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Transcript
If you want to get rid of a keyboard, you must bathe in the living waters of the keyboard minds of Keychron.
Hello and welcome to episode 193 of the erasable podcast. About nine years ago, we were chatting amongst ourselves about what to call the Pencil Podcast. We planned to give a shot. By the time we dropped our first episode on March 12, 2014, we had selected a name and we were already fast friends. And says, this is Johnny talking. Those good friends are Andy and Jim. Hey, guys.
Hello, good friend.
Do you remember. Do you remember the. This. The second runner up to. To what we were going to call this podcast? No.
Was it indelible?
No, no, it was the.
The number two Pencil podcast.
Oh, that was pretty good too.
Yeah, That's a mouthful, that is.
Yeah. We decided to make that our tagline instead of the. Instead of the title.
I think it's wisdom right there. I think we made the right choice.
I think so.
It feels so natural at this point, but I totally.
Woody Wasom and the Wood Twins.
That would have been great.
Yeah, I like that.
That's our next Patreon like extra podcast.
The number two. Number two podcast.
Awesome Woodson and the Wood Twins Number two podcast and the Woodchucks. How much the could a Woodchuck chuck? So assuming that we don't go super tech or super low tech in a year, we're staring down a decade of podcasting.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but when people are like, hey, what do you do? Aside from the fact that I don't really have a career, I'm like, hey, I can host a podcast about pencils. People are like, what? Holy crap. Sometimes it's a good holy.
Notice that I think that Once you have 10 years of podcasting, like, you level up into like the next level of white man.
Yeah, you get like your white New Balances sent in the mail.
You're like, you're like almost not quite at Elon Musk level, but on your way Pinker.
As I get older, people ask you what you do. You just be like, I just work hard to be a decent human being and then just let them talk shit about you after that. Yeah.
Yep,
I make coffee.
Yeah, make coffee. Kick ass notebooks.
Well, it keeps you all alive.
And I use a lot of fountain pen ink.
Don't talk about that here.
Yeah, I mean, sorry, graphite. Yeah.
Speaking of which, the append show, the Baltimore Washington Pen show is coming up. Oh, yeah.
We are not going to be at that live, unfortunately. But I wish we were. Are you going to go to it, Johnny?
I don't know yet. My bank account says please don't. I have a bunch of family stuff to do, so. I don't know.
But that sweet tattoo on your arm says you better do it.
Yeah, get over there.
It would be a good excuse to get a tattoo of a fountain pen and then go to the pen show.
Oh, yeah.
When was the last time you got a tattoo, Johnny? Was it. I mean, was it the one you got us?
Oh, man.
Yeah, you got like one a month for like a couple years before that.
Going strong.
I'm itching.
Yeah.
I think I just need to bust the seal.
I think that's called an infection, though, if you're itching.
Yeah, yeah, it did happen once. Put some Weightman on that.
Yeah.
So for our main topic tonight, we're going to update our top five because it seems like we just did it, but we actually haven't done it in like two years because in Covid time. Time is nothing.
And Tim. Tim gave us an interesting twist to talk about after we update our top five. So I'm looking forward to talking about. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But before we do that, how about a little bit of Freshpoints action?
Yeah.
You want to go first alphabetically for now? Sure.
Just first alphabetically and then. Yeah, I have a few of them. One, I did not even know these existed, but I was at Arch Drafting and Supply, which is a really cool little art supply store that is attached to the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. And they have. You. You guys probably already knew about this. They had jumbo Faber Castell 9,000s. Did you?
Did you.
Oh, yeah.
Those things are heavy. They're.
Yeah, they're like heavy duty. It's like a Sharpie.
I know because I. I can't remember if Johnny sent me one or if I think I actually might have bought it at. What's that? Blick. Yeah, at a blick in Atlanta, Georgia. That's. I remember buying that. I probably texted you guys a picture of it when I bought it.
It's really nice.
They're beasts.
Six years ago, they maintain their. That really sharp hex that the regular size 9000s have and like some jumbo pencils. It has a really, really thick core. So I've been taking notes with it. If we were doing tools of the trades, I would tell you that I was writing with my, my Faber Castell Jumbo 9000, but I bought it in HB and 2B and for some reason the 2B is just like, miles and miles better than the. Than the hb. It just. Just feels so nice. So. And you can just press real hard. And this thick core doesn't break, even though it's 2B. Like. Yeah. Big fan of this pencil. Didn't even know this existed.
I've always.
Yeah.
The germans with their HBs that are
actually like two HP's out of titanium. Yeah. So I'm enjoying my. My new pencils that it's. It's.
It's also nice that they're like.
Yeah.
They're the most expensive beginner's pencil, I think, ever. They like, four bucks a piece.
Yeah. But it's fine. I mean, it's still less than, what, like four bucks in pencils? So still affordable, technically.
And they last forever. You only need to buy one.
Yeah. Two of these will buy you a dozen eggs
and episode title pencils worth six eggs.
People are trading their black wings by the dozen for eggs. Yes.
I sold a dozen, two elevens. And I bought like I was. I thought it was a great investment.
75 dozen eggs with great prices here. You'd have gotten two. One of be broken.
Another thing I just mentioned briefly. So I recently moved into a much smaller space. Not quite ready to talk about why yet, but eventually I will. But I realized that in this space, I need to really cull my pencil collection. I have so much really. I mean, let's be honest. I need to call my notebook collection. I have so many notebooks. Most of them are boxed baron fig confidants that I have not opened. And some I probably never will open because apparently I make it a collection. But I've been thinking really hard about the stuff to cull, and I was just wondering if you guys have ever sort of, like, thought about that. Have you ever sort of like, I'm going to just cut out large chunks of the aspects of my stationary that I have and just kind of.
I've done it.
I just wanted to see what you guys have thought about that.
Yeah, totally. I. I remember two times doing it in, like, significant quantities with pencils. But luckily, as like, a teacher, it was just like, all the ones that I just knew I was never gonna touch. I just, like, scooped it all up, took it to school and was just like, take it. I just left. Which is always a cool option. Take it to a school. But so I just. We had these two big tables, like, right when you walk in the school, and there was these big, like, pencil holders on. And so I just went and filled both of them up. Yeah, go nuts, kids. And so there's cool pencils flying around the school for a couple days until they were all snapped in half and dropped on the ground.
But for those two days, as a shining, shining star, I could just hear
them calling to me from the carpet, like, what done to us, Father? I have given this to these children.
Father, I have a whole bunch of cigar boxes full of vintage advertising pencils. And I think those are the ones I'm going to get rid of because I like my branded pencils. I'm not gonna get rid of my black wings. Yeah, I think it's my advertising pencils that I'm not gonna do. Yeah. Anybody? Do you guys want some advertising pencils?
Let's talk.
Okay. Smuggle them into.
No, that's not.
You smuggle them into Johnson.
Be like, tim, what's this 95 pound box outside my. Don't worry about it.
Don't worry.
Drugs. It's drugs. Yeah, don't worry about it.
That's what it is. Just a brick of cocaine. It's fine.
I've done most of the same thing. My kids, teachers are always very happy to get like a box of 300 pencils. And I have three kids that like pencils, but that's really just moving the mess to another room. But some of them, like Henry, will sharpen a pencil down to nothing much more quickly than I will. So, yeah, I guess it's a space saver.
Teacher's like, why do you have 300 pencils? And you're like, it was a hell of a back to school season at Target.
