The Pen Addict 261/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	261
Title:	Prolonged Writing Comfort
Release Date:	June 14th, 2017
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 261
Audio File:	Audio Episode 261
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 261
Length:	6363 min <br />1.05 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 261. Today's show is brought to you by Harry's and Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley, I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. I am Brad Dowdy, and I am joined by Myke Hurley. Hello, Brad Dowdy.

Brad Dowdy: How are you? I'm good. Long time no talk? I know, getting over that jet lag. Like, two weeks between recordings, I always say, it just kind of throws me off. It's like, I feel like I haven't talked to you in months when it's been two weeks.

Myke Hurley: It's been a long time, because I was in California last week, so last week's episode was pre-recorded. Never, never miss a week. You can't miss a week. We've got too much pen stuff to talk about.

Pen Auction

Brad Dowdy: We do, we do, and we love doing it, so we might as well fill up all the weeks. But I want to know how your trip to WWDC was, and if there was any pen and stationery action that you had out there. What do you think? Do you think there was any? Well, I mean, I saw you getting tweets about the wraps for the Apple Pencils and, you know, some things like that. So I figured there might be a mix of a few things out there.

Myke Hurley: No, I did get lots of links about, so Slick Wraps is a company that makes skins. I've used them before for the Apple Pencil stuff, and you can now get your own custom wraps made. Like, I have ones that make mine look like a pencil, right? But now they're doing, like, a whole customizing thing. And I'm working with Frank, our designer, on creating a custom design for myself. Oh, nice. Based on the Palomino pencils, like the orange ones. Ah, cool. Yeah. So we're making a little Myke Brand pencil. I want to see how it comes out. Like, if it looks good, it might be something I look into a little bit more. But, yeah, I'm making one for myself because it's fun. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I'm going to have to steal that from you because anything Frank touches is pretty much golden. Yeah, it's pretty great.

Myke Hurley: It's pretty great. It's not done yet. Once it's done, I will show the world what it looks like. But I am going to share it with you just so you can see. You know, I put it in our little Skype chat there just to drive the people crazy. Oh, wow.

Brad Dowdy: You're super evil.

Myke Hurley: It's not done. It will be done soon. And when it's done, I will share it. And, like, maybe even so people can make it themselves. It's pretty great, right?

Brad Dowdy: That looks pretty amazing. It's pretty great. That's ridiculously good looking. Sorry, chat room.

Myke Hurley: I'm working on, like, an orange pencil with, like, my name on it and stuff for, like, some little iconography. But it's not done. So I don't want to share it because it's Frank's work. So I don't share his work. Yes. But it's done.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So you will share this, though, because it's really impressive. Oh, yeah. Awesome.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah. He's doing some amazing work, as always.

Brad Dowdy: Good. Good, good, good. Well, yeah. But you've been busy yourself, though. How was Raleigh? Yeah. Like, while we were both road tripping during our two weeks of non-live recording, Raleigh was fantastic. It turned out to be a great show. My daughter Elizabeth came with me. She had a blast.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah?

Brad Dowdy: She was the perfect helper at the knock table.

Myke Hurley: Oh, what about me?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I will take family over friends every time. Sorry. You know, and she could handle the math. She could handle the same-sized bills. Did she get the names right? She didn't. She wasn't great at the names, but she knew by looking at them what their price was. So she would never go for the name, but she knew exactly how much everything was. Okay. She got me beat there.

Myke Hurley: I can never remember the prices.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. And, like, you know, she was the professional cashier. She'd actually, like, take the stuff out of my hands because she wanted to do it. So she was all about it, and she was assimilated into the pen community. Everyone was super nice, and she had fun, you know, talking to people. And, like, she went to a Pens for Kids class, and she walked around the show by herself, which I was happy about. That's great. I told her if she did it, she'd probably score some free pens from vendors, because I know they're really cool about giving stuff to kids. And she did. Every time she'd leave the table, she'd come back with, like, one more pen. So it was cute and funny. But we had a really, really good show. It was a good crowd, good room at Raleigh. I think it was 70 to 80 tables, something like that. So pretty good sized. And from a knock perspective, it was successful. Great. Which we always are thankful for. You know, you never go to lose money on these things, and we didn't. So it was good enough to where I would definitely do Raleigh again, because the drive wasn't bad. You know, it took us about seven hours, and like I mentioned, Elizabeth just wants to get there. She's not one to, like, stop if she doesn't have to stop. So I can appreciate that. So we made it in seven hours, both directions, and it was easy. And yeah, it was just an all-around, really, really good, good show. So, you know, we did, I did a couple different things there, like going to the auction and actually sitting through the auction, which I wrote about in Refill, the Pen Attic Members newsletter, this last week, and how much fun it was, and how much Elizabeth actually just loved every second of the auction. What she saw, there was a sheet. So, like, there was 123 lots in the auction. And, you know, each, it's got a lot number, it's got a product description, and then it has how much it's sold for, like a blank where you can put it in. So what she realized, she could fill in the dollar amount of everything that's sold. Like, you couldn't talk to her the rest of the show, because she was so focused on the auction. It was hilarious.

Myke Hurley: I was pleased that you both enjoyed it. I mean, a pen auction, that seems like a scary thing to me. I've got to say, like, the way you were describing it, that, like, you don't really get to try out the pens. I checked them out too much beforehand. I don't know about that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I did that thing where do as I say, not as I do. Yeah. You know, my advice for going to a pen auction would be to take the time. The lots are always available before the auction, usually the day, two days prior to the auction. You can go, you can get the sheet of what's available, you can look at it, and then you can physically check out all the pens beforehand to see if they're in good shape, if you want to bid on them, you know, when they come up, when it's their time to come up. You know, you need to do your due diligence beforehand, and of course, I didn't have any time to do that. And going to the auction was actually a last-minute thing, and Elizabeth was just like, let's go, let's go. And I was like, are you sure? You're going to be bored. And it ended up being the exact opposite. And there were enough modern pens to where I got in on the action, which I was a little bit surprised about. But I got some good deals, I think. You know, I bought a really, really nice Visconti with an 18-carat oblique nib. And it's just a beautiful, stunning pen. It's called the Aida model. It came out, I don't know when it came out, several years ago. But it's right up my alley. Nib's beautiful. And, you know, I got it for a really good price. And then I bought a bright green Sailor Demonstrator for like $90, which I couldn't turn that down.

Myke Hurley: So it was fun. The Sailor Demonstrator is amazing. I can't believe you got that for just $90. What's that like? That's under half price, right?

Brad Dowdy: No, no. I think it's probably in the low to mid-hundreds. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's not. This one's still available. So I wasn't going to go much more than like $90 because you can get them sometimes for, you can get them for like $140, something like that. And both of these pens I bought were used, but you couldn't tell by looking at them. They were maybe used like once each. The converters had like, you could see they had old ink that they were used that they weren't cleaned out perfectly. But from the externals and the nibs, it looked like they'd never been touched. So they were, if they were used, they were barely, barely used at all. So I'm really happy with these pens. I didn't buy anything at the show except for one random pen, which kind of came to me. Like I didn't buy anything from any vendors at the show, right? Like I didn't go around from any tables and buy anything. But behind me was Alan Hirsch. And I just happened to turn around and I saw a guy asking him if he was interested in a pen and I saw it was a pilot box. And then I saw him open it and Alan look at it. And Alan's more of a vintage vendor. So he's like, no, I'm not interested. So I just told the guy to, you know, hey, come on around over here. And it turns out it was an M90.

