Rhodia pencils

The Rhodia pencil.

Rhodia (or to be be precise, Exaclair, the US distributor of the conglomerate that owns the Rhodia brand) contacted me and asked if they could send two of their Rhodia brand pencils.

Let me confess – these weren’t my first Rhodia pencils. I learned of the Rhodia pencil line from the old “Moleskine Art” blog, a predecessor of the excellent Scription. This was probably 2006 or so. I was so eager to see the products that I ordered some from overseas, which was a major event for me back then. (How times change!) The pencils were mentioned on the blog’s 1st anniversary post.

What I noticed online was the widely varying reaction to the pencil – ranging from excellent to poor. The pencil has no markings other than the Rhodia firs logo, so it is hard to know if commentators are talking about the same pencil. I was happy to engage with Exaclair just so that I could ask – has the Rhodia pencil changed? I also wanted to ask – where does it come from?

The pencil is very curious in advertising that it uses Linden wood, also known as lime wood or basswood. It is very unusual for pencils not made of cedar to mention their species of wood. Linden wood/Basswood is considered is a budget alternative to cedar, so it is a surprising association for a premier brand like Rhodia.

The black died wood seems to have received a treatment which made sharpening relatively easy.

So are the 2006 and 2011 Rhodia pencils the same? I was told “yes”, but the 2011 pencil is clearly and distinctly better in my testing. Probably two degrees darker and much smoother.

So where is it made? I didn’t get a clear answer to that question.

The product seems to have been quietly improved over the years, and is certainly worth a try, especially if you like Rhodia’s paper products.

The joy of a large piece of paper

My desk. :-)

Who enjoys using a large piece of paper?

On the forefront of the photo is a Miquelrius “Grid-It!” series notepad in “The Guardian” design. Each sheet of paper shows a 1988 newspaper layout design by David Hillman. It is the layout for a sheet of newspaper.

At 375mm x 600mm, each sheet is 0.225 square metres, or 2.42 square feet.

The significance is appreciated – I have been a previous subscriber to the Guardian’s international edition, and can still purchase the Saturday edition in walking distance from my house. It seems to be a strong international representative of the UK.

In the background is the Rhodia No. 38 “dotPad” – a black covered, dotted grid version of the famous Rhodia notepad.

The dotPad is advertised as 420mm x 318mm, but that includes an unusable section bound with staples. The usable (and detachable, via perforation) area is the standard A3 sized 420mm x 297mm. I measured the notepad with my Danish Folle ruler, and am not just accepting the manufacturer’s statements.

A3 paper is 420mm x 297mm = 0.125 square metres or 1.35 square feet, so it is about half the size of the Miquelrius pad.

These types of paper are great for design work and drawing graphs of several types, which I do.

For paper of this weight and dimension, mail order tends to be impractical, and I was fortunate to find these items locally.

The Guardian notepad was purchased at Phidon Pens in Cambridge, Ontario.

The Rhodia dotPad was purchased at Write Impressions in Waterloo, Ontario.

Also, the official page for The Guardian Miquelrius notepad.

Much of the monitor screen real estate is unfortunately blank as I was trying to view the currently offline Pencils and Music website.

Does anyone else like large format paper?

Notebooks from Laywine’s

Notebooks from Laywine's in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Between online selling and big box stores, many types of smaller businesses are feeling the pinch today. The independent stationery store is unfortunately a relic in many places. One exception may be New York City. (See these posts at Pocket Blonde. New York looks great!)

One way of fighting back is to move up the food chain and specialize in higher profit areas like custom stationery or fountain pens. Yet even that is getting tougher as online selling grows. I often read that the Lamy Safari is a great $20 fountain pen. But every retailer in Canada that I’m aware of charges between $42 and $46 for this pen. At $46 plus 13% sales tax, that is $C51.98 (or $US51.08 at today’s rate). So is it a great $51 pen? And just where is it sold for $20? Well, online. Yes, it might actually be $21 or $25 plus shipping, but that’s still nowhere near $51.

So you can see the challenge that a brick and mortar retailer might have. Now think about $200 vs $500 for a pen. (I think this ratio continues to hold up, from what I’ve observed.)

