Editing The Pen Addict 28/transcript (section)

== Keras Customs Render K ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So. So, anyway, my friends at a company called Keras Customs, and we've talked about one of their pens before. It's called the Render K. It was originally a Kickstarter pen, and I helped them way back when they, I don't even know when their Kickstarter project was. It was last year sometime. It might have been last summer. But, you know, they send me prototypes, and I give them feedback. And so, you know, I'm certainly no guru, but they did ask for my opinion, and, you know, I told them a few things that I saw. And, you know, so I've always kept in touch with these guys. They do, they've made one of my, probably one of my favorite Kickstarter high-tech C pens. It's a good design, just a basically threaded cap with a clip, machine-milled aluminum. It's really nice. They do a good job. Well, they came out.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Dan at Keras Customs had told me all along, you know, they're going to keep improving this line and keep making different products. And they've made a brass one. And that's really nice. But then recently they've come out with a bunch of colored barrels for the Render K. And Dan sent me one, and he told me he was going to send me something in the mail. And he told me, and I assumed it was going to be one of the color ones, but I didn't get to pick out the color or anything like that. And I don't know if he reads me, reads the Pen Attic blog frequently, but he scored by sending me the orange one, which is absolutely the one I would have picked out of the lineup. And I'll send you the link, Myke, for the show notes if you don't have it already. But these, it's an aluminum pen, and I don't know, I'll have to talk to Dan. And maybe that would be a good interview subject, actually, get Dan on the show, how they put the finish on here. But it's super bright and really well done. I put in a .4 millimeter Pilot High Tech C gel, refilling it. And I've been using it all week at work this week, and I've been taking it all over the office, dropping it, you know, using it. I mean, it's gone through some hard knocks this week with me at work, and it's been great. I love looking at it, and I've been real happy. They did a very nice job on this pen. And I know there's a few other readers and pen bloggers that are fans of the RenderK as well. You know, our friend Mary from the Pen Cup, who does awesome pen reviews, she's a big RenderK user.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The colors on the aluminum are stunning.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's why we've got to get Dan on. I'll have to work on that because I don't know how they do it. I'm not a manufacturer, but they're really bright, and they pop. And, you know, you can include that picture I tweeted out yesterday too. I mean, that's just with my iPhone sitting on my desk at work, and it's just like it's really, really sharp looking. I've been very, very pleased with it. It's my favorite RenderK so far, that's for sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'll put a link to the tweet in the show notes. I also have a link to the RenderKs as well. The colors, do you know what they remind me of? iPod Nanos.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, they really do. That's a lot of those same colors. You don't see a lot of purple, pink, and orange aluminum barrels.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I mean, I'm intrigued at this one because, I mean, I'm not a fan of the original Hitek C. I like my Polito because it gives me a nicer barrel. Interested to maybe try one of these out. Yeah. How much are they?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' 45, I think.

'''Myke Hurley:''' 45, that's not too bad.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, it's not too bad. Especially, I mean...

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's probably quite expensive to ship, though. I don't know. Well, to here.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You're right. I don't know. But, you know, they're just... It's the beauty of Kickstarter, right? I mean, it's just a guy in his machine shop coming up with a pin design, and now he pretty much has essentially a pin store. And he's improving on the product and making new products and making changes. And, you know, he's done a real good job.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Totally. I'm now looking at how much the shipping's going to cost on one of these.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' He's got a picture of the black one up there, too. Since the colors are so bright, I wouldn't have considered the black, but the black is actually pretty nice.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They do a non-trackable shipping for $20, which... That's not too bad. That's not too bad. I'm going to put this on my pen list.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The think about it list.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. I like the look of these.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Just for the record, with these pens, and I'm re-verifying it on their site, you know, they fit the high-tech C. They also provide you... What do you call it? Not a stopper. Like a plug. That will fit Parker. I know a lot of people use Parker refills. Parker compatible refills. They do provide a way to fit a Parker compatible refill in there. But that's about it. It's the high-tech C. And then with a little plug, the Parker refill will fit.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What weight does the nib size, does the high-tech C go up to? Five. Five. Yeah. It's still quite slim, but it's okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's smooth enough. I mean, it still may be too slim for you, but the five is really wide for me because the high-tech Cs are really made for that fine line. I mean, it starts at 0.25 and 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I think I have the five and the Kalito, and it's thin, but it's okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's doable. It's smooth enough, and there's not a lot of feedback or drag with that pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. It's a good one. It's a reason that people say it's the best pen ever.