Pencils, what’s so special?

Pencils have both a utilitarian and fanciful appeal. The utility of a pencil is obvious.

Can it write well?

The fanciful justification can be personal or it can be a shared infatuation.

A pencil can be well made, from good graphite and wood, and a soft eraser that actually erases. A pencil’s materials could be appealing but maybe not function as well; for example, the pencil could be made from a beautiful wood that doesn’t work as well as tried and true cedar. Maybe you just like the color or the name. The pencil could conjure up memories of your past, remembrances from your childhood or some other bygone epoch; there can be the legendary connection to famous writers — a marketer’s goldmine to be exploited. A pencil can be just good product design or maybe the package itself carries the day. A pencil’s a connection to a people (Germans and Japanese) that still have high regard for this tool; a connection to an American past where quality manufacturing was the standard.

As a collector or connoisseur, there are different things to latch onto, a rich variety that would take a lifetime to appreciate.

At the moment, I have a thing for solid brass.

Guide to buying pencils on eBay

eBay’s the place for picking up vintage pencils.  Here’s some pencil specific things to consider before bidding:

• Condition matters; pencils are easily scuffed and nicked outside their packaging; look for NOS (New Old Stock); if accurate, these pencils haven’t been out much from their packaging; If you get a plastic sealed package, all the better — the erasers may even be soft enough to use. Be wary if you see pencils out of their box, spread out, in people’s hands, rolled up in someone’s fist. We all know what pencils look like.
• Do some research on the pencils — make sure you know what you’re getting. Do you really want dozens of hard-grade pencils?
• Pencils may have a long run — consider the approximate time period during which your pencil was made; why should the ‘same’  pencil from the 90s be valued as highly as one from the 40s? I’m looking at you, Blackwings. In a long span of time, the same brand may be used on entirely different products, made in different countries, even.
• Look for mislabeled auctions; fellow collectors may be missing out on your find
• Buy in bulk, bring cash; small-time buyers may be willing to compete with you on the cheaper auctions, but get into the hundreds and they’ll fold; you just have to figure out what to do with all those pencils
• Specialize. Some more obscure pencil brands may go unnoticed but may have something interesting to offer.
• Pencil pricing varies depending on who’s buying; a few avid collectors can outspend penny pinchers
  • So, learn what’s desirable (for whatever reason), figure out if you’re interested, and pick it up next time around
  • Don’t get carried away with what others are willing to pay. Others may have more money to spend, may be more committed than you, or have other plans for those pencils. Have a budget.

The Moleskine Folio

My introduction to the Moleskine brand came by way of a red “Large” lined notebook, which is not that big.  I successfully filled up the notebook, draining a big chunk of ideas from my brain into it. When I was done, I went exploring other products, eventually hitting up on the Folio, a ‘professional’ line offered by the company. In addition to coming in bigger sizes, there’s also one major improvement, the paper.

The biggest weakness for the Moleskine, which is also a benefit depending on your tastes (or twists)  is the  paper. Moleskine paper is thin. Thin means there can be more pages and the book will not get too thick but it also means that the paper is translucent and this gets bothersome. You have to find the right pens to minimize show-through. Also, the Moleskine will start off tight, but the more you write, the more the paper flexes and curves under the incision of the pen or pencil. I like the result — the book looks like its getting used up as you write and you’re done when you no longer have any flat pages. The Folio, in contrast, remains flat and tight and has less show-through; you can focus more on what you’re writing now, instead of being distracted by the past. I also think the bigger format shows off my writing much better. I like how the sheer volume of words fit on the Folio.

I highly recommend the Folio to people that can handle the intimidating size and are up to the challenge — them’s a lot of narrow lines. 

Here’s the inside of the Moleskine:

And here’s the Folio:

The Rhodia Webnotebook

The Rhodia Webnotebook’s a genuine French notebook with French made paper — yeah the two together are not a given. You can have a non-French made notebook that nonetheless has French paper; for example, the Quo Vadis Habana is an American made notebook using the same paper found in the Rhodia Webnotebook. Anyway, enough about provenance. Now, for the review.

