In this, the twentieth episode of your favorite podcast, Andy, Tim and Johnny give you three weeks of Fresh Points to make up for our short absence. We wax nostalgic at this small milestone in our Collective Podcasting Career, and talk about our Short Lists for the holidays. Don’t miss this one. Sponsored by Notegeist.
Read MoreEpisode 19: The Prospector General
In this episode, Tim, Johnny and Andy put on their red, white and blue and salute their three favorite pencils which are made in the USA. While American pencil production is nothing like it used to be even a decade ago, there are still a few companies making excellent pencils on our shores. The guys also go discuss their usual Fresh Points and the latest offering from Field Notes, the Ambition Edition.
Read MoreEpisode 18: National Pencil Callus Club
National Novel Writing Month is upon us, and tonight your fearless hosts explore the best writing gear with which to bring forth your 50,000 words before the end of the month and talk about what they use for their projects. As an extra treat, Andy, Johnny and Tim are joined by Gary Varner, longtime Stationery Friend and proprietor of the soon-to-be-open Notegeist — an online shop stocking all manner of writing equipment. They’ll be talking about this episode all month.
Read MoreEpisode 17: C’mon, Baby — Let’s Do The Twist
Tonight, Andy, Johnny and Tim are joined by Jay Smith and Jon Fontane, otherwise known as Huckleberry Woodchuck and Metal Shop CT. Jon and Jay are the creators of our favorite new Kickstarter, the Twist bullet pencil. We also discuss the Pencil of the Week, the Mitsu-bishi Hi-Uni HB. Listen in for our take on this Japanese beauty and for the backstory of the Twist.
Read MoreEpisode 16: The Amazing Erase
The guys are living up to their podcast's name this week, where the main topic is about erasers! Did you know, for example, that "rubber" got its name because of how it can rub out pencil marks? From latex to plastic, from kneadable erasers to, um, bread crumbs, we're talking about our favorites. We also kick off a new feature where we all use the same pencil for a week and see how that goes. This week: The Musgrave Test Scoring 100. Plus, we discuss a new bullet pencil Kickstarter, a new pocket notebook, and more.
Read MoreEpisode 15: The Joke is There is No Joke (with David Rees)
We have hit the guest jackpot this month, as we are joined tonight by the be-smocked Mr. David Rees, of Artisanal Pencil Sharpening and Going Deep with David Rees fame. Tonight Andy, Tim and Johnny gang up on Mr. Rees on his passion for pencil sharpening, sharpeners and his veritable inclination to explore deeply issues as how to sharpen pencils and how to make the perfect cube of ice. We begin, as we always do, with our fresh points and a discussion of Field Notes’ Reticle Graph paper, a Swiss pencil and the generosity of our listeners.
Read MoreEpisode 14: Incense Cedar House Rules
This week, the men are joined by veritable Pencil Royalty: Charles Berolzheimer, or "WoodChuck", CEO of Cal Cedar and Zurückbringer of the Blackwing. We rap about the groovy new Field Notes edition, our beverage and graphite weapons of choice and our Fresh Points. Then we grill Charles about the rebirth of the Blackwing, pencil woods and what would constitute the Ideal Pencil. He gives us his view on the role of social media in the pencil world, and how it launched the online shop that took Pencils.com from an educational resource for teachers and pencil companies alike, to a multi-brand online storefront that launched the Palomino Blackwing.
Read MoreEpisode 13, "Fresh Points of Bel Aire, Part 1"
This week, we have lots of Fresh Points, so we’re skipping the main topic and bringing you a lot of short discussion items! From t-shirts, to stickers, to Word. notebook packs, to back-to-school, we’re on the case. Be sure to check out our TeeSpring campaign to get in on the first-edition Erasable t-shirt before the campaign closes and they’re gone forever! And — guys — we have an amazing September lined up for you. Just you wait.
