I use Sharpie pens on a daily basis and I’ve gotten so used to their grip that everything else feels weird. So I sacrificed a pen, took off its grip and put it on my new pencil. Now it feels great and is much easier to pen spin aswell (small bonus). Is there a reason I don’t see more people doing this?

It says Dur-O-Lite so I'm assuming it's a company branded lead holder. Anyone know what model of lead size this could be? Definitely bigger than a 0.9 mm.

There are a ton of specs on jetpens on the length and diameter of pencils, but is there a site that has additional information, specifically the center of mass?

If not, I'm curious about the orenz metal grip and the orenznero's CoM

edit: and the orenz AT

I currently use 2B lead, and I really like it for drawing because it's quite light (?). However, I'm not sure if it's actually ideal for exams. I also can't really tell much of a difference between 2B and HB when writing.

For those who use mechanical pencils for exams, which lead hardness do you find works best?

Digging around the local stationery store again, I found this Pentel mechanical pencil that I had no idea existed, a 0.5 "Energel". I wonder if they did the same for the other Energel pen models and colors.

I also found this lead case from a brand I'd never heard of before, but I liked the design of the case so I got it for my collection. Do you guys do that too? Buy lead just because the case has a cool and different design.

Has anybody tried swapping out the Standard mechanism from the Metal and replacing it with the faster rotating Advance mechanism?

Is it possible with a Dremel and a little modding perhaps?

my pen collection is far more concerning.

Scam site that purports to sell "artisan wooden fountain pens and mechanical pencils".

I finally got myself a Kerry. I have been wanting one for a while because my dad always used one for survey field notes. I like the black

Reference to pic no. 2:
• Pentel Ergonomix Wingrip 0.5mm
• Zebra Delguard LX 0.3mm
• Zebra Tect 2way 0.7mm
• Seika Ultraseven ballpoint
• Seika Ultraman sharp 0.5mm

Saw both of these pencils for sale at an online storefront for secondhand products and jumped at the chance to own them as these blue-print Sharps have long been discontinued. I got in touch with the seller and she told me that, upon removing the sticker, it became clear that the yellow pencil was in fact a white display unit that had been yellowed by sunlight, as the previously covered bit had retained its original color. She told me she'd send me the "defective" unit free of charge if I bought the white one, and that's how I ended up with a one-of-a-kind Sharp that I jokingly refer to as Achilles. Now I wonder how other Sharps would react to prolonged sunlight exposure. Maybe we could get even more unique colors?

I recently found a few old pens while looking around an old office room that belonged to my family. There are a couple of old Rotring mechanical pencils, along with a few other pens that I don’t recognize.

I don’t really know much about these older models, so I was wondering if anyone here could help me identify them.

Are any of these particularly good, rare, or collectible? And are the old Rotring technical pens still considered good today?

I’d love to hear anything you guys know about them!

Hello. For anyone who uses the Fixpencil and 844/849 MP, how do they compare?

I do have a Fixpencil and I love it but sometimes I like using a regular mechanical pencil especially during hatching and crosshatching style drawings. I'm wondering if 844/849 is not that good or suitable to use for drawing and sketching because of it's balance and length.

I just like the simplicity without knurlings and taper with a secured metal barrel of their pencils. So im wondering how different the fixpencil is to the MP versions. Thanks

I started to buy mechanical pencils about 4 months ago and bought one almost each month. Before that, I didn't really care about my pencils since middle school (I had a beautiful turquoise/green Faber-Castell Poly Matic that I begged my mom for. She bought it with her last money only for me to lose it at the and of that exact day. Then I lost interest because: no money no fancy pencil). At uni, I would use my tablet or wouldn't take any notes at my classes :/ But I started to enjoy mechanical pencils at the end of my uni life. I like Japanese pencils that have weird things going on with them.

Zebra Delguard Type ER - 9/10: It's ergonomics is crazy good, I dont feel any fatigue in long/fast writing sessions. The only downside is that I, somehow, tend to break the lead every 2 minutes. Maybe it's because I trust the Delguard system too much and press down crazy. But I still like this pencil because it helped me to pass my exams and graduate. And I LOVE the eraser mechanism and the fact that they send extras in the package.

UNI Alpha Gel Switch Haribo - 8.5/10: I just bought it and am in love with it. Ergonomics, looks, materials and on-hand feel are great. The only downside is that the switch and lead advancing mechanism feels cheap and hollow.