The Rhodia Webnotebook is a great notebook, following the same basic design as the more popular Moleskine notebook. It has an elastic band and an inside pocket. A comparison to the Moleskine is inevitable, and I like both, but the Rhodia is a more quality product and more expensive. For that you get:

• excellent paper in a pleasing ivory tone
• thick, luxuriant leatherette cover
• great sturdy construction
• narrow grey lines for comfortable eyeing while you write

Costly paper is not a requirement to writing; masterpieces have been written on cheap legal pads and worse, but a notebook can be an inducement to writing. In my own experience, a blank notebook is a challenge to be met by emptying out the ideas in my head into it. A page of densely packed sentences is a work of art in and of itself. A blank page is a reproach.

The work in progress:

 

The reward — a brand new notebook:

 

 

Berol – Blaisdell Ben Franklin 500 pencil

First of all, this pencil’s no longer made. However,  through the magic of the Internet, you can buy them online from auction sites like eBay. Amazing. In the pictures below, any warping is a result of my elite photography skills and high-end equipment –or lack thereof. I bought them new (NOS – New Old Stock) but couldn’t help myself and sharpened them all.

  

So far, I’ve purchased two grades of the Berol – Blaisdell Ben Franklin 500, the Medium Hard (3) and the Medium (3/6). In my pictures, the No 3 is more orange-yellow and has a plain brass colored ferule; the 3/6 is a lighter yellow and has a white stripe around the ferule. I’ve seen different styles, different lettering, color, No 3s with white stripes. There are pre-Berol Blaisdells… Here’s my review of the Blaisdell No. 3. You get the point. Your experience will vary.

I discovered that my pencils with the white paint on the ferule have only a golden/brass paint job. Rub off the bright yellow with an eraser and underneath there’s a dull, oxidized brown. I’m sure the metal was fine when they were new. I get it. No one’s fault. The yellow of the solid yellow ferule is yellow all the way — whatever the metal is. I have no clue. So sometimes beauty is only surface deep, after all. That’s the lesson for today, folks. I do like that white on the ferule, though…so disappointing.

Both grades have a thick lacquer coat of paint. The paint shines and, on most of the pencils I have, completely conceals the grain underneath. On pencils with thinner coats of paint, you can see the roughness of a cut or the contours of the grain.The thicker paint on the Ben Franklins gives the pencil a rounder feel along the edges of each face of the pencil. One of the Ben Franklins had a mean-rough cutting, though, and no amount of paint — short of a pouring a can of paint — would hide its raised ridges.

I would regard the 3/6 and the No. 3, both, as excellent writing pencils. In fact, I’m having a hard time using up the lead, it’s so long-lasting. Both pencils sharpen very nicely and have a nice cedar smell to them. Overall, an excellent pencil. I’ll definitely be picking up more Bens as they become available on eBay — and a gross would make my day.

I was surprised to not find any reviews or kinds words on the Internet for the Ben Franklins — plenty of quotes for some jolly, bald, white guy…but nothing on the pencils. It’s a shame, really, that such a nice product should go so quietly into the sunset of writing tools with nary a eulogy.

Here’s someone marking your passage, Ben Franklin 500. May you live forever is New Old Stock (NOS). And I’ll be seeing more of you in my future, I guarantee you. You were a fine pencil and you have a life-long admirer over here.

The Mitsubishi Hi-Uni Pencil — The Perfect Pencil?

The Hi-Uni is made by the Mitsubishi Pencil company in Japan– oddly, no relation to the car company — and are the best pencils I’ve ever used. The Hi-Uni is the high-end flagship product — the company offers other lines but Hi-Uni is the most readily available (circa 2014). They can be bought from Amazon, eBay, and Jet Pens. In Japan (again, circa 2014), a dozen Hi-Unis retail for 1,680 yen , which translates into $15.50. In the US, the lowest prices I’ve seen hover around twenty bucks.

