to have, I think, one of the black roller balls. Yes. Of that one. That, it technically is a Newton, but people interchange 600 with Newton. So, I would say if you call it a 600, it's not wrong. Unless you're like a hardcore, like, road train enthusiast, which I wouldn't call myself, a hardcore, like, where I'm going to correct somebody. But, it's just one of those things that like, I didn't know until even as, as the past months have passed by that I continue to investigate it. But,

Brad Dowdy: well, yeah, it's one of the most confusing brands on the market. Honestly, anytime I've tried to research it, it's like this rabbit hole where there's no way out. I mean, from the original company to, essentially, a shutdown to rebranding, repurchasing, you know, and just all kinds of things in between. It's hard to kind of track that lineage of the pins and, you know, which were made where, by whom, at what time, and which model, and, you know, which parts and things. It's a very difficult thing to kind of, to kind of track down. So, I know it's a, it's kind of a challenge to kind of newbie roadturing people like myself who are like, I can't tell the difference between all these things and why is this, why is this one $300 and this one looks the same and it's, you know, $60 and things like that. It's tough. It's tough for anyone like trying to get into roadtrings.

Mike Dudek: Well, and the price points on them too are just absolutely crazy because, because you could spend, if you were to just, you know, I, on a whim, decide I want to go on eBay and I want to buy a 600 fountain pen, you know, new old stock, black in an F nib. I could find one probably and drop $350 on one. Somebody's got one listed as a buy it now that has it, I would probably say way overpriced because you could, I mean, if you, if you look for them, you have to kind of scout eBay and sort of understand what you're looking for but, you know, you might be able to get the same pen in an auction for, you know, less than $100 if you really were looking to get one but, I don't know, I think these types of pens, they do have such a, like you said, Brad, like a mystery about them. Like, because of the merger with Newell Rubbermaid, they, there's a lot of information that gets lost, you know, like sort of the lineage gets sort of broken up and, I don't know, people, people just are fascinated by them because of the looks and, and, and sort of the company because, like you say, you can't find really a lot of good info about them. So, it, it blows me away that the new Rotring hasn't pursued more of the traditional line other than, like, their pencils, the 600 and even, like 800 pencils because those are, I mean, those are some of their probably best sellers. Yep. But they, and they're, they're workhorses, they're tanks and people love them but why have they not moved forward with fountain pens and roller balls when, you know, they obviously can do the same research we do and see them for 400 bucks online. Like, to me, that's like red flags of money going up saying we should probably talk to the marketing department and get something going with this.

Myke Hurley: But,

Mike Dudek: I don't know.

Myke Hurley: Because they don't do any at all anymore, do they?

Mike Dudek: None. No, they have small, like, inexpensive rollers but nothing, nothing along the lines of the 600 or even the Newton series. But, I, oh, sorry, go ahead, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: No, no, I was just going to say nothing with the, with the impact of some of the designs of these older pens.

Mike Dudek: I would probably call Rotring now, like, a, an art company. They sell more art-related products and they dabble in pens. Yeah. I don't know.

Brad Dowdy: I'd say that's accurate. That's, that's pretty accurate. But like, like, like Myke, I, I lust after one of the lava models. You know, one of my online friends, John Gaffney, who writes for Gear Patrol in some of his posts, he, he, he has a, he has the lava multi-pen, which is his favorite pen and he carries it around a bunch and every time he posts it, I always send him a note saying, I hate you for posting that pen. It's just that I love the lava finish on, on these and, I don't know, Myke, me and you are going to have to go on a, on a research project and see if we can come up with some reasonable lava fountain pens for ourselves. Because I think that's something I would like to add to the, the collection, just, just to have. because,

Myke Hurley: I found, I found them on eBay and, yeah, but it's, I don't know, I don't know, I'm funny about eBay.

Brad Dowdy: Well, especially for something like this, I mean, I mean,

Myke Hurley: and they're not, they're not that badly priced and they're saying that they're mint in box.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what's your favorite rotary, Myke?

