Musing with pencils

Consider yourself fore-warned: this post is for the stationery-obsessed.

I don't know if any of you like pencils, writing with it, that is. Ever since I was a kid, I had been fascinated and slightly obsessed with pencils the way most kids are obsessed with stationery do. The only difference, perhaps was my insistence to use pencils as a main form of writing in high school (I use and keep mechanical pencils but they just don't compare to wooden ones!).

While I was browsing a bookstore a few fortnights ago with my SO, my attention was drawn by a box / dozen of Mitsubishi pencils. Now, Mitsubishi (Uni), Faber Castell, Staedtler, Tombow, Pentel, Chung Hwa, those brands that are locally accessible to me, I've tried them all, you guys. I'm particularly partial to any pencils that are 2B (gives a deeper color), triangular-shaped or hexagon-shaped (easier to grab and looks sleek). I remember my piano teacher used to "reward" me with cute pencils (some are fabulous quality and some are cartoon-printed), later she gifted me the more "advanced" stationery like mechanical pencils and ball-point pens. My heart still belongs to pencils.

Back to the box of Mitsubishi pencils that caught my eye at the store. It looks exactly the way below.

Pictures (above and below) taken from HERE

Now there's some serious nostalgia there. I remember having both colors (still in my treasure trove under the bed) and these write magnificently. The wood is high quality (doesn't hurt/dig the fingers while you write), smells good (again, a sign of high quality wood), bright-colored (my cup of tea), and they are triangular-shaped! I immediately wanted to snatch a box just for old school memory's sake but I did not, and when I went back to the store, it was GONE. Now I spotted it at another store and it was sold at a much higher price, hmmm I'm debating. I almost got myself a dozen of pink-colored Mitsubishi pencils (B) with hexagonal shaft, tried googling but no picture resembles the one I saw at store. Another pic of Mitsubishi pencils in 9800 model, hunter-green colored, hexagonal shaped body and comes in a wide array of shades. I still have one or two of these in my trove:

Mitsubishi 9800 Pencils, Image from Google

Image taken from Google. Yes it's Super Mario and I have a few of these in my trove to date!

There's such a joy associated with writing in pencils, the wood feels smooth and solid, smells like wood instead of sour industrial smell, the firm grip in your hand, the smoothness and speed you write with it, the list could go on, but I'll stop before you think I'm crazy. When I write, I don't care for the cartoon print, as long as the wood used to make it is top-notch and smooth. Across my years writing in pencils, I gathered that the more minimalist / low-key it looks, the better its performance. I also like being able to 'see' the timber used (meaning no color coating or cartoon printing, just regular treatment to make it smooth in appearance). There are some low-grade pencils made with cartoon prints that are actually a piece/sheet of plastic film WRAPPED around a wooden shaft with graphite inside, they call that real pencil? Maybe they can coax kids to use it to write, but someone who is serious about writing (or studying) or to the eyes of a prolific writer, the difference between top-notch and poorly-made ones is easily distinguishable to the naked eye. Or to the nose, for some real sniffing action to tell the wood quality.

There's such a soothing quality when you know you're writing with a top-grade pencil in your hand. You feel at ease. You feel connected to the words and the paper thanks to the smooth writing it gives you. You feel the pencil ages with you, you see the marks and scratches from being in the pencil case with other stationery, the dents made by sharpeners, you see its life shortened but no less meaningful in its existence. I hate to throw away the short studs when they have served dutifully for a few months. Then there's the pencil caps with pretty colored cartoons to "protect" the pencils from getting damaged, and "protect" the other stationery / pencil case from getting stained by pencils.

Back to the frugal blog theme, I think I'll keep scouting around for the childhood pencils that bring back fondness and nostalgia - not even sure if they are still being made or not, but these will be items that I'll gladly spend a few pennies for. And pencils do last a lifetime (if you don't drop/break them).

- PJ