Category Archives: Essays

01/11/06

Cheap pencils.

We here at Pencil Revolution are not snobs. There is no price requisite for the pencils we use, etc.

“My name’s Ashley, and I love cheap pencils!

I am wondering if anyone else has this same predelection or habit. I hesitate to call it a ‘vice’ :) I find it such a thrill to discover that a nondescript, ‘no name,’ overlooked pencil, languishing on my daughter’s closet floor, is also a good one. After doing a bit of sleuthing, I found that this particular pencil is part of a 24 count pack at Target, selling for 97 cents. It is a humble number two, with a gloppy paint job. I doubt that its wood casing comes from Cal Cedar (the wood looks like pine) , or is FSC certified. But it writes smoothly and softly, sharpens well, has a decent darkness, and a nice eraser. Best of all, it cost roughly four cents!! Now, I love my Palominos, but a bargain is a bargain!

Suffice it to say that cheap pencil hunting is my new pastime. I don’t want cheap at any cost; that is, I want remarkable quality for the low cost. I will not rejoice over atrocious pencils. But to all those out there at the Revolution who share my enthusiasm, hurry to Target, with just a dollar in your pocket!”

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

01/6/06

Pencils on exams.


In the days where standardized tests and driver’s license exams are given on computers, it would not seem that pencils would come up in rules or regulations. But our friend Alcarwen writes about an instance in a university where one professor is no fan of graphite:

“Yesterday, during an exam, I was tempted to take it in pencil; maybe it would help the ideas flow better or something. I had some vague idea that perhaps our Prof would disapprove, so I opted for Gel Ink instead. Two classmates went the pencil route.

At the end of the exam, our Prof heartily expressed her disapproval of the pencil route. She told us that someone might erase the answers.

Erase the answers?

Has academic dishonesty gotten that bad? That someone might sneak into an office and erase someone else’s exam? Or a prof could change a student’s answer in order to fail them? Yikes!”

Read the rest of this great post here.

[Text and image, Alcarwen. Used with permission.]

01/5/06

Resolution for revolution!


Our friend Woodchuck writes about wonderful things in store for us in 2006:

“On the underground communications front I have just published today my new Pencil World Squidoo lens. This new site highlights some of my more industry focused Timberlines posts along with some key reviews and posts I like best from Pencil Revolution. Also the lens features additional resources on using pencils creatively in a bit different way than simple links from Timbelines blog. So in effect it’s a good place for a quick and easier look at a lot of key Revolutionary activities and resources and can serve as a companion site to the Pencil World Creativity Store.


Finally and most importantly for you Palomino riders I will very soon be adding the option to pick and choose the graphite grades, colors and aquarelle color pencils you want most in your own configurable packs on Pencil World. Some courageous comrades even received a sample pack as part of a Christmas thank you mailer. Rumor has it that KUM pencil sharpeners may be part of some upcoming promotions and a special new alliance is in the works to expand new points of distribution for various parts of the California Republic line to supplement what’s available through the Pencil World store.”

Check out the rest of the post here.

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

01/4/06

Loudstyle.

Our Comrade Loudstyle writes about his new-found love for pencils:

“I have always used pencils (who hasn’t?) but the reviews on Pencil Revolution alerted me to their finer details. I realized I had a couple decent pencils around the house and I tried out some others to see what all the fuss was about. I soon became pretty well addicted…

….Keith Haring Doubles from Acme Writing Tools. I received a nice metal tin containing a dozen of these fine pencils for Christmas several years ago. They feature the colorful and energetic artwork of Keith Haring. For the longest time I shied away from using them often because they looked too nice to sharpen away. I finally got over that silliness and now use them regularly.”

Read about the rest of some favorite pencils at Loudstyle.

[Image and text, Loudstyle. Used with kind permission.]

12/31/05

Happy Birthday, Faber-Castell 9000.

Since this is the year in which the Faber-Castell Castell 9000 turns 100 years old, it’s only fitting that we end the first calendar year of the Revolution with a piece about this great green pencil. This piece is from pencil Comrade Michael Leddy.

Serious pencils indeed.

My love of “supplies” — pencils, pens, notebooks — goes back to Saturday morning trips with my father and brother to Alan’s Stationers in Brooklyn. My dad was (and is) a meticulous artist, and his affection for tools and materials was something I picked up on very early. I remember my own early “supplies” very well — a series of miniature Carter’s dip pens, which came packaged with miniature bottles of ink; a Scripto mechanical pencil; dozens of Venus coloring pencils; and a gray “T-Ball Jotter” (I never thought of it as a Parker) with thick, fragrant blue ink.

