Review of Rhodia Pencil.


Exaclair sent us a box of Rhodia goodies to review recently, and one (two, rather) of the goodies is the orange and black Rhodia pencil.  This pencil matches the standard orange Rhodia pad in much the same way as the Field Notes pencils and notebooks match.  The quality more than meets the standards of the Rhodia pad.

Vitals:
Material: Linden wood.
Shape: Triangular.
Finish: Matte orange with all black details.
Ferrule: Aluminum, glossy black and round.
Eraser: Black and soft.
Core: Ceramic/graphite composite. Available in #2/HB.
Markings: The Rhodia fir tree logo on all three sides, near the eraser end.
Origin: France.
Availability: From RhodiaPads.Com and select online retailers.

Like it’s cousin, the Rhodia pad, the Rhodia pencil is a pale orange with black details, made in France and just finely made.  The designers of this pencil went so far as to dye the wood black, so that the pencil is absolutely and completely black and orange.  I was disappointed to learn that the wood is Linden wood and not Cedar, especially given the cost and excellent design of the Rhodia pencil.  I wonder if Cedar might be more difficult to dye black?  Either way, sharpening is easy and neat with this treated Linden wood.  The factory sharpening does not leave the zig-zag pattern that your sharpener at home (or work) will leave, and it looked oddly that way to me.  I’d have liked them unsharpened, but this isn’t a big deal to me.  My pencils are either in my stash or sharpened for use.  I remember some triangular pencils being tough to sharpen the first time, if the shape is extreme.  The shape of this pencil is just plain comfortable.  The angles of the triangular cross-section  are nicely rounded, but the sides are flatter than, say, a Grip 2001.

The finish is very fine.  The orange matte is smooth and feels thick and easy to grip.  There’s a layer of white paint (primer?) under the orange that shows up at the sharpened end, but it’s not a huge deal.  The Rhodia logo is stamped in black on all three sides, near the eraser, leaving the rest of the pencil bare.  This also means that very short pencils (pocket-sized!) will have the same logo and not any unsightly cut-off lettering.  The stamping is crisp and nearly flawless.  Following in the vein of carefulness the ferrule is crimped on perfectly.  Unlike the Grip 2001 and Tri-Conderoga, the ferrule is round, despite the pencil being triangular.  This can lead to poorly-fitted ferrules, as in the Dixon Tri-Write (at least all the ones I own), but the Rhodia pencil’s ferrule is tight, straight, flush with the barrel and doesn’t smash and flake off the paint like so many pencils I’m seeing for sale in the US have these days, even round ones.  The eraser is also round.  I like the triangular erasers of other pencils for detailed erasering, but the quality and length of the Rhodia eraser make up for it.  The eraser is slightly longer than most pencils, but not so much that it feels like it’s going to pop out of the ferrule.

The core is very nice.  It’s not as smooth as a Palomino or soft German pencil, but it’s not scratchy, either.  It has a nice feedback, without being rough on the paper.  Darkness on this HB runs darker than a Dixon, just a shade or two lighter than a Forest Choice.  This tone is very nice on Rhodia’s white paper and also in other applications.  The cores in both test units are nearly perfectly-centered, with no grit or crumbling.  Smearability is minimal, and it honestly took some effort to produce.  Bizarrely enough, HB pencils that are this dark are usually smoother writers, but this pencil’s smoothness is certainly satisfactory enough for me.

