What’s more, Lauren features lovely photos and letters on her blog, which we can all enjoy. Thanks very much to Lauren, who shares my affection for the USA version of the Dixon Ticonderoga “Black”!

[Image, LfL.]

Last week, Dan shaved one down, lit it, and the flame bore straight through the work table.  In addition to giving a pencil fine points, a magnesium sharpener, it seems, can work as a fire starter.  What’s more: if you have no knife but do (for whatever reason) have a screwdriver, you can shave the magnesium with the sharpener’s own blade, in a bizarre act of pencil-gear-self-destruction.

We need to do a more thorough How-To about pencil sharpener fire starting, and soon.  Maybe our first video?

Needless to say, don’t try this at home.  Dan and are both old Eagle Scouts with fire experience and, hell, he’s a professional fireman!

“It measures approx 4.25 x 5 x 0.5 inches.  The pencils are Prismacolor Turquoise H, B and 6B, and general 6B charcoal, cut in half to fit.”

I really like this set-up.  I have a few pencil extenders sitting around, but it never occurred to me to use them to carry shortened pencils in a box.  Usually, there’s just a very short Palomino in my Kutsuwa pencil holder, turned around backward to protect the point — and my leg.  Keeping an extender in a small sketch or writing kit can allow Comrades to carry really short pencils and even use them comfortably, no matter how big one’s hands are.

Thanks to Logan for sending us these images and sharing!  See more of Logan’s images on Flickr.

“I found this site about two months ago, and it was a pleasure to know that there are more crazy people like me that love pencils and discuss them!!!! At that moment I was hoping that someone could help me to solve the biggest problem I face using wood pencils and that even causes me to avoid using them more often: the dust! I don’t know about you guys, but I always have all my pens and pencils and everything else in the pencil case completely dirty from graphite dust. Actually it’s become a bit better after I’ve begun to use a vertical case, but even then the stuff becomes dark. And it’s hard to clean everything, especially because I know they won’t last clean for so long…So, I ask for help!!!!!! Please! I don’t want to move again to mechanical pencils! How can I avoid this?”

So, what do you do when graphite dust covers everything like a layer of shiny grey snow?

[Photos and text, A.C. Used with permission.]

Hello!  I have enjoyed your website and wonder If I might ask you an opinion on a question I have been looking to answer.

I am looking to find the ideal testing pencil. While this may sound fairly dull, I have taken a great interest in discovering this dream pencil. You see, I am preparing to take the LSAT. Only wooden pencils may be used, and time is a crucial make-or-break factor on the test. When you’re only given 1.29 minutes to answer every question, suddenly the effectiveness of the eraser you are using and the degree to which you work to fill in a bubble come into effect substantially. I am trained in art, however, so I can appreciate the finer qualities in a well-made pencil. Here is what I’m looking for. I’m hoping the experts out there can help point me in the direction of something I have not tried yet (something exotic perhaps?).

I need to find two different pencils, but one requirement stands the same for both.  Both need to have a really fantastic eraser. I mean top notch. If I could find a pencil with a Mars eraser attached to it, I would be a pretty happy camper.  But alas, I have not found such. The best erasing pencils I have found as of yet are the Staedtler Tradition and, a close second, the Faber-Castell 9000.

The last two features are where the two pencils need to differ.  Feature 1 is a need for a long lasting point, firm enough to make small narrow marks but soft enough still to fill in the bubble of a Scantron pretty fast.  Feature 2 is sort of the opposite. I need just enough lead to make a few small marks, but it needs to be as soft as I can get away with to do so, so as to fill in Scantron bubbles as fast and effectively as possible.

