You say Golmet, I say Golmet
As today is St David's Day, the traditional feast day of the patron saint of Wales, I decided to showcase a drawing instrument that was actually manufactured in Wales. The…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 20: Mordan’s Bicentennial
The final day of our countdown has arrived which means it is time to go back to where it all began. By that I don't just mean Hawkins and Mordan's…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 19: I’m dreaming of a white…
…pencil? Clearly in the mid-1980s this is precisely what people were dreaming of, judging by the sheer number of white fineliner sets around at the time. Rotring, Staedtler and Faber-Castell…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 18: Rotring multi-pencils
One type of sliding pencil that did not get a mention in yesterday's entry was the multi-colour everpointed type, made by Sampson Mordan among others. These particular models always appear…
Mechanical Pencil Month – Day 17: Slide rules, OK?
Another Slide Rule Saturday rolls around (whatever happened to the last one?) and having already used up my only slide rule pencil as well as my only pencil with slide…
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 15: The Goldilocks pencil
Unusually, the subject of today's post is a range of pencils still in production. More specifically, it is about one particular pencil from this range, for reasons that shall become…
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…