The Erasable Podcast

Journalist Gabe Bullard joins us to talk about his new book, Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease. We dig into what we trade away for ease: the Starbucks app, robotaxis, New Release Tuesdays, memories apps, and AI's "sheen of fakery" — plus Wendell Berry's rules for adopting a new tool and Gabe's chat with our friend Caroline Weaver. We’re missing Tim today because his hotel wi-fi is not working.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes and Links

Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease by Gabe Bullard

Gabe Bullard

1A

The Impossible Project

Wendell Berry

The Membership — Tim's Wendell Berry podcast

“Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer” by Wendell Berry

“Feminism, the Body, and the Machine” by Wendell Berry

Dieter Rams' ten principles for good design

Half-Told Tales by Arab Strap

Don Hertzfeldt interview in Slate

The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone

Can Gen Z's Nostalgia Save Chain Restaurants? (New York Times)

Yikes! pencils

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass

AI Fruit Love Island

Meta's Muse AI agent at Connect 2026

Google's "Dear Sydney" Gemini ad

The Locavore Variety Store

CW Pencil Enterprise

Bookshop.org

Underwood No. 6 typewriter

Brother Charger 11 typewriter

Olympia typewriters

Hermes Baby typewriter

Strikethru

Lamy 2000 fountain pen

Parker 51 fountain pen

Fisher Space Pen

Tombow AirPress ballpoint pen

Eberhard Faber Mongol 482

Mongol Pencil — the new relaunch

Sanford American Naturals

Musgrave Pencil Company

Blackwing

Steinbeck's favorite pencils

Blaisdell Calculator 600

Field Notes Original Kraft

Louise Carmen leather notebook cover

The reporter's notebook by Gabe Bullard (Nieman Reports)

Bob Slate Stationer

Stálogy Editor's Series 365Days Notebook

Repair Café

Rhodia No. 38 pad

Rhodia No. 8 pad

Alton Brown's Rhodia pad on Good Eats

Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter

Muji notebooks

Ira Glass, This Is How I Work (Lifehacker)

Delfonics Rollbahn notebooks

David Sedaris's fake German notebooks from Japan (Literary Hub)

Kurt Vonnegut's envelope story

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Podcast Discord invite

Our Guest

Gabe Bullard
Website

Your Hosts

Johnny  Gamber
Pencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy Welfle
Woodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem
@TimWasem

The Pencil Primer returns with part three: the other end of the pencil. We trace the eraser from stale bread crumbs to Goodyear's vulcanized rubber to Hymen Lipman's well-timed patent sale, then get into ferrules — wartime plastic ones, the Blackwing's famous clip, and why American pencils wear erasers while Japanese and German ones mostly don't. But first: Andy falls down a Carter Family rabbit hole, Johnny finds a forest green ink and an all-black Musgrave Ceres, and Tim awaits Blackwing's new Telecaster pencil.

Show Notes & Links

Show notes

Erasable episode 237: Pencil Primer, Part 1

Erasable episode 240: Pencil Primer, Part 2

Lost Weekend by Phoebe Bridgers

Trio by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris

Trio II

The Johnny Cash Show

The Carter Family

Country Music: A Film by Ken Burns

Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Field Notes Explore America: Northern California

Penco Bullet Ballpoint Pen Light

The Gentlemen (series)

The Gentlemen (film)

Grantchester

The Vicar of Dibley

The Art of the Fold by Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol

Asvine C80

Jacques Herbin Vert Forêt ink

General's Cedar Pointe

Paper Mate EarthWrite

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie

Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger

Tires

Pilot Metropolitan

Pilot Plumix

Diamine Aurora Borealis ink

Nahvalur Nautilus

Against Convenience by Gabe Bullard

Enshittification by Cory Doctorow

Musgrave Ceres 909 Midnight

Musgrave America250 Ceres 909 Red, White, & Blue Set

Justin Ostrander on YouTube

Blackwing Volume 33 1/3

Tombow 2558

Mitsubishi 9852

Blackwing x Fender Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster pencils

Blackwing x Fender Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster notebook

