Recycled Paper Pencils

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Another just out of curiosity question.

 

I rearranged my stash of pencils recently. Lots of wood pencils in different grades of lead hardness, lots of spare leads for mechanical pencils (in different grades and thicknesses), spare erasers for mechanical pencils. It's a pretty good supply.

 

I also have these two pencils, made of recycled paper. The "Smencil" was one I bought from a friend's kid some years ago when she was raising money for her class, or girl scouts, or whatever it was. She's grown up now. The money pencil was in my late mother's effects when she passed away four years ago.

 

 

Here's the reverse side of the money pencil. It must be fairly old, as I see that the company stopped using the Eagle brand name in 1969.

 

 

Both have serviceable HB leads, nothing remarkable. The erasers on both are worse than useless, but then, I generally use a separate eraser anyway, and many of my wood pencils are brands that don't have erasers. The scent from the Smencil was pretty strong when I took it out of the tube and when I sharpened it, but has faded to tolerable levels now. Both feel sturdy enough; it's not as if I would deliberately try to break them.

 

This made me a little curious about recycled paper pencils in general. Not so much from the standpoint of environmental friendliness; as I mentioned above I have a huge stock, and the most eco-friendly thing I can do is to use what I have, and use pencil extenders to get the most out of the wooden ones. If I do eventually buy any more, it would probably be wood pencils in some of the less common lead grades for drawing.

 

No, I was just wondering what experiences people have had with the quality of recycled paper pencils, and if there are any brands that are notable in some way.

Edited January 24, 2020 by ISW_Kaputnik

[austollie]

My employer has recycled paper pencils in the stationery cupboard. They're not for me. After sharpening, the exposed area tends to fray a little bit and the graphite is of low quality. I have no doubt that it is possible to produce a high-quality pencil from recycled paper, but that's not what we have.

 

My preferred pencil type is a 2mm lead holder, which I sharpen with a mini sharpener (I'm not so fond of the rotary type). I buy my own leads, rather than use the recycled paper pencils from the stationery cupboard. Most lead holders incorporate an emergency sharpener.

[WLSpec]

I had one of these.... nice pencil. I couldn't find it online, got it at CW pencils I think.

[Parker51]

I typically run across them as novelty/ advertising items, typically linked to a youth or recycling organization. I have also run across ball points made out of recycled paper and plastic for the same purpose. As a product for regular use, never came across any. I have never seen a Fountain Pen made out of recycled non-fountain pen material, but do own two pens made out of a combinationnew materials and old Fountain Pens, the nib units either salvaged from new old stock pens in unsaleable condition, or from new old stock repair part inventory. And, some of my pens have been repaired with parts salvaged from other old pens, which is better than recycling as it uses even fewer resources, reusing.

[Astronymus]

I got a set of colored pencils some years back that are made from paper. Obviously made in Asia. Mediocre quality.

[Studio97]

Those paper wrapped pencils, often decorative, generally have poor quality lead and when sharpening they tend to not sharpen cleanly and will dull sharpener blades faster IMO. The paper is rather abrasive.

I have no use for those pencils.

( That's why pocket knives will dull faster when cutting cardboard ).