Conte Evolution Wood-Free Pencil
Photo: The Conté Evolution on another plastic object - a Rite in the Rain notebook.
This is a review of a type of pencil I hadn’t heard of until recently. Woodchuck has mentioned that there are pencil manufacturers who have rejected wood for pencil casings. Rather, they use a synthetic casing, or perhaps recycled denim.
There aren’t really that many new things in the world of pencils, and this seemed like it might be one.
Finding them wasn’t easy, and I wound up ordering a box from the U.K.
The cardboard box is quite different - a cartoon of a purple alien chewing on a pencil. There are also photos of the pencil on three sides of the box. I like this. It’s like a jam jar with a photo of a plump raspberry - there’s no doubt what’s inside.
The back of the box says:
Wood-free pencil. Stronger lead. No splintering (synthetic lead resin).
The packaging looks like it might belong in an office supply store, targeting the same consumers as Dixon. It does look a step up from a no-name pencil. I also see the “BIC” logo - I had no idea Conté was part of this conglomerate. I had recently associated the firm with art supplies.
The pencils are a dark turquoise green, with gold stamping:
evolution 650 France HB/no2 Conté
They look - to my surprise - like pencils, and the synthetic resin looks like wood from all but the closest view. What is odd is the lead - or whatever it is. It’s shiny - sparkly shiny, and doesn’t look like any lead I’ve ever seen.
After several pages of writing, I notice that the lead seems remarkably durable, and quite smudge proof. (I had been using a Palomino earlier today, which both smudges and needs regular sharpening.) Anyhow, although it didn’t need it, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to see how it would sharpen. It’s unusual - as if slicing a film of plastic. There is indeed no splintering, and one could likely sharpen away the whole pencil in one exhausting bout into a single elongated shaving.
Sharpening also revealed an important attribute - a noxious chemical aroma was released that stayed around for at least an hour. Some cedar pencils have a pleasant aroma - but these are definitely the opposite. It made writing quite unpleasant.
One plus - the pencils are quite flexible, much more than their woodcase brethren.
So is the “Evolution” an evolution? They have some merits as writing implements, particularly the lead. But so do many woodcase pencils. Their flexibility and break resistance might make them good for travel. In the end, I don’t like the idea of breathing in whatever it is they produce when sharpened, and I’m suspicious of the unidentified materials used to manufacture them.
March 8th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Interesting post.
The Evolution is nothing new and has been produced by BIC/Conte for a number years. It’s an extruded plastic pencil using the same basic technology originally developed by Empire Pencil Company here in the US. Sanford shut the plastic extrusion plant down in the US in the mid-late 90s as they found it more efficient to concentrate on wood cased.
The differences with the graphite are that with an extruded pencil you are getting a graphite-plastic composite material vs. a graphite-clay composite that is then kiln dried to harden the leads. Generally the plastic pencil will leave a lighter mark than a wood cased pencil due to this difference in composition unless you use a harder grade in the wood cased. If you want to sharpen your Palomino less frequently you can always go to an H or 2H which wears at a slower rate.
FYI - Conte has been owned by BIC for quite a long time.
March 8th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
WoodChuck,
Thank you for the excellent information, especially on the graphite differences! In speculating that they were “new”, I (wrongly) presumed this was the case since I’ve never seen one for sale at a stationer or art supply store.
I don’t mind sharpening pencils when I’m at a desk or at home, so I think I’ll stick with the HB grade in the Palomino. In fact, I was enjoying using a 2B this morning. About your ebay store - why don’t you open it up to sell outside the U.S.? Just an idea - I don’t know what you would have to do behind the scenes.
November 17th, 2006 at 10:10 am
I use this pencil for some time now and I never noticed any chemical smell coming out of it when I sharpen it.
June 23rd, 2007 at 11:18 pm
This pencils are sell in Argentina for a long time ago, They are the most cheap in market, they are bad, nice but bad, the write with this is very poor and you have to push them on the paper to really mark anithing also this pencils are fabricated in Brazil by BIC.
