Pencil Things

A blog of all things... Scribomechanical

I just happened upon a really great blog, called Strikethru,which, according to their "About" blub, is:

This blog heartily approves of typewriters, old office forms, Polaroid film, collages, junk cameras, fountain pens, handwritten letters, rubber stamps, slide film, Moleskine (and other) notebooks, thrift stores, and fellow paper-based romantics who like the sound of a typewriter bell at the end of a sentence.

This pretty much sums up everything I mean when I use the word "Scribomechanica" (just check out some of my old posts -- you'll find it there). Typewriters, pens, paper, fountain pens, etc. Old non-electronic methods of written communication.

In fact, it seems that they are successfully accomplishing what I was trying to do with a failed blog project, Scribomechania.com, where I was going to magically find all the time in the world to re-post the pencil reviews you see here, and write other ones about non-pencil-related products, plus keep on top of related news.

But they encapsulate what I wasn't able to do. They post all sorts of awesome things. Check this image out:

(Click the image for a larger, higher-res image)

Though I'm not an Elmo man, they are really capturing the whole collage method, which I've been afraid to do. You can't add hyperlinks to a blog post written on a typewriter (in a beautiful cursive font -- bravo on the Hermes! I have an awesome portable Adler cursive typewriter that looks a lot like that), and you can't search for keywords in Technorati. But yet they somehow make it work. They call it "papercasting".

I do have to disagree with the Myndology ringed notebooks rave, though. Because of my rampant and obscene left-handedness, the rings totally get in the way. And when they're at the top or the bottom liek that, they can fall into a disarray that my slightly OCD sensibilities cannot stand.

Excitingly enough, Pencil Things is on their blogroll! I feel honored that we're there, friends at Strikethru. And hey, if you need any guest posts written, I'm your man. I'm gearing up for a doozy about typewriters here on this blog.

Anyway, bravo, Strikethru friends! It's good to know that there are others like me but more, well, accomplished at blogging about their love. And as soon as I can figure out how to modify my blogroll, you're totally going on it.

Click here to visit Strikethru.

—Andy Welfle

Ask Mr. Pencil — Selling your Blackwing

This just in as a comment to the Realist's Review of the Blackwing Pencil from Jan Young of Toledo, OH:

How does one go about selling Blackwing 602 pencils? I have found three boxes of these. One box is FaberCastell, and the other two boxes are Eberhard Faber. The gold print on the pencils marked FaberCastell has a much nicer look than the very shiney gold used on the two boxes of 602s from Eberhard Faber.

I'm faced with that same problem, Jan. I bought a dozen of those beauts on eBay a while ago for (relatively) cheap, hoping to sell them individually to make a profit. I paid about $16 per pencil, and since I've seen some go for as much as $40, I figured a profit margin of over 200% would be pretty good.

Trouble is, it's a hard sell. There are lots of people out there who are interested in buying, but it is kind of a niche market. For every interested party, there are multi-hundreds who say, "$40 for a PENCIL?! That's ridiculous!"

Me, I would first try eBay, Jan. There is a small posting fee, but it is inconsequential. Start the bidding low, like $10. Hopefully, that will attract people initially. If that doesn't work, try the Pencil Pages classifieds.  I am told it is checked regularly, and since only a pencilhead would go there, you know you're getting the right market.

Good luck! And hey, if anyone reading this blog wants to buy a Blackwing, let me know, and I'll be happy to put you in contact with Jan.

Good luck!

Some fine pencil sites

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted here -- a lack of new products to review, and a lack of time has kept me from engaging all you loyal PT.info readers.

But enough about that. I want to share with you a couple of pencil blogs out there that I have discovered within the last few days.

The Reciprocal Crap Exchange isn't a pencil blog, per se, but one of the bloggers who goes by the name Murderface is pencil-crazy like the rest of us. A quick warning, though, there is some not-so-PG-rated language, so proceed at your own risk. Here's the link. Check out the post about the California Republic Prospectors. It's quite good, and extremely funny, too. Murderface seems quite taken with the Shield, which isn't my favorite of the pencil point protectors. But everyone has their favorites. I myself like this one the best, but I can see where others may dislike it.

From the Crap Exchange, I found an amazing dedicated pencil blog, which makes me shake my head in wonderment that I've never run acrossed it before! It's Pencil Talk (dot) org, and it is really awesome. I've started to work my way through the archives, and I bow to the editor. I don't know what resources (s)he has at his/her disposal, but the content is great. Here's the link.

Hey, while I have your attention, this is a call for entries! I would love to keep this blog updated regularly, but I need your help! Email me if you run across any interesting or particular good (or bad) pencil things! I'd love to post what you have to say, or start a dialog with our readers about it! Are you looking for a pencil and don't know where to start? Again, let me know!

—Andy Welfle