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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.
(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.
Today we are reviewing General’s Semi-Hex, the flagship pencil from one of the last American pencil companies, based in Jersey City, New Jersey. For some reason, we’ve never actually reviewed anything from General’s. We’ll, hopefully, follow up with the Cedar Pointe in the near future. To cut to the chase, there’s not much about the Semi-Hex that I don’t like, and its American heritage is a nice bonus. I’ve even been putting it through the paces for NaNoWriMo, and it’s a champ of a pencil.
Vitals:
Material: Premium Incense Cedar.
Shape: Hexagonal, with slightly rounded corners.
Finish: Yellow gloss with green foil details.
Ferrule: Aluminium — gold with black painted band.
Eraser: Pink rubber (?).
Core: Ceramic/graphite composite. Available in B, HB, F, H and 2H. (We tested the HB.)
Markings: Bonded — USA SINCE 1889 — GENERAL’S SEMI-HEX — 498-2/HB — SOFT.
Origin: USA.
Availability: From General’s and Pencils.Com — and select online retailers. (I’ve never seen them in person myself.)
The first thing you notice when you order (or buy in person) a dozen Semi-Hex pencils is the green cardboard box with retro graphics. While some companies do still use cardboard boxes from time to time (I have some by Dixon, Mirado, even recent ones), what you usually find is a blister pack. That’s not necessarily bad, especially if you like to see the pencils to pick the batch you like best. But, still, the old-timey American box makes me feel like these are pencils with work to do! And, with NaNoWriMo under way, they are!
The pencil’s appearance reminds me of the USA made Dixon Ticonderoga (pictured above with a Semi-Hex), being yellow with green foil lettering. Even some of the old grade markings look the same. I should probably look up to see which came first, but perhaps some Comrade who is generous with her or his time might do so?
The finish is solid, evenly applied and…modestly glossy. I like that these are sold unsharpened, and they don’t have that annoying paint overhang that Mirados always seem to have, and even a lot of recent Dixons. The wood is incredibly nice and very fragrant. If I’m not mistaken, all of General’s pencils are cedar, even their budget lines. This is the flagship pencil in the “school pencil” range, or, more accurately, the “writing” pencil range (although I suppose some people might write with the Kimberly; I do sometimes). If you enjoy the Cedar Pointe (and I sure do), this pencil is even, well, nicer. I would go so far as to say that this is the nicest yellow, eraser-capped pencil I have ever used.
However, if there’s one thing I don’t like about this pencil, it’s that it’s kind of boring to look at. The ferrules are well-attached, and the lettering is top-notch. But I wince at yellow pencils sometimes, even ones I enjoy like the Dixon and classic Mirado. If General’s Pencil Company decided to get funky and make this in a black finish like the Dixon Black (especially the USA made one with the matte finish) well, heck, I’d be in love. The stripe on the ferrule is badly done on most of the pencils in my dozen, but it’s not a huge deal. The eraser, a pink rubber (?) ender is really very effective. It’s a darker color than Dixons or Pink Pearls and feels somewhere between the two, and it erases as well as either of them.
But! This pencil has one thing that redeems its somewhat boring appearance: the lead! This is one smooth-writing, dark pencil. For this level of darkness and smoothness, the point retention is actually pretty good (between an HB Dixon and HB Palomino, but closer to the Dixon). I have yet to break one in any sharpener or on any page, or even in my pocket or bag. I did chop an eraser in half slamming my pencil box closed, but I glued it back together with clear tacky glue — why not? Or course, darkness here comes with increased ghosting, but it’s nothing terrible. Smearability, at this darkness, is actually pretty impressive, as I’ve found with other of General’s products.
Now. The name. As the name states, this is a rounded hexagonal pencil (think half-rounds, for my fellow musicians). Sounds good. Is it? Yes. Are most other hexagonal pencils rounded? Pretty much. The shape is not noticeably rounder than a Dixon, Cedar Point, Palomino, etc. But it is comfortable. Maybe this was a bigger deal when this pencil was first introduced? I do have some vintage pencils with edges so sharp that my poor middle finger hurts looking at them. It is a big deal if you write a lot. Maybe I’m holding my pencil wrongly (wait, I definitely do), but sharp-edge pencils like the Faber-Castell 9000 just hurt after a few pages, even at softer grades. And this is coming from someone with woolly hands full of calluses from music and camping and cooking. While the Semi-Hex shape is not exactly unique these days, it’s certainly comfortable.
