The Problem with Adam Savage’s Favorite Pencil
Among the tools Adam always keeps at arm’s reach in his workshop is his favorite mechanical pencil: the venerable PaperMate …
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"Harmony in Every Heartbeat
December 27, 2024
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What product did YOU love that underwent a disappointing change later on?
PaperMate SharpWriter: https://amzn.to/3TyMjZK
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I got some serious sound/video desync on this video
this channel has been disavowed
WHY CAN I RELATE TO THIS!?
Mine's a hardback notebook that had gorgeous, elegant cover designs, AND a silk bookmark that was sewn to the inner spine. This notebook series also had black paper linings AND two pages of completely black paper in it, one for the first page and one for the last. The color of the paper was like dark brownish yellow, and the line spaces were a fit for my handwriting. THEN JUST ONE DAY THEY STOPPED SELLING IT IN THE BOOKSTORE AND ALL OF ITS BRANCHES!
I have maybe one or tow of these at home and have not written in any of them to preserve their beauty!
i know this is a whole video about pencils but the pilot g2 is the best pen on the market and ill fight about it lmao
I so appreciate this because very recently my favorite pen ever that I have been using since 2016 had almost all the colors discontinued going from 19 to 3 and it absolutely shook my entire world.
why yes, yes i will watch adam salvage nitpick about a mechanical pencil for 16 minutes
This reminds me of some old erasers callled black pearls they were oval and erased sooooooo smoothly and clearly, but they stopped production of it saddens me.
That's my favorite pencil!!
It is hard to pick an example, but it easy to point at the problem. There is a world of difference between a solid metal case with well-built and insulated internals, and a thin plastic case with poorly assembled internals. One you might maintain for decades, the other will break in a few months no matter how carefully you treat it. Planned obsolescence isn't a new idea, but it got old for me very fast.
This sent me down a rabbit hole of cult/specialty pencils videos…please God protect this man!!!
I blame Obama
Adam woke up that morning and decided he would ruin papermate’s whole career.
I used these pencils throughout middle and high school, I bought a box for the first time in years and they just looked so tacky.
It would be much easier to make a list of things that haven't gotten cheaper in quality than sharing what things have 😢
Now that they have changed the color of the plastic, they might be willing to do custom colors.
I think it is crazy when companies need to save tenths or hundreds of a cent on something that only cost a few cents. You now they where already making hung margins on something like this.
I like that papermate pencil – I like the thicker lead and the particularly smooth writing lead that it uses (and does not break all the time).
I love the demerit badges 😂 there are so many of them I need
somthing ill never be able to replace that i do miss using due to the media giong defunct is my tascam reel to reel audio recorder casete tapes replaced them but its not the same the quality of the tape was so ideal
Jansport backpacks/bookbags were fenomenal. Sturdy enough to swing yourself around with your friends like Jack and Rose did while dancing.
They all had leather bottoms and the zippers were smooth and fixable. This was maybe 25 years ago. I tried buying a Jansport a couple of years ago and no, they're just not the same.
It's like the material they use now is one third the thickness it used to be. The zippers would get stuck because they're so thin. None of them have leather bottoms, and not even the Jansport label is the same quality. It's a terrible product now.
Yes. This. They changed the rubber grip ever so slightly on the pilot G2 0.7 pens. Almost can't use them anymore without releasing an audible "ugghh" when I touch it.
I expect the lead to stay the same, because those will tend to come from graphite product manufacturers. The color on that new one is fucking hideous, and I the eraser absolutely sucks. I remember those old paper-mate #2's and I LOVED them despite how cheap and garbagey the original product looked.
when the font on a sharpwriter isn't sharp, how can you trust the product?
Shrinkflation, nothing is as good or as value for money as it used to be
You should buy a cheap injection molding machine and have a go at making your own shells for these. It would be an interesting video series, at least!
Adam, you DO have 3d printers… You COULD 3D MAKE a custom shell, (in any colour you wanted). AND, you CAN order just the leads, & mount them into your custom pencil bodies. You have the capability!!!
Could be a cadmium pigment that they don't want admit they used.
This is so odd this just came up-I was just judging high school speeches this week and had some older pencils in my notebook and the host gave me what must be one of the new ones and I noticed it looked different and just assumed it was an off-brand!
Late stage capitalism. We live in the age of enshitification. If something can be made worse but more profitable it will be.
I'll save you 16 minutes and 19 seconds. He doesn't like the new color and think it looks cheaper even though the lead "seems to be the same" and the eraser is "roughly the same." If you want to see for yourself, he actually gets to the point (his unintentional pun, not mine) at 9:30.
I brought a big box of Staedler Norris ones to work through but keep finding myself buying Helix Oxfords, cheap and cheerful in both cases but its like a pair of old shoes, you get comfortable in what you use.
Things that changed that make me sad, the UK recipe of Dr Pepper.
When the sugar tax came in rather than follow cokes lead and just offer the original at a higher price and have a zero or diet option they opted to go half sweetner instead thats spoiled the flavour a bit, dont get me wrong its still probably my preffered drink but its definately not as good as it was.