Posts filed under Pencil Reviews

Faber-Castell 9000 Graphite Pencil Tin Set Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

It's finally spring, here, but when I open a new box of pencils, it's instantly September and I'm ready to head back to school. This set of graphite artist's pencils have that smell that activates the part of your brain that needs to create.

The Faber-Castell 9000 Graphite Pencil Tin Set contains six pencils of different lead grades: HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B. The lead is bonded to the hexagonal wood casing (so the lead is very break-resistant), and the body is coated in water-based, environmentally friendly varnish. They're all in the signature Faber-Castell dark green with gold-stamped branding and labels.

Faber-Castell have kept a consistent aesthetic in their 112-year legacy. I found an old tin set in an antique shop last year. I don't know how old this set is, but the lovely pencils are nearly identical to the modern ones.

It's safe to say that 100+ years is enough time to become an expert, so it's no surprise that these pencils are excellent. The leads are strong with a lovely degree of difference in lead grades. They write smoothly with just the right amount of feedback, shade beautifully, erase well, and hardly smudge at all, even in the softest grade. The right side of my drawn line is where I tried to smudge them--and I feel I have to tell you that, because it's really difficult to see any smudge. They all held their points quite well, though the softer ones naturally wore down a little more quickly. They're light and the wood smells enchanting.

The Faber-Castell 9000 is available in 16 hardness grades, sold as open stock or in sets of 6, 12, or in a complete set of 16.

These are great artist's tools. Whether you're sketching, drawing, or designing, these are definitely worth a try. They'd also make a lovely gift for an artist. Harder lead grades may perform well for writing, but sketching is where these pencils shine.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on April 27, 2017 by Sarah Read and filed under Faber-Castell, Pencil Reviews.

Baron Fig Archer Snakes And Ladders Pencil Review

I have been anxious to try Baron Fig’s Archer Pencil since it first launched. I was running a bit behind when they first dropped, and shortly thereafter, Baron Fig started the mother of all subscription services. I chose to subscribe to the Archer and wait out the first release. Snakes & Ladders is now here, so let’s check it out!

Two things stand out when first picking up this pencil. One, it is beautiful. The Vermillion red paint job with the dipped cap is right up my alley. The imprints are clean, with a snake, ladder, and the Baron Fig name on three of the six hex sides of the barrel.

Secondly, it is light. Crazy light. I have a few pencils like this and I enjoy them. But there is a but. If the pencil is light, I need the lead to be firm. The HB core in the Snakes & Ladders edition is not firm.

The graphite is dark and soft, which is not my preferred setup. This is purely an individual taste thing, of course. I did get a single original Archer pencil to compare it to, and while it is also an HB core from the same factory, it is firmer, and lighter in color. This is normal variance in manufacturing I believe.

I’ve been spoiled with ultra-smooth graphite in other pencils - the Blackwing 602 for example - and the Snakes & Ladders core is grittier. This is normal in most pencils, the 602 is more of an outlier, but that begs the question: Is the Archer pencil worth the premium price for what is essentially the most basic graphite core available?

Right now, I say no. This is a very good pencil, not a special pencil. I’m happy to have my subscription, but I can’t see being a long term subscriber because I probably have a dozen pencils on my desk right now that I would pick up before this one. Hopefully Baron Fig has some graphite core experimentation up their sleeves for future releases.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Baron Fig, Pencil Reviews.

Zebra DelGuard Type-ER Mechanical Pencil Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Mechanical pencils come in all shapes and sizes, and it seems that most manufacturers try to introduce a unique angle or feature for their pencils to make them stand out from the pack. Some times, the features are pure gimmicks, but other times we benefit from the ingenuity of their design. In the case of the Zebra DelGuard Type-ER, it's the latter.

The DelGuard Type-ER looks like an ordinary mechanical pencil, but it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. The first one involves the eraser. Many mechanical pencils hide the eraser under the click mechanism cap, which means you have to remove it in order to erase. Unfortunately, this makes the metal cap easy to lose. Other pencils use some sort of twist or push mechanism to show or hide the eraser when you need it. This is good, but the Zebra takes it a step further by relying on gravity and friction.

See, when you're writing with the pencil, the eraser is hidden inside the cap. But, when you turn the pencil upside down to erase, the eraser pops out. Once you apply some pressure to the eraser, the friction between the eraser casing and the pen body cause it to stay put while you erase. Brilliant. The only time this won't work well is if you're trying to erase in a position where the normal assumptions of gravity aren't true (say, upside down or up against a wall).

The other tricks this pencil boasts involve the lead system. We all know that if you press too hard on mechanical pencil pencil lead, it will break. Well, the DelGuard Type-ER has a couple of springs in the body that prevent that from happening. Are you pushing down on the lead too hard? Then the lead pipe will slide down to protect the lead until the pressure eases. Same thing is true if it detects too much sideways pressures on the lead. This is handy if you're tracing a ruler with the pencil at an angle and don't realize you're pressing down too hard. Very nifty indeed.

In my tests, this system works great. I'm more prone to put too much pressure on the lead from the side, so this feature is a lead saver for me. It also serves as a training tool to let me know (without wasting lead) that I'm pressing too hard while writing or drawing.

This pencil doesn't have a fancy click mechanism, a lead rotation device, or any of the other usual niceties, but the two features it does sport are down-right cool.

Apart from that, the grip on this pencil is extremely comfortable. Even without the lead protection system and cool eraser, this is a great pencil.

The Zebra Del-Guard Type-ER only works with 0.5mm lead, but it comes in a variety of colors (with an extra couple of erasers included) at JetPens. It will set you back about $12, but that's a sweet price for a pen with a couple of surprising tricks. I've been pleasantly surprised by it, and I'll be keeping it in my "top five" list of mechanical pencils for a while.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!