Lead size preferences of the masses changing?

[flatline]

I just noticed that 2 of the 3 top selling mechanical pencils on Amazon were the 0.3mm versions of the GraphGear 1000 and Graphgear 500. Is this a fluke or could it actually be possible that the general public is moving away from 0.7mm?

 

0.7mm still seems to be the majority of pencils that I see on store shelves, but I have recently noticed that it's easier to find other sizes like 0.5, 0.9, and even 1.3.

 

What do you think? Is this a real trend?

 

--flatline

[ParramattaPaul]

My favourite is still 0.7mm for general use. I only used the others, 0.3, 0.5, etc., for engineering drawings in pre-CADD days late last century.

 

[ISW_Kaputnik]

No way of knowing, at least, not without better data than that. 😊

 

I mostly use mechanical pencils for writing (when I'm not using a fountain pen) and often use 0.9 mm or even approximately 1.1 mm for that, like my old 0.46 inch lead Scriptos.  I do like my 0.7 mm Pentel Kerry, and if they ever make a 0.9 mm version I'll buy it.

 

I have used 0.3 and even 0.2 mm for drawing, but more often use wood pencils there.

 

But then, I'm not a trendy person, so perhaps the trend is the opposite of what I'm doing.  Which would mean that posting on this forum on Christmas night is not trendy.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

[Estycollector]

People's tastes in pencils appear to be as varied as fountain pens and what one person thinks does not necessarily correspond to what another experiences. 

 

I use vintage Autopoint pencils and Mitsubishi lead pencils. The mechanical ones take either .9mm or 1.1mm. 

 

FOr me, the quality of the lead means more than the size. 

[Olya]

I sometimes lurk on the reddit sub for mechanical pencils and miniscule lead sizes (mostly 0.3) are extremely popular.

 

I'd also say that the most common lead size is 0.5, the vast majority of mechanical pencils, from dirt cheap no-name products to popular brands incl. add-ons like "multi pen" sleeves, come in 0.5 and lead grades are most varied for 0.5 as well.

Even some more expensive models come only in 0.5 (Waterman + Montblanc; Pelikan has a default of 0.7, which is my fave lead size).

 

I am baffled by the 0.3 popularity, I found 0.5 to break somewhat often in school (I'd press too hard, entirely my fault) and find the line too fine when I use a 0.5 uni Kuru Toga, which gives an approx. equivalent of a 0.3 lead.

(Which leads me to a question I've had for a long while, why isn't the Kuru Toga made in 0.7 and 0.9 as standard line-up? It's a great mechanism and would make more sense for larger lead sizes than smaller. 0.7 offers very few models and 0.9 doesn't exist, 0.5 is most popular along with 0.3!!)

 

0.7 is easy on the eyes, never breaks. It's become my favourite lead size. I tried 0.9, found it too broad, though I tried it only briefly, but the lack of models using 0.9 has me not pursuing that lead size, even though I'd like to. Well, maybe one day I will actually scratch that itch!

 

Anyway, I'd say your observation is correct, there's great popularity for small (i.e. anything smaller than 0.5) lead sizes, it is definitely a current trend. Some are even on the hunt for 0.1 and a few mechanical pencils actually exist, offering that size.

[gyasko]

It’s time to go reverse the tide & get bigger, stronger& more legible leads.  My preferred size for writing is the old 1.1mm.  0.9mm is ok too and there are some great pencils in that size, but i have a harder time finding softer leads in 0.9mm.

[Jordan N]

My first mechanical pencils were 2mm lead holders, used for technical drawings. Later, I switched to 0.5mm. That is something I'm using for decades. I tried 0.7 but had a feeling like using a wooden pencil that isn't sharp enough. However, my kids use 0.7 at school and have problems with 0.5. They press hard so it breaks easy. Not sure what would be the reason for me to use a 0.3mm pencil for writing. 

[Inksomnia]

I use 0.3 when drawing, it is really handy for that. But reason why they are so popular in amazon, might be that you can't find them locally anywhere, so people have to order online. 0.5 and 0.7 are so common, that there are multiple in every house hold and one rarely goes after one in online. Except me, because I wanted to have Pilot shaker-X, since it is nice and thick.

 

Also I often see in bullet journal videos people using those tiny sizes, and those are growing popularity right now. And not to mention that art community is big thing in youtube, it is enough that one big channel recomends the pencil and masses go and follow. I have seen this trend before on other things.

[flatline]

I totally understand how your preferences can change depending on your circumstances. Over time, my preferences have ranged across the entire spectrum of lead sizes.

 

I started using mechanical pencils in middle school. I just used the pencils I found on the ground and they were all 0.7mm. I didn't discover 0.5mm until high school and I switched immediately because I had already recognized that 0.7mm made me write a little larger than I liked.

 

Then in college, I had lots of homework with big, detailed equations and even 0.5mm felt too big, so I bought a 0.3mm from the book store and used that pencil almost exclusively for the next 5 years. Once I finished college, I no longer had lots of math homework, but I was accustomed to 0.3mm and kept using it as my default lead size for at least the next 10 years.

 

Then I discovered 2mm lead holders and started playing with different point shapes and lead grades. 2mm is still my most often used lead size for writing, but when I want the convenience of not having to sharpen the lead, I will usually grab a 0.5mm or a 0.9mm depending on my need. 0.5mm is small enough that I don't have to worry about writing bigger to be legible (and it doesn't snag on the paper like 0.3 and 0.4 sometimes do). 0.9mm rounds like a 2mm lead and so can provide some line variation if I rotate the lead or increase the pressure. There are times that I find this satisfying.

