Ladies and Gentleman. Please take your seats. It is my pleasure to present to you the interview we've all been waiting for.
James aka Syngent has the stage
1. Who are you?
I'm James, probably best known as Syngent, or Syn
2. Where are you located?
Oshawa Ontario Canada
3. How do you take your coffee?
someone has already said "in a mug" right,... well i guess i take it with 1 milk and two sugars, although sometimes i use cream, and most time the coffee is tea, but only with milk
4. What happened that made you seek a better shave, or if the chicken came before the egg,
how did you find B&B?
I was bored at work one day, looked up straights cause i always thought they were cool,... found fendrihan and while doing some research on his products found B&B, ended up getting a gift card for my birthday from my grandma, wasnt enough to spend on a straight but I found a merkur HD locally and it fit the card, things didnt go so well at first so i desided, well i know where you think this is going but... i desided to order a feather DX, the kamisori style thing, and a kent brush. things really didnt go so well, and I signed up,... if you hit my wiki page I have a link to my first post,... feather straights are sharp,... jess sayin
5. You perfected your handwriting once you got involved in the NIB. For those of us that wish to do the same what tips could you share or do you have any references that helped you?
Far from perfect I have a long way to go to get where I am going. tips i can do though. first find out what you really want, is it just to clean up what you have, or to do something fancy... if fancy is your thing pick one style to start and get practicing. I just really slowed down, didnt really practice in the traditional sense, I just made sure when i was writing i did my best to make it look like i wanted, sometimes 1 letter at a time till i got that single guy down,... over time things just started to fall into place. Theres more to it i guess but man i could do an entire thread on that lol
6. What is your favorite thing about being a Steward?
man I love everything about being a steward, helping people is fun, playing around with the team is fun, coming up with great ideas to get the forum excited is fun,... man its really the best non paying job on all the internets lol... its fun fer sure
7. When you sign on to B&B where do you head first?
I keep the entire nib, and some behind the curtain forums subscribed to, yes the entire forum, when I come on i hit the "settings" button and check to see whats new in my specific areas, then check on the threads im subscribed to,.. then go off and have some fun in other areas. I really try to read every post in the nib to make sure i can help out where i can and keep the energy of the Nibs members going
8. Were you taught cursive handwriting in school and is that where you caught the bug?
I was taught cursive writing in school, but like most boys that age, i was just waiting for the bell to go off so i could get outside and play some games... wasnt till Rockviper sam put a FP in my hands and some cool videos Nemo Doug put up did i decide i wanted to be able to do that
9. What was your first gold nib?
Im not exactly sure but I think my Parker Vac was the first one. It had a serisouly squashed nib though and was unusable tilll well after some other gold nibbed pens came along, so although it was my first owned, it has been the last to get used of what i have now.. so really its either the P51, or the CH92 for first used, but i cant remember what came first
10. Do you have a favorite ink?
No, or at least not "A" fav, I do have some I like more then others. Edelstien,Monteverde's (Which man i still havent heard of others trying this stuff out, its nice ink), the Vintage Quink Doug sent me from the phantom pif, Sailor Jentle inks... those and the Iroshizukus are mostly my favs
11. How many pens do you have in your collection and what is your favorite one?
im not at home so closest guess, 10 Fountain pens, 4 calligraphy italic pens, three dip pen handles with loads of tips and a bic laying around somewhere lol. The Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the #10 FA nib is at the top of my list
12. What’s up with your spellcheck?
It was made by Twsbi
13. When did you get your ears pierced?
a long time ago, i often forget i have them till i see it in a picture, or catch myself fiddling with them
14. Are there better value pens then a TWSBI? How much better are they than a Parker 51?
for me i wouldnt trade any twsbi for my P51. I think there are some other great values out there. my monteverde was a great pen for around 50 bucks with a lot of nib options available. the cool thing is the different fill options twsbi offers with there pens, i think you will find twsbi will continue to improve, and their prices will start going up as a result. getting a vac filler for 65 bucks wont be an option around for very long, and a piston filler for 50 bucks,... well i got my 80's pelikan M200 for less than that so depends on what your after i guess
15. Do you have a favorite pipe & tobacco?
Pipe yup, the one I got in my secret santa last year is my fav, a stanwell, was a great gift and a great pipe. and tobacco well i have lots more to try but for right now 3 oak syrian is my top dog
16. Do you have any holy grail items? - razors, brushes, pens, pipes, ect…
holy grail would be one of those vintage type flexy pens that start out with a needlepoint and end up BB or somewhere around there,... and with a feed that can keep up. untill then I have my dip pens
17. What music do you generally listen to?
Mostly modern heavy metal, Machinehead, Soilwork, Sevendust, Chimaira... nothing most of you would have heard of. I also love to listen to old (And i mean almost as old as recording is) southern blues, some 70s rocks stuff, heck even 80's pop type stuff is a nice way to keep a word days energy going
18. What fountain pen would you recommend to a first time user?
The metro has a great easy on the wallet price point, with (what i hear anyway) a good nib, and a quality over all build,... there are others as well but theres a whole thread right there, and we have tonnes of great stuff in the nib wiki on the matter as well
19. Most new shavers assume that after a few months they know all there is to know about wet shaving, while others learn things they didn’t know years later. What is the last lesson you learned?
