u/drifand

I’ve always liked hex barrel designs but it’s extra nostalgic when they come in wooden bodies like old school pencils. Here’s my line up for the week:

• J.S. Staedtler 1001 Technico 2mm lead holder (1960s)
• PG5 custom by Nokyang (Green Sun) Workshop of Korea - swapped with PG7 internals
• OHTO WN01 0.5mm
• Object Index Needle Point Pen (OEM by OHTO)
• Uni recycled wood lead case (1990s?)
• Kokuyo RESARE eraser

The Nokyang is my first custom wood PG5 and I decided on it for a couple of reasons:

1. I wanted it to be all-wood to experience the organic feel of the material instead of the wood upper/metal grip combination used by other brands like Steef.
2. It has a relatively slim width indicating skilled crafting to maintain structural strength
3. Included custom metal parts for the lead grade indicator if you didn’t want to use the original colorful plastic ones.
4. Well handled slope angle transition from cone to body, slightly rounded edges for comfort.
5. Reasonably priced find on Mercari at below 6000 yen

And since it was made for PG5 I can swap for any of the other Graph Pencil sizes as and when I like.

The world of Smash is so full of variety that collectors often don’t know where to start… or even when to stop :-)

When I first tried to collect the old run of Loft full-color exclusives, I ran into some issues:

1. The painted grips often didn’t seamlessly match the color of the plastic uppers. Though to be sure, Pentel has improved a lot since 2014.
2. The text markings were sometimes in black and other times in white in order to maintain legibility against the color of the body. I hated this inconsistency.

And so I’ve arrived at my own set of rules for collecting Smash:

1. It must be a shade of color that that I don’t already have;
2. The text markings must be in black, so that they can match…
3. … My preference for a black grip, clip and button.

A couple of years ago there was a huge discount on Rakuten for standard issue Smash in black, so I bought about 10 pieces so that I would have plenty of black grips for my collection. 😎

Just acquired the Pilot TIMELINE Past ‘Evergreen’ pen to go with my Kuru Toga Wood. The Evergreen was released in Jan of 2026 as a special edition to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Books Kinokuniya. I guess global shipping was really out of whack and that’s why it only showed up here in Singapore after 6 months.

On the pen body is the latin phrase ‘Verba volant, scripta manent’, which means “Speech may fade but the written word endures.” Pretty eloquent and apt for Kinokuniya!

I’ve basically stopped keeping track of Smash releases after accumulating more than a handful of special editions. I even bought a bunch of the regular black ones for less than 900 yen apiece when there was a blowout sale on Rakuten a couple of years ago - so that I could make custom combinations.

So it was totally by chance that these 3 showed up (separately) while I was browsing on Mercari. Something about how the hues harmonized just shut down my resistance. It was a bonus that one of them was a 0.3, adding some variety to my Smash collection.

Smash will always be a favorite of mine: The original design stood out for its tough and bold styling; using it made me appreciate the stability of its one-piece grip-tip. And I actually enjoy the tactility of the embedded rubber grip studs. 👍🏻

Pic 2 L-R:
• OHTO Horizon double-knock automatic 0.5mm
• Zebra Sarasa Grand gel pen
• Pentel Kerry 0.5mm 2018 Tokai region limited
• Zebra Sharbo NU
• Tombow Zoom Light L102 0.5mm
• Pentel Orenz Metal Grip 0.2mm

The last time I put together group shot of my pencils with black knurled grips, I inadvertently left out a whole bunch that were in storage. Anyway, it would have been ungainly to squeeze in that many pencils in shot! :D So, now that the Staedtler 925 15 Metal is here, I decided to line up the best of the rest… Pic 1, L-R:

• Penco Drafting Writer BP
• M&G AMP37201 0.5mm
• Staedtler 925 15 Metal Grip 0.7mm
• Staedtler 425 25 F9 All-Black BP
• Platinum Pro-Use MSDB-1500B 0.5mm *
• Pentel Orenz Metal Grip 0.2mm 10th Anniversary LE
• Sun-Star 3 Way Pro multipen
• Tombow MONOTECH SH-500MT 0.3mm
• Colibri Ascari BP
• Tombow MONOTECH SH-500MT 2.0mm
• Mitsubishi M5-1006 0.5mm
• Mitsubishi M5-1052 0.5mm
• Mitsubishi Kuru Toga Metal Grip 0.5mm
• Mitsubishi BOXY Concept α 0.5mm
• Mitsubishi BOXY Concept α BP
• Mitsubishi BOXY M5-1100BX 0.5mm
• Luddite Postdraw 0.5mm *

*Technically not knurled but it does have machined grooves…

Recently grabbed the 5 new recolors of the Zebra Knock Pencil M-1700, in clear black, red, green, blue and yellow. Everything else is the same: rounded edge hex barrels holding a shaker mechanism and useful twist eraser unit. Only caveat is the plastic clutch, which isn’t really surprising considering its low cost of around 3 USD each. These are the very embodiment of ‘cheap and cheerful’!