In conclusion, this is not just a great American pencil. Heck, with so few left, that’s not a hard pair of shoes to fill. This is a fantastic pencil. It’s well-made, not prohibitively expensive (I paid $4 for a dozen), and with really just a great lead. Frankly, it’s everything you wish a Dixon Ticonderoga could be. (Here’s a nudge to Pencils.Com to carry more grades, and also thanks that they are one of the few places you can even get the Semi-Hex at all.)
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.
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.
(Taken with my simple phone.) My desk is becoming covered in wood shavings and graphite dust. My stapler is looking…sooty!
I’ve mentioned before (from Zack and from Dan) that I have a lot of very nice and generous friends who gift me with pencils — and that I am always happy to receive them (!). My friend (and roommate in college) Brian (also a Pencil Revolution contributor) was in Baltimore yesterday. He came to supper at a local Mexican restaurant bearing a present consisting of a pack of My First Ticonderoga pencils and the iron sculpture you see in the photo.
It turns out that Brian has been taking blacksmith classes and made me this iron pencil, inscribed with the word “REVOLUTION” on it! It’s really incredible to hold, and, well, beautiful. He says he doesn’t have more for sale, but, hey, if enough people ask, perhaps the pencil deities will inspire him to create more?
I was in the storage area of the department in the university where I work yesterday with another lady in my office. We were talking about the archival quality of the creepy basement and ink and paper. When we got back upstairs, I had to check-out certain archived materials with her so that I could take them to my office to peruse them. She wrote down everything that I took with a pencil bearing our university’s logo. I noticed a yellow pencil by her keyboard that she had been using earlier. More in cups.
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.
(Low) Tech Writer muses about our favorite writing implement. This is a great post you should really read in its entirety (here).
“I have a mild obsession with pencils, especially the General Pencil Semi-Hex 498 2 2/4. Mmm, ceder. Some years ago, I needed a pencil to mark up a book I was reading for seminary, and went looking for one. I did not find one pencil. I found fourteen scattered through the house. I would have stopped at one, but my curiosity was piqued to see all the different brands and styles that we’d accumulated. I decided that I couldn’t just pick one at random, I would pick the best one. So I sharpened them all and put them to the test. Of course I had to smell each one before writing, just to take note of the “nose” (the winner had that powerful ceder aroma that true pencil aficionados prefer. I think.)….
….Low-tech wonders stand out when compared to their replacements, the products that are manufactured to improve and supplant them. I think of all the ergonomic mechanical pencils and gel-grip disposable pens, none of which impress me or replace my pencil. The pencil has a beautiful simplicity to it, and an efficiency, and 95 percent of it is compostable (versus the landfill that is the fate of plastic writing tools). And there is some mystery to the pencil too. How does rubber (named for it’s ability to “rub” pencil marks away) erase the marks of the graphite without causing it to smudge? It’s the original word processor, complete with backspace.”
Stay tuned for the Pencil Revolution review of General’s Semi-Hex pencils, which we’re hard at work testing and enjoying!
[Image, LTW.]
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.
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.
Little Flower Petals has an interesting post about the permanence of pencil:
“At one point I was worried about using pencil in notebooks I wanted to keep around for awhile, just because it’s erasable. But I got to thinking…*unless* it’s erased, pencil is more permanent than pretty much anything, and the chances of my notebooks experiencing heat or humidity are a lot higher than the chances of a stranger armed with a Pink Pearl breaking in while I’m out and going to town on my old journals. I’m probably safe to use pencil.”
Back when Pencil Revolution first surfaced in 2005 (and before a 4-year hiatus!), my friend was shocked to hear that I still used pens in my journal. I realized I was probably being silly in my paranoia that my meaningless words would not survive a visit from The Eraser Monster or a few hundred brushes with a dirty hand. Still, I worried and ordered a dozen No Blot “ink pencils” and tried them out in my journal. Aside from them being scratchy, I also assumed, after a while, that the dye was probably not safe for long-term use, concerning both the paper and my own skin. I might have been wrong, but there you go.
