exploring the art and science of pencils since 2005
Here is a fascinating and mysterious pencil. Take a close look – it is a gold pentagonal pencil!
If this explanation has errors, please forgive me. Any errors are on my part.
Some Japanese-English vocabulary:
?? – Goukaku – to pass an examination
?? – Gokaku – pentagon
This pencil is thus a visual pun!
My sincere thanks to isu of the uncomfortable chair for this unique pencil and assistance in unravelling the hidden meaning!
This is a super-lightweight yet fun and practical notebook.
Made of cardboard with paper that is called “comic” (from comic books?), it has a bright removable elastic band.
It has that look of a found or reclaimed object, though there is clearly quite a bit of design in this functional notebook. It may be part of a larger movement that seems focused on used basic materials, yet incorporating design principles.
The paper takes pencil without problem. A Pilot Petit1 fountain pen saturated the page to the other side, though didn’t noticeably feather.
The pages are ring-bound.
Finally – a modern design aesthetic applied to the desktop pencil sharpener!
The Bungu Ryodo BR-05 from Carl is a marvel – it costs less than some handheld sharpeners from Faber-Castell and KUM – and it performs amazingly well and has a compelling modern design.
The mechanism is easily understood, and offers two point choices – blunt or sharp. Both are in the “wow” category compared to most available sharpeners. The pencil shavings are held in a removable tray.
The little touches are just amazing – the point adjustor switch itself looks like a pencil crown – there are tactile dots on the grip points – every small detail has a consistent look.
Did I mention that the retail price is $21?
I find it to be just amazing. The pencil is inserted and clamped, and the handle is rotated. Sharpen, and you’re done when there is no feedback pressure. That’s it.
Here are the results with both ‘sharp’ and ‘blunt’ sharpenings:
It has a single rotary blade cylinder which is applied against the pencil. I don’t know how long the blade will stay sharp. The sharpener is lightweight, and the whole unit has to be gripped while sharpening, unless it is attached to a desk surface. It does have clamping-capable infrastructure, though no clamping hardware is supplied with the unit.
It is definitely a functional office accessory that also looks great.
An online search inadvertently led me to a recently released report from the group ForestEthics.
They rate pencils/pencil companies in terms of friendliness to the Sierra Nevada forests of California. Some of the marks are for specific pencils, while others are for entire companies.
Here are their basic ratings (see the report for details):
ForestChoice: A
Greenline Paper Company: A
Green Apple: C
Paper Mate: C
Dixon/Ticonderoga: F
USA Gold: F
Well, I’m sure a few problems with this rating are obvious. Pencils that probably twice crossed an ocean may not not be harming the Sierra Nevada, but that hardly makes them environmentally ideal.
Greenline (which I had not previously heard of) is additionally problematic in another way – these rolled newspaper pencils have been discussed here before, and their environmental benefits are far from clear.
We’ve seen special pencils aimed at optical and electro-mechanical mark recognition – the vintage IBM Electrographic, and the more recent Musgrave Test Scoring Pencil.
Quite a few people seem to be interested in these pencils, so I’m pleased to be able to mention a superb modern example that I recently learned about – the Pentel Mark Sheet pencil.
This hexagonal pencil is finished in blue with silver lettering. Two grades exist – HB, which has an orange cap, and B, with a red cap.
The pencils are marked –
Side 1: Pentel Mark Sheet Pencil HB
Side 3: the best quality for OCR sheet marking CM10 Japan HB
Side 5: [bar code]
The lead is just superb – at the pinnacle of modern graphite quality. The pencils leave extremely dark, rich lines. There is often a crumbling issue when a pencil’s graphite saturation reaches this level, but these pencils have no such problem.
It would be hard to imagine a better performing pencil.
