Faber-Castell Eraser Pen Review

Faber-Castell Eraser Pen Review

I was recently browsing the pen aisle at a local office supplies store and noticed something new - the Faber-Castell Eraser Pen, article 183998 in its blister pack form.

Look at the pocket clip, the grip…it’s classic Faber-Castell styling. Since it was on special, and I have a bit of an interest in stick erasers I decided to hand over the necessary coins and become the owner of one.

As noted above, the visual styling is classic Faber-Castell and I find it quite appealing. The grip is hard plastic and despite the grooved rings is somewhat slippery, but you usually only hold a stick eraser for a few seconds at a time so that’s not a major concern.

The Faber-Castell Eraser Pen has two uncommon features. First, you extend and retract the eraser core by twisting the tip. No push top button or slider mechanism like many other stick erasers. This does have an advantage in that unlike some stick erasers the core doesn’t push back inside the body under heavy hand pressure. The second unusual feature is that the eraser core is only short, about 29mm (1 and 1/8th inches) long, and three spare eraser cores are stored inside the body. You unscrew the body to get to the replacement cores, and then feed them in through the front of the tip.

Well, that’s the first negative point in my book. You can twist out about 20 mm of the eraser core, the last 9mm being gripped inside the mechanism. So, that’s about 30% wastage of your eraser. The 9mm wastage might be similar to many other stick erasers, but they usually have cores that extend their full length, not a measly 29mm. Still, I imagine this wastage is good for replacement eraser core sales, if you can find them for sale anywhere.

The eraser core is about 6.5mm (1/4”) diameter. The packaging does not say anything about the composition of the eraser core, but it appears to be a plastic rather than a natural rubber compound. The packaging does state “Made in China”.

Right then, let’s put the Faber-Castell Eraser Pen up against my test bench standard, the Staedtler Mars Plastic. The first thing I noticed is that the Faber-Castell eraser is hard and abrasive. It feels it, and it sounds it - completely different to Mars Plastic, and not in a good way. The eraser waste is somewhat crumbly compared to Mars Plastic – it doesn’t twist up easily into long strands.

Here is a test card of the two erasers attempting to erase various woodcase and mechanical pencil leads. For wooden coloured pencil and wooden pencil HB lead Staedtler Mars Plastic was slightly but clearly better. For wooden pencil 6B and mechanical pencil HB lead Mars Plastic was significantly better.

So then, no matter what the price, in my opinion this eraser pen detracts from the Counts considerable reputation and I don't understand why Faber-Castell would apply their brand and signature styling to a product like this.

Expectation and outcome?