The design, quality and attention to detail we see in the Rhodia pencil are definitely in keeping with Rhodia’s other products.  However, there is one small thing that I find out-of-step with the pencil: the price.  Rhodia pads, for the quality of paper, French origin and sheer quality, are really a steal.  Last time I bought a No. 11 pad, I paid $1.80 for it, about the same as the junky pads they sell at my grocery store.  The Rhodia pencil runs about $1.90-$2.00 a piece.  Most quality eraser-tipped pencils are a quarter of that price (or less), while premium pencils run about $1.00 each (Faber-Castell 9000s, Palominos, Mars 100s, etc.).  I could definitely appreciate the Rhodia pencil as a premium piece on par with the pencils mentioned above, but at about $2 each, they seem to aspire to “luxury” status a bit.  Rhodia pads are certainly nice, but they are more in the line of premium paper (Moleskines, Doane, etc.) than luxury (Italian leather and parchment, etc.).  Still, maybe I’m working under false assumptions.  These pencils really are of the highest quality, especially when you look at the junk paint jobs and crooked ferrules on a lot of recently-outsourced, formerly-American pencils these days.  My other small qualm (which is actually even smaller) is that the Rhodia pencil is very hard to find!  Considering that Rhodia pads are often stocked by art supply shops and that these venues contain and sell any number of premium pencils, I would think there would be some for sale with the pads in at least one of the four art supply shops near my office (you have to love Midtown Baltimore!).  It will just prompt me to take extra care of the two I have.

In the end, though, this is really just a fantastic pencil.  The design and execution are stellar, and it’s a pleasure to write with.  That’s what pencils are for!  I’ve been wearing my review pencil down quickly, writing on some of the other goodies from Rhodia, which we hope to review in the very near future.  (Thanks again to Karen for the lovely package!)

September 30, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | 10 Comments »

The Letter Writers Alliance.


We like pencils.  Might it not be safe to assume we have strong feelings for paper also?  For reading perhaps?  Even…writing?  If, like me, you enjoy writing, sending, receiving and reading letters, you might enjoy the Letter Writers Alliance.  You can even join up and score a pin, membership card and access to free downloads of stationery and other cool stuff.  And, yes; they have LWA pencils!

This might bring up the question of whether or not one can mail a letter or parcel addressed in pencil.  (Or maybe not.)  Yes.  I assumed it was impossible until I received a rare book in the mail a few years ago in graduate school, addressed with pencil from my hometown, coincidentally.  To boot, D from LWA and I exchanged two letters addressed, and composed, in pencil.  [The mail and legal papers and pencils might be an excellent post topic, when I get more time for research.]

I’m paranoid enough to use No Blot ink pencils on the envelopes, but these are out of production, and I only have a dozen left.  They seem to work, though!

September 29, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

The Frugal Gal, on pencils.


The Frugal Gal writes about her kids’ use of pencils, down to the hilt:

I think my kids are on the “Use it up, wear it out” wagon judging from the pile of almost-used-up pencils we found while cleaning out the bin…Most of these are so short, it’s nigh onto impossible to sharpen them. We’ll use them up to the best of our ability, of course, but a lot of them are about done. Can you compost pencils? (I assume pencil shavings are compostable.)

Read the rest of the post here.

September 28, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Field Notes Review, Part II: The Notebook.


Earlier this week, we reviewed the fragrant pencils that Field Notes sent us for review. Today, we will review the ubiquitous brown notebook. Field Notes thoughtfully send us a Mixed Pack, with one lined, one graphed and one just naked. We’ve put one through a good number of pencil tests and offer this pencil-specific review.  (And thanks for Field Notes for the great mention on their site!)

Vitals:
Cover Material: French Dur-O-Tone 80#C “Packing Brown Wrap.”
Paper: Boise Offset Smooth 50#T “White.”
Binding: Three-staple saddle stitch.
Size: 3-1/2” X 5-1/2”.
Page Count: 48 pages.
Unique Characteristics: Witty information printed in front and back of cover, including reward/address blank; possibly also being made in the USA.
Origin: United States.
Availability: From FieldNotesBrand.Com and select online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

When you first open a three-pack of Field Notes, you might notice that the package resembles a certain “Cahier” produced by a company whose products and historical claims are not without controversy. There are three identical, soft-covered notebooks held together by a central, horizontal band. However, the notebooks diverge there.

For starters, let’s compare the claims. One notebook claims to be the favorite of Hemingway, Chatwin, et al., although the company was founded in the 1990s and produces its notebooks in China. While I don’t have a problem with Asian production in itself, and while the company in question has revised its statement to call their notebooks the “heir” to the classic used by some of my literary heroes, lots of people have felt intentionally duped. For myself, I have a softspot for Moleskines that I can’t seem to quit. The claim made by Field Notes is that they are inspired by classic pocket ledgers and farm notebooks. No one is claiming that Field Notes will boost anyone’s creativity. Field Notes claim to be useful. The premium price ($10 + shipping for three thin notebooks, unless you’re lucky enough to live where you can get them in person) seems to run contrary to the simple and down-home heritage. However, I honestly have no idea how much old farmers’ notebooks used to cost, let alone with taking inflation into consideration.

