Thursday, October 13, 2016

Pencil time

On Tuesday, The New York Times took a quick look at the Eberhard Faber Company building in Greenpernt. And NPR answered the question “How is pencil lead made?” I wrote in an e-mail:

I was going to say that it appears that the pencil is “having a moment,” but it’s always pencil time.
Related reading
All OCA pencil posts (Pinboard)

comments: 3

Berit said...

I just love my pencils! Sadly, (typically?) my favorites are no longer being manufactured as far as I can find. Would you agree that pencils are a dowdy-world staple which has retained its relevance and prominence where others have faded and declined?

Michael Leddy said...

Well, yes. (It’s always pencil time!) But there are pencils and then there are pencils — those with poorly centered lead that won’t sharpen and those that are well made. I think that the number of people who care about pencils is much smaller than in the past. But for people who like them, or who like fountain pens, or old records, or tube amps, or whatever the artifacts, they still matter.

When I started paying attention to pencils (after Henry Petroski’s book), I could order Black Velvets, Black Warriors, Blackwings, Mirados, and Mongols from the local office-supply store. When I look back, I think wow .

Michael Leddy said...

Berit, are you looking for Bruynzeels? Amazon has them, though they may not be the ones you like. The vendor, OMGHOWCHEAP Ltd., has 92% approval.