I really don't like making pencils, but I get asked to do it anyway. I've made them with slims, 8mm euros, perfect fits, el grandes, modified sierras and Pentel conversions; don't like any of them.
1. Almost nobody buys a pencil for their own use, they buy a set as a gift. I tell them that for the price of a slim pen/pencil set I could make them a really good pen. I haven't talked anyone into that yet. . .
2. The slim pencils break down, and I have to rebuild them, usually with parts from a new kit, it isn't easy to disassemble a slim pencil. I think they would all come back for repairs except the gift receipients never use the pencils.
3. Matching two blanks and still making them interesting is a fustration. Matching PR or boring wood is easy, but try matching two olive wood blanks.
4. It cheapens the whole notion of fine writing instruments to make a pencil. There is a legacy about fine pens, the legacy/history of pencils is that they are made of wood, painted yellow and have an eraser on the end.
5. Making a very nice pencil like an El Grande is like buying an Escalade pick-up to haul one load of firewood. It looks good and gets the job done, but outrageously unnecessary.
6. When you have 200 pens on the table why do they want to buy the pen and only the pen that is in the set?
Anybody up for a manufacturers boycott of pencil making? If someone asks me for a pen/pencil set I'll offer them a great pen and throw in a new yellow pencil for free if you will.
1. Almost nobody buys a pencil for their own use, they buy a set as a gift. I tell them that for the price of a slim pen/pencil set I could make them a really good pen. I haven't talked anyone into that yet. . .
2. The slim pencils break down, and I have to rebuild them, usually with parts from a new kit, it isn't easy to disassemble a slim pencil. I think they would all come back for repairs except the gift receipients never use the pencils.
3. Matching two blanks and still making them interesting is a fustration. Matching PR or boring wood is easy, but try matching two olive wood blanks.
4. It cheapens the whole notion of fine writing instruments to make a pencil. There is a legacy about fine pens, the legacy/history of pencils is that they are made of wood, painted yellow and have an eraser on the end.
5. Making a very nice pencil like an El Grande is like buying an Escalade pick-up to haul one load of firewood. It looks good and gets the job done, but outrageously unnecessary.
6. When you have 200 pens on the table why do they want to buy the pen and only the pen that is in the set?
Anybody up for a manufacturers boycott of pencil making? If someone asks me for a pen/pencil set I'll offer them a great pen and throw in a new yellow pencil for free if you will.