Joel, you are a true renaissance man. Only you would add this off-topic post to your book reviews—and still keep my rapt attention. Pencils find themselves in my hands simply for woodworking, and they must stay short or get snagged on a thousand things as they protrude from my tool belt.
More than I ever wanted to know about pencils, yet once I'd peeked, I had to interrupt my own writing to read it all. AND make a comment!
I can't use a pencil myself. As one of the left-handed tribe, my moving hand smudges what I write and interrupts the fun. I use a cheap 1mm ball point, made in China, five for $4 Cdn at the Dollar Store. They're black, bold and dependable and I've grown fond of them. I have them scattered about and always available and I can give them away like a rich man if someone needs a pen.
A friend recently mentioned the same sinister difficulty. I hadn’t considered the problem until he mentioned it. Sounds like you’ve found a great workaround.
Fascinating article. I find it easier to type when I write, so I seldom use a pencil for writing. Where I do use it is for musical notation - I write down folk tunes that I want to remember. I prefer a mechanical pencil with a 0.7mm B hardness. I learned to like mechanical pencils when I took drafting - I like the prescision of the leads and the fine erasers. I use it to sketch in the notes, making sure I have them right, and then go over them with a fine tip pen to make it permanent. I also use pencils for sketching and marking when I am creating something out of wood, cloth, or paper, but then I tend to just grab the nearest pencil.
Splendid and fascinating! I loved learning all these details about invention and manufacturing, and now feel in excellent company using yellow legal pads. My favourite pencils used to be Staedler until they moved their manufacturing to China. Because they cheapened the process, the pencils then felt rubbery and you could snap them in half effortlessly (as my youngest son often did to demonstrate how terrible they were). So he and I actually wrote a letter to Staedler, expressing our disappointment at the changed quality, and they promptly sent a letter of apology, explanation of their changed material, along with their highest standard pencil, which was indeed marvelous. Thanks for this wonderfully researched Saturday morning diversion Joel!
I loved this post! I now know more about pencils, and their grading system, than I did before. I had only met the non-American system in the Winnie-the-Pooh books where "HB" stood for Helpful Bear and "BB" stood for Brave Bear.
Loved this piece. Somewhere along the way I found myself a sucker for a Blackwing pencil and have been hooked ever since. Didn't realize there was such a fetish but I guess I will have to count myself among those who love the feel of writing with a pencil. Though a good tactile keyboard also serves in a pinch. Haha. Thanks Joel. Love your work.
While I too like Musgrave, I am primarily a Blackwing devotee, usually Matte, although occasionally I’ll grab the 602s, just to try to free my inner Steinbeck.
I was very familiar of Leonard Reads’ “I Pencil” when I had to write a speak for the Congressman I was working for in the late 1970’s. I used it as the primary illustration to argue that Centralized Planning (like the USSR) does not work. Government can’t create anything. I I can’t remember who the audience was, maybe schoolchildren. But I love that illustration by Leonard Read.
Yeah, it’s a classic and such an insightful image. The real shocker is when you scale up the example to an iPhone. The complexity of the production inputs of a device like that is mind boggling.
Great essay! I started my engineering career with pencils, their hardness chosen not only by the desired intensity of a line, but depending on weather and humidity. To this day, when I model most of the designs in 3D software, pencils are my beloved, indispensable tools, for jotting down, writing, and sketching. Pencil is one of the everlasting inventions of the human race.
Fascinating history! Thanks for sharing. I, too, find myself again using no. 2 pencils to do my initial drafting. It’s reassuring to know I have such esteemed company in Morrison and Steinbeck.
And so many others! I could only include a few examples, but once you start poking around there’s a lot out there on the subject of who used what. Pretty fun.
Your writing reminds me of John McPhee. I love John McPhee. I love long leisurely literate explorations of topics like this. You are a good writer with interesting things to write about. I am forced to subscribe. How can I resist? BTW, I have found the image of Thoreau as a pencil engineer a good corrective to the adulation most people have of him. Like most of the back to the landers of my hippie days, he had a prosperous family and money behind him when he went to live in the woods for a short time. I suspect he might have brought his laundry home on weekends. Late in life, he became a tourist. I found a historical account of Minnesota history that described him taking a riverboat up the Minnesota Rive with a group of prosperous travelers to watch native American women play LaCrosse naked.
