Comments on: The Great Debate III: The shape of pencils

By: iarmas

iarmas — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:16:32 +0000

I once bought several of boxes (96-count) of Office Max round pencils. They have an attached white eraser. They are unpainted, unlacquered, and unsharpened. I am not sure what type of wood was used, but the box says they were made in China. The pencils are No. 2. (Office Max has since closed.)

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:51:35 +0000

Hi Kim, the “steno” pencils from Staedtler and Faber-Castell would be two to try. There is also a large Papermate Primer Print pencil that I’ve seen.

I’ll bet someone out there knows some others…

By: Kim André

Kim André — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:11:36 +0000

Anyone know of more round pencils than the Mirado Black Warrior? I would like to try some round writing pencils, never did that. But having a flawed grip, I imagine round just might be the thing for me.

By: mmmsoap

mmmsoap — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:03:06 +0000

Triangular all the way! I prefer slightly larger diameter than normal (bigger than Dixon Tri-Write, smaller than Dixon Tri-Conderoga) but the “normal” sized Dixon Tri-write is better than nothing. Much more comfortable to use, in my opinion.

No, if I could just find a quality (professional or pro-sumer level) pencil in triangular, I’d be psyched. I love the Palominos, and the Mars Lumographs, but haven’t had luck finding those in triangular (or any other dark, similarly smooth and waxy pencil for long math problems).

Still, the feel of the pencil when writing, which is primarily a quality of the graphite, is most important overall, so I’ll take hex Palominos over triangular cruddy pencils any day.

By: iarmas

iarmas — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:04:10 +0000

I cast my vote for hexagonal, although I don’t mind using round pencils. I guess I could have split my vote as follows: 0.75 for hexagonal and 0.25 for round. Triangular shape for a pencil is just a bad idea.

By: Kim André

Kim André — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:18:11 +0000

I also voted for hexagonal. The reason for this, is that I don’t hold the pencil correctly when I write. I’ve tried to write the “proper” way, in which the three fingers holding the pencil forms a natural triangle. I can see why there’s a good idea to make a triangular pencil. I’d probably prefered triangular if I only had learned to hold a pencil as a child. :-)

By: Gunther

Gunther — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:11:39 +0000

I also vote for the hexagonal shape because I use to hold pencils in a non-standard way so for me the triangular shape isn’t as ergononmical as intended.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:28:11 +0000

Interesting blog – keep up the good work

I voted for the hexagonal shape. Not to be a traditionalist, but for practical reasons.
Triangular pencils is a great idea, But they will have to be somewhat wider in the body, if the shape shall do onything for my grip – like the Jumbo or starter’s pencils – a slender triangular pencil usually gives me writer’s cramp. Also they usually won’t fit my extenders or sharpeners.
The “roll of the table effect” excludes the round pencils So I’m left with the good ol’ hexagonal
kind regards
Henrik