A random question about US pencil use

[bluejay]

I still don't get the difference in a high priced pencil and a cheap one. I used mechanical for everyday use and had 4 pencils on the test day. I grew up with wooden pencils but don't see how anyone can pay top dollar for the "perfect pencil" by Faber castel. ITS A PENCIL. I guess people can say that with my ink. The graphite on the paper will last longer than ink on paper right? At least from the way I look at it. Maybe I should go back to pencils lol.

[anaximander]

I LOVE pencils! (Maybe not as much as pens, but still...) And mechanical pencils just don't do it for me. I really like the feel and smell of wood and the interesting possibilities that the relatively large amount of exposed graphite gives you.

[jleeper]

I just have a random question about something that has been a mystery to me for a while: in every American movie, especially in scenes set in high schools or colleges I always see Americans using just regular pencils that require sharpening and never mechanical pencils. Why is that? Is the use of mechanical pencils really that scarce in the US?

Probably just because wooden pencils are cheaper and easier for the movie props people to buy, especially when they have to a classroom of extras.

[keithslater]

Well.....I have 5 children. Its a whole lot cheaper to purchase a bunch of wood cased pencils, than to purchase them all nice mechanical pencils. Especially when you know they will lose or break them before ever having to change a lead.

A couple of mine have started to move into mechanical pencils, but they still have back up wood cased ones also.

[WyattS]

As a student, I see high schoolers first hand every day, and I have to say that for some students, it really doesn't matter what they use as long as the words/numbers appear on the page in it's wake. I would say wooden pencils are more common than mechanical in my school. Many students find there pencils on the ground and will in all likeliness leave them there when the go to their next class. This is a horrible generalization, but this seems to be more common in lower level classes, as my higher level classmates tend to keep better track of their instruments and have preferences.

[MichaelD]

I just finished a Masters of Accountancy program and virtually everyone used mechanical pencils. We never had a problem when using mechanical pencils with Scantrons. However, because I use the .5mm mechanical pencil on exam days I would tend to break the lead because of the added stress involved.

[wordherder62]

As posted above, I think it's really an issue of economics. Wooden pencils have for a long time been the biggest selling writing instrument most anywhere. You can buy them in dozens pretty cheap and at the first of the school year in the U.S. you'll see many places almost giving them away to get customers into their stores to buy the rest of the necessary school supplies.

 

And, as noted above, losing one is no big deal.

 

As fountain pen collectors I think we often forget that even in the so-called Golden Age of fountain pens from the 1920s through the 1940s that the writing instrument of choice for much of America remained the wooden pencil. And, for many, dip pens remained in use much longer than we think about sometimes. Again, those steel nibs were cheap and many folks grew up using them. There are some premium wooden pencils out there now--Graf von Faber Castell makes some great ones. Some Japanese manufacturers make nice wooden pencils and I've seen Rhodia ones in colors to match the Rhodia pads that are so popular in a cult sort of way now.

 

For a cool mechanical pencil, I like the newer Japanese models that rotate the lead every time you pick the pencil up and put it back on the paper. A very neat idea and take off on the Parker Jotter mechanism for ballpoints.

 

Richard Jarvis

[dsatco]

Here's the real deal: Movies are produced with union workers. There's no way they are going to let a plastic pencil made overseas on a movie set. It will be an American Classic Yellow Wood Pencil #2. Hands down.

Edited January 29, 2010 by dsatco

[wheezur]

I use mechanical pencils a lot - Pentel P205's mostly. These, and similar pencils (Pilot, and others) are very popular with engineers and scientists (and engineering and science students). Of my students (engineers) I would venture to guess that less than 5% use conventional wood pencils, at least on exams and in the lab. I rarely see wooden pencils. Lately, I have been using custom P205's - a tropical hardwood body fabricated to replace the plastic barrel of the P205 but using the innards of the P205. All the function of a P205 with a nicer look and feel.

[ladyambrosia]

I don't use pencils at all anymore. But when I did I always prefered wood ones. I had mechanicals and tried them but I never liked them as much. I much prefer a nice good wood one.

