Our good friend Woodchuck writes about the wonderful Palomino, newly available in five (!) different grades — from hard and steely grey to black as coal — and, in so doing, gives a nice history of the Revolution so far, including the efforts of our hard-penciling Comrade, Frank C. (who reviewed the GRIP 2001 a few weeks ago):
“I have visions of Frank [C.] at a desk surrounded by hundreds of different pencils, a hand sharpener, pencil shavings and a Moleskine scribbling and sketching away.” (Read on.)
If you love your Palominos but wished for a slightly harder grade for drafting or scientific record-keeping or a softer one for sketching and deep shading, your pencil prayers have been answered, with vigor! Comrades of the Revolution can purchase the graded Palominos in packs of six, with one each of 2H, H, B and 2B and two of the deliciously silky HB at the Pencil World Creativity Store. And if you still haven’t tried the Palominos, we can’t recommend them enough to anyone who appreciates pencils of a supreme quality or anyone looking to be converted to pencils.
Myriad thanks to Woodchuck for making these gems available to Comrades of the Revolution and to everyone who’s helped to spread the word (and lead) about three free-spirited orange friends!
[Images, Woodchuck. Used with kind permission.]
Thanks to Woodchuck for the mention. Except for the sketching part (I can’t draw to save my life) everything else was spot on.
I went to the ebay store and picked up a couple of sets of the new Palomino. They’re great pencils, and as close to the Blackwing as you are going to find.
Woodchuck, bring on some more!
What would be a good grade for note taking? I’ve been using the delicious HB Palomino for a few months, and while I love how smooth the writing is, the point tends to wear out quickly.
(My usage pattern is about four to five hours of lecture a day.)
C. Chan~
You might like to try a harder grade of Palomino, or a Staedtler or Faber-Castell HB. These German pencils have the no-eraser ends and share a bit of the style of the Palomino, though the paint jobs pail in comparison. A Mars Lumography 100 or a 9000 or GRIP 2001 might fit the bill. They can write out longer than a Palomino per sharpening, though you’ll lose some smoothness and a lot of darkness.
Another great pencil I’ve tried recently is General’s Cedar Pointe. It’s certainly not the same aesthetic as the German pencils or the Palomino, but it’s great for other reasons. While certainly not as dark or smooth as a Palomino, it is very smooth, unfinished (good grip for classes and lectures) and has a great eraser. The leads feel German to me — smooth and grey, not very dark, but smooth for the hardness.
If you’re already a Palomino fan, I’d definitely try their H or 2H though. Good to go with what you already like and trust.
Any chance you could share a photo or yourself and your pencils, Frank?
I’ll try to take one of my pencils and share them over the next few days.
I had an interesting find last night. I was in a Crane’s Stationery, and it has a going out of business (the location, not the chain) 25% off sale. I found two Faber Grip 2001 items that I’ve never seen. First was an eraser that is thick and shaped just like a Grip 2001 pencil. The second was an all-black Grip 2001, although it wasn’t marked as such but it did have the “raised dimples” familiar to the Grip 2001. Lastly, I found a Grip 2001 with an eraser. I knew these existed, but I had never seen them. Excellent items, all.
Not to hijack the Palomino thread, which remains (with the Grip 2001) one of my current favorites.
Any more info on the General’s Cedar Pointe? That looks interesting; I might have to give it a try.
to c. chan -
The 2H and H have much lower wear rate for extended note taking purposes and still write very smoothly. I put our Palomino’s out for our board members note taking needs today and they were a big hit.
Writing more than half a page with a wooden pencil is like wearing a hair shirt. There are inexpensive mechanical pencils that are ideal for writing — I use a Pentel that is much cheaper than the Palominos, lasts forever, does not get shorter with age, and it’s a relief to not have to worry about sharpening it after every quarter page. You can get a mechanical pencil that’s just the right barrel weight and girth for you, and with the right width of lead — it’s not a tough or costly choice to make, certainly not compared to the serious chunk of change that folks are dropping for “quality” wood pencils. Wanting to be like Thoreau or Hemingway is fine and all, but I’ll bet that if these gents were alive today, they would choose an inexpensive mech pencil before you could *say* Faber-Castell Grip 2001, let alone sharpen the precious thing. The attraction of pencils for these rugged (or would-be-rugged) spirits is precisely their simplicity, inexpensiveness, and ease of use. That niche is now occupied by the cheap mech pencil. If you’re using a cheap (5-cent) wooden pencil, I may understand the economical value of it, but the moment you’re using a high-priced wooden pencil, you’re using an inferior tool and spending too much money doing it.
Dorai
Well, everyone is entitled to their own preferences.
The idea that simplicity or ruggedness is the main allure of high-end pencils is a misconception, however. A GRIP 2001 or a Palomino would be the pencil counterpart to a $1000 fountain pen. In that light, they do seem to possess a simplicity. And their cost makes them no less simple than cheap pencils or free pencils. However, when you factor in the failure rate of cheap pencils (leads breaking, wearing away faster, cheap erasers), anything that is a Dixon/Mirado or above in quality actually becomes cheaper and simpler in the long-run, because a person could conceivably perform an entire semester’s worth of work with one or two nice pencils, as with a Pentel full of the six stock leads. It’s all a matter of what a person likes.