Henry's math teacher was Charlotte's math teacher. So I think she knows about podcasts. Oh, yeah, someone broke her pencil sharpener. I was like, dude, I have an extra one in the closet because I really like this one. I got your hook up. But when Ticonderoga stopped using cedar, I like lost it and didn't realize how many of them I bought. And people still like to see that yellow. So it's always a good. A good way to thin those out.
You're just in a few. Buying Ticonderogas
was like, oh, here's a couple packs, here's a couple packs, here's a couple packs. And then suddenly you're like, wow, that's like three gross. I'm exaggerating, of course, but not that much. But another thing I did was I took everything out of boxes and then sort of carefully rubber banded them together and put them in a larger box, which saved like so much Space. But I suppose unless the box is not full, that doesn't save that much space.
Yeah, yeah, I just have a lot of, I guess, blister packs, random cigar boxes full of. Full of pencils.
I got a lot of those too.
Frankie suggested before, like selling like a custom dozen of pencils. Like even just like for the cost of shipping. You want 12 cool pencils.
Oh, that's a good idea.
I'm lazy myself.
Giveaway time.
Yeah, Maybe we can just like giveaways are so fun. Giveaways of like a, like a dozen vintage advertising pencils or something.
Patreon.
I think I'll look into that.
Yeah, yeah, Like a drawing of Patreon supporters.
Yeah.
Good job. Yeah, come, come join our Patreon. And I'm not going to promise it here and now because I don't know how many pencils exactly, but you may get some pencils out of it.
I know a guy who makes notebooks. He can send you a notebook. It might not be that pretty, but it'll work.
Yeah, like pencils. That's some good ideas. I'll think about that and see what I still. Really. Yeah, really just need to look through the whole collection, but I'll do that. Last thing I want to talk about is a Kickstarter. That is. Man. It's been a while since we recorded. It's about to end. There's only 38 hours left as we record this on Tuesday. But it's something that I feel like I've talked about on this show before. But it's, it's finally happening. There is a guy named Marcin Witchery who is a design manager at Figma. But one of one of his like passion projects is the history of keyboards. Have we talked about this before? Okay. He's, he's been writing a book for, for years, like three years called Shift Happens and it is a book about the history of keyboards. And it started off as just like a book about the history of keyboards and it has since turned into a two volume boxed case set of like the history of keyboards with just like big gorgeous photos and it's just like, just breathtaking. He made a kickstarter to get this book published. He's kind of going his own route instead of going through a publisher. And it is not, it's not cheap. It's 150 at least. When I pledged it was $150 for the, for the book, for these two tiers books. But it's huge. There's really just original photography. There's really interesting Stories in his newsletter that he sends out once every few months. He's talked about some of the people he's tracked down and he's talked about the history of Soviet era keyboards and the history of how Dvorak. Dvorak keyboards are arranged in a certain way and why. And it's so cool. He's a designer and of course his layout and typography and everything is just impeccable. One of the really cool things that he did is he resurrected a. An old font that they used for like keyboards in the 70s and 80s. He resurrected that to use in the book. And if you pledge on this Kickstarter, you can then get that font. He'll will give you the. The font file. So I'll have a link in the show notes. But if you're listening to this man, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to publish this before it closes, but I'll try. If you go to Shift Happens site, you can see that what that Kickstarter looks like he's at like, gosh, like 500% of his. His goal. So he's hit some stretch goals. There's going to be like a third full color volume just. That's. That's kind of like an addendum to. To the first two. First two volumes. So, yes, check out Shift Happens site if you're interested at all in the history of keyboards. You probably already know about this and have backed it if you want to. But I also know that he's going to have a small number of books available for sale afterwards. So, yes, this is. I was very excited. I was one of, the first. One of the first to pledge. So, yeah, check that out. And I, I've been trying. Well, I've been talking about it, but I really, really want Marcin to come on this show and talk about the research and putting this book together, because I think that'd be awesome. I think that the history of keyboards aligns very much to our. Our interests. Yeah. Yeah. Is it for me?
Absolutely. I've got a. I'm slumming it here with my cheapo keyboard, but I love.
You bought a key crown though, didn't you?
Yeah, but it's like the lowest version I could get. I was just like in my. But I mean, I love it. That sound brings me joy. I remember thinking you were crazy when you talked us about the. The shelves full of keyboards behind you. I sort of thought that, but then deep down in my soul I was like, this is the way that's going
to be me someday.
This is the way. So now I've got this is the way an Amazon wish list with, like, seven keyboards in it or, like, different keys and the tool to pull them out. And, like, this is going to be.
If you.
This is life now.
If you want to get rid of a keyboard, you must bathe in the living waters of the keyboard behind Keychron. Yeah, that is it for my fresh points. How about you, Tim?
Man.
But I got to go back to that last point. I just kind of had like an aha moment where I'm like, they don't make typewriters anymore. And this is like, now the closest thing we have.
Yeah. I mean, he talks about the history of keyboards on typewriters, too, not just mechanical keyboards. So, yeah, he. Yeah, there's. Yeah, this is the closest to a typewriter that we're going to find.
It's the last tactile typing experience is getting until they make an even, like, more extra hipster version of those typewriter keyboards that actually are, like, feel exactly the same. Because it's going to happen. It probably already happened.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure it did. It's out there.
Actually, I. Very embarrassingly. Yeah, embarrassingly, I switched back to an Apple keyboard, bought a Mac Mini, and I bought one of the keyboards that has the little fingerprint thing on it because I don't want to have to be typing in my password all the time. So I might switch back to my mechanical keyboard when I'm doing some, like, serious writing. But yeah, yeah.
When you need that clicky clacky.
Yep.
Sometimes you just need it.
Just. Sometimes you just need that clicky clacky.
Is that a. Is that talking head song about doing it making flippy floppy Just reminded me of that.
All right, all right.
So I got a couple things I was going to bring up. The first thing was we all got notification of a very cool new release from Baron Fig, which is a new pen, which we don't have in hand yet, but we'll have soon. We'll talk about it and, like, talk about our experience with the pen itself. But it's a new release of they're calling a Squire, which, now that I think about where the click. The click pens. Did they call them squires as well? I can't remember.
Oh, no, they were called something else.
It was like a. I think they were like Squire cliques or something.
Sheath or a dagger or something. I don't know. Yeah, something medieval. I don't know. But anyways. But this, this new pen they released is called the Oracle Squire pen which is. Oh actually is it a click? Now that I think about it.
No, it's a twist. It's a twist.
It's still a twist. Okay. It looks almost like it's got a click function but it is a. I think as far as I know and you guys might have more knowledge of the the Baron Fig verse or just more mem. Better memory than me. But like is this the first time they've recycled a design?
I think so. I mean they've had, they've had somewhere the notebook and the Squire have like the carry through the design like the lock and key. But I think this is the first time they're using a design on a new thing. I think, I guess that yeah, they
did the work play a couple notebook.
Yeah those were like variants on a theme or something. But also I guess, I mean that's a fair point that this is like they just happen to be coming out four years apart or whatever. But they took a design that they used for a pencil which was also called the Oracle. Right, The Baron Fig or pencil Oracle. This came out in. And I am looking for. And we'll link to this in the show notes. I found a review on Comfortable Shoes Studio which we all, we all love here. But so this was in I don't see a year but it was the same essential design which is they used, they turned a pencil into a sort of fortune telling device. A sort of like Magic 8 ball of a pencil, so to speak. And they just transferred that to a Squire which as if you haven't seen it yet. The obvious part of that is that it is hexagonal which is a first. So they've released it as a really sharp. It looks like a duracell battery. It does look like a, like a hexagonal duracell battery with a nice ink cartridge in the middle of it.
