Episode 23: Small M Moleskine

In the second Paper Episode, Andy, Tim and Johnny discuss their favorite moleskin-style notebooks for pencil. While big M Moleskines dominated a decade ago, today there are myriad elastic-closed pocket notebooks from which to choose. The guys also discuss the Pencil of the Week, the Ticonderoga Laddie Tri-Write and share three weeks’ worth of Fresh Points. Beat the winter doldrums with your favorite Graphite Trio!

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Episode 4: Woodfellas

Although we love nothing more than sharpening up a good pencil and writing with it, there are some pencils we just want to keep in pristine shape. It’s the collector in us — an antique pencil, a souvenir pencil, a pencil advertising a business long since past. This episode is dedicated to those specimens that sit on display or, in Andy’s case, one of several cigar boxes in his basement. We’ll discuss sources of finding these sorts of pencils, discuss some of our favorites, and even let you in on a secret society of collectors, so you can network and trade with them.

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Episode 3: Indepen(cil)dance Day

Happy National Pencil Day! It was this day in, 1858, 156 years ago, that Hyman Lipman patented the first pencil with its own eraser. To celebrate, we're breaking our usual bi-weekly format to bring you a special "live" episode. (We can't, of course, really go live, but we can post it right away without editing.) Rather than a "main topic", we'll just cover a few pencil points, and then draw winners for our giveaway!

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Episode 2: A Ferrule to Arms

We humbly present The Pencil Glossary episode, in which you will learn everything you ever wanted to know, and everything which is indispensable for you to know, about the anatomy of pencils and the terms we employ when we talk about pencils. Tim tells us about ferrules and erasers and how the two came to meet. Andy explains the process of Woodclinching and how wood becomes a pencil. Johnny talks about the graphite core and pencils and Thoreau. Before that, we chat about the spring 2014 Field Notes, the new Blackwing 602 vs. the old and assorted other Pencilnalia. Join us next week for a special March 30th Pencil Day episode! And be sure to listen closely to this episode for a fun giveaway we’re conducting (Around 17:30).

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