Laywine’s is a store in Toronto that I recently visited. I think they’ve found one good way of competing with online retailers – by comprehensively stocking a broad array of all these brands that we see promoted online. In fact they had many products that I’ve not previously heard of, despite my keeping up with several stationery websites and blogs.

I’m not mentioning looseleaf paper, agendas, fancy journals, or correspondence oriented stationery – and trust me, they have plenty of items in those categories as well.

So let me mention some of the notebook brands and items they have:

Clairefontaine and Rhodia – they’ve always stocked these brands, and comprehensively – the Rhodia pads from the tiny jotters to (my favourite) the mighty A3 sized No. 38. The ring-bound Clairings and Pollen paper and new tobacco-coloured (age bag) 9cm x 14cm formats were standouts for me.

Moleskine – This store was selling this brand when they had fuzzy faux animal print covers and we thought they were made in Italy. They still have a full line, including the new A3 and A4 formats.

Field Notes – Here it starts to get interesting. Laywine’s has this brand in regular and “special edition” formats. I bought an orange pack and three-colour pack. Much cheaper than mail order as well.

Doane Paper – another brand that I associated with online marketing. I learned of them from the reviews at the Pen Addict blog. I wasn’t aware that they had a retail presence. I walked away with several formats (and wish I had bought more).

Behance – we’ve looked at Behance in the past. Laywine’s again has the full range, as far as I could tell.

Letts – I was not aware of a new notebook line from this established name, and picked up a notebook in a very pleasing and unusual dimension. (172mm x 232mm).

Leuchtturm – there were even more formats here than I’ve seen for sale online (including thick/thin versions and dotted/lattice versions).

Canteo – the first time I’ve seen this fantastic Swiss brand at retail. (I love the 4mm grey squared paper.) The offerings were limited, but they said that more is on the way.

Whitelines – Apart from the many versions I’ve already seen, they had hardcover and glued pad formats that were new to me.

Miquelrius – I’m afraid this was my biggest disappointment. All the Miquelrius notebooks I saw (some in a pleasing composition book format) looked poorly finished, and I’ll have to wait to try out their line.

Apica – another line that Laywine’s has stocked for several years.

There are other Japanese brands they stock, but whose names I’m not sure I can accurately identify.

So by bringing all these brands together, this store is creating a powerful and compelling counterforce to online ordering. They’re benefitting from the online hype without selling online. And, what a great store it is! The photo shows some of my purchase.

I don’t think any single online source has such an array – Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Moleskine, Canteo, Leuchtturm, Apica, Rhodia, Field Notes, Doane Paper, Behance, Letts, Whitelines, Miquelrius, Apica, all side by side.

So if you happen to visit Toronto and like stationery, I do recommend a stop at Laywine’s. Maybe there is a great stationer in your locale that you’d like to recommend?

Erasers: The Pink Pearl, the Staedtler Mars plastic, and others.

Erasers: The Pink Pearl, the Staedtler Mars plastic, and others.

Let’s take a look at some popular pencil erasers.

When I’m taking notes at a meeting, I rarely use an eraser. There just isn’t time. I strike out the error, and carry on. But at my desk or at home, the ability to correct one’s writing, charts, and drawings is a major benefit of the pencil. It’s especially great when the eraser works well.

I wanted to look at the two leading erasers that I see in the marketplace – the “Pink Pearl”, and the “white vinyl” type, specifically the Staedtler Mars plastic. I’ve also added in a gum eraser, and a kneadable eraser. There are still other types of erasers, but I think these four represent the main categories one would encounter in an office or art supply shop. I specifically wanted to test the Pink Pearl and Mars plastic side by side since they are so well known.

The science behind gum, rubber and erasing is interesting, but out of our scope today. There are some links below for further reading.

