Smoothest Writing Pencil?

[omicron]

I've always liked the Mirado Black Warrior. Seems really smooth.

 

Some people claim the misubishi pencils are the best. Some others say it's the 'item 14' (or was it 12)

 

What do you think?

[XiaoMG]

I've always liked the Mirado Black Warrior. Seems really smooth.

 

Some people claim the misubishi pencils are the best. Some others say it's the 'item 14' (or was it 12)

 

What do you think?

Do you mean low-friction for a specific hardness? A pretty mediocre 4B or 6B will be much "smoother" than any HB. Even the hardness ratings aren't universal, and a Japanese HB is almost invariably softer and "smoother" than a German HB.

Are you looking for woodcased pencils only? Leadholders and mechanical pencils tend to be "smoother" by virtue of weight and isolation of vibration.

 

Among standard writing woodcased pencils, the Craft Design Technology is nice, but so are most Mitsubishi pencils, the upper-tier Tombow pencils, the upper-range Staedtlers, Faber-Castells, and Derwents. They are not all equal in hardness (a Tombow HB is around a Staedtler B and a Faber-Castell 2B, for example), but they are all very nice pencils.

 

There are some cult favorites out there, like the California Republic Palomino and their very soft Palomino Blackwing. They are good pencils but they run on the soft side.

[Cynomys]

There are some cult favorites out there, like the California Republic Palomino and their very soft Palomino Blackwing. They are good pencils but they run on the soft side.

 

I guess that makes me a "cultist" because I was going to nominate the Cal Republic Palomino. I have also heard good things about the Mitsubishi and the Tombow, but I can't get the very top grade of those brands at the local Kinokuniya in Seattle, so have only the next highest grades of those two brands.

[bones]

For mechanicals, I have yet to find something that beats Pentel Ain/STEIN. A little pricier than what I can get from a local big-box shop, but worth it to me for the smoothness and break resistance.

[Number3124]

Pentel Super-Hi Polymer (Ani outside of the states) beats just about everything, hands down. However Steadler and Uni have a line of colored leads.

[Jimmy James]

I can barely look at the current pretender to the Mirado Black Warrior name.

 

Field Notes sells pencils. I don't know who makes them, but they satisfy me. They're round (my preference), they smell great (like cedar), and they're well centered. Maybe my standards are just low.

[omicron]

Leadholders and mechanical pencils tend to be "smoother" by virtue of weight and isolation of vibration.

 

 

 

Well, I guess I like less weight, so wooden.

[burmeseboyz]

I guess that makes me a "cultist" because I was going to nominate the Cal Republic Palomino. I have also heard good things about the Mitsubishi and the Tombow, but I can't get the very top grade of those brands at the local Kinokuniya in Seattle, so have only the next highest grades of those two brands.

 

I tried to like the Palomino's, especially since they are a good price. However, I find that they are too powder, smear, and can't hold a point. The Tombow 100's and Mitsubishi Hi-Uni's on the other hand are superb.

[adallak]

KOH-I-NOOR is among the best woodcase pencils. They have great leadholders as well.

[XiaoMG]

I guess that makes me a "cultist" because I was going to nominate the Cal Republic Palomino. I have also heard good things about the Mitsubishi and the Tombow, but I can't get the very top grade of those brands at the local Kinokuniya in Seattle, so have only the next highest grades of those two brands.

I like the Palomino, but the impression I get from them is that they tend to "cheat" on smoothness by running a bit softer than even other Japanese pencils, which are already quite soft by the standards of European/American pencils. There are a bunch of manufacturers who adopt this approach as well, since there are no real standards for hardness ratings. For many, a softer-than-expected pencil of moderate quality may actually be preferable to a firmer pencil (but labeled the same hardness) of higher quality. One example of this I can think of off the top of my head is the Staedtler Tradition. The Tradition, according to Staedtler*, uses a coarser, lower-grade graphite than their premium Mars series. However, I noticed quite a few people prefer to write with the Tradition, and one reason is that it feels softer for a given hardness grade.

 

Of course, the subjective impressions given by pencils to users don't always reflect the products and their market placement. There was a review* that rated a midrange Tombow pencil above the premium version.

 

PencilTalk ranked high-end Japanese pencils*, and the overall winner in that category was the Craft Design Technology Item 17. Another review* reinforced the praise, though there hasn't been a real review of the pencil anywhere else since. Those were in 2008, several years after hype got building around the Palomino on Pencil Revolution*. As far as I know, only California Cedar has really encouraged blog exposure around their premium products. Other favorites of pencil connoisseurs are resigned to a few remote corners of the niche blogosphere, and the commentary lacks consistency and reliable corroboration.

 

Personally, I have no idea what the best pencils are, though I have many of the ones that folks claim to be the best. I have a bunch of very nice pencils in my cup, and I grab them more or less at random, or based on what design or color appeals to me most at the moment. I don't really see much of a hierarchy anymore once you're above a certain quality threshold. Sometimes though, you need to ignore the hardness grades provided and seek out the ones that are most enjoyable to use (one comparison* quite fairly puts a 2B Faber-Castell next to an HB Tombow).

Edited April 16, 2011 by XiaoMG

[Daedalus1]

When I was young, my family always use Lyre (Made in Germany) HB.

Nowadays, my choice is Faber-Castell HB (now made in Indonesia)

[lovemy51]

I've always liked the Mirado Black Warrior. Seems really smooth.

 

Some people claim the misubishi pencils are the best. Some others say it's the 'item 14' (or was it 12)

 

What do you think?

yes, the Mitshubishi Uni are very good. i use the soft lead (B+). the american made Palomino is also very good, specially the Blackwing.

