Image courtesy of popsugar.com We’ve explored the mechanisms of pencils and erasers, and now it’s time to discuss how pencil sharpeners work. If you’re exploring the site, chances are you understand just how essential our pencil sharpeners can be. There’s nothing quite like a well-pointed pencil tip! For many, the appreciation stops there – the […]
We know pencils work thanks to graphite molecules breaking off and catching onto the fibers of paper. Today, we’re going to figure out how erasers work to remove those bits of graphite when you make a mistake. As it turns out, erasers work using complicated chemistry. Because this is a pencil blog, we’ll try to avoid too much […]
Before 1894, pencils sharpeners were massive: Source OK, they weren’t all that big, but the only pencil sharpener available was the rotary blade sharpener, a pencil sharpener using the same mechanism as that old hand crank sharpener mounted to the wall of your third grade classroom. Though these old-school rotary sharpeners looked super cool and […]
Vintage pencil sharpeners are exciting. Though I never thought I would make that statement, it’s true – old pencil sharpeners vary from sleek and fancy to wild and zany in their designs. Panasonic Pana-Point KP-22A This 1970s pencil sharpener fetches a pretty penny on Etsy. Its minimalist, rounded design is hard to hate and it […]
Here’s a bit of pencil history for you: before 1964, Pencil eraser ferrules were made with brass because brass had the appropriate strength to hold a pencil with its eraser. Pencil manufacturers opted for the more expensive brass instead of aluminum when making ferrules because the aluminum ferrules were too easily crushed. That all […]
We’re no strangers to out-of-print pencils. Many pencils have come and gone over the years – many pencils disappear for good reason. There are, however, many great pencil models that went out-of-print before their time. (For more information on vintage pencils, check out these blogs. That’s where we go.) Van Dyke 601 Referred to on […]
If you’ve spent time lurking through the Pencil Internet, you’ve probably come across some terms that have made you scratch your head. Like most enthusiast scenes, the pencil world is full of obscure pencil terms and jargon that can intimidate the novice pencil hobbyist. We’re going to pave your entryway into the world of pencils by […]
Filling out a scorecard by hand allows for a more engaging and personalized baseball experience. Using each team’s batting lineup and a shorthand code for the defense positions, you can learn how to quickly record a game’s happenings. Read on to learn how to score a baseball game. What you’ll need: A baseball scorecard The […]
Alan Turing, the mathematician that founded computer science and broke Germany’s “Enigma” code to help win WWII, was recently immortalized by the Oscar-winning film The Imitation Game. His story, once unheard-of outside of the world of mathematicians, has since become a near-household name. While The Imitation Game focuses on Turing’s work towards cracking Hitler’s encryption […]
I sincerely hope you’re still using a paper notebook. No, really. While services like Evernote turn paperless note-keeping into a tantalizing possibility, we’re champions of the tactile sensation you get from rifling through the pages of a crinkled notebook for that essential bit of content. Who said that you had to rifle through an unorganized, frenzied mess […]