Brad Dowdy: And I already have an M90. I bought one a few months ago, but mine's a medium nib. And I bought the medium nib, but just because these things aren't easy to get, right? You know, it wouldn't be my perfect nib choice. But I didn't know if the opportunity was going to come again for the price I got it for. So I was like, cool, I want this pen. Always wanted it. I can deal with the medium nib. And the medium nib is great. Well, this guy had a fine nib. Wow. And we talked about prices. And he left. You know, we didn't make a deal right then. He left. I said, we'll go see, you know, if you can sell it. If not, come back to me and we'll talk. And I ended up with it. So I got a fine nib M90. So now I'm going to have a medium nib M90 to sell. Like I don't want both. I don't need both. But I had to have the fine. How much are you selling that thing for? I don't know. I hadn't thought about yet. I'll do another. All right. Oh, you want. Why do you want it?

Myke Hurley: Buddy, if I can get another one of those. Yeah, I'll take it. I need like this is my favorite pen maybe ever made. I need a backup.

Brad Dowdy: And you have a medium, right? Yeah, I have a medium. Okay. Well, I wasn't planning on making hot deals during the during the show, but we can certainly work something out. This is the benefit of recording with you. No one can get in before me.

Myke Hurley: If you're if you're selling that medium, you tell me the price before you start. Tell anyone else I want it.

Brad Dowdy: So now it's going to be on. Yeah, it's on. It's on. I want that thing. So we've just made all the listeners mad. Well, actually, I'm going to clarify you. You have made the listeners mad. I'm undecided. Yeah, you've done nothing. Definitely, definitely have an in. Okay, definitely have an in. But yeah, I don't need to M90s if I prefer the fine over the medium. So the medium will be sold. Okay, apparently to you. Apparently to you, it seems so we'll find out. But the fine is mine. And we'll go from there. I do need to. I do need to thin the herd again. So maybe look for a pen addict sale again sometime, you know, in the next month or so. Maybe this summer there's a good time between pen shows before DC clean out some, you know, I end up selling five or six pens at a time when I have too many new ones coming in and not using some of the old ones that I have been using and enjoyed in the past. So we'll see. But M90 on the block.

Myke Hurley: I should do it sometime, but I don't think anyone will want to buy my pens.

Brad Dowdy: Not if they listen to the show, no.

Myke Hurley: Exactly. No one wants to buy my pens. They come with ink. Yeah, they come with ink. Pre-inked.

Brad Dowdy: Pre-inked. Pre-inked for your writing pleasure. What a deal. Yeah. Well, I do know what people do want to buy a mic.

Myke Hurley: Oh, yeah?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Is that Harry's? It is Harry's. They should definitely. Father's Day, isn't it? Yeah. They want to get in on it right now because Father's Day is like right. It's basically now. If you're listening to this show, you need to buy a Father's Day gift if you haven't. And we have a great deal for you because we all know that not only do we have to think about so many things with gift buying, it can also be difficult to buy gifts for some people. Like you want to make sure you can get people a gift that they can actually use, something they might actually want. And maybe you've already bought them all of the things that immediately come to mind or, you know, just stuff that at this point you're just buying them things that they're stacking up in a closet somewhere, right? Nobody needs a million pairs of socks. Well, fortunately, our friends at Harry's have a special offer that both you and a dad in your life is going to love. You can get $5 off one of their shave sets, which includes the limited edition Father's Day set by going to harrys.com slash penaddict. Harry's shave sets start at just $15. You get a razor handle, moisturizing shave gel, and three of Harry's five blade precision engineered razors. And their limited edition Father's Day set comes with a storm gray razor handle, also a chrome razor stand, their foaming shave gel, three replacement blades, and a travel cover as well. It also comes in this great giftable box with the option for custom engraving and a personalized card. So you don't even need to wrap this thing, right? Like it just comes to you in a box. You take it out of the box that it was shipped in and it's ready to gift. Now, Brad, I believe that you have one or two, maybe even 12 of the Father's Day sets

Brad Dowdy: somewhere in your house. I have two of them and one is going to me and one is going to my father and he will be here this weekend because my son is playing baseball and they're coming down to watch him play this weekend. We're having a big summer with the kids' baseball team. So he will be here to receive his and I'm holding mine until Father's Day and going to you break it open that day because I really want the chrome razor stand, which I have never had from Harry's. Seeing that I have everything else that will complete the inventory of Harry's goods and that will be placed upon my sink area this weekend for Father's Day. So yeah, these boxes look great. Last year when I gave it to my father-in-law, we didn't, like you said, we didn't even wrap it. So it's perfect. It's a really, really nice package.

Myke Hurley: So go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now and you'll get $5 off any of Harry's shave sets. This is a limited time offer to get this $5 off. We don't always do this. So go to harrys.com slash penaddict. You can get $5 off any of their sets, including the Father's Day set. You'll also be supporting this show if you do. Thank you to Harry's for their support, the penaddict and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: So this next pen we're going to talk about would be an ideal Father's Day gift as well, although it may not come in time. I think Retro 51 messed up the date on this, Myke. What do you think?

Myke Hurley: Well, I mean, yeah, I guess if you're thinking about it as a Father's Day gift, right? I can see why that would be the case.

Brad Dowdy: But this Retro 51 play ball, oh my.

Retro 51 Pens

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I wondered if it was going to be for you. Now, I mean, I'm not a baseball person and this is a little wordy, this one, for my taste. I think there's maybe too many words on this one, but it is baseball themed. So I figured that you were going to be just all over it.

Brad Dowdy: I am. And they've done one before, right? When they did the sports maybe two years ago when they did football. You have the basketball one with the texture, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I have the basketball one. I love that one. The swoosh.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so I have the baseball one with the raised seams. And I didn't love it. It was good. And I use it, but not as often as some of my other surf related ones that I really use more. This one, the last baseball one, okay, I had to own it, but it didn't really make the rotation. This one is wonderful looking. Like, I've already ordered two of them.

Myke Hurley: Oh, wow. Wow. Look at you.

Brad Dowdy: I don't normally double down on the pens, but I want a backup of this one because this will go right into use. And, like, I'm the scorekeeper for my son's team. Oh, well, come on. This is the pen. And I actually use pen because pencil smears. Like, when you're outside and it's hot and sweaty and my hands, you know, might be damp or my leg. If I set the book down, the pencil smears. So, this is going to be my new scoring pen. So, I'm going to have one. I definitely want a backup. Where'd you pick it up from?

Brad Dowdy: Van S pens. From Van S. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, because I haven't seen it everywhere. Like, I've been looking around, like, just to see where it was available. And they seem to be, because there's not a lot of these. They're limited. So, I guess they're not going everywhere.

