Recommendations for Mechanical Pencil and Lead

[MYU]

On 4/14/2021 at 6:25 PM, flatline said:

One mechanical pencil that I don't see recommended very often but is amazing to use is the Tombow 505 Zoom.

 

Give it a look.

 

--flatline

The Tombow 505 Zoom is very good value. You can get them new for around $13 at discount. For a stainless steel capped pencil, that's pretty remarkable. The thing is, it's kind of heavy and a bit on the thick side. But the grip is really nice. 

[Al-fresco]

I really like the Lamy Scribble. After years of using 0.5mm leads I was wary of the Lamy’s 0.7  but found it to be much more durable and useful.  So much so that when I inevitably lost my Scribble I replaced it with another one.

[Bo Bo Olson]

A.W. FABER CASTELL TK 9400 4B

These type of MP's are after my time. We had nothing so thick as that 4 sided lead back when we had silver money.

I was looking at a couple German kids school boxes and discovere it in the 'junk' left in the pen box.

 

[Anne-Sophie]

Vintage Faber Castell, WoW!

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I should give it a try, who knows I could end up liking it. When I gave my Pelikan 450 MP a try....for 6 weeks I didn't use a fountain pen.

 

There was a regular fat lead normal with non colored wood pencil in that box.

AW Farber 'PITT '2609 #3

Fat lead pencils or mechanical pencils is after my time.

 

The rest in the top seems to be formed thin charcoal, both round and square for drawing and a paper stumph.

I appear to have forgotten how to draw, (there was no urge)  and I was never much at that anyway.

 

Some one put it away, and never looked back.

[Anne-Sophie]

They are really praised by collectors.

 

Yours says 4H, I seem to remember that they came as sets with each pen showing the corresponding lead hardness.

 

In the 50's, 60's 70's and 80's in France, lead holders, mostly with HB leads, were sold as part of geometry tool sets. 

 

 Yours might have been part of a drafting tool set used by architectural, formal garden design, map producing firms during the same period, until CAD programs took over all the drafting related industries.

 

I don't know what a 4H lead could be used for, faint preliminary drawings?

 

Some people, in this sub-forum, are more knowledgeable than I am, about lead holders' history. 

 

I have been an enthusiast user of lead holders, since I got my first one, in high school, probably as part of, or with my first geometry tool set.

 

It is my understanding that lead holders is the name for pencils that hold 2 mm lead and bigger and mechanical pencil hold 1 mm lead and smaller.

 

There is also a distinction between push button and lead grip at the writing point of the pencil.

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

4 B not 4 H.

I'm more use to the H marking of hardness myself.

 

Pushing the metal 'button' on the Green Faber-Castell, was not like on a mechanical.....propelling pencil, of pushing the lead forward, but of grabbing the lead so you could have more lead showing or less.

 

I'm sure there are also some sort of 4 angle sharpeners for such leads.

 

The only pencil sharpener I have is a  nice backilite two size sharpener by DUX that only do point sharpening, not the 4 sided sharpening of that mechanical green  or wood fat lead pencils.

I really don't do wood pencils much so thought I'd just save the fancy one, and toss the regular small ones everyone had six of.

There's a real nice guilloche pattern on top of the sharpener.

If clicked bigger it might be seen......actually just really noticed it right now.

Sometimes they went the extra step in the old days.

 

[flatline]

I have a FC TK9400 3mm lead holder marked 4B that is only a year old, so these things are still being sold. I'd be curious to know if the construction has changed over the years. Looking at your pictures, it looks exactly the same as my new one.

[Bo Bo Olson]

In I was competently ignorant of them before a couple of weeks ago or less when I first read of them.

I am not miffed they are still making a good thing. Nor do I have an idea how old those 'old' wooden pencil and pen holders are, don't know what the earliest date of that lead holder could be.

 

I'd not  more than cast an eye on it as a mechanical pencil...as I said, lead holder is new to an old dog. When I was making photos for this thread is when it came to my attention.

[flatline]

Lead holders (aka "clutch pencils") are probably my favorite category of writing instruments and I generally think of them as a separate category from mechanical pencils. I have no idea if that's the general consensus or not...

[Anne-Sophie]

Lead holders are the writing instruments with cheapest price of pen/refill and number of words ratio.

 

Even cheaper than C/C fountain pens filled with student inks.

 

Mechanical pencils are wonderful to fill out forms, before printing them out, to send them on some official journey.

 

I also discovered them to be great to do research with.