Mike Dudek: My favorite, I probably would have to go with, I don't know, they're all, they're all good. But I, I really like the 600 fountain pen with the, you know, the knurled grip. It's just, there's something about it. It's a big pen, long, I don't, I don't know, when you use it, it just, it's cool. Like, it's just, it's one of those types of pens that you can appreciate the design aspects of it and sort of the engineering that went into it. Because what's cool about them and the Newtons that you had, Brad, it's, when you put the cap together, they engineered it to where there's little teeth. Like, it's like a gear almost to where the lines in the barrel have to line up. So, I mean, it's just a small thing, you know, but it's just super cool.

Mike Dudek: There is a pen that I do want that, that I don't have yet. It's, it's, this is part of the collector in me coming out, you know, I got that collector itch about it. But there's a 600 ballpoint that, it has a retractable tip, but it's just a, it's a retractable pen, but they're, they're much rarer, I'd say, than the other ones. But they, I mean, people overprice these ones to astronomical amounts, like 400, 500 dollars. And I just, it's like there's no possible way that a pen, that pen could be even worth that much, you know, but, so, who knows, someday maybe I'll pass, I'll pass one on eBay or something that, that fits. no, the fountain, the fountain pen, the 600 fountain, it's, if you can, if you have an interest in it, definitely, I mean, be prudent. I mean, I definitely wouldn't recommend a new fountain pen person to just up and spend 200 bucks on one of these pens just because it's, I don't know, it's, it definitely takes a level of commitment to buy one. Yeah. Or like 20, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta, gotta take it in strides, but, which I have not done, so.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I think we can all, we all kind of understand that.

Small Business Showcase

Brad Dowdy: One, one of the other things you, you do on your, your blog, which has always been interesting to me and I've learned so much just from, from reading it is, reading your blog is you kind of, you kind of have a reach to where you, you're, you found a lot of, you know, neat, interesting, smaller business type companies or individuals that have kind of related products or things that, you know, us in the, the pen blogosphere would enjoy or just some really neat design work that have helped you do things on, you know, with your, with your cubes and your, your woodworking, you know, like, is it, is it Josh Paley one of the, that did the, who did the, the stamp for you? Oh, the brand,

Mike Dudek: the logo? Oh, that's actually Brandon, Brandon Wilson from Contra Brand. Contra Brand, yeah. His, yeah, honestly, what, kind of where that came together was he, when I first launched them back in probably June, he, he and I kind of were following each other on Instagram and he reached out to me and said, oh, hey, you know, where can we buy one of these or whatever and so we just kind of corresponded that way and I ended up, I ended up following him and seeing all his work that he was doing and I reached out to him and said, hey, I mean, you look like an amazing graphic artist, I need a logo, you know, can we work something out and so we ended up kind of working back and forth and he came up with the Dudek Modern Goods logo with sort of that offset kind of 3D cube, which just like blew me away like when he presented it to me, it just is so awesome but we ended up doing kind of a little collaboration because he does this thing called the Numbers Project, if you guys haven't checked it out, I definitely would, he, this year he took a day, every day of the year, one through 365 and he designed like a logo around the number, so like the number 17 or the number 100 or the number 320, he created a logo around it and what we ended up doing is I ended up working with him and making some clocks out of Baltic birch plywood and got it laser etched and everything with his designs on it and it just, it turned out awesome but yeah, the blog, in my work, I guess you could say like my personal life, my work, I work for a software company that helps small businesses so it's like a marketing software but I have a soft spot definitely for artisans and craftsmen and small business owners and I look at the blog not just as a place to I guess promote and talk about different pen companies or different pen models or to even sell my own products but like a place to showcase what other people are doing that I find really interesting or I think is just cool. Like you said Brad, it's like a related, like related products that sort of fit within, it may not even be like a direct correlation you know to pens but it's sort of along the same niche of kind of stuff that people that really enjoy pens might enjoy this kind of stuff as well but networking is a huge part of like I guess my satisfaction that comes out of the clicky posts, it's making friends and like finding these small businesses to not only I guess promote but even sometimes partner with to come up with cool new things creatively and it just, it gives them some exposure and otherwise like where they may, you know, they may not necessarily get as much, you know, through other channels because the pen community is super open to cool stuff. I mean that's just, that's just the natural thing of what we do. yeah,

Brad Dowdy: and you have a, you have a, a page on your site called the Small Business Showcase and we'll put that in the show notes where you, you know, got some features on some of these products, you know, like Dome Paper, Karis Customs, you know, One Star Leather Goods, we've talked about Keegan before on the show, Myke and I have and, and Bass and Lokes and things like that so I know that's something that, that you, that you appreciate in that and we definitely appreciate you putting those things out there for all of us to check out so.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's cool, it's cool stuff. It is, it is. Well, I think, before we finish,

Myke Hurley: yeah, I was going to say you got anything for Mr. Dudek? Oh, it was for both of you really and we haven't spoken about it. Have you, have you seen the Twisby Classic?

