I’m speechless, they are absolutely beautiful
I would like you to give me recommendations for care and use, especially for the graphgear 1000, I am especially concerned about its retractable mechanism, if you have tips to take care of the tips and the plastic body of the graphgear 500 and the graph 1000 I would appreciate it
Faber Castell Poly Matic 0.7mm and nocfree metal 5.0mm
got a pink 935 from staedtler. i like how the grip feels in my hand very good friction
Can anyone confirm if the mono stick eraser refills fit in the Kaweco sketch up 5.6mm? I really don’t want to spend $18 on Kaweco’s 3 pack refill..
My mono graph has been in it for the past year. But suddenly the lead it distributes always shoot out too much, I researched and noticed that the problem was the rubber that holds the lead inside the nib was damaged. I really love the shake feature but it was suddenly more like a lead holder instead of a mechanical pencil. I kinda fixed it tho! I added tiny pieces of rubber inside the nib—but now—it only distributes a little lead each time, imagine an OHTO MS01 on the lowest lead distribution rate—that’s what it feels. That’s why I bought another one for my sake – since I love the pencil so much and I still would like to keep the legacy of my old MonoGraph.
What are your thoughts of the MonoGraph? Or Tombow pencils in general.
Having a blast using my new pencil!
But that got me thinking... Are there other companies that make a pencil in 0.2?
A missing link in the evolution of the modern FixPencil. Found this on eBay, so photos and text below are taken from the auction. The auction is still active, though £300 asking price is kinda out there. An interesting collectors‘ item anyway, never seen one like this before (in case you are wondering, I’m not the seller and have no idea who they are, it’s not an ad)
————-
The application for the patent for this flat lead draughting pencil seems to have first been made on July 22nd of 1959 in Switzerland. The invention is attributed to Charles Jeanmonod.
These flat lead pencils were used to obtain a uniform line width whilst drawing long lines in the designs of planes, boats and similar larger scale plans- a type of drawing sometimes called lofting, as it was quite often carried out at 1:1 scale in huge loft space drawing offices.
But this pencil is great for line work of any kind. This was before the era of sub-millimetre thin lead that arrived with polymer leads invention around 1960 - Pentel's invention, I think?
The mechanism on the fix pencil 29 is twist advance, but the loading of the flat leads, which tended to be brittle, is made easier in this pencil by the ability to open the whole lead chamber in the nose of the barrel and drop a new lead in on it's side- greatly reducing the faff and risk of breakage that results from loading into the nose, a bit like threading a needle, as is done with all the other flat lead holders like the Mifa 30 or Fedra Constructor, the A. W. Faber Castell TK 9600 or their TK Fleetline 9400 the Tombow flat holders etc. etc. But this design is unique. The 'blade' that folds down to secure the lead is very much like the little awl on a Swiss army knife, if a little less 'snappy', secured against the lead by means of a bevel on the blades body that locates securely into a cinch spring in the barrel slot.
Old-ish pencil, around 3 years of usage. It’s a platinum OLEeNU. (0.5 mm)
From top to bottom: Uni kurutoga alpha gel 0.5, Pentel graphgear 1000 0.5, Kokuyo me 0.7.
The kurutoga plastic cone cracked and split. In theory it works fine but it’s not pretty. Anyway to fix the cone? I’ve tried supergluing and taping but they both fail after some use.
The graphgear has a lead jam deep inside the pencil and I don’t know how to get it out. Recommendations?
The me’s lead pipe doesn’t come out as seen in the picture there is only lead coming out. It works fine but I would prefer to have the lead pipe as well.
Any recommendations on fixing these pencils? (Besides buying new ones… I’m broke)
A Handful of my lead holders, mostly 2.0mm. They have become my goto tool lately for daily pencil sketches (I deciddd that 54 was the right age to finally try and learn to draw).
My favorites would be the Rotring Rapid Pro and the Prime Timber but the Staedtler Mars technico is a timeless classic at a great price.
I’ve been using a Rapid Pro 0.5mm for over 15 years and expect the 2.0 version will last just as long.
The Prime Timber just feels like childhood since it’s a cedar body and isn’t much heavier than a basic wooden pencil.
From left to right: P203, P205, P207, P209
I got this mechanical pencil in Brazil. Full metal body, 20 grams, retractable tip. And the best thing? It was dirt cheap.
My wife surprised me with a couple of new pencils, among other things, for my birthday, a Laconic Solid Writer and the Kuru Toga driven Lamy Safari. I didn’t even know such a combination existed.
My daily pen is a limited edition Lamy Al-Star so I’m already quite familiar with the safari tripod grip and find it works wonders for improving my handwriting and expect it will do the same in pencil form.
