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Pentel Sharp Pencil question from a novice


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I have been enoying fountain pens and pens of all types for some time, and have loved the support and communication this community brings. I am new to the world of mechanical pencils, having long assumed a pencil is a pencil, like most ignorant people...but I want to learn!

 

So I happened upon the Pentel Sharp .9mm that a fellow musician gave to me and told me it was the best pencil he's ever used. I also see from this site and others that there are many who agree and use some form of the Sharp series. I like the .9mm for all my music notation.

 

So the question from this newbie is, what makes this pencil that I'm holding "the #1 selling drafting pencil in the world" as Pentel claims, and what do those of you who use this pencil love about it? Is there a better thick leaded pencil I should consider?

 

I want to learn about pencils, and I want to appreciate the Sharp I have (and maybe start findinf some other types)...so can you help me understand what makes a good pencil?

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Pentel makes great pencils. I have a Sharp pencil for my drafting hobby. I find it easy to grip and the long sleeve for the lead is great for working around rulers. Lamy mechanical pencils seem to have a good reputation. I have a Lamy 2000 MP with 0.5 lead and my mom has a Lamy Scribble with the jumbo 3.15 lead. Both are great writers that are comfortable to hold for long periods. Retro 51 also makes mechanical pencils with 0.9 lead that are very nice.

"Instant gratification takes too long."-Carrie Fisher

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Try Dave's mechanical pencil web page, it is a blog about... you guessed it, mechanical pencils.

 

http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/

 

As far as what makes the Pentel Sharp so good... pencils are differentiated by their mechanism (how they advance the lead, how they hold it, etc.)... Pentel has their tech DOWN... the leads advance the right amount so that you can write without snapping off the lead instantly, and their clutch/holding tech is good, so the lead stays put in the pencil. Try another cheap pencil, and the lead wobbles, or the tip wobbles, etc. That isn't to say that Staedlers and Papermate's are trash, they aren't, but the cheap Bic ones that are all plastic just aren't as nice.

 

So, other than the mechanism, there is also the ergonomics of the pencil itself. Pentel has made the Sharp for decades. It is the mechanical pencil my father used to draft with thirty years ago, probably because it was what was in his company's office supply drawer. They may have been there because they were cheaper than the competition (the very nice Koh-I-Noor pencils, or other pencils with knurled metal holder sections, etc.), and were commonly available in office supply stores, not specialty drafting supply warehouses.

 

According to a post on penturners.org (about modifying a mechanical pencil with a custom body), the Sharp is regarded among the pen-turning crowd as "the pencil that is the gold standard for quality at its price point"... or, Pentel has made a product that performs at a level higher than its cost would indicate, and it is sturdy enough to be used inside other people's artistic endeavors.

 

I think Pentel may have just been in the right part of the market, with a great quality product when things started changing from the older lead-holder technology to the mechanical lead advance technology, not that the lead holders didn't have a specific function to fill, but that the new, 0.5mm lead pencils did things that the lead holders couldn't (like working with stencils, etc.)

 

I'm no expert on pencil history, but I am a fan of Pentel, and did some reading at Dave's website, and around the web. :)

 

-George

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Try Dave's mechanical pencil web page, it is a blog about... you guessed it, mechanical pencils.

 

http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/

 

As far as what makes the Pentel Sharp so good... pencils are differentiated by their mechanism (how they advance the lead, how they hold it, etc.)... Pentel has their tech DOWN... the leads advance the right amount so that you can write without snapping off the lead instantly, and their clutch/holding tech is good, so the lead stays put in the pencil. Try another cheap pencil, and the lead wobbles, or the tip wobbles, etc. That isn't to say that Staedlers and Papermate's are trash, they aren't, but the cheap Bic ones that are all plastic just aren't as nice.

 

So, other than the mechanism, there is also the ergonomics of the pencil itself. Pentel has made the Sharp for decades. It is the mechanical pencil my father used to draft with thirty years ago, probably because it was what was in his company's office supply drawer. They may have been there because they were cheaper than the competition (the very nice Koh-I-Noor pencils, or other pencils with knurled metal holder sections, etc.), and were commonly available in office supply stores, not specialty drafting supply warehouses.

 

According to a post on penturners.org (about modifying a mechanical pencil with a custom body), the Sharp is regarded among the pen-turning crowd as "the pencil that is the gold standard for quality at its price point"... or, Pentel has made a product that performs at a level higher than its cost would indicate, and it is sturdy enough to be used inside other people's artistic endeavors.

 

I think Pentel may have just been in the right part of the market, with a great quality product when things started changing from the older lead-holder technology to the mechanical lead advance technology, not that the lead holders didn't have a specific function to fill, but that the new, 0.5mm lead pencils did things that the lead holders couldn't (like working with stencils, etc.)

 

I'm no expert on pencil history, but I am a fan of Pentel, and did some reading at Dave's website, and around the web. :)

 

-George

 

 

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of that-it is very helpful. I had no idea of the technology that went into pencils. I see what you mean about how the lead only advances a small bit at a time, less than the Bic I found in a drawer.

 

Thank you so much.

 

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