My Favorite Pencils

 

I love pencils. Pencils with soft, creamy leads. The kind that flow across the paper as though they were ink: 3B to 6B work best for me.

It’s a bit difficult to find such in the sea of No. 2 (HB) pencils.

Why did the HB pencil become the standard? I have no idea. It’s a hard lead and leaves a faint, light line; unless you press the heck out of it. And who wants to do that? Tendonitis and carpel tunnel, you know.

So if one doesn’t use the old No. 2, what does one use? Good question, that. And I have a few answers.

Woodcased Pencils

The woodcased pencil dates back to the middle of the 1500s. But the pencil as we know it today was simultaneously invented in the 1790s by Joseph Hardtmuth in Austria and Nicolas-Jacques Conté in France.

There are dozens of pencil brands available, but only two are made in the USA. The companies are General Pencil Company and Musgrave Pencil Company.

Both companies make excellent pencils that are very easy on the wallet and whose quality matches or surpasses most of the foreign competition. They are the pencils I use almost exclusively.

Of the two companies, I prefer the pencils from Musgrave because I find their lead has a softer and creamier feel to it. It flows onto the paper like ink.

The 600 News and the Test Scoring 100 are my favorite Musgrave pencils. The lead in those two is soft and dark. Easy on the hands. No writer’s cramp. And I find them to be superior to the newly reintroduced and highly talked about Blackwing pencils, which are Japanese made. And run $2.50 per pencil compared to the 600 News at $1.17 and the Test Scoring at 85¢.

You can buy Musgrave pencils direct from the company: https://musgravepencil.com

Mechanical Pencils

I’m a big fan of mechanical pencils. They are very economical. Much more so than woodcased pencils. And their length never changes, so the feel is consistent in the hand. Plus, the pencil will last several lifetimes when given reasonable care. And the lead sticks are dirt cheap.

My go to pencils are a vintage Sheaffer and a vintage Mabie Todd “Fyne Poynt”.

They use .046 inch/1.1mm leads. The same size found in woodcased pencils.

Both pencils twist to push the lead forward. To load the pencil, simply retract the pusher a bit, insert the stick of lead, then retract all the way. 

The Sheaffer and Mabie Todd are my favorites out of the small collection I have. The Sheaffer has a beige-yellow base with red, gray, and black swirls; a black end cap; and silver-colored clip and front cone. The Mabie Todd is black, with gold-colored clip, mid-ring, and front cone. Both are very stunning pencils.

Occasionally I’ll use a lead holder. My interest in them goes back to high school drafting class.

To load a lead holder, you press a button at the back of the pencil body which extends the “claw” from the front. You then insert the lead and let go of the button. The “claw” holds the lead in place.

What’s especially nice about lead holders is that they are about the same length as a new woodcased pencil — and they never get shorter!

The Joy of Pencils

Pencils are a cheap alternative to pens. They produce a fairly consistent line, won’t skip or blob on the paper, won’t dry up, will write at any angle, will always start (I hate when a pen won’t write), and they don’t leak (making them great to use on airplanes, and safe to put in your shirt pocket).

I love pencils and find that I reach for them more often than a pen these days.

Find yourself a good vintage mechanical pencil on eBay and you’ll have a companion for life.

Or visit the Musgrave website and pick up the best woodcase pencils available today.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with two bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

This Guy

This week, I’m honored to be the guest on Lisette Brodey’s Writers’ Chateau. If you don’t know Lisette, she is a fellow multi-genre author. She writes Literary Fiction, RomCom, and YA.

Head on over to the Chateau and while there explore what Lisette has to offer in the way of fine reading on her site. She’s a lovely person and well worth getting to know!

I met her on Twitter through one of my favorite writers, Richard Schwindt.

Since you’ll learn quite a bit about me in the interview with Lisette, I thought I’d share a couple things about me that didn’t make it into the interview. A couple things I’m rather passionate about.

I love writing instruments. All manner of pencils: woodcased, mechanical, and lead holders. I also love all manner of pens (except ballpoints/biros): dip pens, fountain pens, rollerballs, and gel pens.

I tend to accumulate writing instruments as Midas did gold. I don’t say “collect”, because that implies some thought to the process. I don’t have a collection, per se. It is an accumulation of items that please the eye or that I like using.

Favorite woodcased pencils include those made by the General Pencil Company, because the are very good quality and made right here in the USA. I also like the pencils made by Staedtler. They’re from Germany and also very good quality.

My favorite rollerball is the Pilot Precise V5, and my favorite gel pen is the Pilot G-2. Although Pentel’s Slicci is also very nice.

My other great passion is tea. Ever since I can remember I’ve drunk tea. I have my paternal grandmother to thank for that. She also gave me my love for classical music. Which is my third great passion. The joys of drinking tea and listening to classical music have enriched my life beyond measure.

I mostly drink black tea, although I occasionally have green tea in the afternoons.

Growing up, the tea was Lipton, with Bigelow’s Constant Comment on Sundays or special occasions.

These days, I still buy Lipton, mostly for nostalgia, but loose rather than tea bags. Although my tea palate has expanded to specialty teas since those early days of my childhood.

My favorite way to make tea is the two pot method, because I think you get the best flavor that way. The loose tea is steeped in one pot, and then decanted into the second pot for serving.

Once again, I invite you to take a look at my interview on Lisette Brodey’s Writers’ Chateau.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

The Fabulous Pencil

I love pencils. They are an extremely utilitarian writing instrument. While the US spent millions developing a pen to write in outer space, the Soviets, strapped for cash, simply used a pencil.

Pencils are uncomplicated and yet are a fairly complex bit of engineering. And I am referring to the “simple” wood-cased pencil. It is their uncomplicated nature which appeals to me. Simply sharpen and write.

To save wear and tear on my hand, I like using a soft lead. I can get a dark enough line to read and not exert much pressure to do so. Depending on the manufacturer, a 2B, 3B, or 4B is best for me.

But why use a pencil at all? In this day and age, with computers, smart phones, and tablets, why use a pencil -- why write, by hand?

Check out these articles which show the benefits of writing by hand:

The Lowdown on Longhand

Do Writers Need to Write by Hand

Type or Write

The bottom line? We retain more information with writing by hand over typing and we become more thoughtful composers. Our sentence structure and grammar are better and we have more coherent thoughts.

My favorite pencils are General’s Semi-Hex No. 1 and General’s Test Scoring No. 580. The lead on each is soft and smooth, yet they keep a decent point, and the cost is very reasonable. Plus they are made in America.

The other pencils I tend to reach for are the Staedtler Mars Lumograph in 3B and the Blackwing series by Palomino. The former is made in Germany and the latter in Japan. Both are very smooth writing. The downside is cost. They are pricey.

So the next time you start to write your version of the Great American Novel, reach for a pencil.

Do you have a favorite pencil? If so, share what it is!

[Originally published 23 January 2015 on www.cwhawes.com.]