[HN Gopher] Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]
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Overengineered Japanese Mechanical Pencils [video]
Author : jkellermann
Score : 115 points
Date : 2022-04-14 08:43 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Alright, I went in thinking "come on, how 'overengineered' can a
| mechanical _pencil_ be? ", and by about halfway through I wanted
| to buy one, and at the end I readily admit that they've managed
| to find exactly the problems with these things and fix them, way
| beyond what I would have thought practical. Remarkable:)
| fmajid wrote:
| I have the Orenz Nero, the Kuru Toga and even a Faber-Castell
| alpha-matic, but my favorite is a Faber-Castell e-motion with its
| lovely tactile wood barrel and expressive 1.4mm lead.
| deeg wrote:
| That was fun. I don't use anything except mechanical pencils but
| none of those really grabbed me and I generally love gadgets. For
| some reason I don't like the bouncy feel of the spring-protected
| tips and the only time I break leads is when I drop the pencil on
| the floor.
| jonhohle wrote:
| The engineering on the spring protected pencils is amazing, I
| also like the rounded tip, retractable sleeve on the 0.2mm
| pencils. I hadn't seen that before this video.
|
| Many years ago I really hoped the Kura Toga would be as
| revolutionary as the Quicker Clicker was back in the mid-90s,
| but it always felt like I was fighting the lead orientation. I
| have eventually settled on the rOtring and draftmatics because
| I enjoy their aggressive knurling.
|
| I would really like a heavy, aggressively knurled side advance
| (preferably lower than the Pentel's). I really miss the
| transparent barrel that displayed the action of the Quicker
| Clicker, but like the ergonomics of the fatter, tackier rubber
| grip.
|
| I found the QC and the Pilot Precise V5, around the same time
| and nearly 30 years later they are still among my favorites. I
| mostly use the V5RT these days, but gladly grab a V5 (in blue
| or green) when I can.
| contingencies wrote:
| Here in China I realised if you want more than 4 colors or so,
| multicolour pens are also Japanese imports only. But they're too
| fat to be useful, IMHO. It's also hard to source ballpoint pens
| in non red-blue-black colours, for no apparent reason. I guess
| I'm oddball for liking colour contrast in my notes. The nicest
| pen I ever bought was machined out of Laotian tropical hardwood
| but it was a traditional calligraphic pen with the nib and ink
| management issues. For modern writing implements... you can't
| beat a fullscreen terminal, _vim_ and a Cherry (German design,
| China fabrication I guess). https://www.cherry-world.com/
| a9h74j wrote:
| > I guess I'm oddball for liking colour contrast in my notes.
|
| I just started taking notes to learn a new programming
| language. Writing the code with a red pen and my own notes in
| blue makes for a fantastic contrast.
| [deleted]
| gorgoiler wrote:
| JetPens' marketing is amazing. Their online storefront is very
| well put together, and above all their buyer team ensures they
| have mountains of imported variety in every category.
|
| It's so nice to see someone doing something well. Really well.
|
| I have no connection to them other than I spent $500 with them
| last Christmas on gifts for my entire family.
| 0xbadcafebee wrote:
| You could say it's a website made with Japanese craftsmanship.
| Really well made, just because.
| amelius wrote:
| How does the automatic lead extender know by how much to extend
| the lead? If I were to write lots of dots, the lead would wear
| off less than when I wrote lots of dashes, but I would touch the
| paper and lift the pen an equal amount of times. Guess: is it
| weight controlled?
| readingnews wrote:
| I am not 100% sure how it works, but I own two of them, and if
| I write a bunch of dots, it does not keep extending the lead.
| Escapado wrote:
| This is crazy cool! I wonder how these miniscule and thin lead
| sleeves are produced and how they manage to stay within tolerance
| and even get a rounded edge.
| dharmab wrote:
| I'm sad that I didn't discover the Kuru Toga pencil until after I
| left school. I put them in gift baskets for friends who are
| students.
| Justsignedup wrote:
| Gotta admit, the spring inside the tip to prevent stress breakage
| sounds amazing. It was the #1 reason I stopped using mechanical
| pencils.
| bb88 wrote:
| There's a "pipe slide" model of the kuro toga that will slide
| the pipe with the writing so only a little bit of lead is
| exposed at all times.
|
| Uniball also has custom lead with a softer outside and a harder
| core.
| sva_ wrote:
| I have a Pentel Orenz Nero 0.2mm with such a feature. It is
| pretty nice, but you will often scratch over the paper with the
| metal which is definitely a counter argument. Makes 0.2mm
| usable though. I think for 0.5mm you don't need it, just get
| some decent 'lead'.