 

0.7 is an unsatisfying compromise between 0.5 and 0.9 to me. Too thin to give variation like the 0.9 and too thick to allow legible writing without adjustment like the 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5. I'm getting old enough that I might need readers soon, so if I start writing larger to accommodate my aging vision, 0.7 will probably be just fine if I don't just go to 0.9 as my default.

 

--flatline

 

[rdh]

As a pencil geek, I use different sizes for different things.  My favorite is the Faber Castell e-Motion, which takes a wide lead.  This pencil lives on my workbench and is awesome because the lead never breaks, it has a wide barrel to grip and has the clever rotating advance mechanism.  This is similar to Autopoints, which have been around forever. 

 

I also have used extremely fine leads for scientific/technical drawing.  I dislike the .3 mm pencils because of the constant breakage.  I use hard 2 mm leads in a lead holder and a pencil pointer to get lines as fine as I need in the drawing.

 

Although I use to take notes with pencils all the time, I now use fountain pens almost exclusively for this.  I still have a .5 mm pencil close for use.  The one I like is the Lamy Scribble, because of its wider-than-usual barrel.  

 

The one that got me started was the Rotring 600.  Still love it, but don't use it much anymore.

 

Dave

[peroride]

On 12/25/2020 at 11:57 AM, flatline said:

could it actually be possible that the general public is moving away from 0.7mm?

I'm a 0.5 mmer but i did notice a how thin can you go war with pencils in Japan. I still picked up only 0.5 though. Perhaps the market is saturated with the standards and thin is in by virtue of coolness of the mechanism to handle the new thin lead formulations and rise in smaller page planners like hobonichi techo where writing real estate is at a premium. 

[Karmachanic]

0.5 Pentel P205 since 1976

[milkb0at]

I would make sense that new-ish tech like Pentel Orenz / Orenznero and Zebra Delguard, which make thinner leads easier to use, would generate more sales in <0.5 mm sizes. Whether that translates to a significant shift, though, I've no idea.

 

On the mechanical pencils subreddit, the likes of Orenznero make regular appearances, but that's an enthusiast market vs standard stationery stores selling to the school market.

 

Personally, I grew up with 0.5 mm, so that's my default, but I'm very happy using other sizes. I find 0.3 mm and 0.2 mm are really only useful for technical drawing, which I do very little of, so 0.5 mm and above get much more use.

[JosephKing]

More Chinese people with disposable income?

[RJS]

I never understood why anyone would want a mechanical pencil over 0.5mm for writing, unless they had big handwriting or were very heavy handed. Office stationary cupboards have only ever seemed to contain 0.5mm too.
 

I generally would take notes with 0.3mm out of preference, though I have a few 0.5's and a 0.4, which is ideal. Using 2B Pilot/Rotring/Uni lead I don't tend to suffer any breakages. Other brands have been more temperamental.

 

My favourite mechanical pencil is a wooden one made by Pilot, that I picked up in a shop in Japan about a decade ago. Slim, with a 0.3mm lead.

[Estycollector]

I personally care more about lead darkness and ease of use aka less pressure needed.

[Olya]

1 hour ago, RJS said:

I never understood why anyone would want a mechanical pencil over 0.5mm for writing, unless they had big handwriting or were very heavy handed. Office stationary cupboards have only ever seemed to contain 0.5mm too.
 

I generally would take notes with 0.3mm out of preference, though I have a few 0.5's and a 0.4, which is ideal. Using 2B Pilot/Rotring/Uni lead I don't tend to suffer any breakages. Other brands have been more temperamental.

 

My favourite mechanical pencil is a wooden one made by Pilot, that I picked up in a shop in Japan about a decade ago. Slim, with a 0.3mm lead.

0.5 can be handier for tight margins, but it's easy to write small with 0.7 by writing with the sharp bit of the lead and using 2B makes it even better. A nicely dark mediumish line. The Kuru Toga is perfect, but sadly they concentrate on 0.5 and below.

 

That said, I use (only mechanical) pencils for general writing and even then it's limited to my planner and annotations in books (where I don't want to cause "damage" and don't want to worry about bleed-through, ghosting and feathering).

 

Even in school we were rarely allowed to use pencils after 3rd grade and that stuck. For years I hadn't used any pencils at all, but they are handier for planners (ever-changing plans and schedules) and book annotations, so pencils made a comeback to my pencase.

[ParramattaPaul]

I like using a mechanical (or even a sharp, wooden) pencil for notetaking.  I like the way the lead, a softer lead, drags on the paper reminding me to slow down and form my letters properly.  I also like a thicker line despite being a relatively small writer.  I prefer a broad nib fountain pen for the same reasons. 

 

For me, given the above, a 0.7 pencil works extremely well. 

 

Two mechanical pencils that I particularly like are a Faber Castell Grip, and a Derwent.  The Grip indexes well so I always know where the lead's 'flat' is.  The Derwent which lives in the pen loop of my Filofax organiser, came with a supply of softer, artists' leads that I find leave a nice line.

[AmandaW]

My preference is a 2mm clutch pencil with a 2B lead because I can sharpen it to a nice crisp long point and also extend the lead and lay it down for shading. And with hi-uni leads It's feels pretty close to using a Tombow Mono 100 2B sharpened with a long point sharpener which is my wooden favourite. Yeah, I'm fussy, but that one pencil in that one grade can do everything I want in a drawing or writing. So it's actually minimalist and easy to carry too - I love that the clutch allows the lead to be dropped back inside the body to protect it.

[gyasko]

4B is where it’s at.  I get the leads from Jonathon Veley.  It’s hard to go back to 2B after that.

 

You can go even darker, smoother & softer in wooden pencils.  I use 5B or 6B in those.