To complement a previous post on the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, here are some photos of another pencil legend, the Tombow Mono 100.
The packaging has an outer layer – a silver and black cardboard sleeve. One end is fully rounded, which is not really that much of a flourish, but still untypical. It’s no ordinary pencil box.
The case is black with a silver lid. The lid has a clear window, showing the pencils inside.
Here’s a photo of the Mono 100 with some other top Japanese pencils:
pencil talk 1st anniversary: The Rhodia Pencil
This blog is now one year old! The first post was on an iconic stationery item: the Rhodia pad. A year later, we’re happy to welcome an accompanying Rhodia pencil.
The pencil is painted in Rhodia’s famous orange. It’s very distinctive, with a triangular body, black dyed wood, black ferrule and black eraser. The imprinting is minimal: each side has Rhodia’s two fir tree logo and name.
I’m not sure how well the photo reflects this, but the pencils were covered in graphite dust when they arrived. And not just a light dusting – enough that I’m not sure they can all be fully cleaned up. It seems very odd for a pencil at this price point. The Palomino is the only other pencil I’m aware of with this presentation issue.
The pencil handles nicely, and the lead is rich and dark. I’m not a huge fan of erasers being on a pencil, but these seemed sleek, and are very effective at erasure.
There is no country of origin stated, though I have a suspicion.
Overall, they’re nice pencils, and ideal for jotting notes in your Rhodia pad.
Two small pencil design elements
Here are two small pencil design elements that I like.
Removable Barcode
The scannable barcode seems to have become a required retail practice. For small objects like pens and pencils, there seem to be two approaches – place them in a cardboard and plastic package with the barcode, or directly imprint them.
For a nice looking pencil, the retailer’s step forward is the purchaser’s step backward. A pencil just doesn’t need a barcode. For some, using this simple and useful writing implement is a step away from rampant digitization. In any case, I think classic pencil finishes like Faber-Castell’s forest green, Staedtler’s blue, and Towbow’s glosssy black have been diminished by the addition of barcodes.
There does seem to be an innovative workaround. Caran d’Ache places a small perforated plastic wrapper around the pencil’s tip. The wrapper has the scannable barcode imprinted. After purchase, you remove the small wrapper, and you have a clean looking pencil. Well done!
Grade on cap
The caps of pencils may have an eraser, be unfinished, or as with most premium pencils, be eraserless with a finished cap. For pencils that might be offered in many grades, I like the imprinting of the grade on the cap. It really makes it easy to find the right pencil for a task. Maybe it would detract from a high-end pencil, but it seems like a good idea based on the few I have seen.
Mitsubishi Hi-Uni Photos
In response to a request, here are some more photos of the Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils and their packaging.
It’s a lot of packaging for a dozen pencils. The good thing is that this box seems to actually protect (as opposed to just house or congregate) the pencils. Even with several pencils removed, the remaining ones don’t roll about, due to an insert that separates the pencils. It seems much more useful for travel than just a loose pencil case.
Okay, on with the show.
Here is the green sleeve alongside the pencil box:
The green sleeve has a cutout that corresponds to a degree marking on the box:
The box is black plastic with a clear one-third length lid that flips open:
They’re a nice set of pencils:
Here is Hi-Uni next to a Tombow Mono 100. Two great pencils.
Wide lead art pencils: The Lyra Ferby and Grafitkreide
Here are two really fun pencils that I found at a local art supply store.
The first is the Lyra Ferby Graphit 97100. It is a natural finish oversize triangular pencil. The length of the pencil is less than a standard pencil. The lead is also oversize.
This pencil is pure fun. The lead is very dark and smooth, of the same calibre as premium standard sized pencils. Although the pencil might be aimed at children, it makes sense that an art supply store (and a selective one compared to most in these parts) would stock this implement. You can’t help but start drawing or doodling with it.
It lets you do serious things with it, but if you don’t, that’s also fine.
The second pencil is also from Lyra, and it’s actually a pure stick or crayon of graphite with a paper wrapping. It’s identified as the Lyra 1772. This thing can draw some incredible lines. In 9B, it owns any page it touches, with it’s smooth dark markings.
But the fun doesn’t end there – there is a water-soluble variant, the Lyra 1773. Wrapped in blue paper (the 1772 has a black wrapper) , it’s slightly smaller in diameter.
You can dip it in water and start sketching – it creates an amazing silvery metallic finish. Or if your brush skills are up to the task, you can sketch first, and apply a brush with water. My attempts just smeared whatever I drew, but I’m sure a more skilled hand would succeed.
For a buck or two, I think these are a lot of fun.
Top Japanese Pencils: The Mitsubishi Hi-uni and the Tombow Mono 100
Hello, it’s been a while since this blog has been online or updated. Good news: The server hosting the blog survived being in storage, and has again been cranked up and placed online!
Thank you to those who wrote notes of encouragement about the blog. They were definitely appreciated.
Even better news is that there are lots of things to write about. I thought I would start with two top Japanese pencils. A couple of years ago, these were very hard to acquire in North America. Thanks to the internet, they’re now possible (though still far from easy) to source.
The intriguing cap of the Tombow Mono 100
The Mitsubishi Hi-Uni is the top woodcase pencil in the Mitsubishi Pencil Company’s line. There seems to be no doubt that mechanical pencils are much more widely used in Japan, with woodcase pencils like these considered niche products.
This pencil’s packaging announces it – a light green cardboard sleeve with a cutout that lets one see a half dozen pencil crowns. Taking off the sleeve, there is a black plastic box with a clear plastic lid that pops up to allow access. The interior of the box has a many-spoked divider that keeps each of the twelve pencils separate. It’s heavier than any pencil box I’ve encountered, and definitely indicates that the contents are valuable.
The pencils are offered with a heavily varnished maroon finish, topped by a black crown. The stamping is gold, along with a white barcode. The pencils are also distinguished by the orange dot on their tops.
The intriguing cap of the Mitsubishi Hi-uni
They sharpen easily, and in HB have a very rich dark lead that doesn’t crumble. On paper, the markings seem reasonably smear proof. I look forward to trying some other hardnesses. I haven’t spent too much time with them yet, but hope to soon give them a lengthier workout. I’ve found that some pencils which do well for a few jottings aren’t necessarily great all day writers.
The Tombow Mono 100 is a legend, especially in the animation field. It has a reputation as a high quality professional pencil. Dick Blick calls it the “gold standard.” I’ve spent quite a few dollars not getting this pencil – ordering it and being sent something else. Anyhow, I’m glad to finally have a few in my stash. They’re black, with gold band, and a white stripe that traverses the pencil’s cap.
They’re just a wee bit longer than any non-erasered pencil I have. A slight compensation for their price, I suppose.
They sharpen well, and like the Hi-uni, have a dark rich lead. I have tried them for a sufficient period of time to confirm that they make a great writer.
To my eye, the finish of both pencils is disappointing. Maybe I was expecting too much, but they’re overcrowded with too many font faces – both of them. A pencil just doesn’t have room for six different fonts without being very distracting. And of course the almost ubiquitous bar code makes them less sleek. They do have superior paint finishes, though.
Now as pencils – they’re really good. They seem to have the dark lead (the right combination of graphite, clay, wax, and other ingredients) that’s so pleasing to see on paper, without the crumbling or quick point erosion that some other attempts at dark leads have seen.