I don't use pencils that often for writing long things, but I've done some drawing with Staedtler pencils and they work fine. I guess I'm not too picky about brands, but maybe I would be if I was writing a whole book. As far as non-electric writing goes, I love my manual typewriters and Bic pens!
I really enjoyed learning about this history. Thank you!
One of the most interesting things I learned when working in a rare materials research library is that pencil often lasts longer than ink. Older inks sometimes rust through or otherwise corrode the paper beneath them, but pencil, as long as it doesn't get too smudged, can be quite a bit more durable over the long term. I was struck by how this turns our short-term sense that "pencil is ephemera, but ink is permanent" on its head!
That’s a fabulous bit of history. Thanks for that. Totally makes sense. There’s far more chemical complexity in ink that interacts with the paper, sometimes not beneficially. I’ve got notes I’ve written in books in red ink 10 or 15 years ago that are now blurry and faded—just 10 or 15 years. Meanwhile, graphite would look practically unchanged.
Think of the Civil War diary that a soldier tucked in his breast pocket along with a stubby pencil. These things survive and are clear and readable *because* of the pencil! Amazing.
When I saw the subject, I thought I'd just skim through this post. But it turned out to be truly fascinating, footnotes and all. Thanks for the research and the writing!
Joel, you are a true renaissance man. Only you would add this off-topic post to your book reviews—and still keep my rapt attention. Pencils find themselves in my hands simply for woodworking, and they must stay short or get snagged on a thousand things as they protrude from my tool belt.
Ha! Thanks, Wayne! You and Edison have something in common on that score.
More than I ever wanted to know about pencils, yet once I'd peeked, I had to interrupt my own writing to read it all. AND make a comment!
I can't use a pencil myself. As one of the left-handed tribe, my moving hand smudges what I write and interrupts the fun. I use a cheap 1mm ball point, made in China, five for $4 Cdn at the Dollar Store. They're black, bold and dependable and I've grown fond of them. I have them scattered about and always available and I can give them away like a rich man if someone needs a pen.
A friend recently mentioned the same sinister difficulty. I hadn’t considered the problem until he mentioned it. Sounds like you’ve found a great workaround.
Fascinating article. I find it easier to type when I write, so I seldom use a pencil for writing. Where I do use it is for musical notation - I write down folk tunes that I want to remember. I prefer a mechanical pencil with a 0.7mm B hardness. I learned to like mechanical pencils when I took drafting - I like the prescision of the leads and the fine erasers. I use it to sketch in the notes, making sure I have them right, and then go over them with a fine tip pen to make it permanent. I also use pencils for sketching and marking when I am creating something out of wood, cloth, or paper, but then I tend to just grab the nearest pencil.
Thanks for sharing that, Holly! I love hearing about particular uses.
Splendid and fascinating! I loved learning all these details about invention and manufacturing, and now feel in excellent company using yellow legal pads. My favourite pencils used to be Staedler until they moved their manufacturing to China. Because they cheapened the process, the pencils then felt rubbery and you could snap them in half effortlessly (as my youngest son often did to demonstrate how terrible they were). So he and I actually wrote a letter to Staedler, expressing our disappointment at the changed quality, and they promptly sent a letter of apology, explanation of their changed material, along with their highest standard pencil, which was indeed marvelous. Thanks for this wonderfully researched Saturday morning diversion Joel!
What a wonderful story about Staedler’s customer service. That’ll set an appropriately high bar for your son going forward.
And yes on the legal pads! They kept popping up as I was reading this and that. Maybe there’s another post there as well.
I loved this post! I now know more about pencils, and their grading system, than I did before. I had only met the non-American system in the Winnie-the-Pooh books where "HB" stood for Helpful Bear and "BB" stood for Brave Bear.
LOL. Thanks for reading!
