Author: Stephen

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Round pencils

Round pencils

Round pencils were by far the least popular format in November’s poll. I had a look around my pencil box (okay, boxes) to see what I could find.

The pencils in the photo are (top to bottom): The Kita-Boshi Hit 9900, Nava pencil, Derwent Sketching pencil, Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth Progresso 8911, Mirado Black Warrior, and the PaperMate Primer Print.

Not everyday names? I’ve only referred to two of these in the past. The Derwent and Koh-I-Noor are specialty art pencils, the PaperMate a learning/children’s pencil, the Nava isn’t widely distributed and might be called a boutique pencil. The Hit is not widely available outside Japan, and only uses the round shape for the softer artist-oriented pencils. The Black Warrior is the only general purpose pencil in this lot.

Promotional pencils are usually round – but round is the cheapest format for printing.

So what gives? Is there really only one general purpose round pencil on the market, and why? Would people use round pencils if there were more choices? Or do we really, really not want our pencils to roll away?

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Exacompta Squared Record Cards

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

The name is convoluted – but that is what they are called – “Fiches Bristol”, “Record Cards”, “Fichas Bristol”, “Karteikaten”, “Steekkaarten”, or “Schede Bristol”.

Closer to home, they might be called “index cards” – but where can one find index cards like this?

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

They are made of superior paper in seven sizes (mm units):

74×105

75×125

100×150

105×148

125×200

148×210

210×297

White, and in Blue, Yellow, Pink, Green, and Orange.

Five formats: plain, ruled, squared, plain with holes, and squared with holes.

They are index card nirvana. The organizational transcendence beckons.

The cards are magnitudes higher quality than those found at ‘big box’ stores – plus in squared rule ( a.k.a. graph paper) format. They are absolutely unlike the brands many of us have had to resolve ourselves to using.

The cards are thick coated white paper (210g/m2) with purple ruling. The boxes they come in open like playing card boxes. (To me, the smaller cards seem thinner than the larger cards, but there is no documentation of this.)

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

With pencils, they are a great pair. With fountain pens, there is no feathering, no bleed through – but drying time may be more than some prefer. This is serious writing paper, in another format.

Exacompta Squared Record Cards

Overall, they are one of the best stationery items I have ever found. The creative and organizational power they offer is immense.

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January 13, 1952 (Yard-O-Led pencil)

January 13, 1952 (Yard-O-Led pencil)

I’m not sure what was being commemorated fifty-six years ago today, but that’s the date inscribed on this vintage Yard-O-Led pencil.

Engraved pens and pencils typically have names or initials, but this one has a date. I imagine it being a birth, a graduation, an anniversary, or some other milestone of life that was being commemorated. Yet, it’s still odd to me. If you chose a gift like this, and chose to have it engraved, wouldn’t you put the person’s name on the gift?

The pencil is rolled gold in a barley pattern with a hexagonal body. It takes a 1.18mm lead. I bought it mainly to inform myself about Yard-O-Led pencils, as I’ve thought of acquiring one of their new pencils.

While almost exactly the same length as a Lamy Scribble (which I find very comfortable), this pencil is too short for the way I want to grip it. I want to hold the hexagonal part of the body, just as I would a woodcase pencil. But this winds up causing the cap of the pencil to hit my hand in an uncomfortable way.

As to the lead and mechanism – I could not at all figure out how to adjust the lead. I kept looking at the instructions over at Dave’s Mechanical Pencils. My results at times resembled parts of a Marx Brothers comedy. At one point the lead shot out of the pencil across the room. Now let’s be fair and acknowledge that this pencil is over a half century old, with provenance unknown. It may have spent twenty or thirty years in a damp basement or a humid yurt. Removing the slider from the barrel was challenging – it just wouldn’t move beyond a certain point. But it did come out.

January 13, 1952 (Yard-O-Led pencil)

That “slider grip” is the oddest piece. Being new to this pencil, and having noticed that it can shoot parts around a room (due to a capable spring), I was alarmed when the slider “disappeared”. It was there – then it was gone. I feared it was snapped off, or sprung into the yonder. I couldn’t find it. I did notice that the other bits of the mechanism – the piece that holds the lead in particular – were also gone. At this point, I was thinking that I’d broken the pencil. I tried fishing around the slider barrel (which has a narrow opening) with an eyeglass screwdriver. There they were – the parts were submerged, and with some toggling, re-emerged. I carried on, and can say – it all works, and I can now retract and extent the lead, and know how to refill it. As far as I can tell, my original problems were due to the “refill nut” (another unfamiliar pencil part) not being properly in place. It wasn’t my focus, but after it being properly fastened, the pencil started to work – from the point of view of the cap, clockwise motion extended the lead, and a counter-clockwise motion retracted the lead. That’s how it should be!

