Archive for May, 2008

Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil - 3

Friday, May 30th, 2008

We’ve looked at the plastic and aluminum perfect pencils - today we’ll look at the silver-plate version.
My sense is that Faber-Castell is withdrawing their silver-plate products, probably for some of the reasons that we’ll see in this article.
First, let me acknowledge that I don’t have an anti-tarnish regime, and have not thought much about establishing […]

Chicago Tribune article

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

There is an article about pencils at the Chicago Tribune today.
There are brief interviews with a number of well known people.
Link: Lowly pencil still the write tool

Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil - 2

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Next in our “Perfect Pencil” series, we are going to look at the Design Perfect Pencil, which features an aluminum pencil extender.
It is typically sold in a paper and plastic box with the extender and three of the refill pencils.
The product is interesting in itself, and also an intermediate step between the plastic and precious […]

Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil - 1

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

This article is the first in a series on Faber-Castell’s “Perfect Pencil” line.
The Perfect Pencil is a pencil extender with a clip. Newer versions also have a built in sharpener. The mechanisms and materials vary through the product range.
Today we’ll look at the basic model, the Castell Perfect Pencil.

Sold loose or in a blister […]

Red and Blue pencils IV - Viarco

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Must a successful pencil manufacturing business be part of a multinational conglomerate? Is there any room for smaller firms in the current marketplace?
Many of us may not have heard of Viarco. They are a 94 year old pencil company from João da Madeira, Portugal, who produce a wide range of pencils - writing pencils, drawing […]

200th post

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

This is the two hundredth post at pencil talk.
The site is hard to locate in online search engines and directories, but I’m glad that you’ve found it!
A few thoughts about the site:
Some network hardware that connects to the web server was recently replaced, and I expect that the site will experience much less downtime […]

Untangling (a small piece of) Sanford’s web

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Pencil aficionados are aware that many of the pencil brands of yesteryear are now owned by Sanford, a division of the huge conglomerate Newell-Rubbermaid.
Sanford has acquired a lot of brands over the years, including hundreds of pencil names once owned by Eberhard Faber.
As a global firm, the offerings vary from market to market. Sanford Venezuela […]

Congratulations to the uncomfortable chair!

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Congratulations to the uncomfortable chair, which is celebrating the milestone of 100,000 visitors. Going strong since 2005, this is a significant achievement in a specialty area!
The uncomfortable chair focuses on leadholders and mechanical pencils, and is always worth a look, even for those of us who cannot read Japanese.
Congratulations isu.