The Pencil Primer wraps up with part 4: a buyer's guide. We settle what makes a pencil good — smooth, dark, stable — and what makes one crappy, then go shopping everywhere from big-box aisles and art supply stores to Japanese stationery shops and a coworker's luggage. Plus sharpeners, pocket knives, and our own picks, from budget Golden Bears to the Mitsubishi 9852EW. But first: Blackwing's camo-clad Volume 5.

Today we have a big Fresh Points catch-up. Andy remembers Patrick Stewart, can't stop thinking about the Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything, and rips open a pack of Draplin's trippy Other Worlds "paper portals" on air. Tim declares the new matte Blackwing Eras his favorite Blackwing ever and gets recognized by a listener in Chicago, while Johnny stocks up on Musgrave's matte-black Blackout Ceres and Nahvalur's Fountain Pen Day pen. Plus fall Field Notes: Hunter's Moon and, for some reason, Pee-wee's Playhouse.

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.

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.

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.