Brad Dowdy: Gold Spot pen has them, too. Gold Spot. Okay. They have them on pre-order. So, yeah. This is a good one. 842. I'm not sure what the number actually, why they chose 842. I'll have to read about that. It's not ringing any, it's not any number that's a traditional baseball number. So, I'm a little bit interested about that. But, yeah. And this is a...

Myke Hurley: Oh, man.

Brad Dowdy: It's sold out of Van S. They may not have it up yet. Ah. I think it's not coming until, like, today. Yeah. It's coming, I think, later this week.

Myke Hurley: I do really like the finial, the little baseball finial. That looks cool. But, yeah. I can see, I mean, it's very, it's even got, like, some scorecard, like, notes on it. Like, right at the very top. Yeah. I mean, this is, like, if you score a baseball team, right, like, this is, I mean, how could you not buy this pen, right? Like, it's kind of perfect for that.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So, this one was a jaw dropper for me when I saw it tweeted out. So, yeah. I was all over this one, like, super quickly.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I know that.

Franklin Kristoff Pencil

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Another new product. I came home from Raleigh with these. It's the Franklin Kristoff 1901 pencil. I had no idea they were doing a pencil. I'm honestly not sure why they're doing a pencil. It doesn't kind of fit with their aesthetic. But, it's a cool looking pencil. So, I wanted to try some. Scott Franklin gave me some to take home and review. So, I did them. And, it's just kind of a good pencil. It's nothing special. Like, when I'm using pencils these days, since it's not my primary writing instrument, I want to write with something special. This one's not one I'd really pick up. And, you know, you can go read a better review than mine from Dee, who writes at the Weekly Pencil and who also does the RSVP podcast. She's a pencil nerd. So, she was a little tougher on them, mainly because of the aesthetics. Some of the stamping and printings off, which I noticed on mine. I didn't think about it too, too much because you actually destroy pencils as you use them. So, the printing out of alignment would bother me way more on a pen that's going to be around for a while than a pencil I chew up with a sharpener. But, I understand the point. Like, it should be nice and neat and clean and everything should be even. And, you can actually see that in my pictures, too.

Myke Hurley: Do you mean, like, when you lay them all down together and that they're... Okay. So, that they're not lined up when you lay them all out straight. So, like, they're off alignment. So, like, you can see on the pictures, like, the USA is where it shows the most. Like, you lay them down end to end and they're all over the place. Right. I don't even know how that would happen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Some aren't centered on the flat, either. Like, some are closer to the edges of the hex.

Myke Hurley: I'm just going to say, Brad, that seems a bit sloppy to me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It does. It is. It is. So, I think it would bother a lot of people. I didn't... It didn't... It wasn't a thing for me.

Myke Hurley: Also, design is not really Franklin Kristoff. There's kind of...

Brad Dowdy: Like I said, I didn't even know they were doing it.

Myke Hurley: It's just... It's so... You know what this looks like to me? It just looks like a promotional item. Right? That you would, like, I don't know, have in your office or something. Like, if you're Franklin Kristoff, I don't really...

Brad Dowdy: Maybe that's what it ends up being.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. They are known for making, like, incredible designs. You know, like, the fire and ice is, like, kind of what put them on the map. Right? Like... But this is just, like, a pure black pencil. I mean, and also in this... Deirdre's post on the weekly pencil, like, she's pointing out some of the finish not being that great. Yep. This is weird. Yep. This is really weird.

Brad Dowdy: It is. It did not come out perfectly. And if you're going to charge what they're charging, which, you know, pencils aren't that expensive, but relative to other pencils that are better, it's more expensive. So, yes, it could have been done a little bit better. But what I mostly had the problem with is I didn't think there was enough differentiation in the hardness of the four pencils that I tried, four different lead grades. I would pick them up and, you know, kind of blind test them, and I could tell there was a little bit of softness difference, but I couldn't tell that much difference in the color. Um, between, you know, the HB all the way to 4B. It's a little bit darker, but I didn't think it was that great. So, anyway, these were an oddity, I guess, if you will. It was a, okay, this is... Someone said to me, um, I think it was Sandra at the Raleigh show. She said, oh, did you get your Franklin Kristoff pencils? I was like, what are you even talking about? That's not a thing. And she's like, yeah, they're over there on the table. So, I went over there and grabbed some from Scott. But yeah, I think they could do a better job. And I don't think this is going to be a pencil that's going to replace any other pencil that I use on a regular basis. So, you know, I use maybe four or five different ones, you know, that I enjoy using. But these aren't going to rank up there with anything I use regularly. Weird. Very weird. Weird is accurate.

Brad Dowdy: Weird also plays into this next batch of links that I have. I feel like sometimes you do these things just to troll me. So, when you saw this in the show notes, what did you think?

Kickstarter Links

Myke Hurley: So, we're starting off with a bunch of Kickstarter links, right? And so, I'm like, here we go. We're about to... And then you start off strong. Real strong. With the Tor Pen by Katalon. The toughest, smallest, tactical EDC pen. And it looks like something straight out of Star Wars. This is... I don't know, man.

Brad Dowdy: So, you remember this pen, right?

Myke Hurley: I do remember this pen.

Brad Dowdy: There was a 3D printed model called The Rock. And we talked about it on the show because it's just so crazy. And this was the guy that had the crazy marketing for like, you know, flat thumb rest for emergency use. You know? Like when you put on your super grip. This one just cracks me up. And I never backed the 3D model of it. But I did get to test it. A friend of the show, Claire, had one at the Atlanta Pen Show. Did you get to use it then? You may not have seen it. No, I did. Yeah, you saw it then.

Myke Hurley: I did, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, now we're coming in with an aluminum model. And I had to bite the bullet. I'm getting this one. I'm sorry. I just am.

Myke Hurley: Why, Brad? Do you need to tactically action something when you're wearing gloves? Yes. Yeah. Oh. I have. Is it because you have thick fingers so you need the 19mm grip space?

Brad Dowdy: Well, no. I need the optimal distance to keep my fingers from the page for prolonged writing comfort.

Myke Hurley: Ah. Ah. Okay. Well, that makes perfect sense then.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Do you find the rest of your pens to be uncomfortable? Yeah. I mean, this is going to top them all. All right.

Myke Hurley: We're making fun of this. We're making fun of this. But, like, it's just because this is so. I'm in. I'm all in. Okay. But this is, for me, so far away from everything I like about pens. It's almost like it's a joke, like, to me and my sensibilities. But I know people want these types of things. So, like, if this is you, then, like, more power to you. But as soon as I see bolt action, I close down.

Brad Dowdy: See, I like bolt pens in general. I do. So, that's why I wanted to try this one. I do like, what I like about this pen is the size of it. You know, it's definitely overbuilt, over tactical for me. It's not my style of pen in general.

Myke Hurley: Oh, my God.

Brad Dowdy: And I kind of wanted the last one.

