Eraser pencil cleaning battery contacts

[ai8o]

Does anybody know where I can obtain an"Eraser Pencil"?

A long thin core of rubber containing very fine grit with a covering of wood or paper that is very similar to a pencil.

I use them to clean corroded battery contacts on HTs.

Typists used to use them to erase mistakes on typewritten pages back in the days b-4 word processors.
I had several of them over the years, but now i have used up my last one.

I sort of overspecified my description of them,
but when I asked folks at Staples or Office Depot and several thirty-somethings where to get one,
they didn't have a clue about what I was talking about.

A typical reaction was along the line of:
"A pencil that is an eraser?!?!
Are you daft?"

Any how, does anybody know where I can get one?

Dan
AI8O
W-A-A-Y out here, off the Information Superhighway,
on the cyber equivalent of a dirt road!

 

[ka3aaa]

ebay

 

[W8RMH]

Staples has them.

https://www.staples.com/Faber-Caste...EJpCh1VeAzWEAQYBCABEgIhgfD_BwE&akamai-feo=off

I think all the former Radio Shack employees now work at Staples. GOOGLE is your friend. In less time than it took to type your post I found them.

 

[N0GTG]

I think of it as a typing eraser. But don't ask the clerk at an office supply store about a typewriter! If you don't need 16 of them (Staples link above), when I looked at the page, I wondered if an art supply store might have them.

 

[W8RMH]

Didn't notice the Staple;s bulk amount.

You can get two from Amazon here - https://www.amazon.com/Faber-Castell-185698-Faber-Castel-Pencils/dp/B005M4LAUS

 

[mmckenna]

I think my wife has insisted on hanging on to her old typewriter, "just in case" so I'm sure there's a few of them around...

Anyway, reminds me of what we used to use when I was doing drafting:
US $8.39 16% OFF|2 Pcs/lot plastic Eraser No.528 holder for graphite on paper and matt drafting film children school pencils and erasers-in Eraser from Office & School Supplies on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Or if you really want to get serious, here's the electric version:
Drawing a Blank? Check out Draphix Electric Erasers and Accessories
Electric Erasers
https://www.amazon.com/Leewa-Electric-Drafting-Automatic-Rotation/dp/B07FS4VM51

 

[kruser]

I used these pencil erasers for years but have not even seen then in ages now. I still clean some contacts with a regular eraser though.
Now that you guys have brought these back from the dead, I went and ordered some.
Now... where o where did I put that old pencil sharpener?

 

[K4EET]

Here is what I use since I am a guitarist. These "Fret Erasers" come in different sandpaper grit sizes from 220 to 8000.



Fret Erasers | stewmac.com

Besides polishing guitar frets, these erasers have many other uses as well.

Cheers and Happy New Year! Dave

 

[spongella]

Forgot all about those, they had a pencil eraser on one end, and one for ink on the other. Thanks for the memories, have to put one of those on my "need" list.

 

[AK9R]

These "Fret Erasers" come in different sandpaper grit sizes from 220 to 8000.

Model railroaders have abrasive rubber blocks that are similar.

Peco PL-41 Abrasive Rubber Block Rail/Track Cleaner

 

[jim202]

You need to be careful in just how much abrasive you use on radio contacts. Many are gold plated and you will find you have taken the gold plating off with much use of any abrasive. Once the gold is worn off by your "polishing" the contacts, you will find your in a worse shape than before.

A much better way of cleaning gold plated contacts is with a cloth. If you must use something on the cloth, try wetting it with some alcohol.

The bottom line here is to attack this problem with care and not be a bull in a china closet with an abrasive.

 

[ai8o]

Unfortunately i did not spacify that ther should be grit in the eraser pencil.
The Faber-Castell pencils are rubber only, NO grit.

The guiter Fret cleaners are the right substance, but the wrong shape.
I need to poke into corners and under overhangs to get at some battery contacts.
The 220 or 400 grit would be about right.

My search continues, it amazes me that objects that I used to see all the time have just disappeared.

You should see some of the radios that I have had returned to me,
Skid marks, mud ,blood, vomit, water inside the casing, and dog saliva from dog bites.
Rubbing off gold plating is the least of my concerns.