12/3/10

Review of Rhodia Dot Pad.

Karen was kind enough to send us a nice package of goodies to review this fall, and it’s time we publish some more reviews! I thought we’d go with a pad I’ve been especially enjoying: the Dot Pad — especially after the announcement of the Dot Webbie, which might be one of the greatest notebooks available.

Vitals:
Cover Material: Coated cardstock.
Paper: 80 g acid-free; light lilac grid with 5mm intervals between dots.
Binding: Stapled.
Size: Assorted; 6 ” x 8 ¼ ” as tested.
Page Count: 80.
Unique Characteristics: Foldable cover; dot=grid.
Origin: France.
Availability: Everywhere!

As you can guess, the Dot Pad has dots in place of the squared lines regular Rhodia paper has. While this might seem like a small deal at first, I think this means several things. First, this paper photocopies better. Second, one can more easily ignore the dots, easier than ignoring purple lines, anyway. Third — and most important to pencil users — it makes what you write or draw easier to see! I have long loved Rhodia pads, but I have usually felt compelled to use a dark/soft pencil because the graph lines are a little heavy. It never bothered me enough to steer me away from Rhodia pads — to be sure — but the Dot Pad is still refreshing and, well, fun. While I appreciate the orange of Rhodia pads, I like the departure for black, and I really like the graphic/logo work for the Dot Pad.

As as always the case with Rhodia, the construction and design are both solid. The way the cover folds over and the extra cardboard backing are just intelligent and functional. Period. The paper is smooth and wonderful. While Rhodia paper usually wins praise from Comrades who love fountain pens, the pads are also excellent for graphite. (It’s no accident that the first post on Pencil Talk was about Rhodia pads.) Smearability on Rhodia paper has never been a problem for me at all. What’s more, strangely, the Dot Pad seems somehow extraordinarily smear-resistant. Ghosting is not an issue with a Rhodia pad because of the construction of the pad itself. I mean, I suppose one could write on the back. But it would be pretty difficult, at least if you have meaty hands like I do.

Another thing I always like about Rhodia pads are that they are easy to find in person and relatively inexpensive. I’m willing to bet that if you live in even a medium-sized city, you can find them at an art shop or even Target. I can walk to several shops from my office in midtown Baltimore and find them, for instance (though none of these locations sell the pencils).

I’ve been using this particular pad as a bedside reading notebook, and I definitely plan to get more when I fill this one up. Right now, it’s recording all the pencil mentions in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

12/1/10

RAD AND HUNGRY.

RAD AND HUNGRY reached out to a number of stationery blogs, and we’re happy to be able to participate in a drawing for a really sweet kit from Colombia, which will ship directly from R&H. Essentially, you get a package of local stationery sourced from the same country, on a monthly basis. How awesome is that? You get:

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.

11/16/10

Clean Pencil Sharpener.

(Click to enlarge.)

Comrade Brian sent this very cool dispatch from Portland (OR):

“I checked a book out from the Library called The Boy Mechanic: 200 Classic Things to Build, which is a neat little book that collects a bunch of old D.I.Y. projects from old Popular Mechanics articles, and this little blurb about a sharpener that collects the its own debris made me think of you, and your recent posting on Pencil Revolution. I made a scan of the article for you. I don’t know how practical such a device would actually be, but it’s fun to think that someone tried solving your dilemma.”

With some very nice wood (read: red cedar!) and an attractive handle, this could be a great device to keep on your desk, to sharpen the dulled-but-exposed lead in your pencils.

11/9/10

Review of Daycraft Signature Notebook.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Lee at Daycraft sent us a box of samples. Daycraft is a leading Hong Kong brand of planners and diaries:

Daycraft diaries, notebooks and planners are designed in Hong Kong and manufactured in Dongguan, China by Tai Shing Diary.

Tai Sing Diary was established in 1988 and has over the years won a well-deserved reputation for getting things right. (more)

I was immediately struck by two things, which where somewhat related. First, these notebooks are sort of small. By no means is that a bad thing (and they do make larger books also). Being used to Moleskines, I didn’t expect the scale with the detail that Daycraft books have. What I mean is that these are just really carefully designed and carefully made books! See the photo below showing the size, compared to a Field Notes book, which is very pocket-friendly. But they have all the symmetry and care we find on larger, much more expensive notebooks.