The main allure of high-end pencils is the feeling you get when you use them, smell them or behold them in your hands or on your desk. Wooden pencils have an emotional element for some people, and I know at least two people closely who feel that way about relatively expensive mechanical pencils. That’s nothing anyone has to justify or that anyone should try to change in another person. My own brother prefers the cheapest yellow pencils around, and that’s fine. I will bring him cheap yellow pencils when I venture to the East Coast to visit family, because that’s what he likes.
But this is not an argument about which is best. The greatest principle on which this site and this community is founded is to use whatever kind of pencil, pen, stick or brush you like best, in order to get the experience you want to have. As adults (in the United States, at least), the general custom is to abandon pencils after one’s schooling is finished. Some of us studied art, engineering, drafting, writing, etc. and still appreciate pencils, despite the fact that our colleagues use ink and think it odd that we don’t. Ridiculing what anyone wants to write or draw with is counter to the spirit of this site.
As for Thoreau, he would not necessarily shun expensive pencils. Thoreau and Son pencils were some of the most expensive ones on the market when they were popular. Thoreau didn’t mind, because they were the best and because people were willing to pay for quality. If Thoreau were with us today,the first time Thoreau had a cheap pencil break on him taking field notes, it’s fair to imagine that he would run for a nicer pencil, no matter how much it cost. He always weighed things like that, and a pencil that is more reliable winds up being simpler, since simple does not mean inexpensive.
I was writing in response to the person who said he found his wood pencil was wearing out too quickly during extensive writing. For this specific purpose, both cheap and expensive wood pencils are always going to come up short (literally) when compared to a mech.
Don’t get me wrong — I like wood pencils. But when I am writing longer pieces — typically speeches and letters which I don’t want to or cannot compose shackled to a computer — exchanging one kind of hobble (the computer) for another (the need to frequently reach for a sharpener) is not a win.
The problem as mentioned by c chan *has* a solution. You *can* get good-quality, ergonomic graphite writing that doesn’t make you work to maintain a point. But you aren’t going to get it from a wood pencil.
By the way, I’ve heard somewhere (Petroski?) that the wood pencil is actually younger than the mechanical pencil. It’s just that only in recent decades have mech pencils become price-competitive with wood pencils…
Dorai
(email: ds26gte at 30gigs dot com)
The pencils Petroski writes about that pre-date wood-cased ones were crude lead-holders, not exactly mechanical pencils per se. Wood-cased pencils pre-date truly mechanical ones by hundreds of years. The ones Petroski is talking about are actually closer to a wooden pencil than a mechanical pencil, since there is no mechanism involved. Not that this matters. Brushes pre-date both, but I can’t imagine that someone would take notes with a brush.
As far as length of writing, wood-cased pencils can write as long as one wants to, since wood pencils can be made to hardnesses that the polymer-based leads in mechanical pencils cannot. So strictly speaking, a mechanical pencil cannot write longer than a hard pencil all the time. A mechanical pencil will not necessarily write longer than a 9H German pencil will.
And if it does, that does not mean that we are wrong in liking wooden pencils or that they are “inferior.” Some of us like to sharpen our pencils. That’s our prerogative, just like using pens and mechanical pencils (or manual typewriters, computers, bulldozers or spray paint) is everyone else’s.
Besides, plenty of Comrades harbor affection for mechanical pencils. Mechanical pencils are very fine for whoever likes to use them, just like pens are, and we make no claims about what people should write or draw with.
This should not be an argument about which is better. A person who uses cheap Bic pens could claim that wooden and mechanical pencil users waste their time with “an inferior tool and spending too much money doing it.” The fact is that telling someone that what they use is inferior is presumptuous at best, and this is not the place for it — but, rather, in a spirit completely against the Geist of this community.
In addition to pencils, I also write with fountain pens. Given the “hassles’ in maintaining FPs (need to fill them, clean them, inky fingers) one can argue that they are an “inferior” tool because of all the work. But like the wooden pencil, it misses the point. If all we are concerned about is convenience, we may (not all the time, but often enough) miss out on a quality experience. Such is the case with both wooden pencils and fountain pens.
If you *like* sharpening pencils, you are all set, I guess. But when someone worries, like the respondent did, about the Palomino pencil point “wearing out quickly”,
(a) he may not like sharpening his pencils that often;
(b) he may find it is a distraction while writing at length;
(c) he may be worried that his precious pencil is being used up too rapidly;
(d) maybe something else. He can elaborate.
It is quite reasonable to offer an alternative, and to list its comparative advantages for the particular task category at hand. Words like “inferior” are precise if one specifies the variables of comparison, which I did. If that is too inflammatory for public consumption and people are feeling “berated”, etc, just erase me for pencil’s sake.
To say that mech pencils will also be inferior when the comparison variables are different is quite patent. You wouldn’t get an argument from me.
