Why Are Asian Pencils So Nice?

[sandy101]

I've kept my resolution to not buy anymore fountain pens since February.

 

But...

 

I've just bought some Tombow 100 mono, Palimino 602 and Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils.

 

I'm impressed. I've never held such nice, high quality pencils before.

 

I'm used to ones that break, flake, fade or go blunt very quickly - rendering them rather impractical.

 

The three brands I've mentioned have been very impressive. They sharpen to a very find point, which keep going a while.

 

It's been an eye-opener. Did pencils suddenly get better, or have I just been unlucky in my choice of pencil so far?

 

 

[flatline]

It's not just the Japanese pencils. Even the cheap pencils that the school kids drop in the parking lot are better than the pencils I used as a kid.

 

My favorite wooden pencils are the Hi-Uni and the Steadtler Lumograph, but even the discount pencils like USA Gold or Dixon Oriole are, in the grand scheme of things, excellent pencils. Heck, I bought a pack of Up&Up pencils from target for about $0.05 per pencil and they've been just fine.

 

--flatline

Edited April 18, 2017 by flatline

[dayrow]

Leads have tended to get better, and all the pencils you've mentioned are nice.

 

If you want to broaden your search, I'd recommend looking into pencils made by (in Europe) Caran d'Ache, Staedtler, Koh-i-Noor (Hardtmuth), and Faber-Castell; (in Japan) Camel; and (in the US) General's and Musgrave.

 

For good writers (around a #2 grade, say H, F, HB, and B ), I do like the Caran d'Ache Edelweiss, the Tombow 2558, and the General's Scribe 375.

 

I also have a soft spot for the Musgrave Bugle 1816 and Harvest #2, but their point retention isn't as good as the others above.

 

As far as the Japanese and neighboring markets go: it's easy to poke holes into any generalization, but when I squint it does seem like there is much more innovation there than in, e.g., the US and Europe, possibly because the stationary industry is more lucrative there. (Someone may want to correct me, but I understand this is partly because computer takeover in office and school settings has been much slower in a country like Japan, where early computer encodings were not friendly to the larger-than-Latin orthographies. Though, again, the story will be more nuanced than that...)

 

While the little 'news' that does come out of pen and pencil manufacturers in the West tends to be aesthetic--new takes on old designs, almost always in the high-end price range, particularly with fountain pens--from Japan I hear quite a lot about new mechanisms, usually appearing in low- to mid-range instruments. Apart from the fuss over the lead formulae used in Blackwings, say, there have been the Pilot V-Pen, the Pentel Orenz (and just now the Orenz Nero), the Zebra DelGuard, the Uni Kuru Toga, ...

 

But, again, these are all generalizations.

Edited April 18, 2017 by dayrow

[MYU]

For new construction, definitely a resounding YES -- mechanical pencils have definitely gotten better, on the whole. Check out the Uniball Kuru Toga. Now that is a work of clever genius. It features a rotating lead mechanism to help avoid the sharp lead tip edge. They've also introduced a retractable lead sleeve to help keep leads from breaking, while also tucking away when not in use. $9. You could never find such a magnificently engineered writing instrument many decades ago. In my school, about the only mechanical pencils we'd get were made by Bic. There wasn't much in the intermediate range... as from there you were pretty much left with very expensive Mars Staedtler and Rotring ones. Kohinoor was much more into lead holders than mechanical pencils.

 

The Japanese have been making quality mechanical pencils for many decades. I discovered this, much to the demise of my wallet. Because I've found some truly magnificent vintage designs that I couldn't resist hunting down and buying. PILOT had a penchant for very high quality mechanical pencils for the price. Made of rugged steel in both body and mechanisms, these pencils are designed to last for generations. And they were relatively cheap (whereas a fountain pen might be priced at 3,500 JPY, the pencil was 1,000 or 1,500 JPY for the higher quality ones). There are some very rare models that... surprisingly enough, command hundreds of dollars. Special editions made by Pentel and Mitsubishi Hi-Uni, for professional use, that were considered exclusive for the most senior engineers and mathematicians of a company. I've been able to admire those from a distance -- but I won't ever try to buy those, as the bidding competition is fierce and goes much higher than I'm willing to pay.

 

Germans have made great mechanical pencils as well. Faber Castell, Rotring and Staedtler were the most renowned, and still make respectable writing instruments today. But there's something about the Japanese designs that speak to me more.

Edited April 18, 2017 by MYU

[bearcat1]

I like the Rotring pencils and you will note many were made in Japan.

[sandy101]

I've ordered a box of Tombow 100 monos from Japan. They were more comfortable that the Mistsubishi Hi-Uni's. I don't know why, but the Mitsubushi seemed to dig into my hand as I held them - not sure if that's the weight, or the slighlty larger girth. Both pencils make lovely lines, but I went for the one, which in my opinion was more comfortable to use.