Blackwing x Fender Stratocaster pencils

Blackwing Volume 725

Edward Nairne

Charles Goodyear

Vulcanization

Kneaded eraser

Will It Blend? iPhone

Hymen Lipman

The brief and fascinating history of WWII-era pencil ferrules

Bic Evolution

Uni-ball Air

Tombow Mono eraser

Mitsubishi 9852EW

Staedtler Noris

Telephone pencils in action — pencils with a tip for dialing rotary phones

Supreme Court gift shop gavel pencils

Hemingway Home & Museum store

Sprout plantable pencils

Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil

The Blackwing pencil: a history

Eberhard Faber Mongol

Mirado

Golden Bear

Richard Best Futura

Venus Velvet

Craft Design Technology pencils

Camel pencils and the integrated eraser

Itoya Helvetica pencil

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Podcast Discord invite

Your Hosts

Johnny  Gamber
Pencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy Welfle
Woodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem
@TimWasem

No Pencil Primer this time (part three is coming, promise) — instead, a Fresh Points extravaganza to say bye-bye to summer. Blackwing goes big with a Mickey and Friends collection and the gorgeous Frida Kahlo Volume 143, Andy's wristwatch rabbit hole deepens into designing the perfect podcaster's watch, Johnny hand-binds his kids' planners and stocks up on pastel Musgrave Ceres, and Tim shows off Sharpie Harpy art and a compendium of delightfully weird writing prompts. Plus: Hobonichi szn is upon us, the SF Pen Show, Ian Schon's new dip nib, and a tall stack of books. Patreon subscribers at any level can watch the video version.

Show Notes

St. Denis Medical — season 1 on Netflix, season 2 on Peacock

Against Convenience by Gabe Bullard — out September 15 from Hanover Square Press; preorder it! (More at gabebullard.com)

Tom's Studio refillable fineliner pen

Paper Mate InkJoy multi-pen — surprisingly good company swag

The Land and Its People by David Sedaris — recorded live at his readings

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt — the octopus book, now a Netflix movie

three six five: prompts, acts, divinations by Lucy Ives (Siglio Press) — Tim's beautiful, backordered book of writing exercises (three ribbons!)

Field Notes: Is a River Alive? — Tim's favorite Field Notes ever, with art by Stanley Donwood for Robert Macfarlane's book

Uni-ball Air Micro — Tim's pocket pen

Musgrave Ceres — America 250 blue for Johnny, pastels by the gross for back to school

Levenger True Writer in Sea Glass with Levenger Empyrean bottled ink ("navy blue and teal had a very beautiful baby")

Hamilton Khaki Field Murph — the Interstellar watch, plus Andy's musings on military field watch dials and podcaster's-watch design

Hobonichi Techo season — Weeks, Cousin, and the V&A collabs; see Yoseka Stationery's big walkthrough video

San Francisco Pen Show — this weekend, bring your elbows

Schon DSGN — Ian Schon's new $68 titanium dip nib, debuting at the show

Blackwing x Disney Mickey and Friends collection — soft graphite, $40 a dozen

Blackwing Volume 143 — the Frida Kahlo edition: saturated florals, pink metallic ferrule, teal eraser, and the best QC in years

Blackwing One-Step sharpener — a big responsibility, bud

Sharpie Harpy — Em Varian's Sharpie art on Etsy (you can even license a tattoo)

Leuchtturm1917 — Tim's new default notebook gift for normal people

Pencil Revolution Press — Johnny's handmade planners and '90s diskette journals

Musgrave Test Scoring 100 — now with that sweet new ferrule

Musgrave Tennessee Red pencils and the Songbird edition — remembering Dolly Parton

Support the show and get video episodes: patreon.com/erasable

Your Hosts

Johnny  GamberPencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy WelfleWoodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem@TimWasem

The Pencil Primer returns with part two: the case of yonder pencil. We trace the wood itself — from Conté's badass eyepatch to eastern red cedar, California incense cedar, and the creeping basswood era — plus why pencils are yellow (blame a Siberian graphite strike and some questionable 19th-century marketing) and why triangular pencils are weird. But first, the summer releases: Blackwing's birding-themed Volume 458 and Field Notes' melty, paleta-inspired Paletas edition get the full review. Next time: ferrules and erasers. Patreon subscribers at any level can watch the video version.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes & Links

Blackwing Volume 458 — a tribute to birding: Clark's Grebe, Mallard, Green Jay, and Black Rail gradients (Behind the Design)

How Blackwing Pencils Are Made — the making-of video we kept mentioning (also on YouTube)

