Pencils

[K.D. Lightner]

I have a bunch of black #2 Ticonderogas, which I have been using for a few months. The color is cool, and the erasure is latex-free.

I despise those erasures on cheapie pencils -- you use it to erase something and it smudges.

Not on my Ticonderogas.

kdl

 

[RetroToday]

Eagle brand pencils

I've found various vintage pencils through the years at garage sales, but haven't photographed them all yet.
Here are some of the Eagle Pencil Company brand pencils I happily picked up a few years ago.

I love the streamlined graphic design on the boxes, it was created by American designer Robert Foster in 1938.
Foster designed several package variations for Eagle and made many iconic designs for several other companies.

Eagle - Turquoise "Drawing Pencils" (Half Gross Box)

Eagle "Royal Canadian" Pencils (Half Gross)

Eagle Turqouise 2H "Writing Pencils"

 

[moynihan]

Interesting thread. I am partial to the Pentel P209 mech pencil myself.

Btw: up the thread I saw reference to the NASA spent lots of money on a space pen/Russians used a pencil story.
A persistent myth. Here is one of the links about the reality about the Fischer AG7 (the orginal space pen, which you can still buy).
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

In short.
Early on, both countries used pencils.
There was concern about graphite particles in low G. Fischer created the pen independently, not for NASA, then showed it to NASA. NASA paided the "retail" price, none of the development costs. The Russians bought the pen also. The pen is still used by NASA, the Russian & Chines programs and the ESA.

I have the AG7 with the pressurized refills. Smoothest ball point i have ever used. That is coming from a fountain pen user.

 

[Lady Day]

I've found various vintage pencils through the years at garage sales, but haven't photographed them all yet.
Here are some of the Eagle Pencil Company brand pencils I happily picked up a few years ago.

I love the streamlined graphic design on the boxes, it was created by American designer Robert Foster in 1938.
Foster designed several package variations for Eagle and made many iconic designs for several other companies.

Eagle - Turquoise "Drawing Pencils" (Half Gross Box)

Eagle "Royal Canadian" Pencils (Half Gross)

Eagle Turqouise 2H "Writing Pencils"

THOSE
ARE
AWESOME!

Ive always wanted to start collecting vintage pencils, but don't know where to start.

LD

 

[CLShaeffer]

I've been a side-clicker mechanical pencil user for about 30 years. Nothing vintage about them, but I've been using them so long that they just feel better than anything else. Specifically vintage to me, I guess. I actually wish they still made the ones without the thick rubber grip but I haven't seen them for years.

I love the feel of a plain old #2 pencil like I used in school but I just got addicted to mechanical pencils because they are consistent. And no sharpening. Sketching with a mechanical is kind of blah, though. Nothing beats a regular pencil for that - way more control with different angles and pressure.

 

[Honey Bee]

I have a bunch of black #2 Ticonderogas, which I have been using for a few months. The color is cool, and the erasure is latex-free.

I despise those erasures on cheapie pencils -- you use it to erase something and it smudges.

Not on my Ticonderogas.

kdl

I buy these by the bunches when I can find them. I like them for crossword puzzles, balancing the checkbook (NEVER, my MIL taught me, write that balance in pen...not neat. She was an accountant!) and sketching with.

I detest the cheaply made pencils on the market today...they rate right up there with cheaply made undershirts, cotton fabric and toilet paper!

 

[Fletch]

Pencils and me...

I like pencils and really liked Dr. Petroski's book about them.
I use them mostly for figgerin' and sketching out music.
I'm a lefty and get the Greasy Blade effect, but whadya gonna do?
My favorites in school were the Faber Mongols. Haven't seen one since the 80s.

I sometimes use cheap@ss mechanicals, but I write at an acute angle with pressure and the leads snap about every 30 seconds.
Still, I'd love to have a Sheaffer Lifetime mechanical to match my grandpa's 1933 vintage fountain pen.
I deplore that the Ticonderoga is no longer made here, but again, whadya gonna do?

 

[John in Covina]

Aroma di pencil.

I may have written this before but as much as I like using pencils for some writing, more for drawings scetching rough blue prints and such I am sensative to scents and the smell of some wood pencils make me very unhappy. I had a couple of positions years back where I had to write out all of the data to be input by the data entry specialist. It had to be in pencil so I could correct any mistakes I made and I found that because of the smell of the wood pencils I would buy the Pentel mechanical pencils for that job myself.

 

[Derek Cavin]

I love to use pencils. I have a drawer full here at my desk at work. A guy at work gave me some USA Black Mirados (now made in Mexico). I use MegaBrands USA Gold, Paper Mate Classics and Generals USA Cedar Pointe #333 HBs. For drawing I use Kimberley (Generals), and Staedtler (German), and mostly Derwent (English). For our gifts at our wedding we had note pads printed up and gave away engraved pencils.