Brad Dowdy: I have and it is about ready to order, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because the writing desk are doing pre-orders for it, which is a UK-based pen supplier. I just wonder what you thought of it. It looks really interesting. It's very classic looking.

TWSBI Pens

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so they, Twisby, Twisby does an interesting thing and I, you know, I, on their Facebook page, they post a lot of prototypes very early, early on in the process. Some of them make it through and some of them don't. This one, they posted probably six months or a year ago that they were working on something like this and I thought it was pretty cool at the time.

Brad Dowdy: And looking at the pictures now that it's ready to go in production, I think it looks great. I mean, I think this is something I will definitely order.

Brad Dowdy: I'll have to see how the prices relate to like the 580. Because actually looking at the writing desk prices, that seems higher than I thought they were going to be. I thought it would be more like in the 20 pound range. But these are like in the 40 pound range. That seems high to me.

Brad Dowdy: I'll have to look. But yeah, I thought this was going to be like the entry level TWSBI pin. Well,

Myke Hurley: a Diamond Mini is 42 pounds. They're more expensive. So it's the same sort of, like it's the thing like there are so many, like basically all of the TWSBI range on the writing desk. So you've got the Mini, the Classic, and the 580 are all 42 pounds. So they're probably going to be like 40, 50 dollars.

Brad Dowdy: See, I thought these were going to be like in the Lamy Safari range of pricing. So that's, I mean, that's me being mistaken. I just, since they're new coming out. So yeah, I mean, you know me, I love the TWSBI products. Me too. And they, if anyone could pull off a rotary style, they can. They've made some mechanical pencils that, you know, that, I don't know how well they sold. I've never bought one, but they're like around $20 that, that look really exceptional, like engineering mechanical pencils. And, you know, TWSBI's willing to try a few different things. And have you ever reviewed any TWSBI products, Myke?

Mike Dudek: No, I, I actually just recently got my first couple of TWSBI's. I got a, I ordered a 540 in the amber. That's right. That's right. Color, which I've been, I am that one for a long time. And luckily I found one since they discontinue in it. And then I ended up picking up a mini in the classic finish, which I, I love that pen with the reservoir that's, I don't know, there's some, I, there's kind of a theme on the Clicky Post where I usually review metal pens. Like if you look through, it's, it's usually always metal barreled pens. And I don't know why, it's just that appeals to me. I don't know, it's like the sleekness of them or something like that. But, no, the TWSBI, it's, it's an excellent pen. Like the, the mini particularly, I'm, I love using that thing.

Mike Dudek: It's great stuff. Along that line real quick, the, as far as if you want like a Rotring-esque pen, there's a couple that, you know, you don't necessarily have to drop a ton of money to get them. We both reviewed recently the Levenger L-Tech fountain pen, which that, I think they did a phenomenal job. There's some history between Rotring and Levenger even. So, Retro 51 even made a pen called, a ballpoint called the Hexomatic, which that actually, I picked that one up several months ago before I even got deep into Rotring. But, you know, I think it's like 30 bucks. When I Google

Myke Hurley: Hexomatic, guess what comes up first?

Myke Hurley: Perhaps the

Rotring Pens

Mike Dudek: clicky post. Yes, it's your review. Yeah, that's good. So yeah, check.

Brad Dowdy: That's an awesome pen. That's been on my wish list that I keep forgetting to order, but I've got to get that one.

Mike Dudek: Yeah, it actually relates to,

Mike Dudek: it goes, the design elements behind the Hexomatic go a little bit further back in Rotring to actually being a true 600. Because again, there's the Newton ballpoints which have the smooth grip, but the Hexomatic has the knurled grip. Sorry about the doorbell. UPS. I didn't realize

Myke Hurley: people were coming. It's a road train delivery.

