Pencil Revolution

Pencil illin.

Philofaxy writes about mechanical pencils and the love and comradery we feel for our mechanical Brothers and Sisters, not to mention our inky Cousins:

“Some days, I worry about world peace. Some days, I worry about my family. Most days, though, I worry about what writing implement I should carry in the lone pen loop in my Filofax. To date, I’ve been using a nondescript, black-barreled Uni-Ball (blue ink). But, as I’ve noted before, ink carries with it a price: the price of permanence. A choice made in ink cannot be undone. A choice made in pencil, however, is inscribed only in dust. And we know how permanent dust is. (It blows in the wind.)

I’m a man of impermanence, not permanence. So I’ve switched to pencil. The problem with the usual wooden pencil, though, is twofold: (1) You have to have access to a sharpener at all times; and (2) it doesn’t stay in a typical planner pen loop, because it is a cylinder of uniform diameter. Problem No. 2 is probably decisive; Problem No. 1, however, is no small matter. In combination, they left me with no choice for general planner usage: mechanical pencils. The folks at Pencil Revolution have assured me that mechanical pencils are not necessarily evil. (They say that, but I note a conspicuous lack of mechanical pencil porn on the site.)”

Read the rest of the post here.

[Text, Philofaxy. Image, J.G.]

29 Comments so far
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Yeah I also use mechanical pencils for writing, wooden pencils are quite unconfortable for writing, I for one use a Staedtler Triplus Micro 0.7
It’s triangular shape it’s great, I hope more companies will follow this triangular wave.

The solution to Philofaxy’s problem regarding wooden pencils is, I think, the the Faber Castell ‘Perfect Pencil’. Its basically a cap with a clip, for your pencil. And it solves the other problem as well, in that it has a sharpener attached. The green plastic version is available at a number of places on the internet, and Faber Castell also has, or had, a sterling silver version, with special pencils, but it works with regular pencils as well. The catch with the silver version is the $200 price tag. ;-)

When I was a drafting student we used mechanical pencils for ease of use. I had a couple of different barrels with different lead types and sizes in them.

And after I moved on into other fields I kept them around and used them, but they never really felt comfortable in my hands. They were always cold, and the metal/plastic combination made it hard to chew on.

I ended up chewing on Gum instead and adopting the Zebra Pen and my writing implement of choice. I have probably a dozen of these floating around the car and house.

I have since (20 year journey!) come back to pencils, and find how much I missed the smell of pencil shavings, the tick tick tick sound as you roll the pencil across the desk. And the fact I have no problems with losing one, I’ll just reach into my broken coffee cup on my desk and grab a new one.

I often use my Faber-Castell E-Motion mech. pencil. I would like to get a Pilot Vanishing Point pencil too.

Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

Where!?!?! I want to know where to get the (plastic) Perfect Pencil. I google to no avail.

Strange, This afternoon all I could find were the high end “Perfect Pencils”, but tonight when I googled it, I found the plastic
$10 version at the top of the page… hmmm

Joel, I posted this for Humdog a couple of days ago under the Bulldog Pencil Sharpener Review topic:

“Humdog, funny you should mention the Perfect Pencil. I just bought two of them from Wet Paint Art online (wetpaintart.com). One for black-lead pencil, one for red. $10 each + S&H ($8.72, ugh, but they only do UPS, which is overkill for two little gadgets that probably don’t weigh more than 4 or 5 ounces together). Besides shipping costs, my only complaint is that I ordered before noon on Friday and the order wasn’t shipped until Tuesday. But I guess they are a small outfit and I can’t complain about the product price itself.”

OH - wow! I can’t believe it - Wet Paint is a local store! (to me anyway) Hmmmm I won’t have to pay shipping and handling, will I?

Thanks!

I just got two “perfect pencils” for $10.86 (though on the page they are called “Faber-Castell Decision Pencil Extender” from page 7 of the “yard sale” on pencity.com. The shipping was speedy and $4.75 for FedEx (there is a $2 regular mail option, as well, but I was eager to get the pencils and Rhodia notebooks I’d ordered).

I found the “perfect pencils” to be disappointing. For those of you who have only seen photos of them, it’s important to note how big the sharpener/caps/extenders are. Not counting the stupid “Yes/No” logo things on the top of these “decision” pencils, the sharpener/cap is nearly 2.5″ long and about 3/8″ thick. This contrasts with the pencil, which starts out at a stubby 5″. I found the pencil to be of standard office-supply quality (bleh), but the built in sharpener was very sharp and brought pencils to a long point. (No, the blade isn’t replaceable, and there’s no knowing how long it will remain sharp.)

In summary, I believe that while the idea is worth pursuing, the current “perfect pencils” are not.

Wait: Something advertised as “perfect” turns out not to be? How bizarre.

Anyway, it looks like I’ll stick with my Pentel P205 for planner usage for now.

I have two of them, and I’m going to buy some red lead for one, so I can use it for marking crap up at work.