As I’ve gotten older, the fascination of “supplies” has fused with my deep affection for the artifacts of what I like to call “the dowdy world” — modern American life before it was refigured (or disfigured) by certain forms of technology. My affection for supplies has become, of necessity, an affection for what is largely past. As I’m writing these words, I’m looking at a Mongol ad from the 1950s, framed on the wall to my right:

Your Best Buy’s
MONGOL
2,162 words
for
one cent

In the dowdy world, people took their pencils seriously.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s I found some wonderful traces of the dowdy world in Warner’s, an old-line office-supply store in downstate Illinois. Warner’s has long since moved to an emphasis on office-furniture and “gifts,” a necessary choice for economic survival. But back then, the store featured an entire aisle of typewriter ribbons, most of them for machines already extinct. The ribbons had long since dried out, as I discovered after buying a supply for my Olympia manual. But other stuff was still as good as new, more or less — Listo pencil leads, gummed airmail labels, card pockets for library books. O Warner’s!

My ultimate Warner’s find (in 1991) was a cache of A.W. Faber Castell 9000 pencils. I came away with two-dozen pencils in tins, and a few loose pencils in a third tin. I’ve sharpened and used up a few of the loose ones over the years (down to the bittersweet end, with a pencil extender), but the dozens remain untouched. These are serious pencils indeed.

Consider the box, which suggests the sort of presentation more frequently associated with fine cigars. (The box came along for free with the pencils.) I like to imagine an arrangement of these boxes, perhaps in a store window, eye candy for the pencil connoisseur.

The pencils are packed twelve to a tin, each tin complete with a seal. (I’ve seen photographs of Vladimir Nabokov at work with this kind of tin at his side.) The lead is dark, rich, smooth. The wood, so far as I can tell, is red cedar. Yes, red cedar. Simply sharpening one of these pencils is a delight. The shavings are smooth and papery. The fragrance brings back dim recollections of closets and clothes chests. No other pencils I’ve used have smelled like these.

And now for the most remarkable feature of these pencils. Their history is inscribed, a bit blurrily, on their sides:

LEADS IMPORTED FROM
AMERICAN ZONE GERMANY

Which is to say that these Castell 9000s were made between 1945 and 1949, when post-war Germany was divided into four Allied sectors. And these Castell 9000s were still sitting on a shelf in 1991 (and selling for 1991 prices too, about seventy cents a pencil, I think). I said something in the store — something vaguely articulate, like “Wow! These are really old!” “They never sold,” was the plainspoken American-gothic reply. And now here I am in 2005, vaguely articulate once again.

Michael Leddy teaches college English and has published widely as a poet and critic. He blogs at Orange Crate Art. Many thanks to our hard-working Comrade!

There are two other great articles about the Castell 9000 on the web for your reading pleasure. Faber-Castell has a great article in English on the German site (here), and there is a very very fine piece at Paper and Pencil (here) on our green Comrade.

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

12/8/05

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.]

12/7/05

Simplicity in a pencil?

A good friend and colleague of mine gave me permission to quote from an email she sent me about pencils, Thoreau and a Mars Lumograph 100 that I left in her mailbox. I’ve been thinking about environmental issues and how they relate to throw-away (non-refillable) pens, etc. And the issue of quality versus value pencils comes up often in our little community, so I thought I’d post this:

“I know I’ve teased you about the extent of your fascination with pencils, but I understand where it comes from. These are the tools of our trade, if we’re doing philosophy correctly. We might need the laptops to do academic philosophy, but to really think and explore the meaning of life, we need quiet time to ourselves, away from the hum of electronics; time alone in nature, with a means of recording our thoughts as they come to us. Most pens are disposable, and their use reflects our attitudes toward the environment, others, and ourselves. Pencils are finicky, and they need care. If we don’t sharpen them, they won’t write, and if we don’t use caution, they will break. Using pencils — in a strange way — cultivates stewardship.

