Author Topic: Pencil fetish  (Read 70881 times)

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Pencil fetish
« on: 18 August, 2010, 10:22:33 am »
I need to confide; I appear to be developing one again.

When I moved offices last month, I rediscovered my mechanical desktop pencil sharpener lurking at the bottom of a filing box.  This morning, whilst on a long phone call, I searched out all my pencils to feed into it.  Amongst the more mundane and generic pencils, I found:

  • Berol Venus and Karismacolour
  • Staedtler Mars Dynagraph
  • Pentel Black Polymer
  • Rexel Cumberland

There's now a pot of delicately pointed and properly sharpened B, HB, 2B, 4B and even 8B pencils on my desk, just aching to be used.

Definitely my current favourite is the Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil.  I'm seduced by the way it feels in my hand and the way it slides across the paper, leaving such a lovely, definite line...

*little pencil moment*
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Tim

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #1 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:26:11 am »
Rule 36: "If you've thought of it, then there's somebody out there with a fetish for it."

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #2 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:28:01 am »
Weirdo!!  :P

Pretty much the only time I write these days is to sign my name. Subsequently, my handwriting is dreadful now. Even worse than my doctor's!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #3 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:40:00 am »
Mechanical pencils FTW!  Unless one is being artsy.
 
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #4 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:49:43 am »
Charlotte - you may be cured of this if you look up the etymology of 'pencil'.   If you don't want to be cured you could visit the pencil museum in Derwent.

vorsprung

  • Opposites Attract
    • Audaxing
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #5 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:56:55 am »
In the Museum shop at the Boijmans museum in Rotterdam they had a clockwork robot

To wind it up you sharpened your pencil in it

It will walk along carrying a pencil

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #6 on: 18 August, 2010, 11:17:25 am »
Charlotte - you may be cured of this if you look up the etymology of 'pencil'.   If you don't want to be cured you could visit the pencil museum in Derwent.

I've been. It's rubbish. I suspect Charlotte would be disappointed by it.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

border-rider

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #7 on: 18 August, 2010, 11:21:29 am »
The one in Keswick ?

We went many years ago, when it was raining.  I'd also not recommend it.  Almost as disappointing as the Dr Who exhibition in Cardiff.

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #8 on: 18 August, 2010, 11:32:07 am »
Charlotte

I had been in danger of developing a pencil fetish but I hope I've stopped in time.

For several years, every time I visited France, I would go to a huge hypermarket and buy (inter alia) a packet of 10 Pentel clutch pencils and a packet of multi coloured Faber clutch pencils.  I also regularly bought a bumper pack of different colour insulation tapes.

I've no idea where they all went but had to visit B&Q this morning to buy insulation tape.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #9 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:03:04 pm »
Now I'm obviously the wrong kind of geek, but I've always hated pencils.  The smell, the taste and most of all, the feel, especially on cheap paper.  :sick:  And don't get me started on the coloured ones.  Probably primary school handwriting trauma or something.  If I have to, I'll go for a 0.3mm mechanical pencil every time, as they feel the least pencil-like in use.

The other great thing about mechanical pencils is that it's so much less effort to extract the lead to wire it up to a high-current supply   ::-)

While I'm thoroughly incompetent in their use, pens I can appreciate.  Pencils are just eew.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #10 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:06:48 pm »
That is a pity as the Pencil Museum in Keswick is amazing and inspiring.

Sorry, call me dense, but I really can't tell if this is meant to be a serious comment or not - I suspect not but you never know...

(Pls to be using emoticons for the hard of thinking next time.)

Anyway, the pencil museum in Keswick and the pencil museum in Derwent are one and the same, just in case there is any genuine confusion over the matter.

Neither is worth visiting.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #11 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:08:48 pm »
Now I'm obviously the wrong kind of geek, but I've always hated pencils.  The smell, the taste and most of all, the feel, especially on cheap paper.  :sick:  And don't get me started on the coloured ones.  Probably primary school handwriting trauma or something.  If I have to, I'll go for a 0.3mm mechanical pencil every time, as they feel the least pencil-like in use.

The other great thing about mechanical pencils is that it's so much less effort to extract the lead to wire it up to a high-current supply   ::-)

While I'm thoroughly incompetent in their use, pens I can appreciate.  Pencils are just eew.

Mechanical pencils are like digital:  controllable, predictable, repeatable, expensive, fiddly and often unreliable

Trad pencils are analogue: rich, warm, engaging little pieces of lo-fi cheapness that just keep on working.

(cf. the story about cosmonauts not bothering with space pens  :))
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #12 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:11:52 pm »
(cf. the story about cosmonauts not bothering with space pens  :))

...which is bobbins, as I'm sure you already know. (You wouldn't risk using a traditional pencil in space because a broken nib floating around would be extremely dangerous.)

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #13 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:13:37 pm »
I like mechanical pencils and have more than I strictly speaking need.

This guy has more than me though.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #14 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:40:49 pm »
You use a mechanical sharpener, Charlotte?

