The pen is mightier than the sword.  Where does that leave pencils?  In grade school?  I hope not.

Many of us think of pencils as the stuff of children and math.  Sure there was a time when engineers used pencils and slide rulers to get to the moon but now it’s all on computers.  There was a time when pencils were cutting edge!  I mean, it was the 1600s.  But they didn’t have cat memes so it was easier to get excited about pencils back then.

When I use a pencil everything from the sound of it gliding around a page to the smell makes me happy.  I know many people don’t like the smell of pencils as it reminds them of annoying math homework or practicing their handwriting.  I used to be one of them, I hated the smell.  Then I tried to put that away and just evaluate the aroma.  It’s really nice.

Many a pen person will wax Quixotic on the joys of a big, heavy, fat barrelled pen.  I was one of those pen people once.  Tilting at fat barrelled windmills!  Then I tried a pencil again after years of ink.  It turns out that a lightweight wood case pencil with its easy writing, effortless balance and thinner hex barrel just about disappears in the hand leading to a much more fluid creative process (for me, at least).

I’m not here to talk about smells or fat barrels.  I’m here to talk about creativity.  Writing.  Here is where, I think, the pencil has some magic all its own.  No sword required.

Most of us used pencils when we were young and impressionable.  Back when getting up to sharpen a pencil was the childhood equivalent of a smoke break.  Before our minds began to close with the cynicism of age.  Pencils evoke open-mindedness.

They’re also erasable.  Sure, graphite can be more permanent than any ink (it’s just carbon after all) but any time you want you can drag that familiar piece of pink rubber over the page and it’s gone.  Like magic.  Or, more specifically, a magic trick that teaches you that it’s okay to make mistakes.

So, a pencil puts us in a place of open-mindedness and remind us that mistakes are a part of life.  That’s better than an episode of Sesame Street!

Pencils, mightier than the sword?  Maybe not.  But a worthy addition to your arsenal? Absolutely!

My name is Kevin and I’m an idiot for pencils.

You might think this is because they’re erasable or because they’re archival or maybe you think it’s because they’re comparatively cheap or because they write very nicely.  You might even think it’s because they evoke a sense of open ended learning we all experienced in childhood.  You wouldn’t, necessarily, be wrong but there’s more to it than that.

I love the process of using a pencil.  The sound as it scratches across the page fills me with a feeling of productivity.  The variance in pencil brands and grades makes choosing which pencil to draw out of the cup very fun and sometimes even whimsical.  Taking a break from writing to sharpen a pencil while my brain still churns on tends to coalesce my thoughts into something more expressible.  Some smell amazing yet some don’t smell at all ¹.  I love all these things about pencils and so much more!  So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my top pencils!

Apsara Absolute  My favorite offering from Hindustan Pencils², the Apsara Absolute sports a smoothly lacquered hex barrel that is a graphite grey with a slight warm copper tinge and a blue end dip.  Its core is thicker than standard lending it some break resistance.  While ungraded, it says “Extra Dark”, the core seems to me a bit like a 2B and the point retention is very much like a 2B.  I have no idea what wood these are made of (White Fir?) but it looks like Incense Cedar but doesn’t smell like it.  It sharpens very well and my box³ came with a very good eraser and a little plastic sharpener that works so well it’s in my top 4 sharpeners!  These pencils write VERY smoothly and would be worth a try at 3 times the price.  As of the time of writing you can find these for around 5$ a box.

General’s Layout No. 555 Sporting a large round barrel and an extra thick core that is very smudge resistant considering how dark it writes.  The General’s Layout also has surprisingly great point retention, meaning it stays sharp longer than it ought to given how dark it is.  It is a phenomenal pencil!  The Layout has scratchy feedback which can be a refreshing change of pace compared to the buttery smoothness found in other premium pencils.  The printing on the barrel is white and uses a classy vintage type face⁴ which, unfortunately, wears off really quickly leaving a plain gloss black.  Actually, the plain gloss black is kinda boss now that I think of it.  The best part of these fantastic pencils is that they’re sold at most craft stores!

Palomino Blackwing 602  There’s a near endless amount of people waxing on and on about Blackwing pencils.  I’ll try not to add too much.  I like all the Blackwings I’ve tried and the 602 is my favorite.  The ferrule is cool too.

Mitsu-Bishi 9800 B  Oh sure, when talking about Mitsu-Bishi pencils it’s almost sacrilege to not mention the venerable Hi-Uni.  And, of course, Those are great if a bit pricey (for pencils, at least).  But the 9800 is a simple green pencil that is extremely well made and writes VERY smoothly.  What’s more, they won’t break the bank.  They’re made of Incense Cedar⁵ so they sharpen well and smell great while doing it.  Also, they say “Matured” on them and who doesn’t like a bit of nonsensical branding?