Also, it’s encouraged me to take note of the quality of the things that I usually take for granted. There is a demonstrable difference, and we should aim for quality. And all too often, the quality gets disregarded, especially as we search for good deals. I’ve almost gotten to the point of doing searches for quality chalk for my classes, since there are some years that the school’s chalk simply doesn’t work. What’s kept me in check is the fact that I know I’m nowhere near organized enough to keep it on me. I’d have a crate of the good stuff in my office and nothing on me when I got to class.

And I get the same looks from my family that you’ve gotten over the pencils. When my aunt and I get to talking about spices and various brands of olive oil, it’s as if we’re speaking Outer Mongolian. One of my uncle’s called me a pseudo-intellectual snob because I knew what Earl Grey tasted like.”

[Text, Tanya J., used with permission. Image, J.G.]

11/15/05

Cyber Lizard.

Cyber Lizard, a very very brave Comrade of the Revolution is writing a novel this month entirely by pencil!

“I am insane. Really. I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I am writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. And as crazy as this seems, that’s not what makes me insane. It’s the fact that I’m writing this novel by hand, in pencil. My Moleskine notebook is filled with almost 10,000 pencil-written words. Needless to say, this gives me ample opportunity to try out different pencils. I have bought several of the pencils reviewed here and used them to some extent. Here is what I have discovered.

Dixon-Ticonderoga Tri-Write HB: I found this to be a pretty good general purpose pencil. Not dark enough for me, but I like it for sketching.

Mirado Black Warrior HB: The crispness of the line was great. For some reason, I set this one aside and haven’t actually used it for my writing. I need to pick this back up and give it a go.

Dixon Tri-Conderoga HB: I love the feel of this pencil in my hand. Its finish is amazing. I really wanted this to be my favorite. Unfortunately, it was not quite dark enough for my tastes and it required more frequent sharpening to maintain a good point.

Faber-Castell GRIP 2001 2B: This one was my favorite for several days. It kept a point well and was fairly dark. I didn’t find it as comfortable as the Tri-Conderoga, but my hand held up well for long writing sessions with it.

California Republic Palomino HB: Currently my favorite pencil. I love its terrificly dark line, and it keeps a point very well. I can usually get about a half a page written before I feel the need to sharpen.

My biggest issue right now is that I need a good eraser. My two favorites, the Palomino and the GRIP don’t have erasers. I’ve been keeping an unsharpened Tri-Conderoga out when I write for the eraser, but I’d like something more compact. Any suggestions?

Now I need to go catch up on my word count since I’ve wasted my precious time writing for Pencil Revolution instead of my novel ;-)”

[Image and text, Cyber Lizard. Used with kind permission.]

11/11/05

Humdog on Native pencils.

For a long time I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in Central California. It’s damp up there, cold, and gray most of the year. My house was heated by a environmentally-correct woodstove. In the mountains, because of the weather, after a while, you get a little book-ish. Down the highway about 10 miles or so, in the city of Santa Cruz, well, there was an art supply store called Palace Arts. This store carried Blackfeet Indian Pencils. Now I grant you that I have always been a pencil freak. It’s just now, with your wonderful site, I can come out of the closet about it. I have always loved pencils. Some of my favorites have been, over time, the Venus Goddess, the old yellow Mongol #1, Black Warrior #1, and the Tombow Mono B. The Blackwing, of course, cannot be mentioned in the same sentence with any other pencil. It is the high chieftain of all pencils. Somewhere, however, between the Blackwing and the Tombow Mono B, there is a place for the Blackfeet Indian #2. A person who understood me really well once gave me a gross of Mongol #1 pencils for Christmas one year. I was happy for months.

The Blackfeet Indian is almost impossible to buy now, but I remember a time when I could go to Palace Arts in Santa Cruz and buy them by the dozen. They are beautiful: simple hardwood, lots of grain, very simply varnished. The eraser worked like a Pink Pearl, and although you could get them with a gold ferrule, my favorite version is the one with the black ferrule. It looked so minimally beautiful, matching the simple black print on the pencil body. The gold ferrule, to my eye, was a little too flashy, a little too Hollywood. I loved the black. The lead was magnificent. It was never gritty. The line was an impressive black. It did not smear. It held a point pretty well, and what’s even more impressive, I never had a Blackfeet Indian pencil turn into one of those nightmare pencils that break when you sharpen them, and the lead never fell out of the wood after sharpening, either. The lead in these pencils also would last. I bear down when I write and I can use up a Faber Castell Grip 2001 in a couple days. Not so with the Blackfeet Indian pencil. The weight of this pencil was also wonderful, not too heavy, not too light. Some newer pencils, well it feels like the wood is really dried out to the point of where the pencil lends no weight to the writing job. You have to bear down to get a line, some. The Blackfeet, well, it is equal to the task of writing.

