Welcome To My Thoughts On Pens And Pencils

I will respect your right to disagree with what I have to say about Pens and Pencils as long as you respect the fact that I am an Old Geezer.




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My Obsession

My Obsession
A Beauty Every One... And There's More At Home!

All Jammed Up?

If you need detailed instructions on how to clear a lead jam from a mechanical pencil then click this link, "All Jammed Up?" or the link in the pages header.



NOW THE BLOGGING BEGINS...

Please enjoy your stay at my humble blog. Please feel free to leave a comment about any article that you read
. Also please notice that there are four reactions at the bottom of each article. If you find any article funny, interesting, cool or helpful please so indicate. Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Old Geezer
Please Excuse My Absence

I have not blogged since July of 2015 due to the fact that my Lovely Wife was diagnosed with 2 types of cancer. A new case of breast cancer which has metastasized and gone to her bones, mainly her back. She had a mastectomy of her left breast which showed the type of cancer that was in her bones. She has been taking an oral med. every day and she has a port under her skin to receive a liquid med. She has gone through one round of radiation treatments to stop some pain in her back. That gave her GERD and the med for that was nasty tasting. The bone cancer has caused the vertebra in her lower back to pinch her left sciatic nerve causing her pain, numbness and foot drag. She also has skin cancer that has only been partly addressed.

I have been busy taking care of her as the treatments have left her weak and sickly. She can not drive so I have to drive her to her appointments and treatments. I also have to do all the cooking and most of what cleaning we do. So I do not have a lot of time for blogging. However the installment of the review of the Schaeffer Ultrafine 0.3mm pencil marks what I hope will be a new review every month. However some of my future reviews may seem familiar as they may be a review of a pencil or pen that I have reviewed before just in another size due to my limited collection of writing instruments and the economic state of our nation.

I am grateful to George Fox for wanting me to do a review of another one of his pencils. I think that as a reader of my humble blog, may fine of interest as the Schaeffer Ultra Fine is a very unusual pencil.

So please excuse my absence and as a reader of my humble blog I hope that you enjoy the review of this unique pencil.

Coming Soon...

Thank you,

The Old Geezer.




Monday, August 24, 2009

August Giveaway: Pentel Sharp P207 0.7 mm Drafting Pencil

Man, I’m beat!… I’m ready for the ole waterbed!… I sure hope that there’s nothing happening for the next 15 minutes! At top of the hour I can get out of here!…

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Zed!?… What are you doing here at this hour!?… You know, it’s almost quitting time and I…

“Ghdye mjhtdff mgjoo…”

Wait!… Sorry, Zed! I had already turned off the Universal Translator! Like I said, it’s almost quitting time…!

“I know, Geezer, but it’s well past the first of the month and you’ve not had the Pens And Pencils August Giveaway, yet!”

That’s right, Zed! I’d almost forgotten all about it! Thanks for reminding me! And if I’m not mistaken, that’s the Pentel Sharp P207 0.7 mm Drafting Pencil that I’m giving away!

“Right you are, Geezer! So why don’t you take a few minutes and get this giveaway off the ground!?”

Well…. OK, Zed!… Sleep’s over rated anyway!

“That’s the spirit, Geezer!”

I have not reviewed this particular pencil, but I have reviewed it’s sibling, the P203, on Associated Content. If you are unfamiliar with the Pentel Sharp P200 series of Drafting Pencils then checkout my review of the P203.

The P207 is a brand new, never used pencil that I purchased especially for this giveaway. I’ve added 10 sticks of HB lead to the reservoir, bringing the total to 12 sticks. I’ve also added a clean out rod, of the proper diameter, to the underside of the eraser as Pentel is living up to their proclamation of discontinuing the practice of including a clean out rod with their pencils.

So, how does one go about entering the Pen And Pencils August Giveaway? Simple! Just post a single comment to this article telling Zed how handsome he is, or isn’t, before midnight, EST, August 30th. If you post anonymously PLEASE include either an email addy in the body of your comment (one that you would not mind others knowing) or include a handle/screen name that you commonly use elsewhere on the Net! I can not giveaway the prize to someone whom I can’t identify! If you wish to make a general comment about the pencil or about my blog or about anything else, then please sign my Guest Book and leave your comment there!

The contest ends a nano second after the clock strikes midnight August 30th and becomes the morning of August 31st! Sometime after midnight August 30th and midnight August 31st I’ll count up the total number of eligible entries, assigning each entry a number in order in which the comments were posted. All comments/entries after midnight August 30th are automatically ineligible.

Once all the eligible entries have been assigned a number I’ll use the Random Integer Generator at the bottom of this blog to generate a random integer between 1 and the total number of eligible entries, inclusive, received. I’ll post the winner in the comments section of the post, so start checking back to see if you’re the winner, around 12:35 AM August 31st. The winner will have 3 days, until midnight, September 3rd, to claim their prize by dropping me an email @: theoldgeezer@live.com identifying themselves and giving me a valid shipping/mailing addy! Once I have an addy I’ll mail the pencil to them ASAP!

So, thanks for reading my blog and for entering my August Giveaway! Please return often as I will be posting more reviews shortly!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Cow Print Pencil Display Box



I have a fondness for old wooden boxes, cigar boxes especially. My favorite thing to do with them is to convert them to pencil boxes. Not just an empty box in which to toss pencils into, but a box with pull out trays that hold the pencils in elastic, separating them and thus keeping them safe. I like to do something similar with nylon covered CD wallets and similar type cases. It's fun to create something, rewarding too, especially when I can do it for a lot less that I can buying similar items from eBay.

Some time ago I was gifted a broken down wooden cigar box. The top was split and the sides had come loose and the bottom was split. Both the hinges and clasp were in bad shape as well. So I glued the box back together intending to make a pencil box out of it. I replaced the clasp, but really wasn't happy with it. But I decided to go ahead and make the inserts that hold the pencils. The first incarnation were 2 panels that fit inside the bottom of the box that held 13 pencils each. They were made of corrugated cardboard, 1 ply thick, black cloth and some black elastic. This is how the box stayed for months. But I was never very happy with it.

The second incarnation came about when I bought some cow print fabric that I intended to use to cover some panels for another project. I used some translucent plastic sticky back shelf lining material as a template and traced out the cow print pattern onto it then cut it out with an X-acto knife. I then painted the box flat white. Once it had dried I placed the template onto the box and spray painted the black patches using flat black paint. Once it had dried I sprayed it with a gloss clear finish. The gloss finish soon was covered by a clear flat finish. I replaced the brass hinges and clasp with stainless steel ones. upgrading both as I did. The inserts remained the same until recently.



The third incarnation of the box occurred a few days go. I decided to remake the panels and cover them with the cow print fabric and to use thin round elastic instead of 3/4" elastic. But for some reason I cut the cardboard just a tad to little leaving the panels a bit loose inside the box. This is on no real consequence because the panels both fit into the bottom of the box. The box holds 24 pencils.

To make removing the panels easier I attached a strip of double folded black satin 1/2" ribbon to act as a pull. The bottom of the top panel is backed by a sheet of craft foam sheeting. This protects the pencils beneath the top tray! The bottom tray is backed by a thin sheet of card stock. Since there is nothing to protect beneath it, this is all that is necessary.

However. I was dissatisfied with the loss of 2 pencil spaces so on the last incarnation I redid the existing panels so now each panel holds 13 pencils for a total of 26. (Not shown).

It was easy converting the cigar box to a pencil display box and a lot of fun to boot! All you need is a wooden box, a few materials, a few tools, time, and enough skill to carry out the project!

If you are interested in making your own pencil display box send me an email asking for the instructions.