r/leadholders

Saw this pencil posted here a few days ago, I decided to take some photos of mine, and give some thoughts about it. A beautiful and annoying piece of art.

Push-button incremental ratchet mechanism like the Staedtler 925 25, some might say this is not a real leadholder, however, as tradition, one can remove the lead retainer rubber ring to make it drop clutch. Metaphys makes this job super easy by providing a second threading at the tip, unscrewing the black cone (picture 2) and the lead retainer is right there.

The metal finish is beautiful, matte and smooth like Copic SP fineliners, or Parafernalia, very elegant and sturdy at the same time.

I don't know what to say about the clip. From the cone to the barrel, the minimalism is well shown, then the clip makes a totally different design direction, funny, the same design on Rotring 900 is super nice, but on Metaphys, it feels weird. The clip also longer than any common pencils in my toolset (picture 4), is it a good thing? Who knows...

The grip is acceptable, not slippery but the weight might make this pencil slip from my hand if I don't pay attention.

My biggest complaint comes when I have to sharpen the lead. If one holds the barrel and uses it with a common pointer (like the UNI's), the whole internal rotates with the lead in this process and as a result, sharpening this pencil is very unintuitive. I found out later that I have to hold the pencil and the clip at the same time to counter the unwanted rotation. As a person who worships the sharpening routine, this is a loss.

I've said in another post, I would choose Caran d'Ache Fixpencil or Staedtler 780 over this one for daily use. But on a random beautiful day that I want to shuffle my tools a bit, why not Metaphys?

Edit

List of pencils in the last photo

- 3 Metal Languo Mechanical Pencil from Alixpress in 0.3mm 0.5mm and 0.7mm (I want to explore some affordable pencils myself, instead of reading reviews only, these 3 are pretty good).

- The Metaphys 2mm

- Tombow Zoom L2 Matte Black 0.5mm

- Tombow Zoom C1 0.5mm

- Draf-tech by Meister by POINT

The Criterium is probably the 1st version ever,the: Gilbert & Blanzy-Pouré Criterium 2603. The Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth AG 5649/MS os probably the predecessor of the modern 5340 model and the other 5.6mm lead holder looks exactly like the Koh-I-Noor 5347 but I don't anything about this version/brand. Looks kind of vintage in good condition. If anybody has more info on any of these,please share! Thanks!🙂👍🏼

The Hauser (Germany) 2.0mm Mechanical Pencil is not German, but it is really good!

If anyone knows about the history of Hauser or is natively familiar with the brand please do share... I could not find much about the original company. Currently, the brand is owned by an Indian company - Flair Writing Industries.

Flair is a reputed manufacturer of pens, and of late, they have been producing extremely low priced and very well made 2mm lead holders. I think they currently have the widest range of 2mm lead holders (including the variants of Move).

They have made an amazing lead pointer assembly, that they adapt into various sizes to fit the end caps of pencils and they also sell the lead pointers at Rs. 50 (~50 cents) for a pack of 3.

Their lead holders are also between 10 cents and 25 cents a piece, which is cheaper than many wood encased pencils that are available in the market.

Hauser Hexon 2.0 mm Mechanical Pencil is beautifully made - the transparent white body and the pale yellow sticker give it a very Muji-esque vibe. The leads write well, and the pencil has automatic/incremental progression and an end cap lead pointer. It is light but has a large girth, which makes it a bit awkward to use for long writing sessions. It is, however, just 25 cents and a wonderful pencil to have in your bag as a back-up.

The transparent body has the added advantage of working like a demonstrator fountain pen, where you can always see the lead length available (well, for the most part, until it goes behind the white portion) and can allow you to plan refills better.

Flair Move 2.0 is a 10 cent all plastic lead holder that has incremental lead progression... and thats it. No frills, no complications. You might even call it an Indian version of Kita Boshi 2.0mm Adult Pencil / Mechanical pencil.

P.S - In case you are interested to know more, detailed reviews for both these lead holders and many more are on my YouTube channel with the same name - UnnecessaryDetail_UD