So, Field Notes are useful pocket tools for writing down information on the go. Their size and weight definitely lend themselves to this purpose, and their solid construction continues in the same vein. There are myriad other reviews on the net (see Field Notes’ site for a list) which call them durable, practical, attractive and a pleasure to use. I found all of these claims to be more than true.

First, the cover is stiff, with clean printing. Even after rolling around with graphite pencils, in a vintage Army bag and being stuck in piles of other books and notebooks, my Field Notes book actually looks barely used. The book tends to stay open as a result of the stiffness of the cover. This doesn’t bother me, but I can imagine it bugging the heck out of some Comrades. There is no bookmark, which did bother me a bit, but a tiny binder clip did the trick nicely and actually looked very good doing it. (A Field Notes binder clip one day?)

The paper is white, with lines that match the cover (in this case, brown). They are well-spaced and even throughout the notebook. The last time I bought a pack of pocket “Cahiers” with graph paper, two entire books were off-center, one so much that it was difficulty to use. The Field Notes’ paper feels both thicker and stiffer than a “Cahier,” and it has a better tooth and more consistent texture. That bodes well for pencil lead being able to make nice and dark marks. I noticed that lighter and harder pencils are difficult to use on this paper. Anything lighter than an HB Mirado or Grip 2001 didn’t leave a mark that I could read. The paper works very well with soft pencils and exceedingly well with pencils with a bit of a scratch factor. As you might remember, I said that the Field Notes pencil had a little scratch to it and that I thought it made sense, so that Comrades could write on the run and know they were leaving a mark. I think something similar can be said about the paper. Pencil doesn’t glide across it the way that it glides across Rhodia paper, but that’s not what Field Notes are made to do. They are made to travel in your pocket and help you to remember things, solve problems, etc. A durable pencil and durable paper, especially when the “feedback” indicates that you are, in fact, writing down legibly the name of that author your Comrade mentioned on a hike or the contact information of someone you met on a trip. Besides — overly creamy paper in a rough and stiff brown cover seems like a bizarre contradiction somehow. One problem I found with using pencils in these notebooks is ghosting. “Ghosting” is what I call the transfer of graphite from one page onto another by means of the pressure from writing on the backs of pages. This happens with soft pencils all the time in notebooks. But it feels like Field Notes are especially prone to this messy graphite shadowing. However, I’m sticking with my idea of these as practical notebooks, not pieces of art. As such, ghosting is only a moderate issue, when writing is still perfectly legible. Unless you actually pet your notebooks and re-read them often, it’s not likely to bother you.

Not only that, but the notebook and pencil make a great pair, with their matching aesthetic (not just the print), durable and practical design, and slight edge.  I like to think of Field Notes products as akin to bags made of Army canvas.  Their roughness amounts to, as I said, an edge.  They are hardy and do seem to sacrifice delicacy for practicality.  That’s what I personally like about my vintage Army map case (shown above) and, often, about pencils in general.  They always just work.

September 23, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

Pencils from Zack.


The pleasures of running a pencil blog are many.  One of them is that you receive gifts of pencils, not only from manufacturers/dealers, but also from individuals.  We have been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of many such generous gifts.  Some of these come from off-line and long-time friends of mine, running in the same vein as most of the pencil gifts I personally make to other people.  My good Comrade Zack, a cabinet maker in Baltimore, found these very old and very interesting pencils at a steamshow this weekend.  They smell strongly of cedar, despite their age, and I am trying very hard to resist the urge to sharpen one and try it.

What sorts of pencil gifts do other folks get?

September 21, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments »

Field Notes Review, Part I: The Pencil.


