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Autopoint/Legendary update


Chthulhu

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It truly is amazing.

 

This means there are now both a fountain pen and a mechanical pencil manufacturer in Ohio, within a few hours drive of each other. Maybe we will one day see a collaboration. 

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Thank you for sharing this. I have been wondering what happened to Autopoint, but never found out.  Now I know. 
 

I figured the mechanical pencils would cost more. I didn’t guess they would be around $30. My guess was around $20. I have no idea what goes into etching all the patterns. Still, I may get one. I have two modern Autopoints, and three vintage ones. 

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Jon seems to be using a laser engraver to put the patterns on his pencils, but to my eye he's running it far too hot or too slow. Set properly, all the edges would be crisp. It may also be that he's running in a raster mode, where a vector mode would yield better and faster results. Time adds cost, and he's offering a unique product, so I can't fault his price point.

Mike Hungerford

Model Zips - Google Drive

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Interesting article.  I'll admit that I'm not in the market for a mechanical pencil (I've preferred leadholders such as my Berol Turquoise since college, because I can control the sharpness of the point -- and a 12 pack of the leads last me years).  But I wish Mr. Veley all the best, and hope he makes a go of the business.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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This was a wonderful article! I have been a long time fan of Autopoint pencils, and Jon has done the community a huge service by saving the assets of the company from (literally) the trash heap of history. Soon after I read the article I ordered a pencil, and it arrived a couple days ago. I ordered a black pencil with the No. 16 Pompeian pattern. If you are familiar with the "modern" Autopoints, it is the round Jumbo All-American style pencil, with the cool laser engraving. In addition to the Pompeian pattern, "Legendary Pencil Company" is engraved around the top of the barrel near the eraser. The pencil came with the 1.1 mm tip and yellow grip "cone," and loaded with one piece of a very soft classic lead. Of course the pencil features the same reliable push rod mechanism and 'grip-tite' slotted tip Autopoints have always used, so of course it is super reliable and solid. The combination of the soft clay/graphite lead and 1.1 mm tip was just too broad for my normal use, so I swapped it with a 0.9mm tip I already had from a similar modern Autopoint. I use Pentel 0.9 mm polymer lead it that. 

 

I am excited to see Autopoint reborn as The Legendary Pencil Company, and I hope Jon will be able to roll out other products, such as pencils using  other lead diameters and pencils in the standard, not jumbo size. I wish him all the best! 

Adam

Dayton, OH

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

-- Prov 25:2
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Oh my, that stuff looks great :puddle:. Now I'm getting all interested in the Autopoint pencils again. Oh, I've got to be strong and not start buying stuff here.

On a sacred quest for the perfect blue ink mixture!

ink stained wretch filling inkwell

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all, I've been so busy with getting the Legendary Pencil Company off the ground that I haven't had much time to make the rounds.  Thanks for the encouragement - the Model 1 series sold very well in DC, and test marketing for the slim Model 3 series and double-ended Model 5 series "Janus" pencils (I can't say Twinpoint because I didn't acquire trademarks, just stock and machinery) has been favorable. The Model 3 series is now on the website, and I'll probably get some Janus pencils online in the next few weeks.  I've also been playing around with customizing many of the .5mm and .7mm pencils Autopoint had in inventory with some pleasing results.

 

I wanted to address Chthulhu's thoughts about running the lasers too hot - that's intentional. I run the cutters hard on these injection-molded barrels in order to better replicate the appearance of 1920s chasing on hard rubber. In person, the effect is so convincing you'd swear you're holding hard rubber rather than plastic. When I run the cutters light, you can see the design but it doesn't give the texture and feel I was looking for.

 

If there's significant interest in less heavy engraving, I can always do them with light engraving on request. 

 

I've had requests to sell plain-ol' Autopoints without engraving, but I am mindful that Autopoint failed because it could not make a profit doing what it was doing. I'm exploring new territory with something that isn't out there anywhere else.  

 

Please drop me a line if you have comments or suggestions - jveley@jonathanveley.com

 

 

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Amazing!

Is it fair for an intelligent and family oriented mammal to be separated from his/her family and spend his/her life starved in a concrete jail?

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  • 2 weeks later...

@jonveley thank you for posting here. , too, am glad you saved these mechanical pencils, and are making them unique. 
 

I like several patterns, and cannot decide on a color. I will someday. I’m curious about the dark blue one.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m happy to see the old twinpoint versions will be part of the new Legendary Pencil Company. I had wanted the ivory version with blue and red ends, but never got around to buying one. 

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@jonveley  I enjoyed your daughter's article, the only complaint is that the URL in the article didn't work, I had to google the business name. You should up date that information.

 

On another note - and this does show my ignorance - if I want to buy one of these pencils for my son, which lead would work on scantrons?  I think it used to be 2B (or not), but now the requirement is H2B.  I look look forward to the answers.

 

Oh and another question, what is the difference between a mechanical pencil and a lead holder?  I would assume it has to do with lead advancement but that would not be an educated guess.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 9/16/2022 at 2:57 AM, amberleadavis said:

@jonveley  I enjoyed your daughter's article, the only complaint is that the URL in the article didn't work, I had to google the business name. You should up date that information.

 

On another note - and this does show my ignorance - if I want to buy one of these pencils for my son, which lead would work on scantrons?  I think it used to be 2B (or not), but now the requirement is H2B.  I look look forward to the answers.

 

Oh and another question, what is the difference between a mechanical pencil and a lead holder?  I would assume it has to do with lead advancement but that would not be an educated guess.

 

Hello Amber, yes we had growing pains as I attempted to update the website from "Legendaryleadcompany.com" to "Legendarypencilcompany.com" - that's fixed as of this morning and both links take you to the same place.

 

As far as leads go, all my leads 4B and softer were formulated for scanner/OCR card use, so all those will work for you.

 

The difference between a mechanical pencil and a leadholder -- in my mind -- is that mechanical pencils have an internal means of propelling pencil leads, while leadholders are purely "catch and release" - pushing the button only releases the lead, which is then manually adjusted by hand or gravity.

 

Thanks for your note!

 

Jon 

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23 hours ago, jonveley said:

 

Hello Amber, yes we had growing pains as I attempted to update the website from "Legendaryleadcompany.com" to "Legendarypencilcompany.com" - that's fixed as of this morning and both links take you to the same place.

 

As far as leads go, all my leads 4B and softer were formulated for scanner/OCR card use, so all those will work for you.

 

The difference between a mechanical pencil and a leadholder -- in my mind -- is that mechanical pencils have an internal means of propelling pencil leads, while leadholders are purely "catch and release" - pushing the button only releases the lead, which is then manually adjusted by hand or gravity.

 

Thanks for your note!

 

Jon 

 

 

Thank you!  I'm going to buy my son one for Christmas.

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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