Myke Hurley: I've just found another thing on this page. What is it? So, in regards to the thickness, right? Uh-huh. If you said, I'm going to give you two words here, right? And I want you to give me the third word about how you would describe this. So, this is pointing to a cross section of the pen. And it's pointing to the aluminum. And it says, three millimeter thick. And then the third word. If you're describing your pen, what kind of words would you use? Three millimeter thick what? Wall? I don't know. Yeah. What about armor? Oh, no. Yeah. It's got three millimeter thick armor on this pen in case somebody tries to stab it. Like, I'm not sure why the pen needs to be armored, but it is.

Brad Dowdy: Well, all I know, you know, come December this year, it's going to be on. Hey, there's no tip wiggle. No, there's none because it's overbuilt, Myke.

Myke Hurley: You're telling me it is. You're telling me it's overbuilt. Oh, I love it. I love it. More power to you. Like, you know, if this is what you want, right? Like, why not do this? Like, if you want a tactical pen, get one that looks like this. Otherwise, don't even bother. Right? Like, you need this type of thing. Like, I'm sure that that clip can, I don't know, skin a moose or something. I don't know what it's for. Like, yes, I don't get it. I just don't get it. I just can't. But like, I know if you're out there and you like it and you're rolling your eyes at me now, then you should be because like, you know, I'm maybe being mean, but like, I just can't. I just can't.

Brad Dowdy: Well, here's the thing. It's like $40. Yeah. It's not like a $125. Yeah. You know, I wouldn't be buying it if it was $125 or something like this, but you're going to back it. I know you are.

Myke Hurley: I'm not going to back it.

Brad Dowdy: I'm feeling it.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Well, I'll let you hold on. You let me think on it a little bit more. Yeah. I'll let you think on it.

Myke Hurley: Well, you'll see. Like, I'll get lost in the woods later and I'll be like, God damn it. Why? I can't get out of this sticky situation now. Yeah.

Bolt Pens

Brad Dowdy: So this one's probably more your speed. The new shown design pen that I use all the time. This is Ian's added a clip to it. You're just at this point, you're bullying me. Well, so what I did last week is I found a backpack, which we're going to talk about in a minute. I said, well, I haven't looked around Kickstarter for a while. So let me browse. And I knew Ian's pen was out there and I hadn't backed it yet. I need to go back that. I said, well, that's two projects in. And then this Roke pen, whatever the new one's called now. I was like, well, that came up. I'm going to back that. And then I said, well, let me just search for pens. And then I just started down this rabbit hole. And five projects later, I have all these Kickstarter links. So I'm not trying to tempt you into anything. Well, no.

Myke Hurley: I'm just saying because you know that I don't like pens that have the huge step on them. Right? Yeah. You know this. So now you're like, oh, here's another one for you. I'll tell you something I do like about this pen. There's a little gif about how you unscrew the cap at the end of it. Right? So you can get to the refill and you do it with the clip. I think that's really cool. That's a nice design feature. Yeah. So these pens, the shown design pens, I can see that these are really nicely made. And with the cap on them, I think they're beautiful. I just don't like the heavy steps, step down from the body to the grip. It's just something that I personally don't like. But again, I know that you like these pens. And I mean, I can appreciate this more than that tactical thing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. This is my EDC pen when I leave the house and go to knock or go to a ball game or something like that. This is the pen that I throw in my pocket.

Myke Hurley: With an EDC style pen, it would be something like this. So it hasn't got armor or like 18 millimeters grip section for thick fingers. Right. It's nice.

Brad Dowdy: So this is a really, really good job. And this one's already way good to the funding level where the other pen is going to take a while. Yeah. He's done almost. Yeah. He'll do. So six days left. He'll do probably like 50K on this pen.

Myke Hurley: With a $1,000 goal. I think he may have like underestimated he made that low.

Brad Dowdy: So this next one is a huge reach for me. And this is probably like what's Kickstarters for, even though we've all been kind of, we've all been simultaneously spoiled and ticked off at Kickstarter for different projects. You know, some projects go well. Some do not. The Apollo pen never finished as far as I know. So there's definitely been some bad ones. This is one I didn't know anything about. And it's already ended. So I feel bad even talking about it. But it was simply called Cracked Ice Fountain Pens. And this is this guy, Myke Allen. He's somewhere like in the Carolinas, which makes me think, did he get Brooks material? But he had some really pretty materials in it. And it's a smaller compact pen. I like the grip section.

Myke Hurley: He's a really blue nebula one. That's stunning.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I almost bought that one. But I backed for the one below it called Rubies and Violets.

Myke Hurley: She would have told me about this. This is a problem we have in the week off. I would have bought the blue nebula one.

Brad Dowdy: And yeah, I think I backed it when there was only like a few hours left. It was just a matter of luck that I stumbled onto it. And I think it ended that day. And it was already funded. So I knew I'd get it. And my friend Mark Backus said that he had used one of his pens before. And he liked it. So I was like, yeah, OK. This is a no-brainer. It's kind of like $140. I figure it's probably about the size of an Edison Perlette.

Myke Hurley: It reminds me of the Edison pens, to be honest. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Phil in the chat room saying these are standard production acrylics, which these are great. And the colors I haven't seen before. So these are really cool. So yeah, I'm going to. Yeah, this is just like on a whim. I was in the Kickstarter. I had my Kickstarter mojo going. And I kept going. I even went with the new Foldio, which is my light box that everyone always asks me about. So I've backed the Foldio 1 and the Foldio 2 on Kickstarter. And I didn't even know they had to release the Foldio 3, which they keep getting bigger every time. And it's such a good product. By the time they get to 10, they'll have to deliver it to you on a truck. Yeah. And it'll be like a full body scanner. Yeah. I think by that point.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I've seen these set up. I think I saw one of these set up in a shop, right? In the Nox shop. You have one of these. No, no, no, no.

Brad Dowdy: We just have a DIY one in there. But this one might. Now that you say that, this might be good size for the shop because the Foldio 2 is really good for the house. This one might be good for the shop. So I might bring it there. But I just backed them because I like them as a company. And everything they've made so far has worked out really, really well. And definitely up my photography game from a light box perspective. So I like their stuff. Yeah. And they do that little spinning plate thing too, right? Yeah. I never ordered that thing because I'm not photographing watches or jewelry or anything like that. I didn't think I needed the spinner. That would look great for pens. I guess it would. But I don't know. And product shots. I didn't order it. Maybe I should go add that on. I think you should add it on.

Myke Hurley: Honestly, I'd take you up a gear. Come on. What's wrong with you? You got to up your game, Brad. You got to keep pushing.

Boundary Prima System

Brad Dowdy: All right. I'll go add that. And the reason this whole thing got started was this Boundary Prima System modular backpack. And I don't even know how I came across it.

Myke Hurley: This is how you went down the Kickstarter, right? What are you saying?

Brad Dowdy: This is how I got down the hole. Yeah. So I found this. And I kept reading about this project. And I think I picked it up off of Carryology. And I went and looked at this. Normally, I don't buy a lot of backpacks from Kickstarter. They tend to not. Like the one that the recent one that did so well. I forget the name of it. It was just massive. Well over a million dollars. But it was basically photography kit based. And it looked beautiful. But it just didn't fit my style. This one fits my style. It has some interesting accessories with it. And I thought the price is extremely cheap. If you will. For a $200 bag. Me saying it's extremely cheap.