For me nothing are best like a good cedar WOOD pencil.
January 1st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I happen to really like these pencils, and bought a bunch in Paris some months ago. Unfortunately, for the life of me, I cannot find anyone who sells them in the USA, or that will sell across the Atlantic. I’d love to know who sold these to you from the UK, and if they’ll sell to a US customer.
Many thanks in advance.
January 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Hi abraham - sorry, but it’s been a couple of years, and I don’t recall the source.
Bic makes a number of interesting products that don’t seem to be exported. I would like to get some of their Criterium brand mechanical and woodcase pencils myself.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:20 am
We can supply from UK - no order too small! For BIC Evolution search on our code OP-694732 - http://www.officepointfivestar.com/sales/acatalog/ It says “discontinued - email for availability” - but we can still get them in as of February 2008
March 1st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Those ones have been around for a long time in latin america, I remember using them in Mexico in the 90s, the difference is that the Latam version has an eraser, and the metallic thingy is replaced by a plastic one. I didn’t like it much because of the “synthetic lead”; it loses its sharpness very quickly, and after that, it lasts very long, the other thing is that the non wood material makes it hard to sharpen it with a knife (when outside or away from a sharpener).
Here they are specially aimed at little kids, since the sharpening residue is always an issue (i remember having my backpack full of little wood and lead pieces because the sharpeners got open and dumped the contents), and in these resin ones you sharpen it and end up with a large piece of the material, instead of little pieces of wood.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
BTW, I just compared two Evolutions, one a Conte 650 and a Bic 655, and the only difference besides the numbering is that the 655 has an eraser w/ purple plastic ferrule, while ther 650 doesnt.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:56 am
I had a chance to try some of the “Bic version” of this pencil at work (marked: BIC Evolution 650 HB/n° 2 France) and found that the lead was quite mediocre, and in need of frequent sharpening.
Anyway, many compliments for the weblog penciladmin, you’re doing an awesome work!
April 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
memex,
that’s exactly what i said before, the lead becomes round very easily, but it takes a long time to finish it.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
A note from a VERY satisfied U.S. customer, recommending Harvey Webb, of Office Point Five Star Sales’ (see Harvey’s comment above) service. He’s great, prompt, and very courteous.
I’m a bookbinder, archivist, and writer- and I happen to love these pencils. They’re especially good for those who tend to push hard on the paper. They sharpen very well, and keep their point- albeit just slightly on the blunt side. It might be the equivalent of writing with a “broad point.” High marks from me- for their durability, handling, “portability” (they don’t chip in a coat pocket), and overall look.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thanks for sharing this impressive endorsement. It is always good to hear about quality professional retailers.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Since the readers of this blog seem to be pencil aficionados, I have a small supply of the original EPCON plastic pencils — I was one of the inventors of the process, I developed the “plastic” composition used.
If you would send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope, I would be happy to send you one of the pencils from my collection.
My address is:
Irv Arons
4 Harvard Street
Peabody, MA 01960
the email address is: iarons@erols.com
and the blog with the description of how we developed the “plastic pencil”, along with some pictures of some of the pencils in my collection is at:
http://adlittlechronicles.blogspot.com
Irv Arons
August 15th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Irv, thank you for this kind and generous offer. I am sure you will be hearing from a few people interested in pencil history!
Are today’s extruded plastic pencils (like the Conté) using the EPCON technology?
August 15th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
That’s a good question.
As you probably know, the patent that we got was assigned to Hasbro (who owned Empire Pencil).
However, it’s 18 or 19 year life is up, so I guess anyone could be practicing what we taught in the patent.
Irv Arons
August 15th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
By the way, I noticed the links to the patents weren’t working, so I’ve now fixed them. If you click on the links, it should take you to the two patents we got.
Irv Arons