Thursday, June 30, 2011

“The yellow pencil basically became a Chinese commodity,”

This is a quote by "Jim Weissenborn the CEO and owner of General Pencil company in an article posted on Bloomberg this week. I am sitting here with a box of made in the USA General's SEMI-HEX Pencils sitting in front of me on the desk and I am wondering if these gems will go the way of the Ticonderoga?

If that is the future of the SEMI-HEX pencil I may need to stock up on a rather large supply of them before this happens. After all, if nothing else I'd like my grandkids to know the pleasure of a quality Made in USA classic. What do you think? Should I buy a few gross of them and set them aside? You can still get Made in USA pencils from a couple of other companies out there.

5 comments:

  1. If you have the storage space for a few gross of pencils, it might certainly be a sensible precaution given current trends in the industry. Then again , your grand kids might be able to find a few American made pencils on Ebay down the road. That's how I've built my current collection of vintage drafting leads from Germany ad the USA.

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  2. True, I have been working on my post-apocalyptic stash as well. eBay, garage sales, all of them great resources. I wonder though if there is a perfect environment for pencils that are held for posterity? Like a Pencildor (humidor) of sorts. Is Oxygen what makes the erasers dry out?

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  3. Anybody know if the C.H. Hanson pencil is made in the U.S.? I know the wood is but is the lead and manufacturing all U.S.A? This is a pretty good pencil.

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  4. I purchased a tube of the CH Hanson pencils so that I could get the sharpener that came along with them. I was not impressed or upset with the quality of the pencils andI have a draft of a pencil review written for them, I will have to finish that up and post it soon.

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  5. From a fellow Ticonderoga-obsessed writer,
    Just wondering about your stash of USA-made Ticonderogas, especially the #4 (2H). Do you have a particular source? Or did you happen to pick up a lot before the production moved outside the US?

    If you would be willing to trade any of the #4 (2H) Ticonderogas you have, I'd offer more then enough in return.

    Best,

    Blake

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