Pencil Talk

https://www.penciltalk.org/

by bookofjoe • 3 years ago

87 43 3 years ago

gus_massa• 3 years ago

It's difficult for whole sites to get traction here. Which is your favorite post of the blog?

I like https://www.penciltalk.org/2023/03/apuntes because the pencils have a weird shape. (Is there an explanation of the shape?)

paulrouget• 3 years ago

Is there an explanation of the shape

Some pencils have this particular flat shape to prevent them from rolling (artists and workers sometimes use inclined desks / surfaces).

andrewl• 3 years ago

It might not apply to the pencils in the article, but the flattened shape of a carpenter’s pencil keeps it from rolling off uneven surfaces in a workshop or at a building site. Also, the flattened lead allows you to draw a thin or thick line, depending on how your orient the pencil.

gooseyman• 3 years ago

And I believe a carpenters pencil is a 1/4 inch tall and a 1/2 half wide

creeble• 3 years ago

Okay, wo, that’s freaky.

I’m a pencil fan insofar as when I use one, it’s probably for something semi-important, like a to-do list. Otherwise it goes into my phone, or computer, or cloud.

So I like to use really good pencils for such things, and Blackwings are my favorite. The California incense cedar smells great when you sharpen them, and the soft (but not too soft) graphite makes nice, dark lines and text.

bookofjoe5• 3 years ago

https://blackwing602.com/collections/pencils?gad_source=1&gc...

avgcorrection• 3 years ago

Boutique pencils. Sure.

aidenn02• 3 years ago

If you use pencils a lot, do yourself a favor and get a dedicated eraser. I personally like the Sakura SumoGrip block erasers, but even a $3 Pentel Clic from your local big box store will be an upgrade from what is typically on the back of a pencil.

bookofjoe5• 3 years ago

https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-50258-Sumogrip-Premium-Eraser/...

https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Retractable-Assorted-Barrels-Z...

Doxin• 3 years ago

My criteria for buying erasers: fairly soft and white.

The harder the eraser is the more prone it is to destroying your paper or making smudges. The disadvantage of a soft eraser is that it wears more quickly. I don't buy expensive enough erasers to where that's a problem.

Most pink erasers are fine, but I've had more than once instance of them working more like a crayon than an eraser.

Recently I got recommended trying an edding R20 eraser. It's a weird one. It's much more plastic-y than the average eraser. It's quite firm too, but still manages to not smudge and keep itself clean. Haven't used it enough to form a proper opinion yet however.

aidenn02• 3 years ago

Most pink erasers are fine, but I've had more than once instance of them working more like a crayon than an eraser.

I avoid pink erasers for exactly this problem. I think the rubber in them hardens with time (and maybe heat? Certainly ones I keep in my car don't last). Don't let the black color of the Sakura erasers bookofjoe linked in a sibling comment scare you off; they are an upgrade from any of the white ones I've used.

criddell2• 3 years ago

I'm a fan of mechanical pencils myself. In school we were issued Pentel P205's and every few years I buy something new to try and always end up returning to my 30 year old P205 pencils.

bookofjoe5• 3 years ago

https://www.pentel.com/products/sharp-mechanical-drafting-pe...

criddell2• 3 years ago

That's it. It's nice that something so inexpensive can last decades. You can spend a lot more on a mechanical pencil (and I have) but none have won me over.

YMMV

baz00• 3 years ago

I used them for years. Then I discovered cheap gel pens and never went back. Muji sell really very good ones for no money at all.

Tanoc• 3 years ago

I have a Pentel PS315 that's older than I am and it's basically the only pencil I've used for the last fifteen years. The 205 and 207 they still make aren't as good as any of the sliding sleeves from the 1970s or 1980s. The mechanism gets caught sometimes, it's much more difficult to get lead from a quarter push, and the eraser caps slide off easily on the new ones. So I just keep using the PS315.

gooseyard• 3 years ago

This treatise on artisanal pencil-sharpening is relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spMaP-_Cq_8

s5300• 3 years ago

Pentel Graphgear 1000 & a Pentel Hi-Polymer block eraser are goated to the max.

bookofjoe5• 3 years ago

https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Graph-Gear-0-5mm-PG1015/dp/B00...

https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Hi-Polymer-Block-Eraser-ZEH10P...

pjot• 3 years ago

The Blackwing 602 is my favorite pencil. One very nifty feature is its swappable eraser - it’s also rectangular.

https://blackwing602.com/products/blackwing-602-set-of-12

tristor• 3 years ago

For those that don't want to read too much on this blog to find answers, the simple answer is nothing beats a quality mechanical drafting pencil if you're using it for writing and not for art. The Rotring 600, the Pentel Graphgear, and the Pentel Sharp (P205) are all fantastic choices. For art pencils it's hard to beat Staedtler.

It's an interesting blog, but after spending way too much of my energy on pencils and pens over the years, I've realized there's some great Goldilocks choices out there, so hopefully I save someone reading this the rabbit hole.

chrisweekly• 3 years ago

Pentel GraphGear 1000 is phenomenal.

vinodhn• 3 years ago

+1 for the GraphGear 1000. Had one for about 8 years before I dropped it and broke the tip. Definitely my favorite pencil. Ordered a replacement off Amazon and hit the jackpot as they sent me a whole box of them rather than just a single one lol. I've now got more than enough GG1000s for my lifetime.

riversflow• 3 years ago

I get that they are kinda looked down upon, but I really like my Rotring 800 in .7mm, paired with 2B lead. The disappearing point is a must have for portability. If you have some patience they do go on sale, I didn’t pay even close to MSRP. It’s pretty much the grail of handwriting for me.