The nice people at Field Notes sent a parcel to the Pencil Revolution HQ last week for review purposes. It contained a mixed set of their excellent notebooks, a pin, a rubber band and two Field Notes pencils. The first part our two-part Field Notes review is a reflection on this striking pencil.

Vitals:
Material: California Incense Cedar.
Shape: Round.
Finish: None at all.
Ferrule: Aluminum, bare and plain.
Eraser: Green (in color and gradability).
Core: Ceramic/graphite composite. Available in #2/HB.
Markings: “fieldnotesbrand.com | FIELD NOTES | BONDED LEAD | No. 2 / ABOUT THIS PENCIL | Lacquer-free Renewable Cal-Cedar Wood Casing, Recyclable Aluminum Ferrule, Enviro-Green Degradable Eraser and Certified Non-Toxic Imprint Inks”
Packaging: Pack of six; also inserted into parcels of Field Notes notebooks, legend has it.
Origin: United States.
Availability: From FieldNotesBrand.Com and select online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

When you remove a Field Notes pencil from whatever package or bag in which it came, you won’t first notice the unfinished wood, the interesting graphics or the green eraser first. You will be hit full-force with a strong smell of cedar. But, of course, that is not a bad thing but winds up being one of my favorite things about this very nice pencil.

There is no finish whatsoever on the Field Notes pencil. It is round and sanded, like a little dowel full of lead. The print on the barrel is dark, sharp and in keeping with the aesthetic of Field Notes gear in general. Both of our test models had very well-centered cores. Combined with the fine wood, this allowed some of the easiest sharpening I’ve seen lately on a pencil that runs for under $1 a piece. The ferrule appears to be glued onto the pencil, rather than crimped. One of the test models had a few splinters at the ferrule, but these came off in second with my thumbnail. The ferrule/eraser assembly is fairly well-centered, though not perfectly centered, which puts it on par with most quality “office pencils” for sale in the United States. The eraser also appears to be glued. Interestingly, the units we were sent for review have two different eraser lengths; one was longer than most pencil erasers. However, it is firmly stuck into the ferrule. So I view it as a bit of serendipity in having a slightly larger eraser. I am a sucker for unfinished pencils. I get a kick out of the veneer that my sweaty hands leaves on the virgin wood, the dark tinge that it gets from my dirty mitts. Field Notes has succeeded in making a very visually appealing pencil to go with their well-designed notebooks.

The core writes very well under most circumstances. The HB runs a little darker than a Mirado/Black Warrior HB and feels very much like General’s Cedar Pointe to me. Considering that the pencil is made in the US and that there are very few pencil factories operating within US borders, I wonder if the manufacturing of the Field Notes pencil might not be contracted out to General’s Pencil Company (?). I noticed a hint of scratchiness to the lead, but not so much that it bothers me. There are certainly instances wherein I prefer a pencil that lets me know I’m using it and that there’s writing being accomplished. In the dark or when I’m writing standing up (or even while walking), I like to know that my pencil is making marks on paper. I might even stretch this line of thinking to say that the Field Notes pencil, because you know you’re writing with it, goes with the entire field notes (small F and N) concept. Smearability is pretty average, I think, running about the same as an HB Dixon. The mild scratchiness on the Field Notes pencil could even come from the fact that there is no paint or finish to dampen vibrations. I have some unfinished sample pencils from another manufacturer, and they are a bit on the rough side for writing, despite their finished counterparts (with identical cores) being extremely smooth.

The eraser is green and soft and works reasonably well. There’s not much to say about it except that I would really like to see a Field Notes eraser as a block with their graphics on it, made from this pleasant green substance. The eraser takes the graphite off, leaves the paper and more or less performs the way that it is supposed to. And I have to mention its color again. It’s somehow retro-looking and matches the Field Notes aesthetic perfectly.

As I said earlier, the most striking feature of this pencil, for me, is its aroma. I’ve never used a pencil that smells this strongly of cedar and have seldom ever used one to match it. It’s been a pleasure for my nose to use, and I’ve caught myself in at least one important meeting sniffing it like some sort of pencil junky. The unit that I’ve been carrying around and using has actually been the object of envy from my father, a retired Warrant Officer, because of the aromatic assets of this pencil. When Field Notes gets more in stock (or if they’d like to send us some to spread the word to the People!), I’ll definitely be gifting these lovely pencils.