I want to put these in a sock and hit somebody in the head with him.
That's an expensive saw.
Yeah, it really is.
It's for the, it's for rioting when the Giants win the World Series next year.
I mean it's standard issue in Baltimore mob town.
Oh, I think, I think Philly's got you there though.
Philly's got you with the pillowcases full of doorknobs.
Yeah, doorknob.
I, I, I really, really hope that they make this kind of a standard shape because I think of think of the custom pencil looking squires we can make out of this shape.
Think of the possibilities.
The possibilities are endless.
Hexagonal. It's like, come on, come on. You know you want to.
There's literally ones of possibilities.
There's ones of possibilities because it's only an avid one.
No, there's two possibilities.
Yeah.
We need. We need all of you to buy a bunch of these so that it'll be a standard, so that then we can do, like a sweet custom printing. But I am very excited to get my hands on it, and I was excited to see that they had come out with a. A Squire that had broken the mold, because I haven't gotten a Squire in a while. I love Squires. I love our Squire especially. That's the one that I use the most often. And it's not just a shameless plug for a pencil that you can't buy or a pen that you can't buy anymore. But I just. Great that they mixed it up. So I'm very excited about this. So more on that to come. The other thing that I was going to bring up, which I am just shamelessly stealing from an email that Johnny had sent us, which is the new artist edition of the Bullet Journal.
Oh, I'm glad you said that because I forgot about it.
Yeah.
So did you get it?
Not yet. Not yet. But I am fully planning to. I'm almost done with my, like, current, like, term bullet journal, and I think this would be a good fit for next. It's a perfect. Johnny's all about the seasonal, like, feel. And this is a very springy without the sort of, like, pastel weirdness that sometimes happens.
Well, it would collect a lot of dirt. This one was pastel.
Oh. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Charlotte has a pastel bullet journal and it looks pretty bad.
Yeah. So this is their artist edition, which is where they team up with an artist to design the notebook. And they've partnered up with one of their bujo community members, Annie, who on his Twitter, Instagram goes by a journal by Annie. And so she designed this lovely notebook that is a. I don't know what you call it. Somewhere between. It's like a. On the verge of mint, but just not as sort of like. I don't know, how would you describe that color?
It's in person, it's more like sage.
Okay. Yeah, that's. That's a good call. Yeah.
So when they. They do, like, one color a year, and this year it was blue, and it took like, two months for them to come out after they took your money. So it was a nice surprise this time to buy it and the next day they're like, hey, it shipped. Oh good. Because you charged me for shipping.
Yeah.
But mine came and it like it comes in a box. Like a Baron fake book. But the box is like beefy. Very, very beefy. But they sent it media mail, which is technically a no no for a notebook.
I'm not gonna tell.
Yeah, looks.
Yeah.
Looks very beautiful. And yeah. So yeah, I will be picking one of these up soon. I'm excited about it and I just like this is. Do they usually sell them in a box like this or is this like a new like steal from bar? Because that was my first time.
Was like the ladder.
It's got a Baron fig box.
Cool.
And it actually like when the. When you like when you see the. When I saw the shots of like the. The open cover with like the Venn diagram of what and why or whatever. Like something about that felt very barren figure to me.
I don't know. Yeah.
Oh, they've always had that. But this one.
Oh, is that always okay. And I've never had one of the actual Bullet journal notebooks. So this will be my first one. So.
So the cool thing is they in the inside covers they mark off like what would be a third of a page, what would be a quarter of a page, which if you want it to be very even is very satisfying. But all the other ones I bought from them, they. Because they use media mail, maybe they wind up looking like someone walked on them.
Yeah.
So I wonder if they figured it was cheaper to do a box than a lot of returns. Like I never returned mine because it's going to get messed up anyway.
But
I can imagine if you were a collector being very bugged by that.
Yeah, whatever. Screw those people. So this is a limited edition one time print that they're doing and it looks really cool. I'm planning to pick one up. It is the same features they said as their Edition 2, which Johnny, is their edition to have that thick paper in it that looks.
Terms have.
Yep.
Okay. They. They did that before. It was a regular look term.
Oh cool. So it was actually like kind of like first with Bullet Journal. I didn't. I had forgotten that.
Yeah. Like the papers, it feels like smooth cardstock.
That's awesome.
It's pretty luscious.
So that's all I got. So.
Yeah.
Johnny, what about you?
Well, moving back into Winter, I collaborated with Keith from Random Thinks for his Kill Winter with Orange project that he does every year.
We should have Keith on sometimes. He's really great.
How the hell have we Never done that.
I. I love the HE3D prints. All sorts of cool pencil holders and stuff and. Yeah.
And on Instagram, he has different pen, different ink, and different quotations, like. And I guess I look at it a lot because it always pops up at the top of my feed.
Yeah.
So that's cool. But he does a sticker pack every year, so we sort of trade it two notebooks for some sticker packs. So I think I forgot to mention when I listed them that they come with sticker packs, but there are a couple left, and they come with sticker packs. But I'm seeing orange, like, everywhere, which is a little weird because I don't know. I don't really like orange, and I love winter, so I kind of feel like a hypocrite.
Such an ugly color.
How dare you?
Is that Brad? Brad Dowdy jab. Andi jab.
Oh, I sent one to Brad right away, because orange. Someone likes orange. But yeah, there the. I like that he does that every year. Yeah, it's always really funny.
Yeah, I always, like, love the orange obsession in the stationary world. Not because I like them, but because it makes Henry intensely happy when I give him something bright orange. So.
Oh, is he a big orange?
Love handing him on. Oh, yeah, yeah. Orange and green, actually. Oh, man. Man of your own cut there.
But, yeah, I'm working on some books right now that are orange and green for St. Patrick's Day. I have to make him one.
Yeah, he'd dig it. He. He made it. It was like a big announcement around our house when he's like, dad, I got a new favorite color. Okay. It's like, I. I still like orange, but now I like green. I think green's my new favorite color. It was like, two weeks ago. I was like, all right, man, that's a big decision.
Yeah. To put out the press release.
And speaking of making books, I mentioned the Handmade Book club briefly last week, and there are a couple people in the Handmade Book Club who listen to our show, which is awesome. And they just have, like, really cool stuff every week, and I'm not sure how long that goes back, and I don't want to ask. But, like, for instance, this week there's a book discussion about a Julie Cameron book, which is really cool. And someone is going to teach Celtic knots later this month, which is really cool. Look forward to that. So if they open up membership again, jump in.
It's.
It's 25 bucks a month well spent. And also, in the notebook front, have you guys been following all of the USPS field notes collab.
I'm aware of them, but I haven't looked at every one of them.
Yeah, I don't know the logic for which ones they do, but they have three new ones out. I think they did women's soccer, the American railroad stations, which is a stamp that I think comes out today for this week. And also the new Toni Morrison stamp, which looks really good. It's very cool. So you buy them from the post office and they charge you like a buck or two and they show up pretty quickly.
Yeah.
And they, they're all the same. They're gray, but on the front they have stamps and the first day cancellation stamp, ink stamp and sticky stamp. So if you like railroads, like, these look really cool. Like, I love that the post office puts out stuff. Like my father asked me before, like, well, how much are those? Like the same price as all the other stamps. Just keeping it fresh. They put in a catalog. I love being on their mailing list.
Are we up to 60 cents?
55, right?
55.
I don't know. I should know that.
