Drafting Pencils

[HenryLouis]

Well recently I have been into pencils, they're just alot more simple and efficient for doing work. Of course, I wouldn't be going back to cheapBic pencils. I like to do a bit of technical drawing, like making a

. These allhave fixed 0.4mm lead sleeves which make them suitable for technical work, butnon pocketable. I've tried a lot andhere are the ones I like:

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1384.jpg

 

 

Rotring 500, 0.3 mm:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1373.jpg

I rarely have seen this one reviewed. I wanted to get a rotring 600 but wasafraid of the weight the pencil itself, and lead breakage at the 0.3mm level.If I ever do get one, it'll be 0.5 I think. Anyways onto the pencil itself. It'squite good looking, the main difference between this and the 600 is that it'shalf the price at jetpens. I don't really mind the plastic barrel, becauseeverything feels solid anyway. The barrel says it's 0.35mm but it takes regular0.3mm lead refills (the company says that 0.3 lead measures closer to 0.35). <br style="mso-special-character:line-break"><br style="mso-special-character:line-break">

 

Likes:

 

-Uncommon

 

-Simple, efficient design

 

-Nice black colour

 

-Grip is VERY comfortable

 

-Excellent Balance

 

-Plastic does not feel cheap

 

-Hexagonal grip reduces rolling on uneven surfaces.

 

-Lead grade indicator

 

 

 

Dislikes:

-no lead cleaning rod.

 

Price: $15+

 

 

 

 

 

Pentel Graph 1000, 0.3

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1371.jpg

This one is one of my favourites. I've had it for a whileand it's been great. Everything about this pen speaks of quality. Although thegrip was a bit unorthodox, I quickly became used to it. It's pretty long. Ithink the insides are made of brass entirely, but i haven't fully taken itapart. It feels really, really solid when clicking. A lead cleaning rod isincluded. No rattles when writing. The grip is part metal, part rubber. I'vewarmed up to it. The barrel is interesting. While it feels plastic, when I pickit up in the morning it seems to feel cold, as if I was touching metal or something.Perhaps this is it's metal construction on the inside? I'm not cutting it opento find out... but it's great.

 

 

 

Likes:

 

-Solid clicking mechanism

 

-interesting grip

 

-lead grade indicator

 

-solid construction

 

-Light, but not cheap.

 

 

 

Dislikes

 

-Perhaps some more rubber inserts on the grip would makeit more comfortable

 

Price: $12

 

 

 

Uni 552, 0.3

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1370.jpg

Looked interesting, so I bought it. It's pretty uncommon to see a pencil with ametal grip at under 10 dollars. The grip is removable for some reason. I neverlike the colour finishing of 0.3mm pencils. They always seem to be yellow orbrown! I don't understand why they don't give them a nicer colour

 

 

 

Likes:

-Simple lead indicator

 

-solid click

 

-Feels a bit wider than the other pencils

 

-Well balanced

 

-Blue eraser!!

 

 

 

 

Dislikes-

-grip is cold, and while comfortable it is a bit slippery as well

 

-They could have done a better job with the plastic, itdoesn't compare well to the rotring or the graph 1000

 

 

 

$7.50 at jetpens

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zebra Drafix, 0.3:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1369.jpg

Cheapest drafting pencil I have. It's served me verywell, though and is an excellent value.

 

 

Likes:

 

-Plastic grip is unique and has not seemed to wear

 

-unique metal front is functional.

 

 

 

Dislikes:

 

The plastic on the cap is not that great and has shownsome wear.

 

 

 

Price: $2.5-$3

 

 

 

Staedtler 925-25 (0.3)

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1372.jpg

 

An interesting all metal pencil. It's heavy, but not asmuch as the rotring 600 I think. The grip is very fine, but not extremelycomfortable. It rattles, and does not feel very well balanced. It looks greatand technical, but the grip irritates my hands and i find myself not using itvery much. It's weight sometimes makes me break precious 0.3mm lead.