I am also a fan of the Pentel Tuffstuff stick erasers. Unlike other stick erasers they are very fine, so you can get details/letters. For bulk erasing an Artist’s Gum eraser and a Magic Rub if the Gum doesn't do a good enough job.

jmhammond• 3 years ago

If you want to take portability to the next level, check out the Pentel Sharp Kerry. They have pen-like, post-able caps!

fallinditch• 3 years ago

I'm a fan of the rotating lead feature of the Koru Toga

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Uni-Kuru-Toga-A-Comprehensive-G...

eternityforest2• 3 years ago

My problem with mechanical pencils is they never seem to do well in my pocket if I'm on the bus running around and such, and I rarely need a pencil at home.

Is there any mechanical pencil that's meant to toss around in a bag and survive? Or do people use padded cases?

wrp• 3 years ago

Pentel Kerry (https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Sharp-Kerry-Mechanical-Pencil/...)

privong• 3 years ago

Is there any mechanical pencil that's meant to toss around in a bag and survive?

I'm not sure exactly what the failure mode is that you're experiencing, but the Rotring 800[0] is retractable. I've gotten a lot of use out of my Rotring 600 but wish I had bought the 800 to be able to retract and protect the lead sleeve.

[0] https://www.rotring.com/pens-pencils/pencils/rotring-800/SAP...

eternityforest2• 3 years ago

The leads tend to break inside the pencil with random cheap stuff

iancmceachern• 3 years ago

Gotta get a pencil bag or pen sleeve

goostavos2• 3 years ago

I feel like a shill in this thread, but pencils are my jam. I've kept a Kura Toga (with fragile 3mm!) casually tossed in my gym bag for the last few years. Zero problems with it so far.

bee_rider2• 3 years ago

I use a non-padded box, it is just a little plastic thing. All that you really need to protect them from is getting dropped or pressed up against something (it is also nice to not get poked), so the box just needs to be somewhat rigid. Padding seems excessive.

borlox• 3 years ago

How can penciltalk be a blog about pencils? That really disrupted my perception of HN.

I expected penciltalk to be some framework or package management/deployment tool.

HankB99• 3 years ago

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on something related. My cousin found a mechanical pencil (in my recently deceased uncles desk) with my late father's name on it. My father's been gone for nearly 60 years so this pencil went way back. I managed to make out some writing on the cap so I took a picture of it (my method of magnifying things otherwise too small to identify) and made out the brand "Autopoint." I did a little digging along the way and discovered that Autopoint was owned by Bakelite and indeed, it looks like the barrel of the pencil is made from Bakelite. I also read that Autopoint used to make promotional items. Since my father was working as an engineer at a manufacturer that probably used Bakelite in some of their products, I speculate that this was a promotional item that Autopoint provided to engineers (and probably buyers) at the company to pump their product. (We also got tubular collapsing fiberglass fishing poles since they used fiberglass tubes for some of their products.)

Along the way I discovered that there is a Reddit devoted to mechanical pencils and they were happy to hear this story. And even happier to see that the pencil was well used.

zafiro17• 3 years ago

Interesting follow-up to your Autopoint story. I met Jonathan Veley at a pen show. He is a pencil afficionado too (a self-professed "Lead Head") and bought the remaining stock of the Panda lead factory, plus a lot of equipment. He now produces replica Autopoint mechanical pencils and sells lead. He's a really interesting guy and he's written several books about the history of manufacturing of mechanical pencils.

See https://www.legendaryleadcompany.com for his story. I bought the least expensive of his newly manufactured Autopoints (they're called Legendary now) and I really love it; it's my best pencil. I love 1.1mm leads and find narrower leads too thin for my preference.

bmj• 3 years ago

I dove pretty deeply into wood case pencils for a few years (then I got tired of carrying around a good sharpener). Musgrave [https://musgravepencil.com/collections/the-heritage-collecti...] makes some good pencils, though some folks don't like the pronounced hex shape. Mitsu-bishi and Tombow produce some very nice, affordable pencils, though they can be hard to find at times. Everyone knows about Blackwings, but they were never my cup of tea -- the pencil is longer than the average wood case, and the eraser, for as nifty as it is, isn't that great.

Though I use pencils less these days, my current favorites are the Tombow 2558 in 2B and the Musgrave Greenbelt.

gennarro• 3 years ago

Love these but they have gotten very hard to find! https://unsharpen.com/pentel-wood-pencils/

bee_rider2• 3 years ago

I’m a fan of Alvin Draftmatics.

Lots of Pentel fans… I dunno, I really like the metal grip.

Apparently this site reflects the real world well, since Alvin was, I think, not popular enough to stay in business and was bought by somebody else… they started up production again, though!

xtiansimon• 3 years ago

PaperMate LOGO was a great mechanical pencil. Large white eraser. Retracting metal nib (when not in use). Why they killed this pencil is beyond me.

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