The Holes Are OK This Time

You know, with all that talk about Dur-O-Lite lately, I really should have shown this one off.

I got this from Michael Little in Chicago, who has advised me that if I continue to be so obviously excited about the things I buy from him, he’s going to start raising his prices. Therefore, in the interests of self-preservation, I will state for the record that I’m not the least bit excited about this one. Geez, Mike, what are you trying to sell me here? This one has a hole cut in the top!

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Dur-O-Lite Repeaters Revisited

It occurred to me that while I was discussing the Dur-O-Matic the other day, I didn’t include a full-length shot of the later-style Dur-O-Lite Ejector pencils.  This one is imprinted with "Loyal Order of the Moose" . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Neither Dis One Or Dat One

If you ever get the chance to go to Newfoundland, take it. It’s not a glitzy place, and my trips there have been hunting trips – woodland caribou and moose. But it’s home to the best people on earth, with the best sense of humor to match.

There’s two major airports on the island. One is in St. John, the only metropolitan area in the province. The other is Gander, which more towards the center of the province. While at most airports you fumble around trying to find the right gate, you won’t have that problem in Gander, because there are only two – which the airport workers refer to, in their Newfoundland dialect, as "Dis One" and "Dat One."

Incidentally (I’m getting a little off topic with this, but it’s a great story that should be remembered), on September 11, 2001, Gander is the airport to which all of the large international planes that were in the air were diverted and grounded, because while it lacks a lot of amenities it has several large runways that could handle them. That tiny airport in that small town suddenly had dozens of planes on its runway and thousands of terrified and uncertain people with only two small hotels to house them.

So how did so many of us get through that darkest day in modern times? Through an amazing display of kindness and love in a place none of them ever expected to visit. Hundreds of Newfoundlanders from the surrounding area showed up in their cars at the airport that day. They each picked up as many complete strangers as they had room for, and they took them back to their own homes. They fed them, housed them and let them call their loved ones so they would know they were safe. Gradually, things calmed down and they brought them back to Gander airport, to see their new friends off, waving best wishes as they left from either dis gate or dat one.

That’s what Newfoundlanders are like, and I still get choked up when I tell that story. So if you ever feel the need to make fun of Canada – and Newfoundland in particular – don’t. Particularly in front of me. They are my friends and they should be yours too.

OK, end of sermon and back to the story at hand. The reason all this came to mind was as I was thinking about the Gold Bond pencils (Montgomery Ward’s store brand), I was thinking about the two types I’ve seen. There’s dis one, the kind made by National Pen Products under the Rex Patents . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Drop The Quotations

Way back on February 14, I wrote an article on Eagle Drop pencils. A few weeks ago, I was rereading that article to see if I put the phrase "Drop pencil" in quotes – I’d always heard them called that, and the name fits perfectly for what they do, but the only words on the examples I’d found were "Eagle Pencil Co." and the patent dates.

I try to be careful when I don’t have any evidence that a title for a pencil is the formal name given to it by its manufacturer, because otherwise it’s simply a descriptive collector’s nickname that we use today as a matter of convenience. I probably should apologize that I didn’t say "drop pencil" is a nickname.

But I can’t.

A while back, a seller in an online auction who didn’t appear to know beans about pencils included in his description of a fuzzy picture showing several pencils that one was an Eagle Drop pencil. Here it is . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Dur-O-What?

When I first started practicing law twenty years ago, one of the old lawyers in the firm I was working for told me something I’ve never forgotten. "The whole trick to this," he said, "is to be able to read the words that are actually there. Not what you assume is there, and not what you think is there – only what is actually there."

Those words have served me well in life, not just in the practice of law but in a variety of situations, including the one that leads to today’s story. Were it not for that bit of wisdom, I would have seen an online auction listing for a "Dur-O-Matic" pencil and breezed right past it, assuming that the seller meant "Dur-O-Lite."

But I could hear the old lawyer’s voice in my head say, "Dur-O-What?" So I zoomed in closer for a second look, and by golly, that’s exactly what it said . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

Rite-On!

"Ever seen a ‘Rite-O’?" Michael Little emailed me a while back. I hadn’t yet, but I’d seen something close.

I’d found this stocked display of lead and eraser refills in an online auction some time ago, and even though I didn’t know there were any pencils to go with it, I just thought it was too neat to pass up. The display indicates it was made by the "Tri-Ess Corporation" of Jersey City, New Jersey . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company

The Ruxton Multi-Vider

I’ve been wanting to write about the Ruxton for a long, long time. There are only two reasons I haven’t: (1) I didn’t think I was qualified to say anything intelligent, and (2) I haven’t had one cross my path. On the first count, I’m not sure I’m any further along than I was before; however, one finally did cross my path. 
　
This one was in that last mess of stuff that came from the estate of Edgar Nichols (inventor of the Tripoint, among other things). Figures, right? Of course Edgar Nichols had one of these.
Ruxtons are marked on the side opposite the clip with the "Ruxton Multivider" imprint . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company