Field Notes Paletas — nine popsicle notebooks inspired by Paletería Los Magos in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood

Field Notes: The Founding Documents

Outshine popsicles — the official popsicle-flavor icebreaker

Nahvalur Original Plus — new sparkly colors (plus mystery jewel-tone demonstrators spotted at the NYC stationery festival)

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki ink — Andy's persimmon-orange favorite

Stationery Day recaps from Brad Dowdy and friends

Musgrave Tennessee Red — eastern red cedar, clear lacquer, glorious smell

Musgrave Single Barrel 106 — named for Erasable episode 106 with Henry Hulan of Musgrave

Pencils Past and Present — the YouTube channel reviewing the Single Barrel 106 (and lots of vintage pencils)

ForestChoice — the FSC-certified incense cedar standard-bearer

General's Cedar Pointe — naked cedar, as God intended

Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth — where the yellow pencil (and its complicated marketing history) began

Caran d'Ache Swiss Wood 348 — reportedly discontinued; pour one out (Pen Addict review; Well-Appointed Desk review)

Dixon Tri-Conderoga — Andy's triangular gateway pencil

Ticonderoga Laddie — the bigger, soft-triangle one

Faber-Castell Grip 2001 — triangular, six design awards, formerly bubbly grip dots

The whole gang is back together to catch up. Andy recaps his Field Notes–filled wedding, starts a new job, and falls down a serious wristwatch rabbit hole — from Bluetooth-modded Casio F-91Ws to a Draplin x Timex Scout. Johnny's loving a $30 Asvine piston-filler, a possibly haunted Cedar Pointe, and a Rhodia Goalbook in Peacock, while Tim is deep in World Cup fever and cheap-but-good Pen+Gear black pencils. Plus: Blackwing's 250 drop, Nahvalur's Fireworks Nautilus, and a locked-in promise that next episode is a Pencil Primer all about wood.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes & Links

Murchie's Tea (Victoria, BC) — Scottish breakfast blend

ForestChoice #2 pencil — still $5 a pack at Pencils.com

Field Notes Explore America: Northern California — Golden Gate National Recreation Area edition (with Big Sur and Muir Woods)

Range Leather notebook cover

Bound to Be Beautiful by Bari Zaki — from Bari Zaki Studio in Chicago

No Man's Sky

Asvine P90 piston-fill fountain pen (~$30)

Organics Studio Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass ink

General's Cedar Pointe #1

Baron Fig x Caroline Weaver Archer pencil

Rhodia Goalbook in Peacock

James Corden's live after-match World Cup show on Tubi

The Art of Simple Living by Shunmyo Masuno

Replica J. Thoreau & Son pencil from The Shop at Walden Pond

Moleskine Cahier XL notebook — $9.99 at Walmart

Casio F-91W and the Ollee Watch Bluetooth mod (~$60)

Casio Vintage series — calculator, world-time, and the Alien wrist-communicator lookalike

Timex Weekender, Timex Expedition, and a Draplin Design Co. x Timex Scout

Fitbit Air ($99) — strap-only tracker people pair with analog watches

Paper & Pencil (Chicago) custom Stationery Day Field Notes — including a stamp-collecting edition

Delfonics Rollbahn Micro — the impossibly tiny new size, found at Maido

The Blackwing 250 Collection — red, white, and blue pencils, plus the 250-box with a gold one (only 50 sets)

Musgrave America250 Cedar Box Set — 2 dozen red, white, and blue Ceres pencils

Field Notes: The Founding Documents

Nahvalur Nautilus Fireworks limited edition

Pen+Gear round black #2 pencils — back-to-school find at Walmart

Panini World Cup sticker album — $2 packs, 450+ stickers

Andy's out this week for the best possible reason — he got married! (Congratulations, Andy and Erica! 🎉) So Johnny and Tim keep it short and sweet with a catch-up and some fresh points: Tim falls down a Blaze Foley rabbit hole and digs into a new book on heartland rock, Johnny can't stop playing No Man's Sky, and both Henries pick up guitars. Plus: Field Notes' new Explore America memo books, Musgrave's America 250 collection, a pencil-powered fire-starting experiment, and a look at this year's (sadly slim) crop of Pride stationery. We'll be back next time, Andy in tow, with Pencil Primer, Part 2.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes & Links