[Sidney]

Wood pencils are what people think of when they picture a pencil. It could also be that the thicker line of a wood pencil shows up on camera better.

[Tweel]

The suggestions that wooden pencils are chosen for appearance sound right to me. Inexpensive mechanical pencils are widely available and widely used in the U.S.

 

-- Brian

[sirksael]

I find that the movie industry determines the way America and Americans are seen in the rest of the world to a large extent, however that image is seldom accurate...

[WyattS]

As US high school student, I see your subject matter writing about everyday. I would say that there is a very large portion of the school body that will use almost anything they can get there hands on. This is horribly biased statement, but I find that in some lower level classes the students will use basically anything that leaves a mark in its wake. They will find their pencils on the ground in the halls and often they will return to that place after 1 class period. In some of my higher level classes my classmates will have actual preferences and not lose their pens/pencils. But yes, I would say wooden pencils are the most common writing implement.

[Manege Master]

I am not sure what is used in most schools here as my children are grown, but I use mechanical pencils extensively, both .5mm and .7mm's. I love them and have quite a few, including a couple of Montblancs and a Pelikan. I probably use them as often, if not more, than my pens. Shopping in office supply stores, where most people purchase less expensive pens/pencils, one sees far more mechanical pencils than wooden offered for sale. My interests include calligraphy and drawing and I appreciate the ease of use and constant-width of the mechanical pencil leads. I use 2B leads which are difficult to find for .5mm- they can be found in art supply stores usually.

 

Could what you've seen be period films? Mechanical pencils would be out of place in a film placed in earlier times. Wood pencils are also cheaper which could be a factor as well.

[Kimo]

Americans prefer to use wooden pencils over mechanical pencils in about the same proportion and for the same reasons that we prefer to use cheap ballpoint or felt tip pens over fountain pens. Mechanical pencils are considered by almost all Americans as normal only for drafting and engineering users. When school children are taught to write their first writing implement is a wooden pencil and it just carries through to everyday life. In American made movies and television when you see people using wooden pencils the reason is that is what 99% of Americans use when we use a pencil. I think it is a stretch to think wooden pencils are shown for theatrical purposes. If that were the case you would see people using old style rotary dial phones instead of cell phones in modern made American movies. Wooden pencils are ultra-inexpensive and ubiquitous.

 

You might get a much larger percentage of people on this forum who will say they own or prefer mechanical pencils over wooden pencils, but then keep in mind you are on a forum whose members are self selected users of fountain pens so it would not be a very scientific survey.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Kimo

[Sandy1]

Hi -- With all due respect to 'dsatco', here's the real deal :

Wooden pencils are preferred by students as they need to be sharpened. Consequently, they can be afoot (out of their seat) wandering about the class room, with the excuse/reason of needing to sharpen their pencil, or recycle the shavings, or ...

-- Bye, S1

[Violet]

I'm in Canada, but I see others using mechanical pencils sometimes. I prefer the regular sharpening-required pencils. Don't like those spindly leads

 

Maybe you'd like a nice, vintage mechanical pencil? The old Parker pencils I have take big, fat 0.9mm leads. And the leads are readily available at art supply stores.

[2Hearts]

I'm in Canada, but I see others using mechanical pencils sometimes. I prefer the regular sharpening-required pencils. Don't like those spindly leads

 

Maybe you'd like a nice, vintage mechanical pencil? The old Parker pencils I have take big, fat 0.9mm leads. And the leads are readily available at art supply stores.

 

Hmm, that's an idea. Thanks. I'll take a look around, maybe eBay will have one. Antique stores near me are rubbish for writing instruments. 0.9mm is a good size, definitely will look into it.

[RLTodd]

Wood cased graphite pencils are just great to write with.

 

Self contained, no fuss, no muss, write upside down, in the rain, correctable, light in the hand or pocket, and on and on....

 

The actual position for discussion is why anyone is using anything else! In comparison with the wood cased graphite pencil, anything else is at a debating disadvantage..........

 

Comming up on the two hundredth anniversary of their manufacture in the States.