pencils – Page 24 – pencil talk | pencil reviews and discussion

November 2, 2009November 2, 2009

Ruling in style

Rulers

Rulers can be practical and attractive desk accessories.

Rulers

Here are a few that I’ve recently acquired and like. (Described in the order seen in the top photo, left to right.)

Rulers

From Folle, designed by Folmer Christiansen and made in Denmark, is the 2100. Danish design for the desk doesn’t disappoint! A stainless steel 30cm/12in ruler, it has large numerals at the 0, 10, 20, and 30 cm marks, and a shoehorn-like curve. It is the only ruler seen here that I would classify as expensive.

From Lexon is a black metal 30cm/12in ruler with a ‘foot’ on the imperial side which makes it stand up.

From Elmar Flötotto is a pure steel 30cm ruler designed by Jürgen Schebendach. It is very solid and heavy. The numbers cycle – 0, 1, …, 8, 9, 0, 1, … – so there are four 0s on the ruler. I love this – it might be whimsy, or a design choice, or it might reflect a perspective on the deeper structure of the integers. We don’t know, but we can enjoy.

Rulers

Also, a corner is bent – a solution to the problem of how to pick up the ruler. Thought provoking as well.

I am amazed that something so simple can be so nice.

Rulers

Troika (I’ve admired their pencil sharpeners, though have never bought one) have a 20cm ruler adorned with road lines and a racing car.

Rulers

The next two are no-name (as least to me) but also high quality.

Finally, from Emform, a miniature architect’s scale called the Moritz.

Rulers

Mentioned rulers:

Folle – Stainless Steel No. 2100. Designer: Folmer Christiansen
Lexon – LD74N. Designer: René Adda
Elmar Flötotto – Pure Steel Ruler. Designer: Jürgen Schebendach
Troika – Speedy RUL27/MA
Emform – Presenti Moritz

Rulers

October 26, 2009

Fourth Anniversary

This week marks this blog’s fourth anniversary!

The website started in 2005 as a blog with irregular looks at stationery and pencils. The first post was about Rhodia and their enigmatic orange writing pads. The post was viewed many times, and quoted elsewhere, yet never received a comment.

The second post was about the Blackfeet Indian Pencil. Two hundred words and an amateur photo, it has received dozens of comments to date, some of which are stirring reminiscences. It became clear that woodcase pencils strike an emotional chord with many!

We started as a small website. We’re still a small website, but we’re also proud to have gained an international following of pencil users, aficionados, artists, drafters, and doodlers. We are held together by our interest in the woodcase pencil, which continues to delight and amaze us.

Some statistics about the blog after four years:

425 posts

3100 comments

1200 to 1500 page views per day

700 RSS readers, 530 from Google Reader, and most of the remainder via browsers

Self hosted on a 300MHz Sun Ultra 2 (this may soon change)

Most popular posts:

1. Knurly: the Rotring 600 mechanical pencil
2. Faber-Castell Textliner 1148 highlighting pencil
3. World’s Best Pencil – Guatanteed.
4. Mechanical pencil lead diameters
5. Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil – 1
6. The Montblanc Leonardo Sketch Pen

I’ve certainly debated what this means. Are these just the most findable posts? Most of them are not at the heart of what we’ve been discussing.

Top search terms:

1. pencil talk
2. faber castell perfect pencil
3. best pencil
4. penciltalk
5. mirado black warrior
6. rotring 600

There are some people looking for the blog – but also some seeking specific products.

Top subjects of direct email:

1. Where can I buy a particular item? (Answer: Probably in Japan.)
2. How much is a particular pencil I have worth? (Answer: Unfortunately, probably nothing.)

Some notable things have happened since starting the blog.

The best benefit has been that I’ve been regularly exchanging both email and pencils with people from around the world! It has been great getting to know people I would probably never have otherwise crossed paths with.

It’s also a pleasure to exchange messages with some inside the industry. While their positions don’t necessarily allow them to participate online, I can assure you that some of them are listening!

The pencil quality promotion goal of the blog has been partially achieved, I would say. The woodcase pencils of Japan aren’t yet in European or North American retailers, but they’re much better known than even a year or two ago, and I’ll immodestly say that this blog has helped.

On the not so good side, I’ve accumulated a lot of pencils, often just to feature on the blog. It was never my intent to collect or accumulate so many, and I do want to pare down the number on hand.

I’ve also been busier than usual the last couple of months, and have been posting less. I hope you’re not losing interest!

There have been a few contributions from guests, but I have to single out one, because I know it involved an effort greater than any other post yet seen here – the pencil-themed crossword puzzle from Barrel of a Pencil. Jim, I hope you are doing well.

So I never imagined this would last so long. Thanks for sharing the voyage!

October 10, 2009October 10, 2009

Double ended colour pencils

While red and blue pencils are a sublime and beautiful example of the pencil maker’s art, other colour leads can be combined though the same process for an amazing result.