I am an internet ranter. When it became clear to me that it was going to be hard to get more Blackfeet pencils through stores, I began to beg them from my pals on the net. A dear friend in Minnesota found that she had a whole box of them, and she sent them to me. She doesn’t use pencils. I have given single pencils from my stash as special gifts to dear friends. Some of them upon receiving these pencils, look at me a little strangely. But I always smile at them and say: there is a poem, or a story, or a drawing, in that pencil, waiting to come out for you. Then the odd look melts into a grin, usually. I only have about a half dozen of these pencils left. I have been looking for suitable substitutes. Consequently I have an embarrassing number of pencils in my house, of which only the General Cedar #2 and the Pacific Music Papers “Magic Writer” come anywhere near the Blackfeet Indian Pencil. The General #2 is a little gritty for my taste, although the aesthetics of the pencil itself are magnificent. The “Magic Writer” has a good lead, except it wears down too fast. Ideally, my pencil would LOOK like the General Cedar, and behave like the Tombow Mono B or 2B. Right now I am writing with a Staedtler 4B lead in a red Koh-i-Noor Lead holder. It’s a little thick for me, but at least the line is black. I bought some TriConderoga pencils, and while I like those, I am not in love.

Based on what I read on your site, I bought some Palominos and some Forest Choice. I am hoping that one of these will be my new Blackfeet Indian Pencil.

What I want to know is this: why is it that when people make something that actually works, like the Blackwing and the Blackfeet pencil, that automatically it just goes away? For example: for a while, I could get the Noris ErgoSoft HB at Office Depot. Now this pencil is both elegant and functional. It doesn’t sharpen away into a nub in two days. The pencil is also beautiful to behold – it has a real Art Deco paint job. Everything works on this pencil, and it’s 3 bucks a half dozen — Okay, so a little expensive. But Office Depot won’t carry this pencil anymore. Nope. You want to buy a pencil at Office Depot you have to settle for a school pencil. Now I’m not in love with the Dixon Ticonderoga #2, but I love the #1. I’m willing to deal with the yellow paint for the sake of the lead. Can you find a #1 at Office Depot or Staples? No. At Office Depot or Staples, I can buy all the cheap Pentech atrocities I want. But no Noris, No Ticonderoga #1. For Dixon #1, I have to go to a store across town. For Noris Ergosoft, I have to buy online – General Cedar and Black Warrior #1 I can only get on line, too. To get Mitsubishi or Tombow pencils (and Japanese woodcase pencils are EXCELLENT) I have to drive downtown to Kinokuniya bookstore in Los Angeles. I can get the Faber-Castell GRIP 2001 in stores, but not the excellent Faber-Castell 9000 (and it is, to my way of thinking, a much better pencil).

Sometimes all of this drives me to use a Pentel .9 mechanical pencil, but that does not make my soul happy. I write for a living. I want REAL pencils.

Thank you, I feel better now.

(Many thanks to Humdog for a great contribution!)

[Text, Humdog, used with very kind permission. Image, J.G.]

11/10/05

Kevin Kelly: Why pencils? (ii).

Kevin Kelly famously writes about his favorite pencil, the Derwent 3B:

“A pencil can generate megabytes of text, needs no batteries, and has no user manual. It is comfortable to hold, it smells good, and it is relaxing to turn around in your hand as you try to think of the right words. Pencils don’t need ink; all they need is a sharpener. They are warm and friendly; they have souls.”

Thanks, Kevin!

[See Why pencils? (i).]

11/8/05

Call for reviews, essays, photos, etc.

Those among us of an academic bent are familiar with the C.F.P.s (Call For Papers) we get in our email inboxes almost daily. We’re not that…stuffy here at the Revolution. However, we are issuing our first “Call For ~” in order to integrate the People and to promote sharing among the Comrades of the Revolution. In other words, I — at least — think it’s safe to say that we are no longer a website with readers but are a fledgling community. And I think that having myriad contributors, at least from time to time, is a good thing now.

What are we after? Reviews of pencils you like or don’t like, or erasers, sharpeners, pencil boxes, etc. Essays about pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and other pencil gear. Photos of the same. Drawings with graphite, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, drawings of pencils. If you have a drawing that needs scanning, please contact us via email, and we can arrange to scan it for you and return it to you unharmed via physical mail.

