Erasers: Faber Castell vs Rotring vs Factis & Pelikan

A lot of people praise the performance of the Faber Castell erasers. The stores also seem to like the Faber Castell brand. So I have put them to the test two Faber Castell against the Rotring Tikky and some other brands Factis and Pelikan.

In the green corner is Faber Castell PVC Free and the 187121 Dust free. In the red corner is an old Rotring Tikky 20. In the benchmark corner is Pelikan and Factis 36R.

I have put them against Rotring HB lead, cheap lead 2B which is more prone to smearing and a regular HB pencil.
The performance is quite similar between all of them. The Rotring lead was erased well by all of the erasers in the group. But it was more difficult to erase the cheap 2B lead and even harder to erase the HB pencil.
The best performance all around was delivered by .. all

On longer erasing sessions Pelican was the worst, Factis did a good job but creates a lot of dust. Rotring compared to Faber Castell is made from a harder material, it requires some extra passes but you don't risk making creases on the paper. The Faber Castell Pvc Free is the softest and grips the paper more. The Faber Castell Dust Free is more balanced.
The FC Dust Free does what it says, it does not leave dust on the paper, and I understand why it is considered one of the best erasers. Second place goes to the Rotring which produces larger dust crumbles that are not sticky, they can be cleaned with ease from the paper. The Pvc Free is a little bit better than Pelikan. Factis creates the most dust.

You can't go wrong with any of the erasers, but I would choose the Faber Castell Dust Free or the Rotring Tikky

After taking into account the ease of erasing, the dust left behind and the chance of making creases in the paper this is my pick.

* mention, Rotring Tikky almost came as equal for the first place if it had performed a hair better on the erase test. Also it needs to be mentioned that Rotring is around 10 years old eraser. This might decrease the erasing performance.

The Zebra in the room

We have to address the Zebra in the room. Even though the orc dressed as a police officer is more eye-catching.
Orcs and zebras? The movie Bright has both of them and it has Will Smith (Scott Ward the police officer)
In a scene where he is taking in a deranged person, he is filling the log with what looks like a Zebra F301.

Nice smooth metallic finish, with a black rubber knurled grip section. The clip is connecting to a black plastic like part that goes over the barrel and the end of the push mechanism looks to be made from the same black material.

A very good choice for a work pen. It is stainless steel, has a knurled grip, and has a fantastic price.
All this beauty for just $ 2 -3
So it makes sense, as orcs cannot be trusted. Why carry the finer Zebra 701 which cost double?

In my area, it is very hard to find Zebra products, and it is a shame. For example, the 701 mechanical pencil is around 6.5 $. I think you get a good value pencil for that money.
Other mechanical pencils made from stainless steel from more known brands cost more than the Zebra. For example the Pilot Graphgear 1000 (around 9 $) or the Staedtler 925 (approx 10 $)

I am wondering what watch does the orc ware. Is it a Luminox, or Maraton or something else?

Old stationery at Wilanow Palace

I was pleasantly surprised by a visit to museum Wilanow in Warsaw, Poland. The Wilanow Museum had a display section for old writing instruments and papers. Quill, diverse pouders for making colors, and even an old printing press.

I liked the fact that a curator was working on reconditioning old prints and was showing the visitators how a book would have been printed. Quite laborious  work. Manufacturing the letters, arranging them, and printing. 

The paper needs to be soaked in water before it gets pressed, to be more malleable. After using the press the operator needs to check if all the letters are uniformly printed, and if not he remedies the problem. And this is just one page. But it is still a lot faster than writing by hand.

Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red ink

I got enthusiastic about ink colors and I bought Pelikan 4001 brilliant red. It is not a color that I use regular, but I felt it would be cool for occasional writing and mixing it with other inks from Pelikan.
The conclusion is that I should have read the reviews first.
Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red Ink is a big no no. The ink has many flaws regarding color, mixing, deposits in the inkwell etc.

You can make it look a lot better by mixing it, but it is not mixing well and clogs the pen.

You can see in the bottle a white deposit on the bottom of the reservoir. If you shake it, the deposit mixes, but only for a short time.

For a company that has so much tradition, it is a very big disappointment. Why would you tolerate putting on the market such a bad product?

To show how bad things are, if you look on the internet for Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Red you will find pictures and videos where the ink is orange. Looks nothing like the one I got.

Definitely not worth buying!