Added 1 new A* page:Important note: after running the tests below, I found a list of eraser details on Jetpens, showing that the Kokuyo erasers are not phthalate-free. Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastics more durable, and they are bad for you. So, I'm not going to be using Kokuyo erasers anymore, at least not until they make phthalate-free ones.
Instead, I'm falling back to the champion of Supermassive Eraser Round-up Round 1, and runner-up to the Kokuyo Campus B/HB in Round 3: the Pentel Hi-Polymer Ain Eraser - Dust Gathering (Large) (going with the Large rather than the Small I tested because they're slightly more affordable, also I've probably gotten used to that size, being similar to the Campus).
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With the Kokuyos disqualified, this Round 4 just becomes a test of how well a couple other new-ish erasers stacked up to my Kokuyo Campus B/HB stand-bys. Short version: they aren't as good.
Of course, this test is specific to the paper and graphite I'm using: 300 lb hot press Arches Bright White Watercolor Paper and H-grade Uni Mitsubishi Hi-Uni Pencil (ALSO currently out of stock on Jetpens—I'm trying an order for slightly less money from Amazon). If you're using different paper and/or pencils, your mileage will probably vary!
I'm not going to link to the non-phthalate-free Kokuyo erasers. The others here are the Sakura Sumo Grip—listed as the "Top Choice" at the top of that Jetpens eraser page (they also have their own extensive test results there), and the Tombow Mono—a modern non-latex version of the near-legendary original Mono (of which I did manage to scrounge up a sample for Round 2); although now it occurs to me that this may be simply a re-branding, or branding reversion, of what they were calling the "Mono NP Non-PVC" eraser for a bit there—came in a green rather than blue sleeve, and I tested that in round 2—although I said that one "felt awful," and this one wasn't so bad, so maybe it's different.
This Round 4 came up because the B/HBs are out of stock on Jetpens. = P Turns out Kokuyo makes a new eraser these days, the "Premium" Resare, which are slightly more expensive, and come in bright colors. They also have phthalates, and don't erase as well as the B/HBs anyway.
They all erased pretty much identically—except MAYBE there's a shade of very fine black particles left where I erased with the Sumo Grip.
And a surprisingly handling note: the Mono is markedly softer than the others, which made it harder to hold on to while erasing firmly; you can see my Mono line wobbles a good deal there. That wasn't great.
In terms of shavings, the Sumo and Mono leave tiny shavings (I think that thicker lump in the Sumo pile was probably a Campus straggler), which is messier than the fewer, bigger shavings of the Campus...but the Campus' phthalates make this a moot comparison.
The smear test, and some shocking results here. The Sumo pulled off the second-most graphite, but left small black particles everywhere—and the corner of the eraser (in photo) just busted right off! = o Yow. The Mono removed hardly anything, and left a big smear. Really poor. The Resare was kind of a disaster but who cares anyway, it has phthalates.
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Disappointing results from this new eraser crop. I'm glad I finally found out about the phthalates in Kokuyo's erasers...after using them for the past nine years. Ugh. Well, they're worst for kids or for having kids, and I haven't had kids in my drawing space, so hopefully not too much harm has been done. Better safe than sorry though, so I'm falling back to the phthalate-free old runner-up, the Ain Dust-Gathering; they're prone to occasional smears, but can clean them up no problem so I'll manage, I suppose. And they wear down relatively slowly, so maybe that'll help the ol' wallet a bit.
(Incidentally, with Pentel's phthalate-free, NON-dust-gathering "Hi-Polymer" erasers super-cheap on Amazon right now, I was on the verge of ordering a test pack of them until I thought to check and oh yeah, I did test them before, and they were weirdly oily, and not so great.)
And I sent a message to Jetpens via their contact form:
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I've been using the Kokuyo Campus B/HB erasers you sell for 9 years. Just noticed in a fold-out "details" section of your Best Erasers article https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Erasers/pt/597#Details that most Kokuyo erasers are not phthalate-free. This brings up a couple questions:
1) Why is there no prominent phthalate warning on the product pages for those erasers?
2) Why are you still selling non-phthalate-free erasers, anyway?
You even still recommend some of those erasers in your Best Erasers article.
I've been buying these from you for nine years. With no health warnings. I'm glad I finally stumbled across a note about them tucked away in that article of yours, but still, I don't feel good about this. I think you could do better, and I think you owe it to your customers to do better.
Regards,
Ben Chamberlain
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The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
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