I actually asked my watch today how much it was for a work thing. So weirdly enough, and it said 55. So if Siri lied to me, then I got a. Got a strongly worded letter to write to. You can get Steve jobs.
Yeah, it's 63.
What?
What?
Insane.
Okay.
But they do cool stuff like beer. Did you ever get a letter from someone that's a little heavy so they'll put like two or three stamps on it?
Yeah.
Which you don't have to do. You can buy an extra ounce stamp for like. Well, I don't know what they cost now. They used to be 20 cents.
I always feel like I'm just supporting the post office when I put extra postage on it.
Yeah, I had to for my taxes. Round up my shipping costs for the year and it's like, whoa, no wonder I'm on your mailing list. Like, how about some free stuff? They will send you free packaging for like priority mail and stuff. They'll deliver it right to your door and then pick it back up when you put your crap in it. So that's pretty awesome. Yeah. Usps. I have one more fresh point and that involves why I'm buying less stamps. And that's that my zines are on hiatus because I need my sanity back. And I cut my printer crying a few times.
Aw, so poor buddy.
I mean, it's like an office size printer, but still, it got tired of all the non cuss Words. Because the zines had no cuss words. Well, those zines had no cuss words, but I forgot that my last issue was about. It was called the top dozen. It was, like, my current 12 favorite pencils. So I totally cheated. For tonight's episode, I could just, like, look it up. So, yeah, speaking of which, why don't we get on to our main topic?
I still can't get over the whole 55 cent, 63 cents thing. Like, I. I'm really, like, upset that Siri did not hit that one on the head. That seems like a. There's a softball I tossed her.
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say anything super anti apple.
Just 2021.
I'm sure. Andrea,
serious. So 2021.
Yeah.
That's fair. Sorry. Let's do this.
All right. Do you want to go first again, Andy?
Wow. So I was thinking about how much this has changed since the last time we did our top five. I've just been thinking a lot about the pencils that I've been using a lot lately and consistently have been using a lot lately. The thing that has not changed, that's still at the very, very top, is still. Still the Golden Bear. Still my favorite favorite pencil. I've given a few out as gifts, and people are like, why is this your favorite pencil? Like, you're. Shouldn't it be something real fancy? And I'm just like, no, this is still the best quality pencil for the price that you pay, in my opinion. It's gorgeous looking, especially the blue one with the orange eraser. It's really unique. It has that little red stripe on the ferrule, which is cool. It's just. It's just a really good pencil. A step up from the Ticonderoga at about the same price. Big, big fan of that. I wish. That feels like a.
They should have.
We should have a category called, like, time travel pencils. Like, that's one that just feels like it's existed for 90 years, even though it's only been around for 20 or whatever.
Yeah. Yeah. And I. I'm always afraid that they're gonna stop making them and selling them just because, like, it's not. It's not like the Blackwing, right? Like, they. They don't sell it in gift stores. Like, I've never. I don't think I've ever seen a golden bear for sale outside of the. The Cal cedar or the pencils.com website. So, yeah, who knows if it'll still be around, but I hope so. Another one that I still really love is the. The darling from Daiso, the high class golden sword which is definitely, definitely made at Kitoboshi. Although that nobody's. Nobody's talking about that for sure. Love the high class.
I was gonna do a. We don't talk about Kitaboshi. I don't talk like. We don't talk about. Like. I don't think I could pull that. Yeah that's a. There's too many syllogisms in that.
See how we can do that? So yeah, it is. It is high class. It is golden. It smells good. It's a bare wood pencil. If you have a Daiso around around you go there and you can pick it up. If not, I'm sure there are very nice people in the group who can pick you up. One. It's a. And it's a dollar fifty for four of them. So cheap. That's a really good one that I use a lot. I also in. In kind of the bare wood category. I still. Man, I still really like a forest choice. I think it's really good looking. That. That green ferrule, the pink eraser. I think it writes really nicely. First ever pencil to be FSC certified. So it is still very ecologically friendly with responsible forestry. Yeah, just a. Just a really strong pencil.
I think when I. I've gotten to the point that I've been into this shit for so long.
Yeah.
That when I think pencil in my brain that's like maybe the one that pops into my brain like if I. It's like the most neutrally pleasant pencil that I have in the house. And I've of course have like 100 of them in my garage or something that I've stocked up on. But like. Yeah, they're delightful.
Yeah yeah.
Yeah.
They're really. They're just a really good pencil. Actually was at two different shops over the weekend and they. They carried the Forest choice pencils which was interesting. Like I. I didn't realize that they had. Yeah. If it's just. Yeah. Not. Not quite sure how that happened but one of them was the same place where I bought these Faber Castell Jumbos. They also had forest choices for sale and you can buy in the. In the single there. Which is cool.
Find it fascinating that on pencils.com, golden Bear is $4.95 and a 12 pack of Forest Choice is $5. It's 5 cents more. So something in the. They decided that it was worth 5 cents more to get that FFSE certificate.
Oh man. They raised the price of Those golden bears, they. I think they didn't. They used to be $2.95 a dozen. Mm. Yeah.
Huh.
Also have.
Still a good deal. Yeah. Yeah.
My fourth choice which I. This is still a very cal cedar heavy lineup. But I mean the Blackwing 602 is. The Palomino Blackwing 602 is still just a really good pencil. And I like the way it looks. I like the way it feels. I have a well worn one in my. In my shoulder bag. That's my. My edc. I still really like that pencil a lot. Sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that, but I don't want to be EDC guy. So I have it right in there next to my Glock.
You only carry one Glock?
Yeah, just the one.
Well, I guess, yeah. San Francisco's a lot safer than Baltimore.
Yes. Right. No, it's because the libs here hate guns so much so they're going to
take all your guns away.
Yeah, just.
Just have that one. But no, my. I. For those of you who don't realize I'm joking, I do not carry a gun. I do carry a Blackwing 602 in my shoulder bag though. So that's a really good. Just a really good pencil.
So watch. So watch out.
I'll stab you. Don't mess with me. I'll stab you.
Watch out, robbers. I'm gonna get it.
It has a. It has a razor sharp classroom friendly point on it though. So that thing has some stating power. Yeah, that's killer. And then finally I new addition to the lineup is that purple Pencil King. I really, really like that. I have one in my little pencil cup right now and it's a. Just a nice balanced pencil. It's a little bit lighter and not as kind of like crisp as I'm. As I usually go for, but I really like the. This is my only round pencil on the list. I just love the way it looks that purple with that like cool old vintage like die stamp on it and the, the. The fancy feral. Just a, just a really good pencil. So I've been really enjoying that. It is indeed. It is indeed. The Pencil King. That is my top five. Tim, how about yours? Oh, oh, real quick. What's conspicuously absent from that list that has been there in every list before? This is the test. Test scoring Musgrave test scoring pencil that has fallen off the list.
John. Johnny's like, finally.
Yeah, it took forever.
Huh?
I'm crying.
Tim.
Huh?
How about you?
Poor thing. I'll, I'll, I'll start by saying that the pencil king was my. In. In basketball terms, was my sixth, man. It was like the one that was. It was really close to inching up into that. That top five. But I just had to base it on the ones that I use that I joyfully use the most where I don't have to think about them. Right. The ones that, like, I use all the time and, like, the number one is miles ahead of the others, really, like, if I'm being honest. And that's the. The Blackwing Natural is my favorite pencil period right now. Like, I. That is, if I'm gonna grab a pencil and there's, like, 10 choices in front of me, I'm gonna pick that, like, eight out of ten times or something. Like, I just love the Blackwing Natural a lot for so many reasons. I think it looks cool. I love the gray eraser. I love the feel of it. I love the hardness of it. So, yeah, so that is. And I've talked about that before, so I don't have to go on and on about it, but I just think that that is in my book. My desert island pencil would be the Blackwing Natural. Despite. Blackwing makes some weird choices sometimes. And they do.