First impressions of Laconic are very good. It has a nice solid feel and excellent balance but is not quite as hefty as my long-standing favorite Rotring RapidPro. Whether or not it will usurp the throne is unknown but it’s definitely a contender . As I’ve started diving more into teaching myself art I’m finding I prefer lighter pencils for drawing sessions so maybe the Laconic will prove a good middle ground. Although the fixed lead sleeve means I can’t be quite as care-free with it so that’s a definitely a mark against it as an EDC.
The colors are so deep/ rich in person! I picked up an extra red one.
Dug up some of my pens and pencils that have a similar style of knurling on the button as found on the Luddite ALTDRAW. Some are nameless models that I found on eBay Spain many years ago, and the pair that resembles Staedtler 925 25 / 425 F9 was OEM’d for Rambold. I left out the FC Alpha-matics as they are in deep storage.
Pic 2, L-R:
• Unknown ballpoint from Spain
• Luddite ALTDRAW 0.5mm
• Unknown MP 0.7mm from Spain
• Rambold drafting pencil 0.5mm
• Rambold drafting ballpoint
Tombow ZOOM Series
The ZOOM series is one of the most diverse lineups of mechpens that you can currently find. Though they’re all dress pencils with no drafting models, I think they are completely different from equivalent dress models from other brands. In my eyes they look absolutely outstanding, and are the most striking models in my collection.
So, here’s my overall opinion on each of them, in the order I acquired them (click on the name for the full review on each one):
· 707
My first ZOOM. It came to my attention as the pen version, quite some years ago. When the collecting madness began and I discovered it was also available as a mechpen, it became an automatic must buy. Not very practical, but a-w-e-s-o-m-e.
· 505
The 505 is perhaps my most elegant dress pencil. In terms of a capped mechpen, this one is THE best, bar none.
· L102
The L102 was the only disappointment from the whole series. Yet, since I think it’s supposed to be nothing but a budget model (of the L105?), I don’t think I can complain much. Nonetheless, it doesn’t come even close to the others, in terms of materials and feel.
· L2
In my eyes the L2 is one of the three ZOOMs that are truly different in terms of looks. And in the case of the L2 here, it also has a very different (and unexpected nice!) tactile texture, so it has form and substance.
· C1
Maybe I’m wrong in thinking this, but to me the C1 is the flagship of the series… Though the 505 is overall more imposing and the 707 is certainly the most different, the blend of design and materials on the C1 make it stand out.
· L105
I think that the L105 is supposed to be the premium version of the L102, and it is parsecs ahead in terms of materials and overall feel. Yet at the same time, I think it can also be seen as the slim version of the 505, if you’re looking for a more “normal” mechpen.
Amassing a sizeable collection of mechpens means they're not all gonna be winners. Here are the ones I keep in a pencil case in my drawer plus the reasons why I don't use them.
– The Faber-Castells don't match the build quality of the TK-Fine Vario L. The Executive was an NOS unit that feels light, wobbly and too plastic-y; the 9715 feels very cheap and there's a scratchy feel to the way it advances the lead.
– The pink Paper Mate was bought more out of nostalgia (it was a popular brand among Brazilian schoolkids) than anything else, and I was motivated to get the Sharpwriter because of a video where Adam Savage swears by them (they're trash).
– My issues with the Koh-I-Noor are their grips: the Mephisto's rubber grip is sticky and unpleasant and the Rapidomatic's knurling is just extremely coarse (even worse than the Staedtler 925 25/35's... someone should make a list ranking knurled grips by level of coarseness).
– The same applies to the knurled grip of the Mono Graph Zero, but the paint started to peel off so I would have spared it even if it had a good hand feel.
– The LEGO mechpen is a joke of a pencil and I regret spending my money on it. Absolute garbage.
– I bought the Kaco Coca-Cola pencils out of curiosity because they were dirt cheap and was surprised to find brass clutches, but ended up never using them because they are very light and rattle-y.
Now for the Pentels.
– The Pentel Graph Rocks are just Sharps with a different tip, and since I already have 60+ P200 pencils in rotation I just chose to keep these two stored away.
– The Graphlet feels very cheap in spite of its classic design.
– It's a shame I can't stand the way the PG5 looks, because it's got incredible internals. Every time I look at it all I see is Bert from Sesame Street.
– I got the Forte under the premise that it was an NOS unit, but it arrived here damaged: the lead refused to advance from the clutch to the pipe. When I unscrewed the tip, a tiny little plastic piece fell out of it, then I put it back together and now the lead just slides down the pipe and out of the pencil when I try to advance it.
– I got a killer deal on the last Technica-X ever available for sale in Brazil (R$ 3, or about $0.58) and it is incredibly well-built, but the body feels awkward when writing.
– As for the rest of them — Sharplet, Caplet, Techniclicks, Hot Shots, Jolt, Quicker Clicker, Quick Click, Prime and the A525 — they just all felt very light and cheap.