I had already stashed a bunch of similarly colored bLen ballpoints that came out in 2023, and I’m super pleased at how well they go together. The only other note is that the clear black model from this year’s run comes with a black eraser unit/button while the clear model from the launch line up had a grey unit/button.

Was sorting some old pencils when I noticed the grip on these cheapie all-plastic Sailor ‘Pasta’ mechanical pencils from the 1990s. I thought they kinda resembled the current ‘metal cut’ grip design of the Sakura Intaglio and just had to take a pic. This is one of the aspects of collecting that I enjoy the most: noticing patterns and unrelated design connections across decades.

Since getting the KT Metal sunrise orange, I’ve been thinking of modding my other orange metal pencil, the Korea limited 925 35, to a different lead size. I just don’t find it as fun or purposeful to carry 2 pencils in 0.5mm…

And so I finally found time to dig out my 925 35 All Black 0.3mm and made the swap. After that, I picked out the Jetstream Edge in a similar color scheme to round off the trio.

How do they perform? The KT Metal (and KS) are the most tip stable versions that Uni has produced and I actually favor them over all other KT versions, including the Dive (I just like the act of clicking my pencils). The lightly textured processing on the Metal’s body is like if the grip on the 925 35 had its abrasiveness dialed back, making it perfect for everyday writing.

The 925 35 remains supremely grippy for fine control and it feels just right for 0.3mm. And as for the Edge? I love the zany design but truthfully the 0.38 and 0.28 pen tips are a bit too fine for my needs. Will probably swap out the refills for a gel or hybrid ink 0.5.

Caught some episodes of racing anime 'MF Ghost' on Netflix recently and it brought back memories of its predecessor, Initial D. So here's a namesake match-up, just for fun: Toyota Trueno Sprinter AE86 from Initial D, paired with a Pilot Sprinter from around 1985. The spirit of drift racing and the spirit of mechanical innovation, side by side…

Triangular bodies… some folks swear by them; others swear at them. Whether you feel they are a boon for ergonomics or that they unnecessarily cramp your writing style, one thing’s for sure: it’s really tricky to photograph them so that you can tell it’s a triangular shaft and not just some high contrast reflection on a round barrel. That is why I’ve found it a good idea to shoot at least one tail-end shot.

If it seems like Staedtler is crowding out the rest, it’s because they have been the most consistent supporter of the rounded-triangular profile for pens and pencils. I think one of my first triangular mechanical pencils was a grey Triplus Micro 774 that came out around 1998. Since then I’d been hoping for a higher quality version…. which Staedtler ‘finally’ obliged with the aluminum body Organizer Pen and series. Then around 2019, the larger TRX series was released.

My own favorites are probably the Colleen Jib K-52x series, if only because of their vibrant colors from the 1970s that still rival the most vivid hues from Modern Staedtler.

P.S. I forgot to include the Lamy Dialog… but that one is really more of a shelf queen anyway.

In the late 1970s to early 1980s, Japanese manufacturers of mechanical pencils started a trend of screen printing colorful graphics on a white coated metal body. Pentel did it with their PS705 ‘Wheat’, ‘Corn’ and ‘Rose’ trio; Colleen had their Jib w-knock in white with ‘Rose’ and ‘Girl’ designs; even Tombow and Sakura had some examples. All were petite sized, between 12 and 13 cm long… perfect for a young person’s hands.

However I believe the most prolific was Pilot, which produced this series of ballpoints and mechanical pencils. Those with a blue flange topper appear to be focused on Sports and Vehicle themes for young boys, while the red flanged ones had cute characters and homely themes for girls.

Over the last 6-7 years I have slowly collected these examples, some pristine while many have signs of wear. The main difference between pens and pencils is that ‘0.5’ appears above PILOT for the pencils. I only have one pair of a pen and pencil bearing the same design: a bunny in a hot air balloon. I suppose that since the ‘boys’ have at least 6 designs, there is probably at least one more design for the girls that I have seen yet.

The series of ‘unwrapped’ images of the graphics was made by taking 3-image collages of each pencil and then using AI to stitch them together. Although there are some minor glitches, as a whole I think they allow us to appreciate the designs better.

When it comes to drafting pencils, ‘blue’ usually means ‘0.7mm’. So the challenge was finding good blue representatives in 0.3 and 0.5mm… I guess my only wish is for a knurled 0.5 that was also in translucent blue but I didn’t want another S10 to take up the slot :-)

L-R:
• Sun-Star Metal Grip Pro ballpoint
• Pilot S10 0.3mm
• Pentel Graph 1000 0.5mm Tsutaya 2024 limited color
• Stabilo Technic 0.7mm

Finally found a miniature of a 'Mistral' sports car, although it isn't a Maserati like before: Ghibli, Bora, Khamsin). Instead, I chanced on a 1/64 model of the Bugatti W16 Mistral, in Bugatti's signature racing blue. Now, at last, my blue Kokuyo Mistral PS-3 body-knock pencil has a great match up! 😎

Just did some simple maintenance wiping down on my brass pens and pencils. Most are ageing beautifully; some like the Tom Dixon Cog series seem to be made of some kind of alloy and don’t age at all to my eyes.

For the curious, top left - bottom right:
• Makers Cabinet Lazlo rollerball
• Makers Cabinet Ferrule pencil holder
• Kokuyo Orobianco Brass MP 1.3mm
• Manufactum brass double knock 0.5mm
• Plotter 2002 ballpoint
• Tom Dixon Cog Pencil Tube 0.5mm
• Tom Dixon Cog Pencil Flare 0.5mm
• Tom Dixon Cog Pencil Top 0.7mm custom

I combined 2 lesser seen limited colorways of the Zebra Tect 2way with a standard issue model to make up my own hi-tech 0.3/0.5/0.7 drafting set:

• 0.3mm MAS41 silver / blue accents 2014
• 0.5mm MA41 silver / emerald accents 2014
• 0.7mm MAB41-S silver / green accents ~2007

The limited run from 2014 also included a silver / pink accent pair in 0.3 and 0.5 but I thought these three colors harmonized better. I only wish the standard 0.7 model had green tinted accents for the button instead of plain transparent.

While Pentel led (lead?) the pack with the first button-press 'knock' mechanical pencils back in 1960, Tombow would only introduce its own fine lead knock pencil in 1967 with the H300K.

The model designation can be broken down as:
'H' = 'Holder', Tombow's term for a 'lead holder' before 'sharp pencil' became popular in Japan. Note: Pilot also uses 'Holder' for many of its drafting pencils.

'300' = 300 yen, which translates to about 7 or 8 USD today. So this was not a trivial sum for most households.

'K' = 'Knock' for the push button incremental lead advance mechanism.

Prior to the H300K, I believe Tombow was producing the H400-07 and H500-05 continuous twist models (middle of 3rd pic with the serrated grip edges) around 1963-1966, after Pentel popularized 0.5mm polymer leads. It was revealing how much more 0.5mm cost over 0.7mm; 100 yen difference back then is roughly 2.50 USD today. Yet by 1967, Tombow had managed to offer the H300K in both 0.5 and 0.7 for the same price of 300 yen. Competition is good!

One more thing I observed is that during that era, Tombow mostly used green as their signature color, but seemed to have chosen black for its 'premium' 0.5mm models. This was reflected in the H400-07 (green) and H500-05 (black), as well as the H300K-07 (green) and H300K-05 (black).

In rotation this week:
• Pilot Neox Graphite 0.5mm HB
• Pilot Rexgrip 0.5mm
• Tombow MONO graph lite gel Milk Glass series
• Penco Bullet Pencil 0.7mm
• Kaweco Sport rollerball
• Pentel Clic Eraser 2

Rearranged my Uni ‘tray’ and shifted some pieces that were less ‘complete’, e.g. only 1 or 2 variants out of a set of 5. To me, it’s just more fun to peruse a series with 3 or more related designs.

Most of these are aluminum body designs. Standouts are the 3 ‘SUPER’ models in steel with machined grooves in the middle of the top row. I’m surprised by the number of variations Uni made for their ‘AUTOMATIC PENCIL’ family. I also love the ‘colored mid-ring’ accent that appears on 3 separate families in this tray.

This is the third (first and second here) in a series of ‘dissimilar pairings’ of Pilot Stanza series with complementary pens and mechanical pencils. In this case, I flipped the colors of the Platinum Pro-Use 171 matte black / copper limited edition from 2022, picking a Pilot Stanza mainly in copper and accented in black.

I really like how they go together on my desk, and yet are easy to tell apart at a glance. This has always been a pet peeve of mine when pen makers simply stuff a Schmidt converter into their ballpoint models and called it a day. While it is understandable that manufacturers would prefer to save on design and tooling costs, having a pencil look 95% identical to the ballpoint made them, IMO, harder to use in real life.

Do you have a favorite non-identical pen-pencil airing?