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Pencil erasers

My elderly and shattered (but functioning) ipad wasn’t charging. Extremely slowly. Maybe less than 1% per hour.
i unplugged, reversed input, checked and rechecked plug ins, everything looked fine. No change.

i remembered ..

Years ago, “some tech guy” advised using a pencil eraser to clean contact points of ipads and chargers. Probably Circuit City.
Without confidence, i took a pencil eraser and cleaned the charger contact points.

Working well.



i miss Circuit City.
Locally, it was as good as Best Buy, i liked the service and sales people, the location was as good as Best Buy.
i preferred it. In spite of the bold red outward appearance, business inside seemed a little “gentler” than BB.
i didn’t realize CC began as Wards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_City
https://circuitcity.com/about-circuit-city

Speaking of pencil erasers, what's with the quality slide in the last decades? [I have an eraser that I used in college (finished studies in December of 1978), and while it still works great without just smearing the lead around, the modern ones quickly get hard, and don't work anymore.]

I can't speak to anything produced in the last decade, since the one I use is over 30 years old and only about 25% used, but it's still in production under the same name. Either they last a long time, or I make few misteaks.



For the really hefty erasing jobs, like when a client changed their mind about something, I used one of these electric erasers. Computerized erasing is much less messy.

Some cheap ones are made out of plastic now instead of natural rubber. You get what you pay for. I have found good rubber ones at art supply places or teacher's-supply stores (along with plenty of plastic ones).

For (decades?) for everyday use, i’ve used Paper Mate SharpWriters #2
i’m amazed they’ve remained available and unchanged (as far as i can tell) - i notice they’re all over my family’s house.
Prices vary a lot! i would expect to pay about $2 for this package of 6:



Beyond that, i’m with oj^^ STAEDTLER
https://www.staedtler.com/us/en/product ... s/erasers/

i have one like his eraser, probably same vintage and wear.
Very nice, with little “rub” debris. clean.

i must have been introduced to STAEDTLER in JR/HS graphics/lettering class maybe 60 years ago.
It seemed a luxury brand to me then.

i would go to a university campus art supply store to find them.
i generally wasn’t allowed to visit campus. That was for college students and “nothing there for me”.
We lived on the doorstep, so. i didn’t go. still, i saw a lot.

i suppose i should think about bequeathing it.

Neto wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2026 8:23 am Speaking of pencil erasers, what's with the quality slide in the last decades? [I have an eraser that I used in college (finished studies in December of 1978), and while it still works great without just smearing the lead around, the modern ones quickly get hard, and don't work anymore.]

Wife: according to my children and personal experience, pink ones are junk. The white ones are pretty good, although more expensive. I ended up ordering a bunch on Amazon last year and they were ridiculously small, like half to a third the size of a normal ones sold at Walmart, but they did work. I still have some laying around.

The block type one I have from years back says "Pedigree", with a copyright symbol after it. Most of the rest of the wording in illegible, just part of an address - "Tenn.". (The city name is long, that's all I can make out of it.)

Google search says it was made by Empire Pencil Company, Brentwood, TN. Apparently no long in business.

It's pink.