Mike Dudek: Yeah, it could be. But the ballpoint has a knurled grip like the original 600, so they went a little bit further back, but I think they did a really good job on it. Cool.

Brad Dowdy: I have to get one of those. That's, yeah, my wish list, it goes from extremely long and then I knock out a bunch, then I remember that, you know, hey, I wanted this pen and that pen, and then it gets back to being uncomfortably long.

Myke Hurley: I actually these days try, I don't, I actively do not keep a wish list. Yeah. Because it gets too expensive otherwise. I wait until I have an impulse to buy something. Unfortunately, my impulses are pulling me towards a road train 600, but we'll try to ignore that

Brad Dowdy: one. Yeah, I was going to say impulse shopping is a much better way to go about it. Yes, yeah.

Mike Dudek: Sensible money. Planned impulse.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. Well, this has been educational and awesome and, you know, I, this was, I was happy to get you on finally because I know we, we talk a lot and we got so much in common and I really respect and enjoy what you do on ClickyPost and I wanted to make sure that everyone, you know, out there knows your home on the internet and checks it out because I think you're doing good stuff and we really appreciate you coming on the show today.

Mike Dudek: Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys giving me the invite to come out.

Brad Dowdy: Absolutely and we will do it again because you were pro. Yeah. you brought your A-game today for your first Pen Addict podcast appearance. So, awesome. Why don't you tell everyone where they can find you again real quick and we'll have all this in the show notes but let's get it out there again.

Mike Dudek: Sure. Yeah, the blog is ClickyPost.com not, it's called The Clicky Post and I, Myke, do not own The Clicky Post. I knew you were. I knew you

Myke Hurley: were. You better get on that because he will not let you down. If you're going to call it The, you need to have the domain name too.

Mike Dudek: Yes. Myke, you should buy the Clicky Post and start up a site about puppies or something like that. I don't know.

Myke Hurley: I'm checking. The domain is available. You need to get it quick before. All right, I need to get on there. I'll do it

Mike Dudek: today. Yeah, you do.

Myke Hurley: Somebody's going to jump in and grab it.

Mike Dudek: But, yeah, so the blog is just ClickyPost.com. There's a giveaway going on right now. Not to give a little shout out to that, but a little incentive maybe. There you go. So, I'm also on Twitter at ClickyPost. I'm not as active on Twitter as I am on Instagram. And my Instagram is at MrMikeDudek. That's primarily where, because I'm a very visual person, I end up posting a lot of stuff there just because I like to see it too. So, that's kind of where I'm at.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, between you and Ed Jelly, y'all's photography just puts me to shame. Like, the way you style everything is like, I'm embarrassed some days when I look at the pictures I've taken, I'm like, well, do I really have to post this up there? Not at all, man. It's going to make me step my game up. These guys,

Myke Hurley: these young'uns are putting you to shame, Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: I know, man. I'm glad to see it. Hey, that's, you know, it's all about community here in the pen blogosphere. you know, I love these guys and gals out there, and they do awesome work, and I want to make sure it gets recognized. Easy as that.

Myke Hurley: Simple. Mm-hmm. All right, if you want to catch up with me and Brad's, a couple of ways you can do that. You want to go to thepenaddict.com, that's where you'll find Brad's blog, and he is also at dowdyism, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M on Twitter, and I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. I would like to wish you all a very happy holidays. I hope that you all get the pens and the inks that you wish for, and I'm sure that Brad will say the exact same. Absolutely. You get to have some lovely stocking fillers with some description that will satisfy your pen addict needs, and we'll be back with another episode before the year is out. Yes, we're going

Brad Dowdy: Monday next week again.

Myke Hurley: Monday next week, so you get another early episode. Special holiday schedule. Indeed. So we'll be back again next week. I'm sure Brad will have some sort of pen related goodness that he receives for Christmas that we can talk about, I have no doubt. We shall see. So thank you, Mr. Dudek, again. Thank you, Brad, and we'll be back for another episode of the show next week. Bye-bye. Bye. Bye. Oh, say goodbye, Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Goodbye,

Myke Hurley: Brad.