Vitals:
Cover Material: “Fine Italian PU” — Human-Made, flexible material.
Paper: 100g cream-colored paper with 6.5mm lines in grey ink.
Binding: Sewn.
Size: A6.
Page Count: 120.
Unique Characteristics: Beautiful design and construction; colors end-papers and page edges.
Origin: China.
Availability: For now, mainly Asia. You can get them online with international shipping here.

The book in question today is the Signature Notebook. These come in two sizes (A5 and A6 — we were sent the smaller size) and have a softly textured cover. It looks and feels like soft leather, but it’s some kind of human-made material. Aside from leather issues (if you have them that is), this means that the softness does not preclude durability, the way that soft leathers often (not always) do. The bookmarks, end-papers and edges of the pages have colors that coordinate with the covers. In our case, we have the brown cover and red-orange accents. The effect is striking, while still being nicely low-key.

The cover is completely flexible. The binding is sewn, with a satin bookmark. The paper is cream-colored 100g, lined paper, with 6.5mm lines printed in about the same grey as Moleskine lines. The cover is slightly rounded at the corners, but the papers are not rounded at all. Because of the generous over-hang, this is not an issue. The entire book is very light-weight and flexible. At A6 size (a little larger than a small Moleskine), it’s not exactly pocket-sized. But it could fit into a jacket pocket, purse or bag easily. I carry mine in the pocket of my puffy vest with no problems, especially since the book is so light. Once you get past the first page, the book lies flatly on the desk or table, and the binding feels very very secure.

(Comparing size to a Field Notes Raven's Wing.)

We promised Mr. Lee a pencil-specific review, and this book is a treat for pencil lovers. The paper looks a lot like the color of Moleskine paper: cream with grey lines. It’s much more stiff and at least twice as thick, however. While soft pencils prone to ghosting (Palominos, Faber-Castell 9000 4B, Blackwings, soft General’s Pencil Co., etc.) do ghost, they do not ghost with the intensity that they do on thin paper. Daycraft’s paper has a texture which is very nice for graphite, having much more tooth than Moleskine paper but slightly less than Field Notes. It doesn’t wear your point away, but it doesn’t shy away from taking some of that graphite off and keeping it to make marks, either. Smearability is about average, which accounts for the majority of papers I ever use. The lines are definitely not dark enough to distract you when you write in graphite (which I’ve noticed can be a problem with some papers lately), and they are nicely-spaced for using wooden pencils.

This is a notebook that surprises you with its price tag, especially considering the design and quality upgrade over Moleskines and some other books. Frankly, this notebook (and the other items they were kind enough to send us which we’ll write more about in the future) puts to bed the stupid supposition (don’t laugh; people claim it all the time) that quality goods cannot be made in China.
While it’s disappointing to see some companies move production overseas (I’m thinking of Dixon and it’s serious American heritage), Asian production does not mean a lack of quality any more than American production necessarily means that something is better made. There are better made than a lot of American and European notebooks I’ve used and seem more carefully assembled than any Moleskine I’ve bought in the last three or four years.

Unfortunately, Daycraft does not currently have an American distributor, but you can purchase from an Australian dealer that will ship worldwide. It’s worth it.

10/22/10

Book Review of Robert Walser’s Microscripts.

Today’s post comes from Brian E. Manning, a writer and cyclist who works in Porland’s Central Library. Brian is also the editor’s good friend and even was also his roommate in college!

Robert Walser’s Microscripts. [New Directions, 2010. $24.95]

Robert Walser (1878-1956) was a German-speaking Swiss Writer. His writing was admired by Kafka, and Hesse, to name a few names of notoriety. I became acquainted with Walser through his short stories, as well as his acclaimed novel, Jakob Von Gunten, both published by NYRB books. His writings are whimsical, quirky, and fanciful — showing an acute understanding of human nature through subversive, fairytale-like backgrounds. In 1929, Walser admitted himself into a mental ward, and remained there for the rest of his life, essentially ending his professional writing endeavors, quipping to a friend that he was there to be mad, and not to write. However, after Walser died–on one of his habitual walks, in the snow, (hotos of which exist for morbid perusal on the Internet) it was found that he actually continued writing while in the hospital, albeit, in as subtle a form as physically possible: that is, on fragments of paper, in the tiniest of handwriting.

At first, the executor of his estate thought that these tiny markings where evidence of Walser’s mental instability — an undecipherable loony/secret code — but, it was later discovered that Walser was writing in a miniaturized Kurrent script, stemming from the medieval ages, that he had learned as a schoolboy, as was the custom of the time. From there, it took some dedicated scholars, some magnification, and some linguistic guesswork and translation to yield us the English instalment of this endeavor: Microscripts.