About the $4, $5 thing. That would be a serious barrier to entry… if it were true! The Pentels I use don’t cost $5, they don’t even cost 1/10th that. They are about 17 cents a piece (the Planetz and the Carnival models) and 37 cents a piece (the slightly wider barreled EZ#2). No way would I have ever implied that the lead and eraser refills are going to be “free”. A mech pencil is not going to be cheap compared to a 5-cent pencil or free or schwag pencil, but it certainly compares very handsomely with a “quality” wood pencil in terms of cost. And when I compare cost, I am only bringing up one variable of comparison. It need not be the overriding variable of course (within limits).
For writing extended prose, the lead grades available for mechs hit the sweet spot. 9H, which is admittedly not available for mechs, is an impossibly inappropriate (I hope that was not too judgmental) grade for extended text writing. Way, *way* too hard — like scratching the paper with a pin. Again this is not to suggest that 9H is an inferior grade when it comes to something else, like drafting. Yes, I have drafted with hard pencils too. (I own leadholders too, and I like them fine, but they also suffer from point wear too much for extended writing.)
I don’t at all doubt that wood pencils have enough graphite for many kilofeet of writing. Same as the pieces of blacking in my fireplace. But are they convenient, with the frequent sharpenings needed? I am sure they are for you — I can quite believe the sharpening process and the smells released help in the creative process for you. They do so for me too, for tasks that do not involve extended writing.
But please don’t get so anxious when a person worries that the point is wearing out too fast and gets a perfectly appropriate answer. Your right to enjoy sharpening your pencils has not been abrogated. You have not been “told what to do”. I couldn’t possibly have that kind of power over you or the legions of pencil users, for heaven’s sake! Rest easy: No one’s character is being impugned, and no *Geist* has been violated. There is no danger that anyone’s wood pencils are going to taken away. (They’d have to take mine too, and only from my cold, dead fingers. :-)
Dorai, it sounds like you are trying to sound helpful. But when the first mentions about what the person likes to write with are negative, it hardly comes off as well-intentioned in that kind of language. The moment you use the pencil you like you are using something inferior and are spending too much money (to paraphrase) is not a helpful way to solve the problem, especially after the suggestion of mechanical pencils. We are free to get “anxious” when people come onto a pencil website and tell us that we waste time and money with quality pencils, whether the intention is to be helpful or not.
Cheap Pentels are not the same thing as quality pencils. The minimum cost Pentel that approaches the relative quality of a premium wooden pencil are these:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz206/03/.
But mechanical and wood-cased pencils are apples and oranges. It’s pointless to argue about which is better or who’s right and who’s wrong.
And it is pointless to include a final paragraph in a very condescending manner directed toward the people who bring us all this great website everyday. Insulting the authors is just rude.
OK. My apologies. I quite agree that this is a great website, and I thank PRevo for posting my comments with grace despite disagreeing with me.
Indeed, we are all pencil brothers and sisters, whether we prefer mechanical, wooden, foot-long or feather-shaped pencils. Arguing about which is best is, as “Ron” points out, pointless. So let’s embrace what we share.
It is not our policy to censor comments. Comment moderation is turned on only to prevent spam and the occasional “You guys are freaks! Pencils suck!” messages, or anything that is really really offensive. You didn’t say anything offensive or rude that would call for censorship, Dorai. It would be a sign of weakness or cowardice on the part of PR to delete views of people that are somewhat different. Besides, I think we agree much more than we disagree, since we’re talking so much about two versions of the same wonderful tool. :^)
I was wondering how long it would be till you found the molded graphite feather, hand, twig pencils on the Levenger site. I just saw these in the catalog the other day, but couldn’t quite bring myself to try one of these at those prices. Good find.
Frankly, from the perspective of the manufacturer I find the whole wood cased vs. mechanical conversation here fascinating. There is much to consider that could lead to new innovation in product design features if one thinks creatively about the issues raised. Perhaps you’ll see a Palomino woodcased sharpenless pencil one day. Though I doubt I’d be offering those at anything near $0.17 apiece.
Woodchuck, do you mean something like the Pencil Pencil? It may have been mentioned here already but I haven’t figured out the internal search mechanism yet.
The thing that gives me pause about this pencil is its apparent fixed syringe-needle-like metallic sleeve, same as with the Pentel P205 that Anonymous mentioned (the .5mm is not for me, but that’s easily fixed by the P207 and the P209). Fixed sleeves are no doubt expressly preferred by many for stability during writing (and drafting, because of the way they intimately hug the straightedge or French curve), but they reduce the pencil’s portability for my kind of rough-and-tumble use: Too pokey. And too easily bent by a drop or normal-use collisions, thereby ruining the pencil forever.
Here here! I’ve gotten myself stabbed with needle-nosed pencils more times than I want to admit. I like the Pentel P207 Anon mentioned, mostly for it’s retro blue color:) A very nice mechanical pencil that is pretty inexpensive is the Pilot G2 pencil — same grip as the pen, and the needle retracts for safety.
See Jane Work has such a cool selection of pencils!
humdog LOVES the Golden Bear Pencil, the Palomino B and HB, and the Forest Choice. where can one buy the Palomino by the dozen?