Well, see, they get it right when they do. No weird paint job.
Yeah. I mean, it was just like they did. They did as little as possible. No paint and gray. But I love it, and I would always love it.
So would you say that it is specifically the. The natural, or would you say. Would you say that it's any of the extra firm?
Nope, just the natural. It's because I've talked about, like. I mean, yes. Over the years, I've talked so much about, like, loving natural pencils and loving, like, pencils that don't have, like, a color to it. It's kind of a. Kind of harkens back and not. I'm just saying, like, that when they came out with the 24, they talked about, like, Steinbeck wanting a pencil that wasn't distracting. You know, I'm talking about, like, how, like, all black. His son was like, oh, all black, so it wouldn't be distracting. All black's way more distracting to me for some reason. But, like, just like a natural pencil that looks like I'm just holding a stick is great. So I think. And that. That it's a good question, though, because when I think about, like, the Blackwing pencils on, like, a spectrum of favorites, the extra firms don't tend to be towards the top for, like, the limited editions. I tend to yeah, like limited editions that are either the 602 or, like, core or. My second thing on my top five list, which is the mmx. You see that transition I did right there? That was really good.
Yeah.
Yeah. Number. Number two on my list. On my list is the mmx. So, yeah, I. The natural. I love it because it's the. The finish. It's just kind of the whole package. But I don't like the. And I'm gonna sound ridiculous now, but I don't love the extra firm core. Just because of the extra firm core. It's gotta be like, the whole. The whole package. But I. Yeah, that's right. Second on my list is the blackwing mmx. Like, just. I love that soft core. And we'll come back to this because there are some soft cores. Like, they're not all created equally, but there's something about this one that I really have a lot of fun with. And I've talked about this before, but no pencil will make me feel more productive than a Blackwing mmx. Like the matte, like, the softest core. It's fun to write with. It feels good to write with. You have to sharpen it all the time. But, like, by the end of, you write something and you've got two inches of pencil gone, and it's just like, hell, yeah, I did some stuff.
Let it be known here that Tim. Tim likes softcore.
Softcore.
So interestingly, if you Google Blackwing mmx, it goes directly to the Blackwing mat.
It's so inevitable. I wonder if it's an inevitability blackwing.
Like, yeah, just.
Why are you fighting?
I'm.
I'm sure I've never forgiven them.
I'm sure it's. Yeah, he got some SEO stuff going on where they're like, yeah, hey, anytime they say blackwing mmx, route it to this. It's like, yeah, just. Just call it an MMX then, because it's.
People are using it on ebay.
Yeah, I'm looking at that.
Are they really that right now?
Yeah. Somebody Blackwing 5 pencil set. The MMX, the 602, the Pearl, the natural, the volume. Yeah, that's so good.
I'm waiting for my cut.
That is delightful.
We should have trademarked that.
As Teddy Roosevelt would say, delightful.
Yeah, that's wonderful.
My son. My son is deep into a presidential research paper that was apparently introduced six weeks ago, but we found out about three days ago. Oh, yeah, it's due tomorrow, which, you know. But he's. He's his father's son.
But he should play the Animania President song for him.
Oh, man, I forgot about that.
I'm gonna.
Yeah, I totally will. But, yeah, he was like, all the kids are jealous because I got Teddy Roosevelt. Like, all the kids in my class are jealous. They all wanted Teddy Roosevelt. Well, who's the poor kid who gets the right.
Gets 45. I guess
there's. There's only 25 kids in that class. And like, my. Based on the comments from my son coming home from the days where they learned about the presidents, I don't think there's a lot of. A lot of desire to talk about that, Harry. Pumpkin. But number three on my list to get away from Blackwing for a second is Musgrave and the Musgrave, Tennessee round. I can talk about. When that came out. That. That was just. Like, I felt like that was just made for me. Like, I felt like that was just. I know it wasn't. I just should have put the name on it. When it. When it came out, I was like, this pencil was invented to just make my soul happy. So it's. It's got the natural finish for the. Like, with the Black Wing natural. The. The very creatively named Blackwing Natural. So, yeah, I. I love it. It feels good. I love the variation where you get, like, the half and half, like, with the slats, where one side is light, one side's dark, and I love it. Johnny, what were you gonna say?
So, little known fact, they were gonna call it the Wagon Wheel because of the Johnson City reference, but trademark. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Are we gonna have to.
I'm making that.
I'm making that up. Damn it, John, that'd be amazing.
It was for you. Because I was like.
I was literally about to say, are
we gonna have to cut this out of the podcast? Are you letting some, like, insider knowledge slip right now? You would not believe, whenever I hear
that song they mentioned Johnson City, Tennessee,
I'm like, yeah, you would not believe how many people I've met, like, with working where I work now, because people are all over the country. And I'm like, yeah, I'm from Johnson City, Tennessee. And they're like, like, like Johnson, Tennessee, like, from Wagon Wheel, like, yep, that's the one. And yes, in the song, he gets it wrong. He's going the wrong direction. It's actually west. He should be going in.
Speaking. Tim, it's actually east because he says
from the Cumberland Gap. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Speaking of Johnson City, have you watched Swap Shop yet?
Not yet, but I've got It on my list. It's going to happen.
It's all over. All over your neck of the woods. There are some real good accents on that show.
I'll probably see. I probably see those people at Walmart. I probably taught their kids how to write a thesis statement or something. All right, so the next one on my list, and I kind of cheated because I put two, but they're so close. They're just different finishes. And I'm. I'm getting redundant here, but. Mitsubishi 2 pencil, the 98. It's the. It's the 9850, right?
The 50 is a different pencil. That's the burgundy one.
Damn it. Okay, so just delete it. I'm gonna delete it.
There we go.
You could hear my keyboard.
That one was to the ring. Yeah.
No, I was. I meant to do 9852. Ew. And I meant to say slash 9850, which is the burgundy one. And I guess I just didn't, like, fully realize how different they were. Anyways, between those two, I would pick the night. The Mitsubishi 9852EW. Which is the. Which I'm also holding out natural finish pencil, which I've. Yes. It's bare wood. It's got this amazing kind of pale purple ferrule and a dark eraser for some reason.
988.
Have you ever used one where the eraser works? You ever have one where the eraser works?
If you write like me, Johnny, you don't need an eraser. So I don't know what you're talking.
Tim. Literally doesn't make sense.
I love that pencil. But if a stylus, it's.
It's. Yeah, it's totally square at the top. I don't use erasers. Yeah, erasers are for quitters.
That is a. That is a T shirt and. Or a tattoo idea right there.
No, I. No, I. So to be totally honest, I've heard people say that before, and I probably have heard you say that before. I've never noticed them being bad. Like, I don't understand. It's been fine. But. But I did. That does actually. Like, I was joking, but there was a. Was it morning pages? Can't remember where it was, but it was like someone I was reading that was like a writer, and they're like craft and they talk and I. And I was reading about, like, how writers do XYZ or whatever, like, what's their day like, and it said that, like when they write something and they want to delete it. They just cross it out. They don't waste time erasing, and they keep going. And it got, like, totally drilled into my head. So I don't often use erasers very much. Really. Mainly when I'm, like, doodling or drawing, I'll use erasers. But when I'm writing, especially my notebook or something, I'll just cross it out and keep going.
