Birbla

Join the discussion

Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.

Sign in
  • Hacker News
  • I'm always very frustrated about this pencils manufacturer as they avoiding using standard softness marking like everybody else (..H,HB,B,2B..etc).
    by strobe
  • Maybe it's unique to Japan or to this brand but I'm surprised by how manual the process is. I wonder how much of this is done due to nostalgia/inertia vs economics or the desire for humans in the loop.
    by zdc1
  • I can't help thinking of David Rees. This guy is hilarious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KabOfnbS4TQ&t=139s
    by zcw100
  • It's so fascinating to me that the graphite cores start out as long floppy strings of graphite. Looks kind of like cooked black spaghetti. I wasn't expecting that.
    by TimFogarty
  • I use pencil/paper extensively for notes/planning while I'm in front of the computer. I prefer softer grades because of speed and low effort. I avoided buying the Blackwing for a long time because of the hype surrounding it, but eventually caved in. Their Blackwing Matte is an excellent pencil, similar to the others I like - Musgrave News 600, General's Layout 555, Golden Sword, Eyeball Cedar Calligraphy, Mitsubishi Kohitsu Shosha, and those Triangle pencils sold at Daiso.

    I'm not sure where the Blackwings are made. Definitely not the Kitaboshi factory. Probably Eyeball in Tokyo?

    by lo5
  • I have a box of 120 Blackwing pencils of all types. They look nice, expensive, but a bad tool.

    (review -> https://www.instagram.com/p/CrD5KRnuLnh/?img_index=2&igsh=cD... )

    They are not suitable for fine drawing (too waxy and soft) - those are either STAEDTLER, FaberCastell, or Tombow (Japanese brand).

    The fancy tip eraser is also not very useful. The metal around it is so soft, it can't hold any pressure. Also extremely not child friendly, as the small metal part inside just fells out.

    Tombow Mono - de-facto standard eraser.

    by leonidv
  • Never tried Blackwing pencils, so can't speak about them.

    I am going to be very very pedantic here so read on for entertain purposes....

    I don't like the unusual shape of blackwing pencils' erasers. They break the symmetry of the entire pencil.

    However, I like dixon ticonderoga the most since they are a good balance of quality and price.

    But, I usually use mechanical pencils. And I am very particular about which kinds to use.

    My favorite overall is "Autopoint". This company has been out of business for many years, perhaps decades so I only have a "vintage" collection of those which I use regularly.

    This is what they look like: https://www.newegg.com/autopoint-inc-all-american-ink-lead-r...

    Here is my criteria for a perfect (to me) mechanical pencil: - retractable tip/nib - always exposed eraser (there should be no cap etc.) - replaceable eraser (should be as thick as eraser at back of wooden pencils) - no fancy buttons - pocket clip

    The best mechanical pencil I have tried that feels just right and is balanced, is P209. However, it doesn't have a retractable tip and the eraser is not exposed. If it did have retractable tip. I wish it did.

    The one that really comes close is Faber-Castell grip matic 0.7mm. It is almost perfect! It has retractable nib, and an always exposed eraser which also retracts! And a great grip!

    Alas, it has two problems: the eraser is twist up type which is fine, but when you erase with it, it twists and retracts back inside. Also the eraser encasing is a flimsy plastic that gets loose over time. Ugh! You were so close!!!

    by ksd482
  • A couple of months ago, I went with my daughter and six-year-old grandson to the Kita-Boshi Pencil factory in eastern Tokyo [1]. He is a first-grader at a public elementary school in Yokohama, and he is learning to write using wooden pencils.

    We had watched many times a similar video [2] showing pencils being made at the Kita-Boshi factory. The production line wasn’t operating the day we went, but we still got a full introduction to the history and manufacture of pencils from the company chairman [3], who is very enthusiastic about the pencil business. The other attendees were all elementary school children and their parents or grandparents.

    There used to be dozens of pencil factories in Tokyo, but Kita-Boshi is one of the few remaining. The larger Japanese pencil brands, such as Tombow and Mitsubishi, now source most of their production from places like Vietnam or China.

    We came back home with a bag full of Kita-Boshi pencils that I bought there. I don’t use pencils much myself anymore, but when I tried writing with them they felt smoother and easier to write with than the wooden pencils I used as a child in the U.S. sixty years ago.

    [1] http://www.kitaboshi.co.jp/pencil-lab/

    [2] https://youtu.be/Lk_57TP6RFk

    [3] https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/tokyo23/feature/CO100007/202...

    by tkgally

Explore Birbla archives