After returning to the US I bought a few boxes of pencils – I like the terracycle recycled newspaper pencils and Office Max’s natural wood pencils. When I need a new one I pull it out of the box and pull the ferrule off with a pair of pliers I keep by my desk. Then I sharpen the end I pulled the farrule off of. This leaves the pencil with a smooth back end. It looks as if the pencil was made to be eraser free. The manufacturer’s text also sharpens off first. Sometimes I cover the exposed graphite with a little black nail polish.

I love the Pentel Clic-Erase, preferably the older one w/o grip, and if I were drawing, I’d use that instead of an on-pencil eraser if I had one.

For general writing, I just don’t erase much. Even erasing the same number of words, I think I use less than most people being lighter and more selective. I frequently did math with a pen in college, and also, am not opposed to scratching out a word here and there. That said, in college I was very happy that the Sanford Logo IV had a nice large very high quality eraser. But, unlike my friends, I think I used two of the (inch long) erasers in as many years.

So, assuming the eraser works halfway decently (dried ones on vintage pencils, ugh) then I like having it. Feels “right” for a writing pencil. I like the ferrule, I like bouncing it on the desk, all sorts of tactile things about it.

Now, should I use up the eraser and the pencil be both long enough & expensive enough, I _might_ just use a hobby saw and cut the ferrule off. A lacquered end is classy, but I see plenty of euro-pencils sold with sawn or sanded ends.

I personally prefer no erasers. It could be because the pencils I’ve used in the past have erasers of crap quality, and I’m particular about how well my erasers… erase. And I erase a lot (LOL) so the little bit would run out in no time.

But even if the attached eraser is of a decent quality, I don’t think I’ll use it much because I’m more of a block eraser type.