OFFICE

From X-Acto®, the folks who make the precision arts & craft knives, the "Bulldog" is an old-school crank pencil sharpener with a translucent blue, green or red case so you can keep tabs on your shavings and watch the menacing teeth grind away. Unit is roughly 5" tall x 4" wide (including crank handle) x 3” deep. The square rubber pad on the bottom provides suction when the side lever is pulled. Works best on a flat surface, but you knew that.

It’s a cornucopia of stencils. All shapes, no alphabets. You’ll get a profusion of (8) clear acrylic stencil sheets, including: a raft of ovals; a preponderance of squares; a farrago of circles, hexagons, pentagons and triangles; a collection of a bunch of shapes, including trapezoids; a roomful of interior design shapes; a melange of electronic symbols; and an assortment we can’t altogether identify, but might be for printed circuit design. All have mm rules along at least one edge.

Our each is a package of (2) steel tech rulers. One is 6” x 1/32” for the first 2-1/2” then 1/64” for the next 1/2” then 1/16” for the last 3”. The other is 150mm x 0.5mm. Both have sliding markers/pocket clips, and both have mm:inch tables on the reverse side. You’ll need excellent eyesight.

We don't know why, but Bergamo, a town in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, has given its name to high-quality spiral-bound notebooks. They’re popular as journals or travel notebooks, and this one has (100) ivory pages lined on both sides. Also has a plain “soft-touch” cover (think suede-like). In a dark maroon/chocolate color. Measures 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". Jot down your thoughts and musings (you know you’ve got some good ones) or they might be gone forever.

Because they gots more rubber content than your regular, non-superior rubber bands. It says so on the box. They're also slightly darker than "pale crepe gold" in color, which is your traditionally favored rubber band color. Our each is box of approx.(200) Alliance rubber bands, each a 7" long loop without stretching it, and 1/8" thick, in a tissue-style perf-top box. Really, really stretchy. Made in the USA!

Pocket protectors are for nerds (like us) but sheet protectors are for smart and sensible people (like you). Not bed sheet protectors! The (100) sheet protectors in this package are for your important documents. At 11" x 9-1/4" with reinforced edges and (11) holes punched in them (so they’ll fit any binder), these things are priceless at less than five bucks for the lot. Acid-free and archival-safe, too. javascript:;

These miniature versions of the traditional floor fan say "Retro Mini Fan" on them, and the retro part is that the blades and cages are all metal. The handy part is that they're just 5-3/8" dia and the plug is a USB, ready to cool you off right from your (actual) desktop. Tilts 180° up and down and comes with a 4-foot cord. Super quiet, too. We'll pick one in red, blue or black.

This whimsical pack of (30) postcards measures, unsurprisingly, post-card size 5-3/4" x 3-15/16", with non-duplicating images of gravy and bacon, Nikola Tesla, narwhals, spontaneous human combustion, boxing kangaroos, infinity and taxidermy, among many others of that ilk. Those ilks. Whatever--just buy 'em and stop asking so many questions. Blurbs on the back.

Behold the first attractively designed electric pencil sharpener since Edward C. Hoffman’s 1943 art deco Electro-Pointer. (You could look it up.) The Spira from X-ACTO® is a rotated rectangular column, 5-3/4” tall x 2-3/4” square, in lipstick red plastic. Plugs in via a wall adapter, and has a hardened steel cutter inside plus a one-touch release on the bottom for emptying the shavings. We see a future classic.

Our each is a half-pound bag of rubber bands in assorted sizes and equally assorted colors, and how many is that, you ask? Darned if we know. Looks like about a third of a gazillion, but that's just an estimate. You won't run out anytime soon.

Or enough mechanical pencils to write all the copy for our catalogs until the cows come home—and cows have been back-ordered for years. Our each is a dozen TEK Writer™ precision 0.7mm pencils with top lead-advance, soft grip and anti-roll barrel. Includes (48) extra leads and a dozen extra erasers because to err is human. In an assortment of (6) colors, so one will always match your outfit.

You'll be fooled, too, by this supple presentation binder that looks and feels like black leather. Inside are (24) non-glare plastic pages with black inserts to hold (48) sheets back-to-back. Sheets are archival, heat-resistant, transfer-free and safe for all art photos, graphics or print. You pick the 12" x 18" for 11" x 17" sheets, or the 10" x 12" for 8-1/2" x 11" sheets.

PLEASE NOTE: The portfolios are physically 12" x 18" and 10" x 12". The maximum size sheet they can hold are standard 11" x 17" and 8-1/2" x 11" pages respectively. 

These easy-to-locate fridge or filing cabinet clips, 3-1/2” long x 1-1/4” wide, have big serrated jaws, and a disc magnet on the back. In white plastic with rubber grips in red, but possibly other colors, that we'll pick because who cares what colors your shipping lists hang from and that's the way surplus works. These things never go out of style. Stock up.

These are very nice 48-page, 5” x 7” cardboard-bound notebooks with themes and some unobtrusive notes/formats that will be easy to ignore if you’re not a Starship captain, artist or astronomer. You pick: the United Federation Captain’s log has a date/location entry on each lined page and fold-out info on the back cover, like a warp-speed conversion table while the Stargazer’s notebook has 1/4” rules plus a lightly printed 3-1/4” dia circle with 30-degree markings to chart the sky, plus a fold-out back cover with an astrolabe and constellation chart.

From Helix®, this 18" long aluminum U.S. Standard triangular architects' ruler/scale has color-coded facings and is divided into 3. 1-1/2, 1, 3/4, 3/8, 3/16, 3/32, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 inch per foot. Yes, you can use it even if you're not an architect.

Filament tape for closing boxes and envelopes that you want to stay closed. It has fiberglass strands embedded lengthwise in it which makes it very hard to tear by accident. You get 10 yds of the stuff, 3/4" wide, in a clear plastic desk type dispenser.

What would you use to fill in those little circles? You’d use this extra-wide Scantek™ test-taking mechanical pencil? You passed! The lead in this beauty is the famous #2, and is .9 mm wide, like an italic pen nib. Comes with refill leads, a pocket clip and a large eraser. If our Tech Whiz Billy had had this pencil when he was younger, he'd have made double 800s on the SAT and wouldn't be working here today. Also great for doing calligraphy in pencil, which makes teachers swoon.

The low-profile, approx. 5" wide steel clip stands just 5/16" above the 1/8" thick natural-tan pressboard of this trim clipboard. Measures approx. 12" x 9". Made to slip conveniently into a briefcase, but also has a hole on the backside of the clip for easy hanging.