Staedler Tradition 110
If you grew up in the U.K., then you will probably be intimately familiar with these pencils. Well, either the Tradition and/or its close cousin the Norris.
Pretty much, when I think of a ‘school pencil’, one of either of these Staedtlers pops into my mind. You see them everywhere, and they are probably one of the most commonly found and sourceable pencils here. I have to wonder if that is not the same maybe across much of Europe.
The company
I’ve covered elsewhere in a previous post.
The pencil itself
The 110 is a black and red striped cedar wood pencil with a rounded top dipped in a white/black paing combo. Of the few I have, it would seem that they are, or have, been manufactured in at least both Germany and Great Britain. I don’t remember how I came by the pencils I have (and note, two of them are 2H, something I’d not normally purchase - and the HB one that I tested with). I also don’t recall how old these might be. It would not surprise me if the pencils used to be made solely in Germany and now have diversified, or the other way around.
An interesting thing that I notice when using one of these is … that the dipped tip has little ‘waves’ around it - that is, the black coating over the underlying white does not just go uniformly around the tip - but it is in little ‘scallops’. I wonder if this is just an effect of the paint miniscus and surface tension, or if it is a design feature. It seems sort of unique.
These pencils feel OK in the hand. Note, there is also a 112 version that has an eraser cap.
How does it write
Pleasantly, a bit better than I expected. Reasonably smooth, and dark, and point retention was pretty good. On a day to day basis I would be pretty happy using this - nothing about it particularly rattled me.
Sourcing
In the U.K., pretty easy. You might not quite find them in every shop and supermarket, but you will find them probably anywhere that does more than one type of pencil (and the other type would very likely be the cousin Staedtler Norris).