Feature of the Hi-Uni:

• sharpen excellently, the bonding between the graphite core and wood is superior, as close to seamless as I’ve ever seen it. There’s no unseemly broken off wood.
• the thick coat of lacquer/paint conceals the grain and cutting of the pencil and withstands scuffing (I keep most of my pencils in cups — and every other once-shiny pencil looks dull, while the Unis keep their shine. I don’t know of another pencil with such a concealing and protective coating
• excellent paint job, stamping and overall finish. Care’s gone into every detail
• aromatic red cedar wood shavings — the color is unique among all the pencils I’ve ever used; the aroma is worth inhaling
• the graphite glides on paper across the full range of degrees — I used up a lot of 2Bs in my drawing journals, so I can appreciate the difference (dark lines, low scratching)
• excellently graded from 10H to 10B. Things go bad with the ridiculously hard and brittle 10H — other than that, no problems

It’s great when a company decides to create something better than it has to be.

According to an eBay seller from Japan, engeika:

“…like all other Japanese people, Mitsubishi Hi-Uni wooden pencil has been our lifelong companions. Back in my junior high school, only elite family kids could afford Uni pencils. It was ranked more expensive than that time’s daily used pencil.”

Every graphite grade is  comparatively smoother than other brands, even taking into account that Japanese pencils run darker than the German pencils, for example. This smoothness in the softer grades (including the 2B),  has a drawback (or maybe feature, if that’s how you see it) and that is that the graphite smudges much easier than other pencils. You could also say it erases better. Some artists will welcome the smudge-ability, but other, perhaps more precision artists may balk at it–or they could learn to adapt to the features of this particular tool.

Best pencils? Best quality? Best consistency? Most beautiful? I think so.

Perfect? Well, there’s no eraser… 😉

Just kidding. These are perfect.

The American made Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2

The American made Dixon Ticonderoga pencil was a good general purpose pencil. I say was, because like so many  once-U.S. made pencils– it’s no longer made. Modern (2014) Dixons are made in China or Mexico. I own these but won’t be reviewing them here. Suffice to say, they are not the same — and Dixon knows it, which is I’m sure a reason why the foreign made pencils have a different design and don’t even have the country of origin stamped on them.

Here are some key attributes of the American-made Dixon Ticonderoga:

• classic look
• beautiful yellow color
• well crimped ferrule
• excellent eraser — even old pencils retain a soft eraser
• sharpen well
• write well
• sturdy construction

Growing up, my father used Dixon Ticonderogas at his carpentry shop. These pencils were a constant over the many years that I visited his work, and of course they were in the car and in our house. My father sharpened them with a pocket knife against the palm of his hand, blade pressing into his tough skin. I never tried this trick. If I sharpened a Ticonderoga with a knife, usually a utility knife, I would twist the knife into the wood and swipe the blade away from me. I’m pretty good at making a point this way.

Sharpening with a knife is a good test  to see how well a pencil is constructed. Inferior pencils can’t handle the pressure of being whittled — the lead will crack or crumble. The Dixon had a good graphite core — strong, not brittle and the wood bonded well enough to the lead that even in a rough environment where a pencil would be dropped, tossed, and in one’s back pocket, it remained a reliable tool. On the other hand, a cheap pencil–not well bonded to the wood and of inferior lead chemistry, would shatter easily. A quality pencil is indispensable for many occupations.

As a homeowner with wood working tools, I continued to use Dixon Ticonderogas, but have since gathered them all up from my tool boxes. They now occupy a place on my desk, next to my more expensive art pencils. I’ve replenished the Dixons with New Old Stock (NOS) from eBay. I now have about 60 American made Dixons, which I will continue to treasure, and I’ll buy more if I feel the need. They were never the world’s best pencil — in spite of the claim on the box — but they were inexpensive, iconic, and well made.

