Pencils and Early April Camping.

Not pictured: my mandolin and a nice fire.

Not pictured: my mandolin and a nice fire.

I mentioned that a couple of us at Pencil Revolution HQ went camping early last month. I learned a few things about pencils and about camping.

First, if you are prone to cracking fingers (and if you have no idea what I’m talking about, count yourself lucky!), take a fat pencil with you. My pocket-knife sharpened My First Ticonderoga came in handy when I was bandaged one night.

US Army issue messkit with said roughly-sharpened pencil.

US Army issue messkit with said roughly-sharpened pencil.

Also: pencil shavings are way way way more flammable than I thought. Comrade Dan shaved magnesium from a block designed for the purpose of making fire. There was too much wind Friday night (and we were hungry) to get it to light. We resorted to matches. Saturday, just for fun, he shaved a nice pile of magnesium shards into a box of a few months’ worth of pencil shavings from my house. Despite fierce sparking, none of the magnesium lit. But the pencil shavings did, and we lit a fine fire that way — which burned for about 20 hours until we thoroughly extinguished it.

Pencil shaving Tinderbox.

Pencil shaving Tinderbox.

Finally, (and I think I knew this), naturally finished pencils are perfect for camping. They grip well, get nice and dirty, and when you get home, they smell like fire forever.

Off to the Spring Woods.

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I am off to the woods for the weekend, for some spring temperatures, shortwave radio, fire and hiking with Comrade Dan. Sans pencil sharpener or sharpeners. I’ve got my knife sharp enough to have made a nice, clean, little cut on my finger that healed in twelve hours. I think it can handle some cedar.

How many pencil aficionados does it take to have an excellent camping trip in Central Maryland? Hopefully just two.
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We’ll be back this coming week with a review of USA Silver pencils and a report from the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.

[That's a 1990, USA-made Camillus BSA "Official" knife I won for selling the most popcorn.]

Notebookism is Back!

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I’m not the only one who’s missed Notebookism, from the original stationery blogger, Armand. And now he’s back!

NOTEBOOKISM

The Revolution would never have had more than five readers without Armand’s help back in 2005. I’m ecstatic! I really am.

[Image, Jfg. Note: those Field Notes have all been filled, with many others, since this photo was taken in 2011.]

Hobo Signs and Traveling.

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This is another post from the Enoch Pratt library, the public library system in our Home Base of Baltimore (HON!). Pencils seem to mix with literature which seems to mix with walking which leads to wandering, and we were wondering, Why not put this on PR for the benefit of Comrades not lucky enough to inhabit Charm City? (there’s far too much coffee and too little punctuation in HQ this weekend, as you can see).

Read the entire article here, written by frequent Pencil Revolution contributor and featured writer, Brian.

A little over two years ago, Field Notes introduced the Steno, a 6×9 stenography pad made with just truly excellent paper (and I should make a dozen of them my birthday present this year, yes). There are hobo symbols on the inside of the heavy cover. I toyed with the idea of hobo symbols for my door, but we lived in an old apartment. Now that we have a house and a door (an old wooden job) of our own, I think I have to get out the chalk.

What’s the symbol for “Pencils and memo pads for helping me vacuum?”

 

Improving Carpenter Pencil Technique.

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While on an errand to get some supplies at the home improvement store today, I picked up a simple, USA-made utility knife for the pencil kit.
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I am trying to master the art of sharpening carpenter pencils, using only a blade. (I don’t know why.) I think I’m getting better at it. Hopefully.

Charlotte, TMI, Pencils, Field Notes, Cafe.

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(Please excuse the phone photo.)
I hope she never catches wind of this post. But, growing up in the home in which we live, my daughter (who turns three in April) has a serious affection for all things stationery. And this has been very useful, over the past few months, for potty training bribes. Here she is, with a Field Notes (before she “earned” the matching yellow pencil) and the Blackwing stub I had in my pocket as we enjoyed the sun on the back deck of one of our favorite local coffeeshops.

Field Notes Expedition Edition: Smeary?

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(Sorry for the lack of photos; my camera is in the shop. Literally.)

My subscription came today: the Field Notes Expedition. They are, as usual, much prettier in person. Opening it, I found them a little smelly, like last winter’s glossy edition. But the paper is smooth and flexible and feels wonderful. Check out the link if you haven’t already; the videos are pretty cool.

