Lead Holder Recommendations

[Kiaxa]

I've been looking at getting into lead holders and I want to find a decent starter pencil. I'm preferably looking for one with a slim drafting pencil like body. I've been looking at the Rotring 300 2.0mm because it has the hardness indicator but the reviews on it are very lukewarm. I also don't quite want to go as high in price as a Rotring 600. Some of the others I am looking at are: Staedtler Mars 780, Koh-I-Noor Technigraphic, Uni Mitsubishi Field, and Faber Castell TK4600

 

Opinions?

 

 

Also any lead and sharpener recommendations are welcome too

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

I am not a great user of pencils, rather I regard them as an evil necessity.

 

After years of fiddling about with various 'fancy' draughting pencils, I returned to the very basic rotring 300 2mm lead holder.

 

I also have a selection of 2mm coloured leads, which are fine for ad hoc stuff when I don't have an FP with the appropriate colour of ink to hand.

 

I hope to learn from pencil fanciers...

 

Bye,

S1

 

__Edit to add: The practice of erasing pencil'ed notes on any 'official' record was outlawed by our Document Controller, so I use hard leads that give a feint line which might drop-out during media conversion.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Sandy1

[ac12]

I use my 30+ year old lead holders.

I think Staedtler Mars is similar to what I used.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/411334/Staedtler-Mars-Technico-2mm-Lead-Holder/

 

You are right, when you have several/many pencils, it is nice to have the lead hardness indicator, so you know what lead is in the holder. The old cheap way was to put masking tape on the holder and use a Sharpie to write the lead hardness on the masking tape.

 

This is the sharpener that I currently use. My old portable sharpener is buried in one of MANY boxes in storage.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/411290/Staedtler-Mars-Lead-Pointer/

One of these might be fun to use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Dietzgen-Sharpoint-Lead-Pointer-Mechanical-Pencil-Sharpener-Drafting-/301747389518?hash=item46418bc44e

[Cryptos]

In my pencil case right now I have:

 

Koh-i-noor Toison D'or 5900 - 2mm lead holder

Worther Shorty - 5.6mm lead holder

Pilot S20 - 0.5mm mech pencil

 

and 3 no-wood pencils (2 Cretacolor Monolith, and 1 BohemiaWorks Progresso).

 

I find that, as with pens, no single pencil suits all work.

 

The Koh-i-noor is functional, but not fabulously comfortable. If I could get an S20 as a lead holder I would.

[Kiaxa]

I find that, as with pens, no single pencil suits all work.

Being an engineering student I know this all too well. I've just recently thought of expanding my toolkit and I want to give lead holders a try among other things (moving my pencil collection to all technical pencils is currently in the works, like replacing my Zebra M-301 0.5mm and my Graphgear 500 0.3mm with a Pilot S20 and getting a 0.7mm Rotring 600/Rapid Pro)

Edited September 23, 2015 by Kiaxa

[termite]

The Caran d'Ache Fix pencils look like they may fit the bill.

[MadAmos]

Right now I am a fan the Rotring Rapid Pro but it depends on if you prefer a knock type vs a drop type, I have both and there are advantages to both.

[Algester]

lead sharpeners if for 2mm I use rotring if not staedtler

if there are other fancy lead sharpeners you fancy be my guess

http://www.staedtler.com/en/products/pencils-accessories/sharpeners/mars-502-lead-sharpener-tub/

this one I use

 

if you need something thicker I don't know I havent used a lead holder thicker than a 2mm in short even the Lamy Scribble I havent touched

you can probably get the staedtler 925 20 its more of a mechanical pencil than it is a lead holder

http://www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-lead-holders/pt/740

maybe their sampling can help but ultimately its going to be your decision

but I personally used Rotring 300 2mm and a staedtler 502 sharpener

[Kiaxa]

I think I will get one of each eventually but I think to start off I will get the Rotring 300 then go on from there. (Probably get the Staedtler next then the Koh-I-Noor, the Uni, and finally the Faber Castell)

 

And for the lead pointer I'll get the recommended Staedtler and maybe that Uni pocket one for on the go.

 

And now I ask about leads, who makes a good lead (primarily in the 2B to 4H range)

[aeba]

The Faber-Castell TK 4600 is cheapish, plastic and boring but it just works. It also has integrated sharpener in the metal cap.

 

(I do have have a Dux Gedess sharpener, but as it is old-ish one and I only write with 2mm lead I have not used it.)

[tinta]

 

My Father used to be a draftsman/checker at a structural steel co.

