In Praise of Pencils
Not just for doodling
(First in a series about tactile analogue objects of use)
I do love a good pencil and the good thing about pencils is they’re more or less all good. Some are not so great, some are exceptional but for the most part you’ll be hard pressed to find a bad pencil.
When I was at school, most upgraded to ink pretty quickly, the promise of owning your very own Berol Handwriter was exciting. Some even got a fountain pen (or cartridge pen as we mostly referred to them as). Me… not so much.
I liked pencils.
I liked the way they drew, they way they wrote and even at that age I took time and pride in my sharpening technique; not so much pressure that you snapped the point off and you’d have to start again, but just enough to get a sharp point in one or maybe two turns. It was an art.
Forced miserably into penmanship, I took a stand… everything I wrote would be written in pencil first, then slowly traced over with a pen. Yes, it took twice as long but I was adamant that my handwriting just looked better in pencil than it did in pen.
I still hold this true, to this day.
I appreciate that there is a vast array of pens out there at every conceivable budget, and one of them would do me right in the handwriting stakes, but nothing beats graphite on paper. The variable thickness of the line, the pull of the lead on the paper (the draw, or the tooth, depending on who you’re talking too)… it’s good. The only thing that ever came close was a Montblanc Grand Plume (a university graduation gift from my parents*) but at few hundred quid it’s not the kind of thing you chuck in your bag or pocket for when you need to scribble out a shopping list, write down some dimensions or strike a cut line on wood. Pencils are cheap**, ubiquitous and low maintenance; in many regards they’re the perfect tool. Graphite is erasable yet archival under the right conditions and that’s part of the magical properties of graphite - so fragile yet technically lasts forever if you leave it alone.
Speaking of graphite, I've learnt over the years that there's ones I like more than others.
Ranked, personally I go European, American, Japanese.
For a long time the only pencils I knew about where what you could get in W.H. Smith (a large national high-street newsagent / stationer / bookshop here in the UK). Staples included the Staedtler Noris and Tradition; the standard school pencil. Step up from those and you're into boxes of variously graded Lumograph sketching and drafting pencils, and they're good. They're all good. Want to step up to something a bit fancier? Then there's Daler Rowney art supplies... and that's a rabbit hole all of it's own.
The Americans: Dixon Ticonderoga - very much the Staedtler of the States. The school pencil in vibrant yellow with the green metal ferrule. It's a great pencil. Musgrave Pencil Co - a fairly new brand to me, but have been making pencils for over a century make some beautiful wood-case pencils. My personal favourites are the Bugle and Tennessee Red - made with very fragrant red cedar... those are absolutely what I call *sniffers* - the impossible urge to put the freshly sharpened end up to your nose for a deep inhale.
The Japanese: There's something special about Japanese graphite. It's softer, it's darker, it's more chalky but also a lot finer. I can't say I've tried them all, but for me a Tombo 8900 NËš2 is pencil nirvana. The unassuming green paint, on one facet the brand and grade stamped in gold cursive and on another facet, in bold white serif: FOR GENERAL WRITING. If you ask to borrow a pencil from me, chances are I'll hand you a 8900 with a long point.
Various other rabbit holes to dive into include the worlds of mechanical pencils (twisty, propelling) clutch pencils (Personally I like the Koh-i-Noor Versatil Short... a great pocket pencil!) and sharpeners. Do you like a stubby golf point, regular point, long point? (I like a long point sharpen personally, either with a KUM or Aspara Long Point sharpener)
Special Mention: Palomino Blackwing. I didn't get it to start with. Pencils are pencils, surely? There's variation and gradation between them but how on earth does a pencil cost so much money? When an internet friend sent me a Blackwing Pearl and I had the lightbulb moment... It's impossible to describe in words, but I get it now.
So… go and find a pencil and put a nice sharp point on it. If you’ve been out of the pencil game for a while you’ll be amazed at what’s available and if you’re like me and just can’t stop yourself diving into a new thing be prepared to be making a lot of shavings.
*I never did tell them that I had to sell my Montblanc several years later. Unfortuantly the rent was due and I needed the money. "It's just things" I told myself. I wish there had been another way.
**Looking at you Blackwing
Further reading and notes:
Wood and Graphite: TJ isn't make videos any more, but the archive is still available and he's a man who knows a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to pencils.
Neros Notes: a treasure trove of pens, paper, notebooks and analogue ephemera. Excellent packaging and sweets with every order. Can't fault that.
50 Things That Made The Modern Economy: The Pencil
In Memorium: The Stationer and Paperchase. Two high street emporiums of fine analogue things, now sadly departed.