I went out late one night back then, listening loudly to Alice in Chains, and bought a new “large” Moleskine to begin my adventures in officially journaling in pencil. Didn’t take long for me to sully my book with ink, however. And, despite some forays into graphite journaling, I didn’t start really really really journaling in graphite until this past August. Now my journal is completely archival safe and, strangely, completely erasable.
And, as it were, the pens I was using in my journaling in 2005, when I was too afraid to journal in graphite, were some of the least archival safe implements with which I have ever written. I shudder when I see what only five years have done to the writing. The black ink made the facing page turn yellow with the writing (strange effect indeed), while the blue just faded, especially within a .5-.75 inch border of the pages’ edges. Everything written back then in pencil: fine, save where I rubbed my hairy mitts on some pages to test smearability, out of said paranoia.
Sure, journaling in pencil means that you have to be pretty careful not to go smearing things around. But, well, who reads their journals everyday? Does anyone pet her/his writing? And, anything but the most waterproof inks require at least some special handling. Gel ink, for the most part, gets messy with even moderately damp hands.
Are there others who journal in pencil for the fun of it, or for the archival properties, etc.?
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!
From everyone’s favorite pencil tome, The Pencil (by Professor Petroski). Pencils are:
“…a metaphorical bridge that can carry from mind to paper the lines of a daring real bridge, which can cause jaws to drop, or the words of a daring new philosophy, which can cause eyebrows to arch.”
Please see also, from the archives:
Why Pencils? (i)
Why Pencils? (ii)
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.
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!)
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!
The Frugal Gal writes about her kids’ use of pencils, down to the hilt:
I think my kids are on the “Use it up, wear it out” wagon judging from the pile of almost-used-up pencils we found while cleaning out the bin…Most of these are so short, it’s nigh onto impossible to sharpen them. We’ll use them up to the best of our ability, of course, but a lot of them are about done. Can you compost pencils? (I assume pencil shavings are compostable.)
Read the rest of the post here.
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.
The nice people at Field Notes sent a parcel to the Pencil Revolution HQ last week for review purposes. It contained a mixed set of their excellent notebooks, a pin, a rubber band and two Field Notes pencils. The first part our two-part Field Notes review is a reflection on this striking pencil.
Vitals:
Material: California Incense Cedar.
Shape: Round.
Finish: None at all.
Ferrule: Aluminum, bare and plain.
Eraser: Green (in color and gradability).
Core: Ceramic/graphite composite. Available in #2/HB.
Markings: “fieldnotesbrand.com | FIELD NOTES | BONDED LEAD | No. 2 / ABOUT THIS PENCIL | Lacquer-free Renewable Cal-Cedar Wood Casing, Recyclable Aluminum Ferrule, Enviro-Green Degradable Eraser and Certified Non-Toxic Imprint Inks”
Packaging: Pack of six; also inserted into parcels of Field Notes notebooks, legend has it.
Origin: United States.
Availability: From FieldNotesBrand.Com and select online and brick-and-mortar retailers.
When you remove a Field Notes pencil from whatever package or bag in which it came, you won’t first notice the unfinished wood, the interesting graphics or the green eraser first. You will be hit full-force with a strong smell of cedar. But, of course, that is not a bad thing but winds up being one of my favorite things about this very nice pencil.
There is no finish whatsoever on the Field Notes pencil. It is round and sanded, like a little dowel full of lead. The print on the barrel is dark, sharp and in keeping with the aesthetic of Field Notes gear in general. Both of our test models had very well-centered cores. Combined with the fine wood, this allowed some of the easiest sharpening I’ve seen lately on a pencil that runs for under $1 a piece. The ferrule appears to be glued onto the pencil, rather than crimped. One of the test models had a few splinters at the ferrule, but these came off in second with my thumbnail. The ferrule/eraser assembly is fairly well-centered, though not perfectly centered, which puts it on par with most quality “office pencils” for sale in the United States. The eraser also appears to be glued. Interestingly, the units we were sent for review have two different eraser lengths; one was longer than most pencil erasers. However, it is firmly stuck into the ferrule. So I view it as a bit of serendipity in having a slightly larger eraser. I am a sucker for unfinished pencils. I get a kick out of the veneer that my sweaty hands leaves on the virgin wood, the dark tinge that it gets from my dirty mitts. Field Notes has succeeded in making a very visually appealing pencil to go with their well-designed notebooks.
