exploring the art and science of pencils since 2005
Congratulations to the uncomfortable chair, which is celebrating the milestone of 100,000 visitors. Going strong since 2005, this is a significant achievement in a specialty area!
The uncomfortable chair focuses on leadholders and mechanical pencils, and is always worth a look, even for those of us who cannot read Japanese.
Congratulations isu.
Along with the IBM Electrographic pencil, IBM also manufactured lead for mechanical pencils.
The box is inscribed on the side:
“For Electrical Mark Sensing
For Marking IBM Test Scoring Machine Answer Sheets and IBM Mark Sensed Cards”
The bottom contains these instructions:
“To Make Electrically Conductive Pencil Marks
Mark with firm pressure on a sharp point. Keep the point sharp by turning the pencil after each mark. This will produce dense black marks, in which the particles of graphite deposited by the lead are so firmly packed that electricity can pass from one end of the mark to the other.”
The box itself has a wooden frame, and appears quite sturdy. I’m lucky enough to now have a few 0.9mm mechanical pencils, but these leads are 1.18mm, and my sole pencil that can take this diameter is a Yard-O-Led.
Unfortunately, the Yard-O-Led requires a Master’s degree in pencilology to change the lead. (And some people complain about the inconvenience of sharpening woodcase pencils!) Still, past practice likely helped, and I succeeded in the challenge.
I don’t know what results a few decades spent in the box might have had, but just like the woodcase pencil’s lead, the line drawn is remarkably rich, smooth, and black. Not just a darker grade, as in 4B vs. HB, but more luminescent as well.
The combination is nice, and the thick lead and dark line just might cause me to start using the Yard-O-Led pencil on a regular basis.
A very nice historical item.
KUM is a well known pencil sharpener manufacturer. Though inhabiting a very specialized market, they have an enviable reputation as a quality manufacturer with international distribution.
What may not be as well known is that KUM sells pencils – three by my count, all part of larger product offerings.
Today we’ll look at the KUM Blue Ocean. At first glance it appears to be a small barbell – perhaps a discreet exercise product for office workers.
Closer inspection reveals that this is a pencil – housed at one end by an eraser, and at the other by a plastic cap. We’ll look at each of the three devices in turn.
The eraser is gigantic for a pencil cap type eraser – a black mini-football marked with the KUM logo on two sides. It does erase quite well. It weighs in at 10.7g.
The cap is marked “KUM since 1919”. It is black grooved plastic, with the appearance somewhat clunky in my view. The top of the cap has a true “cap” – a small piece of attached plastic that can be removed to reveal a red plastic sharpener.
Typical of a KUM product, there is a screw on the blade, and I suspect that the blade is replaceable. It works as a sharpener, but it is challenging to get a proper grip.
The cap/sharpener weigh 6.7g.
The pencil itself is marked in silver on matte black, “KUM Blue Ocean KUM”. It is 125mm long, below standard length.
The cap is rounded but unfinished. The wood is very pale – basswood?
The lead is a surprise – a very dark 2B perhaps, good though not the smoothest.
So back to the barbell comparison – a typical modern pencil is 4g, and the Blue Ocean pencil is 3g. But this eraser is 10.7g and the cap 6.7g. So this is a lopsided barbell.
All aspects of the product have problems. The eraser is simply too heavy to be a pencil cap eraser. At triple to quadruple the weight of a woodcase pencil, a pencil falls backward out of one’s hand with this eraser attached.
Even with a tightened grip, the balance is all off. While perhaps KUM wanted to offer value, or the appearance of a substantial eraser, a 10.7g eraser is simply too heavy for a pencil cap eraser.
The cap/sharpener is awkward and clunky. It does not taper towards the pencil, and cannot be comfortably held.
KUM’s concept is not new to us. I think we have to give credit where it is due, and thank Faber-Castell for their Perfect Pencil line. However, unlike the Faber-Castell products, KUM’s Blue Ocean product is not practical, and barely usable.
I commend KUM for trying something new – but the execution leaves much to be desired.
I hope blog readers are aware that some effort goes into finding unusual and high quality pencils to write about. They unfortunately don’t just fall out of an office supply cabinet. While there have been some successes in the last three years, we’ve also really just scratched the surface.
As an example of the challenge, much of the “official” catalogue of American manufacturers Dixon, Sanford, General, and Musgrave is inaccessible to me, yet these companies are relatively close. But at least their leading products are available.
There are many more pencil manufacturers serving national or regional customer bases that engage in little or no export activity. There are also national offices of the large conglomerates who make their own interesting pencils, such as Sanford Venezuela, Faber-Castell Brazil, and Staedtler Thailand.
To try and get more coverage of international pencils, I would like to invite readers who regularly use Pax, Tomsk, Fila, Hindustan, Viarco, Shahsons, Colleen, or any other brand not usually seen at this site, to write a review or story about pencils of interest, for publication here. You can contact me by email to discuss details.
Thank you Coudal Partners for the link to this blog. The mention is appreciated.
Want to buy a pencil company? Mega Brands announced that they are considering selling their stationery division, possibly back to the original owners of RoseArt Industries. Mega Brands may be in financial trouble.
In case the names aren’t familiar – Richard Best was an independent New Jersey pencil maker, purchased by J. R. Moon (Moon Industries). Moon was in turn swallowed by crayon maker RoseArt Supplies. And finally, Canadian based Mega Brands bought RoseArt in 2005.
A few years ago, Mega Brands got news for their lawsuits with Lego. Today, the news is about ongoing recalls of their unsafe Chinese supplied toys.
The pencil line includes the “USA Gold”, which I’ve never seen, many novelty pencils, and still, the “Try-Rex” triangular pencil.
(The photo above shows relatives of the Try-Rex, two vintage Richard Best Royal Scots, made in Springfield, N.J.)