| eth0up wrote:
| I have a Pentel (0.5) that I purchased 12 years ago. I treat
| it with equal ritual and reverence as I do, say, my Korean
| crossbow, or Leica optics - it has its own altar of sorts. I
| may have appendages of my own form that are guarded less. I
| modified it though, using a glue to permanently fix the
| pocket clip into a particular position.
|
| I was hesitant to post a trivial comment, but I discovered an
| ancient container of 0.5 pencil inserts this morning, and...
| I worship high quality Pentels. Built to last!
| jkellermann wrote:
| My first try to post in HackerNews, hoping this fits the spirit.
| I was amazed to see the features of these pencil pens.
|
| Are these pencils common where you live? Here in Germany, they
| are known, but rather seldomly used...
| _aavaa_ wrote:
| I thoroughly enjoyed it. Overengineered certainly fits the
| bill, but boy do I love mine (Pentel Orenz).
|
| At 0.2mm it's great for a math, especially with the number of
| super and subscripts I find myself ending up with.
|
| The redesigned clutch on the one pencil is a Kevin good idea I
| wish all pencils have. Being able to write till the last 0.5mm
| of lead instead of wasting 10mm.
|
| 10mm doesn't sound like a lot, but standard lead is only 60mm
| long, so we're talking about wasting 16% of the lead. It gets
| even worse if it happens to break into shorter pieces.
| juanci_to wrote:
| I grew up using a lot of mechanical pencils, but I was too
| reckless and the cheap ones I used broke easily.
|
| Now I just use a standard #2 pencil.
| jamal-kumar wrote:
| All my German pens and colored pencils are for art,
| interestingly. Great investment it's been over the years, keep
| on coming back to faber-castell, but it does seem to be the
| focus of what is made in your country.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Nah, mechanical pencils are a niche, and those Japanese ones
| are a niche within a niche here in the Netherlands too. In
| Japan they are common, mainly due to the writing system that is
| very well suited to mechanical pencils, so they are common in
| schools.
|
| I use the Uni Kuru Toga in its fancy aluminium variant for both
| Dutch (mostly random notes and DIY measurements) and Japanese
| (I'm Dutch, but proficient in Japanese). For writing kanji, the
| self-rotating core just can't be beat. The line thickness
| remains a very neat 0.3mm with 0.5mm pencil lead due to the
| cone at the writing end staying, well, a cone.
|
| Fortunately, these pencils can be ordered worldwide these days
| via various resellers. In Japan you get the luxury of just
| being able to walk into a Wen Fang Ju Wu (a stationary shop)
| and buy one starting from Y=500 or so.
| vr46 wrote:
| The Kuru Toga is so versatile, I have three with different
| lead. But I do want to investigate these others :D About
| thirty years ago, I had a Faber-Castell where the lead sleeve
| retracted and automatically dispensed new lead so finally I
| will be able to get a similar replacement. It's not always
| Japan!
| arcen wrote:
| Hoi! I am in the Netherlands as well, which site did you use
| to purchase the Kuru Toga? I am interested in buying one too
| riversflow wrote:
| I have a couple of Rotring 800's that i adore because of the
| disappearing tip(makes them much more packable!) However I'm
| the only person I know who has anything not disposable.
| jahewson wrote:
| You had me at overengineered.
| bllguo wrote:
| I've used the Kuru Toga for years. The mechanism is so good that
| I don't see the argument for any other pencil. Which is actually
| a shame, as I can't get excited for other pencils anymore.
|
| During my school years we had all kinds of discussions and
| comparisons for best pencils, best pens, best erasers.
| bb88 wrote:
| I highly recommend getting the kuro toga pipe slide. The pipe
| slides up to protect the lead as you're writing, but you still
| get the clutch mechanism that rotates the lead.
|
| They're available on amazon for not a huge amount of money:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pipe+slide+kuro+toga (no affiliate
| link)
| Havoc wrote:
| The pointy metal ends on these bend so easily though. I love the
| concept but that just makes them a liability for daily driver use
| donutshop wrote:
| Yeah it's a sad day when the tip land straight onto the floor
| :(
| chernevik wrote:
| You're looking for the Rotring 800, my friend. Twist to retract
| / extend the lead sleeve into / out of a rounded nub. And it
| has a beautiful solid heavy build.
|
| There are also the Pentel GraphGear models, which retract /
| extend with push, but the build isn't as satisfying.
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