Loved this piece. Somewhere along the way I found myself a sucker for a Blackwing pencil and have been hooked ever since. Didn't realize there was such a fetish but I guess I will have to count myself among those who love the feel of writing with a pencil. Though a good tactile keyboard also serves in a pinch. Haha. Thanks Joel. Love your work.
Thanks, Joseph! It was fun to research and put together.
While I too like Musgrave, I am primarily a Blackwing devotee, usually Matte, although occasionally I’ll grab the 602s, just to try to free my inner Steinbeck.
I’ve got a handful of Blackwings, gifted by a friend. They’re pretty great. I get the devotion.
I will say, we sell Blackwing in the book store but don’t sell Musgrave because they make wholesale way harder. That probably influences me ha
That’s a missed opportunity on their part!
I was very familiar of Leonard Reads’ “I Pencil” when I had to write a speak for the Congressman I was working for in the late 1970’s. I used it as the primary illustration to argue that Centralized Planning (like the USSR) does not work. Government can’t create anything. I I can’t remember who the audience was, maybe schoolchildren. But I love that illustration by Leonard Read.
Yeah, it’s a classic and such an insightful image. The real shocker is when you scale up the example to an iPhone. The complexity of the production inputs of a device like that is mind boggling.
Great essay! I started my engineering career with pencils, their hardness chosen not only by the desired intensity of a line, but depending on weather and humidity. To this day, when I model most of the designs in 3D software, pencils are my beloved, indispensable tools, for jotting down, writing, and sketching. Pencil is one of the everlasting inventions of the human race.
Agreed! I love hearing about your particular use. Pencils have nearly endless applications.
Fascinating history! Thanks for sharing. I, too, find myself again using no. 2 pencils to do my initial drafting. It’s reassuring to know I have such esteemed company in Morrison and Steinbeck.
And so many others! I could only include a few examples, but once you start poking around there’s a lot out there on the subject of who used what. Pretty fun.
Brilliantly written and researched. I’m having trouble not clicking “buy now” and it’s your fault.
Ha! You’re welcome!
Your writing reminds me of John McPhee. I love John McPhee. I love long leisurely literate explorations of topics like this. You are a good writer with interesting things to write about. I am forced to subscribe. How can I resist? BTW, I have found the image of Thoreau as a pencil engineer a good corrective to the adulation most people have of him. Like most of the back to the landers of my hippie days, he had a prosperous family and money behind him when he went to live in the woods for a short time. I suspect he might have brought his laundry home on weekends. Late in life, he became a tourist. I found a historical account of Minnesota history that described him taking a riverboat up the Minnesota Rive with a group of prosperous travelers to watch native American women play LaCrosse naked.
What a wonderful compliment. Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the piece.
I don't use pencils that often for writing long things, but I've done some drawing with Staedtler pencils and they work fine. I guess I'm not too picky about brands, but maybe I would be if I was writing a whole book. As far as non-electric writing goes, I love my manual typewriters and Bic pens!
Three words: I LOVE PENCILS. I also love that you've written this. Made my day. Subscribed. Waiting for more. Love this!
Thanks, Trevor!
I really enjoyed learning about this history. Thank you!
One of the most interesting things I learned when working in a rare materials research library is that pencil often lasts longer than ink. Older inks sometimes rust through or otherwise corrode the paper beneath them, but pencil, as long as it doesn't get too smudged, can be quite a bit more durable over the long term. I was struck by how this turns our short-term sense that "pencil is ephemera, but ink is permanent" on its head!
That’s a fabulous bit of history. Thanks for that. Totally makes sense. There’s far more chemical complexity in ink that interacts with the paper, sometimes not beneficially. I’ve got notes I’ve written in books in red ink 10 or 15 years ago that are now blurry and faded—just 10 or 15 years. Meanwhile, graphite would look practically unchanged.
Think of the Civil War diary that a soldier tucked in his breast pocket along with a stubby pencil. These things survive and are clear and readable *because* of the pencil! Amazing.
When I saw the subject, I thought I'd just skim through this post. But it turned out to be truly fascinating, footnotes and all. Thanks for the research and the writing!
Ha! I’m glad I hooked you, Russell. It was a fun piece to write. I usually can tell how good the piece is by how much fun I have putting it together.