I have come across several which have worked pretty well, but I wonder if anyone has any other suggestions.  Here is what I have already tried:

Staedtler Tradition – (far too lightly colored lead and too hard, but great eraser)

Staedtler Norica – (lead quality is pretty good, but maybe a bit softer and not as crumbly would be preferred; sadly, the eraser on this is not the same high-quality as the one used on the Tradition)

Faber-Castel 9000 B and HB, with eraser attached – (good eraser, but a bit too hard even in the B variety; I wish they made it in a 2B)

Rhodia – (good eraser;  but the lead just does not last long enough; it’s either too soft or just crumbles a bit too much — not sure which)
Palomino HB, with eraser – (the lead is great to write with but perhaps just a bit too soft for my purposes; it wears a little too quickly; but more importantly is that the eraser is not effective enough)

Musgrave HB – (good lead, however the eraser cannot handle the leads richness)

Musgrave Test Scoring 100 – (perhaps the closest I have come to the second variety I described; good eraser and good lead quality; would love something like this only with slightly harder lead and perhaps with an eraser like the one on the Staedtler)

I’m very curious about many of the Japanese pencils I have been reading about but wonder if any are offered with an eraser (I realize this is not preferred when the pencil is of high quality most of the time).  Any advice/info would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks very much!

Please leave any and all aid you might be able to offer Ted as he advances in the law school application process!

A – Writing Instrument
B – Paper Goods
C – Mystery Item
D – The Low Down

The office supplies within each kit (A, B, C) are straight up, no fuss exports – everyday items hand picked from a local dealer in the featured country. A random narrative from the trip (D) accompanies the goods. The kit is shipped out to subscribers’ homes on the first Tuesday of each month.

Now.  How do we decide who wins this package?  Do we randomly select from commenters, from our Facebook group, or subscribers?  Do we have a contest?  A pencil-themed contest?  But, what should it look like?  The contest, that is?  Any suggestions?  (Seriously.  I’m only coming up with Hemingway trivia.)

In the meantime, check out RAD AND HUNGRY’s blog.  To paraphrase The Dude, I dig their style, man.

click to enlarge

Our favorite tool of writing is listed on Boing Boing’s Candy Hierarchy, as residing on “Tier so low it does not register on our equipment.” I love candy as much as the next Comrade (and have the love handles to prove it), but this comment makes me almost sad.  I’d love to get pencils for Halloween.  Anyone giving the youngins pencils this year?

J: R, do you like pencils?

R: What?  Oh, yes.

J: Me, too (in a whisper).

R: I don’t trust pens.  They never work when you need them to.

J: I’m taking some boys camping this weekend, and I told them to bring a notebook and pencil because it’s likely to be too cold for ink to flow where we’re going…

And I went back to my office glad that I’m not quite the only pencil at work.

In nearly every episode of “Stargate Universe,” I am impressed that Dr. Rush, “the ship’s brilliant Machiavellian scientist” (as quoted on Wikipedia), thought to bring with him a pencil and a pocket notebook. Maybe he just habitually carried those items with him because he and everyone else on the ship fled there in a hurry. Stranded on the ship, he uses his pencil regularly to record notes about the ship’s systems, cypher equations, and look up jottings at the last second to solve pressing technical problems. So far, the camera has not shown him sharpening the pencil, but you know it’s just a matter of time. And what’s he going to do without it?! Sometimes I stress about the longevity of that pencil even more than their other dwindling resources or their quest to return home to Earth. They could be out there for years! It’s fun to see the juxtaposition of Rush’s paper and pencil against faster-than-light technology and tools like alien computer interfaces and floating camera-ball thingies. (Hey, I know it’s called a Kino.)

Anyway, in the latest episode, (Season 2, Episode 2, “Aftermath”), I was able to snag a screenshot off Hulu. Maybe someone who DVR’d the episode in high resolution can give us more detail, but it looks to me like a Mirado Classic — note the distinctive ferrule band. Kinda cool to see some of his scribblings and the favored tool Dr. Rush uses to help keep the Stargate characters alive. I would love to hear from one of the writers or prop directors how they decided to cast Dr. Rush’s pencil. I mean, that’s a character I really connect with.

It definitely looks like a Mirado classic to me.  That’s a good choice, given the old Mirado/Mikado advertising about the pencil’s ability to write 35 miles — for  a nickel!