While we are not going to issue any explicit guidelines, we do reserve the right not to publish what we deem offensive or irrelevant. Please don’t send us a list of aphorisms on where pen users can stick their pens. We still love our brothers and sisters of ink, and — though pencils are sharp — they are not weapons. We reserve the right to edit work, and consent is implied in submitting that we can use said work on the site, with all due credit given, of course.

Perhaps not everything submitted will make it onto the site, but we will try to publish all we can. We are not going to be Puritanical in our tastes of art work when we decide what to publish, but bear in mind that people of all ages and backgrounds are members of our community when submitting. But also bear in mind the kindness and openness displayed by the People on every available occasion. We are an accepting and brave People.

Please feel free to bear your pencil soul.

[Please continue to Submission Guidelines in the permalink or comments section.]

11/1/05

National Novel Writing Month 2005.

As many of the People already are, no doubt, aware today kicks off the National Novel Writing Month for 2005. What is NaNoWriMo? In short:

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

Check out Libby Copeland’s article in The Washington Post for more information.

We are wondering if anyone in the Revolution is participating this year, and if said brave writers might be interested in sharing with the People their work, or bits of it, on PencilRevolution.com? If so, please leave a note or email us (see right) directly to discuss.

But first off, who’s writing in pencil?

10/28/05

Why cedar?

With the recent discussions about the environment and wood, it seems very appropriate to mention some great recent posts by our good friend Woodchuck on why Incense-Cedar is such an excellent wood for pencils:

“Incense-cedar originally began to be used as a substitute wood for Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) which was the premier wood for US produced pencils and some European pencils dating from the mid 1800s through the early 20th century. It is commonly thought that the main purpose for the shift to Incense-cedar was due to dwindling supply of Eastern Red Cedar and there is some relevance here, but primarily from a comparative economic standpoint only. ERC is still widely used for commercial purposes today for products which most benefit from the technical characteristics contained in the natural cedar oil extractives of this species. Products such as closet lining, shoe trees, coat hangers, storage chests and natural oil extractives used in the essential oils industry for perfume and other cosmetic and scent purposes.
So what is the full story for the transition to Incense-cedar?” (Read on to find out!)

“Unlike species that occur in groves, Incense-cedar can be found scattered among Douglas-fir, Jeffrey Pine, ponderosa pine and other species that dominate the mixed-conifer forest. Within the state of California, Incense-cedar generally comprises about 5% of the trees in a stand while just 1.5% in it’s southern Oregon growing range. Despite it’s popularity in a range of uses, Incense cedar has never become a mono-cultural plantation species as with other commercial western softwoods. As a prolific seed-cone producer it readily regenerates and proliferates throughout it’s growing range aggressively repopulating any available site on the forest floor. It’s germination and survival rate are excellent relative to other softwoods….there is more Incense-cedar growing in California forests today than at any time during the past 50 to 70 years based upon data from the US Forest Service mandated Forest Inventory and Analysis Project.” (Read on!)

[Excerpts, Woodchuck at Timberlines. Image, Oregon State University.]

10/17/05

Goliath.

Johnny writes about childhood pencils in MungBeing magazine:

“When I first arrived at Kindergarten, we all had little boxes that we put onto the top shelf of our cubbies, standing on five-year-old tiptoes. In my little blue box that day was a Faber-Castell GOLIATH – a thick, red pencil with soft-feeling lead and a nice pink eraser on the end. Of all the goodies in my blue box – scissors, paste, a ruler, etc. – I was most excited about my big pencil. There were boxes and boxes of markers and wax crayons at the pre-school and even more at home that my parents provided for my brothers and I.. But one pencil, only one. And so grown-up looking! I had just turned five and suddenly felt immensely important that I had been given a single pencil that would allow me to do so much. My introduction to pencils was thus to a quality German pencil, and the rest of my childhood pencilship was tainted by this….