He has left me two well used but fully functional A. W. Faber Castell 9500 clutch pencils, that look like the ones I used in school during the early 50s in Hungary.

These two pencils use a "regular/normal" lead diameter of my school days (no clue about the size).

There is also a narrower "KOH-I-NOOR" Versatil 5241 "Czhechoslovakia", clutch pencil that takes a smaller (unknown) diameter of lead.

 

My Dad used to have a sharpener similar to one shown below on the Ebay.

 

Would either style of pointer work to sharpen my regular thickness leads? If Staples?Office Depot has it, then I should be able to get the blue Staedtler unit in Canada.

 

Now I use a little paddle shaped holder for sheets of tear-off sandpaper to point my leads.

Would there be a device that is pocketable,... something clean & portable. I used to have a little plastic bodied sharpener from Germany that would sharpen two diameters of lead,... but alas it's lost in a sea of clutter

.

My Dad also left me a box of nice TURAN HB lead that was manufactured in Hungary before WWII.

 

*******************************

 

This is the sharpener that I currently use. My old portable sharpener is buried in one of MANY boxes in storage.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/411290/Staedtler-Mars-Lead-Pointer/

One of these might be fun to use:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Dietzgen-Sharpoint-Lead-Pointer-Mechanical-Pencil-Sharpener-Drafting-/301747389518?hash=item46418bc44e

Edited September 23, 2015 by tinta

[ac12]

I used to use in college a small sharpener that would easily fit into my briefcase. I think it was about 3/4 inch in diameter and about 4 or 5 inches long. It is the one that is lost in one of my many storage boxes.

 

The Staedtler rotary one is pretty compact and light, at least compared to the old metal ones. But I would still love to find my old sharpener.

 

And yes I used the Staedtler sharpener to sharpen regular 2mm lead in lead holders.

I think I got it at Office Depot.

[Algester]

I think I will get one of each eventually but I think to start off I will get the Rotring 300 then go on from there. (Probably get the Staedtler next then the Koh-I-Noor, the Uni, and finally the Faber Castell)

 

And for the lead pointer I'll get the recommended Staedtler and maybe that Uni pocket one for on the go.

 

And now I ask about leads, who makes a good lead (primarily in the 2B to 4H range)

there are only a few 2mm lead manufacturers but for this I think I would recommend uniball since they cover the 10H-10B leads on their pencils

and is the only manufacturer that covers your lead grade needs of 4H-4B

Edited September 24, 2015 by Algester

[Kiaxa]

Well I ended up ordering a Rotring 300 and a Staedtler rotary lead pointer. Will probably pick up some more leads when I next visit the craft store or my college's bookstore

Edited September 24, 2015 by Kiaxa

[aeba]

there are only a few 2mm lead manufacturers but for this I think I would recommend uniball since they cover the 10H-10B leads on their pencils

and is the only manufacturer that covers your lead grade needs of 4H-4B

Hmm. Well, Faber Castell doesn't have 4B in 2mm lead, only on 3,15mm. Same should apply to Caran d'Ache, but I can't find 2mm leads from their site at all at this moment. Cult Pens list 3B - 4H fron CdA, but maybe they have old stock or something.

 

Or maybe Koh-I-Noor with range of 8B - 10H.

 

Somewhat strange how (relatively) limited selection Staedtler has.

[Algester]

Staedtler like rotring has fashioned their brand for technical people while uniball goes for the extra mile stretch to get a large market hence some very artistic products judging from their colorful signo pens to 22 lead grade for pencils... Honestly though I dont see the point of a 10H lead...

Or maybe thats just a meme at work where they think up of everything that you may never need but could want

Though I havent tested about Koh-I-Noor's leads due to their absence in my country's local market

Edited September 24, 2015 by Algester

[starlegohunter]

I use my father's Eagle Turquoise 3376 from his highschool drafting class and I use a Tru-Point lead pointer that my highschool architecture teacher gave to me. Both of them are great and always work how I need them to.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/Njg2WDgwMA==/$(KGrHqV,!isFBsu)S,bHBQiPfeb,j!~~60_57.JPGhttp://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODEwWDE0NDA=/z/PusAAOSwHjNWAcn~/$_57.JPG

[Kiaxa]

Well the Rotring 300 came today I really like it. Broke most of the lead trying to figure out how the thing worked (discovered the 300 has a pointer in the cap) so I found 12 Staedtler F leads on eBay for $7.50 so I have those on the way.