I have been fascinated with Walser’s story of late, and have been looking forward to getting my hands on this book. For the most part, the writings are small sketches and musings, sometimes unfinished, but this is understandable since Walser most likely never meant for them to be “read” (deciphered) by us, which makes them feel even more intimate to read. Although they are brief (sometimes not exceeding 5-6 pages in length) Walser’s wit and style are still evident in these works–whether he is writing of marriage proposals, or the experience of listening to the radio, or putting characters at play in their settings, Walser’s humane style abounds in these small scripts. I find that the real treasure of Microscripts, however, are the sporadic color facsimiles of the microscripts themselves included throughout the book. These examples of Walsers diminutive sketches not only show how impossibly tiny his writing was (1-2 millimeters in height), but also conveys how visually stunning they are. Whether written on the back of a business card, or on a letter, they are a fine of example of visual art rendered through small script. (It is also worth mentioning that there are plenty of footnotes throughout this book, giving more detail behind Walser and the individual microscripts; and for those of you who can read German, the original, enlarged German renderings are also included in the back of the book.)

(Mr. Manning's Microscript -- Click for full-sized image.)

But, you may be asking, why should readers of Pencil Revolution care about Walser and his tiny writing habits? For that matter, why did Walser even start writing in this fashion? I was surprised to find that the answer to this, as given in the intro of Microscripts, lay in the formative power of yielding a pencil. According to Walser, he found that using a pen became a physical & mental stumbling block, one that he could only overcome by using a pencil, as wrote to a friend:

With the aid of my pencil I was better able to play, to write; it seemed this revived my writerly enthusiasm. I can assure you I suffered a real breakdown in my hand on account of the pen, a sort of cramp from whose clutches I slowly, laboriously freed myself by means of the pencil. [Microscripts, pg 13.]

Although this does not necessarily explain why Walser started shrinking his script, he definitely found his voice again through using a pencil; this is of such critical importance that the original six-volume German edition of the microscripts is entitled Aus dem Bleistiftgebiet, or “From the Pencil Zone.” In Walser’s Microscripts, then, we find a man whose salvation was imparted through this modest writing utensil. I can’t help wondering, however, how often he would have to sharpen his pencil in order to write such tiny script…?

[Photo, C. Rondo; Microscript, B. Manning. Used with kind permission.]

10/19/10

EasyRiter writing gear.

With National Novel Writing Month fast approaching, some Comrades might be flirting with the idea of writing a novel longhand – or, at least, parts. We’re planning on featuring some equipment to make this easier on Comrades’ hands and spirits.

First up is some very interesting gear from Idea Sun in the UK. John sent us an Easyriter pencil, sharpener and pen, gratis, for review. First, the pencil.

Vitals:
Material: Extruded plastic, with wood pulp.
Shape: Triangular, concave/flat sides.
Finish: None.
Ferrule: None.
Eraser: None.
Core: Polymer/graphite composite. Available in #2/HB.
Markings: “EASYRITER…IDEASUN.COM”.
Origin: UK.
Availability: From IdeaSun.Com and brick and mortar retailers.

This is a very striking pencil. As you can see, it is very plain and very oddly-shaped. What you cannot see is that it is also somewhat flexible. This is due to the fact that the lead and barrel are both extruded plastic. This marks a first for Pencil Revolution, where we usually seem stuck-up enough to only discuss wooden pencils (and usually only cedar at that). But that doesn’t mean that there is no place for plastic. The “wood” in the Easyriter is made of recycled wood, mixed with polymer. At first glance, it looked like a large, weird golf pencil. It’s nothing fancy to look at.

But that’s not the point of the Easyriter. Rather, its shape mimics the grasp of a three-fingered pencil hold. We’ve seen this general concept applied to different triangular pencils. But the Easyriter takes it a step further. The three sides are not equally-shaped. One is flat (the part that meets your middle finger), while the other two are concave. Because of this innovation, increased pressured merely squooshes your fingers into one other, not into the pencil. This wide pencil is, honestly, incredibly comfortable for writing. The woodpulp/polymer barrel provides a nice grip, and the pencil is also extremely lightweight. And, while I’m not generally a fan of plastic pencils, this pencil would be ridiculously expensive to make out of wood, since each one would have to be shaped either by hand or by special machinery. The wood pulp content does make you forget, and it’s got a nice texture. The lead is surprisingly dark for a polymer pencil, and it’s nice and smooth. I’d rate the darkness in general as pretty middle for an HB (Dixon-dark), and that says a lot with an extruded core. I usually have to hammer those things to make a mark at all. If you have to press too hard to make a mark, this pencil would defeat its own purpose. But. You don’t, and it doesn’t. The lead is probably the best extruded cored pencil I’ve ever used.