The core writes very well under most circumstances. The HB runs a little darker than a Mirado/Black Warrior HB and feels very much like General’s Cedar Pointe to me. Considering that the pencil is made in the US and that there are very few pencil factories operating within US borders, I wonder if the manufacturing of the Field Notes pencil might not be contracted out to General’s Pencil Company (?). I noticed a hint of scratchiness to the lead, but not so much that it bothers me. There are certainly instances wherein I prefer a pencil that lets me know I’m using it and that there’s writing being accomplished. In the dark or when I’m writing standing up (or even while walking), I like to know that my pencil is making marks on paper. I might even stretch this line of thinking to say that the Field Notes pencil, because you know you’re writing with it, goes with the entire field notes (small F and N) concept. Smearability is pretty average, I think, running about the same as an HB Dixon. The mild scratchiness on the Field Notes pencil could even come from the fact that there is no paint or finish to dampen vibrations. I have some unfinished sample pencils from another manufacturer, and they are a bit on the rough side for writing, despite their finished counterparts (with identical cores) being extremely smooth.
The eraser is green and soft and works reasonably well. There’s not much to say about it except that I would really like to see a Field Notes eraser as a block with their graphics on it, made from this pleasant green substance. The eraser takes the graphite off, leaves the paper and more or less performs the way that it is supposed to. And I have to mention its color again. It’s somehow retro-looking and matches the Field Notes aesthetic perfectly.
As I said earlier, the most striking feature of this pencil, for me, is its aroma. I’ve never used a pencil that smells this strongly of cedar and have seldom ever used one to match it. It’s been a pleasure for my nose to use, and I’ve caught myself in at least one important meeting sniffing it like some sort of pencil junky. The unit that I’ve been carrying around and using has actually been the object of envy from my father, a retired Warrant Officer, because of the aromatic assets of this pencil. When Field Notes gets more in stock (or if they’d like to send us some to spread the word to the People!), I’ll definitely be gifting these lovely pencils.
I’d offer Field Notes a few suggestions, aside from the big green Field Notes eraser. While I love this pencil, it doesn’t fit into a shirt pocket with a Field Notes notebook because it’s just too long. I could cut it to size, but I can’t waste half of a pencil. I’d love to see 1/2-sized Field Notes pencils with pocket clips and point protectors, so that they can travel more easily with their paper Comrades. Or, to avoid having to stock two different kinds of pencils, Field Notes could offer a set of a metal point protector and a pencil clip, which the user could attach to a shortened pencil. We’d lose the graphics, but Field Notes are as much about handiness as they are about great design — at least in my mind.
In the end, this is a great pencil that I wish I could find more easily locally. The eraser and graphite work well, and the designed lack of finish and enhanced aroma (though the latter could be a happy accident) make this pencil not just a keeper, but one Comrades are likely to actively seek out. Just don’t get caught sniffing it in a meeting.
[Note: These were samples sent, gratis, from Cal Cedar. These are pre-production models, subject to change -- and also massive excitement.]
We’ve mentioned the new Palomino Blackwing twice (here and here) on Pencil Revolution so far but have not offered a review yet. This is in keeping with our unwritten pencil review policy, which is that, in short, we do not generally review pencils which cannot be gotten by Comrades, at least somewhere in the world. We held off on reviewing the Palomino until you could buy it, and we’ll hold off on a complete review of the new Blackwing until you can buy it — or, at least, until there’s a date for its official and much anticipated release.
However, it’s just plain mean to keep Comrades completely in the dark about this exciting development in the Pencil World! So, bearing in mind that many things about this pencil might change before Comrades can purchase them, this is a summary of the New Blackwing Experience.
Presentation/Construction
Like any California Republic product, the Blackwing Palomino presents itself as a high-quality pencil the second you pick it up. The cedar smell wafts nicely from your hand. The ferule is shiny and tight. There are a few issues I found with the finish, but I’ll mention those small qualms later. The balance of the pencil is, of course, different than a regular pencil because of the large ferule/eraser assembly. But that certainly does not mean that it is necessarily top-heavy. It is just, for lack of a better word, different. You get used to it, being distracted by how smoothly it writes.