….But I think that what people love about pencils is not necessarily something akin to childhood innocence. I don’t think it’s possible to recover the naivety of the sandbox, nor is it desirable to do so. The responsibility that comes with knowing what we know that we did not know as children – whether we know it from education or worldly experience – is not something that we can shirk off just by using pencils or any other magical tools. The reason pencils resonate with adults is that they remind us of the sense of wonder that we had as children. Only, as adults, this wonder is armed with some degree of practical wisdom in that pencils put us into a position of wonder that is coupled with power and freedom. We look at the world differently when we remember being kids, and we have the freedom to explore our world that we might not have had as school children with homework and parents and curfews. Most importantly, we have the power through what we already know to look in the right places for what we still wonder about as adults.”

Read the rest of the article here.

[Image, J.G.]

10/11/05

Pencil confessions, i.

If I may wax personal, I want to admit being more than a little upset to learn that a certain pencil I previously enjoyed is made of rainforest wood, not Incense Cedar. I know, this should make no difference. It was hard to sharpen and had no smell before I knew what it was made of, too, and I ignored it. I think I’m upset that it’s maker flaunts it as a great quality pencil (and charges a lot for it) but then won’t pony up and make it out of cedar. There are probably even reasons for this, like a $3 a pencil price tag result, etc. I won’t pretend that I know much about wood or about what works best for what.

But it’s weird that something so small can shake my faith in a pencil. It’s like when you have a pencil you love but then realize that it’s core smears all over or that you have a near-perfect pencil that comes with a terrible eraser that ruins the whole affair. Or, worse, that you have a pencil you love above all others but cannot obtain anywhere.

Is there some implicit search for the perfect pencil, or do we just get jolted when we learn that our favorites could use some evolving? Or do we delude ourselves into thinking we’ve already perched on the perfect pencil and then find out that there’s a glaring design flaw, upon which we get shaken up again?

10/6/05

The sad affair of the pencil.

Our friend Alcarwen at That Shadow My Likeness writes about the terror of being without a pencil sharpener:

“This was going along quite well until I realized I had stranded myself in the fourth floor office on the top of the highest hill with a single color pencil and no pencil sharpener to be found. I searched through the entire department. I knocked on doors. I had other pens offered to me, but no. The Rhetoric book is not to be touched with anything other than my particular box of color pencils. (Yes, I’m obsessive. I know.)

I sat there in despair, Rhetoric book in one hand, sadly un-sharpened color pencil in the other and was completely unable to continue reading. Until… until I remembered the lovely pocket-knife on my key ring. I sharpened the damn thing old school style. I was so proud of myself.

However, I think my Department head now thinks I’m a nut-case since he walked into my office to find me whittling away at a pencil with a pocket-knife while grinning maniacally.”

This is a disaster that I’ve known a few times myself, and I would not wish it on anyone. Pulling out a blade is the bravest way to handle such a situation, to be sure. It’s downright heroic!

Many thanks, Alcarwen!

09/29/05

Pencil degrees.

Several folks have asked us to post something about pencil degrees, especially since those of us in the United States have pencils which have plain numbers to write with, while we have confusing degrees on our art pencils and drafting pencils. We have some terrific articles to link to which explain the various hardnesses and softnesses of pencils extremely well, so we will not try to out-do them, which would probably be impossible.

Here is a great piece from the Pig Pog Creativity Wiki on pencil hardness:

“In the UK, and (I think) most of Europe, pencils are always labelled with one scale – H for Hard, or B for soft, with a number to say how hard or soft. HB is the middle of the range, and by far the most common type. For sketching, though, a softer lead is usually preferred, often 2B or even 4B. For more technical drawing or very light lines, a harder lead works better, like a 2H. The scale goes up to 9 at each end – 9B to 9H, with the extreme ends of the scale being a bit too extreme for most uses.Sometimes, you’ll also find an F pencil – Firm – between the HB and the H (the 1 is missed off).

The US usually follows the UK system for drawing pencils, but for office use commonly refers to HB as #2. “

And Doug Martin has a great article about pencil grades as well, which explains the American system and the strange fractions and decimals we find on this side of the Atlantic:

“At the same time, a number-only system was in use, particulary in the U.S., which is still in use. The table below indicates approximate equivalents between the two systems:#1 — B
#2 — HB
#2½ — F
#3 — H
#4 — 2H

The common #2, or HB grade pencil in the middle of the range, is considered to be the preferred grade for general purpose writing. Harder pencils are most often used for drafting purposes, while softer grades are usually preferred by artists.

American-made pencils can often be found with numerically equivalent designations of 2-1/2, 2-4/8, 2-5/10, and 2.5, representing the same grade, but introduced by different manufacturers to distinguish their products and to avoid patent lawsuits.