I really like the included sharpener. It’s a large-diameter sharpener, but with only one hole! [Here it is next to one of my favorite sharpeners, a KUM brass wedge.] John at IdeaSun tells us that it’s a stock item from India but they they are thinking of using their own specs in the future. This is the only single-holed, large diameter sharpener I’ve ever used, and I hope that, if they do re-spec it, they keep this general design.

Technical Information (For Sharpener):
Type: Blade.
Material: Magnesium-alloy.
Shavings Receptacle: None.
Point Type: Medium (for wide-body pencils).
Markings: None.
Place of Manufacture: India.
Availability: From IdeaSun.Com.

Frankly, it’s a great sharpener, and I think the Dixon Tri-Conderoga would have been better with this than with the cheap-looking (though nicely-performing) plastic sharpener with which they come. Sharpening is not as easy as with a round pencil, as is the case with most triangular pencils. In fact, my first sharpening with the included sharpener was a little awkward because the angles of the factory sharpening were different that what this cool little sharpener was making. After the first sharpening, however, it was smooth-going. Triangular pencils produce really interesting shavings (see here for a great photo by Comrade Mark). This pencil makes extremely cool-looking little shavings. And, once you get the point in line with the included sharpener, they are long and smooth, just like sharpening a cedar pencil in a good wedge sharpener. You certainly have to take care because of the severe angles. But I am usually a careful sharpener anyway.

There’s also an Easyriter pen, if you just have to use dirty old ink (!). Actually, it’s got a nice weight and feel and is at least as comfortable as the pencil is to write with. My father was visiting my daughter and I for lunch (dill potato soup!) the day that the package came, and I think he was coveting the pen (he cannot use pencil at work). It’s a black ballpoint pen with the same shape as the pencil.

If you’re thinking of doing some loooonnnngggg writing next month for National Novel Writing Month, you might seriously enjoy the Easyriter pencil (and pen). If nothing else, it’s just a really cool, really comfortable pencil. I can picture these in different colors, with capped ends being very attractive. A ferrule might be nearly impossible (without being very expensive), but different colors (black!) with a dipped end and no factory sharpening, and this pencil could be quite beautiful. As it stands now, it’s, again, COMFORTABLE, and that’s the point.

10/15/10

Review of EcoJot Journals.

Mark at EcoJot was kind enough to send a package of samples to Pencil Revolution HQ in Baltimore (thanks, Mark!) a couple of weeks ago. We’ll be dealing with the journals in this post, with a review of the “workbooks” closer to NaNoWriMo, since I think they’d be a great tool for intrepid souls bent on writing their novels in longhand.

EcoJot is known as such because they are a brand of 100% post-consumer recycled stationery. Sure, there are myriad such brands these days. EcoJot is unique because their paper quality is top-notch (as we’ll discuss); their philanthropic efforts really excel; and because, well, these don’t have that “feel” that a lot of “green” stationery has. You don’t have to sacrifice writing pleasure to save the planet.

Vitals:
Cover Material: Very thick, very stiff recycled board.
Paper: 100% recycled, acid-free paper with vegetable-based inks (green lines and unlined).
Binding: Steel spiral.
Size: Varies (Test units: 6X9; 5X7; 3X4 inches).
Page Count: Varies (Test units: 150 lined; 80 lines; 50 unlined).
Unique Characteristics: 100% post-consumer recycled and still high quality; huge variety of cover art and formats.
Origin: Canada.
Availability: From select online and brick-and-mortar retailers (I even found them at the bookstore of the university at which I work).

One of our test units is a Giant Panda from the line supporting the Jane Goodall Institute. “Ecojot’s ‘Buy One, We Give One‘ campaign is our company’s new business model committed to directly advocate children’s arts and literacy in developing countries.”

EcoJot’s eco-claims are the real deal:

* We use acid-free, processed chlorine free paper & board.
* All our inks & glues are vegetable based, therefore bio-degradable.
* No new trees are used to make our paper & the paper mill is powered by biogas harnessed from a nearby landfill.
* All our protective packaging is corn-based. Furthermore, we try and use as much locally made raw material as possible.

But this is a review of EcoJot’s journals for the purpose of being something for pencil writing and drawing. And this is where EcoJot’s books really set themselves apart from other “green” notebook lines.