I’d offer Field Notes a few suggestions, aside from the big green Field Notes eraser. While I love this pencil, it doesn’t fit into a shirt pocket with a Field Notes notebook because it’s just too long. I could cut it to size, but I can’t waste half of a pencil. I’d love to see 1/2-sized Field Notes pencils with pocket clips and point protectors, so that they can travel more easily with their paper Comrades. Or, to avoid having to stock two different kinds of pencils, Field Notes could offer a set of a metal point protector and a pencil clip, which the user could attach to a shortened pencil. We’d lose the graphics, but Field Notes are as much about handiness as they are about great design — at least in my mind.

In the end, this is a great pencil that I wish I could find more easily locally. The eraser and graphite work well, and the designed lack of finish and enhanced aroma (though the latter could be a happy accident) make this pencil not just a keeper, but one Comrades are likely to actively seek out.  Just don’t get caught sniffing it in a meeting.

September 20, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | 18 Comments »

The Machine In the Wetland.

We pencil aficionados are usually at least moderately aware that Henry David Thoreau contributed to American pencil manufacturing in significant ways and that this is somewhat funny, considering how much he often loathed material culture as being too much trouble. But we might not all know about the details. For instance, did you know that Thoreau actually invented a machine to ground graphite finer than other pencil manufacturers? Now you do!

September 17, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , | 2 Comments »

Pencil Revolution Flickr Group.


Now 700+ Comrades strong! Over the last five years, the pool has constantly grown and includes oodles of excellent artwork devoted to, and created with, pencils — not to mention great photography featuring the wooden wonder.

Warning: You will get sucked in and lose an hour (or three) of your time going through the group pool and pages of talented Comrades.

Reassuring: It is entirely worth it.

Contribute your own images!

September 16, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , | No Comments »

The Art of Manliness and notebooks and pencils.


With apologies for what might seem, at first, to be a moderately chauvinistic post about the lost art of being a “man,” I have read two very interesting articles from the companion blog to the book The Art of Manliness (or did the book come first?).  First, there is The Manly Tradition of the Pocket Notebook, which features our favorite writing implement.  This post has gone around the writing blogosphere for a few weeks now, but this particular passage hits close to home for an Eagle Scout:

The Boy Scout
“In one of the pockets there should be a lot of bachelor buttons, the sort that you do not have to sew on to your clothes, but which fasten with a snap, something like glove buttons. There should be a pocket made in your shirt or vest to fit your notebook, and a part of it stitched up to hold a pencil and a toothbrush….

No camper, be he hunter, fisherman, scout, naturalist, explorer, prospector, soldier or lumberman, should go into the woods without a notebook and hard lead pencil. Remember that notes made with a hard pencil will last longer than those made with ink, and be readable as long as the paper lasts.

Every scientist and every surveyor knows this and it is only tenderfeet, who use a soft pencil and fountain pen for making field notes, because an upset canoe will blur all ink marks and the constant rubbing of the pages of the book will smudge all soft pencil marks.

Therefore, have a pocket especially made, so that your notebook, pencil and fountain pen, if you insist upon including it—will fit snugly with no chance of dropping out.” -The American Boys’ Handybook of Camp-lore and Woodcraft, By Daniel Carter Beard, 1920

This week, they published a piece on The Pocket Notebooks of 20 Famous Men.  I did not see any mention of Thomas Edison’s custom-made pocket pencils, but I was very happy to learn about Mark Twain’s custom notebooks, about which I knew exactly nothing.  We have reviews of two pocket notebooks (Field Notes being one) in the works on Pencil Revolution and wonder what kinds of pocket notebooks work especially well with pencils.

September 15, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

On upcoming reviews.


The good folks at Field Notes Brand have sent some excellent Field Notes samples to Pencil Revolution HQ in Balitmore, and we are excited to give these babies a thorough test-run and pencil-specific review.  Thanks, FN!  There is more gear to review in the post from other comrades; so there are more reviews on the way!

