A tangent topic

[WarlockBob]

I know this topic board is to discuss pen and parchment, but how does everyone feel about pencils? Mechanical pencils, specifically.
I enjoy using a pencil to take certain notes (business meetings with clients, doodling, etc), and I like the feel of a good mechanical pencil. I wanted to see what everyone else who participates in this little group felt about them as well.

I recently picked up a Tombow Mono Graph Shaker mechanical pencil - $6.99, refillable, with a fantastic eraser and an interesting lead drive mechanism (you can unlock the pencil by pushing down on the clip, and then can give the whole pencil a gentle shake to extend the lead). Writes wonderfully, and uses 0.5mm lead, so you get a good line size and can put a bit of pressure down without worrying about breaking the lead.

 

[huffelpuff]

Back when I worked I used pencils all the time. Hate wooden ones with a passion. Used to have 10-15 different mechanical pencils with different hardness leads in each one. These days I only have two left that I actually use and one antique that I'll never get rid of just because it's so odd. One is a crappy old Pentel in .05mm the other is a Staedtler drafting pencil with the 2mm leads.

As to what I did with them? I worked in a forensics lab and we also dealt with archeological finds. I was the poor schmuck that got stuck drawing out exact copies of the archeological bits when I wasn't up to my elbows in human bones. Somewhere I have a few drawings of arrowheads around that weren't quite perfect but were too damned nice to pitch. The drawings had to be exact, every flake, every line, and ridge had to be there and the exact size had to be spot on. These days I'm more likely to sit down and draw out interesting architectural bits.

Jim

 

[Blackhorse]

Once upon a time I was an Art & Architecture major at the UofO in Eugene. Started using mechanical pencils for drafting cause the wooden ones wouldn't work with a 'pencil pointer' (a rotating lead sharpener that gave a perfect conical point). Still love both wood bound and metal/plastic encased pencils.

A while ago I became enamored of the Uni-ball Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil. This nifty device rotates the lead each time you push the end cap to extend the lead...so it doesn't get flat on one side. You're always writing with a fairly cone shaped lead. Neat-o!

You can find them and darn near every other cool mechanical pencil thingy as well as the finest Japanese made wooden pencils, pens, ink, paper, yadda, yadda, yadda (the best stuff out there) at Jet Pens online...a great vendor.

https://www.jetpens.com/

 

[Stick]

I know this topic board is to discuss pen and parchment, but how does everyone feel about pencils? Mechanical pencils, specifically.

No objections from this quarter, WB. I too enjoy using fine writing instruments so would enjoy reading posts such as the ones above.

 

[monbla256]

In over 30 years of collecting fountain pens I've also tried to acquire the matching mechanical pencil that most makers made to accompany the corresponding fountain pen. I always have a matching pair pen/pencil in my pocket every day. :twisted:

 

[Richard Burley]

Mechanical pencils are my "go to" writing instrument, if I let my subconscious guide me. I just naturally pick them up for casual writing, and I bypass fountain pens, ball points, graphite pencils, gel pens, etc. lying alongside. If I want to get fancy, I'll go for the fountain pens, and the gel pens for writing checks. I have no idea why I have graphite pencils, or any wood pencil, other than I like using them, sharpening them, and smelling the cedar or whatever it is--but the mechanical pencil tends to be my everyday workhorse. I prefer the cheap Pentels to anything else I've ever seen, as long as they have a metal tip. They're light, and I like that. I take about three seconds to break a .5 mm lead, so I prefer the .7 mm.

 

[swhipple]

Not what most people think of as a mechanical pencil but, I use 2mm lead holders quite a bit for laying out my artwork. I like the feel of the them over a wooden pencil and I like the fact you can choose different lead hardness's. I use a lead pointer to get a nice conical point on them, for my use this works better than a standard 0.5mm mechanical pencil because you a have a fine point to work with. I own a few holders and of those, my favorite is a Koh-I-Noor 5616 model which has a nice, solid, feeling metal barrel.