Pencils

[dhermann1]

I just had to sharpen a pencil with my Swiss Army knife because my electric pencil sharpener is packed away somewhere. That got me to thinking about pencils in general. Talk about a Golden Age tool! Good old pencils. Armand Hammer, the famous industrialist, and pal of Lenin, when asked what concession he would like to have in the new Soviet Union, said he wanted a monopoly of pencils. If they were going to educate 100 million Russian peasants, he wanted to sell them pencils. My grandmother, who taught English in the New York City school system from around 1915 till 1954, bought beautiful black pencils made in Germany that had little receptacles with a metal clip at the top to hold the little separate erasers. She corrected many papers, and did many Times cross word puzzles with them. In the old days people kept a pen knife in their pocket to sharpen their pencil, and wrote letters in pencil as a matter of course.
But who uses pencils any more? I was just going to use one to mark a line on the closet door where I'm going to put in a screw. I never use them at work. And I even less often sharpen them with a pen knife.
So . . . . who uses pencils? What do you use them for? Where do you get them? What deep emotional connections do pencils represent for you?

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Here's what Leonard Read had to say...

http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/article.asp?aid=3308

The ubiquitous pencil! The very essence of a free market economy. Now that's not politics - that's reality!

-dixon cannon

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I use 'em all the time for sketches and more often for finished drawings. Every grade from 9H through 9B. I especially like the wood-less pencils, a solid stick of graphite with a coating of lacquer.

 

[dhermann1]

And then I put the pencil down and walked into the other room and came back and couldn't find the pencil but luckily I found three others that were already sharpened that I hadn't noticed before. This, in a nutshell, is my life.

:eusa_doh:

 

[carter]

I never met a decent carpenter who didn't carry a big thick yellow pencil. Tool of the trade.

Measure Twice. Cut Once.

 

[John in Covina]

I never met a decent carpenter who didn't carry a big thick yellow pencil. Tool of the trade.

Measure Twice. Cut Once.

**********
I like those squared off carpenter pencils!

 

[Flivver]

I've always liked pencils because they allow you to erase mistakes.

Until recently, I usually wrote with a mechanical pencil with replaceable leads. But since then I've gotten lazy and have started using a ball point pen.

Maybe it's time to go back to pencils!

 

[Kishtu]

Pencils.... always remind me of my mum who was a secretary in the old-fashioned style and who used to bring me boxes of yellow Berol HB pencils home as a treat.... and who had one of those marvellous sharpeners that clamp on to the desk and could be adjusted for different sized pencils.

Who can forget the joy of getting a complete spiral of wood shaving off in one go??

 

[MrBern]

My grandmother, who taught English in the New York City school system from around 1915 till 1954, bought beautiful black pencils made in Germany that had little receptacles with a metal clip at the top to hold the little separate erasers.

Actually I remember pencils w/ replaceable erasers quite well.
Back in the `90s there was a moment on "NorthernExposure" when an older character mused on "Ticonderoga#2", but a younger character countered w/ "EberhardFaber BLACKWINGS!"

We used them in the art department that I worked in back then...before computers made that sort of thing indulgent.
I recently checked up on the availability. Amused to learn that my last box is quite valuable
Link to Pencil fetish story

 

[cooncatbob]

I like #3 hard Dixon Ticonderoga yellow pencils, I sharpen then with the Boston pencil sharpener that I took home when the company where i worked for 21 years went belly up in Dec of 1999. I hate 2s and 2 1/2 they're too soft, make a mark on a piece of wood and it's blunt. LOL.

 

[dostacos]

Pental mechanical with .9mm lead, I press hard and break the lead constantly with the .5mm lead, .7mm is easier to find than the .9mm but for me it works best. I use them to practice my drawings for my Young Indy journal and at work for marking all manner of materials I need to cut or bend....

 

[MrBern]

**********
I like those squared off carpenter pencils!

Yeah I love those carpenter pencils too.
They are so sturdy, they tend to survive longer than a more common pencil.

Heres one thats the Oldest Known Pencil

found on a 17th century roof

original webpage

 

[dhermann1]

Eberhard Faber Blackwings! Again, this is why we love the Lounge! Thanks, Bern! I believe the family that made these in Germany are wealthy nobility and own a very spectacular castle. So they're not made any more? They were really like Mercedes Benz pencils. It was just a pleasure to hold them in your hand. The black paint was gorgeous, the lead was soft and smooth but didn't smudge. My grandmother used them till they were nubbins.

 

[MrBern]

There were other models w/ the replaceable eraser, but its the Blackwings that I've dealt with.
I think the company is now FaberCastel.
Tho this mightve changed.
And the pencil is discontinued.

Just checked ebay & see theres a guy selling them for about $40 each.

It really was a sweet pencil. And you half to love the embossed logo: Half the pressure, twice the speed.

 

[MrBern]

http://www.pencilpages.com/

the world's largest pencil!

Some pix of pencils w/ replaceable erasers from EberhardFaber

http://www.pencilpages.com/gallery/eberhard-faber/eberhard-faber.htm
Microntomic 8H, and the Hexaround496#2 in right & left handed models.

 

[Dominic]

I use pencils strictly for drawing and when I do I use my trusty Pentel pencil with a refill cylinder. I've been using it for nearly 25 years now and I can't count how many 2B 0.5mm leads I've put into the cylinder. Still works like a charm.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

For years, along with candy, my parents have been giving out pencils at Hallowe'en. One year, my mother forgot to buy any and had a lot of trick-or-treaters asking about them.

Little do they know, it's also how she counts how many trick-or-treaters we get. She often hands out up to one hundred and fifty pencils on that night, one at a time.

I use a pencil for crossword puzzles.


Lee

 

[poetman]

I never liked pencils, too fickle, unsure, and impermanent. I use fountain pens, and once in a while, depending on what I’m writing, I use a roller ball or ballpoint. Yet lately, and I’m not completely sure how or why I made this leap, I’ve been using pencils for my early drafts. I like that the line of lead is thicker than a ballpoint but a bit more controllable than a fountain pen. Also, I don’t want to waste fountain pen ink on drafts that will just be stored away. The only problem I have with the pencil is the mess it leaves on my desk—the shavings from sharpening and those sticky eraser bits.

 

[nyx]

I love pencils! I think I mentioned in the pen and paper thread that I'm obsessed with mechanical pencils. I have a bunch, because I like using the different lead sizes for different things. But my favorite is the one I use at work.....WHICH IS MISSING!!! I just looked all over my desk and it's gone!! If one of you have taken it, I demand it's return!! :rage:

 

[Adele]

The current style of pencils I have at the moment:

I would like to use their recycled ones, but I use my pencils for all sorts of things such as writing notes and madlibs.