Comments on: Faber-Castell Castell 9000 pencil

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 08:54:14 +0000

Sorry I mucked up the first line above – should read:
Interesting that this iconic pencil has only 5 comments (three of which don’t relate to the 9000) while its counterpart, the Staedtler Lumograph has 31 comments.

While I am comparing my FC 9000′s with the ones above I should also note there is no side 5 at all – just two sides are lettered/stamped/engraved in any way. On the reverse side there is a barcode number 4 005401 171003 ‘HB’ and an etched “production batch?” stamp – M6. The obverse is per your description above. Would the different barcode have something to do with production from different factories??

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 05:24:51 +0000

Interesting that this iconic pencil has only 5 comments when the its counterpart Staedtler Lumograph has 31 comments and FC9000 has 5 and three of these are nothing to do with the pencil. I wonder whether this is a result of poor marketing by Faber Castell. I personally prefer the 9000 because of its point holding ability, but B grade is much smoother than HB. I prefer the dark green livery of current production to the lighter grass green of earlier versions. Interestingly the version above has the country of origin. My recent stock is sans country of origin and I suspect this is because it is from their Malaysian production factory as I’ve seen recent FC 9000′s that are marked “made in Germany”. It seems to be a trend with big manufacturers that the country of origin is not engraved on stock coming out of SE Asia/China – Parker do not stamp their China manufactured stuff but do stamp their France made stuff. Anyway just a bump for my favorite pencil and I include Tombow Mono 100 and Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and Lumograph in that list – FC9000 just seems less intimidating and more of a friend.

By: Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of the Year 2011 » Bleistift

Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of the Year 2011 » Bleistift — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:40:23 +0000

[...] new Pen of the Year has a Faber-Castell theme: it is made from Russian jade and is green like the Castell 9000 …okay, I admit – maybe not exactly the same shade of green. Some other anniversary [...]

By: Renard DellaFave

Renard DellaFave — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:30:59 +0000

As far as I can tell, the only reason to use two helical blades in a sharpener is that it will work in fewer revolutions. This may be an advantage in a hand cranked high-torque low speed machine, but for a high(er) speed electric, it wouldn’t matter. Cutters might last longer, I suppose, but I’ve never seen a dull helical sharpener. The new iPoint has a titanium/chromium nitride coated blade as a selling point. Might be an issue if some of the new woods are more wearing to blades. I cut off eraser ends with a dremel sometimes, and one of the generic yellow modern pencils (Target?) was MUCH harder to cut through than a paper mate american, or mirado.

FWIW, Panasonic’s KP-4A is a USA-available helical blade battery powered sharpener. In the 80s, Royal made one too, much to the annoyance of my elementary school classmates.

Interesting to hear about the Hitachi, though. I’ve been reading through patents and they have one. The claim is that using a component between the opening and the blades that lightly grips, and thus slows down, the pencil makes helical battery powered operation practical. An odd claim since DC motors have more torque at low RPM than the shaded-pole AC induction motors used on even the high-end Panasonics. I think straight blades are the norm for battery sharpeners only because they can sell them for $10 instead of $15. . At least with the iPoint battery one, you can see the insides while it works, which I find is the only way to avoid serious oversharpening from that type.

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:17:30 +0000

Rae, stay tuned, we’ll soon have some sharpener content!

By: rae kohler

rae kohler — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:39:57 +0000

I am still using a Hitachi PH-101 that I purchased maybe 20 years ago. This is a battery operated pencil sharpener-”cordless DC6V AAsizeX4″.
It is “the best”. I would like to get more of them. Are they still available? if so where? Or is there another product as reliable? Any help out there?
Thanks. rk

By: Prairie Dawg

Prairie Dawg — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:51:23 +0000

As a point of information, a while ago I inherited a metal box full of 9000s from somewhere or other, rather old (perhaps prewar). I sharpened up the last HB a couple of days ago and said to myself “Dang! This is a nice pencil.” Little did I know it had such a celebrated history.

My wife is aware of my addiction to penciliana and she mentioned it to her boss who reached into a desk drawer and said “here you are.” There was a battery powered pencil sharpener in each hand-one a product of Hong Kong, straight blade type of no particular virtue but the other…the other is a beautiful red and black Hitachi PH-101 rotary type-although it is a single rotor-and it is an outstanding example of the type.