On Thursday, my most recent order from C.W. Pencil Enterprise arrived. As the shop is no longer accepting online orders, I think this is my last "major" pencil purchase for awhile. I love that the team at CWPE are no longer taking online orders out of care + concern for their local postal workers.

[Solidarity with those brave people working for the United States Postal Service and at grocery stores, restaurants, and other necessary businesses during the pandemic. In addition to our medical professionals, y'all are heroes, too.]

Order Contents

• CWPE Perfect Pencil (red) x1
• Kutsuwa Stad Highlighter Pencil (yellow) x1
• Musgrave 600 News x2
• CWPE Pencil Log Book x1

Preliminary Observations with More Substantial Reviews to Come 

• CWPE Perfect Pencil: I've been looking at Faber-Castell's Prefect Pencil for years, but waited to purchase one. I love this collaboration between CWPE and Faber-Castell. The red is striking and I dig the utilitarian cap + sharpener for travel or just throwing in my teaching bag.
• Kusuwa Stad Highlighter Pencil: Again, as with the CWPE Perfect Pencil, I am digging the cap + sharpener combo, but I do not love that the two yellows do not quite match. I plan to use the cap + sharpener with other non-yellow pencils because it really pops. And I will use the yellow highlighter pencil on its own. 
• Musgrave 600 News: I used to write with 2H, H, or HB pencils, but as I age (I'll be 34 in nine days), I've begun to prefer softer graphite—generally B and 2B. I've looked at the Musgrave 600 News for quite some time because I wanted a darker, smoother graphite and am so far quite happy with this purchase. I keep bouncing back-and-forth in preference between pencils with erasers (like my favorite Blackwing 602) or without (like my aesthetically favorite Leuchtturm 1917 HB in royal blue)—and the Musgrave 600 News is a great option without an eraser. 
• CWPE Pencil Log Book: I am incredibly Type-A and am hoping this terrific notebook will help me catalog my growing collection. There are columns for date, brand, pencil name, swatch, notes, and rating. In addition to this information, I plan to discuss core, lacquered or natural finish, eraser, ferrule, shape, and subjective aesthetics when I start reviewing my pencil collection. (I was waiting to begin my reviews until the CWPE Pencil Log Book arrived.)​

Happy + healthy Monday,

​Creight

Good afternoon and happy Monday. Over the last few years, I've rediscovered a love for wooden pencils, yet I am not new to pencils. When I taught at two different Midwestern universities over the course of 10 years, I evaluated student project in pencil. When grading, I used either a Rotring 500 0.5mm mechanical pencil or Faber-Castell Grip 2001 wooden pencil. I preferred mechanical pencils because they were always ready to writing and I didn't need to remember a sharpener.

When I first became an instructor of record, I made the conscious choice to grade in pencil. I actually loved grading my evaluating student projects—particularly printed, paper essay. I liked holding my students' ideas in my hands. I liked responding as a reader in my marginal comments and writing a quick note as instructor to each student on the back of their last page—all in pencil. I liked the pretense of impermanence pencils offer. Their erasability quiet connoting that writing is a process, requiring continual revision, further development of ideas, reminding students that nothing is fixed permanently in place. 

Then a few summers ago, my local stationery store (at the time), Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS, began carrying a variety of wooden pencils for writing and drawing. I picked up a fistful of pencils to explore--Leuchtturm 1917 HB, Absolute Apsara, DOMS Zoom, and Staedtler Mars Lumograph—and a new Möbius + Ruppert brass bullet sharpener. I laid in my hammock and sharpened each pencil while my dog, Diego, napped between my legs. As I sharpened each pencil I began to remember the smell and experience of writing with wooden pencils in elementary, dropping a quarter into the pencil machine for fancy pencils. I next bought a dozen Palomino Blackwing Matte (or MMX as The Erasable Podcast guys call them). I became hooked. Though, to be honest, I prefer the gray Blackwing 602 with a pink eraser. This graphite is perfect for my small, neat cursive. In future posts, I plan to use the 602 as my control when testing new wooden pencils. 

My goals for this blog are

• to test and catalog each new pencil
• to feature pencil quotations 
• to document my COVID-19 work-from-home life

Favorite Shops

• C.W. Pencil Enterprise in New York, NY
• JetPens in San Jose, CA
• Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS
• Zandbroz in Fargo, ND

 
I am on this adventure and would love to connect with fellow analog travelers. If y'all have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I am always open to feedback and tips. Please reach out, especially as we are all social distancing due to COVID-19. I wish you all health, safety, and food security. 

Thank you very much for your time, patience, and consideration,

Happy + healthy Monday,

Creight