 

I found an old pencil in my box - and it had all the sins - the HB lead was light (a lot of the new ones seem to be a bit darker) and the point disappeared so quickly it was disappointing.

 

When I said Asian, I didn't mean to generalise too much, but in England it seems there are lots of quality art pencils in the shops, but quality writing pencils seem to be in short supply. Last box I bought a couple of years ago were nasty. Not all the cores were intact - and they weren't pleasant to use at all.

Edited April 18, 2017 by sandy101

[Kanshaku]

I teach in Japan, students from 16 to 83. I've never seen one of them use a fountain pen, just pencils and "Frixion" erasable ballpoints. Some would say the Japanese make the best (modern) fountain pens so "why don't they use them?" I hear you ask. Well, I asked my students. It depends on how you define a single kanji: the forest kanji is 3 tree kanji for example but technically only counts as one kanji. 84 strokes is possible for a single kanji but 30 or less is more normal. Our cursive writing can be one stroke per word. In any event, they do a lot of erasing and make a lot of good pencils. Fountain pens are gifts that are rarely used.

[MYU]

I teach in Japan, students from 16 to 83. I've never seen one of them use a fountain pen, just pencils and "Frixion" erasable ballpoints. Some would say the Japanese make the best (modern) fountain pens so "why don't they use them?" I hear you ask. Well, I asked my students. It depends on how you define a single kanji: the forest kanji is 3 tree kanji for example but technically only counts as one kanji. 84 strokes is possible for a single kanji but 30 or less is more normal. Our cursive writing can be one stroke per word. In any event, they do a lot of erasing and make a lot of good pencils. Fountain pens are gifts that are rarely used.

 

Thank you very much for your posting, Kanshaku! So interesting to get the insight of a teacher from Japan. It sounds sensible to use pencils if erasing is a common need. I guess that's why mechanical pencils seem to be rather revered in Japan. When I visited Japan and conducted a software seminar in Tokyo, a couple of students had Pilot Vanishing Point pens with them. Has the tendency for fountain pens to be accepted as gifts and seldom used been more or less a social convention of recent times?

[Mech-for-i]

Well, There's some nice and good pencil from UK, US, and EU alright .... I mean, just head over to some ( serious ) Art Supply store and check out the lot.

[Studio97]

I have been finding good quality pencils made in vietnam and thailand. Now i want to buy them by the gross at a low price of course. I must be crazy. I have hundreds of them of different makes and i still want more.

[Algester]

for me Faber-Castell, Staedtler are the best pencils around my country, if you want something work-horsey in my country a lowly Mongol works, hi-uni just entered the market but only in limited grades (come one seriously advertise that 22 lead grade magic :X)

beyond that no more no less

and then there's palomino but not a lot of people know them but yes insanely good pencils (I'm not sure who made their lead cores maybe uni?)

Edited June 13, 2017 by Algester

[Studio97]

There is a staples #2 black paint and black eraser which is quite good. Made in vietnam. 2 dollars for a box of 24. And i also have most of the high end brands too. Blackwing,palomino, hi uni;, and staedtler norica, staedtler rally, misc older usa made. Sometimes i will find an unnamed china made pencil which will write amazingly dark and smooth. Rarely used i have nearly century old hexagon gilt eberhard faber pencils. Amazing craftsmenship and beauty in a simple pencil.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Studio97

[Sasha Royale]

With the exception of certain oriental dictators, most Asian people and their stuff are nice.

[welch]

Among wood-case pencils, I think it is more the reverse: the US once had ten or twelve good pencil companies. My favorites were Eberhard Faber Mongol Number 1 and their Blackwing, but E-F sold Number 2 (typical writing) and higher numbers / harder pencils for drawing.

 

In the early '90s, Faber-Castell began to buy out their competitors, including Eberhard-Faber, Venus ("Velvet"), Berol ("Mirado").

 

By the late '90s, we had Faber-Castell and Dixon ("Ticonderoga"). Eventually, Sanford bought Faber-Castell and Newell-Rubbermaid began to offer the Faber-Castell products as Papermate pencils. That's how Newell-Rubbermaid came to own the rights to the Esterbrook name, which they attached to a kind of "magic-marker" they marketed in Latin America.

 

(Some details: Henry Petroski, "The Pencil", https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-History-Design-Circumstance/dp/0679734155/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497473895&sr=1-2&keywords=the+pencil)

 

Palamino seems to have their pencils made in Japan.

[Studio97]

When i go to thrift stores I am always looking for misc older brands of quality pencils made in the US but at least i am finding quality made in Asia pencils at a low price. I know i have tooooo many.

[sidthecat]

When I was still doing animation on paper, Tombow pencils were very popular; so popular that when the company announced that it was going to stop selling pencils in the US everyone in the cartoon racket went survivalist and started hoarding them. I still have about a dozen boxes in the house. We're all digital now, so I'll never have to buy another pencil.