This pencil is very different from the dark and smooth Blackwings I use most of the time.

It is made by Caran D’Ache, and very European. It came sharpened, something I really hate because then I have to deal with getting it to the kind of point I want; and that is usually more of a hassle than just sharpening it in the first place.

This pencil has a much harder point than I’m used to. It isn’t a bad thing just very different. Not my favourite thing in the world. But it is really nice when you can write for a really long time without sharpening it. But that also means that it is more scratchy.

Pick your poison.

It is worth noting that this is a very enjoyable pencil of this kind.

This is the pencil a lot of people call stink wood. I don’t mind the smell. And I think it looks cool and unique.

I think it was an enjoyable pencil to test out. But I’m not sure if I’ll ever get more than the two pencils I bought.

All of my blog posts go through multiple stages before they end up on this site.

First I start with gathering ideas. I either get an idea and write it down or I sit down to brainstorm and write down every dumb idea I can think of. Then I just keep it all in a giant list. I sometimes prune it, but that isn’t something I do a lot because what I think is really boring or dumb today might be interesting to me in the future.

Then I write drafts. Usually on paper. When I feel like writing I take my notebook. Currently a lined LT1917 A5 and write the first thing from the list I feel like writing. I typically write one or two posts in each sitting.

When I have written a certain number of pages. Usually either 25 or 50. I transcribe it into my iPad. At this stage I first read it to figure out if I want to transcribe it or not. If I don’t like it I add the idea back to the list and move over to the next one. If I decide to not transcribe it it is because I don’t like anything about it.

All of my writing are kept in Drafts.

At this point I just have a long list of blog posts that need some work. I typically schedule posts 1-2 months in advance. Just to make sure I keep the schedule I have set for myself while at the same time allowing for life to get in the way when needed.

When I see that it is time to think about putting up another month of blog posts I just scroll down the list and take the first thing I feel like working on and re-writes it until I’m happy enough about it and tag it as done. And when I have a couple of weeks worth of posts I paste them into my CMS and schedule them.

Not sure if this is something about the box of them I have or if it is a general issue.

But these pencils keep breaking on me. Or the point breaks a lot. But it only happens with the Classroom Friendly or the Pollux. Not the Masterpiece.

This is really interesting because it is the first or second type of pencil the Classroom Friendly has a problem with where the internals of the pencil wasn’t completely shattered.

Of the four Blackwing cores: soft, balanced, firm and extra firm. What are my favourites?

I have two different things I use pencils for. Either for note taking or long form writing. Because I think sharpening pencils are a lot of fun, I don’t want pencils where you feel like you can write with it for a week without sharpening.

I also prefer the smoothness to a scratchy pencil. But I don’t enjoy having to use a handful of pencils to write a blog post.

For note-taking I prefer the Balanced core. It is in my opinion the softest Blackwing that is usable for writing.

For long form writing I prefer the firm to the extra firm, because I like smoothness and sharpening. But I also really hate the 602 design, and if the only option is the regular 602 design I’m going with the extra firm.

When I look at the regular four Blackwing designs I just feel a lot of “meh”.

I’m not a huge fan of the gold. Never have. Probably never will.

And honestly just get rid of the fucking feryl and the earsor. It is shit, large and in the way.

The colors. I like the O.G, love the Pearl, hate the 602 — it looks like shit, and natural — well I don’t get it.

They are not bad, but not that great. For half of them I always end up looking for a Volume with that core instead most of the time.

I have a bunch of different sharpeners in various places in my apartment. But there are really only two I use a lot. The Pollux when I’m not at home or feel like sharpening by hand and the Classroom Friendly.

The reason I usually just use the Classroom Friendly is that it is very reliable, very quick and give me a very consistent and good point. It isn’t as good as the Pollux, but still better than any of the other sharpeners I own. For example, if I needed to sharpen 12 new pencils that would take me a good while with the Pollux or a master piece. Plus some breaks. With the Classroom Friendly I could probably be done in 5 minutes or less.

This is why I usually just carry a lot of sharp pencils instead of a small sharpener when I got into the office or bring pencils anywhere.

I recently got some point guards from JetPens. They were inexpensive, $2.40 for a 4 pack.

This have been on my to do list for such a long time to get “some” point guards and test it out. But I have just never gotten around to it of various reasons. Part of the reason have been that a lot of them look really cheap and terrible while others are very expensive.

When I came over these they looeked both inexpensive and not terrible; so I ordered them when I bought some other stuff from JetPens.

If you want a solid point guard I cannot recommend these enough. But I don’t think the whole product category is for me. It just doesn’t make any sense for me. What I love about pencils is that you just pick it up and start writing. With a point guard I just kind of made them as slow to get started with as my other writing thingies.

I got them. Used them for a week before I decided it wasn’t for me. But again, I think the product itself is solid, if point guards is something you want.

I know a lot of people kind of use one pencil until the end before they start using the next one. This is not how I roll.

My main use case for pencils most of the time is together with what ever notebook I currently have my running todo lists in. These are usually either Rhodia DotPads or LT1917 A5 Dotgrid notebooks. They are kind of where I write notes or draft stuff or write to do lists. The reason I love using pencils for these is that it never needs any priming to start writing. And most of the time I write 3 or 4 lines at the most.

The way I use pencils is that I usually have between 10 and 20 of them in use. I just use one until it’s dull and then I pick another one and typically don’t sharpen them before I run our or if I’m going somewhere and want to bring pencils.

Part of the reason I landed on this way of doing it was that I loved my home office sharpener (the Classroom Friendly) and didn’t like the more portable sharpeners I had. I also find it much less disruptive when I’m at home to just move over to another pencil than to stop and sharpen.

For me this works way better than when I used to only have one or two that were in use and always trying to find places to sharpen it.

The name is kind of weird.

It is the process of when you take a cartridge converter pen and just get rid of the converter or cartridge and fill the whole body with ink.

Not all pens work well for this. First of all the body should be plastic and you should test that it is tight. I personally think that clear or kind of clear materials are better for this. Mostly because it is so cool looking at all that ink moving around inside the pen.

Everything you need to do this is a synringe to fill the body and some silicone grease to use on the threads where you screw the body and ink section together to keep ink from leaking.

With the right pen this looks so awesome. With my Pocket 66 I sometimes sit there fliping the pen looking the ink splash around.