Wood: Cal Cedar
Finish: No lacquer, just some stamping ink
Ferrule: Natural Aluminum
Eraser: Green, not plastic
Pre-sharpened When New?: No, happily
Price: US $2.50 per 6-pack, or $0.42 per pencil. Often included free with an order of notebooks, though.
Vendor: Field Notes, naturally
Primary Strength: Solid overall construction
Primary Weakness: You gotta sacrifice a little point durability for lead smoothness
Verdict: A great all-around pencil, recommended without hesitation. This one's a Mary Ann, not a Ginger.
Company Background:
I don't know who actually manufactures these pencils. I know Field Notes contract them, but they're a design partnership, not a manufacturer. I guess I could say the same about the notebooks, come to think of it. I only mention it because the barrel imprint states CalCedar as the wood supplier.
Fig. 1: (Almost) Everything you wanted to know about Field Notes pencil
The careful observer will note that this pencil has a round barrel. In fact, this is the first round pencil I've reviewed to date. I'm a little surprised to report that I quite enjoy the round barrel as a change of pace.
Often round barrels are used for cheap promotional pencils because while the wood takes more effort to shape, it's easier (hence less expensive) to apply graphics to it. Or so I think I read somewhere. Regardless, this is emphatically not a cheap promotional pencil.
Fig. 2: Look, I don't like flash glare, either, but I'm a lousy
photographer with lousy gear and no time, patience or
budget to do any better, so this is what we're stuck with.
This pencil's graphics carry forward the Field Notes All-Futura-Font-All-The-Time philosophy, along with giving plenty of information about the product manufacture and materials.
It's a good design. The wood is obviously carefully chosen to be very small grain. It sharpens beautifully. I actually wondered a few times this week if these are made from CalCedar's Ecoslat material, like the Prospector, but it feels too hard to be basswood. I'd be happy to have this clarified by someone in the know.
Regardless, it's excellent wood and the unlacquered barrel never caused me to long for the thickly-covered Palomino from last week, which is saying something.
The surface printing faded and smudged a little during the course of the week, and hand grime gives it a patina of use. It's a nice contrast to the very carefully finished pencils I usually come across. The design and finish are very honest in that Heroic Modern, first half of the 20th century way that I love.
Fig. 3: Did I mention the handy-dandy ruler on the inside back cover
of the Field Notes Memo Book? Sweet. Also, this pencil has
done some work and doesn't care who knows it.
The lead is not bad, but not perfect. Maybe it's unfair to compare it to the lead of the Hi-Uni which is 3x as expensive, but that's the standard now, what can I say? Anyway, the Field Notes pencil has nothing to be ashamed of: It's quite strong and never scratchy, but it wears down more quickly than I'd like, especially (as is to be expected) on cheap copy paper. It didn't show this tendency nearly as much as the Palomino did, but the Field Notes lead isn't as butter-smooth, either. The darkness, erasability and smudge resistance are all awesome. Maybe the erasability could be a little better, but it's perfectly acceptable.
Fig. 4: Good darkness and good smudge resistance go a long way.
When I drafted this review, I put something about "paying for branding" as a caveat in the "Verdict" field above. 3 solid pages of writing and a quick glance at the other pencils I've reviewed in this price range later, I went back and scratched that right out. This is a very high quality pencil for the price, actually. The undeniable cool factor of the brand is just a bonus.
In comparison to the two pencils closest in price, the finish is better executed than the Helix Oxford's, taking them each on their own terms, and the Field Notes lead and wood are far superior. The Helix edges it in eraser quality, but that's it.
The Musgrave HB is really this pencil's closes rival, both in quality and in aesthetic. I'd say it's pretty much a toss-up between the two, and it would really come down to round versus hex, gloss versus unfinished, and smooth versus long-lasting lead, preferences for all of which could vary day by day or application by application.
One last note on the eraser: Great color! And it erases fine, but the color is what's outstanding, not the erasing. On the ferrule: How is it fastened? I guess it must be glued. All the ferrules on my other pencils are pricked in to mechanically fasten them to the barrel and eraser. Maybe forgoing that is something that's only possible on round pencils? I don't know, but I'm very curious.
The Bottom Line: It's damn good.
Second Opinions: This is the first review specific to this pencil to my knowledge.
This completes the stationery blogkkake. I'm gonna fix a drink and take some photos. How many make it up by the end of the night is anyone's guess. At this point I'm listening to Sepultura, for fuck's sake.
Posts
|