Boar brushes dont suck, serisouly i had no interest in them ugly looking things thought there was no point when i could just save for a badger, then i got an essential Sue B&B brush. Boy I thought i was just getting it to support the cause, but its a really really nice brush, feels great, lathers like no bodies business,.... still not my fav over my Kent, but it is my second fav and those two own the rest of my collection by far.
20. What product do you find most over-rated? Under-rated? (any product, shaving or otherwise)
I dont know if you could say anything is over rated, i mean if people love them and post how over the moon they are for that product than who am i to tell them any different. Klar and Calani or two great soaps we dont see as much, although Klar has begun to break through a bit (Thank greek guy nick for that one). The kent brushes used to be all the rage but have gone quite quiet these days, everyone seem to push small dense knots, but they get messy for me when i face lather, my big fluffly kent builds and holds a tonne of lather and with soft tips to boot, and dont let anyone tell you they dont work on soaps, Im mostly a soap guy and i lather just as easy with it as i do my 2 band Blonde from the Cheif buy. also for us southern ontario guys we have a chain called Shoppers Drug Mart where they carry an often ignored "Real Shaving Company" line of products, which is a house brand of Creightons who makes the Three T's creams and many others, great stuff, local availability, and when on sale a steal of a deal
21. Any last words for the B&B community?
Last words???? lol im not even close to being done around these parts
________________________________________________________________________________________
Refrences
Quink ink review: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/336506-Ink-Review-Parker-Quink-Blue-Black
Pilot Metropolitan: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/331376-Pen-Review-Pilot-Metropolitan
Parker P51: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/240429-Spotlight-on-the-Parker-quot-51-quot
NIB Wiki: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/The_Nib
NIB Refrence & Review Guide: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/240316-Nib-Reference-and-Review-Guide
Member Interviews: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Interviews
James aka Syngent has the stage
1. Who are you?
I'm James, probably best known as Syngent, or Syn
2. Where are you located?
Oshawa Ontario Canada
3. How do you take your coffee?
someone has already said "in a mug" right,... well i guess i take it with 1 milk and two sugars, although sometimes i use cream, and most time the coffee is tea, but only with milk
4. What happened that made you seek a better shave, or if the chicken came before the egg,
how did you find B&B?
I was bored at work one day, looked up straights cause i always thought they were cool,... found fendrihan and while doing some research on his products found B&B, ended up getting a gift card for my birthday from my grandma, wasnt enough to spend on a straight but I found a merkur HD locally and it fit the card, things didnt go so well at first so i desided, well i know where you think this is going but... i desided to order a feather DX, the kamisori style thing, and a kent brush. things really didnt go so well, and I signed up,... if you hit my wiki page I have a link to my first post,... feather straights are sharp,... jess sayin
5. You perfected your handwriting once you got involved in the NIB. For those of us that wish to do the same what tips could you share or do you have any references that helped you?
Far from perfect I have a long way to go to get where I am going. tips i can do though. first find out what you really want, is it just to clean up what you have, or to do something fancy... if fancy is your thing pick one style to start and get practicing. I just really slowed down, didnt really practice in the traditional sense, I just made sure when i was writing i did my best to make it look like i wanted, sometimes 1 letter at a time till i got that single guy down,... over time things just started to fall into place. Theres more to it i guess but man i could do an entire thread on that lol
6. What is your favorite thing about being a Steward?
man I love everything about being a steward, helping people is fun, playing around with the team is fun, coming up with great ideas to get the forum excited is fun,... man its really the best non paying job on all the internets lol... its fun fer sure
7. When you sign on to B&B where do you head first?
I keep the entire nib, and some behind the curtain forums subscribed to, yes the entire forum, when I come on i hit the "settings" button and check to see whats new in my specific areas, then check on the threads im subscribed to,.. then go off and have some fun in other areas. I really try to read every post in the nib to make sure i can help out where i can and keep the energy of the Nibs members going
