Editing The Pen Addict 176/transcript (section)

== Pen Show ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right, so your pen show arrived. We've never figured out the pronunciation. I guess I'm too lazy to figure out the real pronunciation for this. I could probably go listen to the Kickstarter again and get it. So, yours arrived. Tell me what you think. You haven't got yours? It literally came right before the show. So, I was going to tell you I just got it, and I've played with it a little bit. So, I'll tell you my thoughts. You go first, though.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's very pretty to look at. So, I have the black one. Do you know what color you have?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Black, yeah. I took it out. I've played with it a little bit. So, I have some comments on it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I find that getting the lead to come out is difficult. The action that they show of pulling it apart, I find to be a little uncomfortable to actually perform that action. And I think it would take some getting used to. It can be a bit fiddly to get the lead in and out of it. Unfortunately, the red lead that they provided is way too soft.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, it breaks down immediately.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It may as well be made of liquid. Like, it's, you know. Oh, wow. Almost like a crayon. Yeah, it's really, really soft. It actually doesn't say what type of lead it is. I wish I could say what one it is, but it just says red. Like, it hasn't got like a, you know, like they have like HB and B and all that sort of stuff. I have no idea what this is, but it's super, super soft. It's too soft for me to use, which is a shame because I have three packs of this red lead now. But it came with one pack of HB leads as well in black, which are perfectly fine.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I would be interested if anybody knows where I can get some HB and some colors, if that's possible. I don't know. Maybe, you know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I'm sure. Probably cult pins, jet pins. I was going to look and order some myself.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I'm looking at that. But I really, really like it. I like it a lot. I've been using it all week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's not completely cylindrical. Like, it has like a flat-ish edge, kind of, like where the cutout is, which means I can put it down and it won't move. But if I put it down quickly, it does roll away. And the problem with being made of metal is when it hits my desk, it sounds like this. So, that's like a big difference to using something like the rotary, which has a clip on it, so I can just drop it and nothing will happen. Right. But I do really like it. I find it very comfortable to hold. It's nice to use. And it has an all-around very, very different experience to the mechanical pencils that I've been using. Primarily because, you know, you get much, much more line and width variation as the lead runs down because it's much thicker than a mechanical pencil lead. This is a true pencil lead. It came with an eraser, which is actually really good. I found that it does a really, really good job of erasing. And a little lead sharpener, which I don't find to be as good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's a little dinky. Yeah, I mean, and I understand that it's small and that's fine because it's compact, but it doesn't do a very good job of putting a sharp point. I have to really work at it to get a sharp point. And the other thing, like, you have to bring the lead quite far out for it to go into the sharpener. And more than once, I've snapped large pieces of the lead off trying to sharpen it. But I would say, though, that if you are a person who uses pencils to look at this, this is a very nicely designed, very nicely manufactured thing that is a real kind of just piece, an interesting piece to own. And if I can find some HB colored leads, I will be very happy, man, because it will look fantastic. Like a nice dark red or a blue in here because it's got, like, basically a window, right? And it looks really good. And I have to say, like, the idea of having a window to show you the lead, like, and how much further the lead is, is really genius. The whole kind of design of the product, like from conception to actualization, is very, very smart. And I think that it's very unique and would be also a really, really nice gift for an artistic friend. I think this would really, really brighten someone's day. You know, it gets me like, wow, this is very different. So I'm overall very pleased with it. But I think some of the implementation details from the way that the project was delivered could have been better. I don't think they were very good at communication. And I would have liked to have known that the leads were going to be as soft as they are before they came because otherwise I probably, well, I definitely wouldn't have bought them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, my feelings are pretty much the same. It's an awesome lead holder. And I think it's coming down to me, seeing that I've just only had it for a few minutes. It's going to take some getting used to for me because I've never used anything like this before. So I'm doing weird things with it that I shouldn't be doing. Like, number one, I set it down on my desk just like you did and let it roll off the desk into the floor. So it snapped the lead. I mean, it snapped the tip off, which is fine. And then it broke it further up in the barrel, which, you know, it's taken a long fall. But I'm still getting used to the extending the lead and putting the lead back in, like to essentially retract the lead, if you will. Like if I'm going to set it down and I want the lead, I want the tip fully back in. You can't turn it upside down to get it back in. Right. When the lead's too short and that window is open, you turn it upside down. You just shoot the lead back in, you know, let gravity take hold, and then the lead just falls out the side. So I've done that. So it's just a matter of figuring out how to use it. I definitely need to get a real lead pointer. The little sharpener that they have is pretty bad. But, I mean, I can't blame them for that. It's just this little fingertip sharpener.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I didn't have to put it in at all.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's a little freebie. It sharpens unevenly, leaves a ridge in the lead. Um, so I'm going to get like a legitimate pointer that I don't know who sells one. I haven't looked for that either. I'm also going to, I didn't order the colored leads, but I want to. So I will be doing that same shopping that you're going to do. So maybe we can find something that works out. But I think in general, it's going to be really, really good. When I'm actually, when I was actually using it, you know, as it be intended, it's great. Um, but yeah, they're talking about in the chat room that I didn't think of that either, Dan, when I retracted the lead, if you're down to like a half size lead and, you know, you've sharpened it, you use it, and then you flip it over to retract it. Um, it's just going to, it's just going to fall straight out because it's wide open in the middle. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, I don't personally retract, um, once I've, I've pulled it like, cause I'm not, I'm not like putting it anywhere, you know? So it's like I retract it and then it's, that's good to go.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's probably not made to, you know, most people probably won't do that. I was just playing around with it and, you know, you just never turn it upside down to, to do anything with the lead or you're going to have a bad time, you know, just keep it all in the vertical position, how you would normally write and, you know, extend or retract the lead that way. Um, I've been using two hands, which is a little bit awkward. So just because it is so tight, but I mean, that's just part of the design. It's, it has to be that tight. So maybe I'll get the motion down to free it up a little bit better. Um, so we'll see. I really like it, man. It's beautiful. And so I'm going to get some colored lead as well, but, um, I'm, I mean, I think I'll use it pretty regularly. I am definitely going to keep it on my desk. I'm not going to carry it around with me. I have a feeling I'll end up just getting frustrated and break the lead somehow. Um, you know, I feel like I should keep it at my desk, but, um, we'll see. Otherwise I'm, I'm really happy with it. It was certainly worth the price. I mean, um, what they were in the 20 something dollar range and, uh, it's a beautiful, it's beautiful. Mine. Did I say mine was black also? I got the black one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.