Putting some lead in my pencil.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Okay, now that I've tickled your fancy with my suggestive title, I regret to inform you that the topic is, in fact, the humble mechanical push pencil.

(Or sometimes not so humble. Some of them can be extremely expensive.)

Some time ago, I e-mailed the people at Pentel to ask why there were no leads softer than 2B for 0.7mm and 0.9mm pencils, since they would logically be expected to be stronger than their 0.5mm compatriot (for which I have personally seen every softness/hardness from 4B all the way to 4H, including the little-known F rating). They said the market simply wasn't there. I had to reconcile myself to the inevitable.

Well didn't it shiver my timbers when I was browsing Amazon.ca for a particular brand of mechanical pencil just last week, only to stumble across this:

 

...and this:

 

My stationery-obsessed heart said "Well, you've spent all this time looking for them...  time to put your money where your mouth is!"

And so they are on the way. Updates to follow when they get here!

Edited October 1, 2024 by Ensign Cthulhu

[Wolfswetpaws]

Fondness of good writing instruments is something we seem to have in common.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

27 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

good writing instruments

My luck with various writing instruments has sometimes been hit or miss. My 0.3mm Pentel Graphgear 1000 has been nothing but trouble since the day I got it. My nominally lower quality Graphgear 500 0.3 and in particular my Staedtler Mars Micro 0.3 have never let me down. 

[Admiral_Karasu]

Do you guys keep the leads in the pencil container or do you feed them in through the nozzle when you need a new one.... or is this a weird question?...

 

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Do you guys keep the leads in the pencil container or do you feed them in through the nozzle when you need a new one.... or is this a weird question?...

 

No worries.  Seems like a legitimate question of curiosity, to me.
For myself, my mechanical pencils were used during games of "Dungeons & Dragons", and were purchased as a package of several of the same budget-friendly design.
So, I'd have a container of spare pencil-leads, and each mechanical pencil would be loaded with one pencil-lead.
I'd replenish the pencils as necessary from the container of spares.

 

[HamptonRoads]

I prefer 0.5mm for my mechanical pencils.  The trick is finding replacement erasers.

[Admiral_Karasu]

19 minutes ago, HamptonRoads said:

I prefer 0.5mm for my mechanical pencils.  The trick is finding replacement erasers.

I just use a rubber.

[Wolfswetpaws]

8 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

I just use a rubber.

A rubber eraser.
Not a rubber (that is an alternative slang term for a condom), correct?

[HamptonRoads]

9 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

I just use a rubber.

I like having an eraser at the end of my pencil, it makes correcting crosswords and sudoku puzzles simpler

[I_cant_Swim_]

I’ve got several of these lead push pencils, but never really been too thrilled about them. Apart from for writing. I have a book project going on, and the constant, clear flow (if there’s no wobble) is awesome for first drafts. Having said that, i hadn’t thought to check out online stores for refills- so i look forward to trying the options. 
i don’t know how useful these pens could be for drawing/ i do some, but have my standard B series pencils for this.

edit: I’ve never had a pen with a good eraser, always bought these separate.

[Admiral_Karasu]

10 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

A rubber eraser.
Not a rubber (that is an alternative slang term for a condom), correct?

It's best to come prepared... 🙂 

7 minutes ago, HamptonRoads said:

I like having an eraser at the end of my pencil, it makes correcting crosswords and sudoku puzzles simpler

... which is why I keep a rubber at hand. Mind you, if I was on the move, I'd probably be having to use the one at the end of the pencil like you. I mostly use the pencil at home. I don't do crosswords myself, but if I was doing them outside of home, I'd probably be using a pen, not a pencil, making the eraser rather a moot point.

Funny, the word 'eraser' just makes me think of something like this:

[HamptonRoads]

4 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

It's best to come prepared... 🙂 

... which is why I keep a rubber at hand. Mind you, if I was on the move, I'd probably be having to use the one at the end of the pencil like you. I mostly use the pencil at home. I don't do crosswords myself, but if I was doing them outside of home, I'd probably be using a pen, not a pencil, making the eraser rather a moot point.

You're a better man than I am if you're doing crosswords with a pen.

[Admiral_Karasu]

1 minute ago, HamptonRoads said:

You're a better man than I am if you're doing crosswords with a pen.

Wait.. you mean it matters what you write in those boxes?

[HamptonRoads]

7 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Funny, the word 'eraser' just makes me think of something like this:

might be showing my age, but I came up with

[Wolfswetpaws]

9 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

It's best to come prepared... 🙂 

😄 

[thornzero]

You never know, it could rubber the wrong way...

[Snargfargle]

[HamptonRoads]

9 minutes ago, Snargfargle said:

Still remember filling out tests with a #2 lead pencil (I believe that is HB above)

[Snargfargle]

29 minutes ago, HamptonRoads said:

Still remember filling out tests with a #2 lead pencil (I believe that is HB above)

I actually had to look that up and found that #2 is a US designation, whereas HB is the international designation for the same hardness grade.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

Of course I can also go old-school:

 

The range of lead hardnesses in 2mm is greatly expanded when compared to the smaller variants, Koh-i-noor making leads as hard as 10H. If you want anything softer than 8B, I think you have to go wood-cased or pure graphite. In that case, Faber-Castell has all you need to go to extremes:

 

[Ensign Cthulhu]

18 hours ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Do you guys keep the leads in the pencil container or do you feed them in through the nozzle when you need a new one.... or is this a weird question?...

 

You feed them in through the back end. You pull out the plunger for the propelling mechanism (which for many 2mm push pencils has a built-in sharpener) and slip the leads into a special channel which is there for the purpose.

[Admiral_Karasu]

19 minutes ago, Ensign Cthulhu said:

You feed them in through the back end. You pull out the plunger for the propelling mechanism (which for many 2mm push pencils has a built-in sharpener) and slip the leads into a special channel which is there for the purpose.

Really, are you sure? 😜

[Ensign Cthulhu]

3 minutes ago, Admiral_Karasu said:

Really, are you sure? 😜

I've been doing it for years. Seems to work for me. 😁