Identification Rings

None for 0.3mm, one for 0.5mm, two for 0.7mm... I guess 3 for 0.9mm.
Obviously helps prevent mix-ups on the assembly line.

Just above the conical section of the tip

Giveaway - Staedtler Sticks

A Series of Sticks from Staedtler.

I know a fair number of you are also interested in woodcase pencils, and I thought of you as I was organizing these for disposal. So free to a good home... well you have to pay for the postage.

Staedtler Australia closed down their wooden pencil manufacturing quite a while ago, but here's a few you may be interested in. A little stroll down memory lane for me.

The mighty Mars Lumograph.

I believe the top one is the oldest as it is gold printing, the other three are newer white printing.

The everyday Tradition

Quite the time series here. The top three have barcodes so are the newest. Note the ever changing printing - left to right, right to left, font size of AUSTRALIA, etc. The bottom one is quite different.

The economical Pacific

The top two are the newest because they have barcodes. I assume the black print is the newer of the top two, black ink must be cheaper than gold. The bottom blue and red ones have different model numbers printed on them.

The schoolyard Elephant

So, if you want them for your collection, just pay for the postage and they are yours. As a rough guide, postage to USA = USD 12, to UK = GBP 9, to Japan = JPY 1,300.
Email me, address via my profile link in "About Me" in the sidebar. I'll do a draw if more than one of you want them.

Get in quick, they ain't makin' them no more!

Staedtler 760 Mechanical Pencil Review

A little while ago Max from Copenhagen sent in a guest review of his latest mechanical pencil purchase. So, I’ll now hand over to Max.

Review of the Staedtler 760 Mechanical Pencil

I’ve just recently bought the fairly new Staedtler 760. (Mine is a 0.7 mm).

It looks nice and it’s reasonably priced at around £6 (GBP). It follows what has become the “new” standard triangular shape of Staedtler. I am not really a great fan of that triangular shape – neither with Staedtler nor with the Faber–Castell Grip 2011. According to Staedtler this pencil is designed for writing. It has a rubber grip. The grip has a sort of hard rubbery feeling. It’s not too soft but not too hard and plasticy either. I’m not a great fan of most grips whether they are of rubber, plastic or metal. I just prefer a plain pencil of a material that is pleasant to hold – like the Lamy 2000. Sorry…back to the Staedtler…

The pencil is very light, a little too light for my liking. The body is made of a shiny blue plastic. This makes it look better from a distance than up close. The transitions between materials are actually nicely made despite the triangular shape. The pocket clip may look a little cheapish from a distance – like the clips on cheap ball pens. But examining it a little closer reveals that it is actually of quite good quality.

It is a push top mechanism with a twist operated eraser as on the Paper Mate PhD and the Faber–Castell Grip Plus. The eraser itself is quite thin but does a decent job. There is no description of how to fill the pencil with leads, so you need to figure out for yourself just to pull the top off with a firm grip. The benefit of is that the ratchet is held firmly in place. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that it holds a lot of spare leads – actually on par with the Lamy 2000.

The push mechanism is pleasantly smooth and without noise. Ten clicks will give you about 9 mm of lead.
The pencil is completely pocket- safe. The tip supporting the lead stays firmly in place while writing without being locked. It only takes a light push to retract it after writing while pushing the top button down.

What is the Staedtler 760 like to write with? This is where it is actually a bit of a surprise! It is light, triangular and with a rubber grip. It has everything against it! But it is actually a very pleasant performer with good balance (approx. 40/60 weight distribution, being bottom heavy). But but but…after a while the rubber will start to loosen a little and the edge of the rubber grip is felt against the finger tips.

This will never become one of my favourite pencils. It just lacks the quality feel of my favourite pencils. But it is a good pencil for carrying at work. I do find it a bit pricey. You will get three Rotring Tikky 3 for the same price or almost a Lamy Safari which is far superior.

Stationery From Thailand

I personally don’t trip across a lot of pens, mechanical pencils and stationery products in general from Thailand and so don’t really think of there being a particularly large or export orientated mechanical pencil and stationery industry in Thailand, but maybe there’s more going on there than I imagine?

Since Thailand has a lot of rubber trees it wouldn’t surprise me to see latex rubber erasers from there, even though I don’t recall ever seeing any. I have seen some plastic erasers from Thailand though, like this one.

Personally I only have one mechanical pencil of Thai origin.

Actually strictly speaking the statement is “Assembled in Thailand”. I have seen some implications that the actual components are of Japanese origin.

I do though know one brand of mechanical pencils and writing instruments associated with Thailand, and that is ‘Niji’. Now that sounds Japanese to me and it is a brand of Yasutomo and Company, who also have housebrands of ‘Yasutomo’ and ‘Y&C’.

From the Yasutomo USA website “Yasutomo and Company was established in June, 1954 by Mr. Ben Yasutomo. A man of vision, Mr. Yasutomo believed that "global marketing" was possible back in the 1950’s because he recognized that consumers in both the USA and Japan wanted products from the other’s country. He decided to set up an office in San Francisco, strategically located to develop commerce between the two countries. The initial goal was to supply stationery and artist materials from Japan to the USA and to distribute American candy and snack food products to Japan.”