 

M-Uni: http://www.jetpens.com/index.php/product/view/products_id/2943

http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/007/7294.jpg

 

Palomino Blackwing: http://www.pencils.com/palomino-blackwing-bulk

http://www.pencils.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/product/palomino_blackwing_0.jpg

 

(no affiliation to either...)

 

in truth, the Mirado BW seems very scratchy compare to these.

[XiaoMG]

yes, the Mitshubishi Uni are very good. i use the soft lead (B+). the american made Palomino is also very good, specially the Blackwing.

...SNIP...

in truth, the Mirado BW seems very scratchy compare to these.

The Palomino Blackwing and 5B Hi-Unis are several grades softer than the Mirados as well.

 

One thing I've noticed is that not everyone seems to fully grasp that pencils can have different hardness ranges. They seem to think that an ultra-soft pencil in the 4B range like the Palomino Blackwing is somehow on a level playing field with other pencils in the vicinity of HB. They'll of course call the 4B pencil smoother, but they casually omit that they're completely different pencils for completely different purposes. It makes me think of someone taking Pen X with a BB nib and Pen Y with an F nib, and without even noting how vastly different the nibs are, proclaim that X is smoother than Y.

 

I think one of the major problems in this thread is that the OP never specified any hardness range that would be suitable for his or her use. Without any kind of practical softness limit in place, we may as well just assume he or she would be best served by an 8B or 10B Mitsubishi. If the limit is around the [Japanese] 4B range, then the Uni calligraphy 4B and the Palomino Blackwing might be up their alley. If they are looking for something closer to the wear-rate of a Black Warrior, then those softer pencils are going to be disqualified as well.

[lovemy51]

yes, the Mitshubishi Uni are very good. i use the soft lead (B+). the american made Palomino is also very good, specially the Blackwing.

...SNIP...

in truth, the Mirado BW seems very scratchy compare to these.

The Palomino Blackwing and 5B Hi-Unis are several grades softer than the Mirados as well.

 

One thing I've noticed is that not everyone seems to fully grasp that pencils can have different hardness ranges. They seem to think that an ultra-soft pencil in the 4B range like the Palomino Blackwing is somehow on a level playing field with other pencils in the vicinity of HB. They'll of course call the 4B pencil smoother, but they casually omit that they're completely different pencils for completely different purposes. It makes me think of someone taking Pen X with a BB nib and Pen Y with an F nib, and without even noting how vastly different the nibs are, proclaim that X is smoother than Y.

 

I think one of the major problems in this thread is that the OP never specified any hardness range that would be suitable for his or her use. Without any kind of practical softness limit in place, we may as well just assume he or she would be best served by an 8B or 10B Mitsubishi. If the limit is around the [Japanese] 4B range, then the Uni calligraphy 4B and the Palomino Blackwing might be up their alley. If they are looking for something closer to the wear-rate of a Black Warrior, then those softer pencils are going to be disqualified as well.

 

no, i do understand the blackwing is a softer lead (possibly a 5b???) -tho' they don't specify it. and all i said about the Mitsubishis is that they are very good -any grade. as far as the palomino they are one of my favs, regardless of grade (look at my post again)

 

but i dare say, even if the OP never mentioned any lead grade, the HB lead of the palominos, and other american pencils (e.g. the musgrave) are softer and smoother than the Mirado Black Warrior HB lead.

[omicron]

 

I think one of the major problems in this thread is that the OP never specified any hardness range that would be suitable for his or her use. Without any kind of practical softness limit in place, we may as well just assume he or she would be best served by an 8B or 10B Mitsubishi. If the limit is around the [Japanese] 4B range, then the Uni calligraphy 4B and the Palomino Blackwing might be up their alley. If they are looking for something closer to the wear-rate of a Black Warrior, then those softer pencils are going to be disqualified as well.

 

That's what I was thinking of going for, something with high B ratings.

I'm told they're working on 13, possibly 15 B pencils using some secret Japanese clay technology. What fun.

[asiwalkhome]

This might not qualify, but Parker made a cartridge pencil that used 'liquid lead'. One interesting aspect to these non-retracting 'pencils' is that they don't bleed the way BP's do, if you put them into your pocket. I have a few, usually acquired by accident when they came with a fountain pen lot or as part of a 51 set, and some still write even after sitting for decades. And to bring this back to the post's initial question, my P51 flighter version just might be the smoothest writing pencil I've ever used. If only Parker still made LL cartridges....

Tom

[omicron]

This might not qualify, but Parker made a cartridge pencil that used 'liquid lead'. One interesting aspect to these non-retracting 'pencils' is that they don't bleed the way BP's do, if you put them into your pocket. I have a few, usually acquired by accident when they came with a fountain pen lot or as part of a 51 set, and some still write even after sitting for decades. And to bring this back to the post's initial question, my P51 flighter version just might be the smoothest writing pencil I've ever used. If only Parker still made LL cartridges....

Tom

 

 

This is interesting. Although I would imagine it would be probably be quite toxic.

Edited April 18, 2011 by omicron

[lovemy51]

now that asiwalkhome mentioned the LL... sharpie makes something similar but i think the quality is terrible...

 

see the pros and cons in this review: http://officesupplygeek.com/pen-review/pencils/sharpie-liquid-pencil-review/

 

ok, here are more cons than pros: http://www.penciltalk.org/2011/03/sharpie-liquid-pencil

Edited April 19, 2011 by lovemy51

[dapv]

omicron: Is your inquiry related to writing, sketching, general use, or what? For example, when I'm writing, I want a lead that's not too hard but more importantly to me one with little breakage and dust, and easily erased. When I'm sketching, I prefer a softer lead which I find more smooth and less transmitting of friction, and the dust then helps with shading.

[stuartk]

now that asiwalkhome mentioned the LL... sharpie makes something similar but i think the quality is terrible...

 

I tried these and didn't like them either. They're nothing like a pencil IMO.