Editing The Pen Addict 463/transcript (section)

== Field Notes Anniversary Issue ==


'''Brad:''' That's accurate. That's accurate. They could not have executed this 50th anniversary issue edition better, in my opinion.

'''Myke:''' I struggle to think of a product that I have seen, which is intended to celebrate something that does such an incredible job of achieving just that. So the notebooks themselves, they are red. And they have, like, secondary covers on the inside, right? Which feature three of, they're called flyleaf covers. So the O in Field Notes on the red cover has a hole cut out. You see through, you see the number 50 in its place. And they've chosen Safety Orange from Dime Novel, Night Shift Blue from End Papers, and Gum Drop Green from Grass Stain Green. So, like, three. I assume these are important to them, particularly, right? Which is why they chose those colors. So the notebooks themselves, they're really nice, right? Then they also created a stamp set of actual, like, they're not postage stamps, but they are stamps. They're like sticky stamps, right? They're not valid postage, that have imagery, beautiful iconography of some of the things that they do. So the way that they stitch their notebooks, the way that they choose the paper. Like, it's, you know, little kind of mementos of the ways that they produce their products, right? So that's nice, nice little stickers, basically. Then if you're a subscriber, you get this Bananas desk notebook, which is, they call it a desk ledger. And it has a selection of things. Some of it is just a, like, a desk ledger, and you could just, it's just note pages. But then they also have this whole set of pages dedicated to every single, like, going through, almost like a museum piece. Every single edition with a little bit of text about them and an image of them. It really is just, like, the whole package is just so fantastic and such a celebration. But you only get the desk pad if you're a subscriber. So both me and Brad started a new subscription. Because I really want it. I want this. You know, like, this is a company that I really love the work of and have got a big collection of their products. And this is a thing that celebrates that history of those products. I want to own it. It's like a little collector's item that I want to own. So I did it.

'''Brad:''' And they've played a, you know, Field Notes has played a big role in the history of this show. So they're an always important brand to us. It's always a brand we look to for unique, stationary, and cool products. And I imagine trying to create this edition was met with a lot of stress. It's probably been in the works for well over a year, I'm guessing. Just trying to figure out what they're going to do for it. And knowing that the weight of that number is going to be attached to this edition and how do we execute it. You know, my... When we talked about it being late a few weeks ago, I think both of us basically said our dream edition would be extremely basic, right? Like our perfect 50th anniversary edition would harken back to the original days somehow. And I think they just did that perfectly. Like that's all I wanted to see in this notebook. Because they were able to tell the story like in these fun stamps, which are hilarious. And this desk ledger, which has way more content in it than I would have thought outside of the notepad pages, right? I haven't finished reading this book yet. I just opened it this morning. And I was like, oh, I am not going to finish this before the podcast. But they basically take this book and they go through and have like a kind of like a buy the numbers section, you know, where they have all these topics. Like number of butcher orange three packs produced for our first quarterly edition, then known as Field Notes Colors Edition. 500, right? This company started making, they made 500 three packs of notebooks. Think about that. If you're out there and you're a maker of things or you're interested in making things. That's how Field Notes started. They made craft paper notebooks, sold them to their friends, and they did a special edition of 1500 total notebooks. That's it. That's how they started. Then they have, you know, just some funny stuff. One that I enjoyed was number of times Dawson wisely scheduled an overseas vacation for two weeks after launch, then ended up out of town during the launch because it was delayed for two weeks. Nine.

'''Brad:''' It's just page after page of this. And then, you know, there's a bunch of, there's a story and an essay from Jim. And there's some top 10 lists, which I thought were pretty cool because we always, in the beginning for probably like the first 20 or 30 editions, we would always have like our top five or top 10. I don't know that I could put one together off the top of my head now. But the top 10 quarterly editions is ranked by current subscribers. Myke, allow me to read these. If you will, this is a survey sent out.

'''Myke:''' Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' It's a surprising list to me. Number one, national parks. Not a surprise. Not a surprise. Number two, United States of Letterpress. Fantastic. These are all fantastic. Number three, coastal, which I, it didn't get a lot. That's a beautiful one. I love that one. It's a beautiful one. I think there wasn't a lot of flack for it in the beginning, but it's one that like did really well. Then people got it and was like, well, I don't know if I can use these kind of gradiated reticles. And now it's just kind of like one of the favorite issues. Dime novel number four was one of the big, I don't know what the right word is. Not turning point, but it was in field. It wasn't the first oddly sized field notes, but it's the first one where they like really said, hey, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, cool. You know, like we get it, but there's probably going to be more stuff like this in the future. And I was like, yeah, I'm in. I'm in. Dime novel's great. Number five is really kind of the one outlier on this list. And I'm so glad. Autumn Trilogy. Like I am a Mackinac Autumn, Shenandoah Autumn Trilogy fan. And to see that, I'm shocked that it's in the top five of ranked by subscribers. And it's actually there's another list I won't go through. The top ten quarterly editions as ranked by folks on the list. So like this is like their email list. Autumn Trilogy, also number five, which is crazy to me. Crazy. I mean, I'm a super fan, but like there's no way I would have seen that in the top ten if top 15. Then you have three missions, Snowy Evening, Workshop Companion, which surprises me, Lunacy, and Night Sky. So yeah, that's the top ten quarterly editions as voted.

