June 2008 – Page 2 – pencil talk | pencil reviews and discussion

June 19, 2008

Dong-a Hongdangmoo Office Pencil

This is the second post in a series on the pencils of Korea.

Dong-a is Korea’s oldest pencil maker, established in 1946. The Hongdangmoo Office Pencil is a basic offering, and I am told that it is the most common office pencil in Korea. It is not clear to me if it is manufactured in Korea.

Dong-a Hongdangmoo Office Pencil

A few notes:

– It does have a slightly larger diameter than the Hankook Sharp.

– The eraser seemed exceptionally good for a pink/red eraser. In fact, it is an excellent eraser by any measure. I’m not sure how they did it.

– The wood appeared to be cedar, and the pencil easily sharpened. The top photo shows an attempt with the KUM Long Point.

– The lead is much scratchier than that of the Hankook Sharp.

Overall, I think the choice between the Hankook Sharp and the Dong-a Hongdangmoo is a tough one.

June 18, 2008May 15, 2010

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

It has been over two years since we last looked at a copying pencil.

The Sanford Noblot, like the Koh-I-Noor Kopierstifte 1561, appears to be a regular graphite pencil, writing with a traditional “black lead” core.

There are still several copying pencils on the market with coloured leads, but the Noblot is the last one I’m aware of in the graphite style.

It is a handsome pencil, with silver lettering on a luminous grey barrel, and a metal cap.

It also has a slogan on the reverse side : “A Bottle of Ink in a Pencil”.

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

The obverse reads “Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705”.

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

If you look carefully, you can see an impressed remnant of the Eberhard Faber heritage: “Woodclinched U.S.A.”.

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

As a pencil, it seems a bit cheap and scratchy. It is definitely an indelible pencil, trouncing the erasure attempts of even the Staedtler Mars plastic.

To test the copying quality, I drew (imperfectly) a circle on a sheet of Bloc Faf paper.

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

I then wet the paper revealing a rich cobalt blue:

Sanford Noblot Ink Pencil 705

With tissue and other paper types, I’m afraid that I couldn’t pick up much more than a smudge of blue. I’m curious about the exact paper choices and water application techniques that would be required to use the pencil as a working copying pencil.

Do you use this pencil? What do you use it for, and how do you use it?

June 17, 2008May 14, 2010

Staedtler Dry Highlighter 146 pencil

In March, we looked at the Lyra Mega Liner highlighting pencil. The offerings in this category are few, but there is at least one alternative.

I just discovered that Staedtler Austria also manufacture highlighting pencils. The ones I found are packaged in a “blister pack” and are sold as “Bible Highlighters”.

Staedtler Dry Highlighter 146 pencil

The pencils are round, and finished in white with black text. The caps are dipped in a colour corresponding to the highlight colour – blue, green, yellow, and pink.

Staedtler Dry Highlighter 146 pencil

A couple of nice touches – each pencil is supplied with a protective plastic cap, and there is a sharpener included in the kit.

I tried them on a pocket Larousse French-English dictionary, and on newsprint. (The packaging specifically mentions dictionaries.) While they are definitely gentler than liquid pigment highlighters, and thus probably a better choice for finer papers, I wasn’t completely sold. The highlight looks more like a faint smudge than a “highlight” to me.

Staedtler Dry Highlighter 146 pencil

Overall, I suspect they could be useful with the right paper type, but weren’t great on the paper types I tried. They are also a standard pencil size, so sharpening should not be a problem.

June 16, 2008May 15, 2010

A tale of two Pacifics

Steadtler Pacific Germany 132 80 HB

The Staedtler Pacific is a very distinctive looking pencil, round in shape with a gold finish, a gold with blue band ferrule, and white eraser.

The pencil is marked:

Steadtler Pacific Germany 132 80 HB

Despite the great looks, it is unfortunately a scratchy office-grade pencil.

Now wait a minute. In 2007, we looked at another “Staedtler Pacific” pencil, made in Australia. No resemblance. And we also looked at another Staedtler 132 pencil from Germany. Also a different pencil.

Those two pencils were kindly provided by Dave, and purchased in New Zealand. Today’s pencil was kindly sent to me by Kent, and was purchased in Thailand.

Perhaps Staedtler has grown so large that their many offices are reusing product names and model numbers?

June 14, 2008June 15, 2008

How a pencil is made

How a lead gets in a pencil is one of life’s minor mysteries. Or is it?

How a pencil is made

There are several online sites, books (some for children), and even DVDs detailing the process. But different people learn in different ways, and I think the “How a pencil is made” kit from General Pencil hits the mark for many of us, containing actual raw pencil materials at various stages of construction that we can handle and examine.

How a pencil is made

Sold in a cardboard box, the kit contains a raw slat, unglued grooved slats (one with leads), a glued and unfinished slat set, a glued and partially constructed slat set, a raw pencil, a finished pencil, and some contributing materials – eraser plug, ferrule, and graphite, clay, and wax samples, and a poster from the Incense Cedar Institute detailing the manufacturing steps.

How a pencil is made

I think it’s a great kit, and appreciate that it has been offered to the public. The standardization of the cedar slat is one of the forces that propelled the pencil industry forward. Seeing and handling a slat has, at least for me, been much more enjoyable than looking at a printed or online diagram.

How a pencil is made

Let’s also mention – those interested in the pencil manufacturing process have much more complex questions – they want to know the chemical composition of the lead, the species and origin of the wood. They want to know what’s in the glue and the paint. No secrets like that are given away here.

How a pencil is made

The kit is definitely recommended for those interested in a unique pencil item.

June 8, 2008

Hankook Sharp pencil

Hankook Sharp is a relatively young Korean stationer, established in 1989. Their specialty is lead for mechanical pencils, but they also produce woodcase pencils.

The Hankook Sharp and several other Korean pencils we’ll look at in the days ahead were very kindly provided to me by Kent. We’ll start with the regular office pencils, before moving on to the premium offerings.

Korean pencils

A basic office pencil in yellow with gold-colored ferrule and pink-red eraser, the Hankook Sharp has very little text. It is marked with a logo and “Hankook Sharp HB”.

And one other marking that I almost sharpened away – the pencil is marked “China” in very fine print, close to the tip. The first sharpening eliminated this marking!

“Hankook” means “Korea” in the Korean language, so some might be curious about the pencil’s non-Korean origin.

The pencil is a very rounded hexagon – I don’t especially like the form factor, but others definitely do find the grip comfortable.

The wood appears very pale with little grain – probably basswood.

The real surprise is the lead, and this may reflect Hankook Sharp’s background as a lead manufacturer. The lead is very waxy and smooth for a cheap pencil – perhaps it is a polymer based compound.

I am definitely looking forward to trying other Korean pencils.