r/pencils

Okay, I have a problem. These are more than I can reasonably use. Anyone have any of these on your wishlist?

Edit: oops, should have made it clear in the original post - I'm not selling these or asking for anything in return. I'm just sharing pencils with fellow enthusiasts. Send me your favorites from this haul and I'll try to send you a random mixbox with some of them.

One of my favorite tactile experiences of wooden pencils. I’m recently re-discovering this hobby, and I got myself the longer fluted pencil shown on the top. The one at the bottom is the shorter refill for the Perfect Pencil. Both of these are still sold at stores.

The one in the middle is a gift from my Dad, and I only have one example. It has a shorter metal cap, which not only looks good, but is the better balanced out of the three, and I very much like to keep a few more examples around to use from time to time. I find the longer capped one to be a bit backweighted, so I usually remove the hidden eraser and its housing altogether.

My question is, how do I search for the middle one? Does it have a name? I can’t seem to remove the end cap, is it glued on and meant to be disposed off?

The Kitaboshi “Adult Pencil” 2mm lead holder was the closest for me in terms of form factor to a wood cased pencil. It is almost perfect in all aspect except one.

The one thing that bothered me was the somewhat less ideal grip (for my hands) as it tends to slip while my hands are dry (in the office with AC) and also while my hands are sweaty (not in AC and I’m in Malaysia so weather is hot and humid).

So decided to perform a simple DIY improvement to it. I wrapped both metal ends with masking tape, then proceeded to use 320 grit sandpaper to sand away the glossy finish. Less is more here so was gentle and kept checking the feel of the wood as I did not want to oversand it.

While the barrel was done, then proceeded to sand the hexagonal bit that meets the
metal rounded tip. Originally the hexagonal barrel
ends abruptly with the metal tip and I didn’t like that feel.

When all was done rubbed on some small amount of vaseline and buffed it out with a cotton rag. Maybe next time to use a proper wood finishing but I didn’t want to risk it having that slippery finish again amd vaseline should be adequate moisture protection since this will be in my pencil case.

To summarise, very satisfied with the results and it feels absolutely wonderful to write and sketch with.

I am now going to perform the same mod to my Muji 2mm and similar final awesomeness is expected. Will post the results when I’m done with that.

I actually took 20 but my wife gave me that “what are you going to do with those?” look so I reluctantly returned 10 to the display.

I will slowly buy one or two packs every time we come here in the future so should be less obvious haha.

Looking out for other grades as well.

Redid the testing with some other samples for comparison and to nobody’s surprise it feels the same as Pentel Ain 4B in 0.5 and the Kitaboshi really surprised me as it was really dark for a B. Might get their 4B refills and compare next time.

Summary: Buy Buy Buy.

Managed to snag a couple of Mitsubishi Uni boxes. The Mistubishi Uni Naturals were $5.03US!!! Insane! Will post a picture of the full haul a bit later.

Bought a 2 pack, price per pencil around 0.25USD? (MYR2 for 2).

Thoughts and test are in pics.

Now I have to go back to that particular store and buy another 10.

Got all this for $12 today. Super stoked!!!

Eberhard Faber offered an assortment of copying pencils in the Mongol line from the teens until some point in the mid to late 30's, predating the long lived Van Dyke Copying pencil line by around a decade. They originally wore a yellow finish that would later change to lavender and purple. The 760 was the untiped version, the 770 had a black or later a gilt mouthpiece (long cap to stick in your mouth) and the 780 was basically a 760 with included point protector. The three boxes pictured are all of different construction, one "wrapped", one "direct printed" and the last a classic EF "Push Box".

I was a Volumes subscriber from the start and just pulled the first four out of storage: 725 (Dylan at Newport), 211 (John Muir), 1138 (Melies and A Trip to the Moon), and 24 (Steinbeck).

None of the boxes are complete anymore. I have at least six pencils of each, and a pencil or two in some boxes got sharpened once and are still close to full length. I have the sealed archive tubes for 211, 1138, and 24. If 725 came with one, it didn't survive my last move. I still have the boxes and sleeves for all four.

I'm thinking about passing these on to people who will use or appreciate them, and I can't decide how. Since the boxes are already short, part of me thinks one pencil of each volume as a set makes more sense than four partial boxes. Another part of me thinks the boxes should stay together.

For those of you who collect Volumes:

• Would you rather have a set of all four, or a partial box of one volume?
• Do the archive tubes matter much to you?
• Does a pencil that was sharpened once lose most of its appeal, or is it just a user at that point?

I'm not selling anything in this thread. I just want opinions from people who know these better than I do.

Faber Castell 9000 HD, Mitsubishi Hi-Uni HB, & Mitsubishi Nano Dia 2B arrived today.

Tested on Rhodia Dotpad and with Sakura & Tombow erasers. Happy with all. I didn't weigh them but the Nano Dia feels drastically lighter than most of my other wooden pencils. Happy to add more to my fleet; with Mitsubishi still usually being my overall favourite brand.

About a month ago I posted Part 1 about receiving a Musgrave Select 885 #3 from eBay and the seller shipped it in a standard envelope you’d receive a utility bill in. This resulted in the pencil snapping in half along the 885 and both pieces somehow sitting under the envelope window in my mailbox 🫠 (picture 2).

Last night, while making some Hackwings, I decided to see if I could fix this pencil using Gorilla brand wood glue (picture 3). I was able to match it together along the broken seam (through the 885 - picture 4), and I think it looks pretty good.

After approx 24 hours drying it feels really solid but I’m going to give it more time before I try to sharpen it or write anything.

I guess I won't quit on this pencil. I just can't do it.

Found in a box lot of vintage pencils that included vintage art supplies. Any idea of the manufacturer?

I decided to do a sort of pencil test this morning on the ones I have in my collection so far. I have 11 different types at the moment but I'm going to expand on this as time goes by.

Picture 1 and 2 is each pencil's writing and picture 3 is the pencil in question.

I have a good pencil which I've no idea where it came from. If you have one of these if you could be good enough to confirm what it is I would appreciate it.