My favourite eraser is, without a shadow of a doubt, the Faber-Castell 18 71 20 Dust-Free eraser …or its little brother, the 18 71 30. There are many good erasers. I like Sanford’s Artgum eraser, I sometimes use the Staedtler Mars plastic stick eraser and also cannot really complain about some of the high end erasers I use, like the Graf von Faber-Castell Ersatzradiergummi…
…but none of them matches the comfort and softness of the 18 71 20 / 18 71 30. It does not smear and it does erase like a dream. It is made in Malaysia, like many of Faber-Castell’s erasers, and is suppossed to be dust-free, which refers to the fact that the eraser waste twists up into strands. There are similar erasers out there, for example Flomo’s Non-Dust eraser from Shanghai, but they are usually not as soft and do not erase as well.
Faber-Castell’s dust-free eraser is relatively new, it has only been introduced in 2004.The retail price in the UK is around the £ 1 ($ 1.62; € 1.14) mark, often a little bit higher.
I would be happy to hear what you think of this eraser. Is it only me or do others also think that this eraser is so much better than any other eraser? If you have a chance to try this eraser out, please give it a go.
In case you wonder about the notebook you can see in the photos. It’s a A4 spiral divider notebook with coloured index tabs, made from FSC paper (70 g/m²). It was sold in the UK through Lidl stores and is, as far as I know, made by Zebra Papierverarbeitungs GmbH. It should be available from ProNa.
Price and exchange rates: November 2010
I have used this one for the last two years on and off. I think of it as one of the best – Staedtler’s equivalent is rather good as well. However, no ordinary eraser can beat my favorite: the knedable art eraser, regardless of brand. It doesn’t scratch the paper surface and doesn’t leave any residue. For me that’s perfect – I think of this one as close. In general I find FaberCastell’s erasers rather good too.
regards Henrik
Henrik, thank you for your comment. I never tried kneadable erasers, but I have seen them in art stores. I just assumed they are for very soft leads or charchoal, but will give them a go as soon as possible. Which eraser did you mean when you mentioned Staedtler’s equivalent?
That eraser is excellent! I even have a few at various places since it is also one of my eraser Top 5.
The kneadables are really worth a try. IMHO they do what an eraser should: lift the graphite off the paper.
The Staedtler I was thinking of was the 525 B20 PVC free eraser. To me it feels much the same…
regards
Henrik
Good eraser, I’ve got one right there (pointing a hand-span away from the key board) but I must like the Staedtler Art. No 526 50 UP better–I just counted 4 of them in the room. And I know where there are two more, just in case.
The Staedtler 526 50 Mars plastic is a nice eraser and in many blogs it is the eraser other erasers are compared to and measured against. The fact that it is the most commonly available Staedtler eraser shows that it probably is the Staedtler eraser preferred by most. I actually also have more Mars plastic erasers than FC 18 71 20s, but in my case it is because I have not found any shops nearby that stock the FCs.
I am trying to get my hands on a 525 B20 PVC free eraser and am looking forward to trying it out.
If you can’t find any 525’s you can alway have mine – since I now use the kneadables, exclusively 😉 (It has a little wear but it’s better than nothing).
regards Henrik
This eraser is very, but very good, even I didn’t tried so many top quality erasers, but it’s the best in the price I’ve paid.Works well on graphite too.Here in a small town from Romania it’s really cheap, about 0.5 ? (the 18 71 20 version).
Henrik, oh my answer took a long time. You might have noticed from my ‘Eraser Bonanza’ blog post that I got my hands on the 525 now 8^)
Bogdan, it’s really great value for money. I have discovered some other, similar ‘dust-free’ erasers from other brands that are great, too. I thought that the Faber-Castell is more often available in shops than other dust-free erasers, what you wrote seems to confirm that, too.
This is a late comment, too. But I was wondering if Henrik might share his kneaded eraser technique? I have never been able to master one, though I certainly enjoy trying.
Why is the smaller one in Chinese?
John, I’d also like to know more about Henrik’s technique.
Yidhna, it’s labelled in Chinese because I bought it in China.
cool! I went back to China in the summer and bought a bunch of them too! The big one and the same Chinese labeled one you have. I also have the green Art Eraser and found a blue one too!
I haves box with every type of eraser you can imagine in it for all of my artwork…and you are so right…
I always find myself going back for this one…
Or using it after another one fails to do tyevjob
It is awesome
Best eraser I have ever used
Some people are saying the staedtler
Is as good
It dissent even come close
The 18 71 20
I’d the king
Yidhna and Kurtosis, thank you for your comments.
I’m glad I’m not the only fan of dust free erasers. I have tried some other dust free erasers and some are much worse (the one from Tombow for example isn’t as good), but others can be similar in performance to the FC.