 

Buying the ones still available from back to school and on sale is a smart move.

 

 

One lead holder -not- to buy is the one from Art Alternative, mine refuse to move the lead down to the point, I don't even trust it as a lead container, its end cap has a portable lead pointer glued backward, which means I have to be very careful not to hold it too tight as the tiny shaving blade might feel unpleasant. 

[flatline]

7 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

Lead holders are the writing instruments with cheapest price of pen/refill and number of words ratio.

 

Even cheaper than C/C fountain pens filled with student inks.

 

I have always suspected that this is true, but I've never done the math to put numbers to it. In my case, the lead is free since I remove the lead cores from the street pencils I find, but even for someone who purchases their lead, a stick of lead lasts a really long time.

 

--flatline

[Anne-Sophie]

21 hours ago, flatline said:

 

I have always suspected that this is true, but I've never done the math to put numbers to it. In my case, the lead is free since I remove the lead cores from the street pencils I find, but even for someone who purchases their lead, a stick of lead lasts a really long time.

 

--flatline

 

I have always written a lot, even with various electronic note taking devices around, writing instruments and paper are faster to reach, and provide a more immediate transfer of thoughts 

 

I still have the original box of 2 mm Steatler leads I bought with the same brand leadholder when I found them on sale, more than 10 years ago.  

 

I just finished the lead that was supplied with my first Lamy Safari mechanichal pencil, which I bought maybe 19 years ago.

 

My newest 2mm leadholder, original HB lead is getting visibly shorter, it will be replaced by a B or 2B lead, I bought one tiny box of each grade, before the pandemic.

 

During that time, I have used many bottles of  inks.

 

By Comparison, rollerballs, ballpoints and inkgels refills are ruinous.

 

 

[RJS]

I've got loads of mechanical pencils, including most of the 'well known' ones. I don't have a favourite. Lots are good enough. I pick up something different every day, often a woodcase pencil instead of a mechanical one.
 

I'm in a minority for liking Rotring lead the best- it's soft and buttery smooth. Even at 0.3mm I'm not a frequent lead breaker, so durability isn't a major issue for me. Pentel, Mitsubishi, Pilot, etc, leads are all good too, though they vary in shade I like the softer leads better.

[agaric]

Absolute favorite is the Kaweco Special S - kind of expensive, but it's very portable and the stubby aluminum barrel feels good. It has a 0.5mm version, and the straight little tip doesn't retract.

Also enjoyed writing with the Caran d'Ache 844 (only comes in 0.7mm, but the pencil's light and has that same lovely matte aluminum feel), TWSBI precision (hefty, narrow, confident feeling, and has a retractable version).

[Bo Bo Olson]

I'm glad I stumbled over this thread, there is more to MPs and the leads, than I realized.

I still have my Pelikan 450 out to grab should I ever get the urge again. The one whose's balance that so astounded me I wrote only with it for some 6 weeks (no fountain pens) until it ran out of lead and it took me a while to find out how to reload.

[Zookie]

I'm a pencil fanatic of the worst kind, just can't stop trying new ones! I picked up a new Tombow monograph a couple of weeks ago, put a Pentel Ain Stein 4B lead in it, and am still using it for my daily needs!

Quite a different writing experience for sure 😎

[Vladpu]

I have a pen box dedicated to pencils, both semi-modern and vinyage, but the daily users are Retro 1951.  They know how to make a workhorse pencil.  

[Temenos]

On 4/16/2021 at 1:25 AM, Al-fresco said:

I really like the Lamy Scribble. After years of using 0.5mm leads I was wary of the Lamy’s 0.7  but found it to be much more durable and useful.  So much so that when I inevitably lost my Scribble I replaced it with another one.

Yay another fellow Scribble liker.

 

But even more so, I like the Pentel Sharp Kerry. Especially their elusive LE silver trim demonstrator.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 11/24/2021 at 7:50 PM, Doctox57 said:

I have a pen box dedicated to pencils, both semi-modern and vinyage,

Pencil and pen boxes, German schools and fancier ones.

 

The Art Nouveau one with inlaid wood, I'd guess is @ 1900.

 

The green pen is my only of that type. I do have Jotters, a great balanced Pelikan 450....I hated MP until I used it one day.....6 weeks later the lead ran out and by the time I figured out how to change lead I was back to fountain pens.

I have a BP/MP silver P-75's little brother. Parker once made a lead cartridge the same size as the Jotter.

 

In case you have a small ink bottle and a dip pen..