The Decision pencil extender is not exactly the same as the Perfect Pencil.
The perfect pencil has a nice looking flared top, instead of the odd in/out or yes/no tops that the “Decision” version has.
Also, the “Perfect” comes with a Faber Castell 9000 pencil, which is one of the best pencils made today, up there with the Palomino.
Also, remember, one is no restricted to the pencil that comes with these pencil extenders.
They work equally as well with a Palomino, a Forest Choice, a Black Warrior, a Dixon Ticonderoga.
I have not yet checked if it fits the triangular pencils such as the Triconderoga or Faber Castell 2001(?) - But the bottom line is such pencil extenders allow you to keep a sharp wooden pencil close at hand in your pocket.
That said, I also like the Faber Castell E-motion, with the fat 1.4mm lead.
sorry if I sound like a Faber Castell shill, its just that no one else makes a pencil extender like theirs. that I know of…

I grade in pencil (usually mechanical), but I have a real love for round, wooden pencils.

woo-hoo! Now *I* too have a “Perfect Pencil” - no shipping but my time driving over to Wet Paint! Thanks for the tip!

I have long used the Faber-Castell UFO Perfect Pencil (see Pencity.com as per Alia’s comment). Of course I use it with my Palominos and it fits well due to the nice rubber seal.

The integrated sharpeners are okay, but not as good as other hand sharpeners with replaceable blades. So I usually carry anothe rhand sharpener in my briefcase or backpack.

Another drawback to the extender concept is that the pencil becomes unbalanced and uncomfortable for me if I turn the cap over and place it on the end of the pencil while I write. So I tend to set the cap aside. Unfortunately, doing this I recently lost it in a hospital waiting room. I’ve been debating whether to purchase another or not.

I have also once used the plastic version that comes with the Faber 9000, unfortunately it did not hold up to my expectations. The plastic broke and it would no longer clinch the pencil.

The reason the pencils come short (like a cosmetic pencil length) is that they don’t fit in your shirt pocket as a long pencil.

The higher end Graf Von Faber sterling silver Perfect pencil set is beautiful and I have one along with a matching pen given to me as a gift by Count Faber-Castell a few years back, but I never actually use it.

Hi, first time commenter here. Been enjoying all the pencil talk since this blog began.

I use an old mechanical pencil by Pentel with my Filofax-type planner for the exact same reasons as Philofaxy. What’s unique about it is that the eraser is exposed (I actually think I lost the cap, but one can’t tell because of the way it’s designed) and that the clicker is on the side. So each time I go to pull out the pencil from the loop, I don’t end hitting the clicker by accident or pulling off the eraser cap. I unfortunately don’t know the name of the model because I bought the pencil back in the 1980s when I was still a kid and wasn’t paying attention to that sort of thing. The funny things is that I actually didn’t like the pencil when I first bought it and had it sitting in my drawer for the longest time until I bought my planner a few years ago.

Also, on the topic of mechanical pencil erasers, I think Faber Castell (and Staedtler’s Triplus Micro does this as well) makes a line that features an eraser that can be hidden/exposed by twisting the top of the pencil. Might be something of interest.

Another idea for a mechanical pencil is the Faber-Castell TK-Fine Vario 0.5/0.7mm.

Has a long eraser, not capped with a metal piece.

woodchuck said :
I have also once used the plastic version that comes with the Faber 9000, unfortunately it did not hold up to my expectations. The plastic broke and it would no longer clinch the pencil.

Thats too bad to hear .. ’cause there is no way that the wife is gonna let me spend enough to buy one of the more expensive models.

*sigh* oh well, I guess I’ll just have to find a way to make some extra $$

Some notes/thoughts on the Perfect Pencil:

1. The main purpose of the Perfect Pencil is to mark you to the cognescenti as a Pencil Revolutionary, a graphite geek, a leader in lead. Others may think you are a complete dork, or a couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic, but other Pencil Revolutionaries will regard you as a god. (Do you think people buy Montblanc pens just because they need to sign checks?) Wear that Perfect Pencil proudly!

2. It’s a pencil extender. The objective isn’t to keep a sharpener handy, it’s to make it possible to keep using a pencil right down to a shorter bit of nub than you could hang onto unaugmented — almost right down to the eraser ferrule. So you might say that a $10 pencil extender could save you money in the long run.

3. The sharpener is a babe magnet. Trust me, pull that gadget out of your extender and start scraping away at the business end of your pencil, and all eyes will be on you. Behind those eyes, the women are thinking, “Yes! what a man!” Show them what kind of lead you have in your pencil.

4. At $10, the plastic PP is intended to be a disposable, consumable device. It isn’t meant to last a lifetime. To criticize this little wonder as lacking the durability of the pyramids is to reveal yourself as a true Philistine. Who do you think you are, Jack Benny?

For those who are wondering, the Dixon Ticonderoga Tri-write fits perfectly into the Perfect Pencil extender.

I was looking for a tool, not a trophy. Also, I was more interested in the pencil cap and sharpener aspects of the “perfect pencil.” I’ve never liked pencil extenders; I have small, clever fingers and those bulky things only get in the way.

