If one uses an analog storage device then one should have an an analog recording device to write in it.

Before I started using Moleskine notebooks I used a Pilot G2 07 pen. But, when I discovered Moleskine notebooks I also rediscovered pencils. Over the past several months I've accumulated several fine pencils. First on the left is a Mirado Black Warrior. These are one of the nicer pencils you can find at the OfficeMaxes of the world. Not dark enough for me. though. Ken Smith sent me some Dixon Ticonderogas. Good pencils. He also sent some Tri-Conderogas which are larger and triangular shaped but difficult to get a good point. My favorite pencils are from Pencil World: Forest Choice, Golden Bear, and Spangles. My favorite is Pencil Worlds Palomino but I used mine up and, last Christmas when I ordered some color pencils for Zoe, the sent me three dozen Spangles which sharpen beautifully and are reasonably dark. It's fun to uses these distinctly different pencils. When I run out of Spangles I will order some more Palominos. While it's now easy to get some very fine pencils I had a harder time getting something to sharpen them with.

My first sharpeners were from local stores. The blades dulled pretty quickly. In my sharpener research I found that Kum sharpeners had replaceable blades but I couldn't find a place that sold single sharpeners. The Ticonderoga pencils Ken sent came with a sharpener that sharpened both sizes and had German blades that did very well but it seems to have vanished. The Pencil Things opened up and they have everything pencil including a wide selection of Kum sharpeners. The two sharpeners on the left are Kum sharpeners I bought from Pencil Things. Both are excellent sharpeners. The blades are still sharp. I prefer sharpeners that will contain the shavings since I don't always have a trash can handy. The only problem was that they sharpened to a short point. Pencil World now has the Kum Palomino long point sharpener. (I think Pencil Things has a version, too.)

It uses a two stage sharpening and comes with an extra set of blades.

The first stage sharpens the wood only and leaves a long unsharpened lead. You just keep sharpening until the unsharpened lead hits the stop. It leaves a wonderful continuous shaving, particcularly with Pencil World's Spangles.

The second stage just sharpens the lead. It sharpens to a fine point without oversharpening. The container doesn't hold a whole lot of shavings but it's big enough. The openings also don't close. They remain open but the design of the sharpener keeps the open holes up when in my pants pocket. I will have this one for a long time. Unless I lose it, of course. But, thanks to Pencil Things and Pencil World, there is a wonderful choice of pencils and sharpeners.