I immediately put both pencil and Space Pen to paper, after tearing open my packet. My Field Notes get filled and filed, not collected, though I certainly understand the impulse. Pencil feels like a magic marker on glass on this paper, with duller sides of the point feeling almost like a paintbrush. Writing on very wet paper with an indelible pencil produces a less smooth version of the same sensation. I was aghast. But then I noticed something….

Lots of stuff smears on this paper. Space Pen (and even the “fine” refill in my AG-7) smeared after nearly 1/2 hour to dry. Pencil smears more than regular paper, even somewhat smear-resistant pencils like the General’s Layout and Staedtler Wopex. Certainly, Comrades are not unfamiliar with graphite smearing, and it’s something that tests the Perfectionist in all of us. And, if you’re a heavy used of Fisher ink, you know that Space Pen’s write-anywhere ink comes at the price of severe ghosting and smearing from glacial drying times. Pigma Micron wouldn’t really adhere to the paper at all (it repels water). The Pigma Micron “Microperm” did write very well and actually dried. Still, I’d hate to be stuck with permanent markers for all six notebooks, even if I’ll have them filled before February most likely. I assume that Field Notes knows that regular pens will be powerless on this paper, since they gave out pencils this time around (I usually get a pen with my shipments theses days) and since they came out with their own Space Pen just in time for this release.

EDIT: I have found some pencils that are excellent, and even some surprises.

Pencils I have found to work pretty well:Faber-Castell “Castell 9000″ HB and B
Staedtler Wopex HB
General’s Layout
Faber-Castell Grip 2001 HB
General’s Draughting
New USA-Made Golden Bear HB
Field Notes Pencil

Things which smeared more than I’d like:
Blackwing (dark one, but this is always a little smeary)
General’s Semi-Hex HB
Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 HB
Mitsubishi Hi-Uni HB
Faber-Castell Goldfaber HB

Surprises:
Verithins! If, like me, you’ve always wished they were better to write with, this paper works very very well. They feel like a regular pencil on this paper, and it’s very very difficult to smear them.

Someone asked if we were going to review this paper. But I think this might take more than what free time, energy and pencils we have on hand at HQ. Have other folks found the perfect graphite (or even pen?) for the new Field Notes? I will put what successful pencils I discover in the comments and will hope Comrades will do the same.

Shelf box.


There are various vessels containing pencils (and accoutrements) all over our house. This, one of the most recently added, was a box that held hankies (I bought the latter). I only realized recently that it holds pencils perfectly. It’s contained assorted stuff on my dresser for a few years and is pleasantly banged up. It also disguises some of the mess around HQ.

(My summer Field Notes are all full, all six.)

Field Notes, at the State Fair.


For my birthday two weeks ago, I was treated to a night at the Maryland State Fair by my family. I couldn’t resist breaking in my last County Fair edition between packs of the Day Game edition, for my Fairly Pocket Notebook. This was a Thursday.

That Sunday, I got caught — sans umbrella — in a long and heavy downpour and was soaked to the skin. Even my hardier cargo shorts were no match for this deluge. There were a few notes in this book in pen, and liquid inks (Flair, Zebra Regal) just made a huge mess, some enough to not be able to make out what I wrote. Everything in pencil (at least 90% of the book) was Okay.

One of my favorite things about the County Fair edition and Field Notes in general is how much better they look when they get worn-in. For instance, the corners and edges of these linen covers loss their floodcoated ink and aged in white, while the covers developed some prominent creases. I was sorely sorry when this was full.

This is also something I have always liked about pencils: they are not [always] neat. I catch myself trying to put an end to GHOSTING and things like that. But, in the end, anything but water/fade-proof ink on waterproof paper (can you combine them?) is going to look beat-up after some time in one’s pocket.

Why not embrace it?

It’s fall.

And we should be here talking about the notebooks that Cal Cedar sent us, the beautiful new Field Notes (in the mail!) or publishing a few reviews we’ve had in the works for months. I’d promise that it will happen this weekend. But, well, the weather in Baltimore is too nice for that.

But stay tuned. There aren’t enough Paperblanks reviews out there, and we’ve got a great one coming up.