Author: Stephen

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Some more erasers

Our last look at erasers got some good feedback, so I thought I’d try four more erasers, though in a much more limited way.

erasers

We’ve established that erasers have to be judged in context, and this time we’ll narrow that context – one type of graphite on one type of paper. In particular, our reference pencil, the Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 in HB, on an 80g/m2 Rhodia pad. Though not the cheapest brands, Staedtler and Rhodia have near-global distribution, so they seemed appropriate choices as references.

The four erasers are the Faber-Castell 7081 N Vinyl Eraser, made in Germany, the Pilot Foam Eraser, made in Japan, the Tombow Mono Plastic eraser, made in Vietnam, and the Sanford Magic Rub 1954, origin unstated.

erasers

All erasers were purchased new. The Magic Rub came loose, and the others were wrapped in cellophane. The three cellophane wrapped erasers also have paper sleeve holders.

Appearance wise, the Magic rub seems to have many air bubbles, and is a greyish off-white. The other three were variations of white.

On the Rhodia pad, I drew ovals from an Acme template, and shaded in a diamond pattern.

erasers

I’ll admit my expectation – I thought these erasers would all be roughly the same. All did well, but there wasn’t any doubt for me about which were best and worst.

At both lines and shaded areas, the Magic Rub was clearly the worst. Also fairly clearly, the Faber-Castell was the next to worst eraser in both tasks.

At lines, the Pilot Foam seemed best, with the Mono close behind. The positions were reversed with shaded areas.

erasers

I made some additional marks for an overtime round, and the Mono came out ahead. The differences are subtle, and hard to capture without professional equipment.

erasers

The description at Dick Blick suggests that the Magic Rub isn’t a paper eraser – which might explain the performance.

Further reading: Effects of eraser treatment on paper, American Institute for Conservation, 1982.

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Mitsubishi 4563 triangular pencil

An old friend was just forced into mandatory retirement. Though still sharp as ever, he was deemed to be worn down. But we know he’s still got some lead left in him, and we’ll no doubt hear more from him in a future role.

Faber-Castell Grip 2001

There’s also a new cohort just starting. Also triangular, they have unfinished ends, and act like they were made for work.

Mitsubishi 4563 triangular pencil

Hailing from the venerable Mitsubishi Pencil Co., the 4563 in 2B lays down an incredibly rich, smooth, dark line. The shape is a rounded equilateral triangle, and if the pencil went back to complete its cap and get a more sophisticated colour, it would be able to compete with the best in the field.

Mitsubishi 4563 triangular pencil

Arriving half green and half yellow, they quickly impress, and will no doubt get the sort of use that will also push them towards retirement soon enough.

Mitsubishi 4563 triangular pencil

Mitsubishi 4563 triangular pencil

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All aboard! Train pencils from Tombow

Train pencils from Tombow

Pencils and trains have some commonality in the way they approach their tasks. A pencil touches paper as it writes, and a train touches the ground as it travels. A computer and printer can produce a document, just as an airplane can deliver one to a remote destination. But the journey, to document or destination, is not at all the same.

This pencil series celebrates Japanese trains. Made by Tombow, there are four boxes in this issue, each box celebrating two different trains. The pencils are in the rounded square style, like the Pantone pencils we saw earlier this year. This shape accomodates the train graphics very well.

Train pencils from Tombow

Each pencil has two train side views, a schematic view, and text on the fourth side. The boxes also come with display cards for the pencils that include “tracks”. They’re not extremely useful, but they do add to the uniqueness of the set.

Train pencils from Tombow

The set is a real joy. Announced in late March, they are sure to sell out quickly.

Train pencils from Tombow

Train pencils from Tombow

LINK: Official press release from Tombow

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The Three Camels

The camel is renowned as a hardy animal, able to persevere through challenging circumstances.

The pencil world seems to adore the camel, as there are a significant number of camel brands.

First, the Staedtler Camel. This brand has been aound for many years, and now appears to be made in Germany for export markets.

Second, an entire company named after the camel, the Camel Pencil Company of Japan. They seem to make mainly novelty pencils, yet do have a few nice looking adult-oriented pencils. (That CA-P4 pencil looks good.)

Camel Pencil, according to their website, was organized in 1939, and established in 1949. They now have a U.S. distributor, so I think we’ll be hearing more from them in the future.

Third, another company named after the camel, Camlin Ltd. of India.

