Pencil Review: Shahson’s Picasso Executive (HB)

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Not long ago, I reviewed India’s Nataraj Bold pencil. In the interest of promoting peaceful coexistence between the countries of the world, I would be remiss if I didn’t also give some press to their neighbor and fellow pencil-producing country: Pakistan.

Uniting over a shared love of pencils may not be enough to stave off the spectre of nuclear war, but Shahsons Ltd. put Pakistan on the pencil map alongside its neighbors in 1953, when the current Director’s grandfather, Shah Saeed, established it as the his homeland’s first pencil manufacturer. Today Shahsons is the manufacturer of several pencil lines and are the flagship writing-instrument producer of its country.

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Eraser Review: Tombow Mono Zero

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On payday, I made my typical trip to Blaine’s Art Supply in search of some new toys & review fodder. I have so many pencils backed up to review — and yet, not enough to sustain this blog at the rate that I’m burning through them. So I forced myself to resist temptation to buy the few pencils they have remaining that I haven’t already picked up, and to branch out. I opted for something different and, in my line of work, potentially useful: The Tombow Mono Zero eraser; in this case, the rectangular version.

I have a very high opinion of Tombow products; in fact, the 8900 2B is one of my all-time favorite pencils. On the flip side, I’ve yet to meet a click eraser I actually really like. But then again, this one looks really promising. How will it pan out? Let’s see…

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Pencil Review: Deli S905 (HB)

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There are many pencils made in China. In fact, something like 50% of the world’s pencils are manufactured there. However, approximately 80% of them are manufactured for export — pencils such as the Dixon Ticonderoga, for example. But if you’ve read my review of the Chung Hwa 101, you know that I’m very curious about Chinese domestic brands. One of those brands is the curiously-named Deli company.

I have a bit of a hypothesis that it’s probably the brands that we in the West have never heard of that make the highest-quality pencils in China. It makes sense to me that those are the products that Chinese people want to buy, and that the random factories churning out shoddy pencils have to resort to exporting no-name products to the big box stores for pennies, because no one there wants to buy their crap. So where do products from Deli fit into all of this? Is the Deli S905 a solid product that we are missing out on here in the States? Or is it a cut-rate excuse for a writing instrument? Or is my hypothesis totally bunk?

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You think writing with a pencil is “analog”? Please.

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If you were really analog, your sketchbook would a beach with a bunch of rocks, and you’d write using bronze-age tools. Check out these examples from the dull edge of analog writing technology:

This post is offered as somewhat of an apology for the relative lack of material I’ve put up recently. I have been traveling a lot, and focused on family and fun rather than computer stuff or playing with pencils. I did have a pencil review 99% ready to go and then lost a big chunk of work during a chaotic last-minute hotel checkout. So, check for that soon. In the meantime, I thought I would quickly share something from my trip that’s cool and at least marginally related to analog writing.

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Berol Premier Vacuhold APSCO sharpener is my latest Goodwill find

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I’m just writing a quick post to share this funky vintage gem I found at the local Goodwill store: the Berol Premier Vacuhold APSCO sharpener!

It was almost like it was communicating with me telepathically. I originally passed it up on the office supply aisle (my favorite aisle, obviously) but I just had a certain feeling that I needed to go back and look underneath a random pile of junk. So I did, and…voila!

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Sharpener Review: the Ooly Mighty Sharpener

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I first came across this little bugger in a book shop in the Anchorage airport. They wanted $7 for it. I almost bought it. Then I found the same model in Seattle for $3.50. Moral of the story: don’t buy things at the airport.

Nonetheless, the Ooly Mighty Sharpener stood out to me for some reason. Maybe because it’s cute. Maybe because it has a long-point sharpener. Maybe because it gives you options. Whatever the reason, when I came across it the second time (and the price was reasonable), I snagged it and brought it home for a review.

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Seattle day 1 haul, or why Kinokuniya is like a crack den

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I’m in Seattle. Seattle is a major city with a substantial Japanese population. Japanese people are serious about their writing supplies. So when my buddy who lives in the International District took me for drinks this evening, you know damn well we made a little stop on the way to the bar. So, this happened:

You’re looking at the Tombow La-Kea Recycled Pencil (HB/B/2B), Mitsubishi Uni-Star (HB/B/2B), Tombow 2558 (HB/B), Mono Plastic Eraser, Rabbit ECOfeel Eraser, Kutsuwa STAD adjustable manual sharpener, Ooly Mighty Sharpener, and the Apica CG54 grid notebook. All that and I still had my eye out for more finds on the walk back to my hotel…

Pencil Review: General’s Kimberly (HB and 2B)

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This is a pencil I’ve been wanting to review for a long time, but it just hasn’t ever seemed like the right “fit” in my blog post flow. Whatever that means. But as I finished publishing my review of the Lyra Groove Slim, I decided it was time to give Miss Kimberly a long-awaited test run.

The Kimberly is a high-end offering from General Pencil Co. As such, it’s marketed toward artists, but we all know that there’s no reason a person can’t write with a drawing pencil. And even for a high-end, made-in-USA product, the Kimberly comes in at budget-friendly price, at least compared to the competitors in the drawing pencil world. So, I handled several of them in the store, and took home a couple each of the HB and 2B to test out.

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There ain’t no party like a pencil party cause a pencil party don’t stop

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I picked up some more future review material. Hope you don’t mind if I give you a little preview of what’s coming down the pipe.

The Chung Hwa 6151 and the Deli S905 are Chinese pencils made for domestic (to them) consumption. I reviewed the Chung Hwa 101 2B a while back and it left a positive impact on me, so I thought I’d give its more prolific stablemate (the 6151) a try. I have yet to review or even try any Deli products (except for their hand-crank sharpener, which I haven’t reviewed, but may do a write-up on since it’s great and I use it on the daily) but they are all over AliExpress and have a ton of different product lines. My impression is that they are popular in China, so I thought I’d better see what that’s all about.

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Post-May Day thrift store haul

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Happy late May Day, comrades. I hope you’re recovering well from a successful day of instigating glorious proletarian revolution. Anyway, today I popped in to that bastion of the working class, Goodwill, and found some cool stuff during my mid-day break from bourgeois exploitation. (Just kidding. I work for the government, and I oppress the bourgeoisie on a daily basis; or at least they seem to think I do).

The Mirado Classic pencils are noteworthy because they are of mid/late-2000s vintage. Of course the Mirado Classic is still produced today, but the model pictured above was made in the USA, out of cedar. Production has since moved to Mexico, and more recently cedar was dropped in favor of a different species of wood for the Mirado Classic (or, at least, it’s no longer the only species of wood). I think it would be fun to use one of these for a throwback review, and/or do a comparison review of the circa-2019 Mirado Classic, the current Black Warrior, and the old USA Mirado pencils.

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