Finish
One of the most striking characteristics of the orange/blue Palomino pencil is its excellent finish. The paint on the new Blackwing is a matte black, with a color and texture akin to the Dixon Ticonderoga Black (when it was made in the USA — not the Microban version out today). Both of our review pencils had gold dust/paint on the black in areas it should not have been, and there were wrinkles in the paint of one unit. The gold stamping is a little feathery, unlike the very precise stamp on a Palomino. But, these things aside, it is still a beautiful pencil. And, at the risk of sounding sycophantic, I am sure that California Republic will take care of those issues when the production model hits shelves, mailboxes and the page.
Eraser
Blackwing fans will notice that the eraser, though nearly identical to the previous eraser/ferrule, is white, rather than pink. This does not really bother me, especially since it appears to be made of the same material as the eraser on the regular Palomino. Erasing was clean, easy and quick.
Lead/Core
One of the reasons that the Blackwing was so popular — perhaps the reason — was its smooth and dark core. I could gush for paragraphs about how smooth and dark this core is. It is, in short, as smooth and dark as writing with a gel pen — without all the pesky mess involved in that slow-drying ink. As you can see from my terrible photographs, it is darker than a 4B Faber-Castell 9000, and smoother to boot.
As with any dark-writing pencil, this comes at the price of more frequent sharpenings and greater “ghosting” onto the next page. Personally, I found myself writing until I almost hit the wood more than I necessarily found myself sharpening more. The pencil writes so smoothly that I didn’t stop to do anything, let alone carve out a chunk of it with a sharpener. I wore down the point much further than I generally do. Perhaps it would, then, be more accurate to say that it dulls more quickly. One annoying thing about dark pencils is that they ghost onto the previous page when you write on the back of the sheet. This is especially annoying on thin Moleskine paper, but I’ve found that to be an issue with most pencils and even the cheapest of ballpoint pens on that paper. With thicker paper, I think this issue can be solved and might be something we will look at on the official review when the production model comes out.
In Summa
The key to appreciating the Palomino Blackwing is to consider its nature. In my feedback to the company, I suggested changes that would make it look like the original Blackwing because I was, in some ways, looking at it as the rebirth of the Blackwing, a re-make or reproduction. In that respect, the finish of the pencil would fail. Aside from the ferrule, it doesn’t look like the original Blackwing more than any other black, hexagonal pencil. The logo is missing; the color is different; the eraser is white.
But, if I understand correctly from some of Woodchuck‘s comments, the Palomino Blackwing was coming out with or without the famous name. I think I read that it was going to be called the Pegasus (which would have been fitting) until the Blackwing name became available. In this light, what the new Blackwing amounts to is a fantastic modern pencil under the Palomino line, with a nod to the legend that was the Blackwing 602. In some ways, it could never be the original. Any new Blackwing would not be made by the same company, not be made in the USA (I assume, since pencil factories are few around these parts), would probably have a better eraser and more environmentally friendly paint than the old pink-topped 602 model. I think asking how much this new pencil resembles the old is fruitless and might cause retro grouches among us (and I count myself in this camp on occasion) to ignore an otherwise fine instrument.
So, the questions I will be asking when the new production Palomino Blackwing comes out are: Is this a great pencil? Does it do justice to the Palomino name the Blackwing name? Could this pencil indeed be the stuff of its own legend, aside from the lineage of its moniker?
I have to tell you: from the preview we have been lucky enough to experience, I think it can stand on its own, apart from either name stamped onto the side in gold letters.
Article in Good Housekeeping, from July 1894. Via Today in Science History.
“Before pencils were invented and used, goose quills did the work that both of them are now appointed to do. There were lead pencils then; something unknown at the present day, although the general speech of the people is now as then of a lead pencil. But lead or no lead the crude plummet and pencil of only two or three generations ago, has been evaluted into the handy, useful and attractive looking pencil of to-day; has gone the way of all the earth, with the wafer-box, in which were stored the thin, round, red wafers with which we sealed our letters; the more aristocratic stick of sealing wax; and the sand-box that held the sand, then doing the service which the blotter pad does now.”
Read the rest of the issue (if you’re so inclined) here.
September is here already! While you’re (hopefully) enjoying the smell of cedar during a restful long weekend (especially our comrades in the United States, where Monday is Labor Day) we thought you might enjoy a desktop wallpaper for the month, featuring an image of a Palomino from the original review.
Happy Labor Day to America’s working men and women! And to all workers the world over!
Download the full-sized image here, or click the image above.