8. Were you taught cursive handwriting in school and is that where you caught the bug?
I was taught cursive writing in school, but like most boys that age, i was just waiting for the bell to go off so i could get outside and play some games... wasnt till Rockviper sam put a FP in my hands and some cool videos Nemo Doug put up did i decide i wanted to be able to do that
9. What was your first gold nib?
Im not exactly sure but I think my Parker Vac was the first one. It had a serisouly squashed nib though and was unusable tilll well after some other gold nibbed pens came along, so although it was my first owned, it has been the last to get used of what i have now.. so really its either the P51, or the CH92 for first used, but i cant remember what came first
10. Do you have a favorite ink?
No, or at least not "A" fav, I do have some I like more then others. Edelstien,Monteverde's (Which man i still havent heard of others trying this stuff out, its nice ink), the Vintage Quink Doug sent me from the phantom pif, Sailor Jentle inks... those and the Iroshizukus are mostly my favs
11. How many pens do you have in your collection and what is your favorite one?
im not at home so closest guess, 10 Fountain pens, 4 calligraphy italic pens, three dip pen handles with loads of tips and a bic laying around somewhere lol. The Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with the #10 FA nib is at the top of my list
12. What’s up with your spellcheck?
It was made by Twsbi
13. When did you get your ears pierced?
a long time ago, i often forget i have them till i see it in a picture, or catch myself fiddling with them
14. Are there better value pens then a TWSBI? How much better are they than a Parker 51?
for me i wouldnt trade any twsbi for my P51. I think there are some other great values out there. my monteverde was a great pen for around 50 bucks with a lot of nib options available. the cool thing is the different fill options twsbi offers with there pens, i think you will find twsbi will continue to improve, and their prices will start going up as a result. getting a vac filler for 65 bucks wont be an option around for very long, and a piston filler for 50 bucks,... well i got my 80's pelikan M200 for less than that so depends on what your after i guess
15. Do you have a favorite pipe & tobacco?
Pipe yup, the one I got in my secret santa last year is my fav, a stanwell, was a great gift and a great pipe. and tobacco well i have lots more to try but for right now 3 oak syrian is my top dog
holy grail would be one of those vintage type flexy pens that start out with a needlepoint and end up BB or somewhere around there,... and with a feed that can keep up. untill then I have my dip pens
17. What music do you generally listen to?
Mostly modern heavy metal, Machinehead, Soilwork, Sevendust, Chimaira... nothing most of you would have heard of. I also love to listen to old (And i mean almost as old as recording is) southern blues, some 70s rocks stuff, heck even 80's pop type stuff is a nice way to keep a word days energy going
18. What fountain pen would you recommend to a first time user?
The metro has a great easy on the wallet price point, with (what i hear anyway) a good nib, and a quality over all build,... there are others as well but theres a whole thread right there, and we have tonnes of great stuff in the nib wiki on the matter as well
19. Most new shavers assume that after a few months they know all there is to know about wet shaving, while others learn things they didn’t know years later. What is the last lesson you learned?
Boar brushes dont suck, serisouly i had no interest in them ugly looking things thought there was no point when i could just save for a badger, then i got an essential Sue B&B brush. Boy I thought i was just getting it to support the cause, but its a really really nice brush, feels great, lathers like no bodies business,.... still not my fav over my Kent, but it is my second fav and those two own the rest of my collection by far.
I dont know if you could say anything is over rated, i mean if people love them and post how over the moon they are for that product than who am i to tell them any different. Klar and Calani or two great soaps we dont see as much, although Klar has begun to break through a bit (Thank greek guy nick for that one). The kent brushes used to be all the rage but have gone quite quiet these days, everyone seem to push small dense knots, but they get messy for me when i face lather, my big fluffly kent builds and holds a tonne of lather and with soft tips to boot, and dont let anyone tell you they dont work on soaps, Im mostly a soap guy and i lather just as easy with it as i do my 2 band Blonde from the Cheif buy. also for us southern ontario guys we have a chain called Shoppers Drug Mart where they carry an often ignored "Real Shaving Company" line of products, which is a house brand of Creightons who makes the Three T's creams and many others, great stuff, local availability, and when on sale a steal of a deal
21. Any last words for the B&B community?
Last words???? lol im not even close to being done around these parts
________________________________________________________________________________________
Refrences
Quink ink review: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/336506-Ink-Review-Parker-Quink-Blue-Black
Pilot Metropolitan: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/331376-Pen-Review-Pilot-Metropolitan
Parker P51: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/240429-Spotlight-on-the-Parker-quot-51-quot
NIB Wiki: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/The_Nib
NIB Refrence & Review Guide: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/240316-Nib-Reference-and-Review-Guide
Member Interviews: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Interviews
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Great interview