Frankly, I love this paper! It’s white with soft, green lines. At first I thought the spacing was a little wide. But, for pencil, I like something wider than tiny lines like we find on a lot of notebooks. It has a very nice tooth for pencil writing. Too-smooth papers (like Moleskine’s regular paper) leave graphite all over the place, since there aren’t enough nooks and crannies for graphite to hide in. This has a nice texture to actually wear away some graphite, without rendering it necessary to sharpen anything softer than an HB every page. It’s not as shockingly white as Rhodia paper, and it’s not as smooth. Neither of these are bad aspects to me at all, but quite the opposite. This paper doesn’t “feel” like other recycled paper. It’s relatively thick, very stiff (for paper) and doesn’t have chunks of anything in it. This texture lends itself very well to erasing, even the new Blackwing (which some folks report erases badly in general). Smearability is really minimal. And, my favorite part, no ghosting! It took a heavy hard and very soft pencils to product any ghosting at all. Writing pencils (General’s Semi-Hex and Cedar Pointe; Faber-Castel Grip 2001; modern Mirado Classic; old USA stock Dixon Ticonderoga; Palomino; Forest Choice — all HB grade) didn’t leave any ghosting whatsoever. If you journal in pencil, you might appreciate this pleasingly unique characteristic in a spiral-bound book.

Speaking of which, construction is outstanding. The spirals are flexible, while the holes don’t have pages catching like happens on cheap spiral-bound notebooks. The covers are very stiff and strong, and the whole thing is cut perfectly and put together very nicely. Each book has a page in the beginning that explains EcoJot’s mission and what the book is made of. The graphics are really outstanding. I especially like “The City” and would love to get my hands on the journals in that line.

And that is the conclusion I drew when I tested this book: I want more! And, thankfully, these are not very hard to find, even offline. The prices are fair, and (especially the jumbo) the journals have a lot of pages in them.

We also tested a tiny green notepad/journal and an orange jumbo “solids” book. Like the medium Panda book, these were outstanding. A box of pencils and a jumbo book has “longhand novel” written all over it. And, of course, a box of Forest Choice matches nicely, in theme and appearance (and works wonderfully on EcoJot paper to boot!).

You can follow developments on EcoJot’s blog. To be perfectly honest, I try to find something positive to say about things I review. Or, put differently, I don’t review things I hate (haven’t done it yet). I don’t want to convey that my raving is par for the course. But these notebooks are really just worth ordering right away if you like spiral books with heavy covers, nice paper and serious eco-credentials.

10/13/10

Dr. Rush’s Pencil.

Another post from Comrade Shane in Utah:

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!

10/8/10

Lead Wetters.

This is another post from Shane in Utah, about the phenomenon of pencil licking:

Here is a funny editorial from a November 1906 Popular Mechanics magazine. Apparently, even back then people didn’t know why they licked their pencil points. You still see it once in a while now, but it must have been much more common 104 years ago. The author claims that nearly everyone other than “newspaper men and stenographers” wet their pencils. “It hardens the lead and ruins the pencil,” he laments. He tells the story of a pencil-loving newspaper clerk who was tired of customers licking the pencils they borrowed from him, and the story concludes, “Surely no one who reads this will ever again wet a lead pencil.”

(The article is next to news that a US company had just sold Russia the largest-ever gasoline engine for a submarine and an ad for a DIY wireless telegraph that “will work up to a mile.”)

I read somewhere that pencil licking was to activate the dye in copy/indelible pencils. So I licked a vintage red Dixon Anadel and asked my wife if my tongue was red. Her horror that I’d lick a pencil was only matched by the big red splotch on my tongue! Don’t ask me what it tasted like; I hastened to some strong coffee.

10/7/10

Pencils from Dan.

I’ve mentioned that receiving pencils from friends is a perk of being someone moderately obsessed with pencils. It’s even better than getting big packages of samples from companies (though we certainly appreciate them also!). These are from my friend Dan, a fireman in Baltimore City and, like Zack and myself, an Eagle Scout. The carpenter pencil is my first such pencil. We were chatting online in the summer of 2004, and I mentioned digging pencils. When I visited Baltimore from Illinois that August, we met for coffee, and Dan had this [really nice, actually] carpenter pencil for me as a gift! The blue pencil comes from the Tower Bridge in London, and Dan brought it back for me from his honeymoon a few years ago. It’s actually the nicest souvenir pencil I’ve ever had. The paint job is better than most Dixons and Mirados.