September 14, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

This just in: Blackwing production models on the way.

Via Pencils.Com/Cal Cedar. “There are currently 875 dozen Palomino-Blackwing production models flying in from Japan…The new Palomino-Blackwings will be for sale within the next 2 weeks!”

September 13, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , | 5 Comments »

New Blackwing Pre-Review.


[Note: These were samples sent, gratis, from Cal Cedar.  These are pre-production models, subject to change -- and also massive excitement.]

We’ve mentioned the new Palomino Blackwing twice (here and here) on Pencil Revolution so far but have not offered a review yet.  This is in keeping with our unwritten pencil review policy, which is that, in short, we do not generally review pencils which cannot be gotten by Comrades, at least somewhere in the world.  We held off on reviewing the Palomino until you could buy it, and we’ll hold off on a complete review of the new Blackwing until you can buy it — or, at least, until there’s a date for its official and much anticipated release.

However, it’s just plain mean to keep Comrades completely in the dark about this exciting development in the Pencil World!  So, bearing in mind that many things about this pencil might change before Comrades can purchase them, this is a summary of the New Blackwing Experience.


Presentation/Construction
Like any California Republic product, the Blackwing Palomino presents itself as a high-quality pencil the second you pick it up. The cedar smell wafts nicely from your hand. The ferule is shiny and tight. There are a few issues I found with the finish, but I’ll mention those small qualms later. The balance of the pencil is, of course, different than a regular pencil because of the large ferule/eraser assembly. But that certainly does not mean that it is necessarily top-heavy. It is just, for lack of a better word, different.  You get used to it, being distracted by how smoothly it writes.


Finish
One of the most striking characteristics of the orange/blue Palomino pencil is its excellent finish. The paint on the new Blackwing is a matte black, with a color and texture akin to the Dixon Ticonderoga Black (when it was made in the USA — not the Microban version out today). Both of our review pencils had gold dust/paint on the black in areas it should not have been, and there were wrinkles in the paint of one unit. The gold stamping is a little feathery, unlike the very precise stamp on a Palomino. But, these things aside, it is still a beautiful pencil. And, at the risk of sounding sycophantic, I am sure that California Republic will take care of those issues when the production model hits shelves, mailboxes and the page.


Eraser
Blackwing fans will notice that the eraser, though nearly identical to the previous eraser/ferrule, is white, rather than pink. This does not really bother me, especially since it appears to be made of the same material as the eraser on the regular Palomino. Erasing was clean, easy and quick.


Lead/Core
One of the reasons that the Blackwing was so popular — perhaps the reason — was its smooth and dark core. I could gush for paragraphs about how smooth and dark this core is. It is, in short, as smooth and dark as writing with a gel pen — without all the pesky mess involved in that slow-drying ink.  As you can see from my terrible photographs, it is darker than a 4B Faber-Castell 9000, and smoother to boot.

As with any dark-writing pencil, this comes at the price of more frequent sharpenings and greater “ghosting” onto the next page. Personally, I found myself writing until I almost hit the wood more than I necessarily found myself sharpening more. The pencil writes so smoothly that I didn’t stop to do anything, let alone carve out a chunk of it with a sharpener. I wore down the point much further than I generally do.  Perhaps it would, then, be more accurate to say that it dulls more quickly.  One annoying thing about dark pencils is that they ghost onto the previous page when you write on the back of the sheet.  This is especially annoying on thin Moleskine paper, but I’ve found that to be an issue with most pencils and even the cheapest of ballpoint pens on that paper.  With thicker paper, I think this issue can be solved and might be something we will look at on the official review when the production model comes out.

In Summa
The key to appreciating the Palomino Blackwing is to consider its nature. In my feedback to the company, I suggested changes that would make it look like the original Blackwing because I was, in some ways, looking at it as the rebirth of the Blackwing, a re-make or reproduction. In that respect, the finish of the pencil would fail. Aside from the ferrule, it doesn’t look like the original Blackwing more than any other black, hexagonal pencil.  The logo is missing; the color is different; the eraser is white.