As Dave wrote, “Complicated or what!”

If I ever buy a new Yard-O-Led pencil, it will be in person so that I can try out the feel.

But – I’m still wondering, what happened fifty-six years ago today?

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Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 3 Metal

Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 3

The Fixpencil is the signature product of a world-famous manufacturer. I’ve wanted to own one of these pencils for some while, and acquired a specimen last fall.

The version I have seems to revel in the Caran d’Ache heritage – the most visible marking is the statement “Fixpencil designed in 1929”. The “Swiss Made” logo is also there, and under the clip, one can read “Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 3 Metal”.

Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 3

This particular pencil is a 3.15mm clutch pencil, with a hexagonal shape and matte black finish. The mentioned text is in white/silver. The metal clip is solidly attached, but movable (and removable).

The pencil’s cap is red, and also the push button for opening the clutch. The cap also houses some inset blades, which serve as a sharpener.

The clutch itself is a chrome colour.

Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 3

The pencil (with full lead) weighs 11.4g, about triple a modern woodcase pencil. Yet – it still feels quite light for a metal clutch pencil.

Almost two years ago, I mentioned some other 3.15mm pencils that I like. The Fixpencil is quite different from all four of those pencils in that it resembles a woodcase pencil in dimensions, and takes a full-length 3.15mm lead. It is sleek, not rotund. The length is 135mm (sans lead).

Caran d'Ache Fixpencil 3

The grip and usability are great.

The cap sharpener is a most interesting feature. It works, and produces a fine pointed lead. But it doesn’t succeed in defying the laws of physics, and the graphite dust has to go somewhere – that would usually be one’s hands.

It is a usable and practical pencil of good quality. I had hoped the physical weight might correspond to the psychic weight of the legend of the Caran d’Ache Fixpencil, but that’s the problem with legends.

Recommended without reservation.

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Caran d’Ache Technograph 777 pencil

Caran d'Ache Technograph 777 pencil

“Caran d’Ache” is a rendering of the Russian word for “pencil”. It is also a Swiss art supply and luxury writing company named after a 19th century satirist who took Caran d’Ache as his editorial name.

The Technograph 777 is one of three graphite pencils currently made by Caran d’Ache, and their only woodcase pencil aimed at writing or drafting. (They make several very nice mechanical pencils.)

I’ve ordered these pencils from both Japan and the U.S. They seem harder to find than Caran d’Ache’s $500 fountain pens! Warning: a photo below shows unexpurgated graphite dust on a box of these pencils.

The pencils are yellow. Fortunately, not office supply store yellow – they are a rich, highly finished and distinctive bright yellow.

Caran d'Ache Technograph 777 pencil

The caps are finished in black, and the pencils are pre-sharpened.

Using terminology we introduced last month in our review of the Castell 9000, the pencil is marked in gold lettering:

Side 1 (Obverse): TECHNOGRAPH [logo] CARAN d’ACHE SWISS MADE 777 HB
Side 2: blank
Side 3: blank
Side 4 (Reverse): HB
Side 5: blank
Side 6: blank

I like this sparse look much more than that of pencils with two or three sides filled with text. So where’s the ubiquitous barcode? Caran d’Ache has preserved the looks of the pencil by putting the barcode on a removable perforated plastic wrapper. It would be great if others would imitate them.

Caran d'Ache Technograph 777 pencil

The pencils felt light to me. I put them on the scale. They ranged from 3.5g to 4.4g, with the mean being 3.8g. That’s identical to the reference Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 mean weight, so I was wrong. My new theory is that the absence of markings on the pencil makes them easier to hold, with much less effort needed to get a comfortable grip, and that this may make them feel lighter.

As pencils – I note they come in a wide range, but I’ll just mention the HB here – I tried to compare them with the Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 and Faber-Castell Castell 9000 on a variety of papers. Every time I thought that I might have found a difference, I found some variation in the testing conditions. Though I’d like to post “Pencil X makes lines like this” photos or scans, there seem to be a great number of variables that influence the line created, and the results can be faulty. Have you heard that in a stereo store, the loudest system will sound the “best” to most people, or that when the New Yorker blindfolded professional wine critics, simple distinctions like white vs. red couldn’t be discerned?

Caran d'Ache Technograph 777 pencil

What I can say is – the HB versions of these three highly regarded pencils make relatively similar lines, and that’s a high standard – this is all good news!

So if you get a chance, do try them out!

I’d like to thank two other pencil blogs that have reviewed this pencil:

Blyantsiden (In Norwegian)

and

Kent’s PencilLog (In Korean)

Though I can’t read either, I still feel I’ve benefited.

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