'''Myke:''' The way that I look at this list, there are some great options in there. I think it kind of maybe shows the overall makeup of the Field Notes audience and subscriber time. Yep. That they have a lot more people that haven't been around as long. because there's stuff back like Drink Local should be on that list.

'''Brad:''' Yep. Drink Local. Right.

'''Myke:''' National Crops. National Crops should be on that list. Probably number one. Yeah. Fire Spotter, Raven's Wing. Like these are people that have been following them forever. Like they're some of the like real. I'm happy Night Sky's on there actually. It's my personal favorite edition, I think. Yep. But yeah, there's like some stuff like especially National Crop. Yeah. Is Night Sky the oldest?

'''Brad:''' I'd have to look. There's actually a one through 50 list in the back.

'''Myke:''' I believe of that list that you gave, Night Sky is the oldest. It's the summer of 2013. Everything else is more modern than that.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, it's just like a jam-packed book. And when you go to the back, like after the ledger pages, there's the section called the gallery. And that's where like on each page is like four or five of the editions running from Butcher Orange all the way to number 50. Which it was cool to look back at. I was like, oh yeah, balsam fur. I remember that. This is when they used to ship like really weird stuff with their subscriptions. They actually put a balsam fur twig. Like there was literally a branch in your envelope. I don't know if people remember that. They put a branch of balsam fur in the envelope when they shipped it to you. I was like, this is the dumbest, awesomest thing ever. And like this is the kind of, this is why we love them so much. And still do. I don't want to say that in the past tense. But like they've really, really done a good job over the years. Congratulations to the entire Field Notes team. And I just look at this. I'm very impressed with what they did in this 50th release. I'm going to continue to flip through this book. And, you know, reminisce about my favorites and read all the stories and all the notes they have on each of these. It's just really, really well done. So, yeah.

'''Myke:''' I would like to recommend if you have not heard before episode 279 of The Pen Addict. That was when Brad and I were in Chicago. And we interviewed Brian and Jim of Field Notes about the whole kind of history. We were in Chicago. We were on tour then. And we got to stop in. And we were a small audience. We had a wonderful episode of the show, which I really, really recommend that people go and listen to. It's really fantastic. I look back on that very fondly.

'''Brad:''' I do too. And that was right around the Dime Novel release. So, there was a lot to talk about with them. Not just in how they got there from here. But just how things were changing and how they're comfortable with doing those projects like Dime Novel, which I think they talk about a little bit in the insert book here. So, yeah. Just very cool. I am interested, Myke, to have a subscription again. And it's been quite a while. I have no subscriptions right now.

'''Myke:''' It's been a year for me. My subscription ended at the end of 2019.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. So, I can't remember. Mine's probably around the same time within an issue or two. So, you know, it's probably missed like the last six issues or so. And, like, I'm okay with that. Like, I would have bought it if I needed them. But I wanted to get this one. And I'm anxious now. We'll have to talk about the next three because they're coming automatically. So, they're going to be back part of the regular rotation. I'm sure. Not that they ever weren't. But we're back on the sub train now. So, they got us, Myke. Those F-worders.

'''Brad:''' All right. This has been, you know, this is probably every other episode. It's a classic, typical Pen Addict episode. So, we've already, you've talked about Sailor. We've both talked about Field Notes. Now, I get to talk about Retro 51s, Myke. Because they came out with an update to the Metalsmith standard lineup pens. Did you have a chance to catch these? They kind of caught me off guard. I didn't see them until someone sent me a link.

'''Myke:''' I saw them on your stream yesterday. The one that you got. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' So, that was, I went and ordered them after I saw what they released. They released four in the Metalsmith lineup. I think these are all considered to be in the Metalsmith lineup. So, Brutus, which is, I don't understand the name. I haven't looked at these that much. The Barberpole Stripe Pen. Very cool. But, you know, the traditional red, white, and blue, like Barberpole Stripe. So, that's a pen. The raw brass pen, which we will circle back to that in a moment.

'''Myke:''' The barbersmith is probably referring to the popular 80s and 90s wrestler Brutus the Barber Beefcake.

'''Brad:''' That's the only Brutus the Barber I know.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. So, I'm assuming that that's what that's for.

'''Brad:''' I mean, that's about the only time I remember wrestling. And that's the only thing I can think of.

'''Myke:''' Now, I want this because of that reference. Because I just love that they did that.

'''Brad:''' What is the finial? Is the finial just like a mustache? Or does it relate to any wrestling thing at all? I don't know.

'''Myke:''' If they, if I, the imagery on the Pan Chalet website doesn't have the finials. So, I'm going to have to try and find this now.

'''Brad:''' Now, if there was like a Hacksaw Jim Duggan or a Junkyard Dog edition, I might have to go there. So, we'll have to pay attention. Raw brass, which I, like I said, I want to circle back to that one. Patriot, I think, is the name of the patchwork flag, you know, American flag one, which they tend to do once every few years. They'll do some kind of take. So, scissors and a comb. It's not really.

'''Myke:''' I would have wanted to see shears if it was going to be where it was the barbecue cake. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' And then Frederick Douglass, which, this is a weird group. There's not a lot of consistency here. There's not like a running theme. I don't think through here.

'''Myke:''' It's like we had four good ideas. I'm just going to do all of them.

'''Brad:''' I keep trying to make these all work together, but they don't. They don't. They just happen to release. When they release these metalsmiths, they usually release them in a group of three or four or five. And they don't generally relate, but I keep trying to make them relate. They just don't.

'''Myke:''' I think the first ones were all like presidents, right? Yeah. Jeff Jefferson.

'''Brad:''' But then they did like Franklin. I think, didn't they do a Ben Franklin one too? So, I don't know. I've never been a huge metalsmith fan, right? That's never been in my jam. I've always liked the lacquered editions. And am I going to like the metal pens? It turns out, Myke, they're not that heavy. I measured them yesterday.

'''Myke:''' I have one. I have a couple, actually. I have Lincoln, which I adore Lincoln. Lincoln is fantastic. That was one of the great ones. The raw brass one, I'm not sure about.

'''Brad:''' Really? That's going to be easily the bestseller by a long time.

'''Myke:''' But it's like going to make your hands smell, right? It's going to be that kind of. Yeah. Because what I like about Lincoln is it doesn't do that so much. Yeah. I don't know. But I bet. Yeah. It looks fantastic, though. I would be super intrigued to see what that looks like, but I wouldn't be able to use it.

'''Brad:''' Me neither. Like, I have no interest in owning it. But I think it's going to be the bestselling one. I went with Frederick Douglass, one, because he's a great human being, was a great abolitionist in the 1800s in the U.S. And the design of the pen is just kind of this wavy pattern in the barrel. I don't know how to describe it. It has a slight tactile feel in it, but it's not very much. I need to get some close-ups because it's got some depth to it. And I couldn't. I should have bought a metalsmith pen before now. I am really, really happy with this one. This one's, the one I bought is probably the most metalsmithy, traditional metalsmith design, right? I mean, raw brass is obviously full, like, you know, classic metal. But this is what, you know, the ones like Lincoln and some of the other ones in the past have always, I've had that picture in my head of what a metalsmith pen looks like. So I'm glad I have my own, this Frederick Douglass one. This is going to stay on the desk. Like, this is a really, really good one that I'm a little bit late to the party on and I'm very, very happy with. So it's good. So, yeah, there you go. That's, that release surprised me. This is, again, like their standard releases. This is something that they do every year. They're usually, um, during normal times is have, like, a grouping of metalsmith pens to release. Then they might release some one-offs, you know, throughout the year. But there's usually, like, some type of group together and they're great. Oh, uh, correction in the, uh, I, I couldn't find the real name of the flag one. It's actually called Bennington, not Patriot. So there you go. Just a little correction. Thank you, Chad. But it was weird that I, I could not, it was hard to find the name of that particular model because they've done, like, uh, Betsy in the past for Betsy Roth. Um, Betsy Ross, excuse me. Um, so, uh, it was weird that I couldn't find the name. But, yeah, check them out. They're all pretty good.

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Aren't they bringing some of the old colors? They're bringing some colors just to the lacquered line I saw, too. They were adding two or three colors. Yes. And they're bringing orange back or something, I think. There was.

'''Brad:''' I thought it was an olive. I don't know. I saw the post and then I didn't save it.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I'm trying to find it myself now.

'''Brad:''' It was on Instagram.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, I saw it as well. Let me see. Uh, yeah. Orange and Kiwi are coming back to the classic lacquers line in mid-June. Gotcha.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I never, I gave away my original classic lacquers orange way back in the day because that's, that's what you do with retro 51s, right? Like, when, like, the, the tornado classic lacquers that are, like, low $20, you just, you kind of get fascinated by them. And then you know someone in, in your life who's not really a pin person but would appreciate, but appreciates, like, a good pin. And then you give them a retro 51 like that. Yeah. And then they go, oh, oh, that's what a good pin feels like. Yeah. And you know, they're like, wait, how much is this? Like, $21, something like that. And it's like, oh, really? Okay. Yeah, that's, that's how we got into retro 51s ourselves.

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'''Brad:''' It's funny. I kind of wanted to relate back to the hollow pillow anecdote, right? This shouldn't work necessarily. But it does.