Bob Truby’s Brand Name Pencils

If you like pencils, then Bob Truby’s almost-obsessive act of collecting and photographing every pencil he comes across is sure to please! [via]

His website currently features 134 different pencil brands from all over the world. Of course, he comes across duplicates over time, but that’s not a bad thing because if you have a pencil he wants, then you can trade yours in for one of his duplicates! What a good deal, eh?

Anyway, the galleries are pretty cool to look at, especially to see how the pencil form has changed and deviated over time despite its standardized overall shape and form. And maybe like me, you’ll learn something the second you hit his page: that there are actually different names given to the eraser-end of pencils.

According to Faber-Castell, one major pencil producer, this is how pencils are made. Or you can watch a 55MB video on how pencils are made from Staedtler [MPG file here].

This reminds me of the Condiment Packet Museum and the Digital Watergun Museum, both of which are definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already seen them.