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Podcast Discord invite

Blaze Foley — Live at the Austin Outhouse

Blaze (2018), Ethan Hawke's film about Blaze Foley

Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America by Erin Osmon

Andor

King of the Hill

No Man's Sky

A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 by Bill Bryson

A Perfect Circle — "Starless" (new single)

Arab Strap — "You You You" (new single + video)

Field Notes Explore America memo books

Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery

Pencil graphite lighter video

Musgrave America 250 collection

Fisher Space Pen — America 250 AG7 Astronaut Pen

Nahvalur Horizon Pride 2026 fountain pen

The Trevor Project

War by Sebastian Junger

Your Hosts

Johnny  GamberPencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy WelfleWoodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem@TimWasem

We kick off the Pencil Primer — a new series for anyone who wants to start at the beginning of pencildom. This installment traces graphite from the legendary Borrowdale lightning strike of 1564 to Nicolas-Jacques Conté's clay-and-graphite breakthrough during the Napoleonic Wars, plus the Thoreau family's role in standardizing the American pencil grade scale and a tour through HB-to-9B. Plus, Tim's into a Bill Frisell biography, Johnny's writing with a sparkly Narwhal "raspberry cheesecake" pen that looks like, uh, something else, and Andy debuts booklet.lol — a vibe-coded book tracker. Patreon subscribers can watch the video version.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes & Links

Erasable

Read a transcript of this episode at Erasable Scribe

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Facebook group

Erasable Discord invite

Episode references

Episode 57: “The F Bomb”

Podcasts / media

Drug Story

r/pencils

Letterkenny

Books

Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer

Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Pencil / stationery / book arts

Cumberland Pencil Museum

Nicolas-Jacques Conté (Britannica)

Henry David Thoreau (Britannica)

Guild of Book Workers

General’s Layout Pencil

STAEDTLER WOPEX

Derwent

Photography / camera stuff

Micro Four Nerds

PetaPixel

Apps / sites / companies

booklet.lol

People / artists / companies

Willie Nelson

Charlie Crockett

Bill Frisell

JHS Pedals

Your Hosts

Johnny  Gamber
Pencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy Welfle
Woodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem
@TimWasem

A big one this time around: we celebrate 12 years of Erasable, Andy launches a transcript site and an AI quiz generator, Johnny's been making books and hiking in 15-degree weather, and Tim christens his new Nahvalur Nautilus with a boiling water incident. Plus fresh releases from Field Notes, Blackwing, Baronfig, and Musgrave.

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show notes & links

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Podcast Discord invite

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

Pilão coffee (Tim's Brazilian coffee recommendation from Skip Simmons)

Erasable Scribe

Quizard.cool

12 years of Erasable, by the numbers (according to Claude)

Ed Kemp on zines (Erasable episode) (if you have a specific episode link handy)

Plumbago magazine

Field Notes "Lucky"

Blackwing Volume 343

Blackwing Quarterly Zine, Issue 1

Baronfig Winnie the Pooh Squire Hex

Baronfig Legend hardcover notebook

Musgrave America 250 Celebration Red, White, and Blue set

Nahvalur Nautilus Ti "Toffee"

Mike Masuyama nib grinding

Your Hosts

Johnny  Gamber
Pencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy Welfle
Woodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem
@TimWasem

The Erasable Podcast turns 12! As of March 12, we’ve officially been doing this podcast for 12 years. 279 hours of audio — that’s more than 11.5 straight days of Erasable! Tim is out today, but Johnny grills Andy about his trip to Hong Kong and Japan, including some of the cool pencils he found at a stationery shop in Kyoto that’s been in business since the 1600s. Have a listen!

For this episode, we recorded video, available to Patreon subscribers! If you’re a patron, head over to see our faces and visual examples of many of the things we discuss. And if you’re not a patron, join us at any level and you can see this and other supplemental content at any time!

Show Notes & Links

Erasable Patreon

Erasable Podcast Discord invite

Gestalt App — join the beta!

Pencil & Paper’s custom Field Notes

J Herbin Vert Pre ink

Iroshizuku chiku-rin ink

Kyukyodo

Your Hosts

Johnny  Gamber
Pencil Revolution
@pencilution

Andy Welfle
Woodclinched
@awelfle

Tim Wasem
@TimWasem