Camlin dates from 1931, and their website states:

The “Camel” was chosen as a symbol due to its capacity to endure long periods of difficulty in the trips across deserts. “Camel” was also easy to write and pronounce in all the Indian languages and was acceptable to all the religions of the land.

This is remarkably forward thinking, and reflects ideas that are at least as relevant in 2008, when many brands are attempting to compete in global markets.

I have a few Camel of Japan pencils – but have never seen a Staedtler Camel or Camlin pencil.

Has anyone used (any) Camel pencils?

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Rating the top Japanese pencils – the verdict

Japanese Pencils

The final part of our evaluation of Japanese woodcase pencils.

Let us mention some things we aren’t testing. First, we’re not testing a wide range of lead hardnesses. Nor are each of these pencils made in a wide range. I would say the chart below speaks for itself: Only two brands offer a full range of hardnesses.

Range
Pencil 9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B
California Republic Palomino X X X X X
Craft Design Technology item 17 X
Kita Boshi Hit 9900 X X X X X X
Mitsubishi Hi-uni X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Pentel Black Polymer 999 X X X
Tombow Mono 100 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

If you want a pencil for long term use or an ongoing project – and want the pencil to be on the market in ten years – that’s very hard to guarantee, but the established pencil makers would certainly be my choice, and I fully expect the Hi-uni and Mono 100 to celebrate many more anniversaries. Pentel is an established company also, but the withdrawal of the 999 alpha doesn’t portend well.

Writing (40 points)

Manufacturers no doubt have specialty instruments for product testing. The rest of us have to trust our senses and observations. This is no doubt quite subjective. I decided to break writing into smoothness, darkness, point, and overall impression sub-categories.

In many cases, I found myself staring at pieces of paper full of pencils marks, looking for very small differences. A first conclusion, apart from the naming of an ultimate victor, is that the reputation of Japanese pencils is well deserved, and that these pencils are better, and in some cases remarkably better, than their marketplace competitors.

Smoothness is definitely appreciated by pencil users. It is the formula of the pencil core that makes the difference here. We want to avoid any gritty or abrasive reaction between the pencil and paper. I tried various techniques, including making marks without viewing, and getting others to test the pencils.

Fortunately, there were some consistent results. A surprise also – no one felt the Mono 100 to be among the smoother pencils. It may be a grading difference, or a reflection of paper choices (110lb artist sketch books were used as well as writing paper), but the result was clear. The three smoother than average pencils were the Palomino, item 17, and Hi-uni. The smoothest pencil? I am really surprised to say that it is the item 17 pencil – a new entry on the market. The Hi-uni was very close second.

Many pencil users appreciate a dark line, but it isn’t always fair to say that one pencil is darker than another, since different brands may have different grading practices. Still, these pencils are all produced in same market, and it is an HB test.

The darkest line comes from the Black Polymer 999. Is the pencil made with another formula, perhaps like a mechanical pencil lead, with polymer substituting for clay? I have no idea, but it ceratinly made the darkest line. The Mono 100 was second, and I couldn’t find much difference among the other pencils.

By “point” – I mean the pencil’s ability to maintain a point, and to not crumble with use.

This is the weak point of the Palomino – the pencil does not hold a point very well, and also visibly crumbles when applying a heavy hand. A top professional animator has made this very observation at this site. No other pencil has the crumbling issue. The item 17 is probably next at wearing down quickly. The name brand pencils excel in this area, with the Black Polymer 999, Hi-Uni and Mono 100 keeping good points.

Alas, the nature of pencil use is that the point always does wear down. But the worn point initiates the ritual of sharpening, which delights us with a renewed sharp point. And the cycle continues.

As to overall impression – compared to many pencils I’ve looked at, these are all a joy to use.

The Hit 9900 and Balck Polymer 999, while first rate, are in very tough company here. Each was best in a category – yet there is much more to a pencil than “grip” and “blackness”. The item 17 and Palomino have great smooth leads, but at a price – for the Palomino in particular.

The Mono 100 was an all-rounder. It performs well at any task – and you get more pencil. I’m not kidding. International standardization of pencil slats has meant a uniformity of the length all pencils around the globe. But the Mono 100 must use a non-standard slat, as it four or five mm longer than other pencils. The HB lead seemed a tad less smooth than others, so it gets a small penalty for that.