“They” say it’s better to give than to receive. And I like to give pencils away, for sure. But I can’t say I like it better than receiving great gifts from my excellent friends.

10/4/10

The Longpoint Keychain.

Shane from Utah sent an excellent idea along to Pencil Revolution HQ:

I am a fan of the Kum Automatic Long Point sharpener because of the angle it cuts into our Revolutionary tools. But I hate to haul around all the extraneous hardware attached to the sharpener out of the box. With some force, I extracted the core from its housing and used a small drill bit to place a hole right through the word “STOP”. (In previous versions I put the holes along some of the thin edges, but they eventually tore through. You also have to be careful not to block the path of the sharpening leads.) Now the sharpener travels in my pocket with my keys and a minimum of bulk.

As an aside, I had this sharpener in my pocket while I swam in the Gulf of Mexico. The blades got a little rusty, so I changed them out with the spares that come with the sharpener (thank you, Kum), and it works good as new.

[Text and image, S.T. Used with permission.]

09/30/10

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!)

09/29/10

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!

09/23/10

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.

09/14/10

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!

08/27/10

The New Blackwings Arrive!

From the pencil-loving folks who brought you the beloved Palomino, we are pleased to be one of a few harbingers of the newly reborn Blackwing pencil. We received two of them today in the mail, in a much anticipated envelope.

Please keep in mind two things:

1) These are strictly pre-production samples. So changes to the final product may or may not be made. We checked with our comrades at Cal Cedar before posting these images, and they requested that we stress that this a pre-production run.

2) We do not sell or make these (or any other pencils) at Pencil Revolution. We merely spread the word and the, er, graphite. There has been a lot of confusion about that over the last few years, and it’s probably my own fault for my strange collective voicing of things.

Just wanted to get this post up, to brag in a way, before sharpening one of these beauties up and doing some writing.

See also Orange Crate Art, Boing Boing and The Blackwing Pages for more first impressions.

08/24/10

The return of the Blackwing pencil!

I was on the email list for testing the new Blackwing pencil, which will be brought to you from the folks who make one of the finest pencils in the world: the Palomino. [Also on Boing Boing.]

Wow. I ran this blog for a long time and never even held one of the originals. Now two would come in the mail, completely unexpectedly. I was ecstatic and thought, well, heck, I haven’t been in the pencil world in a long time. I miss this blog and pencils in general sometimes.

Over the last four years, I moved [back] to Baltimore, finished my PhD, served two years of AmeriCorps VISTA service, kept up my personal [foul-mouthed] blog and welcomed our adorable daughter into the world. I’ve also watched as a plethora of writing instrument blogs have proliferated with a small degree of jealousy — especially because some of them are really quite good.

So, who knows? Maybe I’ll catch the pencil bug again and re-launch this blog. Someone’s gotta compete with all the ink blogs out there (not compete; I kid).

06/18/06

Carol’s drawings.

Comrade Carol sent us in some very fine pencil drawings, which we post here with permission of and thanks to the artist:)

06/12/06

Loudstyle (ii).

Jeremy from Loud Style has caught the pencil blog even more than the last time we checked in.

My little collection has grown quite a bit in the past six months. Since my last blog post about pencils is the most visited page on this site (after the homepage of course), I decided to write about them again.

My favorite pencils are often the natural, unpainted variety of incense cedar pencils. A nice coat of varnish is fine — completely bare is even better. The details and my opinions of the pencils pictured are below.

Read on about natural pencils such as the Blackfeet Indian, Musgrave, Forest Choice, Mongol and more!

Once again, comments will go unmoderated, and email will be on hold until I return home late Tuesday night from my trip. Apologies for tardiness (again).

[Image and text, L.S. Used with permission.]

05/19/06

Eidolon.

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.]

05/18/06

Wanna be in a commercial?

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

05/17/06

Staedtler CD.

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

Itâ€™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 â€œFacts about Pencilsâ€ 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 â€œFacts about Pencilsâ€ is aimed at children around the 8 to 10 year old age bracket. It opens with the question â€œHave you ever wondered where your pencil comes from?â€ 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 â€˜Unleaded Pencilâ€™

Shaping the Pencil

Painting the Pencil

Labelling & Packaging the Pencil

There is also a â€œStudent Workbook â€“ Teachers Aidâ€ 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 Staedtlerâ€™s two manufacturing plants in Germany produce 1.7 million pencils per day.

Many thanks to Dave!

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

05/10/06

Rube’s sharpener.

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.

Articles a plenty.

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!