It should be noted that no ‘official’ standard for pencil grades has ever been adopted, and the designations are still somewhat arbitrary and not always consistent from one manufacturer to the next.”

While it can be confusing — and even frustrating — when pencil manufacturers cannot find some single standard, even within their own product lines, it does allow for wonderous variety. I personally have an army of HB pencils that vary from ink-dark for creative writing to relatively light-marking pencils for writing in books. With nineteen (or more) grades to choose from, dozens of manufacturers producings multiple models, it is certainly possible to find a pencil for every use.

Or, at least, we can get pretty close. And looking for the perfect pencil for writing our grocery lists or dissertations on world peace is really part of the fun, anyway, no?

09/21/05

Newellization.

Talking with a new gent in my department last week, the topic of pencils came up. Turns out that he loved Mirado Black Warriors as a student but hadn’t used them in years. He was taking notes with an Eberhard Faber American Naturals pencil, which is of course no longer produced but is the PaperMate American Natural now. We were talking about the demise of certain beloved pencil models, and I gave him a PaperMate Mirado Black Warrior, shiny and new, from my pencil cup. His reaction was, “What is this thing?” because the PaperMate hearts just ruined his favorite pencil. I saw him a week later and asked if he had sharpened the Black Warrior I had given him yet, and he said he in fact hadn’t. I don’t think he really liked it anymore with the hearts on it.

Woodchuck has a great post at Timberlines about the acquisitions of Newell Rubbermade of several brands of writing instruments and art supplies in recent decades. At first, I was glad that Newell bought some brands from Gillette (who at the time tested on animals) and decided to sell them under Sanford (who does not test on animals). If you’re concerned about animal testing, this must have been good news to you, too.

There have been some nice improvements. The PaperMate Flair has a better tip, and the classic Write Bros. pens are clear, come with grip options and have much better ink and more colors now. Prismacolor has been revamped a bit, and Parker makes gel refills now — not to mention the veritable revolution in the Sharpie line recently.

But there are some downsides that weigh heavily against the positives. Gone are Mongols (at least in the US), the Blackwing 602, and some nice pencil models were relegated to being the budget models sold under the PaperMate brand, like the poor American Natural.

But what I find more pervasively strange than the ups and downs of the Newellization of some of my favorite pencil gear, is just the weirdness of the changes. My beloved Pink Pearl says “PaperMate” on it and is sold with children’s erasers called Foohy. The Mirado pencils I personally love have the same name on them as pens that sell for $0.50 for a pack of ten at some stores, and the PaperMate logo itself has been changed (though I do really like the new lettering). The (formerly) Eberhard Faber Design pencils that I learned to draw with long ago have no cap on them anymore. As my colleague shows, small things like the addition of vertical hearts can cause an aversion to a beloved writing instrument like the Black Warrior.

It just goes to show how we get attached to our tools and that small changes like the addition of hearts or a different name on an eraser can jolt the way we look at them, at times to the point where we look for something different.

The Revolution is not passing judgment on the Newellization of some brands. If nothing else, being acquired by a large company might be good for some products, which might become easier to get. I’ve noticed that I can find Mirado Classic pencils any and every where now, which is not something I could always claim. But we’ll have to see what happens to the quality of the pencils and pencil gear.

08/29/05

Blackwing 602 at Ninth Wave Designs.

Lisa at Ninth Wave Designs writes about her beloved Blackwing 602s:

“I began using Blackwing 602 pencils as an art student years ago and have never found another pencil to compare with the richness of the lead. They give a deep dark black without being overly smudgy, and all the silvery range of greys are there too. The feeling that comes to mind is ‘smooth’ and it is a pleasure to put this pencil to paper.” (Read on.)

The Revolution is without Blackwings to speak of and hopes against hope that Sanford will get that ferrule machine fixed or replaced. Maybe if enough members of the Revolution step up and write to Sanford Corp. it might help? It should be obvious to them that the fans of the Blackwing are willing to pay good money for it. Here is their contact info. In my experience, they do actually write back or at least read what people send them. Perhaps this is a job for the power of the Pencil People.

08/8/05

Handwriting (II).

(Continued from part I.)
It seems to me that handwriting is associated more with pencils than with pens these days. Maybe this is because we learned to write in pencil. Maybe it’s because our first pens were Bics or Papermates that did not produce as thick and expressive lines that pencils can live up to. Maybe it’s something I would never think of myself.