 

 

 

Likes:

 

-Nice looks

 

-All metal

 

 

 

Dislikes:

 

-pencil is heavy

 

-rattling

 

-lead breakage

 

Price: $15+

 

 

 

So this stuff is almost impossible to find at office stores... So i tend to go on the internet to find some good retailers. I've dealt with two, jetpens and stationeryart. They're both extremely good, jetpens having the edge with their excellent shipping time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u18/Henrylouis16/IMG_1368.jpg

 

Edited April 9, 2011 by HenryLouis

[HenryLouis]

ugh. why does pasting text in the box squish words together?

[carlosjaviercontreras]

Hi Henry,

 

I particularly like the Rotring 500 and the Pentel Graph 1000. I´m more of a .5 guy myself, and find .35 too break-prone and .7 too wide. If you want that 4 mm fixed sleeve along with a pocketable mech pencil, please consider a Pilot Vanishing Point H1005. There´s a review at here.

 

Regards,

 

Carlos Javier.

[stuartk]

I have tried a lot of pencils for drafting and drawing, and I keep going back to my first 0.5mm pencil - the Pentel P205.

 

I have them in several colors, plus 0.7 and 0.9mm versions, and some sliding sleeve ones too.

 

They're not too heavy, feel good in my hand, and they're very controllable.

 

Recently I did pick up a couple of Platinum Pro-Use pencils from Jetpens and they're very nice too. Their center-of-gravity is right at the finger grip, so your hand moves the pencil, rather than the other way around.

Edited April 18, 2011 by stuartk

[lovemy51]

of these reviewed i only have the rotring 500 and it's one of my favs.

 

they all look good, henry... thx for the reviews!

[a m a r g o]

I´m love with the Staedtler 925 Series, though I have to agree that isn´t as tough as the Rotring 600 Series... the perfect drafting pencil for me.

[adallak]

HenryLouis,

 

0.3 leads the Staedtler comes with are very fragile. I have replaced them with Pentel ones and that reduced the breakage noticeably.

[LWW]

Thanks for the written-sample review!

 

Noodler's Red is my next-favorite red after Sheaffer Skrip Red (Slovenia), in both color and performance.

 

In the Hero 100 pen I used to have, N's Red started up better than Skrip Red after the pen stood upright and capped overnight. N's Red behaves almost as well as Skrip Red on the bad paper I have to use at work.

 

Although it isn't a drafting penil er se, I have a Parker 95 mechanical pencil which Inuse for lead work.

[pencils+pens]

If you want a drafting pencil that is pocket safe and is available in multiple sizes, then take a look at the Uni Shift. It comes in 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9. JetPens, among others, have them.

 

When I had to hand code computer programs on coding forms and hand draw flowcharts and HIPO diagrams, my favorite mechanical pencil was the Pentel PG5. My eyes aren't what they used to be so I have 'upgraded to the PG7. Most of my daily use pencils are 0.7, with the 0.5 and smaller in semi-retirement. I have a few 0.9s and larger but I prefer the 0.7. I was able to complete my Pentel PG series pencils. The series is: PG2, PMG3, PG5 and PG7.These are not pocket safe.

 

Stuark mentioned the Pentel P205. That was my backup to the PG5. It was probably the most popular mechanical pencil in its day. Stuartk also mentioned the P207 and P209. There is also a P203 that comes up on eBay from time to time. There is also a P204 but I think that was only sold in Japan. The Pentel P200 series is not pocket safe.

[Sasha Royale]

These people are weird. Nobody needs more than one mechanical pencil. :roflmho:

[Drone]

I agree the Zebra Drafix is an excellent pencil for the money. They are my go to pencils for casual carry.

 

The Pentel P205 is a classic. I'm surprised it wasn't in your review.

 

Another surprising omission is the Uni Kuru Toga pencil.

 

The Kuru Toga pencils have a mechanism that auto-rotates the pencil lead as you write. It is very effective IMO, especially with thin lead and softer lead.

