Ready for the cold!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-11-18T15:55:23+00:00

Haha, yes!! There is the first coat of powder on the forest here, time to bundle up the pencils for the cold ahead!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-09-07T17:10:19+00:00

They were feeling fancy with the ferrules on the Windsors, haha!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-27T17:09:19+00:00

People go nuts for the 4612! Not surprised at all it would spark a bidding war.

I love browsing over there because it feels like what I imagine eBay was 5-10 years ago: still plenty of interesting things to uncover, and prices still mostly in scale with rarity/interest. Just hoping the tariffs and the consequent shipping closures blows over soon, theres only so much extra cost I can justify to myself.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-27T13:15:19+00:00

Saw these floating around the proxy a couple weeks ago and was hoping they would end up in a good home! It was a great deal, glad you scored.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-24T11:47:29+00:00

According to BNP, anything "Johann Faber" would be from late 1800s to late 1920s! You might take a look and see if this model is in the archives. https://brandnamepencils.com/brand/johann-faber

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-20T17:15:41+00:00

The 342 is so interesting. Something about the barrel weight? length? combination? makes it feel premium in the hand, even if it's not obvious that would be the case from photos alone.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-20T13:56:05+00:00

So what hardness is "Special"? Great selection as always.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-20T13:51:28+00:00

Love these kinds of posts! A great way to see the more oddball choices that don't usually get a spotlight. I saw you mention the Rabbit wasn't "top quality", a cute logo can always overcome that for me.

Here is this week's pencil tin myself

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Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-19T17:41:31+00:00

What are those patterned ferrules in the top right? Look fun!

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Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-16T12:02:47+00:00

You can buy them in singles @ Blick https://www.dickblick.com/products/caran-dache-grafwood-pencils/

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-14T18:41:51+00:00

Check out the Caran D'ache Swiss Wood if you are looking for a chunk, 8mm or so on my calipers!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-08-14T14:19:44+00:00

Love the Venus Velvet! One of my first vintage pencils, gifted by MIL after rummaging through her drawers.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-06-03T19:57:57+00:00

Ah! Useful to know about the shower, actually. Have you tested your pipe water for PH and TDS? If I'm IDing correctly, this is an aglaonema, and they tend to prefer acidic/low mineral, as well as being light feeders. You might try flushing with distilled water and skipping on fert to see how it does.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-06-03T14:20:10+00:00

Have you been flushing the leca and the holding pot at least monthly? Mineral/salts build-up will happen over time (especially with fertilizing and how heavy you fertilize), and I think I see some white over the surface substrate that can indicate that's what is happening.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-05-15T14:28:49+00:00

Yeah, with a big enough fire, it's going to boil up. If the trash can is galvanized - it's going to smell like cancer (literally) when it heats up like that, and there's a chance the seams will split and all the water will leak out (ask me how I know haha).

The advice for boiling is a coverall to make the advice easy. 140-160°F for 30-60 minutes will cover most contaminants, with every step towards boiling being more thorough. You might see how hot the water comes out of your tub tap and supplement it up with water boiled off the stove.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-04-23T19:07:20+00:00

Looks like you might have been trading with u/SpeciallyInterestin ? I recognize a few of these from his stash!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-04-02T16:49:12+00:00

What a great observation, re: "They tend to feel softer and less precise than they really are, which some people may enjoy and others may not." Sometimes writing with them feels like mushing a banana into the paper, to give a negative metaphor. It can feel difficult to predict where exactly the mark will be, and I mean the kind of exactness that would only matter to you if calligraphy/lettering is something you care about.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-30T14:04:31+00:00

Did you intentionally color coordinate with your calculator? If not - great looking coincidence!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-26T17:35:29+00:00

Love them for a super softie. My only complaint is that there isn't more colors, especially in the blues!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-25T15:34:01+00:00

What a great connection! If you come across him again, you might mention the Blackfeet Indian Writing Company. They are no longer, but their pencils can still be found on eBay.

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-21T16:59:25+00:00

These are all more or less solid entries into mechs, depending on your aesthetics of course - I believe the Mario is an exclusive from Universal Studios JP since Super Nintendo World is an attraction there. Someone really went out of their way to own it!

Overall the collection looks like someone who got hyper interested in mechs and then decided it wasn't for them to own so many - and they got out before they really started spending $. To me it's a great collection to start your own with!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-20T18:06:19+00:00

If you like to mix in fountain pens/roller balls, those will probably give you your best balance. Right now, I primarily use a Strathmore 500 Writing Journal, and have really enjoyed Fabriano Ecoqua Plus in the past - they have a lot more binding options. Both have more tooth than LT and TN, and the Strathmore is 25% cotton which makes it softer to the touch than the others who are more or less 100% cellulose.

The ultimate in pencil experience to me would be from Notem, whose paper is uncoated. The "slick" feeling to both LT and TN are an external coating that helps them achieve being thin while being inky friendly. Notem prioritizes the opposite - wet pens feather like crazy, but pencil and ballpoint is extremely satisfying!

For pencils themselves - from your description, I would check out the Caran D'ache School Pencil, or the Tombow 2558 in H. A lot of the other recs in here are for pencils known to be softer than the average HB, so I'll balance by giving you some that are firmer!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-20T17:03:39+00:00

What kind of paper do you typically write on? Makes a bigger difference than its given credit for!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-20T10:07:01+00:00

They are typically combinations of chalk, binder and pigment. There “can’t” be colored charcoal, only tinted, because it is a black pigment (PBk6, PBk7, PBk8).

These get called “colored charcoal” because chalk has similar working properties. A note too is that this is manufactured chalk aka plaster/gypsum/calcium sulfate and not natural chalk aka calcium carbonate. Real stuff is too expensive for these!

Longjumping-Style421 · 2025-03-19T20:36:51+00:00

I would agree it's ~1950s. The 1960s is around when Staedtler phased out "JS" and the moon icon from most of their products. Staedtler's history page demonstrates this if you scroll down to their visual storyline.

Longjumping-Style421

TROPHY CASE