Episode 180: How the Sausage Is Made

We’re getting ready to launch into a few episodes discussing our book club book, Palimpsest, but before we do that, let’s have a short little episode to talk about Fresh Points and some cool stuff we’re reading, seeing and hearing. Plus, a poem for Johnny by Erasable Poet Laureate Jay Newton.

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Episode 179: I am Also Pro Tree

Happy International Pencil Day, folks! It’s officially spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and we have some fun spring releases to discuss in all of their copper and yellow glory. Tune in for our quarterly look at the seasonal releases from some of our favorite brands.

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Episode 176: We Don't Talk About BuJo

We’re well into 2022, so we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about planners! We discuss how we keep track of appointment and to-dos, and whether or not we can avoid digital calendars (answer: no).

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Episode 175: I Guess I Like Ben Affleck?

It’s been a few weeks since you heard our voices, but we’re back for a fun new year of pencil podcasting! We go through some fresh points, like Johnny’s bookbinding supplies, Andy’s new desk, and Tim’s Try-Rex. Thanks for all of your support through 2021!

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Episode 173: Unconvincing Wigs

This week, we’re looking back on 2021 and talking about what we’re most thankful for — both within the stationery community, and beyond. Plus, we take a look at some of the newest Blackwing X collabs, a few of the new Musgrave stuff, and a discussion around Wes Anderson’s new movie, which might be peak Wes Andserson.

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Episode 171: We Fired Tim

Okay, not really! But for tonight it’s just Johnny and Andy, talking about just the Fresh Points. We have some new Field Notes, new Blackwings, a new Squire, and other cool things, including one (or two) last orders from our friends at CW Pencil Enterprise.

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Episode 170: Store-Bought Pencils

This week, Tim throws us a curveball. Last week, he asked us what our least favorite pencils are, and then he told us that we should only use that pencil for a couple weeks. In this episode, we discuss our experiences. Plus: a set of bummer fresh points, from a friend who lost his stash in a flood, to our favorite pencil store closing.

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Episode 169: Bust Out the Bone Folder

Paper is paper, right? Well, only if you think that pencils are pencils. In this week’s episode, your hosts talk about Unicorn Paper — that special formulation that works well with both pencils and fountain pens. Plus: we discuss our LEAST favorite pencil, and Tim makes us write with them all week to discuss in our next episode.

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Episode 168: Bring Us Your Weird

This week, we are down one pencil podcaster and up one pen superpodcaster. Brad Dowdy of the Pen Addict joins us to tie up our trio while Andy is away for the week. ZINES! Ever since Ed Kemp launched Pencil of the Week a few years ago and, especially, since he was a guest on this podcast’s Episode 150, zines have been blowing up among stationery content creators and consumers. In this episode, Brad, Tim and Johnny chat about the connection between zines and stationery and the role that these self-published gems play in the larger stationery community.

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Episode 167: Sadsplaining to Johnny

Join us for a chat about the pencils that we each used during elementary school. With a 9 year age gap between our hosts, coming during the crucial years of a trade agreement with China and the onset of the shrinking of the American pencil industry, we’re sure to have a variety of pencils to talk about! Plus: Olympics, new Field Notes, and many, many green ink samples.

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Episode 166: Vacu-Sharp (Patent Pending)

Well, we inadvertently took a summer break so after a month off, we’re back to talk through our collected Fresh Points: from the new Blackwing 64 to an update from Tim about how it’s going with his new electric sharpener.

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Episode 164: They Had to Math That

Tonight, we’re celebrating Field Notes’s fiftieth Colors edition — uh, Fifty — with a pocket notebook retrospective: How did we first encounter Field Notes? What’s our favorite editions for aesthetics? Color? Writing experience? Plus: an amazing new sampler pack from Musgrave.

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Episode 163: Fresh Points of Guinness

Today we’re keeping it simple with just a Fresh Points episode, covering everything from Blackwing’s rerelease of a pencil they’re still selling, Bob Dylan’s pocket notebooks, pencil t-shirts, and a bevy of recommendations for what Andy should pick up after he finishes his current notebook.

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Episode 161: Ecstatic Høvel Talk

Andy and Tim have wrested control of the show back away from the devious (yet iconic) duo of Johnny and Charlotte, and we’re talking once again to Noah Bier from Makers Cabinet about their brand new Kickstarter project, a pencil extender called The Ferrule.

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