Read MoreEpisode 12: Full Metal Pencil
The guys interview Jeff Grant, engineer and creator of the Bullet Pencil ST Kickstarter project. He discusses his previous Kickstarter campaigns, explains his inspiration and modern twists on his proffered bullet pencil design, and takes some questions from the peanut gallery. Before that, though, we announce our very first Erasable t-shirt campaign and the winner of the Write Notepads & Co Ledger giveaway!
Read MoreEpisode 11: Ain't Nothing but an HB Thing
The Erasable Posse is joined tonight by the Master of All Things Ink, Mr. Brad Dowdy, the Pen Addict. The men discuss excellent new stationery items, how Pen People might enjoy the wonderful and magical world of pencils, and pose some listener questions to Grand Master Ink in the name of the Graphite Brethren. We also have a giveaway and, er, some audio hiccups.
Read MoreEpisode 10: The Graphites of Wrath
Today, the hosts got a little extra cray from an additional round of cocktails, after Andy realized he forgot to hit the “Record” button about 40 minutes into the recording. (D'oh!) So, during take two, things just disintegrated. But it’s all good, because we had a very special guest, Ana Reinert from The Well-Appointed Desk with us, who wasn’t afraid to dig in and join us in cocktails. She talks about her blog, her work with Hallmark Cards, and a pencil niche we didn’t know much about — indelible pencils! Plus, we rant about Power Pencils, Word. notebooks and the RoboCop of bullet pencils.
Read MoreEpisode 9: Bullet Pencil with Butterfly Wings
On episode 9 of the The Erasable Podcast, Johnny, Andy, and Tim explore the world of bullet pencils. There’s a lot of “showing off” going on, and the guys wax on the injustice of the demise of the bullet pencil. But, fear not, they also discuss the recent resurgence in the interest and production of these uber-practical writing instruments. Also, the five winners of the Word. notebooks giveaways are announced, and the guys gush over a thoughtful listenership and the podcast’s new Facebook group.
Read MoreEpisode 8: Heroes of Pencildom, Book the First
In which we discuss the first round of Pencil Herodom, heaping praise upon some of the influential pencil-wielding individuals in our lives. We also discuss the excited new Field Notes Brand Arts & Science edition and some other general points of pencilnalia. Finally, the folks at Word. Notebooks have given us five packs of their new Indigo notebooks for a giveaway! Listen to the end to find out how to enter to win yours.
Read MoreEpisode 7: Power to the PPIL
This week, Tim is away, so Andy and Johnny discard him like old pencil shavings and invite Heath Cates, blogger at Pen Paper Ink Letter to join them. They discuss Heath’s start as a stationery blogger, and #PencilWeek, a 7-day long pencil-centric series on his blog (where Johnny and Andy guest-blogged!) They discuss some of his favorite pencils, sharpeners, and how they will fit into his workflow.
Read MoreEpisode 6: The Brotherhood of the Traveling Sharpener
What good are pencils which are not sharp? In this episode, Tim, Johnny and Andy tackle the perplexing issue of pencil sharpeners. Our lovely listeners have sharp questions, and we have pointed answers. We discuss some aspects of pencil sharpeners to watch out for, the pros and cons of the KUM Longpoint sharpener, and some of our favorite sharpeners. And Johnny and Tim each order a KUM brass wedge, LIVE! Finally, things just degenerate into a discussion about Alvin and the Chipmunks, because we put the episode out of its misery.
Read MoreEpisode 5: Dazed and Reused
We discuss how pencils fit into the environmental movement and some issues to think about when weighing pencils’ environmental impact. As we will see, pencils are much “greener” than one might at first assume, and there are eco-pencils to boot these days. Andy, Johnny and Tim discuss these topics and some of their favorite environmentally friendly pencils.
Read MoreEpisode 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.
Read MoreEpisode 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!
Read MoreEpisode 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).
Read MoreEpisode 1: The Inaugural Episode
So the audio's a little rough, and we ramble about the philosophical implications of writing with wooden pencils, but Erasable is up and live with our inaugural episode! We're starting off with some basics: our origin stories, why we started blogging about pencils, our top favorites, and the characteristics of a good pencil. We'll be back next time with a glossary episode: the terms we use when we talk about pencils.
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