I’m glad to hear that the quality of the pencil is better in less bargain basement versions of the “perfect pencil,” and, yes, you can sit the awkwardly bulky cap on anything. It looked stupid atop a Palomino (and when I say something looks stupid, keep in mind I use Japanese pencil caps shaped like miniature grocery items. My standards for dignity are modest indeed!). Plus, it made the whole implement so long it looked like a novelty gift.

As Woodchuck mentioned, to use the pencil, I ended up putting the cap/extender/sharpener aside, at which point it is no more handy than the little self-contained sharpeners I picked up at CVS 3/$1.

Now, should Count Faber-Castell gift me with one of the high end models, I will probably change my tune (Woodchuck moves in only the best pencil-circles, obviously), but for now, I’m back to Palominos, or Japanese character pencils, grocery-shaped pencil caps, and jewel-colored, flip-top sharpeners from CVS.

P.S. I cannot speak to the pencil’s prowess as a “babe magnet.” Good luck with that, Bill. Your fellow Revolutionaries are rooting for you. ;)

Go get em, Bill!
:)

I’m a long time mechanical pencil user.
I do understand the allure of regular woodcased pencils, but for me there’s nothing better than my trusty old 0.7 Pentel. I’ve had it since forever and it has never let me down.

I use it for everything, especially *gasp* drawing (well, more sketching to be accurate). I like the weight of it, how it just fits in my hand and the fact that sharp lead is just a click away.

Others can keep their wooden pencils, I’m sticking with my mecahincal friend. :)

Alia,

I don’t use the pencil extender at my desk. Instead, when I have used a pencil down to a too-short-to-be-comfortable length, I put it aside for use out of the office with the Perfect Pencil extender. In my opinion, the Perfect Pencil is kind of pointless (no pun intended) in the office, where a good pencil sharpener is always at hand, along with a supply of new pencils. But when I leave the office to do field work or interviews, I really don’t like to carry a lot of “stuff” with me. The Perfect Pencil reduces my kit by at least one item. That’s the main way in which I would suggest the extender would be useful — using up those little short pencil bits.

In addition, I have large, arthritic hands just beginning to feel the effects of diabetic neuropathy and possibly a pinched nerve. Also I shattered my right elbow in an accident last spring, and although the bones have healed, I still have some long-term wrist and hand movement problems. While my fingers may once have been nimble, now they are sort of stupid and slow, and prone to drop things. So the extender is definitely helpful. I wish it fit the Triconderoga, which is the only pencil that truly feels comfortable any more “as is.” (Although those slide-on soft plastic grips are a godsend for regular-size stylii.)

Bill,

I humbly beg your forgiveness and add my best wishes for finding comfortable writing implements.

Obviously our requirements for a pencil would be different (at least until the pre-carpel tunnel twinges turn into the real thing for me).

Additionally, being a girl, society allows me to travel with more than just what I can stuff in my pockets. I can certainly see how a “perfect pencil” would make a good companion were I traveling sans bag.

(Have you tried the “PenAgain” www.penagain.com? It’s a Y-shaped pen that is supposed to be easy to grip and less fatiguing for the hand. They don’t make pencils, but otherwise it looks like a good idea.)

Alia, thanks for the pointer to PenAgain. I’d seen a couple of pens that were supposed to be good for hands that have problems, but one was so ugly that I’d rather put up with the discomfort of using a regular pen, and the other just didn’t work for me — not ergonomic and it made my hand hurt more. I think I’d seen an earlier version of the PenAgain but dismissed it as impractical. On their website they indicate some improvements have addressed the parts of the design that I thought were pretty bad, and now I’ll have to order one to see if it helps.

I’m not going to be carrying a “man purse” any time soon. If I can go for a week in Europe on business with one small bag, I can surely go across town for an interview with nothing more than a pencil in my shirt pocket and my Moleskine Reporter in my back pants pocket. Keep it light and simple.

Bill,

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts should you end up test-driving a PenAgain. If they make a decent product, maybe the Revolution could lobby them to make a pencil version?

(Amusingly, the amount of “stuff” I need for an afternoon at Starbucks and a month in Italy…is not so different. I overpack horrifically for day-to-day, but need to add very little else for much longer journies.)

Alia, I ordered one today. It should be here next week. I’ll let you know whether it lives up to the promises. A pencil would be an interesting idea, and the company might go for it.

Given a choice between having my coffee at Starbucks down the street or having my coffee in Florence … All I’d need would be enough time to pack a change of shirts and skivvies and my toothbrush — ciao!.

Yet another difference between us, Bill.

Having had parts of my anatomy grabbed on the streets of Florence that I never want touched again, I think I’d go for Starb…oh, who am I kidding? All the fondling in the world is worth the museums and architecture!

Many great comments here. Wanted to let those of you know that are interested in the Penagain that we are close to the final design of the pencil version. Its been a bit of a challenge to accomodate how the refills fit but I think we have something that will work. It will have “dual action” erasers on each arm. We hope to have it on the market by March/April. Check back at our website now and again to see if its available www.penagain.com

Try Ringpens, persons!
http://www.ringpen.com/
Nice pen and on the market before PenAgain
(ringpen is better. PenAghain is simle attemt to emitate it).

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