Our results:

Writing
Pencil Smooth Dark Point Overall Score
California Republic Palomino 8 8 5 8 29
Craft Design Technology item 17 10 8 6 8 32
Kita Boshi Hit 9900 7 8 7 7 29
Mitsubishi Hi-uni 9 8 8 9 34
Pentel Black Polymer 999 7 10 8 7 32
Tombow Mono 100 7 9 8 8 32

Our tests concluded, it it time to assemble the scores for the final results:

Top Japanese Pencils
Pencil Appearance Grip Sharpening Erasure Fastness Writing Score
California Republic Palomino 17 8 8 7 10 29 79
Craft Design Technology item 17 19 8 8 9 10 32 86
Kita Boshi Hit 9900 15 9 8 8 10 29 79
Mitsubishi Hi-uni 14 7 10 10 9 34 84
Pentel Black Polymer 999 16 7 8 8 8 32 79
Tombow Mono 100 14 8 8 8 10 32 80

The top pencil in our test is the Craft Design Technology item 17. The win is based on strong overall scores, and top spot for appearance. The Mitsubishi Hi-Uni came a close second, and was best in three categories, including writing.

As I performed the various tests, I avoided added up the results, and was really surprised to see the evaluation results. I did initially think that one of the highly regarded Mono 100 or Hi-uni was bound to win.

Congratulations to this superb new pencil from Craft Design Technology/Pentel.

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Rating the top Japanese pencils (II).

Continuing our evaluation, we are going to look at two more aspects of the top modern Japanese pencils.

Erasure (10 points) (Line – 5 points, Block – 5 points)

We’ve already established that erasure is a question of at least three factors – pencil, paper, and eraser (there may also be hidden factors like temperature and humidity). It would be great to evaluate a complex matrix of papers and erasers against these pencils, but I’m going to settle on one good eraser – the Staedtler Mars plastic, and one good writing paper – Rhodia 80 g/m2. The results would no doubt be different on a toothy art paper, or newsprint, or office copy paper. But a high quality writing paper and the excellent Staedtler Mars plastic eraser are appropriate choices for a test of HB pencils in a writing context.

Two types of marks were made – ruler drawn lines, and shaded blocks. The eraser was then applied.

Japanese pencils

Japanese pencils

The results are subtle, though there is a clear winner. All lines erase well with a quality eraser. The Hi-uni erased best in the line category line, with the Palomino trailing the field. item 17 did the best at block erasing, with the Hi-uni a hair behind.

Japanese pencils

Japanese pencils

Erasure
Pencil Line Block Score
California Republic Palomino 3 4 7
Craft Design Technology item 17 4 5 9
Kita Boshi Hit 9900 4 4 8
Mitsubishi Hi-uni 5 5 10
Pentel Black Polymer 999 4 4 8
Tombow Mono 100 4 4 8

Fastness (10 points) (Paper – 5 points, Finger – 5 points)

Fastness, which we’ll define as resistance to smudge and smear, are important for several reasons. In any sort of notebook or journal, the pages will rub against one another, and writing or drawing could potentially become damaged or ruined. For those who write with their left hand, fastness is very important (at least with left-to-right languages) as the writing hand crosses the page.

Fastness could be defined much more broadly – such as resistance to aging and environmental factors such as sun and rain, but these conditions are beyond our ability to test.

Lines were again drawn on paper, and a blank piece of paper was repeatedly rubbed against the marks, in an attempt to simulate notebook conditions.

In a second test, an attempt was made to smudge another set of lines by running a finger across the lines.

The overall news is good. All of these these pencils are quite smudge resistant. Can you guess which pencil did very slightly smudge against paper? That’s right, the most erasable pencil – the Hi-uni. (There was also a minuscule smudge from the 999.)

Japanese pencils

I really smiled when I realized that the two tests are to a large extent testing the same thing – graphite adherence to paper. So of course, the most erasable pencil is also the most smudge prone pencil.

Japanese pencils

The 999 turned out to be the only pencil I could smudge with a finger – and very slightly at that.

Fastness
Pencil Paper Finger Score
California Republic Palomino 5 5 10
Craft Design Technology item 17 5 5 10
Kita Boshi Hit 9900 5 5 10
Mitsubishi Hi-uni 4 5 9
Pentel Black Polymer 999 4 4 8
Tombow Mono 100 5 5 10

To be continued

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