Just a mini update for my Keuffel & Esser collection… I know they were a drafting supplies company (much like ALVIN) but I think I simply fell in love with the K+E logo and their choice of green as their main color. These 3 are rebranded versions of the Faber-Castell TK-fine 9707, TruPoint Automatic, and a KIN 5611 (probably direct from the factory in Italy).
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Hmm. 580435. Another one that says no to barrel and grip separation.
Edit:
@Thomas - FYI - I got some strange formatting when I started this comment with ‘580435.’ See below for how it clipped the number. Adding indentation didn’t help, but adding ‘Hmm’ corrected it.
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Yeah that logo is gorgeous 
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Yesss… I was always curious as to how the grip was attached on those FCs. Never tested anything to destruction though.
Didn’t know about that. Interesting piece.
My K+E sub-set stops at the three MP’s produced by the company (or rather, by the company for its first iteration, and by Pentel or some other OEM for the next two iterations) to complement their amazing Leroy Lettering Sets — namely, the Leroy ‘020’, the Leroy ‘022’ and the Leroy ‘0.5’. I think I got all three from Dan Linn, at different points in time, as buying the sets was not part of the plan back then.
By the way, I am utterly convinced that the wooden-barrel, twistaction Leroy ‘020’ is an example of a 0.4 mm MP in disguise, as the 0.5 lead I tried to fit in the mechanism is not accepted seamlessly by the writing tip. The ‘022’ and the ‘0.5’, on the other hand, work just fine with 0.5 mm lead cores.
I’m curious to try their “Draftsman’s ‘036’ Thin Lead 58 0366”, but I’m afraid the hexagonal barrel might not be the best for writing, as I tend to prefer cylindrical bodies; also, their prices went up since the glory days, and my priorities have shifted elsewhere in the meantime.
P.S.: the KIN 5611 branded variant is almost certainly from Italy: that silver imprint with the elongated stroke of the “T” is unmistakable, and shines on so many variants of that classic design.
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Have you tried 0.4 in the 020? I can’t recall if I tried that.
Not yet, but it’s in the checklist. And I hope it works, because those super-tiny ‘020’ lead cores are veeery hard to find. I have a small stock — which will surely outlive me — but still.
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Totally. I was sweating while tinkering with it, ‘really got to save this 020 lead, nothing else fits’. But it is not as if I am using it at all.
If nothing else works, I’m thinking about writing to these guys: https://www.legendaryleadcompany.com
I’m not there yet, but every time I look at the K+E ‘020’, I’m inching closer to that moment.
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I just saw this for the first time… that Tru Point is Beautiful.
It’s a great color, the grip looks very nice. Very very nice find!
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I have a boatload of the K+E lead..come on down…
K+E was, to my mind, notorious for never really making a pencil. They always, from the jump (1890’s) , went to either another maker and used that maker’s name, or then had them do a “private label” for K+E ( L+C, AWF, TP, etc) …The attached is a moderately complete “history” of those efforts:
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Is that first picture a green and orange tru point as well?
I love those green ones, K&E is nice branding but those shades of green get me every time.
And there are those dang 1 of1 speedraft
I just love the K+E logo. I’d wear a t-shirt of it… just like the FC Bulldog!
The current (last) logo came into the market after WWII., probably late '40’s. Before the war ( tools they sold in the USA during WWII were called “MINUSA” : Made IN the USA" ) there really did not seem to be a consisten corporate logo, although the lettering on their catalogs was consistent for periods ( and with the period) of time. Their drafting tools , when not at war with Germany, came from Germany, the last versions (post WWII) were made there by HAFF. If it was sold here it was called K+E, over there it was HAFF.
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I am amazed by their model no. 58 0374: is it an original design, or is it derived by someone else’s catalogue (FC perhaps)?
I know of two flat-lead pencils from FC (a twist action propelled and a spring clutch with soldered flat grips), plus some other specimens from other manufacturers (Mifa, Fedra), but this design seems really unique, look e.g. at the tiny screw in the grip section, as if it were a multi-pencil…
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So who made the Speedraft? Or was it Speedraft that made it for K+E?
The 58 0374 is blind stamped “Germany” under the name, so that rules out the Swiss makers Mifa or Caran d’Ache (Fixpencil 29).
Just a thought, but is the grip section with the screw removable from the handle below the metal ferrule, to allow its use as a compass insert? What I had initially assumed was the propelling mechanism at the tail end now looks to me suspiciously like an integral storage container for short flat leads. Of course, I could be completely wrong on both counts!
If that pencil transforms into a compass insert for lofting, I’m going to melt: just too much awesomeness compacted into a single tool!
Also, I’m far from the weirdest flat-lead pencil I own at the moment (a FC), but I’ll shoot pictures as soon as I get back to it.
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Don’t melt yet! It appears I was wrong, as expected. From a c.1966 K&E list:
However, it is a variable-thickness flat lead holder, "Specially designed by K&E to hold all 3 thicknesses of flat leads. Apparently a twist of the top releases the lead, so alas no storage container.
K&E’s flat leads were supplied by Ruwe, but being an American firm they are unlikely to have made the pencil itself. Given that the 58 0374 was designed specifically for K&E, I am leaning back towards Faber-Castell as a maker (or whoever made leadholders for FC). Consequently, it now seems less likely that there is a non-K&E equivalent model around.
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