The Well-Appointed Desk

The last of my pencil bounty from Pencil Things is the Harvest Thick Red and Blue Combination 725 (Made in USA). This is the perfect editing pencil. The blue is dark, almost navy blue, and the red is a clean, bright red. The thick lead was soft and easy to use.

Though it was included in the Indelible pencil sample pack, this seems to be more of an editing/checking pencil. It did smudge a bit with effort and did smear or run a bit when wet. It did not erase well at all.

If you are looking for a red/blue pencil that does not smudge as much, then go with the Austrian Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. I love the color and the ease of writing with the Harvest Thick and I love that it is a “Made in USA” product but, for regular use, it smears a bit too much for this overwriting lefty.

This pencil can be purchased individually for $0.59 each.

There were even more copying pencils in the sample set from Pencil Things than those I’ve shared previously this week. These are also from Austria called Breviller Urban Copying Pencil Nr. 925. There was a red, a blue and a red/blue combo (my favorite!).

I found no difference between the red/blue combo and the individual colored pencils. I loved the true red color but the blue clearly leaned more to the cyan/non-repro shade which is fine if that’s what you are needing. Neither color wet particularly well, nor did they erase with a standard white eraser. But on the up side, they do not smudge hardly at all which is great if you are looking for something permanent in pencil form.  I like the red/blue combo option best as it gives me a couple colors to use to highlight notes from meetings without risk of bleed-through or other messes.

These were included in a whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things. $12.50 for the set.

I not only purchased the graphite Jolly copying pencil mentioned in the earlier review this week, I bought the whole set of indelible/copying pencils from Pencil Things.com. The Jolly copying pencils came in green and graphite with gloss painted bodies with gold foil lettering. The pencils are round which is a bummer as I tend to prefer the hexagonal or triangular shape but since these are those rare birds that is copying pencils, I have to take what I can get.

It turns out that both the blue body and black body were graphite based — the blue being the harder, lighter graphite (like an HB or H) and the black being a softer, darker graphite (like a 2B or 4B). When wet, the blue pencil all but disappeared in comparison to the softer black graphite.

While I’m fascinated with the green lead copying pencil, I don’t quite how I would use it. Any suggestions?