Various web searches quickly indicate that Yasutomo seem to source quite a bit of product from Thailand. I don’t currently have any Niji mechanical pencils, but I do have some Niji lead refills, courtesy of JiBi_AI from Thailand. She tells me that they used to be common but these days they are rather rare, perhaps discontinued.

Staedtler iRemedy 9712A Anti-bacterial Mechanical Pencil

Nasty swine-related germy-things are big news these days. I don’t mean to make light of the situation or the very real nature of the threat, because I personally take it seriously, but it’s a good time to be in the respiratory mask business and/or the hand and surface sanitizing product business. I imagine that sales of everyday items impregnated with anti-bacterial compounds are also on the up, although the efficacy of many of these anti-bacterial agents in combating a virus like influenza is another question entirely.
Here we have the Staedtler iRemedy 9712A anti-bacterial mechanical pencil with anti-bacterial grip and barrel. It is made in Japan and seems to primarily be a Staedtler USA offering.From the back of the package. (Click to enlarge and read in Inglés and in Español)

Rest easy knowing that this is one pencil that won’t catch some nasty disease. Here’s one blokes opinion on anti-bacterial products, not that I’m agreeing or disagreeing with his views.
http://alobar.livejournal.com/1588647.html

Staedtler graphite 771 Mechanical Pencil Review

Staedtler graphite 771 Mechanical Pencil Review

Large diameter and ergonomic style mechanical pencils for learner writers seem to be a popular theme these days, with manufacturers offering an increasing array of products. The Staedtler graphite 771 has been around for a while now, and is Staedtler’s main offering in this market segment, although they do not target it exclusively at children, noting it is also for those (adults) who like a larger chunky grip. It is currently called the ‘graphite 771’ (that’s graphite with a lower case ‘g’) on the Staedtler website, but I feel sure that earlier on it was the Noris 771. Still, maybe I was dreaming. Noris is still mentioned in relation to the 771, as it is in the ‘Noris design’ which I take to mean the Noris yellow and black colour scheme. Despite being the sporting colours of an opposing province to mine, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Noris yellow and black scheme as it makes me think of industrious bees, and how much I enjoy the fruits of their labours. I imagine the bright yellow and black red-topped colour scheme would appeal to many younger users too.

Being all-plastic, the 771 isn’t a heavy pencil, despite its size. The first thing I noticed about the 771 when I picked it up was the size of the grip. It is a triangular bodied pencil, and in the grip zone the sides of the triangle are about 15mm long. Now that’s big. To be honest, too big for me. Here are a few shots showing the 771 and a couple of average size Pentels.

The grip itself is black rubber with grooves moulded into it. Its shape is tapering as it transitions from the triangular body down to the round tip section. The rubber compound is quite hard but does have some grip to it, so overall it does improve the grip.I personally found the grip tended to fit better in my fingers when the pencil was sloped down at a low angle to the paper, rather than a more upright stance. Of course holding it at a low angle accentuates the chisel point worn on the lead, and being triangular you have limited options for rotating the pencil in your grip. These are further limited by the large pocket clip getting in the way a bit. The pocket clip is plastic and reasonably functional, although it might not last that long at school.

The large chucky body also meant it was generally too large for me to comfortably hold in my fingers whilst doing something else like punching a few keys on a calculator or keyboard. Of course, for children and learner writers my comments about the body size maybe irrelevant.

The 771 uses 1.3mm lead which is obviously tailored for the child writer - large enough diameter to give it plenty of strength, but thin enough so that it doesn’t need sharpening for their general writing purposes.There is a small short metal lead sleeve, which is retractable for pocket safety. I quite liked the lead. Claimed as HB grade, it was nice and smooth and dark, and I would not have thought twice if it was claimed as B rather than HB.The lead advance is a standard push top ratchet mechanism. Ten clicks will get you about 8mm of lead. The mechanism has a good positive feel.

At the top end of the pencil is a large twist out eraser. The collar of the eraser cartridge is a red rubber compound and quite grippy, which is good. The eraser twists out and back in smoothly and easily. Mine certainly got a good workout in a few meetings – twisting the eraser in and out certainly helps time pass, and isn’t noisy. The eraser is about 7mm diameter with 28mm of useable length. It is a PVC-free compound and erases quite well.You pull the whole eraser cartridge out of the body to access the lead refill chamber.The only obvious markings on the pencil are the large Staedtler name and logo on the pocket clip. The stick on barcode and ID label includes the wording “Made in Japan”.

Overall then, not a bad pencil, just not really one for me personally.

• Best Points – the twist out eraser.
• Not So Good Points – nothing I care to reiterate.
• Price Range – Low.
• Does this pencil make it into the Top 5? - No.

Dimensions – Length 142mm, body sides 15mm. Balance point about 80mm up from the tip.