Here are some sections on Roald Dahl’s love for the Dixon Ticonderogas — rooted, I believe, in the needful utility of a quality tool — from Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl By Donald Sturrock:

More on Dixon Ticonderogas:

The American made Dixon Ticonderoga Medium 2 5/10

 

Eagle Black Warrior

The Black Warrior has a long history and has undergone a few name changes. Eagle, Berol, Paper Mate Mirado. It’s still being made — but do I have to say it? The new ones ain’t like the old ones.

The Black Warriors I got came in a Berol box, but the pencils themselves have the old Eagle brand on them. I saw them on eBay and wondered at the number of bidders vying for them. I did a search on the Internet and found out about the myth. I think only the Blackwing has more written on it. Turns out the Black Warrior is one of those fetishized pencils writers and would be writers dream about. Of course, once I figured it out, I was more than willing to fork out 90 bucks for a half gross — 6 boxes, a dozen each — still sealed in plastic. Instant writer cred, after all.

Or maybe they were once dreamt about — they’re old pencils and fewer and fewer people write with any pencil, nowadays. The writers I quote below talk about the Black Warrior as mostly existing in the past. This pencil made an impression on the writers, enough to be featured in their books. But who else but an artist would mind the memorableness of an object like a pencil or talk it up to the point that it’s transformed into more than its components — wood, graphite, metal and eraser. For the writers below, the Black Warrior is many things, from a good-looking pencil or valuable tool to a symbol that completely transcends the writing instrument.

I found the Eagle Black Warrior to be a great writing pencil. A writing pencil is a pencil that has writer friendly features, in contrast to an artist pencil or a general pencil, which have other properties.

Here are the writer-friendly properties of a Black Warrior:

• has an eraser
• sharpens well
• is a hard lead (retains a point and lasts a long time before needing resharpening; smudge resistant)
• glides smoothly on paper
• no coarse graphite irregularities
• chemically treated (Chemi-Sealed) to withstand lead breakage

And here are some general signs of a good pencil:

• no warping even after 30+ years
• well-centered lead for good sharpening
• quality paint and stamp job — no over-paint at the unsharpened end
• neat ferule attachment–seamless, no hole-pinched crimping

Stephen King and many others. will frequently refer to the Black Warrior in terms of a collection of them. It’s not about one pencil, it’s about a bunch of them, an army, an assault squad, or a box, a half-dozen, or four. They’re exhaustible ammunition, bullets in the writer’s arsenal. And they’re mentioned by first and last name — the manufacturer and the model and even the hardness.

 

From Misery by Stephen King:

“She sharpened his half-dozen Berol Black Warrior pencils, he wrote them dull, and Annie sharpened them again. They shrank steadily as he sat in the sun …”

From Zak’s Dream Machine By Michael Murphy:

 From The Lincoln Lawyer Novels: The Lincoln Lawyer, The Brass Verdict, The Reversal by Michael Connelly:

Janet Neipris makes the clearest statement about what a Black Warrior is to a writer. It’s THE pencil.

From: To be a Playwright by Janet Neipris:

Melissa F. Miller reaches poetic heights in her descriptions–while remarking on an idiosyncrasy of the pencil –it’s roundness; you have to position it just right or it rolls off the table. This is no mere tool at the service of a person. This object makes demands on you, too.

 From Critical Vulnerability By Melissa F. Miller

From  Pinkerton Waltz: The Oral History of Sadie Albin Aka Etta Place By Michael Thessen:

From Save Me A Place In Heaven By Jerry Deriso:

Finally, here’s Gerald Ribeiro, who treated the Black Warrior as more than just a mere pencil. Gerald doesn’t even use it for writing but it’s there for him when he’s writing, presumably with other pencils or maybe pens. Gerald was a social activist who co-founded and led a drug treatment organization until his death in 2002. He identified with the Black Warrior at a deeper more significant level than anyone else quoted here. And so to him goes the last quote.

From This Path I Took By Gerald Ribeiro:

I’m glad I got the chance to discover the Black Warrior. It meant a lot to many people and I’m glad I was able to find as much as I was able to.

Update (2019-12-6):

Here’s a comment from a post on pencils.com: