I just don't understand why a package would get misrouted THIS badly... and then, Kansas is now experiencing a severe delay due to extreme weather, so my package appears to be stuck in Kansas.
In 1978, PILOT first released the HF-100, which was called the "2020 Shaker." This pencil featured the novel mechanism that would trigger lead advancement by shaking the pencil UP/DOWN. It became seriously popular. PILOT gradually expanded its offerings with more models and colorways. The HF-100R-B featured a black body and a metal clip, while the HF-100S came in a variety of different colors with a large plastic clip. Naturally, writing instrument competitors disassembled it and came up with their own variants. But PILOT has dominated the shaker market and the base 2020 models started in 1978 were made for nearly 3 decades.
Along the way, metal body variants were made. One of the most desirable is the H-1585, which is a drafting style pencil based on the H-108x series, but with a shaker mechanism added. The HF-200S and HFT-100S (which replaced the HF-200S) features all steel executive style bodies.
The HF-100R-B became the H-1010, which has been produced in immense numbers and is still widely available on the used market. The H-515 "cousin" is an unusual shaker variant with a plastic body, but a teardrop tapered metal nose cone. This model was super cheap for a long while, but because of the fragile body and inexpensive cost, many were ultimately destroyed. So now they're very hard to come by and command serious prices.
While I find the 2020ST (HF-200S-S) to be the more nicely made and desirable of the shaker pencils, I find myself drawn to the HF-100S-NC, the variant with a clear grip. It looks great and the novelty of being able to see part of the mechanism is satisfying.
PILOT did make a few other shaker pencils and you can find out more about them from a great video made by a lauded collector, HERE. A very interesting tidbit -- "2020" has a really sensible origin. The number "2" is "fu", "0" is "rei". Pronounced together sounds like "fure" which is the word for "shake." There is a PILOT shaker model called "fure fure"... which is "shake shake." 2020. Pretty cool.
One inexpensive model not covered is the PILOT Opt. It's a rather wide girth plastic pencil with a mix of clear, translucent, and soft plastic parts, plus a large spring loaded clip. It also comes in a variety of patterned colorways. My only beef with it is that the shaker is really quite loud and "clinky", pretty far from a quality feeling. But it does work reliably.
There is one other shaker pencil you'll rarely hear about and that's the Fumi Raku. It was a Japanese domestic market release series of ballpoints and mechanical pencils. The ballpoints were made for quite a few years, then discontinued. Unfortunately the mechanical pencil was made for only a couple of years and then discontinued. It's a shaker style pencil that also has a lock feature to turn off the mechanism for manual click lead advancement only. It truly has a premium feel to it. Sadly, it's quite rare now. But you can still find the ballpoint on secondary market places. I posted about it HERE, if you're interested.
I think the PILOT S10 is one of the best value drafters out there. Especially when bought used! You can at times get them for peanuts, while having just nominal signs of use. The only thing annoying to me is that there’s not an adhered color scheme by lead size. I’ve seen some examples in red show up as 0.5 and 0.7 mm. I’ve seen blue show up as 0.3 mm or even 0.9 mm. I don’t know why they prioritized color diversity like that. Would users really care? Or maybe some like to select their own color choices for lead size, selecting different ones according to need.
Color-wise, my favorite is yellow (amber). It has a nice appearance in bright light. I believe the colorway range is yellow, red, blue, green, and black.
Mitsubishi Uni 05 Super. This is one of Mitsubishi’s great looking pencils for ¥1000. I think it was one of their best sellers as a lot were made and they’re not all that hard to come across in light to moderate used condition. A cousin of the Mitsubishi M5-1100 (also released with the BOXY branding), as it’s very similar in basic body shape, nose cone, rear cap, and clip. But instead of the knurled ring grip, there’s prominent etching directly into the metal body filled in with black enamel. It looks really sharp when examined up close. Tactile feel is excellent. A nice touch is the 3 diamond Mitsubishi “star” that is also etched.
I don’t see any way of detaching the mechanism from the body! Even photos from other sources showing the cap and nose cone off never show the mechanism outside of the body. I think it’s bonded in place. Maybe it was a cost savings. In any case, it’s all metal inside and the lead reservoir tube is metal as well. It's not heavy, but not too light either.
The only thing that keeps it from feeling more like a higher quality is that there is some rattling, likely the inner lead reservoir tapping against the inside of the body. But you can deaden it by sliding paper, plastic or fiber inside the body, wrapped around the tube. I stuck in a cut piece of a dryer sheet and it worked perfectly.
Metaphys developed the LOCUS series in a ballpoint, mechanical pencil, lead holder, and multi-pen. I like it best as a 2mm lead holder. The ratchet mechanism is very nice, not unlike a rOtring 800 2mm pencil. The finish is just a simple tube of metal, enameled in a choice of black, silver, or white. It looks like it could be either really light (plastic) or quite heavy (fully metal). They must use a mix of metals, to include brass, stainless steel, and aluminum. It's a nice weight--feels like quality without being too heavy for long writing.
I also have the matte silver version, with a couple of photos added in the gallery above.
Working on reorganizing my collection, so I pulled out a few of my favorites from a storage drawer.
TOP RIGHT: Pentel Accugraphs (PG2003, PG1505, PG1505 w/indicator) [sorry, they're dirty]
LOWER LEFT: Mitsubishi Jaguar Executive etched grid silver stripes 0.5 mm, Colleen Double-Knock Rubber Grip 0.5 mm, Newman woodgrain drafter with etched grid grip 0.5 mm.
MIDDLE: PILOT H-2085, Mitsubishi Uni Super 2mm, Mitsubishi M3-100 0.3 mm, Pentel PSD5 0.5 mm, Uni M4-1052 0.4 mm, Faber Castell TK-matic L 0.5 mm, KOKUYO Mistral PS-12 0.5 mm, PILOT Quatro (x3) 0.5 mm, PILOT Young Rex 0.5 mm, PILOT Steel Executive 0.3 mm etched black stripe, TOMBOW MONO Delta Steel (x2) 0.5 mm.
[ Remember on December 28th 2020, the NY POST headline was "STOP THE INSANITY", calling out Trump's fixation on election fraud when the overt consensus was he lost. ]
Top row: rOtring 700, LAMY Spirit
2nd row: rOtring Core Tanacor, Delta Maasai BP, Spoke Design Roady, Spoke Design Roady XL, PILOT Quatro Green/White, PILOT Hi-Tecpoint steel black stripe, OHTO FLAT-C, LAMY 2006 Ceramicon, Zebra FX-2000, PILOT HMR-250S dotted grid, PILOT Elite
3rd row: USUS.Pi Brazil, PILOT Fumi Raku BFU-75R NA, Senator [Unknown], Staedtler Initium Lignum
Bottom row: TOMBOW 727 BP (stock photo), MechaSEA B1-000, Sakura Craft Lab 001.
I enjoy holding and using pens. I don’t write with them much, though. Electronic typing is just way too convenient! Still, I periodically buy pens that grab my attention for one or more reasons. This isn’t my entire collection. I actually left off a few… because I’m periodically scatter-brained.
Just some notes about recent acquisitions:
LAMY Spirit. I’d been wanting the mechanical pencil, because it’s reputedly very tough and beautifully constructed. However, prices command serious money, usually 40~80% more than the ballpoint. So, I got the ballpoint instead (found a fair deal). And it’s solid! Very smooth click action, with subtle click.
PILOT Fumi Raku Iron Briarwood (Nanbutetsu). I wrote about the Fumi Raku series, HERE. The Nanbutetsu is beautiful. I love this briarwood. Wonderfully deep ruddy color. It’s a smooth matte finish and has nice grip, as well as warmth. The back part is black and feels like a Raku glaze–porous-rough texture. I’m mixed about the clip… But it’s sturdy. Anyway, one might think it’s diminutive at first glance, but really it’s about 1cm shorter than your average pen. My XL sized hand can hold it just fine. The twist mechanism is super smooth with a nice spring tension detent. On top of all this, it’s just rare and practically impossible to find outside of Japan.
Zebra FX-2000 crosshatch [?]. Zebra’s clicky all metal ballpoints from the FX series are really sturdy and nice feeling. There’s an FX-1000 that’s smooth brushed steel. Following that is the FX-2000 etched black stripe, and then the crosshatch you see here. It may also be FX-2000, as both etched models were priced the same (2000¥). The straight black striped model is very common, while the crosshatch is harder to find.
LAMY Scribble BP (all black), Scribble MP 0.7mm, Scribble holder 3.15mm, Staedtler Initium Lignum Plum Wood MP + BP, Spoke Design Roady, ZERO ZE013 BP, Mitsubishi mini MP 0.5 mm silver + black (really tiny, 10.5 cm!)
By “stubby” my threshold is less than 13cm in length. I know that PILOT has the Birdie and also Sailor has a mini as well, but they’re rather boring and very thin. I do have the Sailor lying around somewhere but I couldn’t find it.
The LAMY Scribble BP is just under 12cm, but surprisingly it's ergonomic. I just wish it had the flattened facets that you see on the 3.15mm pencil.
The ZERO ZE013 has a nice weigh to it. Feels solid and very sturdy, obviously due to no movable parts. The notably artistic element is the knob on the end. It's actually quite comfortable to write with. It's really nice to see it slowly sink smoothly straight down into the window stand when you drop it into the opening.
