The Erasable Podcast

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

The Erasable Posse is joined tonight by the Master of All Things Ink, the Legendary 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.

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.