It has been a long time since we posted a review of a pencil, and that is one of the purposes this site was meant to serve when I started it. Among the pencils that keep popping up on the list of what Comrades would like to see reviewed is the Mirado Black Warrior, the pencil which will lead the charge in this resolution to a more consistent program of posting reviews.

Material: California Incense Cedar.
Shape: Round.
Finish: Glossy black with gold lettering.
Ferrule: Red-banded brass.
Eraser: Genuine Pink Pearl.
Core: Waxed-ceramic/graphite composite. Available in #1/B, #2/HB, #2.5/F, #3/H.
Markings: “USA/Mirado Black Warrior/HB/[two hearts].”
Packaging: Varies from open-stock, to packs of eight or ten, to boxes of a dozen.
Origin: Made in Lewisburg, Tennessee, United States by the Sanford Corporation.
Availability: Widely available in office supply stores, art supply stores, university bookstores, department stores and online.

What the Mirado Black Warrior has over other pencils that are as widely available is that it is obviously of a higher quality. It is not nicer than the Mirado Classic, but the latter’s yellow color does little to set it apart from cheapos you might find discarded on the sidewalk. The Black Warrior, with it’s black finish, banded brass ferrule and rounded shape, stands out among American pencils when on a desk or sticking out of a shirt pocket.

The obviousness of its quality does not end with the appearance. PaperMate bills the Mirado pencils as the smoothest writing pencils in the world. While that is certainly a matter for debate, the core of the Mirado is smooth, due to being impregnated with wax. This has its ups and downs. On the bright side, you get the above-mentioned smoothness and a superior strength of point that resists breakage and lasts long between sharpenings. On the not-so-bright side, the ultra-smoothness has the price of leaving a very faint line, even for an HB pencil. As a partial remedy, you could try the #1/B grade, which maintains the legendary smoothness and generates a darkness of line that runs a little darker than a Dixon #2/HB. Personally, I prefer this grade for writing and the HB for underlining and marginalia in books.

There is debate over whether “rough” erasers like the Pink Pearl damage paper too much compared with something like the Staedtler Mars plastic eraser. With the pumice in the Pink Pearl, this may very well be the case, and I would never use one on watercolor paper or the like. But that is not the purpose of the Pink Pearl or the Mirado. While one can certainly sketch away with a Black Warrior (and I have attended boring lectures where people did just that), the primary purpose of Mirado pencils is writing. A new Mirado with a semi-soft Pink Pearl will not burn holes through the pages you write on. It might remove a small layer, but only an overly heavy hand or inferior paper will cause ruin for pages of writing with a Pink Pearl. If one is concerned about the microscopic flaws such a rough eraser might cause on writing paper, one might not like a Mirado. Not caring about that myself, I prefer the eraser on Mirado pencils to the eraser on any other Sanford pencil, by far. The eraser does what it should do, while managing to last far longer than softer erasers. They are a bit on the messy side, but no one said this Revolution was going to be a tidy one.

Writing with a Black Warrior is a new experience for someone used to hexagonal pencils. With the glossy finish, even only slightly damp hands make getting a good grip a bit difficult. On the other hand, the round shape allows for holding the pencil in different positions, and I imagine that Comrades who have had the corners of a pencil embedded into fingers will appreciate the gentler shape of the Black Warrior. They fall right off the desk, so angle them carefully.

Of course, the Black Warrior smells heavenly because of its cedar construction, and sharpening a rounded wooden pencil is a breeze with any quality sharpener. And there are always some times that a very sharp and light-marking pencil is exactly the tool for the job, such as writing in precious LOA volumes. Still, with the softest grade, one can enjoy the smoothness and the darkness of a fine American pencil. Considering their relatively inexpensive price tag, wide availability and impressive quality, the Black Warrior is a formidable tool to have in a Comrade’s graphite arsenal.

[Text and images, J.G.]

Comrades, Pencil Revolution will take a short break this week, until later this week.  I am doing some travelling until late Wednesday.  So please excuse lateness in returning messages and in moderating comments until at least that time.  Have an excellent week!

We are happy to be able to post some work from artist Graham McArthur from Australia, along with an essay on pencils:

For as long as I can remember I have loved to write and draw and for as long as I can remeber the pencil has always remained my first choice for both writing and drawing.