Staedtler Noris 763

A few words on a relatively new release from Staedtler. I don’t feel inspired to do a full review, but I do want to mention them. The item is the Staedtler 763 mechanical pencil. The 763 is available in 0.5mm and 0.7mm lead, and various colours. Capitalising on the strength of their brands, and linking in with their wooden pencils, one colour variant is Noris in the traditional yellow and black, and other is Tradition in red and black. The other colours are branded as ‘graphite’.

Pictured here are the two I have – Noris 763 05 and Tradition 763 07, along with their wooden cousin Tradition 110 from Australia.They are quite good to look at, and I like the idea of linking to their wooden pencils. Why haven’t Staedtler thought of this before? The colours are quite matt compared to the gloss usually found on their wooden cousins.Some will see Staedtler colour schemes, some will see national colours, some their sporting colours – so many possible interpretations. The bodies are triangular in cross-section, continuing the ergonomic theme that is so popular these days. They are quite comfortable to hold.

The tip retracts for pocket safety. The eraser is described as “extra-large PVC and latex-free eraser”. Well, PVC and latex free I won’t argue with…but extra-large??? What a load of nonsense. If that’s their idea of extra-large I’d hate to see their small eraser. Spare leads are fed in after pulling the top section off.Anyway, these seem an interesting addition to the pencils priced towards the lower end of the spectrum.

Return Of The Clones

[This posting is a first for DMP. At great effort and expense to the management, the photos in this posting should all be clickable for higher resolution originals.]

Back in November 2007 in my posting The Mysterious Kotobuki I mentioned the similarity between the Staedtler Elite 9705 and Faber-Castell Grip 1335 mechanical pencils.

In August 2008 the Attack of the Clones posting pointed out the variant and copy relationship of three mechanical pencils. Just recently I reviewed the Staedtler Integrity 9505 and I noticed the twist out eraser cartridge looked very familiar, which started some cogs ticking over in my mind. So, now it is time to take that whole line of clone-thoughts a little further.

Let’s take four pencils. The Faber-Castell TK-Fine Executive, Faber-Castell Grip 1347, Staedtler Elite 9705 and Staedtler Integrity 9505, as pictured below. At first glance they seem to be four fairly normal pencils, but let’s delve a little deeper.
Right, what have these four pencils got in common? Well, despite being German brands, all of these mechanical pencils are made in Japan. I mentioned above that the twist our eraser cartridge of the Staedtler Integrity looked familiar and got me thinking. Well, three of our four pencils have a twist out eraser – Staedtler Integrity, FC TK-Fine Executive and FC Grip, as shown below.If we extend the eraser cores out to their fullest extent we can see that they are the same diameter and length, and that they all have little red plastic fingers to hold the eraser core to the cartridge. Nothing surprising about the two Faber-Castell cartridges being the same, but the Staedtler one too? Here’s the three eraser cartridges pulled out from their pencils. Apart from the differing metal cap bands they are remarkably similar.“Remarkably similar?”. Get out your micrometer, look at the design, the mould markings, the little twist instruction arrows moulded into them. Remember the red plastic fingers? These cartridges are not similar, they are the same. Play a game of mix and match. All three of them fit into and work perfectly well in any of the three pencils. So, I would strongly suggest that these three twist out eraser cartridges are made by the same manufacturer, and they have just put some different metal cap bands on them to give some difference in appearance. Classic variants of a base model.

How about the pocket clips? Three of them look rather similar – the Staedtler Integrity 9505, Staedtler Elite 9705 and Faber-Castell Grip 1347. Side on, note how the tip section is folded under exactly the same. The only difference is the mounting method of the Integrity 9505. The Staedtler Elite 9705 and Faber-Castell Grip 1347 pocket clips are identical. Face on, they are impossible to tell apart.So, I say the Staedtler Elite 9705 and the Faber-Castell Grip 1347 pocket clips are the same clip and the Staedtler Integrity 9505 clip is a variant from the same manufacturer.

Let’s now move onto the sharp ends of the Faber-Castell Grip and Staedtler Elite. Here they are below.Just ignore the eraser cartridge for a moment. Don’t they look similar?

Here’s an enlarged view focusing on the rubber grip and metal tip section..So similar I cannot detect any differences.

Now unscrew the metal tips.Still looking exactly the same.

Pull the rubber grips off.Still looking exactly the same. Note how both have the same positioning flange at the base of the shaft for the rubber grip to seat back up against.

Yes, the Faber-Castell metal tip section happily screws onto and fits the Staedtler body.Now of course it only stands to reason that the mechanical pencil manufacturers purchase a lot of finished components from outside sources – pocket clips from X, metal tips from Y, erasers from Z, etc and that many of them could buy the same component from the same source. This could easily explain the similarity in twist out eraser cartridges, pocket clips, etc. But the Staedtler Elite and Faber-Castell Grip are a step too far. Same metal tip section, same rubber grip and innards, same main body, same pocket clip, etc. Same, same, same. Either Faber-Castell and Staedtler independently came up with incredibly similar mechanical pencils, or they are just variants of the same base model being made in the same factory in Japan - with only the slightest of cosmetic differences. I’ll leave you to decide which possibility you prefer to believe in, and the answer to the question, “True or False? Staedtler Elite = Faber-Castell Grip.”