For the test, I sought brand new erasers at local stores. The Mars plastic came fully wrapped. The Pink Pearl was in a “blister pack” of three, the Lyra kneadable eraser was partially wrapped, and the General’s gum eraser was loose. The exact models used were:

General’s Gum Eraser No. 136E

Dixon Pink Pearl 101

Staedtler Mars plastic 526 50 UP

Lyra Knetgummi 3467

My reference pencil, the Staedler Mars Lumograph 100, was used for the first round of tests. A second test suite was done with Pentel Hi-Polymer Super 0.9mm HB lead, used in a mechanical pencil. This was partly to contrast the pencil lead types, as well as give the erasers additional tests.

Four paper types were chosen to represent a spectrum of types and quality. Two cheaper papers (Office copy, Moleskine), and two better quality papers, including watercolor paper – Rhodia, and Strathmore cold press watercolor. The exact papers were:

Xerox Business 4200 20lb. 75g/m2, 92 brightness

Moleskine

Rhodia vellum paper 21.3lb 80g/m2

Strathmore Watercolor cold press 140lb 300g/m2

Two type of markings were made – a straight line, and a doodle/shading of a square area.

I took photos as well as having the original documents for comparison. I realized that this also turned out to be a test of the papers and leads from the erasure perspective.

Here is a test sample, the Mars Lumograph 100 on Rhodia, before and after erasure.

Erasers: The Pink Pearl, the Staedtler Mars plastic, and others.Erasers: The Pink Pearl, the Staedtler Mars plastic, and others.

Here are the scores. The erasure results were ranked 1 to 4, with 1 being the best erasure, and 4 the worst erasure.

Chart 1: Lumograph 100 line erasure

Xerox Moleskine Rhodia Strathmore
Gum 2 1 2 2
Pink Pearl 4 4 4 4
Mars plastic 1 2 1 1
Kneaded 3 3 3 3

Chart 2: Lumograph 100 drawing erasure

Xerox Moleskine Rhodia Strathmore
Gum 2 1 3 1
Pink Pearl 4 4 4 4
Mars plastic 3 2 1 2
Kneaded 1 3 2 3

Chart 3: Pentel Hi-Polymer Super line erasure

Xerox Moleskine Rhodia Strathmore
Gum 2 3 2 2
Pink Pearl 4 4 4 4
Mars plastic 1 1 1 1
Kneaded 3 2 3 3

Chart 4: Pentel Hi-Polymer Super drawing erasure

Xerox Moleskine Rhodia Strathmore
Gum 1 3 3 1
Pink Pearl 4 4 4 4
Mars plastic 2 1 1 2
Kneaded 3 2 2 3

Interpreting these results, the Mars plastic is the best or almost the best at erasing lines on all types of paper. Erasing a Lumograph 100 drawing, the General’s Gum eraser performed slightly better. At Pentel drawings, the kneaded eraser did very well, though not better than the Mars.

The overall test winner is the Staedtler Mars plastic, with a nod to the General’s Gum for woodcase pencil artists, and kneaded erasers for mechanical pencil artists. As the results depended on the task and type of lead and paper, the real lesson is that an eraser has to be looked at as part of a pencil/paper/eraser combination, and in the context of usage.

The Pink Pearl was a disappointment. It came last in all sixteen invividual tests, and sometimes left a pinkish smear.

The kneaded eraser has a major benefit that became apparent as my desk got filled with eraser detritus: Kneaded erasers leave no residue, since they absorb the graphite as they erase. The eraser thus gradually becomes darker (and dirtier) over time.

An observation about the pencil lead is that the mechanical pencil lead is much more erasable – remarkably so in some cases. The Pentel markings on the Moleskine and Rhodia seemed to just disappear with the Mars eraser. The mark’s only remaining evidence seemed to be indentations in the paper from the pencil’s pressure – and these require careful examination to see.

The photocopy paper and the artist’s watercolour paper – neither of which were created for pencil use – retained the most graphite after erasure attempts.

Further reading:

Erasers World A collection and information site for erasers. Several interesting company biographies, as well as essays on erasers and eraser materials.

Joy of Erasers Blog devoted to erasers.

Wikipedia eraser article Not bad for Wikipedia.

Chemical & Engineering News Informative non-technical article on erasers.

Staedtler document on erasers (700K PDF) A mix of technical and marketing information about erasers.