Tombow Mono 100 2B  Here is the peak of what Tombow offers and they do not disappoint.  They’re smooth, dark, well lacquered and have a cool cap with a white stripe.  The box they came in is basically a display case for your desk.  Having come out in 1967 as a high end drafting pencil, using one fills my mind with images of pocket protector clad “buzz cuts” using slide rulers to get to the moon.  Great image, great pencil.

Well, there you have it.  5 pencils that a pencil idiot loves…today.  I might have 5 new pencils next week.  I’ll try to update this regularly.

Ode to the Bic Cristal

December, 1950.  During the throws of the Korean war (the Forgotten War) and just in time for the Christmas shopping season, Bic introduced the Bic Cristal.

With its pencil-style hex barrel made of polystyrene that evoked a futuristic look and practical functionality.  It’s tungsten carbide ball machined to within 0.1 microns and enough water resistant ink to reportedly write over 2 kilometers.

The Bic Cristal has a permanent exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art.

In 2006 Bic announced they had sold they’re 100 Billionth!

Want to try one?  Check under your seat!  No, I didn’t put one there “Oprah Style”, that’s just where they usually are.  I mean there’s over 100  billion of them, they’re basically everywhere.

If you haven’t tried one in a while (their shelf life is 3 years remember) give them a go.  The Easy-Glide ink is some of the best I’ve seen in a ball point and my favorite is the original.  The 1.6 Xtra Bold is so smooth it’s almost like glass.

Sounds like we sold out, right?  Like we’re selling Bics?  We’re not.  I just like cheap pens.  Probably the most classic “cheap” pen, the Bic Cristal writes REALLY nice and is friendly to even the worst of paper qualities.  At less than 20 cents per pen a Cristal punches WAY above its weight-class.

Without something to write with a notebook is pretty useless.  They’re not good at putting out fires or even bullet proof.  I suppose you could use it to make a weird, minimalist, flat mouthed puppet but that gets old after the first month or three ¹

Fortunately, there are many options.  Unfortunately, there are MANY options!  Let’s begin with a general rundown to get us started.

Pens!

Most pens can be broken down into categories based on their writing mechanism.

Fountain pen

This is your old school, fancy pants pen.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  Sometimes I like my pants very fancy indeed.  At the heart of any fountain pen is a nib and a reservoir of ink.  As you draw the tip (nib) of the fountain pen across paper the ink flows onto the page.  Most inks are water based.  This means that the quality of paper in your notebook becomes VERY important.  Don’t despair, there are some great options which we’ll get into at some point.

Fountain pens look cool and have tons of options.  If spending hundreds of dollars trying to find just the right shade of black ink sounds fun, then, enjoy your rabbit hole.  As a left handed person fountain pens are a disaster for me.  First there’s ink smearing by my south paw as it clumsily bulldozes the page.  Second most fountain pens don’t seem to like being pushed across the page rather than pulled by you elitist righties.  Sour grapes?  Yup.

Ballpoint pens

Ballpoint pens use a much thicker ink that is applied when a tiny metal ball at the end of the pen rolls along the page.  While they are much more lefty friendly they’re basically everywhere.  Don’t believe me?  Go check your couch cushions, I’ll wait.  Found one?  Told ya’

There’s certainly a lot to say about ballpoint pens but I won’t.  They work very well, they can be found very cheap (or free) and there are also very nice ones out there if the Bic Cristal isn’t for you.

Roller ball pens/ Gel pens

These are basically ballpoint pens that use different ink and tend to be more temperamental, also some of them leak.  And now that I’ve made every pen aficionado curse at me I’ll say this.  They offer a unique feel and writing experience that you really should try as you can find them pretty cheap at pretty much any place that sells ballpoint pens.

Fiber tip pens

The darling of the scrapbooker, artist, and notebooker alike.  These are basically markers.  Fine tip markers.  Precision engineered, incredible markers.  Look, these are awesome and they can usually be had for less than a fancy coffee drink so you definitely owe it to yourself to try one. That said, I usually don’t use them.  Why?  I don’t know, maybe I forget them?  Although, my wife is an artist and so they tend to disappear on me.

Pencils

Ah, pencils.  The real reason I forgo my fiber tip pens.  Pencils use a very soft form of carbon called graphite.  As it is dragged across the page the graphite leaves a line of itself on the page.  Pencils can be erased yet if left alone will outlast every form of ink.  It’s just carbon.  Sure, it can smear but if you use the right pencil and the right paper it’ll be fine.  Also, they smell like pencils!

There’s also mechanical pencils which you don’t get to sharpen and don’t smell like pencils but, I guess, they work too.

While that’s not all the options you have (brush pens, crayons, finger paints), those are the major ones.  In future articles we’ll be exploring the ins an outs of each more thoroughly.

Right now, however, the main point is that whatever you choose it should at least work and be comfortable in your hand and ideally it should get you excited to write.