Double ended colour pencils

Colleen is a company we’ve mentioned many times. With leadership from a former manager of Japan’s now defunct Colleen Pencil Co., the revived company in Thailand seems to have separate lines – aimed at first, the Thai and international market, and second, the Japanese market. This particular set is for the Thai and international market. Twenty-four double ended pencils, with combinations such as “Warm Gray & Royal Purple” or “Cream Yellow & Russet Brown”.

Double ended colour pencils

The unsharpened pencils come in a modest yet pleasing carboard box. But I think it is a set of 24, not 48! Am I wrong?

They are a fantastic visual treat:

Double ended colour pencils

For the price, I think it is a very innovative product that would delight both children and adults.

Double ended colour pencils

There are others on the market. Here are double ended sets from Bruynzeel and Laurentien:

Double ended colour pencils

Bruynzeel is a Netherlands brand now owned by Sakura of Japan. Their ColorExpress 12 Twinpoints are hexagonal and factory sharpened.

Double ended colour pencils

Laurentien is a Canadian brand in the Sanford empire. Take a look at the brand website, which shows quite a bit of the brand history, including the product rename from the anglicized “Laurentian”. See also this article from the Canadian Design Resource website.

The round factory sharpened pencils have an interesting twist – a “regular” colour, and a metallic version at the other end.

They also have some specific sharpening recommendations:

Double ended colour pencils

Agreed, handheld sharpeners are not as useful as they should be! I am curious about the cosmetic sharpener recommendation – are those blades made to a higher standard? I suppose it’s possible, with cosmetic pencils costing magnitudes more than writing or drawing pencils.

Double ended colour pencils

Just as the pencils have more than one identity, so do the manufacturers. Colleen is an originally Japanese brand, now located and manufacturing in Thailand, and noting that “Japan Lead” is used. Laurentian is a Canadian brand, owned by a US company, with the product made in Indonesia. Bruynzeel is a Dutch brand with a Japanese owner, with the product made in China.

Double ended colour pencils

As befits products immensely appealing to children, all the pencils do have safety badges – the Colleen bears the CE EN71 logo, the Laurentien the ASTM logo, and Bruynzeel bears both.

Double ended colour pencils

My thanks for Gunther from Lexikaliker for kindly sending me the Bruynzeel pencils.

See also: The Lyra Super Ferby Duo (July, 2008)

September 13, 2009

Five black dyed pencils

Black dyed pencils

A regular request since the blog started has been for sources of all-black pencils with black varnish and black dyed wood. I’m not sure why they’re so popular, but I do believe that someone taking the time to write often represents a “tip of the iceberg” phenomenon. It might be the pure aesthetics – or maybe there are circumstances that require “low-profile” woodcase pencils.

Black dyed pencils

Here are five possible choices:

Faber-Castell Design pencil. It looks like the Grip 2001, but the varnish goes over the grip dots. We previously looked at the pencil here. It is triangular with a finished cap.

The Nava pencil. Round, they are a very attractive pencil. We took a look at them in the blog’s early days. They also come in anthracite, silver, and white.

The Dong-A Black Wood. Unfortunately only available in Korea. Seen here.

The Biella Bundesordner. This is a pencil that comes with Canteo notebooks, but can also be purchased separately. It has a white vinyl eraser and silver ferrule.

The Graf von Faber-Castell No. 5 pencil – a Perfect Pencil refill. A very classy pencil that features an unscrewable platinum-plate cap housing a replaceable eraser. It is round and oversized with a ribbed pattern.

Black dyed pencils

The Kirin Black Pal is a pencil that I wish was in this list – I just ordered some from pencils.jp, the new English language site from our friends at Bundoki. I’m sure that news of this site will delight some!

Overall, this is a really nice group of pencils. Probably 90% or more of modern quality pencils are hexagonal – yet this group is dominated by round and triangular shapes. The ones that can be found in North America or Europe are also on the more expensive side and harder to find.

Black dyed pencils

As writers, all seem high quality. The Bundesordner has the softest lead, followed by the Nava. The Faber-Castell Design is the hardest, with the other two pencils falling somehere in between.

The dying of the wood has some effect, yet the results hard to quantify. In the Carl DE-100 sharpener, there were no sharpening problems with any of the pencils.

Do you like or use these pencils? Black dyed wood is of course not limited to all-black pencils:

Black dyed pencils

September 6, 2009

Slate pencils

Until recently, I wasn’t aware of woodcase slate pencils – I had always thought slate pencils were only sold as raw cores or paper-wrapped. Then a friendly correspondent alerted me to a very nice set of woodcase slate pencils in his possession.

If you’re not sure what slate pencils are, here is a description from Office Museum:

During the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, pencils cut from solid pieces of softer grades of slate or soap-stone were used by schoolchildren to write on tablets cut from harder grades of slate.

An older member of your family might have some reminiscences.

Slate pencils