Yeah. Catholic school thing. One line through it, Mr. Gamber. One line through it.
No, I remember. Yeah. Mr. Mr. Delaude. I had him in fifth grade. He drilled that into my head, too. So maybe that's why. Can't spell Dilautter without laughter. That's what. That's what he used to say because that's how it was spelled. He's a delightful human, by the way. I just. Mr. Dilautter, if you're listening to that was not Dig. Yeah, so I love these. I've had them for years. I think I bought. It was actually a couple years ago, I bought two dozen of them, and I'm still working through them, but I love them. And the last one on my list, which it will not be a surprise if you've listened to the podcast for a while, is the Palomino hp, which, luckily I bought in bulk before they became unreasonably priced. So they're a wonderful pencil. I think they used to be, like, 10 bucks a dozen, and now they're 15 a dozen. But I still have 90 of them in my cupboard, so I'm just going to just ride those out until the end. But they are wonderful. They're as smooth as butter, and they keep a point like butter. So I can't not put them on the list because they have been my favorite pencils since, like, year two of this podcast. So, yeah, awesome. So that. That is. That is my list, and I. I feel real good about it. There have been years where I've, like, were times where we've revamped this list where I've. I feel like I've thrown things on just to, like, mix it up. But this year, I feel very confident that my wopex. I never put that crap on my list, Johnny.
Oh, that was the. I'm sorry, that was the director's cut. We didn't put that up. Yeah, you threatened us because you're, like, a head taller than me.
Yeah. My lawyers sent you a letter saying, this guy has nothing to threaten you with. So I don't know.
It wasn't that polite. It was a picture of you and your fist. You were like, johnny, it's like, okay, okay.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Henry was my lawyer. That's what that was.
Okay. Sorry, man.
My Henry or your Henry?
Both Henry and Henry law firm.
Oh, man.
Henry.
Henry Force.
That would be. That would be. Oh, my goodness. All right, so that's me. So Johnny, go for it.
So nobody put the Tennessee Red. Although Tim was close, so I was
75% of the way there. I don't know what the. I don't know what the math is on, like, cutting off the hex or whatever, but, yeah, close.
Yeah. Black wings are cool with their eraser, but I think the most innovative pencil around is the Tennessee Red.
Yeah.
Because it's red cedar. And also it's a really, really, really damn good pencil. It's got a nice core. It's pretty. That expensive. Like, it's got everything going for it. And lately, like, I'll find a 2 inch one sitting around. I'm like, oh, yeah, I do like that pencil a lot because I. I might have, like, five or six dozen stashed around because why not make them in the cool box? I feel like whenever I think about what the Delirium team has done for Musgrave, I think of that pencil. Oh, yeah. Even though there have been a lot of other pencils since then and just like many, many other cool things, I feel like it all summed up in that really cool pencil and notes on a theme. My next one would be the general pencil company Cedar Point with the extra E, because cedar pointy. That is also just a damn fine pencil. Yeah, but they're heavy. Like, I don't. I've never quite figured out why they seem to weigh more than other cedar pencils, and I don't if they've waxed the wood.
It's entitlement. That's what it is. I don't know.
Because they're east. They're east coast pencils.
This is the number one or number two?
I like them both, but I really like the two better. The. The one is nice, but I feel like as I'm settling very comfortably in the middle age, I'm okay with my pencils not being as black as a sharpie and smearing all over the place.
So is that a. Is that an age thing? These young ones in there, smeary pencils.
And there's got to be something positive to this because I love the grunting when I get up and.
Yeah, that's not great.
Ow. Why does my knee hurt for no reason. Getting old is not fun. So I'm gonna also Echo Tim. But I'm gonna call mine the California Republic Stationers Palopino. Because ever since palomino became a brand, the pencil just looks like naked.
No, which.
Which version of the Palomino?
The blue HB and dip.
No, that's not what you put in the. That's not what you put in the note.
Oh. Oh, man. Crapped version. Did I put that or did you put.
I don't know. I didn't put it.
I did that, like, 30 seconds ago. Thank you, Andy. I appreciate it. Virtual high fives for accidentally
Vyvanse is a hell of a drug. But, yeah, it used to be that basically the entire pencil was one line of gold print with a gold circle around the end. And while the eraser ones are cool, like, they've got nothing on the original ones. And I'm the blue capped one or so good. I have, like, I don't know, a dozen or two dozen in various places, and no one is allowed to touch them.
Yeah, limited resources.
I have smacked my children with metal rulers for touching. I'm just kidding.
Damn.
Yeah, I. So when I was researching my zine with the top 12, I was looking for my first palomino, and I found it. It was like a pack of three blue and three orange from, like, 2005. So for my next one, I'm totally cheating because I couldn't decide, but they're the Eberhard Faber and then Faber Castell with no space and no hyphen. The old American wing. The American or American naturals, which was the pencil I used in, like, in school. I. I have a crap ton of them, and I use them all the time, and they're not actually, like, very good. I'm sure that they were cheaper than Ticonderogas. Probably why I had so many of them. But compared to now, it's got a simple imprint, it's cedar as a stamped aluminum ferrule, and a pink eraser. It's, like, pretty iconic to me. And the. Of course, the natural version is naked cedar with black print, which is damn sexy. But, yeah, the ebay market for the naturals has gotten kind of crazy. They're like 20 or 30 bucks a dozen, so you find them for less. Like, grab them up. Totally worth it. And for number five, I'm gonna be a curmudgeon and say it's whatever pencil I have, because I see what you wrote there. Tim.
Tim is out of control.
Chim wrote a naughty comment.
Dee's pencils.
So when you. One of the reasons that pencils are so fun. Even if you own like 200 fountain pens, is that they just always work. If you have a sidewalk you can scrape it against, or a knife or a key, or, like, you really don't care about your teeth, you can get it sharpened with it.
I've never sharpened with a key.
Have you done it? No comment.
I'm trying that tomorrow. That sounds fun.
Yeah, that sounds fun.
Well, it has the side benefit of lubricating your key with the graphite.
I've never thought about the necessity of lubricating a key until now. So.
Yeah, yeah.
My mom's mother was Polak. I mean, that as in she was 100% Polish.
Johnny, am I going to have to edit this out? No, go on.
So she would, like, take a butter knife and try to sharpen a pencil. And, like, you have like 30 grandkids. How the hell do you not have a pencil sharpener? But, I mean, it would literally look like a stray dog chewed on the end of your pencil. But it still worked and it did my homework. And yeah, one of them was a Blackwing 54, the pink one. Like, recently Rosie had one. I'm like, where in the hell did you get that? And then right away I'm like, did you get into my pencils? No, but I think she got it from Charlotte.
I. I have not talked about this on the podcast yet, but that reminds me that Henry, my Henry, has started an illicit Blackwing ring at his school.
Oh, wow.
Okay. So there's. There's lots of levels here that I haven't talked about yet. But, like, so basically, like, I gave him some black wings, maybe four whatever, took him to school, started using them, and I noticed him coming home. It'd be real short, and he'd use it down to, like a tiny nip. And then one day he was like,
just lights a cigarette with a $20 bill.
But he's like, what do I.
Could I.
