Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell’s erasing knife

2 Comments / Erasers, Faber-Castell / / , ,

Faber-Castell erasing knife

Today: another kind of eraser. This one has been quite useful on many occasions. One of the recent opportunities to use it was when I received dozens of printed cards that turned out to be printed with a mistake. Thanks to this ‘eraser’ I was able to ‘erase’ the mistakes from all the printed cards easily – by scratching them off the surface.

Faber-Castell erasing knife

It’s Faber-Castell’s erasing knife 181398. One of its official purposes is to sharpen Faber-Castell’s charcoal sticks, but it can also be used on paper or to sharpen pencils, as demonstrated in one of Faber-Castell’s official videos (jump to 1:12).

Faber-Castell erasing knife
Sharpening a Castell 9000 in F

 

This erasing knife has been around for 35 years. Gunther was kind enough to send me one in 2012 as I wasn’t able to get one in the UK at that time.

Faber-Castell erasing knife
Sharpening a Castell 9000 in F

 

Faber-Castell’s erasing knife Read More »

Faber-Castell dust-free eraser 18 71 70

19 Comments / Erasers, Faber-Castell / / , , , , , , ,
Dust free - my favourite kind of eraser
Dust free – my favourite kind of eraser

Previously I have mentioned that I came across a new, nice eraser. Well, this eraser is new to me – and Faber-Castell have confirmed that this eraser, the blue, dust-free eraser ’18 71 70′, is available in Malaysia, but is not officially available in Europe. It seems to be for sale in Canada, though. I paid 4元 (~ 65¢; 55c; 45p) for this eraser.

Faber-Castell's 18 71 70 eraser
Faber-Castell’s 18 71 70 eraser

Performance is similar to the 18 71 20 (which is the bigger version of the 18 71 30). The blue 18 71 70 seemed to be a little bit softer and required a little bit less effort than the white 18 71 20, which is already very soft and effortless to use. This could however be because the white 18 71 20 is a few years old. The dust of the blue 18 71 70 did not roll up as neatly into strands as that of the white 18 71 20.

There is also a black version of the 18 71 70, the 18 71 71. According to Faber-Castell both versions are identical except the colour. According to Faber-Castell the white dust-free erasers 18 71 20 and 18 71 30 are phthalate free. There are no similar claims regarding the blue or black dust-free eraser.

 

Comparison 18 71 20 and 18 71 70
Comparison 18 71 20 and 18 71 70, Fili Perfetto pencil, Deli Report Pad paper

In case you wonder why my 18 71 20 looks so funny on the picture, it took on the colour of my Berit case after being stores in the Berit case for a while. Eraser easily take on the colour of items they touch, or even ‘dissolve’ other items.

Price: December 2014

Exchange rates: January 2015

 

Faber-Castell dust-free eraser 18 71 70 Read More »

Wanna Bet?

Leave a Comment / Pencils / / , , , , ,

I read that the German/Austrian/Swiss TV show “Wetten, dass..?” is going to be cancelled at the end of the year. It was first broadcast in 1981 and basically involves people betting that they can do certain tasks (think opening a bottle of beer with a fork lift truck). A few years ago a contestant became paralysed after his bet, a stunt involving jumping over cars, went horribly wrong. Suffice it to say that the show went downhill from then on, which led to the announcement that there won’t be more episodes after this year.

Recognising pencils by their taste… (Image © dpa)

And now for the pencil link. In autumn 1988 there was a bet involving pencils, I remember it well, and I think most people who saw this ‘pencil episode’ will remember it well, too. A contestant bet he can recognise the colour of different coloured pencil by tasting the pencils (i.e. licking core / pencil point). Just to add some more pencil details, the coloured pencils were from Faber-Castell. What makes it so memorable was the fact the he cheated. He was actually from a satirical magazine called Titanic (a bit like ‘Private Eye’ in the UK). After the bet finished he announced on live TV that he cheated. The whole incident received huge attention in the media. No wonder, with around 20 million viewers Wetten, dass..? was the most successful TV show in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. People were wondering how he cheated (answer: he just peeked under the goggles they gave him) and how it’s possible that the people behind the show didn’t notice in advance. You can watch the pencil bet on youtube.

The photo in this blog post is © dpa. I believe that the use of the photo shown in this blog post falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.

Wanna Bet? Read More »

Stationery weekend

10 Comments / Faber-Castell, Graf von Faber-Castell, Pencils / / , , , , , , ,

What a stationery weekend.

First… Sean told me that Graf von Faber Castell’s pen of the year was announced [1]More about the previous years’ pens here..

Rad and Hungry Denmark booster pack
The Denmark Booster pack

Then… I got the Pelikan Wanderlust box (pictures to follow). It’s a box with Pelikan ink travelling the world. I was supposed to get mine in December, but the box seems to be travelling to some remote islands and I was told it was held up in customs [2]It’s too late now to join Wanderlust, but Justanotherpen started a similar project..

Rad and Hungry Denmark booster pack
Danske blyanter

Then… I got the Denmark booster pack I won in Rad and Hungry‘s hunt. Nice!

Rad and Hungry Denmark booster pack
…from the misfits stack

References

References
↑1 More about the previous years’ pens here.
↑2 It’s too late now to join Wanderlust, but Justanotherpen started a similar project.

Stationery weekend Read More »

Faber-Castell since 1761

2 Comments / Faber-Castell, Links / / ,

You probably read Sean’s and Gunther’s blog posts about the “Faber-Castell since 1761” book, covering Faber-Castell and its history on more than 500 pages [1]using more than 3kg of paper.

Good news if you were thinking of buying this book: Amazon UK is selling it for £38.20 at the moment – quite a bit cheaper than the price you pay in Germany.

 

References

References
↑1 using more than 3kg of paper

Faber-Castell since 1761 Read More »