There is nothing like a good pencil, and I can’t think of a more versatile, immediate or interesting medium. Being so universally familar and easy to use makes the pencil the most immediately accesible tool for most people. Used mainly as a linear writing or drawing instrument, the graphite pencil is very much at ease creating tone and textural effects as well as implied colour. It is these properties in particular that interest me the most. The availability and range of pencils seen today makes the medium more attractive than ever before providing unlimited potential for an open mind and inventive imagination.There is great joy to be had in spending endles hours gently persuading the pencil to leave its silky grey tones on delicious paper. The implied colour of graphite can be enhanced with a restrained use of a single coloured pencil creating a sense of mystery and inviting the imagination of the viewer to create more implied colours in the mind’s eye.

As a semi-retired illustrator my work these days is just for fun and self indulgence. I no longer try to please the client or the unknown viewer. I still like to paint and to experiment with a variety of media. However, without the restraints placed on me by the brief, I find that I am being drawn more and more to the simple but incredibly and wonderfully expressive nature of the most versitile medium of them all. Long live the pencil.

Many thanks to Graham, whose blog — featuring lots of great artwork — you can check out at Eidolon.

[Image and text, G.M. Used with kind permission.]

We received this message, which we quote here with permission:

I’m an executive producer and run a London based production company called Academy Films.

I am presently in Toronto about to shoot a Nokia TV commercial w/c 29th May.  We need a pen spinner to spin a Nokia mobile phone in the advert, and I have found you on the internet.  Do you think you might be interested?  The shoot takes place in Toronto and the pen spinner would be required from around the 29th May to the 2nd June.  We would pay for return business class flights to Toronto, accommodation and some spending money.  We would also pay a fee for appearing in the commercial.

Please let me know if you are interested or might know of others that might be.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Sally Campbell

You can reach Ms. Campbell by email (don’t forget to change the symbols): sally.campbellATacademyfilmsDOTcom.

Dave sent us this post about his experience with Staedtler’s great customer service:

It’s fair to say that my emails to customer services at various pencil companies have produced a fairly consistent response. That is, deafening silence, no response whatsoever. But there is one exception to that rule, namely Staedtler. Both German HQ and their Australian subsidiary have promptly replied to my enquiries. Staedtler Australia even airmailed me their CD “Facts about Pencils” in response to a simple enquiry, and the covering note was personally signed by the CEO, so they obviously take customer relations very seriously.

It looks to me like their CD “Facts about Pencils” is aimed at children around the 8 to 10 year old age bracket. It opens with the question “Have you ever wondered where your pencil comes from?” accompanied by the raucous sounds of the Australian bush and a friendly cartoon kangaroo and koala bear. Then 5 short movies take you through the pencil manufacturing process:

• Where Do Pencils Come From?

• The ‘Unleaded Pencil’

• Shaping the Pencil

• Painting the Pencil

• Labelling & Packaging the Pencil

There is also a “Student Workbook – Teachers Aid” section, and two bonus movies obviously from Staedtler Germany. One movie is about erasers, the other pencils - who would have guessed how erasers were so important in teenage love?

It was good to watch the movies to see all the automated machinery producing pencils by the zillion - pencil leads and erasers just being continuously squeezed out and chopped to length. I was particularly interested to see the painting process and how they get the pin-striping and other effects. The German movie mentions that Staedtler’s two manufacturing plants in Germany produce 1.7 million pencils per day.

Many thanks to Dave!

[Image, D.P. and Staedtler.  Used with permission.]

Doug at the Grand Pooba of pencil sites, The Pencil Pages, posted a great story a few months ago retelling a tour he took of Sanford’s pencil factory in Lewisburg, Tennessee (United States), and I set it to post in the future, but after the Blogger-to-Wordpress switch, the post disappeared. Many apologies for the long delay, but Doug’s pages are well worth the wait.

Please check out the great photos and details of pencil manufacturing from Doug here.

[Photos, D.M. Used very extra kind permission.]

By my alter-ego, who is a [semi-] normal person who does more than just admire pencils.

Drawn on a pizza box with a Faber-Castell GRIP 2001 (HB) in the dark while watching “Globe Trekker.” I swear I can usually write/draw at least a little better. But damn it, drawings on pizza boxes are funny, and I had to share.

See a larger image and complete story here.

[Image, J.G. Used with my own permission.]

Don from Pencil Things sent us this great cartoon a few weeks ago. It’s a piece by Rube Goldberg, co-founder and president of the National Cartoonists Society and unquestionably one of the most famous cartoonists in history.

Read more about Rube here.

View the conceptual blueprints, so to speak, of this exquisite contraption (and how it works!) here.

[Image, Rube Goldberg.]