But, if I understand correctly from some of Woodchuck‘s comments, the Palomino Blackwing was coming out with or without the famous name. I think I read that it was going to be called the Pegasus (which would have been fitting) until the Blackwing name became available. In this light, what the new Blackwing amounts to is a fantastic modern pencil under the Palomino line, with a nod to the legend that was the Blackwing 602. In some ways, it could never be the original. Any new Blackwing would not be made by the same company, not be made in the USA (I assume, since pencil factories are few around these parts), would probably have a better eraser and more environmentally friendly paint than the old pink-topped 602 model.  I think asking how much this new pencil resembles the old is fruitless and might cause retro grouches among us (and I count myself in this camp on occasion) to ignore an otherwise fine instrument.

So, the questions I will be asking when the new production Palomino Blackwing comes out are: Is this a great pencil? Does it do justice to the Palomino name the Blackwing name? Could this pencil indeed be the stuff of its own legend, aside from the lineage of its moniker?

I have to tell you: from the preview we have been lucky enough to experience, I think it can stand on its own, apart from either name stamped onto the side in gold letters.

September 12, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , | 15 Comments »

Trains, pens and planners on pencil sharpening.


Certainly, there are those of us who prefer pencils to pens and computers, in part, because of the joy of sharpening. My better half giggled last week when I confessed to the existence of my box of nearly forty pencil sharpeners in the closet in our daughter’s room (she’s only 5 months old and too little to find them yet) and when she noticed one in our bathroom I’d left there. But then I opened a box which contained several of her sharpeners, in shades of pink and red.  And I giggled a bit.

Trains, pens and planners presents us with a short piece on the simple joys of pencil sharpening:

“It was at this point I realised what a pleasure sharpening a pencil was. I had forgotten the physical feeling of turning the pencil, the noise, the swirl of shaved wood. Now this doesn’t mean I shall give up on mechanical pencils to start a pencil sharpening frenzy in my life. It does make me think a bit more about the simple things in life. The things that we don’t take time to think about or if we notice them don’t capture the feeling. It’s probably impossible to pay attention to the small things all the time but perhaps choosing a day to consciously notice the small things would be enriching, in a small way. I must try that.”

Read more.

September 8, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , | 2 Comments »

The Story of a Lead Pencil.


Article in Good Housekeeping, from July 1894. Via Today in Science History.

“Before pencils were invented and used, goose quills did the work that both of them are now appointed to do. There were lead pencils then; something unknown at the present day, although the general speech of the people is now as then of a lead pencil. But lead or no lead the crude plummet and pencil of only two or three generations ago, has been evaluted into the handy, useful and attractive looking pencil of to-day; has gone the way of all the earth, with the wafer-box, in which were stored the thin, round, red wafers with which we sealed our letters; the more aristocratic stick of sealing wax; and the sand-box that held the sand, then doing the service which the blotter pad does now.”

Read the rest of the issue (if you’re so inclined) here.

September 7, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments »

September 2010 Pencil Wallpaper.


September is here already!  While you’re (hopefully) enjoying the smell of cedar during a restful long weekend (especially our comrades in the United States, where Monday is Labor Day) we thought you might enjoy a desktop wallpaper for the month, featuring an image of a Palomino from the original review.

Happy Labor Day to America’s working men and women!  And to all workers the world over!

Download the full-sized image here, or click the image above.

September 3, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

The art of sharpening a pencil, from M.J. Taylor.


There’s a great page from artists and designer Matthew James Taylor, on different methods of pencil sharpening that’s particularly enjoyable.

“Welcome to the world of pencil sharpening – this may sound like a dull topic but there is actually a lot more to it than you think. There are a number of different sharpening styles and methods; all good artists should know them. The trick is using the right one at the right time.”

Includes such variations as “The Chisel Point” and “The Needle Point” — and information on using short pencils:

“I find shorter pencils so much better that I have even started chopping my new pencils in half after buying them. You get two-for-one that way! One word of advice however, after the chop make sure you make a note of the hardness on the other end, otherwise you will have all these mystery grade pencils!”

Very excellent piece, with photos to boot.  Read more at Matthew James Taylor’s website.

September 1, 2010 | Editor | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments »