[HN Gopher] Pencil Talk
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Pencil Talk
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 62 points
Date : 2023-12-04 13:00 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.penciltalk.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.penciltalk.org)
| gus_massa wrote:
| It's difficult for whole sites to get traction here. Which is
| your favorite post of the blog?
|
| I like https://www.penciltalk.org/2023/03/apuntes because the
| pencils have a weird shape. (Is there an explanation of the
| shape?)
| paulrouget wrote:
| > Is there an explanation of the shape
|
| Some pencils have this particular flat shape to prevent them
| from rolling (artists and workers sometimes use inclined desks
| / surfaces).
| andrewl wrote:
| It might not apply to the pencils in the article, but the
| flattened shape of a carpenter's pencil keeps it from rolling
| off uneven surfaces in a workshop or at a building site. Also,
| the flattened lead allows you to draw a thin or thick line,
| depending on how your orient the pencil.
| gooseyman wrote:
| And I believe a carpenters pencil is a 1/4 inch tall and a
| 1/2 half wide
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/Kapro-275S-Sharpener-Pencil-
| Set/dp/B0...
| creeble wrote:
| Okay, wo, that's freaky.
|
| I'm a pencil fan insofar as when I use one, it's probably for
| something semi-important, like a to-do list. Otherwise it goes
| into my phone, or computer, or cloud.
|
| So I like to use really good pencils for such things, and
| Blackwings are my favorite. The California incense cedar smells
| great when you sharpen them, and the soft (but not too soft)
| graphite makes nice, dark lines and text.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://blackwing602.com/collections/pencils?gad_source=1&gc...
| avgcorrection wrote:
| Boutique pencils. Sure.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| If you use pencils a lot, do yourself a favor and get a dedicated
| eraser. I personally like the Sakura SumoGrip block erasers, but
| even a $3 Pentel Clic from your local big box store will be an
| upgrade from what is typically on the back of a pencil.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-50258-Sumogrip-Premium-Eraser/...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Retractable-Assorted-Barrels-Z...
| criddell wrote:
| I'm a fan of mechanical pencils myself. In school we were issued
| Pentel P205's and every few years I buy something new to try and
| always end up returning to my 30 year old P205 pencils.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://www.pentel.com/products/sharp-mechanical-drafting-pe...
| criddell wrote:
| That's it. It's nice that something so inexpensive can last
| decades. You can spend a _lot_ more on a mechanical pencil
| (and I have) but none have won me over.
|
| YMMV
| baz00 wrote:
| I used them for years. Then I discovered cheap gel pens and
| never went back. Muji sell really very good ones for no money
| at all.
| gooseyard wrote:
| This treatise on artisanal pencil-sharpening is relevant:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spMaP-_Cq_8
| s5300 wrote:
| Pentel Graphgear 1000 & a Pentel Hi-Polymer block eraser are
| goated to the max.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Graph-Gear-0-5mm-PG1015/dp/B00...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Hi-Polymer-Block-Eraser-ZEH10P...
| pjot wrote:
| The Blackwing 602 is my favorite pencil. One very nifty feature
| is its swappable eraser - it's also rectangular.
|
| https://blackwing602.com/products/blackwing-602-set-of-12
| tristor wrote:
| For those that don't want to read too much on this blog to find
| answers, the simple answer is nothing beats a quality mechanical
| drafting pencil if you're using it for writing and not for art.
| The Rotring 600, the Pentel Graphgear, and the Pentel Sharp
| (P205) are all fantastic choices. For art pencils it's hard to
| beat Staedtler.
|
| It's an interesting blog, but after spending way too much of my
| energy on pencils and pens over the years, I've realized there's
| some great Goldilocks choices out there, so hopefully I save
| someone reading this the rabbit hole.
| chrisweekly wrote:
| Pentel GraphGear 1000 is phenomenal.
| riversflow wrote:
| I get that they are kinda looked down upon, but I _really_ like
| my Rotring 800 in .7mm, paired with 2B lead. The disappearing
| point is a must have for portability. If you have some patience
| they do go on sale, I didn't pay even close to MSRP. It's pretty
| much the grail of handwriting for me.
|
| I am also a fan of the Pentel Tuffstuff stick erasers. Unlike
| other stick erasers they are very fine, so you can get
| details/letters. For bulk erasing an Artist's Gum eraser and a
| Magic Rub if the Gum doesn't do a good enough job.
| fallinditch wrote:
| I'm a fan of the rotating lead feature of the Koru Toga
|
| https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Uni-Kuru-Toga-A-Comprehensive-G...
| eternityforest wrote:
| My problem with mechanical pencils is they never seem to do well
| in my pocket if I'm on the bus running around and such, and I
| rarely need a pencil at home.
|
| Is there any mechanical pencil that's meant to toss around in a
| bag and survive? Or do people use padded cases?
| wrp wrote:
| Pentel Kerry (https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Sharp-Kerry-
| Mechanical-Pencil/...)
| privong wrote:
| > Is there any mechanical pencil that's meant to toss around in
| a bag and survive?
|
| I'm not sure exactly what the failure mode is that you're
| experiencing, but the Rotring 800[0] is retractable. I've
| gotten a lot of use out of my Rotring 600 but wish I had bought
| the 800 to be able to retract and protect the lead sleeve.
|
| [0] https://www.rotring.com/pens-
| pencils/pencils/rotring-800/SAP...
| eternityforest wrote:
| The leads tend to break inside the pencil with random cheap
| stuff
| iancmceachern wrote:
| Gotta get a pencil bag or pen sleeve
| borlox wrote:
| How can penciltalk be a blog about pencils? That really disrupted
| my perception of HN.
|
| I expected penciltalk to be some framework or package
| management/deployment tool.
| HankB99 wrote:
| I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on something related. My
| cousin found a mechanical pencil (in my recently deceased uncles
| desk) with my late father's name on it. My father's been gone for
| nearly 60 years so this pencil went way back. I managed to make
| out some writing on the cap so I took a picture of it (my method
| of magnifying things otherwise too small to identify) and made
| out the brand "Autopoint." I did a little digging along the way
| and discovered that Autopoint was owned by Bakelite and indeed,
| it looks like the barrel of the pencil is made from Bakelite. I
| also read that Autopoint used to make promotional items. Since my
| father was working as an engineer at a manufacturer that probably
| used Bakelite in some of their products, I speculate that this
| was a promotional item that Autopoint provided to engineers (and
| probably buyers) at the company to pump their product. (We also
| got tubular collapsing fiberglass fishing poles since they used
| fiberglass tubes for some of their products.)
|
| Along the way I discovered that there is a Reddit devoted to
| mechanical pencils and they were happy to hear this story. And
| even happier to see that the pencil was well used.
| bmj wrote:
| I dove pretty deeply into wood case pencils for a few years (then
| I got tired of carrying around a good sharpener). Musgrave
| [https://musgravepencil.com/collections/the-heritage-collecti...]
| makes some good pencils, though some folks don't like the
| pronounced hex shape. Mitsu-bishi and Tombow produce some very
| nice, affordable pencils, though they can be hard to find at
| times. Everyone knows about Blackwings, but they were never my
| cup of tea -- the pencil is longer than the average wood case,
| and the eraser, for as nifty as it is, isn't that great.
|
| Though I use pencils less these days, my current favorites are
| the Tombow 2558 in 2B and the Musgrave Greenbelt.
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