 

There are several versions of the Uni Kuru Toga pencil. I would steer clear of the standard version Kuru Toga (about U.S. $7.50) simply because the two higher-grade versions are so much better in terms of build quality.

 

The two Kuru Toga pencils I would consider are the "Kuru Toga High-Grade" and the "Kuru Toga Roulette"(U.S. $16.50 ea.); both are excellent in terms of construction with a metal grip section and plastic barrel.

 

The difference between the High-Grade and the Roulette versions is essentially the grip. The High-Grade has a rather smooth ribbed grip (this one is my favorite). The Roulette has what looks like a machine-turned knurled grip. Which you prefer all depends on how you like your grips.

 

Jetpens.com (no affiliation) carries all three versions of the Kuru Toga pencils. You might want to check out the user reviews on the Jetpens site as well.

[P.A.R.]

I personally don't like thin pens and pencils much, but those do look like nice pencils.

 

One of my personal favorites that I bought after reading reviews here is the Pentel Kerry - it has a metal lead sleeve like many drafting pencils which is covered by the distinctive cap. When posted, the eraser cap syncs with the lead advance button on the main body so that you can advance the lead from the outside. I like the weight of the Kerry and it feels nicely balanced when posted. Not bad looking either.

[danahn17]

Thanks for the review! I've been getting into drafting pencils so it was a fun read It also reminded me to post a review of the Pilot S20 I recently bought

[MaikeruS]

These people are weird. Nobody needs more than one mechanical pencil. :roflmho:

 

One could easily say the same thing about fountain pens

[NJP]

All quality pencils. The Pilot s20 was mentioned above. Another great pencil.

 

For those who need pocket safety, have a look at the Pentel Kerry mechanical pencil. It is capped and easily transported. It is somewhat revered in the pencil world. It is probably my all time favourite pencil.

Edited May 28, 2012 by NJP

[Spector]

Just in general, what are the main practical difference between .3mm and .5mm lead? does the .3mm break a lot more easily than the .5mm?

[MaikeruS]

The thing about the Kuru Toga and the Sharp Kerry is that, from memory, they have 2mm lead sleeves whereas the standard drafting pencil has a 4mm sleeve to allow it to clear a ruler.

 

.3mm lead basically allows you to draw a finer line at the cost of possibly higher rates of lead breakage and harder to find lead. If you write, draw or rule with a light hand you shouldn't really break even .3mm lead often at all.

[adallak]

Just in general, what are the main practical difference between .3mm and .5mm lead? does the .3mm break a lot more easily than the .5mm?

0.3 breaks a lot. Actually, it is rather 0.35 mm. My digital caliper shows 0.39 mm for Pentel 03 mm HB leads.

If you rotate your 0.5mm pencil constantly while drafting or writing, you will get almost as thin line as you would get with a 0.3mm without rotation. Take into account that 0.5mm will last almost two times longer simply because there is more volume in it.

[Drone]

The thing about the Kuru Toga and the Sharp Kerry is that, from memory, they have 2mm lead sleeves whereas the standard drafting pencil has a 4mm sleeve to allow it to clear a ruler.

 

The lead sleeve on my 0.5mm black and silver Kuru Toga High Grade measures just a tiny bit under 3mm; it clears any ruler or edge I have ever used with it. I can't speak for the length of the sleeves on other versions of the Kuru Toga, I only have the High Grade with me at the moment.

 

It should be noted that, like a drafting pencil, the sleeve on the Kuru Toga High Grade does not retract. So the Kuru Toga is vulnerable to tip-down drop damage and is a little difficult to carry in a shirt pocket without a pocket protector.

 

The Kuru Toga automatically rotates the lead when you write. This gives a consistent line width and darkness without having to constantly manually rotate while writing. The 0.5mm Kuru Toga's line width is finer than that of a standard 0.5mm pencil that is not rotated.

[Alyssa_Eloise]

I've purchased all of those pencils before. I loved the Staedtler, the Pentel, and the Rotring. The rest were rather cheap and not my cup of tea.