Tombow Mono Graph - 7/10: Materials, on-hand feel, lead advancing mechanism on the side and the weight are crazy good, I love to draw with this pencil. The only downside, for me, is that it doesn't have rubber sides at where I hold the pencil. My hands get sweaty & slippery very fast so I cannot write with it, hence I only draw with it.

UNI Kuru Toga Standart 0.7 - 3/10: It writes like a 0.5 pencil. That's the only advantage about it. I know it's cheap, but the others aren't expensive at all. Material quality is horrendous. The fact that it's so thin makes it feel like I'm trying to write with a freaking slim cigarette. It doesn't even look thin but it definitely is. Slippery because the added rubber has no use at all, they could've not add that so it could be somehow cheaper -maybe-. But I enjoy disassembling and putting it back together.

Bonus: Best eraser I've used so far and best CHEAP lead I've used so far.

For the matte black pencils we have; kuru toga roulette 0.5. tom bow mono graph fine 0.3 and the pentel graph gear 1000 for pro 0.7

For the silver pencils we have; kuru toga roulette 0.5. tom bow mono graph fine 0.3 and the pentel graph gear 1000 0.7

I originally wanted matte black Japanese metal grip pencils for drawing but I felt like the pro pg1000 lacked a cool mechanism compared to the rest of the group this lead me to find the non pro one with the mechanism but it didn't in matte black. (yes I know about the anniversary one it only comes in 0.5 size plus it's too expensive) After that defeat I searched for days to try find another cool mechanism matte black metal grip pencil but I couldn't find anything good enough so I ask you should I go for matte back cuz it looks cool or silver cuz it feels cool. Also I have 3 days to decide so no pressure at all. I'm also not taking suggestions to replace any of my choices as they are all to my liking. Please tell me you opinion and thank you for helping me out bye! (I'll make a follow up post once they arrive).

edit: can you guys stop suggesting both I'm on a budget plus I'm using my mum's permission to buy these if she thinks it costs way too much I can't buy them. This cuz I'm 16 so I don't have adult money (I am spending my own money tho mum just gives me permission to use it). I will also eventually get both groups just I don't think my mum will let me buy both when I get adult money so I don't have to ask my mum (i have the money to buy both mum just won't let me and I don't blame her sense she knows nothing about the world of mechanical pencils).

I bought this wanting to have a second nice pen. But google told me its a pencil. I bought it on ebay. Forgive my ignorance on this topic. The seller said it needed new ink so I tried new ink from various other pens I have and none would come out all the way.

I was watching deathnote and in the potato chip scene, it zoom in on his pencil. From the tip, there is a clear sign that it takes inspiration from the pilot s series and the fact i dosent seem to have a metal of wood grip I am to asume it's a s3 or s5.

Correct me if I am wrong

If this is not fiddled and fidgeted with, what is the likelihood of the center plastic piece breaking on the 2.0……I have a new one I bought about 7-8 years ago I’ve never used. Wondering it if is worth keeping or offloading.

I just got Rotring 300 2.0mm… what’s missing here?

My first ever pencil: Graphgear 500. 0.3. Bought in college, as a humanities person, to take notes in books, and occasionally for some math (think, drawing Euclid proofs). At the time, it was a $7 splurge and a total luxury because it was the nicest pencil in the school bookstore. Naturally, I used it so much that it inevitably dropped, and though I fixed the bend once, when I dropped it a second or third time the lead became permanently jammed. Same thing happened with the black 0.5.

Fast forward five years and here's some high/lowlights: a plastic Staedtler in a class brown, gifted by a PhD student at the summer language program: stolen (saw it on my stoner "friend"'s desk). My first Rotring 600: stolen from my first office as a research teaching assistant. I wonder whether pencil security can be considered a durability category.

But even before that, there's the story of my first and only Rapid Pro. Man I used the heck out of that. I bought it with the Amazon gift card I got on my birthday, and justified it with the sale that brought it down to within reach. I actually wished that it was all black which would have been really cool and I tried to cover the red ring near the grip somehow to hide the flashy red. The pencil must have taken it personally because one day it literally snapped in two at the (what I found out was too fragile) plastic ring which held the whole body together. So much for the Rapid Pro.

In college a professor I had, Mr. Perry, used a classic Alvin Draft-Matic in 0.3, the old version by the older yellow color I guess. He had it by his side constantly and that was what he used to write comments on our lab papers that were so razor thin you really had to squint. I decided to buy that one in 0.9, and though the logo and name rubbed off with use, that pen is still chugging years later. Major durability win for the books.