Could I get some more of these? What else do you have? And so I gave him, like, the whole tour. I was like, here's my stash and here's the whatever, and here's this and that. And there's like, certain ones where I remember being like, I only have two of these. Like, Andy sent me two of these or whatever. Like, like, I've got the 33 and a third ones. It's like, I got two of these. One's in a tube and one is just. Or whatever. Then he. All of a sudden, like, I started noticing these, like, weird things, like black wings that had like the erasers pulled out that I definitely didn't give to him. That were just like scattered all over my house. Realized kid was rifling through my stash.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I learned it by watching you.
Yeah, I learned it from you.
Totally understandable.
Yeah.
Yeah. But he was just like, he was upset. He was just obsessed. And I actually went out of my wife's car and like the. We have a van because we're middle aged white people and have kids. And there was a P.O. like the, the pocket on the back of the seat, there was like six black wings in there. Like, and I ended up finding out that he had been like, that had been like his currency at school. He's like my.
And I ended up selling cigarettes in prison.
Yeah. I'll take this. One of his. One of his friends, this girl had her. Her dad turned a pen and gave it to him in exchange for a black wing.
Oh, wow.
So he had like taken a black wing and he came home with a, like a. A hand turned pen that he had traded a black wing for. It was just like. It was like the times, times have changed. Like, times there are change. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like for me it was like exclusively Pokemon cards or actually probably just like basketball cards or something. And now he's like talking black wings. And one of these days I'm going to pick him up from school and he's going to have like a gold chain around his neck because he like gave my two 11s to them kids in his fourth grade class.
Timmy, you need to write a. A a verse of these times. They are a changing for Henry, selling pencils like, yeah, come together ye students.
And for the anniversary.
Yeah, that'll be.
It'll be performed live. But I don't know. I hadn't talked about it yet. And then I'm sure there are more updates to come, but it's become like a thing in his class. And I gave like one of his friends who also goes to our church, but it was like he gave him a black wing, like at church. And his brother, the kid's brother took his black wing and like threw it. Just kind of like screwing around like brothers do. And the other. And the kid was like pissed. He was like, where is my pencil? And he hunted it down, he grabbed it like put in his pocket. Yeah, that's become like a status symbol in the St. Mary's School. Fourth grade.
Does Henry have extra clout because his father is one of the. The original pencil clouds.
I'll shut. I'LL shut up after this. But, like, I went to an event. It's like, I went to this, like, event at school. Talk about something to them. Yeah. And one of his classmates walked up to me. He said, so do you, like, own the pencil company, or do you just, like, do they just make them for you? Like, I don't. I don't get it. He was, like, asking me all these questions. Like, I make a podcast that 19 people listen to and. But it was like, definitely. The questions coming from him were like, I hear that you're a mob boss. Was like, the mob.
Did you, like, invent pencils?
Yeah. So when you invented pencils for, like. Like, why were you so mad at pens?
Yeah.
Anyways, did he ask if he could,
like, get lunch for you?
To be continued.
Be a gopher.
Yeah. There's gonna be, like, make this a
regular check in on the show.
Yeah, absolutely. Like, once. Eventually, these kids are gonna have, like, a severed feral in their bed when they wake up in the morning and be like, Henry's. Henry's got a hit out on me. But, like, yeah, I gotta. I gotta put a lock on this door behind me, or he's gonna start stealing all my pencils and hawking them at school.
So you could put them in your closet and tell your children they're behind your underwear.
That would not suck.
So I keep them out of mine.
I don't think that would.
Oh, I also have an elaborate ruse with my children about Sean the Irish ninja, about this very short Irishman that I employ that follows them around. And I think they kind of believe it.
Go on.
I told them he lives in my closet. And seriously, sometimes they'll ask about him. Like, isn't the offer St. Patrick's Day? I'm like, yeah, but he's a replacement. Yeah.
Substitutes.
I'm watching you.
This is very elaborate.
But, yeah. Anyway, you could invent some sort of spectral. A ninja figure talk off the air.
Because I don't want to. I don't want to jinx it, but yeah.
Got some drawings that. Really helpful.
That sounds great. We may get some holograms going in my house.
Oh, this took a turn.
All right. I'm sorry. I took us down a. I took us down a path, but that was just, like. It was too good a story. And also was, like, overwhelmed by the realization that I had not talked to you about.
Yeah, we need. We need to check in again about this.
Yeah, we should. I'm being honest here. In, like, a few weeks, we should have him on the, like, Summer break, we'll have Henry on the podcast and he'll tell you about, like, Blackwing culture, like, the pencil culture in his classroom.
So Tim has an idea that is a really good and natural follow up to our top fives. You want to take it from here, Tim?
Yeah. So I was just thinking about, like, we've done the top five several times before, and it's kind of like I mentioned earlier that I had a sixth man for my, for my list. I was talking about the Pencil King, but it's like, it's sort of like a related topic, which is just like a pencil that on paper, no pun intended. Should. Or was it like, should at this point? It was that, like, like, on paper, it should be something that I would love. Like, this is a pencil that checks off all the boxes on my list. Like, I should like this, but I don't understand why I don't. So that was the idea. So to give, like, one or two. But just like, just one or two pencils that you feel like you should like, but just you never want to pick up or that you'll, like, always choose something else over them. So, yeah, I'm happy to go first just because, like, I've thought, I've clearly thought about this a lot. But, like, I mean, Andy, if you've got, if you, if you like.
Yeah, yeah.
If you like, you want to talk about it, then you just start. We'll go in the same order.
Okay.
Yeah.
I, I was thinking about this after you posed this, and I wasn't, I wasn't sure. And then I realized that for me, it was any of the Blackwing Extra firms, which, Sorry, Tim, I know that's your, your top kind of your top choice is the Blackwing Natural.
But I, I love you more than I love the Blackwing Natural, Andy, so.
Oh, high praise.
Don't worry about it.
I, I, that should be like a Valentine's Day card. I love you more than I love the black.
How much do I love you? Let me get more than a black Wing natural. Yeah, we count the pencils that I love you more than I, I was
trying to figure out why, and it's one of those things. I can't really articulate it. Why? Because I, I don't mind an extra firm, especially in Blackwing, which. An extra firm is like a regular pencil on a, on a good day. And I don't know. I just don't. And I. The Blackwing natural, like, looks nice. It smells good. I just never pick it up. It just sits in A box in my. In one of my bins. And it's. It's one of the volumes. Editions. Like, it's fine. I'll use it and then I'll put it away. I don't know. I don't know why it is just. Just not a. Just doesn't set me on fire. So it's not something I hate. Don't hate the Blackwing Extra firms. But it just didn't make the list. Yeah. So I wish I could articulate why that was. But that's on that list. Tim, how about yours?
Yeah, and I. I have some things on my list that I. I explained in text to you guys, but it's like an X factor thing. Like, you can't always describe it, that it's just there's something missing or there's some. Some sort of like, voodoo thing that's happening that just makes you not want to use it. So I have two that I was going to talk about and one. And this is probably the one that I don't know. Like, I. I still really, like, I'm like, frustrated by. Because I feel like I should like it and. Is The Musgrave News 600. It's a round pencil. It's soft. I kind of alluded to this earlier when I was talking about the mmx, but like, I feel like this pencil should be right up my alley, but there's something about it that breaks that. I don't know, it like, breaks that sense of I'm not writing, I'm just thinking on paper. You know what I'm saying? Like, where, like, it feels like there's sort of an obstacle in front of me where I'm like, slowing down. It's slowing me down just enough that it's, like, frustrating. And I would put actually, like. And I think early on I talked about, like, really loving this, but the general layout pencil kind of does this, I've realized, at least in recent years has done the same thing, which maybe this is like, you get old and you get, like, less interesting.
No, you get old and you don't want the dark pencils anymore.
