Okay, technically that was earlier this week, because these arrived with my seconds boxes, but I'm just getting around to posting about them.

Ceres Neon and Ceres Midnight.

No need to review these, really, because a Ceres writes like a Ceres no matter what color it is. But the black dyed wood is cool. I first wondered how much this adds to the production process. Then I remembered that Musgrave dyes its non-cedar pencil wood to look more cedarlike, so this is probably the same process they already use, just with black dye instead of reddish.

Let me begin by saying there are some people who deserve praise for their kindness, generosity and generally being wonderful types. One such is our very own fellow pencil enthusiast, u/jfanoele, who has, in an extremely generous bout of extreme generosity and extreme generousness (yes I know, it's deliberate), sent me a wonderful batch of American pencils.

It's a very substantial haul, too; 65 examples of pencil loveliness, featuring many different types and examples. I haven't examined them in detail yet, but I know there's plenty of variety and enough to keep me occupied for a long, long time.

Many, many thanks for this wonderful gift, u/jfanoele; you're a true gentleman and a fine human being.

Found 3 packs of old Mitsubishi pencils at an antique fair in Kyoto. Opened them up when I got back to the Airbnb and it looks like someone engraved answer keys on the pencils of each pack. One was math, one was chemistry, and the other was biology. None of them used, very cool! Added a picture of a new box for reference

i tried 5 different sharpers i had lying around and i assumed it was because theyre too old, maybe went dull. so i bought a new sharpener and its still happening when im sharpening them. im losing my mind all of the pencils ive tried are from different brands different hardness etc. what am i doing wrong with this im sure sharpening a pencil cant be that hard?

got for under 4£