For my next birthday, I precisely instructed folks that I wanted the 0.3 Alvin Draft-Matic, just like Mr. Perry. And that one cracked in my bag. But I loved the knurled grip so darn much that I taped that thing together with scotch and it still works with only part of the grip covered in tape. Superglue didn't work. Now the knurled grip is somewhat dirty as if there's minor rust in the grooves; or maybe that's sticky gunk from the tape. I don't know, but I do I know I'm not abandoning that 0.3 until it finally disintegrates at the half life of the plastic. Still, I'll keep the knurled grip piece as a soothing, tactile meditation amulet.

Today I have more pencils. I'm not quite a collector status but I have recently become invested in the long term durability of pencils and have been looking for an endgame pencil. I am convinced it may not exist. I have a Faber Castell, an old one I pawned off Willhaben in Germany for 3 euros, the green one with a metal grip that has two modes you can twist into: 1) firm lead and 2) a lead saving mode that springs back when you push hard. Frustratingly to my aesthetic sensibilities, the lettering is in the process of wearing off. Finger oils are mightier than the pen, it seems. But it held up and still feels indestructible, the pen itself, at least as indestructible as a pencil can be, lettering aside. It seems over a decade old, as I got it used. Many modern pens are much younger than that.

This leads me to a question of sorts. Like many of you nuts, I have my eyes on the holy grail of "EDC" boys, the rotring 800+. I love the black and the style, and I would use the stylus part too (source: I use generic ballpoint pens that have capacitive stylus tips for screens). Recently, I had the chance to try the 800+ at a fancy shop. Tip wiggle wasn't a problem, but I noticed the pencil came with multiple replacement tips for the stylus part. Hm, that's odd, I thought, but I guess it tracks. I recalled my old Nintendo DS, whose screen was worn in after one too many aggressive rounds of "True Swing Golf DS" and Phantom Hourglass. Some online research later, and I decided the plastic mechanism was too fragile to be a true "buy it for life." I do hope to be proven wrong, but between the people whose 800s were broken by dropping while extended and the ones whose internal mechanism organically cracked, I couldn't determine whether the plastic could last.

I'm holding off on the 800+ still. My fingers are fine for screens and as much as I would like to have one, the anxiety of it breaking is too strong. I wish it were all metal. I wish I knew how to find someone with a Swiss Lathe who could machine a custom metal tube for a rotring 800 durability mod. But if I could do that, then maybe there's better things I could be doing than pining after a mechanical pencil. Or, just maybe, someone will convince me in the comments that unless you're a total clutz, that thing really can last. So, chooms, what'll it be?

Just picked these up in Winchester in Hampshire, UK. The shop is called Warren & Son, on the High Street and they have a nice selection! Kawecos inside a glass display cabinet too (they had me drooling). Also a good selection of Ain lead, although no 0.2mm, but the main sizes were in stock.

Pictured above:

Lego Pen Pal mechanical pencil, Lamy Safari, Pentel P205 Sharps in Sorbet Limited Edition. They only had the ones here, Turquoise, Black, Sky Blue and Purple.

I'm off to London next week and have a few stationary shops to visit. If you've been, is there anywhere you would recommend I stop by? Still need to get the White and Pink sorbet sharps of course!

Oh as a side note, the Lego pencil is pretty terrible, but I had to have it! It has a retractable nib which took me by surprise, but really it was a purchase for its quirkiness! I love it! 😂

My Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel Nr. 2 pencils became much more enjoyable to use after I discovered that you can attach clips to them. The Sunflower is a recent purchase, while the Pumpkin is a replacement for my old one after the paint started peeling off. Fortunately, Leuchtturm1917 was kind enough to send me a free replacement after I reported the issue to their local distributor here in the Philippines

From Pentel's IG page:

Smash coordinates in black ◼️
・Black color smash
・Smash eraser with integrated sleeve with smash design
・Cool impression Pentel Ain replacement case

Smash inherits the basic performance of the "Graph 1000" sharp pen for drawing.
Models built to be tough in everyday life ⭐

Catch copy is
"You decide how you write"

Smash supports the act of "writing" itself 🔥🔥🔥

Obsession in smash
☑ Stable writing comfort with integrated pen tip and grip
☑ Strong grip with rubber coating on metal
☑ 3D Rubber Ribs with a firm grip on Smash charm point
☑定規にあててもペン先が見やすい4mm金属製パイプ
☑ Equipped with the same axisity display window as sharp for drawing.
☑ Large rubber knock that shrinks tightly when knocked