Professor Henry Petroski (pencil hero and pencil author) mailed us copy of a wonderful article he wrote for American Scientist for the March/April 2000 issue (Volume 88) entitled, “Why ‘The Pencil’?” in which he describes the onset of the pencil fascination that we all familiar with here at Pencil Revolution. While not available online, local and university libraries will likely have the archives of the journal, where Comrades can delight in this courageous piece. Subscribers of the publication can access the archives online, and both backissues and downloadable PDF versions can be purchased if the library comes up empty.

What’s more, Mad Tora sent us two links from The New York Times. The first is an article about Professor Petroski’s latest book, Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. The article describes the theme of the text, asserting with Professor Petroski that, “The analysis of engineering’s failures offers some good lessons.”

Read the article here.

And you can read the introduction to the book here.

Another, for the Sudoku fans in the Revolution, also from The New York Times. It seems that the explosion of popularity of the game has sent pencil sales in England skyrocketing 700 percent!

Read the article here.

And learn more about Sudoku here.

Finally, Comrade Steve alerted us about a nice piece our friends at Moleskinerie posted last week about the myth of Space Pens and the legend that the Russians used pencils instead.  Read on!

[Images, NYT and Wikipedia.]

Shane from Utah sent in some great photos of a very beautiful pencil extender:

Here is my favorite pencil extender. The main advantage to this extender is that it is hollow its entire length, unlike most extenders which have a solid handle attached to a clutch. Because of this extender’s design, you can also use it as a protector or holder for even a full-length pencil without adding any significant length to the protected pencil. I carry a fully protected pencil in my pocket and use it down to the nub.

I cannibalized the pocket clip from a Pentel mechanical pencil to trick out one of the extenders and help it ride my shirt pocket more safely. The clip also prevents rolling on the desk.

I bought these beauties at the Kinokuniya Japanese book store in San Francisco, and I’ve seen them at the Kinokuniya in Seattle. They were $4.15 for the pair. I have not been able to find how to order these online, but physical store locations are linked at http://www.kinokuniya.com/. Maybe PencilThings or another supplier can get a stock of these and make them accessible online to our comrades everywhere? Looks like the manufacturer is Kutsuwa.

Visit Shane’s new blog Scrawler Tap!

[Text and images, S.T. Used with kind permission.]

It’s the time of year when many of use are working in our gardens or, in my case, admiring others’ gardens. Did you know that our fearless wooden hero is a tool not only for science, writing and art, but also for gardening? Marion Owen, Fearless Weeder for PlanTea, Inc. and Co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul has written a wonderful page on what pencils can do for gardening.

Did you know that a No. 2 pencil can do extraordinary things, especially for gardeners who are looking for the right tool to do the right job? It’s true. Pick up a pencil and roll it in your fingers. Think potential here. Like paper clips, Q-Tips, and toothpicks, pencils have more than one life. And for gardeners, it’s a dream come true.

While pencils can’t pull weeds or help you lose weight, there are many ways they can make your life easier. This practical and fun tribute explains how a pencil is a gardener’s best friend.

Pencils help in handling seeds and transplanting seedlings, and they even work best for tagging plants, since graphite will not fade in the sun like even Sharpie ink does:

The next season, I went back to basics and used–you got it–a No. 2 pencil. I’m happy to report that every name survived the rain, sun and snow (I left some out over the winter). The best thing about labeling with a pencil is that you can change a name by simply erasing it. With permanent ink pens, you have to bring out the thinners and solvents. The pencil scores again.

Read the rest of this fantastic page here, and please don’t hesitate to share your own pencil gardening photos and stories.

[Images and text, M.O.  Used with very very kind permission.]

We are very happy to feature some wonderful work from artist Michael McClure, but I will let him speak for himself:

I think it’s just amazing what you can create with pencil. I’ve always loved the medium. Pencils are like a trusted friend that will never let you down. You don’t need a power source of any kind (other than your hand I suppose) and they work in any temperature. There’s just something very raw and ‘right brained’ about them and I can’t quite put my finger on it. My most recent project is much the same as I’ve done in the past but this time I’m using just a hint of coloured pencil when the work is complete. I only wish I had more time to explore the medium further - maybe something for retirement.

The image of the Derwent collection shows the pencils I used to create the artwork on my site. All the artwork I’ve done have been done with this same set of pencils - and look how little used they appear. Just imagine how many future works of art might be contained in these pencils. Sometimes I can hear them calling me from the art shelf - pencils by nature have something to say.

You can check out more great work at Michael’s website, with the pencil work located here.

[Text and images, M.M. Used with very kind permission.]