You are naughty.


The One Right and True Way to sharpen a pencil is with a knife*.  I thought you of all people would know that.  It's not just about being able to give the nib a soft shape at will, it's about your non-knifey colleagues learning to deal with people who openly know how to use sharp tools.   :D



*Unless it's a carpenter's oval or square one, in which case the correct tool is a sharp chisel.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

RJ

  • Droll rat
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #15 on: 18 August, 2010, 01:58:49 pm »
On or close to my desk right now:


I got to like using mechanical pencils when my job involved lots of note-taking in the field - as a result, I have a slight fetish for soft, fat leads.*

Somebody seems to have eaten my other "ordinary" pencils - except for one of those made out of recycled vending machine cups that don't write.


EDIT:  ordinary pencils get treated to a Faber-Castell UFO sharpener


* - Oi - I said leads  ;)


clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #16 on: 18 August, 2010, 02:22:35 pm »
I lurv carpenters pencils.  I used to use one for work all the time, but, as bought, they were far too big, so I always sawed them into three before sharpening (with a Stanley knife, as it happens).

I also used chinagraph for marking gels.  But that's a whole different subject.

I like conventional pencils, too.  A very human scale technology.  Though my preferred grade is F, and I never worked out how that fitted in, and they seem remarkably difficult to get hold of (cue: response in 90s with eighteen weblinks including fgradepencils.com and porncils.tk)
Getting there...

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #17 on: 18 August, 2010, 02:32:06 pm »
I also used chinagraph for marking gels.  But that's a whole different subject.

Great when used with a profile light for casting a silhouette of a cock onto an actor's face. ;)

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #18 on: 18 August, 2010, 02:34:18 pm »
You use a mechanical sharpener, Charlotte?

You are naughty.

In fairness, clipped to my bag right now is a UKPK that gets used for 101 different tasks each week.  I opened a package with it yesterday afternoon and my boss had lovely little look on his face as I clicked open the Spyderco blade with my thumb  :)

But I have to admit, for sheer pencil-pr0n value, I like the mechanical grinder.

*shamefaced*
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #19 on: 18 August, 2010, 02:40:15 pm »
I also used chinagraph for marking gels.  But that's a whole different subject.

Great when used with a profile light for casting a silhouette of a cock onto an actor's face. ;)

d.


I never felt the need.  Most actors are quite capable of making themselves look complete cocks.
Getting there...

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #20 on: 18 August, 2010, 05:53:56 pm »
You use a mechanical sharpener, Charlotte?

You are naughty.

In fairness, clipped to my bag right now is a UKPK that gets used for 101 different tasks each week.  I opened a package with it yesterday afternoon and my boss had lovely little look on his face as I clicked open the Spyderco blade with my thumb  :)

But I have to admit, for sheer pencil-pr0n value, I like the mechanical grinder.

*shamefaced*

Heh.  I'm not a big fan of the Spydercos - nothing wrong with the design, I just prefer a different shape - so my current EDC for is a Fällkniven U1, which turns a few heads, even though work is full of chaps (and chapesses) sporting Tim Leatherman's various designs.

I'm still looking for a short Le Thiers which I've seen, but not been able to find online.

Clarion:  I used to use Chinagraph too.  In the bad old days of handraulic editing, they were used in VT as well as in audio. 
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
Somehow to let it go would be more classy…

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #21 on: 18 August, 2010, 09:08:07 pm »
That's a pretty knife. :)

I'd forgotten using chinagraph for editing tape & marking up 35mm film for splicing before (or, in one tragic case, too late for) projection.  Not good memories :facepalm:
Getting there...

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #22 on: 18 August, 2010, 09:50:58 pm »
I'm still looking for a short Le Thiers which I've seen, but not been able to find online.
 

Something like this? . . .

Boy have you got expensive taste. Can I pick you one up in Limoges?
VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #23 on: 18 August, 2010, 09:57:55 pm »
You should upgrade from the faber castell versions of the perfect pencil to the graf von faber castell versions. For 200 quid, I want my pencil to be magic...

My pencil selection is down to what I can liberate from the stationery cupboard.

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Pencil fetish
« Reply #24 on: 18 August, 2010, 10:08:08 pm »
Whilst my career has involved a huge number of proper clutch pencils (not these nancy modern skinny leaded things, I mean proper clutch pencils with 2mm leads, that you have to sharpen, usually in 4h or 5h for technical drawing) I absolutely adore proper wooden pencils, the smell of them when freshly sharpened is lovely.  Trouble is, nowadays I keep getting recycled ones made from old CD cases, or recycled rats or something, and they just don't smell right.  Don't write very well, either.  I get quite unpopular in the office sharpening pencils, as I have one of those really tasteful pencil sharpeners which consists of a plastic cat, and you shove the pencil up his bum, and he meows piteously when you turn it.  I don't blame him....

I was bemused by Charlotte's tales of sharpening 6B pencils, surely they must almost drip out of the end of the pencil?
Wombat