That’s a lovely pencil, @Sven!
Fanx for the welcome. The no. 31 is indeed odd, the lead is held by what I percieve as a wee beak of springy steel. It is as easy to retract the lead as it is to advance it. I use leads that are just above 3 mm, and they hardly fit through the hole at the front. But sorting a small dent from when I once dropped it I inadvertently widened the hole just enough so it worked better with hhe leads I had.
I was gifted the pencil by a fellow student. I saw him use it and asked if I could have a look, and upon examining it I bombarded him with questions. He just shrugged and said he knew nothing about it but that he could tell I liked it and thought it would be better if I owned it. I was floored, of course I offered to buy it from him. But he was adamant and said he wanted me to have it since I appreciated it. It has since then been very dear to me. I use it with softer leads, both for sketching and for marking wood in the workshop.
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Finally got my hands on some Caran D’Ache Fixpencil 22 limited release 1980s/90s fluorescent dayglow 2mm leadholders…so, in the late 1980s to early 1990s, imagine garbage pail kids and pogs and spokey dokeys and scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers were playground crazes and I remember these neon fixpencil 22 limited editions were in some of my best equipped friends’ pencil cases alongside robot shaped erasers and transparent bendy glitter rulers. I never had one. They were too expensive. So it’s really nice to find a pair and fulfil a long held wish…
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Caran d’Ache Fixpencils: one of the very few lineups of holders where I welcome a faceted barrel instead of a rounder one — even if I generally prefer the latter form factor.
Great colour combinations, really remind me of that particular era. 
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C D’A must have gotten paid by their Swiss neighbor, Sandoz, “in trade” for something and the color designer got into a leftover batch…
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Yes! Designed by Prince?.. Probably not, but so great. Also completely infiuriating, for the completist collector, that every one of these ‘graffiti’ limited edition Fixpencil 22s is unique!?
Almost as hard as gathering every version of AWF Locktites…
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I think Allan Macdonald managed that once!?
Allan Macdonald… Isn’t he the guy whose name always popped up on Dennis B. Smith’s Leadholder-dot-com website when an image or datum was originally missing, but in the end Dennis would manage to complete the entry in the DB because of Allan’s help?
Is Allan (and his collection) still around?
Yes to all of that…He and I used to trade info and pencils…he and Dennis and I would on occaision parse the fine points of non-fine points…nice guys, lotta fun. .I lost track a few years ago…a small part of his collection
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So a nice boxed version of the 31 just appeared online recently with its original paperwork and as far as I could see, the blurb about the refills, next to an illustration of the leads box and 2 army officers in the field, drawing on a map, read as follows-
“Mines grasses spéciales No. 6350
En 5 couleurs bien différenciées, écrivant sur le verre, le metal et toutes les surfaces polies sèches. Les officiers apprécient la facilite avec laquelle elles permettent des dessiner sur les nouveaux étuis en cellophane pour cartes topographiques de l’armée suisse.
On efface les traits sans laisser de trace avec un simple chiffon sec.
Ces mines se fabriquent en rouge, bleu, vert, jaune et noir. Longeur: 7cm. Diamètre: 3mm. En boites de 6 pieces.”
—
Which translates to-
“Special Grease Leads No. 6350
In 5 well-differentiated colours, write on glass, metal and all dry polished surfaces. Officers appreciate the ease with which they allow them to draw on the Swiss Army’s new cellophane cases for topographic maps. Erase the lines without leaving a trace with a simple dry cloth.
These leads are made in red, blue, green, yellow and black. Length: 7cm. Diameter: 3mm. In boxes of 6 pieces.”
So these 31 fixpencils are… Swiss army pencils!
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If so, where is the cork screw?
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I have seen these sets for soldiers, often coming with some sort of measuring gauge arranged in a way to measure effectively distances on maps with various scales — the coolest specimens exhibit a shape which vaguely reminds me a half-open fan.
Also, that lead diameter for greasy cores is quite hard to find: I had hoped for a while I could use the stubby cores for the Faber-Castell Glas-Schreiber (cannot remember the exact model name, it is not with me right now), but those are too wide, and it makes little sense to try to shave them to dimension. I will have to review the entire stock of lead to find something acing that 3.00mm sweet spot, but that seems a tough task.
Also, the infamous green Fixpencil 23 should be a known collab between Caran d’Ache and the Swiss Army, hence the insane prices it reaches whenever listed somewhere — a recent bidding war on Ricardo closed at over 250 CHF…
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Caran D’ache do a very nice 3mm graphite lead, which might fit? I’d be disappointed if they didn’t, it being the Swiss!?
I should have some lead from the company, and I will surely check if the cores fit; what I am afraid of is that the actual lead is 3.15mm, and in that case I am pretty sure the Fixpencil 31 will not accommodate the cores; also, the greasy nature of the lead itself might play a role in the peculiar twistaction feed of the mechanism, I think in terms of pure friction.
My Fixpencil 31 is a marvellous, ongoing experiment; it is stubbornly resisting any attempt at morphing into a “normal” leadholder, but I have become acquainted with the idea that it has its own destiny, and only when it will meet again its true lead mate, the experience will be the one expected.
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You mean it will marry the prince? Carand’erella…
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If the CD’A 31 was for the Swiss army, if followed a tradion started (probably) by Eberhard Faber pre-WW2 by producing mapping-specific pencils for the miiatry, in their case, the German army officers of the '30’s and on. The earliest (TakTik model 542) were propelling (only) operators for, ahem, 3.1 (or so) mm crayons. These sets came in a heavy-duty leather case with a leather belt loop on the back. The set contained the four colored pencils shown spares, an eraser (?) and the yellow plastic map measuing tool/scale. EF resumed production after the war (same model number), but switched to spring clutch leadholders, and a plastic case. They lost the 0.1 mm and the belt loop (peace in our time…).
Das ist alles…
later …and guest
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If I may ask: have you tried to insert those Faber Castell lead cores into the Fixpencil 31? Do they fit?
From the picture, it seems that the greasy lead in the 31 is a smidge slimmer than the Van Dyke lead. Also, those Van Dyke’s are very interesting.
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