Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 16: Cone v. Cylinder
Over the last few days, the question of point shape has come up more than once. There was the Staedtler REG with its throwback conical point in an age of…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 14: Compass inserts
As mentioned in day twelve's survey of lead refills, A.W. Faber's polygrade leads revolutionised the compass pencil insert, with 2 mm quickly becoming the standard size of fitting. Mostly these…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 13: Staedtler REG
Unlucky for some, the Staedtler 925 85 REG is one of those pencils that elicits mixed opinions. Released by Staedtler's Japanese division in 2004, its short name comes from the…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 12: Twelve leads a-leaping
For the twelfth day of Christmas Mechanical Pencil Month, I present a whistlestop tour of twelve lead refills from my collection of [insert large number here]. They have been arranged…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 9: The inimitable Tekagraph
There's no mistaking today's pencil, that icon of space age design, the Tekagraph 9603 by Faber-Castell. Instantly recognisable by its two dramatically different halves - a curvilinear grip section colliding…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 5: Rotring ArtPencil sets
It's Monday and we all probably need a bit of cheering up, so today's post is completely free from obscure patents, overcomplicated mechanisms and wacky design features (unless you count…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 3: Nestler’s German silver screws
As promised, today's entry brings together Slide Rule Saturday and Mechanical Pencil Month in the hope of fostering a new spirit of love and cooperation between the two rival kingdoms.…
Sketchy calculation
As a bit of weekend fun, here's something called a Rechenstift - German for "calculating pen" - by the venerable Hamburg firm of Dennert & Pape, erstwhile inventors of the…
An English Lotter?
The other day I broke my own rule of not buying any more of those turn of the century imported student-quality sets sold in vast quantities, primarily by Jackson Brothers, but…