Editing The Pen Addict 1/transcript (section)

== Pen Tips ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right, right. Which is why when you go to the store, you don't see anything less than 0.5 millimeter, which is what, for years and years and years, was everything I used. Because I liked a fine line, and that was as fine as I could get. You know, 10 years ago, I wasn't shopping for pens online, right? And I didn't live in Japan where this was more prevalent. And that's what I was stuck with. And one day, I walked into OfficeMax and saw a 0.38 millimeter pen, a Uniball Sino RT 0.3. And I was like, this is interesting. And that's actually the pen that started the Pen Addict is the Uniball Sino RT 0.38 millimeters. I remember it specifically. And, you know, the pen addict became my search for more pens like that because you just can't find them in the store. It's starting to become more prevalent these days. Because of you. Yeah, doubtful. I highly doubt that. Now, I complain on my blog to the pen manufacturers all the time. I'll say, you know, Pilot, are you listening? And you know what?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Uniball, Pilot, almost all the main pen manufacturers now have a sub 0.5 millimeter pen available on in-office supply store shelves.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So we have you to thank. I think we can categorically say that we have Brad Dowdy to thank for the thinner pens in stores. I wish I had that kind of pull. Trust me. Just take it to say, yeah, no, it was me. So we spoke about tip size, which probably are gone.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I want to elaborate that on a little bit just because there's a difference between tip size and line width, which a lot of people get confused. So the tip size is what you see on the pen, printed on the pen, 0.5 millimeters, 0.7 millimeters. When you write on the page, the line width is different, and that's not measured by the pen companies. Right? They're not going to say, you know, or most of them don't say this is a 0.5 millimeter pen and the line width is going to be, you know, 0.4 millimeters on the page. So line width and tip size are two different things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I didn't know that. It was like I had just assumed, I guess I just assumed that it would be the same.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. That's why if you put down, you know, if you grab, you know, five different pens off your desk that are all 0.5 millimeters, you'll see they'll have different line widths. You'll notice that the line width isn't consistent, and that's going to be, you know, just differences in the manufacturer, how they've designed the tip of that pen to lay the ink down on the page.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So it's even though it is that size, depending on the way that it's designed, will give a different thickness.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not only that, but it depends on the ink too. Right. Okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So you could put different inks into the same nib and it would, or tip, and it would give a different line thickness.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Like your liquid ink is going to spread a little bit more so your lines will look thicker. Your gel ink is going to remain tighter just because of those ink properties. So your line is going to appear thinner.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I knew I was going to learn a lot today. So I just slipped up and said nib size, right? Now nib size is different to tip size.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I mean, for me, a nib is strictly a fountain pen term, but I think, you know, it certainly can be used just for a regular pen tip. And there's no perfect word. I refer to it as tip. And when someone says, what's the, it talks about a pen and asks me what the nib size is, I know immediately what they're referring to. So I think those are interchangeable.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But for me, if I say, if nib comes out of my mouth, I'm usually referring to a fountain pen nib, which is a whole nother episode.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's one I'm looking forward to. That's many episodes on top of many episodes. It's the fountain pen and pen world is pretty amazing.