One of the products of the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 series is the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Eraser Cap. As far as I know it is available in grey, red, and blue …but I have to admit that I have never seen the blue one in real life. Shops in the UK usually only stock the grey version. The red one (and probably the blue one as well) is however available as part of the Faber-Castell Grip 2011 Office Set, but if you buy this set (or, more likely, get it as part of another purchase) you never know which colour you will get. The pack of two grey eraser caps has the Art No 18 70 00, the mixed colour pack has the Art No 18 70 01. I bought mine, i.e. the pack of two, from Cultpens for 90 pence (~ € 1.00). Another place to get them is WH Smith. They sell various Grip 2001 sets for what seems like a reasonable price. Most of them come with one or two Grip 2001 Eraser Caps.
So what is the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Eraser Cap? First of all, it is an eraser. It can be put over the top of a pencil, obviously useful for pencils without an eraser tip. You could argue that it can also be used as a pencil extender, but because of its small size it would not be a very good extender. The cap can also be used to protect the point as there is an indentation inside to prevent the point from breaking when you insert the pencil. This ingenuity seems to be typical for Faber-Castell and reminds me of the Perfect Pencil. The point protection even works with long point pencils.
The eraser is made in Malaysia, like other Faber-Castell erasers, but the rubber seems to be much harder than other erasers like the dust-free 18 71 20 or 18 71 30C. Usually I prefer soft erasers, like the Sanford Artgum Eraser, and try to avoid “hard” erasers as they usually do not work so well for me, but the Grip 2001 Eraser Cap works amazingly well and is nice to use. It seems to erase as well as other good hard eraser and performs much better than average, harder erasers (e.g. an Impega eraser). Even though I describe it as hard it is still soft enough to adjust to the shape of the pencil being used on. It fits the triangular Grip 2001 pencils as well as hexagonal or round pencils.
With a weight of about 4 grams it is roughly 2 grams lighter than the Faber-Castell 9000 Perfect Pencil. When put on a long pencil I find the Eraser Cap slightly too unbalanced, but on a shorter pencil it is not really distracting.
Altogether the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Eraser Cap is a fantastic eraser. I still prefer eraser tipped pencils, but not all pencils have ersaer tipped versions available. It is also fantastic to protect the point of pencils you carry with you.
If you want to read more about Faber-Castell Grip Erasers read this article in Dave’s Mechanical Pencils blog. Lexikaliker has an article in German about an eraser cap from Läufer and Pencil Talk has a review of the KUM Blue Ocean pencil set that comes with a huge eraser cap.
As you say, the eraser cap is a great product. One tip, if you erase using both the top chisel edge and the bottom end where you stick the pencil in then it will last twice as long.
Thanks for the tip. I will probably not use it to protect the point, so I should start using the bottom end.
These caps are very nice from a design perspective. I like the way they carry on the Grip 2001’s look in an accessory item.
The concept of a cap eraser is certainly not new. Back when woodcase pencils were ordinary office items, pink “arrowhead” eraser caps were fairly standard accessories to replace the ferrule attached eraser when worn down. But Faber-Castell seems to have created a quality modern version.
That said, I don’t use them – the weight is equal to that of a pencil, and distorts the pencil’s balance. As well, the grey version gets unpleasantly dirty quite quickly when among other pencils, as least in my experience.
Thanks for a very thorough and enjoyable article!
Stephen, thank you for your informative response to the article. I agree that the pencil’s balance is distorted if you use the Grip 2001 eraser cap. This is especially true for long pencils. Even though I would not necessarily use it everyday I find that it can be very useful if you travel (protect the point if the pencil is not in a case, plus it’s an eraser). You are right about the unpleasant look if the grey version gets dirty. I usually remove this dirt on all my erasers (if I have time) by erasing on a white sheet of paper (fabric can be even more effective), but erasers that don’t look unpleasant after use are nicer.
Never seen these for sale in Australia, but today i got a pack of 15 (celco brand) of the smaller arrowhead eraser caps with 4 different colours – green, blue,yellow, pink(why not red?). I am using them as a grip on flat top pencils when I sharpen them, instead of the sharp edges of the pencil digging into my hand. I also had an idea that they can be used as a lead grade identifier, something like HB=green, B=pink, 2B=blue, 3B=yellow…’cept I will need to go back and get a few more packs, given the number of pencils on my desk.
I might have seen these before, maybe in Lexikaliker’s blog. Do they erase well?
If you want see them – http://www.jasco.com.au/store.aspx?product=25346. They are very effective as used in my comment above for 7mm round, hex and triangular pencils. Eraser is OK in a pinch, but thats not my prime use. Unfortunately they are not long enough to be used as a tip protector. Given the number of grades I use its a shame there are only 4 colours, but still very useful.
It’s a very cool eraser. Glad to visit this site. 🙂
Nice! I haven’t yet seen this before…This is a cute eraser I’ve ever seen. Thanks for the share!
Does Faber-Castell Grip 2001 Eraser Cap availabel? I want to used that eraser. Thanks!
Great. This is really nice eraser. Thanks for sharing this to us.
Kevin, thanks for the link. There are pencils that are sold with these erasers glued to them. Sean send me Pacific Music Papers’ Magic Writer, which comes with this Jasco eraser or at least one just like it.
I am surprised by the sudden interest in this old blog post, but couldn’t find any new web page linking to this blog post.
Thank you for your comments.
Barbara, I am not sure what you meant. There is a version of the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 that comes with a black eraser.