But there are a lot of people out there writing about it. Here’s a good one: Memory Keeper on Handwriting.

08/4/05

“What’s That Stuff?”

From Chemical and Engineering News, “The newsmagazine of the chemical world online.” Steve Ritter recalls:

Most adults probably realize that there isn’t any elemental lead in a pencil. But I worried about that when I was a kid after I had the point of a freshly sharpened No. 2 lodged in the palm of my right hand. It’s still there, 30 years later.

I actually have a graphite bit under my watch that’s been there since 1991, when I was in the seventh grade. But that’s a story (and photo) for another post.

Personal anecdotes aside, there’s some great information in there about pencils and graphite, including some things that not everyone knows about our humble wooden warrior.

[Photo copyright Doug Martin.]

08/3/05

Neighbor Girl on pencils.

From a recent comment by our friend Neighbor Girl:

“There is a lot less fear in writing with a pencil. Mistakes are easier to correct and there are never ink-flow issues. I can let my guard down with pencils and my handwriting is much more relaxed. It’s similar to going on a date in a dress (pen) and going to the market with a friend in jeans (pencil). I’m not going to be fussy about my jeans, I’m just going to relax in them. Pencils are comfortable, they keep us real.”

[Photo copyright N.G., used with permission.]

08/2/05

Pencil Revolution in Nepal.

From the Direct Help Foundation:

The Kalam Revolution, the pencil revolution, began because of people and organisations taking advantage of the ignorance of humble people, especially during the adoption process. Many women are promised that their children will actually return, which never happens. They cannot read the documents they are signing and they are in an impoverished situation which will not allow them to stay with their children.

It seems that we share our name with a wonderful organization!

It’s telling that the pencil is a symbol of literacy and the power that comes from the communication that literacy makes possible. And people say that the pencil is just wood and grapite!

[Photo property of Direct Help Foundation.]

07/26/05

Pencil ads (I).

These are some vintage pencil ads that Don P. sent us as a “blog-warming” gift last week. He tells me that he inherited them from his grandfather, along with a love of office supplies. Thanks, Don, for the images and the blog warm wishes.

07/25/05

Handwriting.


I’ve always noticed that my writing looks better in pencil than in pen. And I know I’m not alone in noticing this. Didn’t most of us, after all, learn to write using pencils?

The fact that my own writing looks better in pencil is probably from eight years of handwriting classes at Catholic school. I remember using some jumbo black pencils with thick lead to write with in the first grade. Our pencils had no erasers, and they were just…unpleasant to hold, let alone write with. And there was that thin newsprint-like writing paper that Sister Theresa Mary insisted we use, since it had huge lines to write on, with the centers being dotted lines — all in pale blue on puke-tan colored paper. It performed like compressed toilet paper and would instantly tear if you tried to erase anything you had written on it, especially since the eraser-free pencils required six year olds to attempt to wield something like a Pink Pearl to erase an accidentally-crossed L or some such. And no one wanted to deal with a nun who had a temper but was recently no longer allowed to spank us when they ripped a page. So we learned to write perfectly in pencil in fear of Sister Theresa Mary’s considerably loud yelling.

By the second grade, when we learned cursive writing, we were allowed to use whatever wooden #2 pencils we wanted to. I honestly can’t remember what brand I had, since my mother would have provided me with ample pencils that I would never have even seen in the box (probably G.I. Joe pencils or something like that). But I remember that we all had to learn to write perfectly and uniformly and according to those charts and the perfectly scripted two-feet-high letters our teacher put on the chalkboard. I remember that my handwriting went downhill in the third or fourth grade (don’t remember which) when we were allowed to use the shoddy mechanical pencils available in the 80s. And I remember that it went further downhill in the fifth grade when we were allowed to use ballpoint pens.

I kept up with my handwriting a little, however, since our sadistic (don’t ask) principal in middle school required even all middle schoolers to take handwriting lessons when she felt that the school’s penmanship was being neglected. These lessons, of course, required yellow #2 pencils and pink erasers.

While no longer in fear of ill-tempered nuns (the only two mean ones I ever had taught me to write), my handwriting still looks best and most uniform in pencil. Whenever I ditch the gel pens and the markers and the keyboard, my own natural penmanship comes out in wooden pencil, freely and fearlessly. Or is it just Charlie and I?