Brad Dowdy: I'm interested to see from my perspective. From making stuff. And what's going into this bag. If they can deliver this. This looks very nice.

Myke Hurley: Oh my god. Everything's clipping together on its own. It's like a robot bag.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But then it's got like internal pouches. That are removable from the side. Which I really like.

Brad Dowdy: What they've done for the price. Oh man. Doesn't seem doable to me. But that's just me. What are we talking here? It's $200.

Myke Hurley: For the whole thing?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. For the whole thing. So this. Like a retail. I don't know if they say somewhere in the retail. What the retail is going to be. This looks like a $350 bag to me. I don't get it. If I looked at all the pictures without seeing prices. And you told me to guess. I would have said $299 or $350. And it's $199. So we'll see.

Myke Hurley: So it's the three bags. Together in one. For $200. Man. This is beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean. I must have stared at this for like a half an hour. Going. Do I really need this? Do I really need this? And they do enough interesting things. That I just want to see it from the design perspective. You know.

Myke Hurley: I'm glad you backed it. Because now I won't. And I'll wait for you to tell me what it's like. And then if I'll buy it. If I like it. But it's impressive. Very impressive looking.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So anyway. I'm a bag person. You know. I just. I just. Got a bunch of stuff from Tom Ben. I'm going to be reviewing. And giving away. And I'm always looking for ideas. For knock. And you know. Checking out what other people do. Is one way you kind of. Get your brain working. On how things work together. I will say. This one seemed.

Myke Hurley: My biggest trip. With my Manal bag. I'm so happy that I made that purchase. It's such a great bag. Yeah. Those look good.

Brad Dowdy: I might have to. I might have to go down that route. Because that's a. That's a really nice looking bag.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. The daily carry. In case you're wondering. I'll put a link to it in the show notes again. But. I love. I really. I really. Like that bag a lot. I'm happy I went with that.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So I'm not. You know. I can't say whether these projects. Are going to work or not. The only one. I mean. I've experienced with. Shown design. Obviously. With Foldio. Obviously. They always deliver great products. You know. These other ones. You know. You kick starter at your own risk. Yeah. Right. You never know what's going. You never know what's going to happen. So I mean.

Myke Hurley: Like the Manal bag. Which is a daily bag. It's 250 bucks. Like. I think I'm on board with you here. It's like. I don't know how they're going to make this for 209 dollars. It's. It's three bags. Right. That little one. The Verge bag. That they call it. The Verge case. Like the camera case. That could be a hundred dollars on its own. Right. This is. Right. Again. We are not saying they won't or can't do this. Oh yeah. We're just wondering how. Right. Like. Because if they pull it off. With like. The way that it looks. Then great. I mean. The idea that that bag comes right out of the side. It's very intriguing.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But you know. It's. That's what's kickstarters for. Maybe it's to launch the company. Launch this style of brand. And then it retails. You know. It is. A lot more. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how we do things. For the linear.

Myke Hurley: They're selling it closer to cost right now. Right. Right. Because they just need to get the equipment. And get the machinery. And get the company going. Right. So they need to entice people by doing it at a good price. I get that completely. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. But if that's not what they're doing. Then how are they doing this?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm not sure. Yeah. It's got some serious. Serious. Serious. It's got a big build going on. So. Lots of moving parts. Lots of small things. Which just drives up the cost like crazy. So. It's very interesting.

Myke Hurley: Lots of little bits going on in this. Right. It's not just those. There's these dividers. And little pockets. And tons of zips. And these magnetic latches. Which I've never seen before.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sure that. Yeah. Once I started seeing all the hardware that was part of it. Then that's when I went and clicked over on the backing. Because I didn't get it. But I hope it works. Because it looks pretty great.

Myke Hurley: It does. It looks fantastic. So. I'm interested to see. I mean. What? It's saying December. So. What do you reckon? March? Like. Again. Nothing on this company. But just in general. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. They've got. Yeah. They've got nearly 2,500 backers right now. Like. That's all the bags to make.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Especially at this level of detail. Yeah. I mean. QC has got to be.

Myke Hurley: Look. It's. It's a well-known joke. Right. Like. Hardware Kickstarters. They deliver late. Yeah. It's just how it is. Like. You listen to it on Thoroughly Considered. Like. The Studio Neat guys. They set a date for the glyph. Which was past. Like. Well past when they thought it was going to be able to do it. And they still didn't meet that date. Like. This is just. Yeah. You didn't meet the linear. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's. Yeah. Same thing. We were at least close. But yeah. Speaking of which. Yeah. It's for sale now. Right. The linear.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's up on us. It's up on the site now. We wrapped up the Kickstarter a couple weeks ago. We wanted to catch our breath. Because we were both gone a bunch. After that finished. You know. And. Because I had the pin show. Jeff was on vacation. So now that we're back. Back in the shop. We got it up. On the site. And. People have been waiting for it. People have been digging it. And. I really love seeing all the feedback on it. It's.

Brad Dowdy: I mean. It's my bag. So I of course think it's a great bag. But it really fits a need. And it's a very opinionated bag. Right. You're going to get it or you're not. And either way is okay. It's not. It's not for everybody. That's for sure.

Myke Hurley: It's a bag for a specific use.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But. What we delivered. I think is exceptional. The quality and fit. Of what I carry. Is really really neat. And. I'm just so happy. With it. And I'm glad we're finally. Have them up on the site now. So yeah. I. I mean. What am I going to say? I own the company. I of course love the product. But this is a product I carry daily. I carry this more than. I carry the pin cases. You know. It's just. It's just a good fit for me.

Myke Hurley: I agree. Like. I have one. I think. That my. Kickstarter green one. Is stuck in customs somewhere.

Brad Dowdy: Oh no. Yeah. We're getting. Yeah. We're at that time. In the project. Where. You know. 99% of them have been delivered. Yeah. But the other ones. Are going to be a fight. So. I am. Struggling. This morning. You know. I shipped a replacement to Japan. This morning. You know. Just because. The tracking. Doesn't. The tracking shows. That it was received at the post office. And then never left. I was like. That looks like the post office lost it. I'm going to send you another one. That's just how it works. You know. That's. That's the phase of the project. We're in now.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: From the Kickstarter aspect. But. A lot of people were waiting for it to come on the site. It is there now. And we're going to have the A5 notebooks that we made for this project. For sale. While they last. So those are available too. Which are very. Mic sized notebooks. And.

Brad Dowdy: It's a. It's a good format. We love that style. So yeah. Go get your Lanier.

Myke Hurley: Well. Okay. So. Everybody should. But if you're talking to me specifically. I am currently filling out a redelivery. Because. The post. I checked. I paid customs. And I've just realized. There was a parcel that I paid for customs. And it never arrived. And I've just realized. It's the Lanier. That's what it was. I've been breaking my mind. And I've realized. Oh they didn't deliver it on the day that I asked for. So now. I am. As we speak. Telling them to come on Friday. And bring it for me again. Nice. So. I'll let you know. If they bother to show up this time. Because I was in on the day. When they said that they would deliver it. This is a constant fight. That I have with the post office. The post office tells me. That I'm not home. I work at home post office. You cannot trick me. Right. Like. I don't go anywhere.

Brad Dowdy: Well. We're pretty much in a constant fight. With our local post office. That we use for Nock. They're just. It's just not a good. Not a good setup for us. So. It's not fun. Shipping is never fun.

Myke Hurley: All right. Do you want to take a break? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: All right. Because. Squarespace makes selling fun. Myke.

Myke Hurley: Oh. They sure do. I do know that actually. Because we both use them. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Use the offer code. Inc. At checkout. To get 10% off your first purchase. Make your next move with Squarespace. That little idea. That you have knocking around in your brain. Squarespace is the perfect place. To let you unleash it. Because they have. Unique domain names. That you can grab in a snap. They have award winning templates. That are beautiful. That you can take advantage of. 24-7 customer support. If you need any help. And the ability to build. Any kind of website you're looking for. Mentioned a store. Both me and Brad. Use Squarespace. To sell stuff. So. We use it at RelayFM. Brad uses it with Nock. Brad uses it with PenAddict store. Like there is. It is fantastic. It's got everything you need. Built right in. It's got great inventory management systems. It allows you to just. Build all the stuff together. So you can have a blog. Attached to your store. Or a website. Attached to your store. Or a store. Attached to your blog. Right. Like it's really easy. To enable all of this stuff. It's all drag and drop. You don't have to worry about. Installing anything. Or patching anything. Or upgrading anything. Because Squarespace. Have got you covered. You can try out Squarespace. For free. You don't need to sign up. With any credit card. Or anything like that. You can just start a trial. Start planning around. You can actually build. Your Squarespace site. Within the trial. And then when you're ready. To sign up for a plan. They just start at $12 a month. And you can use the code. Ink. I-N-K. At checkout. You'll get 10% of your first purchase. And show your support. For the pen addict. And then have your lovely website. To show to the world. No matter what you're trying to build. Squarespace can help you. Make your next move. They can help you. Make your next website. Thanks Squarespace. For your support.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So I want to talk about a couple more new items. And then we'll hit some Ask TPA right here at the end. I saw a link yesterday from Matthias. Who runs the Stationery Wiki. Of course. And his own blog. Blystift. And he is on the road right now. And posted pictures of some new Lamy's. That were Star Wars. And Pirates of the Caribbean related. I was like. Oh. This is interesting. I know Lamy has branched out. Done a few small things in the past. Mostly in the Asian market. You know. Like they did the Lion Friends last year. With the bears. And the. I think it was the chicken. And bunny. Those came out awesome.

Lamy Joy

Brad Dowdy: The Star Wars ones. I'm not too sure about. Because it looks like they're taking a standard pen. In this case. The Lamy Joy. Which is their long calligraphy barrel. And essentially adding a clip accessory to it. So like the Lion Bear last year. You at least got a new color. Safari. And the clip accessory. This just looks like.

Myke Hurley: Do they make the black with the red trim?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Huh.

Brad Dowdy: So the colors actually are perfect. Right. For Star Wars. It's like you don't need to change them. But I would think they would add something to the barrel. To denote it more. Instead of just adding the clip accessory. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Well I feel like even the Lion ones. That's my thought. They were just clip accessories. Right. But they were colors that were different. Yeah. They were a new color of pens. Like a brown one or something. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with what you're saying. Maybe they shouldn't have gone with Stormtroopers and Starf Vader. Maybe they should have gone with like R2 and C3PO. Because they're like different colorways. Right. You could do like a gold one. Oh they could have an orange BB-8 one. Or an orange BB-8 one. Right. Like there are. I think there are better pairings. But yeah. It looks like they maybe just kind of. Kind of just decided to repackage something. Which is a shame. Because the Pirates of the Caribbean one. It doesn't matter what color the Lamy Safari is. But like it's. Yeah. It looks like a big thing. And it's got like a. Like a pretty awesome clip on it. Like a skull and crossbones. Which is kind of cooler than this little coin. That they've put on the. Stoles. And it's a little bit lazy. It feels a little bit lazy.

Brad Dowdy: And it almost looks like a wrap. It looks like a pin wrap is included. Like in an old. You know. Pirates treasure map style. It's very well done. You know. I'm not a Pirates fan at all. That's what. If you're going to go Star Wars. You got to do something like that. Right. I mean. Star Wars is a big license. I mean. I guess this is all under Disney now. It's all the same grouping. But. The Star Wars one just looks like a let down. Compared to Pirates. And I think Star Wars is obviously the huger franchise.

Myke Hurley: It's a bigger opportunity for you. Isn't it? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't know. It's. We'll see. We'll see if there's more on it. If Matthias has more. He's on the road right now. He said he's going to post this today. So maybe he'll have more pictures on this one. But I haven't seen a picture besides the clip. Jewelry picture that he has. And it's kind of lacking. Compared to the Pirates of the Caribbean one.

Lamy Safari

Myke Hurley: What a surprise. That Lamy are making weird decisions.

Brad Dowdy: You said it. Not me. But yeah. Yeah. But I mean. Man. It's Star Wars. You can. I know. You just print. You just say Star Wars. And the money just starts flying out your ear hole.

Myke Hurley: But then maybe that's why you don't try too hard. Right? Like. I guess. Because it's like all you got to do is put it in a Star Wars box. And people will buy it. Cross did it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But they at least modified the pens. Yeah. But they weren't great modifications though. I mean.

Myke Hurley: I think I would prefer the Lamy ones to the Cross ones.

Ink Mixing Contest

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. We'll see. We'll see. This other thing is cool Myke. And I'm part of it. The Anderson Pens have a ink testing. Or an ink mixing contest going on. Inkology contest. And they asked several online personalities. Several of their employees to mix inks from the Sailor's Story line. Okay. So it's Sailor's pigmented ink line. And they have a bracket. Where eight of us. Myself included. Got in on the bracket. To see who would mix the best ink. And I can't tell you which one's mine. But we're already into the second round. We started off with eight colors. There's four colors left. So go over to the Anderson Pens Instagram. Check it out. This is super. This has been really fun. I'm not going to lie. Me and the kids. Sat there for like a half an hour. Mix. Mixing inks. Trying to figure out what to do. Trying to figure out what color is going to work. And yeah. It. It's fun. So what do you think about this? So you're still in the running? I can't say. We're not allowed to say anything. To sway the votes. Of any. Any kind. Right. Because you don't want it to be. May or may not have lost. This. Right. So eight people started. And none of us can say what our inks are. Okay. Or aren't. Or if we're still in. Until it's over. This is fun. This is a lot of fun. Because you don't want it to be a popularity contest. Right. Sure. You want the inks to win on their own merit. So the colors go up against each other. The commenters vote in the comment section on Instagram. And at the end there will be a single ink winner. So it's very cool. So when it's done. Which it'll be done before next week's podcast. Podcasting I can tell you more about it. And what I mixed up. And some of the. Some of my thought process. In trying to win this contest. So yeah. All right.

Myke Hurley: I'm going to tell you my favorites there. All right. Looking at these.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.

Myke Hurley: I like the Cirque de la Mer. And the Acrobat. They are my two favorites. Let's see. Cirque de la Mer. Yeah. That's great. Where is Acrobat on this page? It's the pink one. It's like. It's a little bit down. So. Okay. Yeah. That one lost out to the unicycle. Which is just a. Dark. Like. I don't know. Like a blue black kind of thing. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So yeah. Okay. I can. This is fun. This is a lot of fun. Yeah. Go follow along on the Anderson Pens page. Yeah. On Instagram. Interesting. I'm trying. Interesting. I'm trying to see if I can guess which one you made.

Brad Dowdy: So yeah. It's. Who named them? This is fun. We were allowed to choose a name but we didn't have to. So I'm wondering if some got named. Right. After the fact kind of thing. I don't know. But we were. In the rules that we were provided. We could provide a name but did not have to.

Myke Hurley: Right. And therefore maybe also the names that you chose didn't necessarily get used.

Brad Dowdy: Right. And they said yeah you have to be careful so it doesn't give away anything. You know.

Myke Hurley: You.

Brad Dowdy: Pan addict orange. Yeah. Right.

Brad Dowdy: All right. So let's. Let's hit a few ask TPAs and we'll. We'll put a bow on this one. And we had a lot of EDC pin. Questions that I want to get to. Because we talked a lot about them in this episode already. So I want to talk about that a little more. And I'm going to bundle all these questions up into one. So Joe asked can you revisit your favorite EDC pocket pins? What's your favorite right now? Russell wants to know what's a great EDC pin for a sport coat. Light with a cap. And Sherry wants to know I try to keep a rollerball pin in my EDC just in case. Trouble is by the time I reach for it it's dried up and no longer an option. Will a gel pin be better? So let's kind of take all of these together from an EDC aspect. And as I mentioned before my pocket pins that I use for EDC. I think right now is probably three main ones with the shown design black aluminum. I think this one was called the 01 or something. It's the very first one he made.

Brad Dowdy: And I carry it probably 75% of the time if I'm putting a pin in my pocket. It's well built. It uses the Fisher Space Pen Refill. It's a ballpoint. It's always going to work. So that's where I'm going with Sherry's question. I wouldn't use a rollerball or a gel pin for an EDC. I would only use a ballpoint. And it doesn't even have to be a pressurized one. But you're going to get better functionality out of a ballpoint even though it's an inferior writing experience compared to gel and rollerball. Sometimes the situation just calls that you need to have a ballpoint. And that's what I carry in my shown. It's a Fisher Space Pen Refill. If I'm not carrying that, I do carry the Paca pins. It's the little small pocketable ballpoint. It's very, very lightweight. You know, the refills are kind of so-so, but it's so light you don't even notice it's there. And you can just kind of throw it in anything, everything. Which one was that? The Paca, P-O-K-K-A pin. It's a little small plastic ballpoint. It's like three or four bucks. I've reviewed them on the site before. Maybe, I don't know if we've talked about it. We've certainly talked about them.

Myke Hurley: It doesn't ring a bell with me at all.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a cool little pen. It's a 3D printed, or actually it was a 3D printed originally. Now it's like molded plastic barrels. And they're very cool. They're like smaller and cheaper than a Fisher Space Pen, but not a pressurized refill. And then sometimes I carry my Timber Twist wood pencil. The bullet pencil, I should say. Because it carries the, I have the Blackwing 602 in it. I kind of keep all these around my keys, and my watch, and my wallet, and my pocket knives. Because these are all the things that go in my pocket when I leave the house. And those are the three that sit there. And most of the time, I'm grabbing the Schoen Design pen. Now Russell's question, what's a great EDC pen for a sport coat? None of these are going to translate to that for what he's trying to use. You know, with light, with a cap, rollerball, a ballpoint. He loves the TI2 Tech Liner, but those are too heavy. I'm having a hard time coming up with something. I know there's, you can get, you know, just your basic Uniball Jetstream, you know, retractable pens. It's a fantastic sport coat pen. It's light. You know it's going to work all the time. Same with any of the gel pens like the Zebra Saracic Clip or the Uniball Signo RT1. Those are awesome. But I don't know if that's exactly what you're looking for, Russell.

Myke Hurley: Like a Fisher Space pen with a clip on it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that would be fine. It's lightweight. It's got a cap. You can add on the clip. Oh, I apologize. One other thing on the EDC pens. There is a fourth one, and I meant to say that. It's the Kaweco Lilliput. Because I've added that clip on there, and I'm really enjoying the Lilliput, my Fire Blue Lilliput. That's another that stays in my little EDC pen area. But I don't carry that as much. I tend to use that on my desk a lot just because I enjoy writing with it. The chat room's mentioning the Cron Dash 849. That's a great choice. Mr. Myke from Ink Dependents, who is also in the Inkology contest. So we'll have to commiserate after it's done and see how we did. The 849 would be an awesome pen. It is retractable. He does want a cap. But I kind of like the retractable ideas for an EDC pen anyway. So yeah, I'm not totally sure where to go with this one for Russell. Like, I like the Karis Customs EDK, but that's not light. And it's, you know, retractable. But that's a good... That's not one I carry in my pants pocket, but I'd carry in a shirt pocket. So I don't have the perfect answer for that. But Sherry, I would go with a ballpoint. And you can do a lot of cool things. If you want to get something cool, one pen that I carried in my car for years is the Tombow AirPress. It's a cheaper, cooler looking Fisher Space pen. And it's not going to dry up. It's going to handle all the temperature changes. It's just a really, really cool, cool pen. And then I wanted to give a shout out to Todd Crane, who emailed me with a fantastic idea. And it was EDC related, so I wanted to bundle it in with this group. And he said, you know, you do these top... He was talking about when we did our top five pens recently. He's like, why don't... You know, he's like, that's a great topic. But how about a top five most useful pens? And I thought, you know, that's a really good way to put it. Like, we talk about our top five pens, or we talk about EDC pens. And there's kind of not much crossover from there. Can you put together a top five of your most useful pens? You know, which can contain a fountain pen, an EDC pen, whatever you're using, a pencil. You know, whatever you're using most frequently. And I think that's a really good way to look at this topic. You know, trying to do it like any kind of top five. What pens are the most useful for you? You know, and I kind of say that... I mean, I kind of do that myself, like at my desk. That's where I keep... Like, I use a Pilot Hitec C all the time. And that's at my desk. You know, would that be a top five most useful pen? I don't know. But I keep my drawing pens there. You know, the Kirtaki Zig Mangakas, which I use all the time. That could be in there. You know, Sharpie pens. Different things like that. I just thought that was kind of a neat way to put it, an appropriate way to put it, to be quite honest. So, yeah, I think that's kind of cool. So, we will work on that for the future, or I'll write a blog post on it, or something like that. So, do you have anything to say on the EDC type stuff?

Brad Dowdy: M90?

Myke Hurley: It doesn't count. I don't think of it like that. Like, every day for me is in my office. Like, it's not, you know, that's where the pens are, and that's where I'm using them. So, I can use anything, you know? I will say, I went at a meeting today, and I had to take some pens with me, and I took the Sinclair. What a great case that is, Brad. Oh, well, thank you. It's the first time I've really used it, and I was able to get four pens and a notebook in there.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's a good one. I think that's probably our most popular item. It should be.

Myke Hurley: I honestly think it is the best case that you make.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think so, too. I don't disagree with that one bit, and when I'm at shows and people aren't familiar with our cases, you know, when I'm explaining to them, here's what each case does. You know, the Sinclair tends to register with a lot of people for the way it's set up, and you can close it up, and you can add paper into it, which not a lot of our cases do have, you know, an additional small paper option. So, yeah, Sinclair is my favorite case that we make, but that's like picking a favorite child, too, right?

Myke Hurley: Just don't tell the other cases.

Brad Dowdy: Right, right. Brasstown, you're in the corner. No, just kidding. Brasstown. I think it's Sinclair, Brasstown, and Lookout are easily the top three with Sinclair. It's probably first, and then Brasstown and Lookout are right there, neck and neck for close seconds. So, yeah. All good.

Myke Hurley: All good. That's my contribution to Everyday Carry.

Brad Dowdy: Well, thank you. So, carry all your Everyday Carry stuff in a Sinclair by NotCo. Love it. Ding! All right, a couple more. Let's do these real quick. Is that good? Yeah, great. So, the real nib creep wants to know, what's everyone's opinion on Sailor medium nibs? More like Western fine or similar to Western medium like my Pilot 823? I say they're more like Western fine. They're a little bit firmer than the 823 in a medium, so maybe that's why it's a little bit wider. But at least that's been my experience with Sailor medium nibs. I know that's your primary nib size, right, for your Sailors?

Sailor Pens

Myke Hurley: Yeah, Sailor medium. And it doesn't feel like a fine to me. I mean, it's fine in a medium, but I don't like fine nibs really of any kind in most cases. And whatever it is, probably just the absolute perfectness of Sailor, they feel a little bit more forgiving than a fine nib. They feel a little bit more forgiving than that to me. Because I don't like fine nibs, right, Western or Japanese. It's just not for me. But it feels, for me, I would say smoother than a fine, but still giving a fine line is the way I would describe it, I think. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I definitely think they're on the finer end of the medium spectrum in Japanese pens anyway. Yeah. But that's why I think it's like the perfect writing size for me. I think it's one of the most perfect nibs just for a stock nib around Sailor medium. It's just kind of... It might, you know... Right. It kind of has everything.

Myke Hurley: It might just be based upon the fact that they're just incredible, right? Yeah. So it's just like, it doesn't matter, like, you're going to like it anyway, right? Like... Right. It doesn't matter your typical preference, because it ain't one of these bad boys, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. All right. Super Nat wants to know, when is that handwriting is dead lady coming on the show? This was funny when we got this tweet a couple weeks ago. I thought I was going to die.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think she is, because...

Myke Hurley: You know what? Honestly, at this point... I'm not going to ask her. At this point, I don't think I want to have this conversation again.

Brad Dowdy: Well, the... So she sent me the book, right? I know. I know. And I read the book, and it was not good. And it would... The conversation would not go well.

Myke Hurley: This is what I'm saying.

Brad Dowdy: Right? The premise of what she laid out, and how the style that the book was written in was... It would not go well in an interview, put it that way. There's no... There's no... I don't think we'd end up in a better place by having a conversation, put it that way.

Myke Hurley: Say it like you mean it, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Well, I mean, like, I want to make friends. I want to understand, you know, where she's coming from. Mm-hmm.

Brad Dowdy: I have an opinion on why this was done, and I'm going to keep it to myself. I have nothing to say more on that. All right. So next question. With last week's revelation about the Uniball refills, will you change your mind about the best multi-pins? In 2015, your favorite was the high-tech C. The Coleto has that change, trying to determine the best one to buy for an office setting. Coleto's still the best. It's got the best ink. It's got great colors. They work really well. They work better than the standard high-tech Cs for a lot of people, the 0.4mm Coleto. So I don't like the Uniball style fit as much because I don't like the barrel as much. The refills are good. You know, if you like that pen, the refills are really good. I just like the style and feel of the Coleto. I think they do it better than the style fit, although the style fit, I think, is still second. So it's a popular pen. Everyone really, really seems to like it. I still like the Coleto. All right. Last one, and I think I answered Ben on Twitter when he asked this, but I want to bring it up and get your opinion. But I think our answer is going to be the same. He says, I got my first TWSBI Eco Clear coming in the mail. What blue inks will look great sloshing around in it? You go first.

Myke Hurley: Rubber, Osta, Fire, and Ice.

Orozhuzuku Konpeki

Brad Dowdy: Oh, okay. I didn't even think about that. I went with Konpeki from Orozhuzuku and the new Sailor Sky High, which might even be better than the Konpeki. And now you can actually get it since Sailor's reissued those inks. And it's cheaper than the Orozhuzuku Konpeki. So those are my choices.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I agree. Obviously, we have Orozhuzuku Konpeki. Konpeki is great. But, you know, Fire and Ice gives a lot of the look, but it also gives something special on the page.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And there's a new Oster that just came out. It was at the Pen Show, but I didn't get to buy it. It's a little bit lighter than the Fire and Ice. It starts with a B. It's like, I don't know. His names are weird now. Blue Fire Mountain Lake Reservoir or something like that.

Myke Hurley: That's a really long name.

Brad Dowdy: I'm just making that up. But it's got blue in the name and fire in the name. I'm pretty sure. Blue Lake Fire Oil Spill Cuyahoga. Something like that. I don't know. Are you doing all right over there?

Brad Dowdy: Blue Water Ice. Thank you. That was nowhere near where you were going. I knew it had blue in it, and I thought there were some fire-related issues, but it's a Blue Water Ice. River of Fire is the new green one. I have that one somewhere laying around here. Blue Water Ice is inked up in my Visconti because I couldn't buy the ink because it was sold out. But our friend Jonathan Brooks had a bottle at his table, so I think I might like it better than the Fire and Ice, to be honest. So, yeah. So, if I make a fire ink, it'll be called Cuyahoga for sure. So, you'll have to Wikipedia that, and maybe that'll be on your genius show.

Myke Hurley: All right. I'll submit it to the committee. Thanks for listening for today's show, I guess. I think we're at the end. You can send in your questions with hashtag AskTPA over Twitter. You can send them to Brad in the Pen Addict Slack as well. But any tweet with hashtag AskTPA goes into a spreadsheet that we can look at. Don't forget to check out our sub-communities that we have building. One is the wiki at stationary.wiki, and the other is a subreddit, reddit.com slash r slash penaddict. You can find Brad online. He is at dowdyism and penaddict on Instagram. And he is over at penaddict.com and knock.co. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E, on the social places. And you can find more work on mine at relay.fm. Did I say where to get the show notes? Maybe, maybe not. Relay.fm slash penaddict slash 261. Thanks again to Squarespace and Harry's for supporting this week's show. But most of all, as always, thanks to you for listening. And we'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.