Yeah, exactly. It's like you get old and like, all of a sudden. I think I've talked about this before. It's like all of a sudden it's like O F pencils, HB pencils. These are so nice. And it's just because I'm old and lazy and I just want to not sharpen as much. But like, the new 600 layout, I don't know, it's just Like, I want to like them because I've talked for nine years about how much I love round pencils, but these just, like, they bust me. And I. And I. I think I had. I can't remember if it was one of his substack posts or if it was on, like, a podcast interview, but Austin Kleon talked about The Musgrave News 600 being his favorite pencil for marking books. Hmm. Which made me very happy because Musgrave is close to my heart. I just. It's like, yeah, my favorite pencil company. I mean, I just, I love them and I love what they're doing and I love the Dures and I love Henry Hulen and all that, All. All that's going on there. But, like, he mentioned that, and it made me very happy. And then it just made me wish even more that I loved it more than I. Than I did. It's like, you know how they say, like, every 10 years you have a new set of taste buds?
Yeah.
Maybe 10 years from. Yeah, man.
My kids have.
What's wrong with this whole time? That's what my kids. That's what my kids throw at me when I give them, like, roasted broccoli. And they're like, I just don't like this. Maybe 10 years from now I'm gonna like this. It's because you have totally, totally new taste buds. Yeah. My kids have too much access to the Internet, apparently. But yeah, the other one that I was gonna mention. I'll do this quick. Is just the cedar point number one. I love the cedar point HB number two pencil. I love it, love it, love it, love it. But when I. When the cedar point number one came out, I probably talked about it on a different episode. And people can get mad at me for this, but, like, I talked about it and just, like, probably was super excited that it existed, but I never want to use it. And so it's one that, like, on paper, it's a. It's unfinished. It's got the soft corners. It's a good looking pencil. I love the black ferrule and the black eraser, but I just, I never reach for it and it's. I don't know why. That's my X factor pencil, Andy. Like you with the extra firms, it's just like, there's something about it that I just don't want to pick it up.
They're so much like something you're used to, but not like, huh, why is this core a little thicker? Also, where'd the number two go? Whenever I pick Up a number one. I'm like, this looks weird.
Hmm.
Yeah.
So. So those are my two. Those are the big ones for me. Just the new 600 Cedar Point 100 or Cedar Point number one. Maybe I should have titled this section Pencils I should like, But I don't. But I totally respect. And that would be the title for these two because I understand why they're. They're wonderful. I just can't understand why I don't want to use them. So. So, Johnny, take it.
Get away, Johnny. Black wings. Like, pretty much all black wings right now I kind of don't want to use. Which doesn't make sense because they're supposed to be, like, the best pencil. But when I was a teenager, I was playing music with a guy, and he mentioned a certain guitar that was so smooth and so shiny that it felt like it was covered in Vaseline and he couldn't stand to play it. So that's the way I feel about shiny pencils right now.
What guitar was this? Like, I have to ask. So I'm just like, what in the world are you talking about?
It was a mid-90s Fender P Bass.
Oh, okay.
It was my mid-90s Fender P bass, which is why I still remember it.
All right, all right.
I mean, he ignored the fact that it looks like someone hit it with
a truck in some places, but I'm on your side. Keep going.
Yeah. I think with that, I would include the fancier Japanese pencils like The Tombow Mono 100 and the Mitsubishi Kai Unique. Just because my tastes are not for the flash right now. And it's not price. Like some of the vintage pencils that I use lately cost more than black wings. I mean, normally priced black wings. But yeah, it's not doing it for me right now. I like natural and yellow. That's middle age. But yeah, I think I like to think that I'm discovering that pencils are good for writing, not for showing people. So they don't need to be dark, so. And they don't need to be shine. Like I mentioned here before, I don't like to use black wings in public because this feels flashy. It's not my style. So, yeah, I'll just use like a stub of a Papermate Earthrite. Like, giggling to myself that it was like four bucks. But, yeah, that's what I would put on there. I'm sorry.
Now that I work from home, I never go in public, so it doesn't matter what kind of pencil I use. When I was teaching, it was always like, kids would be like, is that a paintbrush? Like, no, it's not. It's a really kick ass.
But thank you for asking.
Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Sometimes I'll have a fountain pen. Like, oh, God, this is like really flashy. I'm like, oh, I don't take these anywhere. They don't leave my apartment. Pencils do.
All 700 of them. Just stay in your apartment, tucked in
a corner behind the underwear.
Behind the underwear.
The pencils are behind the underwear and guarded by Sean the Irish ninja. And I should mention that I'm mostly Irish before I get hate mail for that, but.
So who guards your fountain pens then? Jeez.
They're in binders in my very tiny writing desk. And I guard them.
No.
Okay.
You sleep in front of them sitting up.
No, the kids joke that. Can I have that one when you die? Like, yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, and I always tell them, like, I'll give them to you before I die. I want to see you enjoy them. So I'm actually beautiful. I have a list of who gets what and when they go to college, they can have them. And then I realized I'm giving away pens I really like. So got to get some backups. Fortunately, there are always new fountain pens.
That is true.
Yeah.
So should we button this one up?
Yeah.
Okay. Do you guys want to tell folks where they can find you on the Internet? Andy, you want to go first?
Sure.
On the web at Andy, wtf? And I'm on. Ooh, you know what? I'm going to. I'm going to tell people I'm on Mastodon. And you too can be on Mastodon if you. If you go to dot grid.gr.id. you can request to be a member of my Mastodon instance. It's our dot grid instance and I'm Andy Grid on Mastodon. How about you, Tim?
Give me a second while I pull up Mastodon. I am. I am. I am on Instagram, Timothy Wassman on Twitter Timwasson. But I have recently jumped on to Mastodon as well. And I am also at Dot Grids server. Is that what you say? I haven't even figured it out.
I guess I don't know.
Yep. But it's at. I'm at timwasom@d o t g r dot id, which is a dot grid address.
And
although I'm new, I like what I hear. So. Yeah, so you can follow me on Mastodon there, Johnny. Cool.
I'm@pencilrevolution.com and on social media at Pensolution. And we are where are you on my screen? I just sent you a request. Why do you want to join? I wrote because I smell good and I brighten a room.
I think mine was just like, andy, please let me in. It was just like, yeah, totally.
It probably would have worked better.
Yeah, yeah.
Got in pretty fast.
Smell like coffee. So we are erasable, obviously. If you're listening to this and you can find us on social media at Erasable Podcast. And of course you could join our Facebook group, which is possibly the kindest corner of the Internet and. Oh goodness, what is that? Facebook.comgroups erasablepodcast.
Just erasable.
Okay, it's Tuesday, so thank you for joining us. And if you are a Patreon producer level supporter, then we read your name at the end of every episode. And now I'm going to attempt to not butcher your names late on a Tuesday night. So a big thank you to Liz Rotundo, Melissa Miller, digitaltent Tech, Bill Black, Ed Swift, Tom Keakley, Andre Torres, Paul Moorhead, John Cappellouti, Stephen Francali, Aaron Willard, Angie Aaron Bollinger, Andrew Austin, Tara Whittle, Millie Blackwell, Michael d', Alosa, Tana Feliz, Ann Seipe, Joe Crace, Michael Hagan, Bill Clow, Mary Collis, Ida Umphers, David Johnson, Bill Munson, Donnie Pierce, Kathleen Rogers, Kelton Wiens, Hans Newman, Jay Newton and John Wood. Thank you and we'll be back sooner than last time.
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